WrestleMania 41 attempted to live up to its billing as a record-breaking spectacle, but it wasn’t flawless. Across two nights in Las Vegas, WWE delivered some standout matches and some disappointments. And it all carried over into an explosive Raw after WrestleMania. Let’s break it down.
Grading The Matches
Highlights
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk: The Triple Threat main event for Night 1 was everything fans hoped for — and then some. Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins tore the house down, but the real story was Paul Heyman. In a jaw-dropping moment, Heyman first betrayed CM Punk, hitting him with a low blow before handing a chair to The Tribal Chief. With Rollins’ back to Roman, The OTC prepared for payback but Heyman hit a low blow on Reigns, handed the steel chair to a smiling Rollins, who then capitalized to pin Reigns. Rollins’ win reshapes the WWE landscape, but it was Heyman’s betrayal that stole the show and will have ripple effects for months.
Iyo Sky Holds Down the Women’s Division: The opener for Sunday Night was a masterpiece and the best match of the weekend. The Triple Threat match for the Women’s World Championship saw Iyo Sky retain her title against Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. The match was a hard-hitting, fast-paced war. Belair brought her usual athleticism, Ripley her power, but Iyo’s aerial assault and tactical smarts kept her one step ahead. She walked out still champion and got the respect she had been seeking. What lies next for The Eradicator and The EST is what everyone will be asking after this sure fire MOTY candidate.
Say His Name & He’ll Appear: Randy Orton came out and demanded a challenger as he would not sit on the sidelines in his 20th WrestleMania appearance. The challenger ended up being TNA Champion Joe Hendry who got one of the bigger pops of the weekend. The match was short with Orton giving Hendry an RKO right after Hendry’s famous spin around. This was a fun sprint of a match with a pleasant surprise performer in Hendry.
Dirty Dom Shocks The World: The Intercontinental Championship Fatal 4-Way saw Dominik Mysterio sneak out a win against Bron Breakker, Penta, and Finn Balor. Breakker, easily the most physically dominant of the four, seemed destined to walk away with gold, but Dominik’s opportunistic instincts kicked in. After Breakker laid waste to Balor and Penta, Mysterio picked the bones and grabbed his first singles title. Dominik, once the most hated man in WWE, celebrated his improbable win to a thunderous applause signaling a face turn for Dirty Dom.
Drew McIntyre Dominates Sin City: Drew McIntyre’s brutal Sin City Street Fight against Damian Priest delivered exactly what it promised: violence. McIntyre’s win sets him back on track as a top-tier player, and Priest’s performance, even in defeat, solidified his reputation as one of WWE’s most rugged competitors. The Claymore that ended the match was the most brutal Claymore I’ve ever seen.
Jade Cargill and Naomi Deliver: The match between Jade Cargill and Naomi’s delivered what I felt was WWE’s most consistent, engaging story. Cargill’s undeniable star power and Naomi’s experience meshed well, producing an entertaining bout that showed why both women are crucial to the future of WWE’s women’s division. Naomi’s character work in the lead up to the match brought the heat needed. Jade had easily the best singles match in her career. Though I wanted Naomi to win and keep the momentum with her crash out, villanous arc, Cargill is the star WWE wants to push.
Lowlights
Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena Falls Flat: Night 2’s main event should have been a classic. Instead, Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena felt hollow. With The Rock absent despite heavy teasing, the energy just wasn’t there. Travis Scott’s presence felt nonsensical and all it took for Cena was a distraction and a hit to the head of Rhodes with the title belt for John Cena to get his record-breaking 17th world title win. While the win was historic on paper, the match itself lacked emotion and spark. Thanks to The Rock not showing up, the drama fizzled instead of exploded and left fans scratching their heads in confusion and disappointment.
The Rest of the WrestleMania Card: While Jey Uso vs. Gunther wasn’t a bad match, I didn’t love the finish(though the finish would explain itself in two nights). I expected Jey to crash out a bit more. The build to the Charlotte Flair/Tiffany Stratton match and their apparent lack of chemistry is what did this feud in. WWE couldn’t play on the fans’ distaste for Flair in the title scene again and the match itself was a bit tough to watch. The problem with the rest of the card was there no excitement for the matches. The War Raiders/New Day match had zero build and the tag division across the board is almost non-existent. WWE picked that match over the TLC Triple Threat match between The Street Profits, DIY and the Motor City Machine Guns. Is Logan Paul able to go in the ring? Yes, but people hate his guts. He has “go away” heat and that’s why no one cared about his match with AJ Styles. The Women’s Tag Team title match left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths after it was learned Bayley would miss WrestleMania and be replaced by Becky Lynch. Lynch got a big pop but it just wasn’t fair to Bayley to be bumped off the card completely. I also thought it was a slap in the face to have Chad Gable cosplaying as a luche libre wrestler actually go over on Ray Fenix on the same day WWE announces its acquisition of the AAA promotion.
