PHILADELPHIA - If the glory of pro wrestling rests in the spectacle, WrestleMania XL Night 1 embodied the peak of the art.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a ten-time World Champion who happens to also be Hollywood’s biggest star, reclaimed said glory by pinning Cody Rhodes in what was billed as “the biggest tag team match in WWE history.” Rock and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns knocked off the team of Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, setting the stage for an epic climax to one of the most-anticipated WrestleMania main events of all-time Sunday night.
“I enjoyed every second of that,” Johnson said after the 44-minute match concluded. “I’ve been lucky over the years to have participated in some pretty cool things that have been very gratifying. There’s nothing like performing at WrestleMania in front of thousands and thousands of people. And there’s nothing like performing with your fellow pro wrestlers.”
The match featured a combination of typical tomfoolery elements seen in Bloodline matches, before settling down into a dynamic back-and-forth that saw Rock and Reigns overpower Rhodes. Rock would get the win after whipping Rhodes in the back with a weightlifting belt, a Rock Bottom, and a People’s Elbow.
Johnson said he spent between 10 and 12 weeks in an intense training camp to get ready for the match, and insinuated there could be more matches to come from him. This one was different, however, teaming up for the first time with real-life cousin Reigns, a moment years in the making.
“I feel what we did tonight, it started in 2020, August of 2020. In order to attract a global superstar like my cousin, you gotta be on the up and up. You gotta have something special going on, because he always has something special being offered. So this has to be something even greater than even Hollywood could offer,” Reigns said. “So for him to pay attention to us and want to be involved with what we’re doing, it just speaks on how special The Bloodline is.”
Reigns, whose title run now extends to more than 1,315 days, also noted it was “a dream” being out with his cousin on that stage.
Johnson, 51, made his return to in-ring action for the first time in 11 years (notwithstanding a six-second match against Erick Rowan in 2016) in front of an announced 72,543 fans at Lincoln Financial Field. It was also his first time working as a heel in a match since April 27, 2003, a loss to Goldberg at Backlash, and it’s all a result of a pivot that began after a doomed segment in Birmingham shortly after the Royal Rumble.
He confirmed the original plan was for him to face Reigns for the championship in the main event of Night 2, and had even had discussions about doing the match last year at WrestleMania 39. But shortly after Rhodes ceded his WrestleMania selection to Rock, fans pushed back in numbers. He said the next day, he had an epiphany.
“I remember waking up and thinking, ‘I think I have what this pivot should be.’ And that is not only listen to the fans, but let’s give them what they want, what they’ve invested in for the past couple of years now, which is this idea of Cody Rhodes completing his story,” Johnson said.
The move towards the tag match allowed for The Rock character to undergo a complete transformation. This version of Rock was the culmination of nearly 30 years of character evolution, a far cry from the “blue chipper” who first walked the hallowed halls of the World’s Most Famous Arena in 1996. He no longer punches up, but rather, carries the self-imposed privilege of absolution. He stands stoic on the grandest stage through fire and flames. The Rock character in 2024 is burdened with glorious purpose, all in pursuit of preservation of blood superiority.
He is the “Final Boss,” metaphorically a juggernaut, and literally, a larger than life figure within the company.
“The dedication, the sacrifice of someone who does not have to do this, to come back and entertain our fans. To, as he said, to create a new mountain for himself and take that challenge. My hat’s off to him,” Levesque said. “This is not easy. What he did is not easy. And he looked like he never missed a beat.”
The supplemental match to The Bloodline saga saw Jey Uso earn a win against Jimmy Uso in the third brother vs. brother WrestleMania match in history. Jey came across as a superstar during his entrance (backed by Lil Wayne), though the match never quite got to the second gear as far as the action was concerned.
