8 Live Observations From WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1

When it came to at long last raising the temperature of the heat between Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair, WWE got things just right on the go-home edition of Monday Night Raw.

‘Big Time Becks’ attempts to cut Belair’s braid off added tremendous drama to a tale that’s relied more on physical impairments than abilities over the last few weeks. Both have suffered injuries as part of a bruising red brand turf war, but it had proven hard to shake the memories of the rematches they’d already had in 2021 while simultaneously building this as worthy of a WrestleMania run-back.

The match completed an excellent recovery job. Taking the stage as the first high stakes effort of the evening, the two called back and fought forward in equal measure, bolstered by big entrances and a hugely invested crowd.

Stars are everything in spite of what this company routinely books, and both of these two were brighter than almost any move they executed. The near falls were sh*t f*cking hot inside AT&T, even when a couple of moments of hesitation and the odd flub threatened the pace.

A cool playing possum sequence led to Belair flipping out of Lynch lifting her into the corner to shock her with the match-winning K.O.D.

Dallas erupted. Job done later rather than sooner, but job done nonetheless. Make it count second time around.