Hiya!

So, I’m happy to report, after all of my bitching and moaning, Netflix finally started carrying WWE content here in the Philippines! You’re welcome, by the way! I mean, if it weren’t for me, do you think Netflix would finally be doing this? I don’t think so!

Jokes aside, I have to mention this because I didn’t watch Wrestlemania: Night 1 live. I couldn’t as that would entail me staying up until 6am Philippine time just to see the very first match. So, I made the decision to maintain my beauty sleep and just watch the replay. When I did wake up on that day, I flipped through my phone to see the results. I have no issues with spoilers so I was fine with knowing what happened. When I did a search for it, I went through dozens of fans stating this was one of the worst, if not the worst, Wrestlemania events ever.

The reason? Half of the show didn’t feature any actual wrestling! However, while I understand the complaint, I didn’t really have that problem because I was watching a replay! I could just fast forward through the boring crap and get to the matches themselves! The question is if the matches themselves were good. Well… let’s just talk about the matches themselves, shall we?

The first match of Wrestlemania 42 Night 1 saw The Usos, Jimmy and Jey, teaming up with LA Knight to take on the trio of Logan Paul, Austin Theory and IShowSpeed. Of course, if you’re not chronically online such as myself, I had to look up who IShowSpeed is as he’s not a WWE Superstar. That’s one issue I already have with this match. The other is the utter waste of talent and the lack of stakes here! Why isn’t this for Logan Paul and Austin Theory’s World Tag Team Championship? Why is LA Knight in a nothing feud? Okay, let me calm down. None of these complaints will matter if the match was actually good.

It was pretty meh.

The finish had LA Knight try to hit his BFT finisher on IShowSpeed but IShowSpeed countered by shoving Knight off him and into Logan Paul. This angered Theory and he started to berate IShowSpeed. He then grabbed Knight and ordered IShowSpeed to hit the ropes. As he did, Knight flung Theory into the running IShowSpeed and then he connected with his BFT finisher to Theory to get the pinfall victory for his team.

Logan Paul then started to blame IShowSpeed for the loss and struck his fellow streamer with his loaded fist. Paul then set IShowSpeed on top of the announcer’s table and scaled the ropes to splash IShowSpeed through the table. The Usos then interfered and hit Paul with their 1D finisher. LA Knight then set Paul onto the table and then he and The Usos goaded IShowSpeed to splash Logan Paul through the table instead. He did just that and then he celebrated with the faces.

The match itself wasn’t terrible and I will admit IShowSpeed did show some impressive athleticism and he took some nasty bumps. In the long run, however, this match would have felt more at home on something like RAW or Smackdown rather than Wrestlemania, the biggest wrestling show of the year.

The next match of the night was an “unsanctioned” match between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu. So, if this is an “unsanctioned” match, why the heck would the WWE put it on their biggest and definitely very sanctioned biggest pay-per-view event of the year? They could’ve just called this a No Holds Barred AKA No DQ match! I guess calling it “unsanctioned” is more marketable? Anyway, I do love how they started brawling before they rang the bell to start this “unsanctioned’ match. Some of the better spots had Drew McIntyre stop in the middle of the fight to tweet about it, Drew jumping over the top rope to land on Jacob, McIntyre getting the referee’s belt to whip Fatu with but Fatu used it on McIntyre instead and Jacob getting tossed of the top turnbuckle and into the table that was sent outside the ring.

The finish came after the aforementioned table spot. The Scottish Terminator rolled the Samoan Werewolf into the ring and set up for his Claymore kick finisher. Fatu counters with 2 superkicks and then nails Drew with a toolbox to the head. Drew then lays down on a table that was in the middle of the ring and Jacob hit his Mighty Moonsault finisher to get the pinfall victory in this “unsanctioned” match.

This was actually a lot of fun. Both McIntyre and Fatu got some good shots in and having them kick out of their opponent’s finishers didn’t look contrived. Then again, as this is an “unsanctioned” match, do I count this as a win for Jacob Fatu? After all, if it’s “unsanctioned,” then the WWE won’t put this in the record books, right?

The next match of the night was a Fatal-4-Way for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. This saw the team of Nia Jax and Lash Legend defend the belts against Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria and Brie Bella and Nikki Bella. Oops, scratch that last part as it appears Nikki Bella is still too injured to compete. So, she decided to call in a ringer: Paige!

Despite me getting hyped about Paige’s return to the WWE, I do hate how it has to be in this match as this was a bad match! The biggest reason why it was bad was because it was tough to really follow anything that was happening! I will be the first one to complain when the WWE has a Fatal-4-Way match and then have 2 of the competitors just stay outside of the ring while the other 2 competitors duke it out. It turns out the opposite can be bad as well as having all 4 competitors doing something in the ring at the same time is very confusing! It wouldn’t be too bad if there was some kind of flow to it but, for this match, it was just a jumble of things happening! It also felt like they were in a rush to do their spots so nothing they did landed with any kind of impact.

