Cody Rhodes is the new WWE Undisputed Universal Champion. It was a huge moment inside Lincoln Financial Field to close out night two of WrestleMania 40 and one that wrestling fans will remember for a long, long time. With it came the end of Roman Reigns’ title run — a story that laid the foundation for WWE’s current run of creative success.
Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and other WWE talking heads spoke of a new era that the company was in throughout the weekend. Yes, it was corporate speak and politically motivated, but creatively, it was accurate. The show is going to look different with Cody Rhodes on top and The Bloodline in the background. WrestleMania 40 was a perfect stage of WWE’s next act to play out on.
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Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the event and here’s how they work … I call it like I see it. Period.
A strong opener with really great entrances from both Drew and Seth. Rollins took dressing up to an obscene level and it worked with the pageantry that comes along with WrestleMania. The match itself was exciting start to finish. It wasn’t overly long, but they seemed to fit the 10 pounds of stuff into the five pound bag. Go figure. McIntyre needed to defeat Rollins and did. Rollins sold the knee he injured in the night one WrestleMania main event and this match played right with that story. McIntyre looked dangerous in stalking Seth’s injury and Seth had an out when he lost thanks to pulling double duty. As for the Damian Priest cash-in? Very well done. They got there thanks to the simmering feud between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, which is surely set to reach a fever pitch at this point. I don’t think we’re looking at a huge elevation of Priest with this run, but hey, it’s better to have the title than not have it.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO
Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits vs. Karrion Kross & Authors of Pain
Total car crash match. Montez Ford got some nice spots in and shined, but overall it was essentially a match that could have taken place on Smackdown. Even if the match was nothing to write home about, I continue to like the idea of WWE giving storylines, direction, and depth to matches in the middle of the WrestleMania card.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OO
A good match that fit their grudge nicely. This was certainly Knight’s best singles match to date. I liked the back and forth action and the audience firmly behind Knight helped greatly to get the investment they were looking for. Styles didn’t have much to gain from a win in this. I’m glad Paul Levesque recognized that and went with Knight. Knight vs. Logan Paul for the United States Championship is still a match I’d target for this year.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO
Logan Paul vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens - WWE United States Championship
I was looking forward to seeing an insane Logan Paul RKO spot in this and it never came to fruition. Shame. That was only but a personal request on my part. The match itself was well done. Orton and KO teamed up enough, but also fought one another enough throughout. Paul was his arrogant self and snuck out a win thanks to the two other guys. Exactly as predicted. This almost had no chance to fail because of the talent involved. Each of the guys stepped up their game to have a memorable outing on a pretty stacked card.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
Excellent. Bayley had a bit of a strange entrance ahead of this that I’m not sure fit well, but once things got going the audience wanted her to be champion. The near falls they broke out had everyone biting and Bayley securing the win and title made for a special moment. She was the last of the four horsewomen to have a moment at WrestleMania and it was a long time coming. Fans in the building seemed to appreciate that. I’d imagine Iyo Sky and her do a rematch sometime soon and then it’ll be off to the races for Bayley’s run as a babyface champion.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOO 1/4
Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes - WWE Undisputed Universal Championship
Another spectacle main event. Wow. This match had it all. Extravagant entrances, good wrestling, surprises, and a suitable finish. Thumbs up. Roman and Cody wrestled well against the other and laid a good foundation for what the finish would end up being. The two men clashed 1 on 1 and things only were derailed when it became clear Roman may get beat. Enter The Bloodline interference. So, yeah, we got Jey, Jimmy, Solo Sikoa, John Cena, Seth Rollins, The Rock, and The Undertaker all involved.
Here’s why I liked it. The interference only fought away The Bloodline interference. It was an evening of the odds and not Cody unable to beat Roman Reigns without help. Right? That’s the difference. Had Undertaker choke slammed Reigns for the finish, that would have gotten some eye rolls. This wasn’t that. The surprises made for really fun moments, while also allowing Cody to win that title definitively.
Cody’s celebration was phenomenal. The babyface stars in the ring with him very much seemed genuine as did Triple H’s involvement. Thumbs up and it made the title win feel like a huge, huge deal.
Heydorn’s Brass Ring Rating - OOOO
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