Brock Lesnar isn’t gone from WWE. AEW set to release footage of CM Punk’s
All In altercation. And my review of WrestleMania XL Night One
Part B Forward Slash amendment 69.
A big thankyou to Wrestling Masterlcass for sponsoring this episode - check them out using
the link in the video description below. I’m Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk
News.
Yes, I know, I know. It’s the review special of the biggest WrestleMania of all time, and
Oli Davis is starting with a CM Punk story. I am now my own meme.
You likely haven’t seen it with all four hours 20 minutes - 4:20, that’s a marijuana
thing - of WrestleMania 40 Night One. But AEW Collision also took place on Saturday
evening. Where FTR beat Top Flight to advance to the tag team tournament semi-finals. Penta
took on Komander was a very good match… and the Young Bucks announced they’ll play
the backstage footage of the incident that led to Punk’s AEW firing with cause.
To catch you up, after a rock year of backstage tension, Tony Khan decided to fire Punk from
AEW following last August’s All In: London show. This is because Punk allegedly had a
backstage altercation with Jack Perry, which led to Khan fearing for his life. At the time,
it was reported one of the deciding bits of evidence was CCTV footage of the incident
- providing a far more objective view than the he said, she said All Out brawl from the
previous year. But the Bucks are corporate heels right now.
Surely it’ll just end up with them playing some spoof version of the videotape, with
them doing bad MC Junk impressions. Apparently not, according to everyone.
Dave Meltzer, Bryan Alvarez and Sean Ross Sapp have all reported that this is not a
bait-and-switch angle. Tony Khan actually intends on playing the Punk/Perry footage
on Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite. Perry hasn’t been seen on TV since that
incident, so it’s possible this sets up his return. Punk, meanwhile, returned to WWE
in November, and seems to have reignited tensions with AEW in his Ariel Helwani interview last
Monday - where he gave his version of events, claiming he was acting responsibly in that
incident.
Also just before I get into the WrestleMania review, Triple H answered a question about
Brock Lesnar’s WWE status at the post-Mania press conference.
“At one point, there was a conversation with Brock about Royal Rumble, but a long
time ago. Right now, Brock is home, being Brock, and we’ll see where that leads to
from here. His status is the same as it’s been before. Brock is not gone from WWE. He’s
just home being Brock.” Lesnar was widely reported to be making his
WWE return in January’s Royal Rumble match, where he would then set up a feud with Dominick
Mysterio, to potentially then go onto face Gunther at WrestleMania. This was pulled when
he was seemingly referenced in Janel Grant’s lawsuit against Vince McMahon. He was also
removed from WWE’s opening sting, and the WWE 2K24 video game.
Now all that’s done, it’s WrestleMania baby yeah!
WrestleMania 40 Night One wasn’t just the beginning of Mania weekend. It was also seemingly
the officially recognised beginning of WWE’s new era. The broadcast debuted a new ‘Then,
Now, Forever, Together’ sting with the superstars depicted in star constellations, and Triple
H doing all the voice over. It had a new ending bumper, with Triple H doing all the voice
over. And the show itself opened with Triple H coming down to the ring, and welcoming us
to the New Era. Which, if you haven’t guessed by all that,
Michael Cole is referring to as The Triple H Era.
Just like the Attitude Era, which kind of started with Austin’s 3:16 promo at King
of the Ring 1996, but wasn’t officially recognised with the scratch logo debut over
a year later at Survivor Series 97 - after taking creative control in July 2022, we’re
now in the Triple H era of WWE.
So of course Rhea Ripley retained in the first match.
Spikey jacket, Triple H check. Live band for her entrance, Triple H check. Even longer
title reign, Triple H triple check! She fought Becky Lynch in a really good opener,
going back and forth, where Lynch targeted Ripley’s left arm for her Disarmher submission.
It was a classic story of working over the body part, and one both women executed without
ever making either of them too sympathetic over the other.
It meant you didn’t mind who won, because you were rooting for them both. Ripley’s
power and resilience vs Becky’s strategy and experience. But Rhea blocked a Manhandle
Slam, hit a Riptide into the top turnbuckle and then another in the middle of the ring.
Ripley is still that champion, and I think that’s the right call. She’s still super
hot right now, and it feels like she’s got a lot more momentum with the belt.
After a fun recap skit with Pretty Deadly running down all the competitors, next came
the 6 way ladder match for two different sets of tag titles. That’s 6 teams, or 12 guys,
fighting for two sets of championships, or 4 belts - meaning each competitor had a 8
⅓ chance… x four belts, equals… no… I’m not saying it. I’m not saying it.
While the action was fun, there was too much visual clutter for me in this match. It was
always like the most crowded part of the Royal Rumble.
DIY’s DX entrance was great, there were many great ladder or table bumps - but not
many that we haven’t seen before - and a genuinely heartwarming overall story: where
R-Truth unhooked the Raw tag team championships at the end, giving him his first ever win
at WrestleMania, and the Awesome Truth’s first ever tag title run.
Waller and Theory had unhooked the SmackDown belts earlier.
With the sun now set, it’s time for the real stars to come out.
No, not the Latino division. Some football players!
Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs Santos Escobar and Dominick Mysterio was presented really
well. There’s the long running father/son feud. A long running mentor/protegee feud.
And there’s Andrade. With all the respective factions at ringside, this felt like it belonged
on the Mania card, even though it wasn’t for any championships, or was a concentrated
singles blood feud. The actual match, though, was more of ten
minutes of fun spots, to set up - gratuitous celebrity involvement!
