The first night of WrestleMania 38 ended with a tribute to its past. Night two focused on the present and future.
Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to become both WWE and Universal champion, further cementing his place as the single most captivating star in the entire industry.
WrestleMania 38 began with the sound of Motorhead’s The Game, and Triple H emerged to kick off the show. He welcomed the crowd to WrestleMania, then left the ring—where a pair of his boots were left behind, signifying the end of his career. The Undertaker was given another sendoff, symbolizing the end of an era. And Pat McAfee had his first WrestleMania moment before Adam Cole. Who would ever have guessed that?
In an outstanding performance, McAfee shone in his WrestleMania debut in a victory against Austin Theory. McAfee’s athleticism and ring awareness are other-worldly; there are veterans that do not possess his in-ring seasoning. The aftermath was a page out of WWE history, as Vince McMahon challenged McAfee to a match. With Theory playing the role of both Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, McMahon pinned McAfee courtesy of a score of outside interference. During his celebration, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin returned to the ring to stun Theory and then rekindle his never-ending battle with his eternal enemy.
The chaos ended with Austin stunning McMahon with perhaps the worst stunner in the history of the business (in McMahon’s defense, he is 76), but the moment far exceeded the move. Austin celebrated in the ring with his Broken Skull IPAs, stunning McAfee in a picturesque manner to close out the scene.
Here are the results from night two of WrestleMania 38:
- Randy Orton and Matt Riddle retained the Raw tag team titles in a triple threat against The Street Profits and Alpha Academy.
- Bobby Lashley defeated Omos.
- Johnny Knoxville defeated Sami Zayn in an Anything Goes match.
- Sasha Banks and Naomi won the women’s tag titles in a fatal four-way against Carmella and Queen Zelina, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan, and Natalya and Shayna Baszler.
- Edge defeated AJ Styles.
- Sheamus and Ridge Holland defeated The New Day.
- Pat McAfee defeated Austin Theory.
- Vince McMahon defeated Pat McAfee.
- Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to become the undisputed WWE and Universal champion.
Courtesy of WWE
This marked Reigns’s sixth time in the main event of WrestleMania, with five for Lesnar. It was also their third time working a WrestleMania main event together. They worked a spirited bout, one that ended with Reigns cleanly, and somewhat suddenly, defeating Lesnar following another spear. No one in wrestling has a presence like Reigns, and this victory adds a new layer to his future with both the WWE and Universal titles.
Sasha Banks made her WrestleMania debut at AT&T Stadium during the phenomenal women’s title triple threat match WrestleMania 32. Remarkably, she collected her first-ever win at the event six years later at WrestleMania 38. Banks pinned Carmella to crown herself and Naomi the new tag team champions, closing out an entertaining multi-tag. Only a year removed from headlining WrestleMania 38 against Bianca Belair, placing Banks into a four-way tag seemed like a head-scratching decision. But she adds tremendous value and brings a bright spotlight everywhere she goes, and this will only help the women’s tag division—while also serving as a reminder of Naomi’s talent.
The match also took me back to an interview that took place with Banks during the week of WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. Banks discussed the manner in which she was inspired as a child by Eddie Guerrero, who was a star whether he was in a world title bout or during one of his four tag team title reigns.
“I know how important Eddie was to me and how he made me feel,” said Banks. “Man, if that’s the feeling a child gets—the way I felt as a child about Eddie—then it’s indescribable.
“It’s really hard to explain. Sometimes I’m like, ‘Why me? How do I make a difference and give people strength?’ But I don’t think they realize how much they inspire me, too. It’s hard not to get emotional about it, it’s so beautiful to see.”
Even if it wasn’t the main event, Banks is back where she belongs, wearing WWE gold.
