WrestleMania 39 Review
Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 was pretty strong throughout the night with all the announced matches either matching or exceeding expectations. The men’s tag team showcase was really fun with all 4 teams getting their moment to shine. Seth Rollins and Logan Paul had a fun match as well. The main event of The Usos vs Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens was everything you expected it to be… and then some. It had all the emotion fans wanted and sent the fans home happy with Owens & Zayn as the new tag champs. Even with all of that the match of the night, and possibly the weekend was Charlotte & Rhea Ripley. These two women put on an absolute classic and possibly the greatest women’s match in WWE history. Rhea going over cements her as a bonafide star.
Night 2 got off to a much slower start and of the 7 matches only 3 were memorable. Bianca Belair & Asuka went all out and produced a gem of a match. I was a little surprised that Bianca went over but that win sent her to 3-0 at WrestleMania and solidified as THE star in the women’s division. The triple threat of Gunther, Sheamus & Drew McIntyre gave fans all of the brutality they wanted. Gunther winning sets him up as a future world title contender. The main event of Roman Reigns & Cody Rhodes was absolutely wonderful. Some will argue the story of the Bloodline needed to end with Rhodes dethroning Reigns. I thought Rhodes would win but I don’t have a problem with Roman retaining. I just believe the story with Rhodes winning undercuts the Bloodline story. The best way for the Bloodline story to conclude is with either Sami Zayn or Jey Uso to be the one.
One Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
“It was all good just a week ago…”
— Kanye West
Just as WWE was celebrating what most would argue was its best WrestleMania in years news began breaking that would completely overshadow The Show of Shows. First was the sale of WWE to Endeavor on Monday. The sale itself wasn’t the problem. The problem was the sale effectively put Vince McMahon back in full control of WWE again. During an interview on CNBC addressing the sale McMahon said the following about taking control of creative:
Originally tweeted by Public Enemies Podcast (@TheEnemiesPE3) on April 3, 2023.
McMahon then proceeded to go to RAW later that night and do last minute rewrites before AND DURING the show. This happened after Triple H addressed the talent roster before the show and informed them “nothing would change”. Triple H was reportedly given ‘busy work’ for most of RAW while Vince was in the gorilla position. Reports surfaced about morale plummeting amongst the talent. Even worse was there were no surprises on RAW and it was widely regarded as one of the worst RAW after Manias of all time. McMahon taking control of WWE even after the sexual assault allegations leaves a pretty big stain on his legacy. Fans remember how stale and repetitive RAW & SmackDown were under Vince McMahon and fear a return to those days are imminent. Even worse, McMahon seems to have dodged the sexual assault allegations that forced him to step down last July. It leaves a pretty sour taste in the mouth of wrestling fans that this man basically bullied his way back into control of WWE. There is also news a reported ‘hiring freeze’ in WWE. On top of all of that, Jay White didn’t sign with WWE.
Other News
- Jay White made his presence felt in the wrestling world when he showed up at AEW Dynamite. White signing with AEW is a huge get since both AEW & WWE were hot on his heels. Reports surfaced the deal was done before WM 39 and that higher ups in WWE weren’t that high on White.
- Tony Khan then announced that their PPV All-In was returning… to London, England at Wembley Stadium.
- Drew McIntyre is rumored not to be happy with his contract negotiations with WWE. His contract is expected to end later this year.
- Triple H announced on SmackDown that the draft would be happening in a few weeks. Talent backstage was unaware of the draft happening so soon.
- Here’s a snippet of the SmackDown Women’s Championship from WrestleMania 39:
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