There were a lot of expectations from night 2 of WrestleMania XL since the matches had more potential than the previous night. Last night some of the matches were really disappointing. The most disappointing match from night 1 was Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso. Overall it was an average show.
But what about night 2? It might have had fewer matches but with more potential. It had two World Championship matches, the United States championship match and the women’s championship match. It also had AJ Styles vs. LA Knight which had the potential to be the show stealer. So what exactly happened on night 2? Let us go through all the matches in brief.
WWE WrestleMania XL Night 2 – Complete Results and Analysis
Match 1 – World Heavyweight Championship – Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to become new Champion
This match had been booked as the show opener for night 2. It was an excellent way to kick off the show. This match was really excellent and both of these competitors were on top of their games. Drew McIntyre picked up a clean victory over Rollins in this match. He really deserved to win this match.
Match 2 – World Heavyweight Championship – Damian Priest defeated Drew McIntyre to become new Champion
After Drew won the Championship, he confronted CM Punk who was on the commentary table. Ultimately Punk lost his temper and ended up attacking Drew. As soon as Drew was knocked out, Damian Priest appeared and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. It took only one South of Heaven Chokeslam to pin Drew McIntyre. But we are happy that the Scottish Psychopath had his moment.
Match 3 – Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits defeated The Final Testament
How this match ended up being on the match card of WrestleMania XL will always be a mystery. Such a match would only be suitable for an episode of Smackdown. And even when they booked this match at the biggest stage of them all, they did not go for the rising star. Instead, a 47 year old Bobby Lashley picked up a dominant victory. The match was not bad but Karrion Kross and his side needed to win this match.
Match 4 – LA Knight defeated AJ Styles
This match will be remembered as one of the best matches of WrestleMania XL. We do not have to talk about AJ Styles separately because we all know what the Phenomenal One is capable of. We must talk about the performance that LA Knight managed to give. “The Megastar” was really good in this match and we seriously hope that this match will become the beginning of his ultimate success.
Match 5 – WWE United States Championship – Logan Paul defeated Kevin Owens and Randy Orton to retain
This match was really good as well. A lot of fans expected that WWE would recreate the Classic Chris Benoit Eddie Guerrero moment by having Kevin Owens win this match. But Paul managed to snatch a clean victory in this match and at this moment it does not look like he is going to drop the championship to anyone but LA Knight.
Match 6 – WWE Women’s Championship – Bayley defeated Iyo Sky to become new Champion
We seriously expected that WWE would bring back The Hugger character of Bayley through this match since she has turned babyface. But it did not happen. She is still playing her Role Model character. It is seriously confusing why WWE is not bringing her famous character back. Maybe at SmackDown after WrestleMania episode. About the match, it was good but it could have been better. Bayley’s performance was a little off.
Match 7 – WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship – Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to become new champion
This is it, the wait is finally over. The iconic Championship reign of Roman Reigns is over after over 1300 days. There had been a lot of speculations about this match, fans expected to see returns and surprises, and there was everything. It might go down as one of the most overbooked matches in professional wrestling history but it was one of the most entertaining WrestleMania matches in the history as well.
This match had everything, there was melodrama, there were huge surprises, and there were even shocking returns. John Cena and even the Undertaker came out to help Cody Rhodes. There was a point when The Shield’s music and at this point, WWE got us all. We all expected this could be a potential return of Dean Ambrose. But it did not happen. But it can be a sign of a future return of Dean Ambrose.
This will always be remembered as one of the best WrestleMania main events of all time. As a professional wrestling match, this match might not be the best in the world but it was pure cinema. Congratulations to Cody Rhodes for finally managing to do the unthinkable. From next week of Monday night RAW we will be witnessing a new era in WWE.
Overall, night 2 of WrestleMania XL was really good. Night 1 had been an average show but Night 2 did it all. It produced quality matches, emotion, surprising moments, shocking returns, everything. The first WrestleMania of the Triple H era had been really good. WrestleMania XL might not be compared to the greatness of WrestleMania X-Seven but it will definitely be remembered as one of the best WrestleManias ever.