WWE WrestleMania 41, Night 2 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas closed the door on the promotion’s biggest weekend of the year, with John Cena fulfilling his promise to become the last WWE real champion. The wrestling leader saved its big surprise returns — Joe Hendry, Becky Lynch and Travis Scott — for Night 2, while Dominik Mysterio may have been the biggest winner of the night.
As we digest everything that happened, here are our five biggest takeaways from WrestleMania 41, Night 2.
1. The last real champion of WWE
Between Cena’s monotone entrance to the in-ring product, Cena vs. Rhodes didn’t quite live up to the hype. The fan reactions felt akin to The Rock battling Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 — no matter how much Cena distanced himself, the roars of approval were deafening. Cena stayed the course, though, refusing to give fans even an ounce of what they wanted.
Rhodes, on the other hand, did everything his supporters have come to expect from him. Nothing could sway them in his favor — and at every advantage, he was met with disapproval. Cena slowed the pace to an agonizing crawl, threatening to ruin professional wrestling with his actions and taking in every moment from his final WrestleMania match.
In the end, Travis Scott was an active participant yet again. With the referee out, Scott’s involvement provided the opening for a low blow in a match that seemed intentional in getting Cena his record-breaking 17th world title in the most disgraceful way possible. If Cena follows through on his promise, it’s quite the statement to drag fans through an intentionally agonizing title reign.
But more questions than answers are present in the path forward: Where was The Rock? How much more involved will Scott get? And what is Rhodes’ path back to glory?
2. I believe in Joe Hendry
After Kevin Owens’ unfortunate and untimely injury, Randy Orton was left without an opponent just two weeks out from WrestleMania 41. The approach to Orton’s 20th WrestleMania appearance left an unpredictable element to Sunday with an obscure open challenge.
The easy route would have been Solo Sikoa mixing it up with Orton. The unexpected path could have been anyone from Nick Aldis to a returning star like Rusev. It’s hard to imagine anyone could have expected TNA Champion Joe Hendry would be the one to answer the call.
Hendry and Orton gave fans everything you’d expect from that match. It wasn’t a long, back-and-forth brawl. Hendry got his stuff in, hit his poses and took an RKO before the pinfall loss. If anything, it solidified that Hendry absolutely belongs on the big stage and could almost certainly feature in a future WrestleMania.
3. Bayley’s out, Becky’s back
Considering that she is consistently one of the top stars of the women’s division, Bayley’s exclusion from WrestleMania 41 was head scratching. Although a match with Lyra Valkyria would have made sense, she didn’t have a clear path to the show from the beginning. Instead they were thrown together to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Championship until Bayley was abruptly removed from the match Saturday evening.
It had to be a huge name returning in her place — and Becky Lynch certainly fits that bill. While it’s great to see Lynch back in the ring full-time, and you could see the moment meant a great deal to her, it’s unfortunate it had to come at the cost of Bayley’s WrestleMania spot.
4. A triple-threat match where everyone shines
Three women at the top of their game — Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair — opened WrestleMania Sunday with something to prove. The argument can be made that this one could have main-evented WrestleMania 41, either Night 1 or Night 2, purely from a wrestling perspective.
It felt different from most triple-threat matches from the opening bell. There weren’t extended periods of rest time outside of the ring for any of the individuals, and the pace of the match was perfect as the opener. Each of them had their respective moments to shine with big moves, big moments and false finishes. There isn’t one thing that felt missing or should have changed from start to finish. All around this was one of WWE’s most logical decisions and about as good as it gets from a booking perspective, with Sky again taking advantage of Belair’s and Ripley’s obsession with each other to retain her title.
5. Dominik Mysterio has everything to be WWE’s next star
Across roughly 20 minutes, Dominik Mysterio went from being one of the most booed men of the night to one of the most heavily cheered. As a member of the Judgment Day, he was met with crowd responses filled with vitriol. That changed on Sunday night — and all it took was him turning his back on Finn Bálor to get fans roaring in his approval.
Suddenly the biggest hero in the building, Mysterio’s win gave him an authentic WrestleMania moment, the Intercontinental Championship and a path up the card. His celebration was as genuine as it gets, and as cameras cut off and the show went to commercial, fans continued to serenade him with “Dirty, Dirty Dom” chants.
