5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 41 - Night 2 (Results & Review)
Did the women have the best Mania opener ever? Main event plods along to close an uneven weekend.
Good news, bad news.
Good news: Night two of WrestleMania 41 was a vast improvement over the first night.
Bad news: The main event of Sunday’s show was bad, dragging down an evening that had the potential to salvage the entire PLE.
Mania opened Sunday with what should be in the conversation for the greatest WrestleMania opener of all time, Iyo Sky versus Bianca Belair versus Rhea Ripley. The women’s triple threat had an awful build, but even the harshest critics knew there was a high ceiling and potential for greatness.
The show maintained a fair amount of steam throughout the night – even the negative moments weren’t all that bad – until they got to the main event. Cody Rhodes has carried the company for the past couple years, and John Cena’s abrupt heel turn has produced mixed results, no thanks to The Rock’s disappearing act after Elimination Chamber.
WWE will point to the noise in the stadium for the main event, but this is not a match that will be replayed in the months and years ahead. It potentially damaged Cody’s brand, and unless they’ve got a solid plan for what comes next (and Rock doesn’t blow that up), this could go off the rails. Time will tell.
Overall, WrestleMania 41 was a huge drop-off from the previous two years, both in match quality and fan service. There definitely are cracks forming in WWE’s once-invincible armor, and this weekend’s show put some of that on display. Sunday was a better effort, but it’s hard to call the entire PLE anything more than falling short of its potential.
Let’s get to it…