The finish saw Paige and Charlotte teaming up to take Lash Legend out of the ring. Paige and Charlotte brawled for a while before Charlotte went for her Figure 8 submission finisher but Paige reversed it into a small package for a 2-count. Charlotte hit Natural Selection and tagged to Alexa Bliss who then climbed to the top turnbuckle. Nikki Bella, however, dragged Charlotte out of the ring and nailed The Queen with her crutch. As this was a Fatal-4-Way match, this meant she couldn’t be disqualified. This distracted Bliss and allowed Paige time to recover enough to raise her knee as Alexa tried to hit her Twisted Bliss splash. Paige then hit her Ram-Paige finisher to Alexa Bliss to get the pinfall victory and become the NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions!

This was bad but only because it’s like they hit the 2X speed button on the match. There was simply too much going on in too short a time. This is a match which really would’ve benefitted if they allowed more time for it. As it is right now, I’m glad Paige is back in the WWE but this wasn’t the best match for her re-debut.

The next match of the night had AJ Lee defend her Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch. Of course, Jessika Carr just had to be the referee for this match. Becky Lynch immediately started to bend the rules by taking off the turnbuckle padding but Carr put it back on. Anyway, the match itself came off as sloppy, mostly on AJ Lee’s part. I may be a huge AJ Lee fan but I have to call it like it is. She came off as too soft with some of her moves, like the crossbody off the ring apron so Lynch could catch her and her Sliced Bread #2 looked like it took more than just a little effort to work. Still, Becky was doing her best to make the match look good with moves like blocking the AJ’s Black Widow attempt to toss Lee into the corner.

The finish came after Jessika Carr pulled Lynch off Lee while Becky was stomping on AJ in the corner. Lynch’s frustration boiled over and started jawing with her. Carr started to argue with Lynch and a shoving match commenced. Lynch then tried to hit Carr with a clothesline but Jessika ducked and AJ Lee snatched Becky with a Manhandle Slam for a 2-count! Lynch tried to rally back with a Manhandle Slam but Lee reversed it into her Black Widow submission. Lynch managed to break the hold (somehow) and cold cocked Lee with a big punch, downing her. As Jessika went over to check on AJ Lee, Lynch took off the turnbuckle pad again and played possum by leaning in the corner. Lee charged at Lynch but Becky pulled Carr in between them. This stunned the official long enough for Becky to smash AJ’s face into the exposed steel, hit her Manhandle Slam to get the 3-count and become the NEW Women’s Intercontinental Champion!

While I do complain about how sloppy the match was overall, the antics of Becky Lynch and Jessika Carr made up for it. This didn’t have to be a classic wrestling match. It just had to have a good story. While I do wish things came to a head with Jessika Carr finally snapping or something, having Lynch win to “overcome the odds” of a “biased referee” is good, too.

The next match of the night was Seth Rollins vs. Gunther. The match pretty much started before the bell rang as Gunther attacked Seth Rollins while he was taking off his (literally smoking) overcoat. Seth retaliated so things evened out as the bell rant to officially start the match. There was a good contrast between both Seth and Gunther’s styles, with Seth throwing more creative offense while Gunther relying on basic but very methodical and effective attacks. Some highlight include Seth worming his way out of a superplex and then hitting Gunther with a buckle bomb, that sequence where Gunther reversed a Pedigree attempt into a modified backflip suplex only for Rollins to bridge out of it to hit the Pedigree, Gunther reversing a rollup and turning it into a sleeper and the couple of suicide dives done by Rollins only for Gunther to catch the 3rd suicide dive and then do a couple of powerbombs to both the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!) and the announcer’s table.

The finish came while both Rollins and Gunther were brawling outside. Gunther tried to powerbomb Rollins on top of the announcer’s table but Seth reversed it into a Pedigree. Seth then hit a Curb Stomp to Gunther on the table. While the referee was checking on Gunther, Bron Breakker ran from the ramp and speared Rollins! Gunther then grabbed Rollins and locked in a sleeperhold. By this time, it was academic. Rollins was put to sleep and Gunther raised his hands in victory. Breakker wasn’t done, though, as Bron sprinted down the ramp at full speed to… graze Seth with a spear. Nice try.

This was a really good match as I was invested in the action. The hits looked like they really hurt. I personally love Gunther’s brutal clotheslines and Seth’s just getting hit by them. I generally don’t like screwjob finishers but as it featured a returning Bron Breakker, I don’t mind it here.

