The road to WrestleMania XL is in the rear-view mirror, as we have finally arrived at our long-awaited destination!
WWE WrestleMania Saturday Results – April 6, 2024
WWE continues their two-night premium live event on “The Grandest Stage of Them All” this evening, as night two of WrestleMania XL kicks off at 5/4c from Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On tap for WrestleMania XL Night 2 is Seth “Freakin'” Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, The Pride vs. The Final Testament in a Philadelphia Street Fight, LA Knight vs. AJ Styles, Logan Paul vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship, IYO SKY vs. Bayley for the WWE Women’s Championship, as well as Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes II for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship.
Featured below are complete WWE WrestleMania 40: Night 2 results from Sunday, April 7, 2024. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 5-11pm EST.
WRESTLEMANIA XL: NIGHT 2 RESULTS (4/7/2024)
The new “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque airs to get us started here at night two of WrestleMania XL.
Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens & Logan Paul Arrive
We see Bayley, IYO SKY and Damage CTRL, Drew McIntyre, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins arriving to the building and then Cole sends us into an elaborate video package looking back at the key moments from night one of WrestleMania XL. When the night one recap wraps up, we see shots of Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and Logan Paul arriving to the building earlier today.
Cole welcomes us to the pre-show panel where he is joined by Pat McAfee, Big E. and CM Punk. Big E. heads into the crowd to be among the people. When Punk is introduced, he is shown holding two Slammy Awards, much like Owen Hart’s old gimmick. He won OMG Moment and Return of the Year in the Slammy Awards, so it’s legitimate.
Cole then shifts the focus to The Rock and Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin'” Rollins at night one to earn Bloodline Rules for tonight’s Reigns vs. Rhodes II main event for the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship. He then sends us into highlights of key moments from the WrestleMania XL night one post-show press conference.
After the presser highlights wrap up, we return to the panelists where Punk, Big E. and McAfee share their thoughts on what kind of an affect Bloodline Rules will have on tonight’s main event. Cole asks outright if Cody can “finish the story” tonight. The crowd in the background pops. Punk says he’s known Cody a while and if anyone can do it, it’s Cody.
Megan Morant Sits Down With Paul “Triple H” Levesque (Part 2)
Now we head to part two of Megan Morant’s exclusive one-on-one sit-down with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque at WWE Headquarters. She asks him about the long-awaited surprise return of CM Punk and how it all came together. He talks about how it came out of nowhere and explains how it all went down with he and Nick Khan.
He talks about getting the deal done quickly for Punk to be able to return in his hometown live on-the-air at the WWE Survivor Series premium live event at AllState Arena. We actually see unaired footage of Levesque rushing the fresh-haircutted Punk through the backstage area of AllState Arena for the surprise return that shocked the WWE Universe.
The talk switches to the drama surrounding Punk, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins and Drew McIntyre. They talk about the big WWE World Heavyweight Championship bout between the latter two tonight and how the former will be on special guest commentary dropping pipe bombs while it’s going down. Triple H talks about the new era of WWE continuing in 2024.
Once the interview wraps up, we return to the panel where Cole talks about Triple H listening to the WWE Universe by bringing back the man seated to his right. CM Punk confirms a lot of what Triple H said about their talks leading up to his return. We see the lengthy pre-match video package telling the full story behind Reigns-Rhodes II for the Universal title tonight.
After that wraps up, we return to the pre-show panel where the match graphic for tonight’s United States Championship triple-threat between current title-holder Logan Paul and challengers Randy Orton and Kevin Owens flashes on the screen. Cole talks us directly into our next pre-match video package, this time looking at the build to the U.S. title three-way.
Byron Saxton Interviews WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY
Backstage, we see Byron Saxton standing by with the current WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY. She insults him for asking a stupid question after his first statement to her. She vows to beat Bayley and retain the title and then Saxton sends us over to Peter Rosenberg, who is in the nose-bleeds inside Lincoln Financial Field. He talks about the perspective from up there.
After Rosenberg talks about it being cold up there, he sends us back to the pre-show panel, where Cole jokes that Snoop Dogg gave him a hoodie sweater earlier today. We see Fox Sports’ Tom Rinaldi walking the long entrance ramp inside the show venue for tonight as Cole says he will join them at the pre-show panel when we return. On that note, we head to a commercial.
Highlights are shown of the Rey Mysterio & Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio & Santos Escobar match from night one of WrestleMania XL on Saturday night, including the surprise finish to the bout involving Philadelphia Eagles players from the NFL, Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson, getting involved to help Rey and Andrade pull off the win.
We cut back to the pre-show panel, who talk about the WWE Women’s Championship bout scheduled for tonight. We see the pre-match video package telling the long story of Bayley and Damage CTRL, which culminates with her facing IYO SKY for the title tonight. The panelists send us to Peter Rosenberg, who talks to a fan in the front row about what he paid for his seats.
