In my previous article, I covered everything that happened at Night One of Wrestlemania 42. Emanating again from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Night Two was set to host the remaining 6 matches of the planned 13 match card.
Firstly, we saw what was for many the most anticipated match on the card, with Brock Lesnar facing off against Oba Femi. And what we saw was the strongest possible example of a torch being passed. Wrestlemania was Oba’s moment to shine, and he certainly exceeded the already high expectations, dominating Lesnar in a way he’s not been dominated for years. Even an F5 didn’t keep Oba Femi down long enough for Brock to even attempt a pin and in less than 5 minutes, The Beast had been vanquished and The Ruler had established himself more than ever as already being one of the most dangerous threats on the roster. Even more so as following the match, unexpectedly Oba also seemingly gained the honour of being the one who retired Brock Lesnar as he left his boots/gloves in the ring, a telltale sign that Lesnar is going off into the sunset once and for all.
Next, we saw the Six-Man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, pitting Penta against JD McDonough, Dragon Lee, Rusev, Je’von Evans & Rey Mysterio. As many expected, this match was a chaotic blast, with bodies flying everywhere and everyone doing whatever stunts they could to secure the title. Most of all Je’von Evans hitting an OG Cutter mid-air taking Rusev off a ladder as he was going for the title. Ultimately Penta was able to take advantage of this move to hit a Mexican Destroyer to Je’von leaving the ring clear for him to retain his Intercontinental Championship with no-one left standing to stop him.
Third on the card, we saw Sami Zayn defending his United States Championship against Trick Williams. Sami of course becoming increasingly unpopular in recent times for costing Carmelo Hayes a spot on Wrestlemania after the impressive year he’s had, and Trick experiencing a similar meteoric rise in popularity to Oba Femi. And also similarly to Oba Femi, Trick won on the night, catching Sami Zayn with a Trick Shot in the middle of an attempted run up for a Helluva Kick to win the United States Championship only months after debuting on the Main Roster. Which combining this with Oba Femi’s dominant victory earlier in the night and the really impressive showing from Je’Von Evans, shows that the future is looking bright with those 3 being strong contenders to lead the line for the next generation of WWE fans.
Next, we saw what turned into a Street Fight on the pre-show as Dominik Mysterio had to face Finn Balor, reembracing ‘The Demon’ for the first time since Wrestlemania 39. The presence of The Demon to many confirmed how the match would go before a bell even rung, and sure enough during the match basically nothing Dominik Mysterio did could keep The Demon down. Following an initial 619/Frog Splash combo, The Demon kicked out at one. And a follow up 619 (with a chair wrapped around Balor’s neck) & frog splash combo still wasn’t enough to secure the win. Eventually The Demon gave Dom a taste of his own medicine hitting one of multiple Shotgun Dropkicks with a chair around Dom’s neck, before hitting a fatal Coup de Grace through a table to secure the victory and get one over on The Judgement Day for stabbing him in the back.
Penultimately, Jade Cargill put her Women’s Championship on the line against Rhea Ripley. Cargill dominated early, though Rhea was able to get out of an attempted ‘Jaded’. Cargill held her own in probably her most impressive WWE showing yet, also being able to avoid taking a Riptide. Attempted interference from Michin & B-Fab was quickly thwarted by Iyo Sky coming out to even the odds and ensure Rhea’s only worry was Cargill. After attempted finishers from both, Rhea was finally able to hit a Riptide & pin Jade to secure the World Championship and celebrate in the ring treating us all to another brief moment of Rhiyo.
Nexthausen, John Cena was out again to announce the nighthausen’s attendance. He was quickly interrupted by The Mizhausen & Kit Wilson admonishing him for still taking spotlight despite having retired. This interruption was also interrupted by Danhausen with an army of smallhausens driving a vehiclehausen. Danhausen ran off The Miz/Kit Wilson by sending his army of littlehausens to dispose of Kit & hitting a Five Knuckle Shufflehausen on The Miz, before giving Cena a taste of his own medicine and “vanishing” in front of Cena’s eyehausens letting him know what it’s like for people to not be able to see them.
Finally, to close the week we saw CM Punk defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. Two of the current faces of the industry, both men willing to give everything they had to beat the other due to their shared hatred of each other. The two fought extensively throwing all of their signature offense at each other, but nothing either of them could do was ever enough. Roman putting Punk through the announce table wasn’t enough, Punk donning an Ula Fala from a fan in the crowd to try getting in Roman’s head didn’t work only resulting in a mocking Spear getting countered into a Guillotine Choke (which also didn’t work). Punk removing his wrist tape to distract the ref to allow him hitting a sneaky low blow on Roman into a Go To Sleep wasn’t even enough. Ultimately, when it came down to it, the match would clearly only be determined by whoever ran out of steam first. And this proved to be Punk who gassed out just before Roman, finally falling to a rebound Spear as Roman claimed the World Heavyweight Championship and reestablished himself firmly as the Head of the Table.
Not only did Roman win, but he also definitively was able to prove Punk wrong. In the lead-up to the match, among many criticisms Punk had for Roman he expressed how often Roman has relied on outside interference from his family in the days of The Bloodline. Whereas in this match, Roman was able to win the match entirely by himself without any form of outside interruption. And also, in the buildup Roman frequently pointed out Punk’s age and how it would be his undoing. And ultimately, this came true as again, Punk only lost ultimately because he ran out of steam before Roman did. So the show ended with Roman Reigns standing tall, with the looming threat of many looking to dethrone him as Cody Rhodes did years ago, including Oba Femi who put one of Roman’s longest standing enemies out to pasture once and for all.
