Breaking Down WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1

(Photo Credit: WWE)

One night down and one to go. Night 2 is going to need to follow up in a big way after this incredible night 1 of WrestleMania 39. It was a very good first half of WrestleMania. There were some great entrances and plenty of good action. Rey and Dominik, the tag team title match delivered brilliantly with two great matches to serve their stories. While Seth Rollins put on a wonderful match with Logan Paul.

Austin Theory vs. John Cena – United States Championship

As previously announced, this was the match to open WrestleMania 39. Going into the show, Theory had been destroyed in a promo by Cena a few weeks back, so a win for Theory was very much needed for him to get his heat back. Cena had a great entrance where he had make a wish kids on the stage with him as he made his entrance, really cool from Cena.

As the match went on Theory was dominating most of it, which does make him look pretty good. Though when Cena started to come back, there was ref bump, which wasn’t the match you’d expect for the ref bump. Regardless, Cena got the visual submission of Theory as he started tapping once in the STF. Following that, Theory was able to hit a low blow as the referee didn’t see it, hit the A-Town Down to win the match and beat Cena for what is probably the biggest win of his career so far.

As far as the match is concerned, it wasn’t an amazing affair but it was still a good match that served its purpose well. Theory gets the win he needed and as for Cena, based on his schedule, I doubt he sticks around but you never know over the next few months. Going forward you can keep the title on Theory for a little longer, have him build himself up and maybe by Summerslam he can be integrated in the main event scene, obviously slowly but this match represents the faith WWE has in Austin Theory to carry the company for many years to come.

Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders vs. Street Profits vs. Ricochet and Braun Strowman

This was a match that going in didn’t really have much to it, the assumption was probably the winner would more or less be number one contenders for the tag titles. But overall this was a very fun match with some cool spots and some good performances. On Smackdown this week they held a fatal four way match between one competitor of each team, which was also a fun match.

One of the more impressive things in the match was Chad Gable, who delivered his rolling german suplex to Braun Strowman, a really impressive thing to see. There was more that happened in the match between Ivar doing a moonsault, missing it but still incredible, then Strowman performed a splash from the top rope onto Ivar. Then as Strowman did his bowling around the ring, Angelo Dawkins absolutely leveled him with a shoulder block, Ricochet did a shooting star press to the outside springboarding off the top rope to the outside. This led to the Street Profits getting the win after Ricochet went for a shooting star press, but Dawkins got the knees up, followed by a splash by Montez, and Dawkins got the pin for the win.

Those last few minutes were fantastic, and the Street Profits getting the win was probably the right move, and I think now this should put them in contention for the tag team championships, and after what happened later on in the show, may just be a very big deal. Following Mania the titles should not get split and it should be all one tag team division.

Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul

Considering Seth Rollins excellent record of putting on incredible matches, Seth Rollins against Logan Paul was going to be damn good, especially knowing that Paul has proved himself against Roman last year who is the top dog in WWE. After the Royal Rumble it was a bit of a no brainer to put these guys together. The build has been basically Paul just beating up on Rollins every time they meet, so there was only going to be one winner here.

This match was very good, with two guys that are going to go out there and deliver. Logan Paul had a great entrance, taking a page out of Shawn Michaels iconic WrestleMania 12 zipline entrance, in this case landing at ringside, absolutely fantastic. Seth Rollins had a conductor come out to conduct the crowd, which was cool. His outfit was ridiculous as always but very fun. Paul came out with a comical Prime energy drink mascot.

The wrestling in the match was great, and then the second half of the match is when we had the big moment. This mascot was revealed to be KSI, and associate of Paul’s, so he was getting involved by trying to film Paul jumping off the top rope to the announce table, with Rollins laying on it. But just before Paul jumped, Rollins grabbed the KSI and Paul landed right on top of him through the table. Following that, a pedigree, then Paul goes for a coast to coast, which transforms into Rollins hitting his stomp which gets him his first WrestleMania win since 35.

Obviously this is the end of Logan Paul for now but Seth Rollins goes on and honestly he should be built up and put in contention for the world championship, whoever walks out as champion, Cody or Roman, either way, there is a story to be told, and for the work Rollins has been putting in, he deserves it.

Becky Lynch, Lita & Trish Stratus vs. Damage CTRL

One of the matches that was a little less hyped but was pretty solid in the end. The only real issue was there no heat to this match. Sure, Damage CTRL are heels and Lita and Trish are legends in the business but that was really the selling point of the match. Both Lita and Trish looked great in the match, Trish had a similar attire inspired by her WrestleMania 21 attire, the last time WrestleMania was in LA.

Everyone hit their big moves in this one, though because it was such a heatless affair, it was on the boring side, even though it was a good enough match. The big thing was, is Damage CTRL going to walk out with a win? They did not, which means to me, that this group is basically dead. Because Damage CTRL have done nothing, and the women’s tag titles don’t really count because they mean nothing.

I think the best thing now is a Damage CTRL break up, you can keep Bayley heel, but have Iyo Sky do her own thing, and maybe you could keep Dakota with Bayley as I think those two as a duo could be very good, but I think Iyo needs to go on her own as a babyface and go out and show what she can really do because she is phenomenal in the ring as her NXT days have shown.

But another idea, if the rumours of Trish turning heel are true, is she could either be the new leader of Damage CTRL, or be the one to make the group something other than cannon fodder basically. Either way Becky and Bayley should be done with each other for now, as they have been feuding since War Games.

Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio

The match that I was very much looking forward to, and it did not disappoint, and potentially for match of the night because everything about it was done beautifully. From the entrances, to the match, to the involvement of outside forces. The match was building for months and paid off beautifully with Rey finally hitting Dominik. It was very clear that Rey in the match with his son wanted to make it the best on the card.

The entrances were probably the best entrances for WrestleMania 39 thus far. Dominik was brought into the arena in a prison van, cuffed and brought to the ring. Not to mention the added bonus that he wore a Rey mask as he stepped out of the van, absolutely brilliant. Then Rey Mysterio, he first showed up in the passenger seat of a low rider driven by Snoop Dogg, and then as it appeared, the theme of Eddie Guerrero played, and this was beautiful, a little tribute to Eddie from Rey, someone who he talked about the previous night at the hall of fame, then his regular theme plays as he walks onto the stage.

The match started and the other members of the Mysterio family were at ringside, so you knew that something was going to go down. There was a moment in the match where Dom was basically face first into the middle turnbuckle, and Rey takes his belt he had on and whipped Dom with it. Now usually this should be a DQ and I’d say it should be but I think in this case it serves the match well. A similar occurrence was when Dominik got in his mother’s face and she slapped him which got a great reaction even though technically it should’ve been a DQ but again, it served the story very well.

Judgement Day came out to try and help Dominik as you’d expect, but Legado did come out there with the LWO shirts which is great, so they evened the odds. Dominik ended up hitting the 619 on his father, a great moment. But in the end, Rey was the one to hit his 619, followed by a frog splash for the win. Now I thought Dominik would pick up the win but based on the post match, this feud ain’t done. The one other element of this match that made it that good, was Michael Cole’s commentary, really selling this feud, his hatred of Dominik for what he’s doing is perfect as the detestable chicken heel is brilliant, sold the match.

Dom was annoyed looking on at Rey celebrating with his wife and daughter. Also Bad Bunny who was on commentary got involved in the ending as well. So all this leads to the assumption that come Backlash in Puerto Rico, we will probably get a tag team match of some sort involving Dominik and Damian Priest against Rey and Bad Bunny or Santos Escobar, either one there but I look forward to the continuation of this, but that is probably where we have Dominik getting his win back on his father.

Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte – Smackdown Women’s Championship

So the big toss up for night one, was who was going to main event, it ended up being the tag team title match as it should have been to be honest. But even then, these women went out and absolutely killed it, for 20 minutes they delivered a great title match that this time as opposed to three years ago, came out with the correct winner.

It is hard to do the match justice but it was fantastic, it started out slow but as the match progressed it kept getting better, there was a moment where Rhea sent Charlotte over her head, and Charlotte landed very awkwardly literally on her face. Rhea hit the riptide near the end of the match which Charlotte kicked out of. Late on in the match is where Charlotte finally got the figure four applied but Rhea got to the ropes. It all ended when Rhea hit an avalanche riptide for the win and the championship.

I am very glad Rhea won here, there was always the fear that Charlotte would win because of the politics but thankfully it was the correct decision this time around. From here Rhea needs to dominate the women’s division. She needs to hold it to Summerslam minimum, and even then, only someone who can realistically take that title from her should take it, but there is no one on the current roster that stands out to take the title. But this represents 1-1 for Judgement Day before the big Hell in a Cell match between Edge and Finn Balor, but I think Balor wins that making it a solid WrestleMania for Judgement Day.

The Usos vs. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens- WWE Undistputed Tag Team Championship

Finally to round out night one, a huge match that has been in the making for more than half a year. It took until the last couple of weeks for Kevin Owens to accept a team with Sami Zayn, after being told by Sami that he loves him and thinks of him as a brother. This story has had so many turns it has been unbelievable, and everything has been so intriguing and even unpredictable at times. So then this match is finally announced and the hype for this was big and the match lived up to the hype, it has been far and away the best story of any match on this two night card.

From the start of the match, Sami was there, Jimmy was going to start but tagged in Jey, it was a great way to start. Things built slowly from there and it was absolutely brilliant, Sami getting beaten down, The Usos with many superkicks to both Owens and Zayn. Some of the nearfalls as well were incredible. Usos hit a 1D on Sami who kicks out at literally the last moment. The double Uso splash on Owens who kicks out very late, the scenes were amazing, and the crowd hung on to every nearfall. Owens and Zayn played their roles perfect, and there was a great moment in the match when both teams were standing opposite each other and Owens yelled “let’s finish this”, and it just made things feel epic, like a final stand.

In the end it came down to Sami and Jey, the way it was always meant to be. Sami hit a helluva kick, and Jey fell right into Sami and just like War Games when Sami did the same thing to Kevin Owens, Sami is holding Jey there, until he shoves him back into the corner and hits a second helluva kick, the same thing happens, only this time, Jimmy tries to save his brother, only to get hit with a stunner by Owens. But then, the final time Sami goes for it, he has a moment of what seemed like relief before he ran and hit the third and final helluva kick for the win and new tag team champions, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

This was the perfect ending to this part of the story, Sami pinning Jey Uso after everything that has happened in the past 8 months, could not have had a better ending. This will represent the next chapter in The Bloodline story, whatever is to happen with Cody and Roman, whichever way it goes, Roman will be pissed that The Usos have lost the titles and he will go off at them, and the cracks will grow ever bigger. But as for Owens and Zayn, they will move on to most likely the Street Profits, who won the showcase match earlier in the show.

But overall this was an excellent night one of WrestleMania and can only hope night two delivers in a similar way, even though on paper night two does look a little weaker, but we do have the big main event to look forward to as well.

What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.