The Rock, Muhammad Ali’s Connection: The Neil Leifer Story
Rosenberg then sends it back to the panel, who send us to Fox Sports’ Tom Rinaldi on the long entrance ramp. He sets the stage for our next video package feature, which looks at the story of an award-winning journalist known as Neil Leifer, who worked with Muhammad Ali and The Rock.
The package tells the story of Leifer, who took the famous photo of Ali standing over Sonny Liston after knocking him down in the rematch. He took many more famous photos throughout the years and then we see the connection to he and WWE, which is through The Rock.
We see The Rock seeking out Leifer to work together with some photo shoots. The Rock talks about the connection between himself and Muhammad Ali with “The People’s Champion,” etc. The video also covers Ali’s involvement as special guest ring enforcer for WrestleMania I and his WWE Hall of Fame induction as part of the 2024 class this year.
Very good stuff here. E60, ESPN 30 For 30 level quality stuff. The package wraps up and we return to Fox Sports’ Tom Rinaldi, who is leaning against the ring in the middle of Lincoln Financial Field with The People’s Championship title belt over his shoulder that was gifted to The Rock by Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, which he wore to the ring for night one of WrestleMania XL.
Michael Cole, Pat McAfee Leave Panel To Head To Commentary Desk
After he sends us back to the pre-show panel, Cole and McAfee say goodbye as they head off to get ready to head to ringside for the call alongside Corey Graves for night two of WrestleMania XL this evening. We are sent backstage to Byron Saxton, who is standing outside of the Nightmare Express tour bus talking about tonight’s Reigns-Rhodes II main event.
Now we see footage from what was arguably the best night of the evening during night one of WrestleMania XL, the WWE Intercontinental Championship showdown between the longest-reigning I-C champ in WWE history, GUNTHER, and Sami Zayn. We see the footage of Zayn being pummeled in front of his wife until eventually prevailing and winning in a Cinderella, Rocky come-to-life moment.
Jackie Redmond, Wade Barrett Join CM Punk & Big E. On Pre-Show Panel
Back live, Jackie Redmond welcomes us back to the pre-show panel as a sky-cam shot slowly descends down into Lincoln Financial Field. Redmond sends us into a trailer for the special WrestleMania XL: Behind The Curtain documentary on this year’s two-night premium live event in Philadelphia, PA. that premieres this Wednesday, April 10, 2024 on WWE’s YouTube channel.
When we return to the pre-show panel, Jackie Redmond mentions that she and Wade Barrett are now sitting in alongside CM Punk and Big E., as Cole and McAfee have left to get ready for the call of tonight’s show. Punk shows off to Redmond his ability to pop the fans behind him and elicit “CM Punk! CM Punk!” chants in effortless fashion.
We head back to Kayla Braxton, who is live backstage outside of the locker room of The Bloodline talking about tonight’s Reigns-Rhodes II rematch in the main event for the WWE Universal title. The pre-show panelists take back over and they run down the scheduled lineup for this evening as the official match graphics flash across the screen.
Redmond sends us into a pre-match video package telling the full story leading up to tonight’s highly-anticipated WWE World Heavyweight Championship showdown between Seth “Freakin'” Rollins and Drew McIntyre, with CM Punk on special guest commentary.
Special Olympics’ Cody Has Time Of His Life
We see the representative of the Special Olympics for an appearance at the pre-show panel. He yells into the mic at the top of his lungs for what feels like an eternity. You could tell he was having the time of his life doing call-and-response fun with the fans in the background.. Feel good stuff, for sure.
Peter Rosenberg Walks-And-Talks With Drew McIntyre Backstage
We head to Peter Rosenberg backstage, who catches up with Drew McIntyre live. He asks if he’s busy. Drew says it’s only the biggest night of the year and he’s got a world title match, but sure. They walk and talk as Drew addresses CM Punk’s return and involvement tonight in his title tilt against Seth “Freakin'” Rollins.
He says it was his idea and says he can’t wait for Punk to have to sit there and watch him do what Punk hasn’t been able to do, win the title on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.” When this wraps up, Rosenberg keeps walking and catches up with Alpha Academy, who have a special chair phone. It is literally a green steel chair with a monitor embedded in the ass part of it. They all take a “selfie” with it.
JBL, Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits, The Final Testament Interviews
Back to Jackie Redmond and the gang at the pre-show panel, who are joined now by WWE Hall of Fame legend JBL. JBL talks for a moment and then we are sent backstage to Byron Saxton, who is standing by live with Bobby Lashley, The Street Profits and B-Fab.
They talk about The Final Testament taking them to the dark side and talk about how violent and conclusive things are going to be tonight in their Philadelphia Street Fight. Next, we shoot to Kayla Braxton, who is standing by with The Final Testament. Karrion Kross responds to The Pride trio and vows to “take things to the extreme” tonight in Philly.
We head back to the pre-show panel, which still features JBL with Jackie Redmond, Big E. and Wade Barrett. They talk about the Philadelphia Street Fight for a moment and then send us back to Peter Rosenberg, who is standing backstage with Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias. Rosenberg asks him about the night one tag-team main event and he gives his thoughts.
