8 Live Observations From WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1

8. The Usos (c) Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs

At WrestleMania 33, Shinsuke Nakamura might have lost a moribund match against AJ Styles, but he gained something ultimately more memorable than that ever stood a chance of being. His ripper of an entrance provided the sort of imagery WWE love. A “WrestleMania Moment”, as Michael Cole almost certainly labelled it as his pal “Shin” danced onto the ‘Grandest Stage’.

Like a contestant’s early cash prize on Bullseye, that’s safe. Good job too - on this evidence, ‘The King Of Strong Style’ as an actual pressing concern may well not even exist.

He looked incredible in his orange and yellow gear but he was a literal walking billboard alongside partner Rick Boogs. It got sadder too - the hot opener bit had been undone by the Dallas Cowboys’ cheerleaders anyway, but a Boogs injury killed some fun buzz the four had done well to drum up.

It was a race to the finish from there - they hit a 1D for the win but fans in the stands seemed to patiently await the inevitable with Boogs getting checked out at ringside.

A sad and ungainly start in truth, but “the hazards are real” never felt as potent as in the opener of the biggest show of the year.