LAS VEGAS – We all knew what the expectations were heading into the main event of WrestleMania 41 Night 1 on Saturday
With 46-year-old CM Punk finally headlining his first ‘Mania in a triple-threat match against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, the potential for an all-time moment was off the charts. Doubly so when you consider the shared history Punk and Reigns have with Paul Heyman, who abandoned Reigns in the lead-up to the match to accompany Punk to the ring on Saturday.
Punk, the original “Paul Heyman Guy”, ushered Rollins and Reigns into the WWE as members of The Shield in late 2012 before leaving the organization in 2014 in a messy and highly-publicized separation. While Punk spent the next decade away from the WWE, Heyman found his new protégé in Reigns and guided him through an era that saw one of the most prolific title runs in modern WWE history.
Main event drama
Going into Saturday’s main event, the real question was whether Heyman would leave on Punk’s side or on Reigns’ side, or if another unannounced third party would make a surprise appearance and complicate things. What ended up happening was nothing of the sort.
Heyman handed Punk a steel chair from outside the ring as a gesture of faux support before turning on his longtime friend and partner, hitting him with a groin shot heard ‘round the world before passing the chair to Reigns. Reigns finished Punk off with the chair, turning his attention toward a blindsided Rollins in a moment that looked like a reversal of Rollins’ original turn on The Shield in 2014.
And then, Heyman did the unthinkable. He turned on Reigns with another groin shot heard ‘round the world and gave the chair to Rollins, who clubbed a laboring Reigns before pinning him to claim victory in what was immediately deemed by both fans and pundits to be an instant classic main event.
“Roman, Seth and Punk, I don’t even know where to start,” WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque said. “If you’re CM Punk and you've waited your whole life to be the main event of Wrestlemania, if that's been your goal and tonight was the night? That made the wait all worthwhile.
“That was through and through a WrestleMania main event, with three of the best in the world trying to show themselves and 60,000-plus people that not only are they one of the best, they are the absolute best. Each one of them trying to not only outdo but outsell the other one, that's the magic of our business and they had it all night long. They had everybody from start to finish.”
Uso cements status with Heavyweight title
Jey Uso is arguably WWE’s most popular wrestler and he opened the night with a bang, beating longstanding champion Gunther with a shocking submission for the WWE World Heavyweight title. It’s the crowning achievement for Uso in 18 years of professional wrestling and his brother and tag-team partner Jimmy came out to share an emotional hug at the center of the ring to celebrate.
Winning this world championship belt in addition to his lengthy list of tag-team accomplishments puts Uso in company with greats like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, but that’s a reality that hasn’t sunk in for Uso.
“I always just wanted to be a tag-team wrestler with my twin brother,” Uso said. “That's all it was. Once you start to progress and see different doors open, you want to take advantage of those opportunities. And it has been hard. We're the last of a dying breed. That's what I think, you know? It's damn near live theatrics. One shot, one take, live TV. So I take pride in all that, man.”
Stratton retains with brutal victory
25-year-old Tiffany Stratton defended her WWE Women’s Championship belt in a violent, star-marking match with stalwart Charlotte Flair. Stratton suffered various cuts during the match and visibly chipped her teeth, though those appeared to be all fixed by the time she took the podium for the press conference.
“We're looking like a broken down Barbie right now,” Stratton said “I feel beat up emotionally and physically. It's hard for me to feel emotions after having matches just because my adrenaline is going crazy, but I'm coming down now. I'm starting to feel all the emotions and feel like I just went through the fight of my life and had my WrestleMania debut.”