He jokes about how cold it was and how Rock was pouring water on himself and must have been freezing. Rosenberg asks Fluffy to give his official prediction for tonight’s main event. He says tonight is the night Cody Rhodes will finally finish his story. We see shots of AJ Styles and LA Knight arriving earlier and then Redmond sets up a package showing their brawl at the WWE Media Day this week.
The pre-show panelists set the stage for our main event of the evening between Reigns and Rhodes with the Universal title on-the-line and then Redmond sends us into the video package with fans of Philly encouraging Cody to “finish the story” tonight. Back live at the panel, JBL, Wade Barrett and Big E. give their final thoughts on the bout.
Stephanie McMahon-Levesque Kicks Off Night Two
Samantha Irvin introduces The War And Treaty, who perform “God Bless America” to get WrestleMania Sunday started. Once their performance wraps up, we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance music for Stephanie McMahon-Levesque. Out comes the longtime WWE personality to officially welcome us to night two of WrestleMania.
She says she’s been to them all and tonight’s might be the most important ever to her because it’s the first under the “Paul Levesque Era” of WWE. She asks, “Are you ready?! Then let’s kick off night two of WrestleMania!” This wraps up her brief surprise cameo appearance to start things off inside the building.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship (CM Punk On Commentary)
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins (C) vs. Drew McIntyre
We see CM Punk in a suit with his arm-brace on standing behind the curtain at Gorilla position as the opening notes for his Cult of Personality theme song hitting. He walks through the curtain and begins heading down the long entrance ramp to join Michael Cole, Pat McAfee and Corey Graves on commentary for our opening contest. Redmond wraps up the Countdown to WrestleMania Sunday pre-show.
Michael Cole welcomes us back inside Lincoln Financial Field after the new Triple H-narrated “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature airs to officially start the main show portion of night two of WrestleMania XL. We head to the cold open video package featuring Philadelphia hip-hop star Meek Mill.
After that wraps up, we return live inside the stadium as Cole officially welcomes us to night two of WrestleMania XL. We see live shots backstage of Drew McIntyre and Seth “Freakin'” Rollins in their ring gear getting ready to come out. We see a large bagpipe band come out to perform. This leads directly into a bunch of men with swords on each side of the long entrance ramp.
They touch swords in the middle as the music transitions to Drew McIntyre’s theme. He makes his way out for his big title opportunity in our opener. As he settles in the ring, Punk on commentary mentions how McIntyre has a pipe band, but it’s okay because he’s got a pipe bomb. Cole then sends things over to the Spanish commentary team for their brief on-camera cameo to introduce themselves.
Back to Cole, who jokes about the internet ragging on him for multiple weather updates during the cold night one show. He says thankfully tonight isn’t as cold. Now we see an enormous band with accordians and horns and banjos in the most colorful, ridiculous-looking outfits you’ve ever seen playing the theme for Seth “Freakin'” Rollins live at the top of the stage.
This shifts to “BURN IT DOWN!” and the traditional theme plays on the house speakers as the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion emerges in an outlandish fancy outfit that would make the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage and living legend Ric Flair blush. Rollins leads the enormous Philly-based band that played the opening of his entrance tune down the massive entrance ramp.
Punk jokes about not even knowing what to do with what he is seeing right now. It is big enough that as goofy as it might seem on the surface, it definitely feels like a moment that will stay in the memories of fans for years to come, good or bad. The two super-elaborate ring entrances wrap up. Samantha Irvin handles the final formal pre-match ring introductions and then the bell sounds to get our first match started.
As soon as the bell sounds, Drew sprints across the ring and immediately blasts Rollins with a Claymore Kick that lands flush. He immediately covers him and hooks the leg, but Rollins kicks out at two-and-a-half as the crowd gasps. Punk says he hates to admit it, but that was smart by McIntyre. Cole points out that Rollins is being smart now too, as he rolls out of the ring to recover. Drew heads out after him.
We see the action continue at ringside between these two as Rollins starts to take over. The commentators talk about how Rollins is heavily taped up on his back and is said to be very much beat up after his tag-team main event alongside Cody Rhodes against The Rock and Roman Reigns in last night’s night one tag-team main event. Back in the ring, Rollins hits a Stomp for a close near fall of his own.
Rollins connects with a Pedigree and another Stomp moments later and he goes for the cover. McIntyre kicks out at two. The commentators start to ponder what Seth is going to have to do to finish off “The Scottish Warrior,” who Punk accidentally calls “The Irish Psychopath” on commentary before catching his mistake and correcting it.
McIntyre starts to fight back, but things head out to the floor at ringside where Seth takes over again. McIntyre recovers and lays out Seth and then mocks CM Punk’s “GTS” gesture before clearing off the commentary desk. Rollins fights back and hits a big Stomp to Drew on the desk. Back in the ring, McIntyre takes over again and connects with a Claymore Kick. He hits some more trademark spots and then another Claymore Kick earns him the three-count.
Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Drew McIntyre
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Drew McIntyre (C) vs. Damian Priest
Drew McIntyre has captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, only the second person to hold the title after Seth Rollins was the inaugural title-holder. Michael Cole talks about Drew finally winning the world title in front of fans, something that has obviously been important to him. CM Punk then takes away from Drew’s win by saying he beat a compromised Rollins to do so, with Rollins’ knee and back being injured.
Drew ends up staring down Punk. He slowly walks over to him and holds the title up and says this is his moment. Punk says into his headset, “I know, so why are you making it about me?” Drew goes too far and stands on the desk in front of Punk, taunting him until Punk sweeps his legs out from under him. He takes his suit jacket off and removes his arm brace.
He beats down McIntyre some more and then out of nowhere we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song for The Judgment Day. Out comes “Senor Money In The Bank” Damian Priest. He cashes in his briefcase and immediately takes McIntyre into the ring, where he connects with his South of Heaven finisher and immediately goes for the cover. The referee counts to three.
Now we have our third-ever WWE World Heavyweight Champion in history, as Damian Priest ends Drew McIntyre’s reign in short, emphatic fashion. He heads up the ramp as CM Punk is shown with a big smile on his face at ringside. He makes it to the top of the entrance ramp where the rest of The Judgment Day come out to celebrate with him. We cut back to Punk with an ear-to-ear grin clapping as Drew is slowly recovering in the ring and grilling Punk.
Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Damian Priest
Philadelphia Street Fight
Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits vs. Karrion Kross & Authors Of Pain
Now we head to a quick post-match commercial break. When we return, we see footage of The Rock and Roman Reigns arriving to the venue for night two this evening. Back inside the stadium, WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin begins the formal ring announcement for our next bout of the evening, which will be the scheduled Philadelphia Street Fight six-man tag-team contest.
After that, she introduces our special guest commentator for this Philly Street Fight, none other than hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg. Out comes the pop culture icon with his WWE Golden Championship. He heads down to join Cole, McAfee and Graves on special guest commentary for our second match of the evening.
From there, Irvin introduces our special guest referee for this Philly Street Fight, none other than Philadelphia legend from the original days of Extreme Championship Wrestling, WWE Hall of Fame legend Bubba Ray Dudley. Out comes one-half of The Dudley Boyz in the traditional zebra-striped referee shirt and black dress pants. He gets a big pop coming out and settles in the ring.
The camera shot cuts to black-and-white as the theme for The Final Testament hits. Out comes Karrion Kross, Scarlett, Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering. They all head down to the ring together for this Philly Street Fight. The theme for The Street Profits hits next and out comes Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. They stop and Bobby Lashley’s theme hits. Out comes “The All Mighty.”
The Pride trio head to the ring together accompanied by B-Fab. They settle inside the ring and the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. After some back-and-forth action with a lot of weapons and foreign objects being used, we see things start to work its’ way to the finish.
We see Scarlett and B-Fab crash through a table on the floor. Montez hits an insane high spot from the ring to the floor for a huge crowd pop. We see Bubba put on sunglasses as Lashley blasts Kross with a spear. Bubba calls for his old Dudley Boyz spot, as Ford and Lashley holds Kross’ legs open as Dawkins comes off the top with a “Wazzuppp!” spot.
They push each other and all yell “Get the tables!” with the fans, who say it loud as hell as well. The fans then break out in a loud “Tables! Tables!” chant as they head out under the ring to do exactly that. An “ECW! ECW!” chant breaks out from the Philly crowd after that.
They bring the table in the ring, but unfortunately when they sit Kross on it, it collapses and breaks without doing anything. Fans boo. They head out and grab another table, which they set up and lay Kross on carefully this time. After a top-rope splash, Kross is put through the table for the pin.
The team of Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits pick up the win in a crowd-friendly Philadelphia Street Fight. After the match, Snoop Dogg leaves the commentary desk to join Lashley, Ford, Dawkins and B-Fab in the ring. That’s how the post-match scene wraps up.
Winners: Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits
Kayla Braxton Interviews Paul Heyman Backstage
We see footage of Logan Paul in his ring-gear doing push-ups in his locker room backstage as Michael Cole promotes the WWE United States Championship triple-threat with Paul, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens still to come tonight. We then see highlights of the night one main event.
After that, we shoot to Kayla Braxton, who is standing by with “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline. She talks about Rock and Reigns winning last night and then asks Heyman what exactly Bloodline Rules means. He jokes about the exact page of the rule book that describes this until he reveals he’s being sarcastic.
He says that Bloodline Rules means whatever Reigns, Rock and The Bloodline want it to. He says essentially it means one person goes home with the champion and all the glory tonight and the other goes home to Brandi. This wraps up on that note and we head into another quick commercial time out.
LA Knight vs. AJ Styles
Now we see a live shot of the parking lot as a Slim Jim race car pulls up and out pops LA Knight. “The Mega Star” says we’ve got a little car to give-away tonight, and he’s got a few BFTs to give-away tonight, “YEAH!” He walks off as we head into another quick commercial break.
