Seth Rollins steals the show as main event sizzles at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas
In what may go down as one of the greatest main events of all time, Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and CM Punk at Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
As more than 60,000 exhausted fans watched, Paul Heyman turned his back on his longtime tribal chief Reigns, then on his longtime best friend Punk, aligning himself with Rollins to help him capture their triple threat match, completely shocking the capacity crowd.
After an intense and incredible match that saw all three men put on what can only be described as an instant classic, each nearly winning the contest multiple times, Heyman took the crowd on a wrestling joyride by grabbing a chair at ringside while all three men were down inside the ring.
Heyman, holding the chair while staring at Reigns and Punk, seemingly torn by his loyalty to both, slid the chair inside to Punk, igniting a huge roar from the crowd. After Punk took the weapon and prepared to wallop Reigns, a win appearing within his grasp, Heyman dropped to his knees and hit Punk with a low blow.
Reigns, a slightly confused by pleased look on his face, then bashed Punk with the chair repeatedly. Rollins, recovering with his back to the duo, was next. But as Reigns positioned himself to deliver chair shots to Rollins, again Heyman dropped to the mat and delivered a second, even more shocking, low blow to Reigns, nearly blowing the roof off the stadium in the process.
Rollins, his back still to the action that unfolded, held his hand out as Heyman handed him the weapons. Rollins delivered the final chair shot to Reigns, followed by his Curb Stomp finisher, to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat as a shocked and emotionally spent crowd struggled to process what it had just witnessed.
The finale capped a night that also saw all but one championship change hands. WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton successfully defended her title in a violent encounter with Charlotte Flair, the only champion to escape Las Vegas with their title in hand.
In other title matches, Jey Uso defeated Gunther to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, The War Raiders lost their WWE World Tag Team Championships to The New Day and United States Champion LA Knight lost his title to Jacob Fatu.
Other highlights of the night included Punk being serenaded to the ring by Living Color, who performed a live version of his entrance theme Cult of Personality; a live performance of the U.S. national anthem by Jelly Roll and several spectacular entrances that featured cars, incredible ring gear and pyro.
In one of the most highly anticipated matches of the night, Charlotte Flair challenged Tiffany Stratton for her WWE Women's Championship.
Stratton did what few other women have in WWE in defeating Flair at WrestleMania in a championship match.
The lead-up to the match was so intense, fans couldn't tell if the heat between the women was scripted or real. That carried over into the match itself, which concluded with Stratton victorious, her mouth bloodied, bruises on her face and the championship in hand.
Stratton delivered an Alabama Slam into the turnbuckle and her Prettiest Moonsault Ever for the 1-2-3, for the finish.
Following an injury to Rey Mysterio on Friday night during SmackDown, WWE pivoted, replacing Mysterio with its newest luchador, Rey Fenix.
El Grande Americano, a mysterious luchador who looks suspiciously like Chad Gable, came out to an elaborate entrance, complete with a Mariachi band all donning El Grande Americano masks.
The match opened with great pace and high-flying spots, with Americano hitting an impressive moonsault senton.
In what was probably the night's most unappreciated bout, it concluded with Americano inserting a metal plate into his mask and hitting Fenix from the top rope with a diving headbutt, leading to an easy pinfall victory.
An announced sold-out crowd of 61,467 took in the first night of WrestleMania 41, according to WWE.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels was introduced to the crowd ahead of the women's championship match, where he proceeded to thank the crowd, announced at more than 61,000 for the first of back-to-back nights at the stadium. The WWE Hall of Fame class of 2025, led by Paul Triple H Levesque, were also honoured late in the evening.
Fatu gave fans a glimpse of what's to come for his bright future when he took on LA Knight in the evening's fourth match for the United States Championship. Fatu was accompanied by The Bloodline's leader Solo Sikoa, though fortunately, the latter didn't impact the match's outcome. Fatu's power and athleticism were on full display as he captured his first WWE title in his young and promising career.
The back-and-forth match ended with Fatu hitting a Samoan Drop from the top rope and two of his signature moonsaults for the win.
The third match of the evening featured two of the more dynamic and maybe underappreciated women in WWE, with Jade Cargill defeating Naomi.
Cargill came to the ring with dyed grey hair, dressed in lightning bolt gear with a video vignette of a weather report in an homage to X-Men's Storm character.
Naomi's ring gear, meanwhile, featured caution tape displaying 'Underappreciated,' 'Too nice,' and other messages.
The match itself was short, but intense and featured several impressive spots. Cargill's power prevailed over Naomi's athleticism, however.
Its conclusion saw Naomi lock in a submission hold, but the impressively strong Cargill escaped and delivered her Jaded finisher for the pinfall win.
The second match of the evening featured The New Day challenging WWE World Tag Team champions, The War Raiders.
The match only came together in recent weeks during New Day's recent heel run, but Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods became 12-time tag champs – the most decorated in WWE history — when they cheated to win on Saturday.
After the War Raiders attempted their Viking Experience finisher on Woods, Kingston broke it up. With Kofi outside the ring, he reached up and held Ivar's leg, out of sight of the referee, as Woods jumped off the top rope onto Ivar's neck and scored the pinfall win.
Night 1 opened with Uso challenging WWE World champion Gunther for his championship, a battle that was preceded by one of the more compelling storylines leading up to the match.
Uso earned the title shot by winning the Royal Rumble in January, while Gunther spent months attacking Jay, even bloodying his twin brother Jimmy, in the lead-up.
The match was well told, with Gunther playing the villainous bad guy to Uso's good guy persona.
Its conclusion was as good or better than its leadup, with Uso winning his first World Heavyweight championship by using Gunther's own powerbomb, followed by three body splashes from the top ropes before locking in a sleeper hold, which forced Gunther to submit.
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Jey Uso def. Gunther by submission to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) def. The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar) to become the WWE World Tag Team champs.
Jade Cargill def. Naomi.
Jacob Fatu def. LA Knight to become the new United States Champion.
El Grande Americano def. Rey Fenix.
Tiffany Stratton def. Charlotte Flair to retain the WWE Women's Championship.
Seth Freakin' Rollins def. CM Punk and Roman Reigns in a triple threat main event.
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