However, the emotional high of the evening saw Sami Zayn end Gunther’s historic Intercontinental Championship reign on Day 666. The match followed the classic format of an uber dominant top guy heel against a babyface perpetually swinging for the fences, and culminated with Zayn’s second-consecutive show-stealing moment at WrestleMania. Levesque also confirmed WWE had talks with Brock Lesnar about appearing at the Royal Rumble (long-rumored to set up a Mania match against Gunther), but it didn’t materialize. Lesnar’s name has been mentioned in correlation to the Vince McMahon sexual misconduct lawsuit, and he has largely disappeared from WWE promotional material since.
“Brock is not gone from WWE,” Levesque said. “He’s just home being Brock.”
A consistent theme for the night was the reflection of a major shift in WWE’s presentation, both creatively and aesthetically. The two-night arc is a result of a more articulate and carefully-constructed storytelling strategy by Paul Levesque’s creative team, with this being his first firmly in control of that following McMahon’s permanent resignation from TKO and WWE.
“I think it’s the greatest form of entertainment in the world,” Levesque said. “And I want to see it continue. I want to see it thrive. I want to take it to places it’s never been before. The team that we have is incredible. I want to work with the most talented people in the world.”
“I like ushering in new things, and new times, and new eras,” Johnson said. “And it feels like in our world here, professional wrestling, it is a new era that we’re ushering in. I talked to Paul Levesque, Triple H earlier as we were kicking off the show tonight. And without giving any detail on what we talked about, it was a special night for him. This was the beginning of something, and marked the beginning of something new for him, under his creative.”
The evening started off with a torch-passing bout between Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship that saw Ripley retain. The match was crafted well around a tested veteran in Lynch taking on a pseudo-aggressor role, working the champion’s arm multiple times (all while fighting through a legitimate 102-degree fever). Ripley’s win improves her WrestleMania record to 3-2, following up her classic from last year with Charlotte Flair with yet another.
“I went out there with one of the best in this federation, Becky Lynch. And to be able to step toe-to-toe with her and bring the fight to her, it meant the absolute world to me. And to be able to have it on the grandest stage of them all, at WrestleMania XL, the largest WrestleMania there is, it’s very, very special,” Ripley said. She also complimented the creative direction of the company, noting the amount of freedom she has had with her character recently.
Among other memorable moments from the evening were a high-octane and unique ladder match that separated the Undisputed Tag Team Championship. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller captured the Smackdown titles, but the finish saw R-Truth finally secure a long-overdue WrestleMania moment by grabbing the Raw titles. Future Pro Football Hall of Famer and Eagles legend Jason Kelce along with offensive lineman Lane Johnson made cameos during the Rey Mysterio/Andrade vs. Santos Escobar/Dominik Mysterio match, sporting Eagles luchador masks to help the babyfaces pick up the win.
Jade Cargill also made her WrestleMania debut, picking up a win tagging with Bianca Belair and Naomi against Damage CTRL. With the Damage CTRL loss, surefire future WWE Hall of Famer Asuka drops to 0-6 at WrestleMania in her career.
Now the attention turns to Night 2, where the story beats established Saturday will carry over. Reigns and Rhodes will square off in a match that is almost sure to be a culmination of 40 years of WrestleMania, and potentially, Reigns’ lengthy run at the top. Along with that, Rollins will now defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Drew McIntyre. But all eyes will be geared towards the final match, where Rhodes will face Reigns in a redux of last year’s controversial WrestleMania main event. It’s a culmination Rock has already promised surprises for, and one that will serve as the apex of one of pro wrestling’s most complex stories told to date.
“We said it from the very beginning, we didn’t stumble upon this. We knew exactly what we were doing. Pay attention, because layers are coming, information is coming. New moments every single week,” Reigns said. “All y’all geeks got these screens you’re looking at 24/7, your kids are doing the same thing. We still got ‘em. GOAT, man.”
The conclusion of WrestleMania XL Night 1 provided a definitive answer amidst the spectacle: wrestling does indeed have more than one royal family.
Sunday, we find out which one finishes the story.