The pre-match video package airs now to tell the story leading up to our next match of the evening, which is, in fact, LA Knight vs. AJ Styles. The familiar sounds of the entrance music for “The Mega Star” hits and out comes Knight, who stops to give away some Slim Jims to a fan in the crowd.
He settles in the ring and soaks up the crowd atmosphere as Cole mentions this bout being sponsored by Slim Jim. We see a live shot of fans in England having a WrestleMania watch party. A new theme for AJ Styles hits, beginning with his voice saying, “You don’t want none.”
Fireworks and pyro explode and out comes “The Phenomenal One” to his brand new entrance tune. As Samantha Irvin is introducing him as he comes out, he takes his vest off and runs down the massive entrance ramp. He hits the ring and the fight is on with he and Styles, prompting the bell to sound, cutting Irvin off in mid-sentence.
The two brawl as this one gets officially off-and-running. Out on the floor at ringside, Knight takes over control of the offense and proceeds to bounce his head off the commentary desk over and over again as fans shout “YEAH!” with each connection. Back in the ring, we see Styles start to take over control of the offense.
After some more back-and-forth action we work our way to the finish of this one, which sees Knight pick up the victory. The commentators talk about how LA Knight can now start his own streak at WrestleMania after getting the first win under his belt on “The Grandest Stage of Them All.”
Winner: LA Knight
2024 WWE Hall Of Fame Inductees Are Featured
The commentators send us into a quick post-match commercial break. We see that on May 24 and May 25 there will be WWE Friday Night SmackDown and the 2024 WWE King of the Ring and 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring shows in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Cole, McAfee and Graves briefly talk about WWE’s Saudi return at the end of May.
When that wraps up, Cole talks about the legends of wrestling taking their rightful place in immortality earlier this weekend. On that note, he sends us into a video package looking back at key highlights from Friday night’s 2024 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony as part of this year’s WrestleMania XL Week festivities.
As we return live, the 2024 WWE Hall of Fame inductees are introduced out on the WrestleMania XL entrance stage in front of the jam-packed crowd in Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA.
The U.S. Express duo of Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda are introduced first, followed by Thunderbolt Patterson, Bull Nakano, the representative for Lia Maivia and Muhammad Ali, as well as the headline inductee for this year Paul Heyman, who comes out to the official Extreme Championship Wrestling theme song as fans chant “ECW! ECW!”
WWE United States Championship
Logan Paul (C) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens
The pre-match video package airs now to tell the story leading up to our triple-threat showdown for the WWE United States Championship, which features current title-holder Logan Paul defending against Randy Orton and Kevin Owens.
We return live to the theme for Logan Paul playing. Out comes the WWE U.S. Champion on the back of a giant six-wheeler PRIME truck with a giant PRIME-bottle designed canon on the back. He drives it into the entrance stage and fires the canon at the stage where pyro explodes with each shot.
Paul heads to the ring as the giant blue PRIME mascot emerges and heads to the ring with him. Last time this person was KSI, but the face was cut out. This time there is no face cut-out, so we don’t know who is under there. It’s gotta be Jake Paul, right?
After the champ settles in the ring, the theme for Kevin Owens hits. We see “The Prize Fighter” backstage walking when he stops and sees Sami Zayn, who has his newly won WWE Intercontinental Championship. Just like Owens did for Zayn last night, Zayn slaps Owens on the shoulder and tells him tonight it’s your turn.
Fired up, Owens continues his walk to the ring. He makes his way out as the giant screen shows his KO logo and other stuff in the exact same font, colors and style as the original ECW logo. Some of his ring gear is in this style as well. He comes out and sees the PRIME truck and stops. He heads back to the back again.
Owens re-emerges a second time, this time on a big golf cart. He drives it out, stops to crotch chop at the PRIME truck, and then drives it down the massive entrance ramp. His theme stops and the theme for Randy Orton plays. Owens hops back on the golf cart and hits reverse. He speeds backwards up the massive entrance ramp.
As Orton emerges, Owens lowers the roof on the golf cart and waves Orton over, offering him a lift down to the ring. Orton shrugs his shoulders and hops on the back. Owens floors the gas pedal, clearly having some fun with Orton, who can’t hide his smile as he holds on for deer life and signals to Owens to slow down.
The two hop off the golf cart after driving it over to the PRIME hydration station at ringside, which they trash. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this three-way title tilt. Early on it’s very obvious that Owens and Orton are going to work together to beat down Paul. They do exactly that for several minutes, which the crowd eats up.
We see the two finally end their arrangement when they both go for the pin on Logan at the same time. They each agree that they’re gonna have to fight, but say not yet and they agree to go back after Paul together. As they go to do so, Orton turns Owens and tries for an RKO. Owens avoids it. Orton makes the “gulp” face for a big laugh-pop from the crowd.
Owens and Orton decide screw it and that now is the time for them to fight. They meet in the middle of the ring and Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama it out in hockey-fist-fight fashion as the crowd goes wild. Paul takes over and hits a slingshot into a flipping double-clothesline.