WWE WrestleMania 41, Night 2 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas closed the door on the promotion’s biggest weekend of the year, with John Cena fulfilling his promise to become the last WWE real champion. The wrestling leader saved its big surprise returns — Joe Hendry, Becky Lynch and Travis Scott — for Night 2, while Dominik Mysterio may have been the biggest winner of the night.
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As we digest everything that happened, here are our five biggest takeaways from WrestleMania 41, Night 2.
Between Cena’s monotone entrance to the in-ring product, Cena vs. Rhodes didn’t quite live up to the hype. The fan reactions felt akin to The Rock battling Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8 — no matter how much Cena distanced himself, the roars of approval were deafening. Cena stayed the course, though, refusing to give fans even an ounce of what they wanted.
Rhodes, on the other hand, did everything his supporters have come to expect from him. Nothing could sway them in his favor — and at every advantage, he was met with disapproval. Cena slowed the pace to an agonizing crawl, threatening to ruin professional wrestling with his actions and taking in every moment from his final WrestleMania match.
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In the end, Travis Scott was an active participant yet again. With the referee out, Scott’s involvement provided the opening for a low blow in a match that seemed intentional in getting Cena his record-breaking 17th world title in the most disgraceful way possible. If Cena follows through on his promise, it’s quite the statement to drag fans through an intentionally agonizing title reign.
But more questions than answers are present in the path forward: Where was The Rock? How much more involved will Scott get? And what is Rhodes’ path back to glory?
After Kevin Owens’ unfortunate and untimely injury, Randy Orton was left without an opponent just two weeks out from WrestleMania 41. The approach to Orton’s 20th WrestleMania appearance left an unpredictable element to Sunday with an obscure open challenge.
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The easy route would have been Solo Sikoa mixing it up with Orton. The unexpected path could have been anyone from Nick Aldis to a returning star like Rusev. It’s hard to imagine anyone could have expected TNA Champion Joe Hendry would be the one to answer the call.
Hendry and Orton gave fans everything you’d expect from that match. It wasn’t a long, back-and-forth brawl. Hendry got his stuff in, hit his poses and took an RKO before the pinfall loss. If anything, it solidified that Hendry absolutely belongs on the big stage and could almost certainly feature in a future WrestleMania.
Considering that she is consistently one of the top stars of the women’s division, Bayley’s exclusion from WrestleMania 41 was head scratching. Although a match with Lyra Valkyria would have made sense, she didn’t have a clear path to the show from the beginning. Instead they were thrown together to challenge for the Women’s Tag Team Championship until Bayley was abruptly removed from the match Saturday evening.
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It had to be a huge name returning in her place — and Becky Lynch certainly fits that bill. While it’s great to see Lynch back in the ring full-time, and you could see the moment meant a great deal to her, it’s unfortunate it had to come at the cost of Bayley’s WrestleMania spot.
Three women at the top of their game — Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair — opened WrestleMania Sunday with something to prove. The argument can be made that this one could have main-evented WrestleMania 41, either Night 1 or Night 2, purely from a wrestling perspective.
It felt different from most triple-threat matches from the opening bell. There weren’t extended periods of rest time outside of the ring for any of the individuals, and the pace of the match was perfect as the opener. Each of them had their respective moments to shine with big moves, big moments and false finishes. There isn’t one thing that felt missing or should have changed from start to finish. All around this was one of WWE’s most logical decisions and about as good as it gets from a booking perspective, with Sky again taking advantage of Belair’s and Ripley’s obsession with each other to retain her title.
Across roughly 20 minutes, Dominik Mysterio went from being one of the most booed men of the night to one of the most heavily cheered. As a member of the Judgment Day, he was met with crowd responses filled with vitriol. That changed on Sunday night — and all it took was him turning his back on Finn Bálor to get fans roaring in his approval.
Suddenly the biggest hero in the building, Mysterio’s win gave him an authentic WrestleMania moment, the Intercontinental Championship and a path up the card. His celebration was as genuine as it gets, and as cameras cut off and the show went to commercial, fans continued to serenade him with “Dirty, Dirty Dom” chants.