The next match of the night saw Stephanie Vaquer defending the RAW Women’s Championship against Liv Morgan. Before I do talk about the match itself, may I just say… I really, really, really did not like Liv Morgan’s entire Wrestlemania entrace! I am no prude but everything about it was just poo-poo! First, her new song, Trouble, is baaaaaad! I’m glad she likes it but I don’t because it doesn’t have anything that makes it stand out. Is there a even a hook in there or am I missing something? Second, her entire dance sequence was awful! Shaking your head and hair around doesn’t constitute dance choreography! Finally, I think they were going for sexy but it just looks nauseating. There. I said it. Now can we talk about the match?

Then again, what match? Again, let me complain before we get to the match because the ring entraces were longer than the actual match! What the heck is up with that, WWE? Why does it feel like the Women’s matches are getting shorter again? Are we back with Diva’s Era? So, there really isn’t all that much to talk about because they weren’t given enough time to really do anything in the ring! So, I guess we’ll go straight to talking about how the match ended.

The finish came when Stephanie climbed up to the top rope to hit her Vaquer Inferno corkscrew moonsault when Roxanne Perez climbed the ring apron to distract the official. This allowed their fellow Judgement Day member Raquel Rodriguez to push Stephanie off. Morgan then hit her Ob-Liv-Ion finisher but Vaquer kicked out at 2. Both Perez and Rodriguez then get kicked in the head by Vaquer and then Stephanie low bridged the rope to send Liv to the outside and into Raquel. Stephanie then hit a springboard splash to Roxanne and Raquel. Liv then drove Vaquer into the ring steps while she celebrated. Morgan then scaled the ropes to hit a codebreaker and then combo’ed that into an Ob-Liv-Ion to get the pinfall victory and become the NEW RAW Women’s Champion!

I will admit the finish was cool but everything before that really made me not care. That Liv Morgan entrance really sucked out the cool out of this match. Having Perez and Rodriguez interfere was fine as it does fit with Morgan’s persona. However, the in-ring action before the finish was boring.

The final match of the night had Cody Rhodes defending Smackdown’s biggest prize, the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Randy Orton who was accompanied by *shudder* Pat McAfee. Now, I was very interested in this match… for all the wrong reasons. The buildup for this was atrocious. It started off well with Orton just attacking Rhodes. It was when they added Pat McAfee where things went off the rails! They double down by adding Jelly Roll into the mix! Heck, I made a list of the worst Wrestlemania main events a week ago because this had the potential to be a future entry for a revised list! I highly doubt that because both Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton are great in-ring performers. Still, with a bad buildup, it is a possiblity.

First, I do have to thank the WWE for acknowledging how the fans think as they took both Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll out of the equation before the bell even rang with Jelly Roll hitting an elbow to Pat McAfee while he was prone on the announcer’s table. They should’ve done that a week ago but better late than never, I guess.

After the chaos before the match, things slowed down drastically when the bell rang. It took some time for things to heat up and, I will admit, I was losing interest. Even after Randy got busted open, things felt slow! Thankfully, the action did pick up when each of the competitors started aping each other’s signature moves. There’s methodical, sure. However, this was just slow for the majority of the match.

The finish came when both Cody and Randy exchanged strikes in the middle of the ring. Orton started to get the upper hand but Rhodes countered with an eye poke. Blinded, The Viper accidentally hit his RKO finisher to the official. Orton tried to deliver a low blow but it was blocked and Rhodes retaliated with a low blow of his own. Cody then went from a top rope Cody Cutter but Randy transitioned that into an RKO! Pat McAfee then ran to the ring wearing a referee shirt. Orton went for a cover but, because Pat McAfee did a much slower than normal count, Rhodes managed to kick out! Besides, if you’re a biased referee, why didn’t you just say it was a 3-count and give Randy the win? What an idiot!

Frustrated by the stupidity of McAfee, The Viper then hit an RKO to Pat McAfee. The American Nightmare took advantage of the distraction and hit Orton with his Cross Rhodes finisher to get the pinfall victory to retain his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. As Cody Rhodes celebrated, Randy Orton snatched the belt from him and clocked him with it! Orton then hit his patented punt kick to Rhodes to close out the Wrestlemania 42 Night 1.

While I don’t think this will be entering any list for the worst Wrestlemania main events, I can’t say this was good either. This had a lot of problems! From nothing action for the majority to really idiotic decision by Pat McAfee, this was still bad. So, while I can’t say this was one of the worst main events ever, that’s a pretty low bar.

So, the matches weren’t all that great. The Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu and the one with Seth Rollins and Gunther were fine. The problem is the rest of the matches, especially the main event, were just underwhelming. Keep in mind, I’m just looking at the matches. I’m not including all the wasted time in between. I didn’t experience all the breaks because I fast forwarded since I didn’t watch it live on Netflix. If I did, I’d probably be as frustrated as the folks who did watch it live! Suffice to say, Wrestlemania 42 Night 2? You better be freaking great to make up for Night 1!

Byee!

What did you think of Wrestlemania 42 Night 1? Is it as bad as everyone says? It is worse? Let me know in the comments section below!