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WrestleMania 39 recap and grades

Rhea Ripley won the Smackdown Women's Championship, but Charlotte and her stole the show at WrestleMania night one.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It was night one of WrestleMania, which had everything a fan would want on the grandest stage. It had great storytelling, action, and just great matches.

Here are the grades for each match:

Theory faces Cena 

This match kicked off the night, and it was okay, but it seemed like it never really got started. Theory and Cena’s chemistry wasn’t there, which is rare to say when Cena is involved.

Cena also looked a step off, so maybe that is a reason why the match didn’t get going on top of everything else. It is not his fault, he is a big-time movie star now and has bigger fish to fry, but the end is near for the 16x time champ. Before he hit the five-knuckle shuffle, he thanked the WWE Universe for shouting, “You can’t see me.” It is in his eyes that the end of his career is closing. Hopefully, WWE will let him win one more championship to pass Flair.

For Theory, this is a big win, even though there was referee interference. He can talk about how he beat Cena, and his time is now. For Cena, now goes to promote Fast X.

Austin Theory defeats John Cena

Grade: C+

Men’s tag team showcase

Every team showed off their stuff. Ricochet showed off his high-flying ability, while Chad Gable suplexed Braun Strowman, who ran around the ring laying out bodies until Angelo Dawkins laid him out in what could be the hardest hit at SoFi to date.

It was a solid performance by every team involved.

The Street Profits win

Grade: B

Seth Rollins defeats Logan Paul

This match showed the brilliance that is Seth Rollins. He is so over it isn’t even funny. He is entering that zone where it doesn’t matter if you are a heel or face the fans will cheer you on. The fans love him, and he may be right-maybe it should be him in the main event against Roman Reigns.

Rollins could wrestle a paper bag and make it entertaining.

When KSI was holding down Rollins, it was evident that something big was coming. Paul broke his best friend when he came crashing down on the Spanish announcement table.

Even though he has taken two losses in a row, Paul belongs. It will be interesting to see if he re-signs with WWE or moves on. He is very talented and could continue to grow.  

Grade: A-

Six women’s tag team match

Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus, and Lita beat Damage CTRL

This match was fun to watch, especially for fans of Trish and Lita. They showed that they still got it. The move of the night has to be when Becky and Lita helped Trish up to throw Dakota Kai off the top rope on her team.

A little disappointing that we didn’t see more offense from Damage CTRL, but three legends were on the other side. There is still a sense that Trish will turn on Becky to set up a big match at SummerSlam.

Grade: B

Mysterio’s battle

It took Dominik screaming at his mother for Rey to finally hit his son and accept his challenge. Let’s start with Dom’s entrance…talk about attention to detail with him wearing a mask and getting out of the police car. Then Rey one-ups his son by paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero coming in with a low rider, to his music, and with Snoop Dogg…it was a thing of beauty.

This match was seriously something else. At one point, like any Mexican parent does when his kid misbehaves, Rey took off his belt while Dom leaned over in the turnbuckle. He went to town on his behind. Dom did a perfect job at talking smack to his mother and sister. He even threw a drink at his sister, and she was ready to go…real quick don’t be surprised if you see Aalyah jump in the ring, she has been close.

The win for Rey came with the help of Bad Bunny, a guest commentator for the Spanish announce team. Dom had taken out a chain that Bad Bunny took from him, and the rest is history. Backlash is in Puerto Rico hosted by Bad Bunny, maybe this is setting up a potential match.

Rey Mysterio defeats Dominik Mysterio

Grade: A

Ripley vs. Flair II

This felt like a big boxing match. Two heavyweights going into battle after a lot of talking and bad blood. They stole the freaking show.

Flair and Ripley are special in the ring. Obviously, it is unknown how long this rivalry will continue after Backlash, but they are a special duo. There isn’t much to say because words won’t do this match any justice.

Ripley and Flair literally left it out in the ring. They pulled out all the stops and had the crowd chanting, “this is awesome,” numerous times.

This match had it all.

Rhea Ripley defeats Charlotte Flair (new champion)

Grade: A+

Snoop Dogg gets The Miz into a match

It is known that Snoop is a man of action, so he wanted his fellow co-host, The Miz, to be about the same thing. He talked The Miz into an open challenge that former Smackdown announcer Pat McAfee answered. The crowd was stunned.

The match wasn’t much to write home about, but what made it fun was Pat McAfee and the help he got from San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle.

It was a good transition from the high of Flair versus Ripley to the Usos versus Zayn and Owens. McAfee is never boring, plus Michael Cole’s reaction was everything.

Pat McAfee defeats The Miz

Grade: AAAAAAWWWWEEESSSOOOOOMMMEEE!

Owens and Zayn versus The Usos

The Usos controlled most of the match, hitting Owens and Zayn with everything from double kicks to a 1-D to even putting Owens through a table. It didn’t stop Owens and Zayn from mustering up the energy to get the victory.

After everything Zayn had been through the last few months, he threw Jey into the turnbuckle and hit him with not one, not two, but three helluva kicks with a crazy look in his eye. He got the pinfall victory, and it was like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders. The new tag team champs stayed in the ring for a long time, enjoying the moment and then being greeted by their families.

Big moment for two great friends.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos (new champions)

Grade: A+

Night one

Overall: A-

It was a great night for WWE. They basically hit it out of the park the first night. Every match was entertaining and kept everyone hooked.

Can night two live up to or excel expectations? That is going to be very tough.

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