WRESTLEMANIA 41 SUNDAY

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 41 - SUNDAY

Women's World Championship
Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley
Not that they're all that comparable for any other fact that they're both 3-way matches, but this was so much better than the triple threat from the previous night. All-action with a fun pace all the way through. A super fun opener. ***1/4

Sin City Street Fight
Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre
Largely not much, but it didn't overstay its welcome & there was a couple of cool moments in there. The rope-walk table spot was pretty cool, and I also really liked the actual finish w/ the chair-boosted Claymore. **

Intercontinental Championship
Bron Breakker vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Finn Balor vs. Penta
This was fun! Pure action from start to finish with everybody hitting their signature stuff. Dom winning is actually a very nice moment as well, making this a very good mid-card Mania number all around. ***1/4

AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul
This was perfectly fine, but absolutely nothing to remember. Like a solid little RAW match or something. Kind of a signature AJ Styles WrestleMania match when you think about it. **

WWE Championship
Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena
I actually thought that this match was pretty damn awesome right up until Travis Scott showed up. Cena & Cody were having an extremely solid big main event match w/ a clearly defined, basic heel vs. babyface dynamic to it, which I found extremely enjoyable, but enter Trav. His entire interference was done so randomly lol, and it really killed the momentum & flow the match had built up. It's still a very solid match in my eyes, but with a better finishing stretch it could've (& should've) been much more. ***1/4

WRESTLE DYNASTY

 

WRESTLE DYNASTY

Lucha Gauntlet
Hechicero vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Soberano Jr. vs. Master Wato vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Titan vs. El Desperado
It's a fun gimmick, especially for a big show like this. The match was nothing very memorable, but a solid little, pretty fun opener with everybody, especially the lucha guys, putting in good shifts. **3/4

Special Exhibition
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata
One more time in the Dome :') Man this was a blast. They made the most out of the exhibition rules - just watching them chop it out with their signature competitiveness against each other, it's awesome. A little treat fitting for the Ace's retirement tour. ***1/4

NJPW Strong Women's Championship / RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship
Mercedes Mone vs. Mina Shirakawa
Not really getting the hype with this one unfortunately. The meat of the match is Mina's work over Mercedes' leg, and I thought that the said legwork was largely very meh. Did not care for Mercedes' work from underneath either. Some good moments here & there and I can appreciate the match as a whole with its runtime & structure, but I just thought it was kinda there for the most part. **

Brody King vs. David Finlay
Did not care for this whatsoever. Had no heat or juice to it at all, and the action was extremely generic with neither Brody or Finlay offering anything that would've caught my eye in any direction. *1/2

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino
Pretty much nothing to it. Claudio, while still a beast, with the most generic work on top possible & Shota completely falls flat as the babyface with his weak offense and zero swagger and fire to him. *1/2

AEW International Championship / NEVER Openweight Championship
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Yeah, this shit rocked. Ishii is still that motherfucker, man. Brilliant selling by the man & all the machismo-moments by him were perfect. Over the years I have grown to find myself to be a little bored by his formula at times, but when it works like it did here, it's just beautiful. Takeshita looked like an absolute beast with his marvelous offense as well. ***3/4

Gabe Kidd vs. Kenny Omega
Took a while for me to get into this, but by the end you just can't deny the raw, authentic emotion that was showcased. Brutality with a beautiful story being told. Gabe's last big comeback moments with the crowd & the commentary screaming their hearts out for him were absolutely terrific. ***3/4

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet
Was in a bad spot having to follow Gabe vs. Omega, but I thought that this was a perfectly fine match. Got better as it progressed. Nothing very memorable for sure, but a really damn solid match bell to bell. ***