Hiya!

Welp, Wrestlemania 42 Night 1 was… not good. I’m not as hyperbolic as a lot of people online. In other words, I certainly don’t think it rises to the level as the cream of the crap as a lot of fans are saying. Still, I will say it wasn’t good. This does mean the WWE has a lot to make up for when it comes to Wrestlemania 42 Night 2. If it’s really, really good, then perhaps this year’s Showcase of the Immortals won’t be remembered as a big, hulking trash heap that needs to be taken out by Duke “The Dumpster” Drose. See? I know my WWE history!

So, let’s go check out Wrestlemania 42 Night 2 to see if the WWE managed to redeem itself!

The first match of the night was a big one. It saw Brock Lesnar take on Oba Femi. On paper, this should be a great match as it had a couple of gargantuan monster men trying to outpower the other. The only real question is if can deliver. There really isn’t much to talk about as this was a pretty short bout. Even so, the few things that did happen were really impressive! Okay, a lot of it was Oba Femi no selling Brock Lesnar’s offense but, since the WWE has implanted in our brains how powerful The Beast is, having The Ruler withstand Brock’s attacks made him look much stronger! When Lesnar did get his offense going, Femi also looked good selling the suplex city sequence.

The finish came when Brock managed to hit his F5 finisher on Oba but The Ruler didn’t fully go down after it! Femi then hit a chokeslam and then his Fall From Grace powerbomb finisher to get the pinfall victory! After the match, Brock Lesnar looked dejected. He then took off his boots and gloves and laid them in the ring. Paul Heyman, his longtime advisor, then entered the ring and the two of them hugged. Is Brock Lesnar retiring from the WWE? We’ll see.

This wasn’t a scientific match and this wasn’t a very long match. It was short and sweet and it didn’t need to be anything else. All it had to do was show Oba Femi looking like the new force to be reckoned in the WWE. It did its job well. I do like the twist that this might be Brock Lesnar’s last match as it did seem like this came out of nowhere. Then again, that’s part of the beauty of wrestling: you never really know what to expect.

The next match of the night was a ladder match for RAW‘s 2nd biggest prize: the Intercontinental Championship. This had Penta trying to fend off Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, Je’von Evans, Rusev and Rey Mysterio from getting his title. Before I do talk about the match, may I just say it was kind of dumb for all of the masked wrestlers, the luchadors, to all dress up in red? It’s not like I can’t distinguish them but have some color diversity in your outfits!

Anyway, I do like the how everyone but Rusev is a high flyer. This way, you can have a lot of flipping and dipping action but there’s gonna be that one guy who can also highlight how power can work in a ladder match. Lots of fun sequences, like JDragon Lee headscissoring Je’Von Evans into McDonagh on the outside, McDonagh getting hit by a springboard clothesline from Evans from the top of a ladder, Penta launching Mysterio into Rusev to have them both crash into a ladder that was set up outside the ring, Penta connecting with a Mexican Destroyer to McDonagh on a ladder, to name a few. There’s many more but this paragraph is already very long!

The finish came as Je’Von Evans was reaching up for the belt but Rusev took out the ladder from under Evans, forcing him to hang onto the thing that holds the Intercontinental belt. Rusev then pulled Evans down and started to climb himself. However, Evans then scaled the ringpost to hit his OG Cutter finisher to Rusev from the top of the ladder! Je’von then started to climb the ladder once again but Penta swooped in and used the steps of the ladder to his Mexican Destroyer to Evans to take him out. Penta then climbed the ladder, retrieved the Intercontinental belt to keep his championship.

This was a fantastic match. Lots of great action here and, while I will admit it did feel like stuntwork a lot of the time, it was very entertaining stuntwork. I do have to give props to JD McDonagh as he definitely took the brunt of the punishment. My only real criticism is the finish as Penta’s final Mexican Destroyer to Evans fails in comparison to the Mexican Destroyer he did to McDonagh. That should have been the final move. Still, everyone here pulled their own weight as each of them made everyone else look good.

The next match was for the 2nd biggest prize on Smackdown, the United States Championship. This saw Sami Zayn defending the title against Trick Williams. Despite the caliber of the participants in this match, there really weren’t all that many memorable moments. Okay, that’s not really fair. It’s just that both Zayn and Williams were doing their regular stuff mostly. I guess that time when Sami Zayn attacked Lil Yachty, the guy who accompanied Trick Williams to the ring, was something noteworthy. Oh, the brainbuster to Trick by Sami on the ring apron was pretty gnarly. Even so, in general, the action in the ring was pretty standard. Thankfully, things did pick up near the end.

The finish saw Zayn setting up for his Helluva Kick finisher but Lil Yatchy got up on the ring apron and blindsides Sami. Williams connects with his Trick Shot kick finisher but only gets a 2-count. Williams goes for his finisher again but Zayn sidesteps it and rolls Trick up for a 2-count of his own. Sami hits an exploder suplex and goes for a Helluva Kick again. However, Williams counters with his Trick Shot finisher to get the pinfall victory and become your NEW United States Champion!

I think this match could’ve benefitted from a little more time. Then again, besides the finish, this did feel rather lackluster in the energy. I kind of wish they did more as both Zayn and Williams can do much more exciting stuff but it’s almost like they were saving the good stuff for the future. Hopefully, that’s the case as I would like to see them have a rematch so I can have a better match with the two of them.