RAW Fallout: New Alliances and Old Rivals
The night after WrestleMania was wild. John Cena opened the show to gloat about his win over Cody Rhodes only to eat an RKO from Randy Orton. That opening salvo set the stage for their feud and eventual match at Backlash. Becky Lynch & Lyra Valkyrie defended their women’s tag titles in a rematch against Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez. Liv & Raquel would regain the titles which would lead to Becky Lynch turning on Lyra. New minted WWE Women’s Champion Iyo Sky would come out to celebrate only to be interrupted by NXT Women’s Champion Stephanie Vaquer. This interaction led to an impromptu match. The ladies were in the process of creating a classic when Roxanne Perez & Giulia interfered. Perez went after Vaquer while Giulia went after Iyo Sky. Rhea Ripley came in to make the save. WWE teased a stare down between Ripley & Giulia. The New Day were trying to celebrate their 13th tag team title win and an impromptu match with American Alpha when Rusev of all people showed up and took out Otis & Tozawa.
In the most shocking moment of the night, a very pissed off Gunther crashed out in the most brutal way possible, putting hands on Michael Cole and choking out Pat McAfee:
In the closing segment Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman stated their reasons why they aligned with one another. CM Punk came to fight Rollins and get his hands on Heyman. Roman Reigns also came to the ring to get his pound of flesh and just as the OTC was about to he caught a spear… from Bron Breakker. Breakker & Rollins would lay waste to Reigns and Punk and set up a new, dangerous alliance.
Final Thoughts
WrestleMania Reactions: WWE left Las Vegas with fans genuinely confused and somewhat disappointed. The Show of Shows didn’t completely live up to the hype. Some critics expressed their displeasure with WrestleMania, none more than Busted Open Radio’s Dave Lagreca:
🚨The @davidlagreca1 RANT to end all RANTS on the Main Event of #WrestleMania41 Night 2🚨: pic.twitter.com/hhVHTw5IcP
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) April 21, 2025
Another person who wasn’t completely thrilled with the weekend’s events was WWE Superstar Karrion Kross:
Pat McAfee Delivers Ratings… and Heat: Pat McAfee had his show on Monday with Paul Heyman and things went off the rails very quickly. Heel Paul Heyman was on full display and Heyman was completely unhinged:
If that Heyman interview didn’t draw enough heat then the interview with The Rock on Tuesday sure did:
The Rock interview drew plenty of criticism and in my opinion deservedly so. Fans were expecting a payoff with The Rock indicating he wanted Cody Rhodes’ “soul”. He hijacked RAW, SmackDown, NXT and The Elimination Chamber to run this angle, turn Cena heel all for the end result to be for The Rock to not show up at WrestleMania. What resulted was a subpar main event where the big ‘surprise’ was Travis Scott. If The Rock knew he couldn’t commit to seeing this through then he should just stay out of WWE.
Bayley Deserves Her Flowers: Bayley went on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast to discuss WWE, Mercedes Mone, Damage CTRL and her place in WWE:
During the interview she expressed frustration with being underutilized but also understood it because she didn’t “break down any doors and say, I’m not doing this.” She also talked about not being on the level of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.
Of the Four Horsewomen, Bayley is arguably the most beloved and respected. She has given her all to the business because she loves it. She’s doing what she does for the love of the game. She’s been selfless and looking to build up the women’s division… almost to a fault. Bayley’s accomplishments can’t be ignored or overstated:
- 1X NXT Women’s Champion
- 1X WWE RAW Women’s Champion
- 2X WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
- 2X WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion
- 1X WWE Women’s Champion
- 2109 Women’s Money In The Bank Winner
- 2024 Women’s Royal Rumble Winner
- 1st ever Women’s Triple Crown Champion
- 1st ever Women’s Grand Slam Champion
It’s way past time we acknowledge Bayley and give her the flowers she deserves.
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