8 Live Observations From WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin On The KO Show

Stone Cold Steve Austin Kevin Owens
WWE.com

Speculation on exactly how this might play out ranged from dejection to delirium thanks to the intentionally vague nature of what might actually happen.

In the end, WWE played brilliantly with all those emotions to present a slice of history that ended with the most feel good of outcomes.

Agreeing to an actual match, Austin signed off on something he’d avoided for nearly 20 years. It started tentatively, and then Austin took a f*cking bump on f*cking concrete and everybody went to the f*cking moon.

Dallas as a whole couldn’t contain their emotions, and neither, seemingly could Steve Austin. Fists, fire, beers and Kevin Owens’ incredible selling got the performance over the line, not as though the stadium needed it. It ended every bit as special as it started - bells to denote the actual “match” was the history people were chasing and WWE, for a wonderfully refreshing change, didn’t take the p*ss.

Night 1 completed. Night 2, for the second year in a row, has an awful lot to follow.

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