8 Live Observations From WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1

3. Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins Vs Cody Rhodes

Stone Cold Steve Austin Kevin Owens
WWE.com

All along it was Cody, and that was all that mattered.

Seth Freakin’ Rollins (that name is low-key one of the stupidest things WWE has done this year and think of the ground that covers) had been all too potent a symbol of the company’s ills en route to WrestleMania.

A crazed fool desperate to point at the sign, the multi-time former WWE and Universal Champion became obsessed with the event to a damning and degrading fault. And all until Vince McMahon just gave him this anyway.

It had been the “this” that had been carrying the load for weeks. Because all along it was Cody. And that was all that mattered.

A good match became a great one when everybody actually came down from the high Cody’s entrance created. Rhodes and Rollins took their time, then spun a marvellous yarn which felt as much to do with the inside bits as it was the wild bumping and electrifying near falls.

Rollins couldn’t win - he just couldn’t - but the pair played with the biggest and cruelest timeline to pretzel the emotions of the audience every 60 seconds or so before delivering the big crowd pleasing conclusion.

This ruled hard and you’d be naïve to think it will last forever. But we’ll all always have this night.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett