Wrestlemania in Vegas again?

By Izayah Morgan Editorial Staff Wrestlemania always hits a soft spot for me every time it comes up, and this year was no different. Even though it is in Vegas for the second year in a row, the show this year was largely positive in my opinion. Though the crowd didn't seem all that excited. We opened night one with a shocking opening with the USOS and LA Knight picking up the win vs IShowSpeed (yes, the streamer) and The Vision. The match was all right with some banger spots and the debut of IShowSpeed in an official WWE match. We then moved to a quality match between Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre, which was the highlight for me in terms of technical wrestling between the two for night one. We moved to a fatal four-way tag team match for the women's tag team championship among the Irresistible forces, the team of Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, the team of Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and Brie Bella who chose the surprise teammate of Paige. To the shock of many (including myself), Paige and Brie picked up the win. Visible frustration was left on the face of many that may have seen Paige winning in her return match as unfair to the other superstars who have been with the company for longer. The next match was between Becky Lynch and AJ Lee, which was good in terms of week-to-week storyline building, but I couldn’t agree less with the outcome of Becky going over AJ. Arguably the best match of the night was Gunther vs. Seth Rollins, which saw the two absolutely put the hurt on each other. A total brawl between two of the best in the company saw Gunther be put over Seth, which I believe was the right decision. Especially with the surprise return of Bron Breakker, it gives Seth a storyline after Mania. Before our main event of night one, our last match was Liv Morgan vs. Stephanie Vacquer for the Women's World Championship. This was one of my most anticipated matches, and I felt the match was given no time to breathe, lasting for only 6 minutes. Disappointing, to say the least. Our main event for night one was definitely a match. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton with special friend Pat McAfee, who was taken out of the match rather quickly, much to the praise of many fans. The build up to this match was awesome, and even though I don’t agree with Cody going over in the end, I enjoyed it for what it was. Night two opened with my most anticipated match of the weekend, Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar, and saw Femi win in a dominant fashion which I believed needed to happen, ending with Brock making the tough decision to hang the wrestling gear up and retire. Next, we had a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, which saw Penta defeat Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, Rusev, and Rey Mysterio. It had amazing spots - the standouts being Evans, Lee, and the MVP of the night, McDonagh. Next up was my boy Trick Williams, who had his well deserved Mania moment and defeated Sami Zayn for the WWE United States Championship. I have no notes, just happiness. The match following saw the return of Finn Bálor’s “The Demon” persona in victory against the greatest luchador of all time, Dominic Mysterio. It had epic entrances from both men and a good match to follow up. The match before our main event saw Rhea Ripley take the win over Jade Cargill, with a very wholesome moment of Io Sky coming out to help Rhea when she was being ganged up on, but also leaving us with a cute celebratory moment between the two. Our match of the night and main event was the head of table and tribal chief Roman Reigns vs. the best in the world, CM Punk. Punk pulled out every dirty trick he had, resulting in an absolute banger of a match that was a bloody slug-fest. But ultimately, he fell to Reigns when it mattered most. Overall, this weekend was a mixed bag, as many wrestling events are. It provided payoffs to some story lines, and it left me thinking, ‘Wow, that match happened’ for others. Rating: B Vegas can sit the next one out