When all was said and done at WrestleMania 40, there was a universal feeling of optimism about what was next in WWE. With new creative leadership, Cody Rhodes as champion and the culmination of one of the best storylines in years, fans were excited to see what came next. One year later, it’s safe to say that feeling has faded after all was said and done at WrestleMania 41.
Taking place over Easter weekend, the 41st iteration of the event aired live from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Much like the past 5 years, the show was spread accross 2 nights to present the biggest show possible without the risk of fan fatigue. With a reported 60,000-plus in attendance for both nights, there were concerns that attendance for the show may have been affected given that ticket prices were higher than ever before and many felt the cost was too high.
Night one was headlined by the triple threat match between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and CM Punk, who was also in the main event for the first time in his career. With 3 of the biggest stars in the company, Living Colour playing Punk to the ring and the history between them all, this was definitely the right choice to close night one of the show as opposed to the World Title match, more on that later. In a shocking conclusion to the show, Paul Heyman betrayed Punk and Reigns to side with Seth Rollins, leading to The Visionary being the last one standing.
Although the main event was great and easily the match of the night, the undercard was very lacklustre compared to previous years. Opening with Jey Uso defeating Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship, Uso had a long entrance to make his way through the massive Allegiant Stadium and into the ring for his match with The Ring General. While many knew that an Uso victory was inevitable, the fact that Uso was struck with the World Title before going on to hit multiple finishers, lock in a sleeper and force Gunther to quit so easily left many with a sour taste in their mouth as the once unbeatable Ring General was quite easily dispatched by the challenger. Unlike his Intercontinental Championship reign, Gunther’s World Title reign was rather disappointing when all was said and done and it remains to be seen what is next for the once dominant star.
From there the filler continued. The War Raiders vs. The New Day was very much a match that could have taken place on Raw after Mania, especially as the TLC match that hs been booked for SmackDown was very much the more exciting of the 2 Tag Title matches. Things did pick up when Jade Cargill had another star-making performance against Naomi and the fans were happy to see Jacob Fatu win the United States Championship from LA Knight, but these felt very much like TV matches.
Storyline and legitimate injuries affected the WrestleMania 41 card, the first of which saw Rey Fenix as the replacement for Rey Mysterio in the match against El Grande Americano. While the injury was unfortunate and meant that Mysterio could not make in into the match, many would have expected more from Fenix’s Mania debut. The match had some fun spots and saw AAA’s Vikingo in the crowd following the news that WWE had purchased the lucha libre company, but the match could have been longer and should have seen a different replacement.
The other match that took place on night 1 saw Tiffany Stratton face Charlotte Flair, a match that gained a lot of interest due to the comments made by both women in the build-up. Unfortunately, the match was clunky at times and neither appeared to be on the same page.
With 7 matches on night 1, the whole show lasted 4 hours. However, as has been the case with many events over the past year, the in-ring action has been far from the focus with more focus on famous faces in the crowd and advertisements, meaning that more than half of the show was not wrestling on the biggest wrestling show of the year.
Night 2 showed much more optimism in the opening as IYO SKY retained her Women’s World Championship against Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. Condensed into 14 minutes of non-stop action, SKY picked up the win in what was a genuine surprise as Belair or Ripley felt like the favourites. An all killer no filler bout, from an in-ring standpoint this was the match of the weekend. The action continued with what should have also taken place in the second match on night 1, a fun no DQ match with lots of weapons and high spots. Drew McIntyre defeated Damian Priest in a Sin City Street Fight that saw a big table bump near the end along with another Mania selfie from Drew. The only complaint would be that WWE shouldn’t have presented it as a Sin City Street Fight as there was an expectation that poker tables and other Vegas-related objects could have been used.
Keeping the action going, Dominik Mysterio pulled off the upset as he defeated Penta, Finn Balor and Bron Breakker to become the new Intercontinental Champion. In what was another action-packed match, all 4 didn’t let up in the 10-minute bout and Breakker looking great coming out of the loss with many of the big moments. What followed was the biggest surprise of the weekend as Randy Orton’s open challenge was answered by TNA World Champion Joe Hendry, who once again received a thunderous ovation from the Vegas crowd, legitimately stunned that this was the opponent. With Orton easily beating Hendry in 3 minutes and delivering another RKO after the match, this was the one that divided fans’ opinions the most. While many were entertained by the arrival of Hendry and getting to see his entrance at WrestleMania, others felt that the TNA World Champion being beaten so quickly was not a good move. Personally, Hendry loses nothing from the loss as it was to Orton and it will be a moment that fans won’t be forgetting anytime soon so I have no issues with how Hendry was presented here.
After the Orton match, things started to go downhill and never recover. The Logan Paul match was very similar to previous outings that saw interference and Paul take advantage to emerge the victor, albeit this time with no cameo from another YouTube star. In the penultimate match on the show, Becky Lynch was revealed to be the replacement for Bayley, who was injured in storyline and could not fight alongside Lyra Valkyria. Although Lynch and Valkyria won the titles and the crowd were happy to see Lynch back, this could have been saved for the following night, especially as it robbed Bayley of her Mania match for no particular reason.
Following a cameo appearance from Steve Austin to announce the attendance and also crashing his ATV into the barricade, which saw WWE President Nick Khan rush to ringside to check on the fan, it was time for the main event. With John Cena turning heel at Elimination Chamber and siding with The Rock, fans were hoping for something big to close out the show. Unfortunately, they did not get it. A slow and plodding Cena match that saw another unnecessary appearance from Travis Scott ended after 21 minutes when Cena hit another low blow and title strike onto Rhodes to win the match and his 17th World Championship. One of the flattest Mania main events in years and with no appearance from The Rock, Mania 41 failed to deliver a strong closer.
WrestleMania 41 Final Thoughts
Much like some sporting events are very much for the casual fans, WrestleMania feels like it is following that same pattern where it the event itself will sell tickets regardless of the quality of the card. With more emphasis on famous faces and ad placements than the matches themselves, the combined near 8-hour run-time saw just over 3 hours of bell-to-bell wrestling. Additionally, many of the matches had lacklustre stories going into the show, including the biggest match of the entire weekend that set up fans for disappointment given that Cena’s dates were limited and the promise of The Rock was never delivered.
While there is no going back to a single night Mania given the financial success of the 2-night show, if WWE put on a 5-hour show with 10 matches then this may have been looked upon much more favourably by the fans. Unfortunately, the bloated show was tough to get through and only 2 or 3 matches are likely to be rewatched. Yes WWE is hotter than ever before and there are no signs of slowing down, but this was the first time in years that a major show has seen a strong negative reaction. Although Triple H has said that he wants fans to be less critical, it will be interesting to see how WWE changes direction given the fan reaction to the below-average show that was WrestleMania 41, if at all.
Featured image: WWE
