I've been on and off wrestling for most of my life, I was briefly a fan as a kid during the Ruthless Aggression era and then again during the early 2010s. I decided to come back to wrestling after hearing things were on the up a few years ago. As such, I've been able to follow the entire Bloodline and Cody Rhodes narratives and I don't think it's much of a stretch to say they are the two best storylines we've had in professional wrestling and they both came to a glorious header in this very special event.
Night one was pretty good, Rhea and Becky was very enjoyable and I believe had the right outcome. I loved the 6 Pack Ladder Match for the tag belts, glad R-Truth has finally had his Wrestlemania moment after all these years. Rey Mysterio & Andrade v Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio was a fun match, although the ending didn't particularly land for me as I'm not an Eagles fan, though it makes sense seeing as Rey's outfit heavily integrated the Eagles iconography and logo. Jimmy vs Jey was disappointing. It would have been a fine enough match on say Monday Night Raw but was extremely underwhelming for a Wrestlemania spot. Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi vs Damage CTRL was a lot of fun and allowed Jade to have a solid debut where she looked like a million bucks. Sami Zayn vs Gunther worried me as I firmly believed that Gunther would have and should have maintained up until the Bash at Berlin but I think the way they built up the match with Chad Gable and hearing Sami talk about his first wrestling match way back when in Philly, it made sense that it went down the way it did and it was a great match regardless of what you might think of the outcome. Last match of the night was of course the tag match between Cody Rhodes with Seth Rollins & The Rock with Roman Reigns. It began a little slowly but ramped up significantly toward its climax and set up night two in style.
Night two? That's where it's at. The whole vibe was just better, thanks in no small part to the improved Philadelphia crowd, who had been a little stagnant on night one. Seth Rollins v Drew McIntyre was a classic! Both had great intros and just when it looked like it was going to be a squash match, Seth got his head in the game and we got a real contest of champions. McIntyre finally got his Wrestlemania moment in front of an actual crowd and despite injury, so did CM Punk. Damian Priest then finally cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and stole the belt off a defeated McIntyre, great stuff. We then got the Philadelphia Street Fight Match, Bobby Lashley & the Street Prophets vs The Final Testament with Snoop Dogg on commentary who was actually very entertaining and ECW alumni Bubba Ray Dudley serving as the special guest referee. This was a very fun match that knew exactly what it was and gave us some good nostalgia for the ECW days hot off the heels of Paul Heyman's Hall of Fame induction. LA Knight vs AJ Styles was fun, I think it could have done with having a stipulation like hell in the cell or extreme rules to really pop but it got the job done and the crowd was having a blast with the "Yeah!" chants. Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton for the United States Championship was fun. All three are proven commodities at this point and had opportunities a plenty to show off. I don't know that much about iShowSpeed so his inclusion felt a little random to me but I'm out of the loop with things like social media, streaming and the sort so that's on me. Bayley vs Iyo Sky was REALLY good! The Damage CTRL narrative has been kind of hit or miss for me but it was worth it if it meant getting to this point. Finally seeing Bayley get her flowers at Wrestlemania and hearing the crazy pop she got was great. But it all pails in comparison to the insane main event of night two... Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns: Bloodline Rules. Both superstars got epic, goosebump inducing entrances that just told you this match was gonna be special and it doesn't disappoint! The opening half of the match is your standard mano a mano between Cody and Roman and it's electric, both men take full advantage of the Bloodline Rules stipulation, using weapons, tables and moving to the outside of the ring into the audience. There's some great trash talk from Roman too which did an effective job at filling the quieter moments of the match. The second half of this match is absolutely bats**t! It basically becomes Avengers Endgame with superstars and legends running out every few moments... Jey Uso spearing Jimmy off the ramp, John Cena giving the attitude adjustment to Roman and Solo, Seth coming out in his Shield gear, Undertaker appearing centre of the ring to get revenge on Roman for beating him at WM33 and showing The Rock who the REAL final boss is! It was nuts. But my favourite moment was when Roman was going to take out Cody with the chair but saw Seth in the corner of his eye and decided to get payback on him after Seth betrayed the Shield almost a decade ago, a decision which ultimately cost Roman the championship. Seth told Cody he would be his shield and he did exactly that. It was also beautiful to see Cody's family and the rest of the WWE universe get into the ring and celebrate alongside The American Nightmare as he fulfils his American Dream. A truly special two nights of wrestling that won't soon be forgotten.
