WrestleMania 41 kicks off tonight, but how does it compare to Night 2?
Yesterday, we previewed Night 1 of WrestleMania 41, so if you’re still looking to get pumped for tonight, go ahead and check that out. In the meantime, we’re officially ready for the biggest show of them all in the wrestling world. SmackDown last night didn’t seem to move the needle for what’s set tonight and created a bit of mystery for Night 2. With that, let’s get to it.
Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley vs Iyo Sky (c)
Women’s World Championship
Assuming you read my Night 1 Preview, you know how I’m attacking these matches, as I haven’t been an active fan in quite some time. With that, I know very little about these three women. I’ve seen clips here and there, so I know they all deserve this opportunity. There doesn’t seem to be a strong storyline, which is disappointing for the opening match of Night 2 of WrestleMania 41. I’m also on the fence about this particular championship being an opener vs closer to the main event, but I’ll allow it. All in all, it seems like a solid choice to get the crowd going with the action. I’m not so sure about the emotional aspect.
Unless there’s some sort of outside interference, this smells like Iyo Sky retaining her championship.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
I’m just noticing the reflection that Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 has of Night 1. And once again, I’m so high on this match that I want it to be the opener. Now, I’m not overly familiar with 3/4 of these performers, but once again, I know just enough. Liv Morgan is all over the place and, at least from my perspective and social media feeds, the face of WWE’s women’s wrestling. My biggest gripe with this match is that these teams seem thrown together vs actual teams. It could work, and I just don’t know the product enough, but at the end of the day, I think we’re set up to see a banger of a match.
Seeing as how this was kind of a rush job to put together, I’m banking on the champions to retain their titles: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
AJ Styles vs Logan Paul (🙄)
Chris previewed this match earlier, so I won’t dive too deep into it, but did AJ Styles piss someone off? To be fair, I am completely biased: Logan Paul is a piece of shit human being. Don’t get me wrong, he’s infuriatingly talented. But I’m of the mindset that we shouldn’t be propping up human garbage. Don’t @ me.
AJ should be going over, but it won’t surprise me when the guy who’s had his company logo in the middle of the ring at last year’s WrestleMania and won that match pulls out a win again this year. Can Logan Paul just go away?
Penta vs Finn Bálor vs Dominik Mysterio vs Bron Breakker (c)
WWE Intercontinental Championship
This is a solid mid-card match, though I honestly would probably move it up in the card to show some respect to the IC title. Prepping for this article, it seems like this is one of a handful of matches across both nights of WrestleMania 41 that have actually built up a story for it. This match is interesting because you have the champion, Bron Breakker, who is right in the sweet spot of how long he’s held the title (combined reigns) to make a break for the world titles in the company, a former IC champion in Finn Bálor who could use another run at it to get to that level, and two wrestlers who have yet to win that title. Dominik Mysterio has some family history with the title, with his father, Rey Mysterio, having held the title in the past. There is just a lot to go off of here.
I’d love to see Breakker retain the title and continue to show how important it is, and I think there’s a solid 50% chance of that happening. My gut is telling me we’re going to see a new champion in Dominik Mysterio, which sets up some storylines for him and the other two wrestlers down the road.
Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre
Sin City Street Fight
Talk about long-term storytelling! This match has been in the works since last year’s WrestleMania! This is what I love to see in the wrestling world. And we’re going to get a street fight/hardcore match? Another one of my favorite styles of matches, with two fierce competitors. The back and forth these two have had over the last year sets the tone emotionally, and these guys can go the distance, so it’ll be fun to watch from an actual wrestling perspective.
This match could literally go either way, but the payoff is Drew McIntyre getting his redemption from WrestleMania 41.
Randy Orton’s Open Challenge
There’s not much to say about this one. Randy Orton was set to face Kevin Owens until real-life injuries had to change things. I’ll be curious as to what this ends up being–it could be something just to fill time, something that gives a younger guy a push, or something meaningful to Orton. Hopefully, it’s one of the latter two choices; otherwise, give more time to one of the other matches and give Orton the night off. I also would have pushed this down in the card, unless the person accepting the challenge is HUGE.
Randy Orton loses for longer-term storytelling, otherwise, he gets the win.
John Cena vs Cody Rhodes (c)
Undisputed WWE Championship
I am so conflicted here. I love Heel Cena… It’s something that should have happened years ago, but his time is now. I’ve never been in the Cena camp as a wrestler… I’m sure he can wrestle, it’s just something that a guy at his level doesn’t do. I had the same complaints about The Rock when he got to that level. Cena is a comedic genius, and I hope to see more of that in his post-wrestling career, but for now, I’m happy to see him ride out his career as a heel.
But is Cena the guy to beat the 16-time World Champion record? I don’t know. I also don’t know how I feel about Rhodes losing the championship so soon–yes, he’s had it for a year at this point, but I love to see respect put on these things. Defend it, keep it, make it mean something.
I think I want Rhodes to win, but I won’t be unhappy when Heel John Cena wins it, and the long-term storyline is that of the championship itself: a tournament held after Cena retires with the belt.
WrestleMania 41, Night 2 airs on Peacock in the US and Netflix internationally on Sunday, April 20th, starting at 7 PM Eastern.
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