Powell’s WrestleMania 41 Night One Hit List: Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins, Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship, Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair for the Women’s World Championship

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WrestleMania 41 Night One Hits

Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk in a Triple Threat: The entrance game was strong. It looked like Roman’s would be fairly routine, but those hanging screens with images that paid tribute to the Samoan dynasty members were great. Living Colour playing Punk to the ring with the more timely than ever “Cult of Personality” was awesome, as was the actual match. Everyone knew it was built around Paul Heyman making a choice, and yet the wrestlers were still able to make the fans buy into some great near falls long before Heyman got involved. Can anything on the night two card top the Triple Threat for WrestleMania 41’s best match?

Heyman choosing Rollins surprised me. I was ready for the return of heel Punk, but I’m very intrigued by the possibilities that this new union presents. One that jumps out involves the open spot in the WWE Women’s Tag Team Title match on tonight’s show. There’s suspicion that Becky Lynch will return as Bayley’s replacement and join Lyra Valkyria in challenging for the titles. What if Lynch attacked on Bayley, turns on Valkyria, and then forms a heel power couple with her husband? Whether it involves Becky or not, what if the Heyman partnership with Rollins is the start of a new Dangerous Alliance? And then there’s the theory that Dot Net staffer Colin McGuire predicted during the latest Pro Wrestling Boom podcast that has Heyman and Rollins joining forces with The Rock and John Cena. I’m not sure where this is headed, but that’s the fun, and we may get some answers during night two.

Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair for the Women’s World Championship: It started with the two best entrances, which both great use of the spectacular entrance set. Stratton’s Barbie-themed arrival was outstanding, and those Flairs sure know how to make an entrance. The match build went off the rails, but it led to the most physical bout of the night. Stratton showed that she can do more than perform acrobatic spots by working a gritty match that left her head bruised and her mouth bloody. Flair taking a clean loss was a pleasant surprise, and it could be the best thing for her character. Flair is extremely talented, but the fans are pushing back on the company always thrusting her into the title picture. There was a story to be told with her character having to scratch and claw her way back to the top after she underwent major knee surgery, but they rushed right into winning the Royal Rumble to earn this title shot. Perhaps they can take a step back now that she lost and have Charlotte show a side of her personality beyond the one-dimensional Queen persona.

Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight Championship: The show opened with a crowd-pleasing world championship win for Uso. Although Gunther has had far superior matches, this was one of Jey’s better singles outings. It was good to see Jey expand his usual offense by including some of Gunther’s signature moves. Jey going over was the expected outcome, but it was surprising to see Gunther tap out. It will be interesting to see how the Gunther character responds to losing another WrestleMania singles match. He acted like he lost his mojo after he lost to Sami Zayn at WrestleMania XL. Will he take a similar approach or might there be a different creative direction planned?

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi: This one exceeded expectations. Jade pulled off her impressive power spots. In fact, the only time I recall Jade looking anywhere near this good in the ring was during her final match in AEW when she faced Kris Statlander. Naomi did the best character work of her career coming into this match. And even though she took the loss, I suspect there are big things ahead for Naomi and Bianca Belair.

LA Knight vs. Jacob Fatu for the U.S. Championship: A soft Hit. Fatu won the match, but Knight was made to look competitive in defeat. In fact, Jake Barnett made a valid point during our same night audio review for Dot Net Members when he said the match was too competitive. Ultimately, it was cool to see Fatu win his first WWE championship on the big stage.

“War Raiders” Erik and Ivar vs. “New Day” Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods for the World Tag Team Titles: A soft Hit for a decent match and the expected title change. Thanks to Kingston and Woods for providing the hilarious Giant Gonzalez homage that I never knew I needed.

WrestleMania 41 Night One Misses

El Grande Americano vs. Rey Fenix: It’s a shame that Rey Mysterio suffered an injury the night before that prevented him from working this match. At age 50, there’s no telling how many more WrestleMania matches Mysterio has in him. Replacing Mysterio with Fenix seemed like a good move until Fenix lost to the one-note joke character. Americano’s entrance was fun, but I have a bad feeling the company is going to run this silly character into the ground following the acquisition of the AAA promotion.