Orton and Owens end up beating Paul down again as a loud Gatorade chant breaks out from the Philly crowd. We see Owens hit a wild moonsault off the top-rope. Moments later, Owens and Orton are laid out by Paul with the brass knuckles. Orton ends up hitting an RKO out of nowhere on Paul.
He sees the brass knuckles and debates using them himself. He ultimately decides not to, instead passing them off to the ref. Why? Because he backs up in the corner and stalks Paul, waiting to hit a punt. As he goes for it, Paul rolls out to the floor to avoid it. The fans boo. The giant blue PRIME mascot reveals his face and the commentators say who he is. Apparently it’s some big influencer or social media guy. His name is IShowSpeed.
IShowSpeed barks at Orton and shoves him hard, talking tough while wearing a goofy-ass mascot outfit. Orton decks him and clears off the commentary desk. He puts the mascot through it. Back in the ring, Paul decks Orton. He heads to the top-rope for a frog splash, but Owens takes him out. Owens hits a Stunner on Orton for a two count.
Owens tries a pop-up power bomb on Orton, but in mid-air, Orton transitions to an RKO on the way down on Owens, which connects. Unfortunately, Paul gets rid of Orton and hits a top-rope frog splash for the pin fall victory. With the win, Logan Paul retains his WWE United States Championship.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: Logan Paul
WWE Women’s Championship
IYO SKY (C) vs. Bayley
It’s time for our co-main event of the evening. Following the Paul-Orton-Owens three-way title tilt, we shift gears and head into a quick post-match commercial break. Upon returning, Cole thanks Meek Mill for his participation this weekend and for his song off his new album, which is playing as Cole does the obligatory promotion for it.
After this wraps up, Cole sends us into the next pre-match video package, which this time tells the story behind the Bayley and Damage CTRL rivalry, which culminates tonight with Bayley challenging IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship. When it wraps up, we return inside Lincoln Financial Field.
Some dramatic music plays and we see a giant pyramid. Out comes Bayley with massive angel wings or bird wings on in a special blue outfit she is wearing. She is being carried on the shoulders of some shirtless dudes, who set her down and bow down to her. Bayley steps forward and her wings are removed as her regular theme hits.
The winner of the 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble heads down to the ring to a big crowd reaction as she gets ready for her big title opportunity on “The Grandest Stage of Them All” against a former friend and ally turned bitter-rival. She settles inside the squared circle and her music dies down as she awaits the arrival of the champ.
We hear the familiar sounds of the Damage CTRL theme and out comes the group. As IYO SKY’s theme plays, the WWE Women’s Champion walks in front of her fellow Damage CTRL members and poses in a giant entrance robe. She heads to the ring as Asuka, Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai head to the back. IYO settles in the ring and removes the robe.
Samantha Irvin handles the final formal pre-match ring introductions for the champion and the challenger and then the bell sounds to get our second-to-last match of WrestleMania XL Weekend officially off-and-running. Bayley got a surprisingly enormous pop when being introduced before the bell. We see the two mix it up early on to some good crowd atmosphere.
Bayley starts off strong as the commentators sing her praises. IYO SKY takes over and brings the fight out to the floor, where she begins focusing her offensive attack on the knee of Bayley. The commentators point out Bayley’s recent knee injury issues and explain how IYO is using all the knowledge she gained about Bayley while working with her in Damage CTRL.
After some more back-and-forth action, we see the crowd start to sing loudly for Bayley like they were doing overseas at the last big WWE international premium live event. Things in this one pick up an insane amount in what eventually turns into arguably the best match of the night thus far, and along with GUNTHER vs. Sami Zayn, perhaps the best of the entire weekend.
Ultimately, Bayley gets the win and has her well-deserved “WrestleMania Moment” afterwards. She gets emotional when handed the title and as the crowd goes absolutely bonkers with one of the loudest pops of the night, she poses on the ropes with her newly won WWE Women’s Championship. After this wraps up, we head to another commercial break.
Winner and NEW WWE Women’s Champion: Bayley
WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship (Bloodline Rules)
Roman Reigns (C) vs. Cody Rhodes II
It’s main event time!
Once the post-match commercial break after Bayley-IYO SKY wraps up, we return inside Lincoln Financial Field where Michael Cole introduces the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, who are with hip-hop legend and WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg in the ring. Snoop announces an attendance of 72,755 for night two of WrestleMania XL, bringing the two-day total to 145,298.
Cole, McAfee and Graves run down many of the celebrities in the house, who are shown on-camera in cameo appearances in the crowd. Among them are George Kittle, T-Pain and many others. After this, we head into the pre-match video package to tell the story leading up to tonight’s night two main event.
Tonight, we find out if, in fact, Cody Rhodes can finally “finish the story” on, of all places, “The Grandest Stage of Them All.” The pre-match package wraps up and we return inside the stadium. The lights go down and fire pyro starts shooting out of the top of the entrance stage. Out comes “The American Nightmare” with a bad ass mask/helmet on.