AJ Styles and Edge combined for a hard-hitting, extremely detailed match. Somehow, the 44-year-old Styles and the 48-year-old Edge have both found the fountain of youth, and they wrestled a classic that would stand in any generation. The finish occurred when Styles was briefly distracted by Damian Priest. By the time Styles hit the air for the Phenomenal Forearm, Edge was waiting with a spear for the victory at the 26-minute mark. Edge and Priest then revealed their alliance after the match, which has plenty of potential.
Priest had his breakout WrestleMania moment a year ago when teaming with Bad Bunny. He was left off this year’s Mania card, but this new partnership with Edge has the potential to take his career in a whole new direction.
Featuring RK-Bro, The Street Profits and Alpha Academy, the opening match was a true showcase. Chad Gable has finally found a place to thrive in WWE with his current character, and no one hits a better Northern Lights suplex. Montez Ford teams well with Angelo Dawkins, but his performances continue to indicate that he should be a top player in the world title picture. The finish was creative, as Matt Riddle hit an RKO off the top rope on Ford, followed by Randy Orton hitting an RKO on Gable mid-air off the top rope. Despite initial talk that Orton would wrestle Riddle at this year’s Mania, they are currently stronger together than they would be apart.
Following the match, there was a celebration between Ford, Dawkins, Orton, and Riddle, and they invited two-time NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson into the ring. As they were setting up their toast, Chad Gable knocked the drink out of Steveson’s hand. What ensued was a Gable vs. Gable showdown, ending with Steveson sending Gable flying with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Considering the difficulty involved in building a new babyface star, this was a great first step for Steveson.
Insanity ensued in the Anything Goes match pitting Sami Zayn against Johnny Knoxville. WWE made sure Knoxville was comfortable in the ring, and there were moments when this felt less like a match and more like Jackass. There were appearances from Wee Man and Chris “Party Boy” Pontius, and Knoxville used a plethora of props before trapping Zayn under a human-sized mouse trap for the pin.
It cannot be overstated just how good Zayn was in this match. No, it was not a world-class wrestling match, but Zayn made sure it was a spectacle worth watching. He plays the role of villain so well, and his in-ring performances are so versatile that he can work Brock Lesnar or Finn Balor or Knoxville, and each of those matches is entertaining. Zayn took so much punishment that, at times, he even drew sympathy. Moving forward from WrestleMania, there is no ceiling to what Zayn can accomplish next.
An unexpected pin fall was Bobby Lashley pinning Omos. An interesting dynamic was at play in the match—the 7’3” Omos has seized the role as WWE’s unstoppable giant and there are obviously big plans for him, but Lashley is still a headline act for the company. Lashley’s last televised singles loss took place against Goldberg last October at Crown Jewel, and he suffered a storyline injury when he lost the WWE title in February at Elimination Chamber. Clearly main event plans remain for Lashley, as he overcame the monstrous Omos and pinned him for the victory.
Frustrations to the night included the decision to have Sheamus and Ridge Holland defeat The New Day. Initially slated to take place on Saturday night, this was rushed, clocking in at just over seven minutes. Inexplicably, after showing footage of the gruesome spot where Holland dropped Big E on his head and broke his neck, Sheamus and Holland were booked to win the match—one that Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods dedicated to Big E, wearing singlets that matched the one Big E wore last September when he won the WWE title.
The finish of the New Day match was tone deaf, and it was also inexcusable that United States champion Finn Balor and Intercontinental champ Ricochet were not on the WrestleMania 38 card. Space was tight, undoubtedly, over the past two nights, but what does it say about those two titles—or the two men wearing them—that they weren’t on the card? Both Balor and Ricochet deserved better.
Overall, the two nights of WrestleMania 38 exceeded expectations. It leaned into its past with Austin, The Undertaker and McMahon, but also highlighted stars of the current era in Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Sasha Banks, and Kevin Owens. There is no other wrestling entity in the world that could currently accomplish what WWE has engineered over the past two nights at AT&T Stadium, and the company—led by Roman Reigns—continues to set the standard of excellence.