The next match of the night was a street fight between Dominik Mysterio and former Judgement Day member, Finn Balor. Balor must be really upset with Mysterio as he pulled out his Demon persona for this one. First off, this is a No Disqualification fight, okay? A “street fight” would entail… a street. Not a ring. Not foreign objects. A street. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. Anyway, lots of really good action here, such as Balor reversing a suplex attempt by Mysterio and instead into a front flapjack into steel chairs, Dominik dodging Finn’s Coup de Grace finisher and then walloping the Demon in the face with a steel chair as well as Dirty Dom wrapping a steel chair around Balor’s face and then hitting a 619 to him,

The finish saw Dirty Dom set up a table in the hopes of hitting a frog splash on The Demon while he was on it. Balor got up and then assaulted Dominik with steel chair strikes. He then wrapped one of the steel chairs around his neck and then hit his shotgun dropkick on him! Finn then set Dominik on the table, hit his Coup de Grace through the table and got the pinfall victory.

This was very entertaining. The pacing was pretty well done as there really wasn’t a boring moment. It was just the right amount of vicious it needed it to be without it being too dangerous or gratuitous. Also, it’s nice to see Finn Balor get a win on a pay-per-view event again. It seems like ages since this happened.

The next match of the night was for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. This saw Jade Cargill defend the belt against Rhea Ripley. I was kind of dreading this match as, despite being in the wrestling business for a while now, Jade Cargill’s in-ring skills hasn’t really improved all that much. Thankfully, it looks like she upped her game for Wrestlemania as she was actually really good here! Some of the highlight include Cargill hitting a decent looking powerslam on Ripley, Rhea hitting a beautiful spinning kick to Jade while lying on the floor, the Eradicator connecting with a front facing electric chair on Cargill, Jade flipping over Rhea and then slamming her opponent down with a beautiful spinebuster and Ripley reversing Cargill’s attempted Jaded finisher with a rollup.

The finish came when Ripley set Cargill up for a Razor’s Edge/crucifix bomb but Michin distracts the official, allowing B-Fab to break up the move. Jade dodges Rhea’s spear, sending The Eradicator shoulder first into the steel ring post. Cargill then hits a, is that a One Winged Angel? I think it is. Cargill hits a One Winged Angel on Ripley but Rhea kicks out. Jade tosses Rhea to the outside but before her lackeys can attack, IYO SKY runs in for the save. SKY climbs to the ring apron and Cargill tries to attack but IYO springboards off the ropes to hit both Michin and B-Fab. Rhea hits a headbutt and then goes for her Riptide sidewalk slam. Jade manages to get out of the move and hit a big boot to down Rhea. Cargill goes for her Jaded slam but Ripley slips in between Jade’s legs, transitions it into her Riptide finisher to get the pinfall and become the NEW Smackdown Women’s Champion!

I can’t really say how much my perception of Jade Cargill’s in-ring skills colored my perception of this match but I will have to say this was an excellent match! There were a few gaffes here and there but the good stuff more than made up for it. Having IYO SKY have one more moment with Rhea Ripley before she switches brands because of this win is also really smart. That finish, with Ripley slipping in between Cargill’s legs was something I would expect more from a high flyer but she executed that perfectly. Top notch match.

The final match of the night was for the biggest prize on RAW, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This saw CM Punk defend the belt against Roman Reigns. Let me just say this right now: this was a terrific match. It’s kind of hard to talk about specific moments or spots which made it good because, well, there weren’t really any “spots”. They were more like long action sequences. There’s also a lot of in-ring storytelling so the “spots” have more impact when you know what happened before. So, yeah. I can’t tell you specific moments because this match felt like one big specific moment on why this was so good!

The finish of the match started as CM Punk hit a massive elbow drop on Roman Reigns through the announcer’s table. Punk tossed Reigns back in the ring and then hit his GTS knee strike finisher. Roman bounced off the ropes and landed back on the Second City Savior’s shoulders. Punk tried to lift Reigns up for another GTS but his body just gave out because of how grueling the match was! Reigns managed to recover and hit a spear to Punk. Both Punk and Reigns are just spent now. Punk tried to throw a punch at Reigns but he swung and missed. Both men staggered to their feet but Reigns just has enough energy to hit one more spear to Punk. Reigns went to cover Punk and got the pinfall victory to become the NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion!

This, to me, was everything a Wrestlemania main event needed to be. It had drama. It had good wrestling. It had good in-ring storytelling. It had everyone giving their all and then some. Both Punk and Reigns pulled out all the stops and they made each other look good. If I were to nitpick, I will say they went overboard with the action outside the ring as, normally, this match would’ve ended in a countout. Then again, that would be a dumb way to end a Wrestlemania main event. Chef’s kiss.

All-in-all, I will say Wrestlemania 42 Night 2 redeemed how terrible Night 1 was. It does make me wonder why didn’t the WWE mix in some of the good matches from Night 2, like the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, with Night 1 and transfer some of the lackluster matches from Night 1, like the Fatal-4-Way Tag Match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship, to Night 2 for a more balanced experience? Whatever the reason, I’m glad the WWE managed to salvage Wrestlemania 42 with this bombshell of a Night 2.

Byee!

What did you think of Wrestlemania 42 Night 2? Does it make up for the awfulness of Night 1? Let me know in the comments section below!