Two huge luchador men stopped Dom from getting a steel chair, helping Rey and Andrade pick
up the win - for the mystery guys to reveal themselves as the Philadelphia Eagles’ Lane
Johnson and Jason Kelce. Who is not Taylor Swift’s boyfriend. Thank you for the literally
hundred of people who corrected me on Friday’s News episode about that.
Following a local sports team pop, Philadelphia got a local… thematic tagline pop next?
As Jey and Jimmy Uso finally fought one on one in the city of Brotherly Love. Everything
makes sense on paper. Two people, brothers, who have spent their entire lives together.
One betrays the other, and now they must fight. It’s a tale of Biblical proportions. Cain
and Abel. Kane… and the Undertaker! But just like those Brothers of Destruction
matches, as I predicted, the Usos in-ring match never really clicked with me.
Some of that is because I don’t often get into those kinds of matches. I never cared
about the Hardys facing each other either. And the rest if because this match only got
11 minutes. A story 38 years in the making was the joint second shortest of the show.
It was about 5 minutes of superkicks, which the crowd got into when it was yay-boo. Or
should I say Jey-boo! But then Jey started to look conflicted. So when Jimmy started
begging for forgiveness, Jey embraced his brother. To the crowd booing.
It’s because we all knew what was coming. Jimmy betrayed him again, making Jey look
dumb, but Jey overcame him shortly after with a spear and splash. This needed more time,
a longer heat period, or maybe even an appearance from their dad, Rikishi, to make that emotional
section really sing.
The shortest match of the card, though, goes to the Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair in-ring
segment. Also known as, the trios match of Belair, Cargill and Naomi’s here too, against
Damage CTRL. Barely lasting eight minutes, this was all
about showcasing Cargill - which they did a great job of - and foreshadowing an eventual
match against Belair, at the expense of the women’s tag team champions. Cargill got
the pin.
My match of the night, however, was the brilliant Gunther vs Sami Zayn for the intercontinental
championship. It had the story, title and characters I’m most invested in. And Sami’s
single tracking shot from backstage to this entrance, where his wife and kid wished him
well, for his trainer Chad Gable to say he’s not going out with him, because he can do
this alone, to Sami embracing Kevin Owens just before he entered Gorilla, meant the
match started at an emotional 11. Zayn is one of the most natural drawers of wrestling
empathy I’ve ever seen. Which made it even more heartcrushing when
Gunther chopped him. And booted him. And clotheslined him. And powerbombed him. And splashed him.
Each one feeling like Sami was down and out. But Gunther trashtalked Sami’s wife at ringside
one time too many. Sami powered up, hit a Brainbuster on the top rope, a Hellluva Kick
to the back of Gunther’s head, and another one to the front to get the win. Even Samantha
Irvin couldn’t control her emotions when she announced the winner.
An end to a historic reign, which will only elevate Gunther into the world title picture,
and now will hopefully start a great run for Sami with the belt.
The Raw and SmackDown General Managers announced the attendance figure at 72,543. But what’s
the turnstile number?! And we got to see all the celebrities in the crowd - including Wale,
who must’ve been incredibly confused by the Usos match.
— Just before I get onto the main event, I want
to say a big thank you to this video’s sponsor: The Wrestling Masterclass.
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And then it was time for the main event with all the Rs: Roman and Rock vs Rhodes and Rollins,
with an hour and 20 minutes left of the show. Most of which was for the Rock’s entrance.
It left an hour for the actual match, which was 44 minutes - the second longest WrestleMania
match of all time after Bret vs Shawn at 96, no matter how long you think Roman vs Triple
H actually went - was a perfectly building sports entertainment tag match, with twists
and turns, smoke and mirrors. The Rock plays his Final Boss character almost
too well. At one point, he punched Seth right in the dick in plain view of the referee,
prompting the ref to apologise to Cody because he can’t do anything about it. The Rock
is his boss’ boss. It did mean, though, that everyone just wanted
to see Cody and The Rock interact - with their moments getting by far the biggest reactions
- which somewhat undermines the actual main event for Night Two.
Reigns and Cody had some great sequences when they did wrestle, though. Roman’s nose got
legit busted open. Seth’s assistant Stomp into a CrossRhodes was a great near fall until
Rock pulled out the referee. Multiple times I actually thought, and was legit rooting
for, the babyfaces actually winning, even though that wouldn’t have made the best
story for Night Two! I thought Roman accidentally spearing Rock
would make the Bloodline combust, but it never seemed to cause any issues. For now. And it
fed into an amazingly chaotic Cody reversed Rock Bottom on Rock through the announcer's
table, and Seth getting speared through the timekeeper’s area. Rock really looked great
in this match. But with Rollins out, the numbers game overcame
Cody. A third CrossRhodes on Reigns was stopped by the Rock whipping his back, letting Roman
hit a spear. The Rock reached out for a tag, almost as though he now has the most authority,
and Reigns tagged him in… could that be an acknowledgement? That Roman acquiesced
to The Rock to finish the match? A Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow gave Rock
the pin over Cody, setting up an awesome Infinity War style cliffhanger for Night Two. Where
the camera work expertly captured Cody’s sad face with the Bloodline in the background,
a direct mirror of his loss at the end of Mania 39.
WrestleMania 40 Night One is 90% With The Rock winning on the first night of
the Triple H era, watch my documentary on their crazily mirrored careers, and real life
backstage tension, in Feud Forever.