6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 40 - Night 1 (Results & Review)

DOWNS…

4. Basic And Underwhelming

WrestleMania xl tag
WWE.com

There will be praise for the six-woman tag match later, but first, a gripe…

The battle pitting Damage CTRL against Bianca Belair, Naomi and Jade Cargill featured some of the most dynamic women’s wrestlers on the roster – and maybe in the world – and yet this match felt completely uneventful at times, playing out to silence for large portions.

Asuka and Kairi Sane, the current women’s tag champions, never felt like much of a threat, as they and Dakota Kai bounced like pinballs for the babyfaces. Belair, who is a tremendous big-match, big-arena performer, didn’t really get the chance to shine like she so often does. Naomi, who has some eye-popping offense, didn’t really get to flash her best stuff on the biggest stage.

Yes, this match was all about Jade and introducing her to a WWE audience, but it could have been a lot more.

Advertisement
Contributor
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.