Rhodes is greeted by his beautiful bride, Brandi Rhodes, who gets a big pop from the crowd. She takes his mask/helmet off and then the two embrace before the leader of the “Cody Crybabies” makes his way down the massive entrance ramp to try and “finish his story” once and for all in his second WrestleMania night two main event in two consecutive years.
An image of Cody with Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho in an arena before an AEW show is among those that appeared in a montage during the build-up to the main event this evening. Social media is all over that one, I’m sure. An enormous orchestra comes out to the top of the entrance stage to begin the start of Roman Reigns’ theme, which they play live.
It makes this feel even bigger. They’re doing almost everything perfect from the time the Bayley match ended until now with both guys in the ring, in terms of making this feel big and special. It couldn’t be done much better. Now it’s on Cody, Roman and the booking the company came up with to take the ball, already deep in the field, to the end zone for the game-winning score.
“The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns emerges accompanied by “The Wise Man” of The Bloodline. As the two head to the ring past the orchestra playing the theme for “The Head of the Table” live on the stage and ramp, Michael Cole talks about how historic the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship reign for Roman Reigns has been. Feels like a eulogy for his title reign. We’ll see!
Reigns and Heyman settle inside the squared circle and throw their 1’s up as the orchestra finishes up the theme music for the reigning and defending champion. Samantha Irvin begins the formal pre-match ring introductions for this WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship showdown under Bloodline Rules. After she wraps up the introductions, the bell sounds and off we go.
The crowd couldn’t be more on fire for this match as it is getting started. The two slowly close in on each other and go face-to-face in the middle of the ring as the already deafening crowd reaction and energy somehow gets considerably louder and more intense.
Reigns smiles real big as they stare each other down. The two back up and Cody yells let’s go. He goes after Reigns and the two finally get this one started. Early on, Cody sends Reigns into the post and out to the floor. He heads out and pulls a table out from under the ring. Reigns kicks him to stop him and then he slides the table back under the ring as the crowd loudly boos.
A kendo stick enters the picture, as Reigns beats Cody down with the foreign object back inside the ring. Cody ends up fighting back and now he’s got the stick. Cody goes to work on Reigns’ leg. He slaps a figure-four leg lock on him in the middle of the ring. Reigns rakes the eyes to get himself free. He stumbles after getting up, showing that his leg has been softened up in the process.
Back out on the floor, Reigns continues to work over Cody with punishing offense. He says he’s gonna miss doing this, as Cole explains on commentary how if Reigns wins tonight, it’s the last time he’ll have to deal with Cody. The fight spills out into the crowd, as Reigns takes Cody over the barricade and into the sea of tens of thousands of fans inside Lincoln Financial Field.
Out there we see the two fighting on an elevated platform, where Cody fights back into competitive form and hits a massive suplex. He takes Reigns back down to the barricade and throws him over. Cody stops and yells, “Hola boys!” into the headset of one of the Spanish commentators. He brings Reigns back in the ring and goes for a Disaster Kick, but Reigns stops him in mid-air and power bombs him down hard.
“I’ma send you to Hollywood with the rest of ’em, this is my company, b*tch!” says Reigns as he chokes Cody over the ring ropes. “Talk your sh*t, Roman!” says Pat McAfee in reaction to that on commentary. The Paul Levesque Era, folks! Reigns goes for a cover on Cody after a big move, but only gets two. He goes to work on Cody with submission work on the mat, taunting him all-the-while.
After some more back-and-forth action, we see things end up on the floor again, where Cody clears off the commentary desk. He goes to pick up Reigns, but Reigns low-blows him and puts him through the table. Back in the ring, he hits his finisher and goes for the cover, but Cody kicks out. Reigns hits Cody with his own Cross-Rhodes finisher, but again Cody kicks out.
Reigns laughs and says that moves sucks, he didn’t think it would work. He says no one wins any matches with that move. He goes for his Superman Punch, but Cody avoids it and hits a disaster kick. He hits a Cody Cutter, but Reigns kicks out. Cody hits Reigs with his own Spear and covers him, but Reigns kicks out. Cody hits a Cross-Rhodes on Reigns and picks him up for a second one, but in comes Jimmy Uso with a super kick.
“Main Event” Jey Uso runs out to his theme music and fights with Jimmy. They fight up the ramp, where Jey spears Jimmy off the stage. Back in the ring, Cody rolls a distracted Reigns up, but Reigns kicks out. The two get back after it and as Cody takes over again, we see him hit a Cross-Rhodes. He holds on and picks Reigns up for a second one, but in comes Solo Sikoa with a Samoan Spike to Cody.
Solo pummels Cody on the mat and then picks a lifeless Cody up and yells at Roman to “finish his story.” Reigns yells, “I know!” He backs in a corner as Solo holds Cody. He charges at him and connects with a Spear at the same time as Solo hits a Samoan Spike. He covers Cody, but somehow Cody kicks out after two. Solo and Reigns go back to work on Cody until the theme for John Cena hits.
