Powell’s WrestleMania 42 Night One Hit List: An infomercial interrupted by wrestling matches, Cody Rhodes finds the killer instinct he already had, a legitimate WrestleMania Moment

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

WrestleMania 42 Night One Hits

Gunther vs. Seth Rollins: The match that was put together late due to injuries and had the shortest build turned out to be the best of the night. It’s not all that surprising given the wrestlers involved. Gunther and Rollins grabbed the crowd’s attention right from the start and kept them fully engaged despite the absence of a true storyline purpose. Bron Breakker spearing Rollins and costing him the match was predictable and logical. It reignited their feud, which was postponed due to Breakker’s injury. The big question is what comes next for Gunther. Will he step up as the next challenger for the winner of tonight’s World Heavyweight Championship?

Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre in an unsanctioned match: It was a good call to have this match on the ESPN2 broadcast. Fatu and McIntyre had a spirited brawl that resulted in Fatu winning his WrestleMania debut. It took Fatu a long time to get there, which made it all the more enjoyable to see him on pro wrestling’s biggest stage. McIntyre is one of the most reliable performers in the company. He’s had strong matches with a wide variety of opponents and delivers consistently strong mic work. He’s been booked to lose a lot of big matches, but he somehow manages to get his heat back and stay in the upper mix.

AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Title: A soft Hit for a solid match. They kept it brief, which is understandable given this is just Lee’s fifth match back after a ten-year layoff. Lynch’s issues with referee Jessika Carr played a big part in the match and escalated when Lynch shoved Carr, who shoved her right back. The finish was clever with Lee charging toward Lynch, who pulled Carr in front of her. With Carr taken out momentarily, Lynch ran Lee into an exposed turnbuckle before pinning her. I’m curious to see what happens next with Lee. She’s only wrestled one match that didn’t include Lynch since she returned, so there are plenty of intriguing options whenever she wrestles again.

Nia Jax and Lash Legend vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley vs. Paige and Brie Bella in a four-way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: A soft Hit. The initial purpose of the match was clearly to give these teams a spot on the card. Nikki Bella’s injury opened the door for Paige, whose return is the main reason this match landed in the Hit section. The match was fine, but Paige’s first WWE match since 2017 was a legitimate WrestleMania Moment on a show without many. I’m sure Nikki was disappointed that she was unable to team with her sister at WrestleMania, so it was nice that she was able to be at ringside and even play a part in the finish. I can’t help but wonder what the plan for Paige’s return was before Nikki injured her ankle.

LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso vs. Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed: A soft Hit for IShowSpeed’s story clicking with the live crowd. The fans went from booing Speed during the match to cheering for him once Paul and Theory turned on him. Speed’s big dive from the top of the ring post that put Paul through a table was fun. That said, the wrestlers took a backseat to the celebrity. Knight showed some personality, and his BFT finisher gave his team the win, but this was a disappointing WrestleMania match for the Usos. Okay, it was not as bad as when they faced each other in a past WrestleMania opener, but still underwhelming compared to some of their other recent WrestleMania matches. It felt like the main reason the Usos were in the match was to have their entrance through the crowd shown on the ESPN2 broadcast.

WrestleMania 42 Night One Misses

Advertising overload: There were an absurd number of commercials during the show, along with advertising on the canvas, the ring posts, the LED boards on the barricade, as well as on tables, a blimp, and even an insurance company’s logo on the turnbuckle pads. And just when it seemed like there couldn’t possibly be more advertising, Michael Cole read some ads, and a company’s mascot popped up in the crowd (I should probably complain about The Mandalorian and Grogu showing up, but… Star Wars). Fans will accept a reasonable amount of advertising, but TKO has made WrestleMania more about ads than their own product. I’ve never read so many complaints about a show of any kind having so many ads. One fan even responded to the WWE social media post about Cody Rhodes’ eye swelling shut by asking if the company planned to put ads on Cody’s eye, too. Ouch.

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship: They got things off to a good start with Cody and Jelly Roll taking out Pat McAfee. Jelly Roll has done nice work in WWE, but he’s overstayed his welcome. So it was a wise call to have him pop up at ringside with no introduction, hit the elbow drop that put McAfee through the broadcast table, and then check out for the night. McAfee giving the thumbs up while he was being stretchered out was hilarious. Things got worse once the bell rang. I’m not sure why they added the story of Orton entering the match with an injured back. It made the first half of the match slow and uneventful, while also making heel Orton look sympathetic. The whole thing was confusing. I only knew they wanted fans to side with Cody because Michael Cole justified his actions on commentary. But then Orton dropped McAfee with an RKO, which made Orton seem like a babyface again just in time for Cody to put him down with CrossRhodes before pinning him. Apparently, the idea was to show that Cody can get just as low down and dirty as his most ruthless heel challengers. Since when did that become an issue? I don’t remember anyone saying that Cody lacked the killer instinct during his blood feuds with Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre. Heck, the story of Cody’s match with Orton in the King of the Ring finals was that Cody didn’t hesitate to take advantage of Orton’s back injury. Meanwhile, McAfee claimed he would leave WWE forever if Orton didn’t leave with the WWE Championship. So that’s it? Are they really going to move on without paying off McAfee’s claims that this was all leading to something big?

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship: This was one of the bigger disappointments of the night. The build featured tense brawls that set the table for a big showdown. Rather, it turned out to be a brief match with outside interference from Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. This is WrestleMania. Fans expect and deserve better than a glorified Raw match.

(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)