WWE WrestleMania 38, Night 1, advertised two championship matches and the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin, who figures to get physical at the “KO Show” with Kevin Owens. WrestleMania 38, Night 1 is also likely to feature the debut of Cody Rhodes, who is the favorite to be Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent.
Rhodes made his debut, defeating Seth Rollins after receiving an overwhelmingly positive reaction. Meanwhile, Stone Cold Steve Austin returned to the ring to defeat Kevin Owens in a No Holds Barred Match.
Last week’s broadcast of Friday Night SmackDown garnered 2.180 million viewers. Raw drew a 2022-high of 1.979 million viewers.
WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1 Match Card
- Seth Rollins vs. Mystery Opponent
- Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
- Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch—WWE Raw Women’s Championship
- The Miz and Logan Paul vs. The Mysterios
- Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey—WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
- The Usos vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs
- The KO Show with Kevin Owens and Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWE Friday Night SmackDown Ratings—Last Five Weeks
- March 25, 2022—2.180 million
- March 18, 2022—2.147 million
- March 11, 2022—2.226 million
- March 4, 2022—2.261 million
- February 25, 2022—2.114 million
WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1 Ticket Sales
- WWE WrestleMania 38 Venue: AT&T Stadium (Dallas, Texas)
- Tickets Distributed: 58,114
- Available Tickets: 6,682
Steve Austin’s WrestleMania 38 Return Leads to Awful “What” Chants (Pro Wrestling Bits)
WWE WrestleMania 38 Results | Saturday, April 2, 2022
The Usos def. Rick Boogs and Shinsuke Nakamura—WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
Rick Boogs was the perfect choice to kick off WrestleMania 38.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Boogs’ entrance doubled as a commercial for Mike’s Harder Lemonade.
Rick Boogs had both Usos in a fireman’s carry for a moment before his knee gave out. He them went to the outside after tagging out. He did not reenter the match and might have suffered a legit injury.
Drew McIntyre def. Happy Corbin
This match may or may not have gotten extra time because the opener got cut short, and if so, boy did they make the most of it. This was a really good match and felt like the official opener.
Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss continued to tease tension as Corbin wanted no part of Madcap Moss getting involved.
I wonder if Drew McIntyre winning his first WrestleMania match since WrestleMania 36 counts as his long-awaited WrestleMania moment.
The Miz and Logan Paul def. The Mysterios
Logan Paul came to the ring wearing the world’s most expensive Pokemon card around his neck.
Paul was very light on his feet as he impressively leapfrogged Rey Mysterio, eliciting “oohs” and “ahs” from the audience.
Paul more than looked like he belonged in a wrestling ring. He was like a poor man’s John Morrison, which is a compliment to just about any wrestler except John Morrison.
Logan Paul and The Miz received massive heat after winning this match, only for Miz to turn on Logan Paul and receive a huge pop for it.
After this match, Stephanie McMahon introduced Gable Steveson to a huge ovation.
Bianca Belair def. Becky Lynch—WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch’s entrance featured a video package that mimicked the WWE open and it was fantastic.
HBCU Texas Southern University played out Bianca Belair in an excellent WrestleMania entrance. Before tonight, I’m sure a majority of the monolithic pro wrestling media thought an HBCU was an indie promotion.
This match got a standing ovation before it even began.
Becky Lynch kicked Bianca Belair right in the face while attempting a flying senton.
Cody Rhodes def. Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins’ entrance featured an a cappella group singing his theme, which didn’t even come close to the soul of the marching band that played out Bianca Belair.
Fans went absolutely nuts for Cody Rhodes and he was the unanimous babyface throughout the match.
The early parts of this match was very technically sound and slow-paced. The trash talk remained spicy, however, with Rollins yelling “Welcome back to the big leagues, bitch!”
I was somewhat surprised that Rollins kicked out of Cross Rhodes on Night 1, which suggests that maybe Cody will use a new finisher in WWE.
These fans (and the announcers) really wanted Cody Rhodes to hit the Pedigree, but instead he hit a standing double underhook power bomb.
There were a couple snags, probably due to chemistry issues with Cody Rhodes being gone for years, but this was still a very good match and a successful return for Cody Rhodes. For more on Cody Rhodes’ debut, click here.
WrestleMania Saturday’s entrance was announced as 77,899. WrestleTix suggests otherwise.
Charlotte Flair def. Ronda Rousey—WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
Interestingly enough, WWE saved it’s come-down match to take place prior to Steve Austin vs. Kevin Owens, rather than Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey.
Rousey and Flair seemed to mistime a high spot from the top rope, but they recovered. Still, even when they went to instant replay, WWE immediately cut away from it.
It was definitely an uphill battle keeping this crowd into this match, follow so many emotionally charged moments, but Rousey and Flair were big enough stars to pull it off.
There was a fantastic sequence where Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey used chain wrestling, countering ankle locks and Figure 8’s, but in the process, Charlotte had a wardrobe malfunction.
This match featured the first ref bump of the night.
Rousey got a visual pinfall and a submission, which should have signaled that she was losing.
Steve Austin def. Kevin Owens—No Holds Barred
Sadly, it looks like The New Day-Sheamus-Ridge match was cut from the show.
Sure, this was the main event segment, but Ronda Rousey wrestled in the main event match. Everybody wins.
Kevin Owens showed up wearing full gear, Steve Austin showed up wearing his promo gear, though he still looked like vintage Steve Austin.
Kevin Owens’ biggest heel line came when he said “I’m not here to fight.”
The one time Steve Austin wanted these fans to say “what,” Dallas chose to count his stomps.
Austin’s strikes looked a little rusty early on, but he looked no worse for wear brawling with Kevin Owens in what amounted to an actual match.
WWE underpromised and overdelivered with this main event. Night 2 is going to have some stiff competition.
For more about Steve Austin’s return, click here.