“The Greatest of All-Time” runs down to the ring and takes out Solo Sikoa and brings him out to the floor where he hits him with an Attitude Adjustment that puts him through the Spanish commentary desk. From there, the sounds of The Rock’s music hits and out comes “The Final Boss” to a massive crowd reaction. Cena rolls in the ring and stares as Rock makes his way down looking ready to handle business.
Rock and Cena slowly close in on each other as the crowd soaks it up. The fans chant “Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t!” Cena takes his shirt off for a big pop. Cena and Rock slowly get closer to each other and stare each other down. Cena does the “You can’t see me” gesture and then Rock hits him with a Rock Bottom. Rock takes his weight belt off and gets ready to whip Cena until out of nowhere, the theme for The Shield hits. Rock looks around.
No one shows up as Rock looks around. Out of nowhere, we see Reigns run across the camera shot and connect with a Superman punch to someone off-camera. We see after it connects that it was Seth “Freakin'” Rollins in his old Shield gear. Rock looks at Cody crawling in the ring and says “C’mon boy!” just as we hear the iconic sounds of Undertaker’s gong,. The lights go out.
When they come back on, we see The Rock in the ring with his weight belt talking trash while staring at the WrestleMania XL entrance stage. He slowly turns around and realizes The Undertaker, in street clothes, is standing behind him. The Rock turns around just as Undertaker grabs him by the throat and hits a choke slam. The gong hits again and the lights go out. When they come back on, Cody is laid out in the ring. Reigns is standing.
Reigns grabs a steel chair. He blasts Rollins with it again as Michael Cole talks about this being years in the making, with Reigns wanting revenge on Rollins for whacking him with a chair to end The Shield and turn on him. He blasts Rollins and turns around and sees Cody, who hits him with a Disaster Kick. Cody hits a Cross-Rhodes. He holds on and picks Reigns up and hits a second one. After another, Cody goes for the cover and gets the pin.
Winner and NEW WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion: Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes Celebrates “Finishing His Story” With Specific Special People
Ladies and gentlemen, “The American Nightmare” did it. He finished his story. WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin is super emotional and crying, barely able to do her job of announcing Cody Rhodes as the winner and new WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion. It only added to the feel of it and made it better. We see an emotional Cody fall to his knees as he is handed the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship.
His wife, Brandi Rhodes, slides in and shares the emotional moment with him. Out comes Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and others to the ring to join Cody Rhodes in his celebration. LA Knight, Randy Orton and others are also entering the ring to share the moment with Cody. The commentators talk us through highlighhts of the Uso to Uso spear off the stage, the surprise appearances by Seth Rollins, The Rock and The Undertaker.
CM Punk joins the other WWE Superstars in the ring to put Cody Rhodes over as the new captain of the ship for WWE in the first WrestleMania of the new era in the company, We see Cody Rhodes’ mom Michelle hit the ring and Cody hands her the title as he promised he would, getting choked up once again while doing so. Cody grabs the mic and says he’ll make this quick because he knows it’s been a long night. He says he’s surrounded by greatness in this ring.
He says he would not be here in this ring without two people. He asks that they join him in the ring. One of them is Bruce Prichard. The other he says is gonna have to come kicking and screaming, but he insists because he’s the leader of the new era of WWE and he wouldn’t be here without him. He asks Triple H to come on down. Out comes WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque as Brandi Rhodes straps the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship around her husband.
Bruce Prichard enters the ring and gives Cody a big hug. Triple H walks up and shakes hands with Cody Rhodes. The two touch foreheads and Cody gets emotional as they share a private word with each other. Cody buries the hatchet, or sledgehammer in this case, officially in front of the world in his finest hour. Triple H raises Cody Rhodes’ hand as he stands before the WWE Universe with the richest prize in the business, the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship, as the chosen top dog of the new era of WWE.
Cody is lifted up on the shoulders of his peers, with Orton and Zayn hoisting him up like Bret “The Hitman” Hart back at WrestleMania many moons ago when he took the torch from the Hulk Hogan days and was the central figure to launch the new era of WWE. Cody heads out and hugs Michael Cole at the commentary desk as his music continues to play. He shakes hands with Pat McAfee and rolls back into the ring to roar in front of the crowd one final time.
He reaches through the ring ropes and shakes hands with Seth Rollins, who is still in his Shield gear. He hugs Triple H through the ropes as everyone exits the ring, leaving it to Cody. Michael Cole promotes Cody Rhodes’ first media appearance as the new WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion on “The Today Show” tomorrow morning as fireworks and pyro explode throughout the stadium.
Cody hits the ropes one more time to pose for the WWE Universe lucky enough to witness in person as he “finishes his story” and starts a whole new era for WWE in the process. Cody hugs WWE President Nick Khan in the crowd. Michael Cole thanks us for tuning in. “Pro wrestling is back,” says Graves. “Pro wrestling is beautiful,” says McAfee. That’s how the show ends. We head into a recap video package looking at the key moments from night two of WrestleMania XL as Meek Mill music plays. That’s how this year’s two-night WrestleMania premium live event goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
