5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 41 - Night 2 (Results & Review)

1. Perfect On The Night

No matter how bad the build to the Women’s World Championship triple threat was at times, there was never much of a doubt that Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley would deliver on the night.

And Sunday, they exceeded even the loftiest of expectations with a match that instantly ranks as one of WWE’s best WrestleMania openers ever.

The women kicked off night two with a phenomenal, hyper-action match that started fast and never let up. The thread through the entire battle was Bianca and Rhea repeatedly coming together in the center of the ring to slug it out, with Iyo being sidelined – much like the build to the match. Then Sky would fly in and put both women down and remind everyone why she’s the champion.

There was a fair amount of creativity in spots involving all three wrestlers, such as Rhea hitting Iyo with a Razor’s Edge, but throwing Sky into Belair like a javelin. Bianca grabbed Ripley while she had Iyo in a Prison Lock to attempt a KOD. Sky’s attempted moonsault hit Rhea’s boots, propelling her right into Belair for a KOD.

The finish itself continued that trend with Belair using her braid as a whip on Rhea before delivering the KOD, only for Iyo to moonsault both women to pin Bianca. A silky smooth performance from all three that still somehow felt like an aggressive battle.

It also was the right booking to have Iyo retain after being treated like an afterthought between Rhea and Bianca. Great stuff all around.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.