9/10 Thank you for reading and stay safe!
Night one was pretty good, Rhea and Becky was very enjoyable and I believe had the right outcome. I loved the 6 Pack Ladder Match for the tag belts, glad R-Truth has finally had his Wrestlemania moment after all these years. Rey Mysterio & Andrade v Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio was a fun match, although the ending didn't particularly land for me as I'm not an Eagles fan, though it makes sense seeing as Rey's outfit heavily integrated the Eagles iconography and logo. Jimmy vs Jey was disappointing. It would have been a fine enough match on say Monday Night Raw but was extremely underwhelming for a Wrestlemania spot. Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi vs Damage CTRL was a lot of fun and allowed Jade to have a solid debut where she looked like a million bucks. Sami Zayn vs Gunther worried me as I firmly believed that Gunther would have and should have maintained up until the Bash at Berlin but I think the way they built up the match with Chad Gable and hearing Sami talk about his first wrestling match way back when in Philly, it made sense that it went down the way it did and it was a great match regardless of what you might think of the outcome. Last match of the night was of course the tag match between Cody Rhodes with Seth Rollins & The Rock with Roman Reigns. It began a little slowly but ramped up significantly toward its climax and set up night two in style.
Night two? That's where it's at. The whole vibe was just better, thanks in no small part to the improved Philadelphia crowd, who had been a little stagnant on night one. Seth Rollins v Drew McIntyre was a classic! Both had great intros and just when it looked like it was going to be a squash match, Seth got his head in the game and we got a real contest of champions. McIntyre finally got his Wrestlemania moment in front of an actual crowd and despite injury, so did CM Punk. Damian Priest then finally cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and stole the belt off a defeated McIntyre, great stuff. We then got the Philadelphia Street Fight Match, Bobby Lashley & the Street Prophets vs The Final Testament with Snoop Dogg on commentary who was actually very entertaining and ECW alumni Bubba Ray Dudley serving as the special guest referee. This was a very fun match that knew exactly what it was and gave us some good nostalgia for the ECW days hot off the heels of Paul Heyman's Hall of Fame induction. LA Knight vs AJ Styles was fun, I think it could have done with having a stipulation like hell in the cell or extreme rules to really pop but it got the job done and the crowd was having a blast with the "Yeah!" chants. Logan Paul vs Kevin Owens vs Randy Orton for the United States Championship was fun. All three are proven commodities at this point and had opportunities a plenty to show off. I don't know that much about iShowSpeed so his inclusion felt a little random to me but I'm out of the loop with things like social media, streaming and the sort so that's on me. Bayley vs Iyo Sky was REALLY good! The Damage CTRL narrative has been kind of hit or miss for me but it was worth it if it meant getting to this point. Finally seeing Bayley get her flowers at Wrestlemania and hearing the crazy pop she got was great. But it all pails in comparison to the insane main event of night two... Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns: Bloodline Rules. Both superstars got epic, goosebump inducing entrances that just told you this match was gonna be special and it doesn't disappoint! The opening half of the match is your standard mano a mano between Cody and Roman and it's electric, both men take full advantage of the Bloodline Rules stipulation, using weapons, tables and moving to the outside of the ring into the audience. There's some great trash talk from Roman too which did an effective job at filling the quieter moments of the match. The second half of this match is absolutely bats**t! It basically becomes Avengers Endgame with superstars and legends running out every few moments... Jey Uso spearing Jimmy off the ramp, John Cena giving the attitude adjustment to Roman and Solo, Seth coming out in his Shield gear, Undertaker appearing centre of the ring to get revenge on Roman for beating him at WM33 and showing The Rock who the REAL final boss is! It was nuts. But my favourite moment was when Roman was going to take out Cody with the chair but saw Seth in the corner of his eye and decided to get payback on him after Seth betrayed the Shield almost a decade ago, a decision which ultimately cost Roman the championship. Seth told Cody he would be his shield and he did exactly that. It was also beautiful to see Cody's family and the rest of the WWE universe get into the ring and celebrate alongside The American Nightmare as he fulfils his American Dream. A truly special two nights of wrestling that won't soon be forgotten.
9/10 Thank you for reading and stay safe!