In the face of heightened expectations, the main event on the first night of Wrestlemania XL more than delivered with The Rock and Roman Reigns defeating Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
Leading into Wrestlemania XL, the main storyline of interest has been none other than The Rock’s involvement in Rhodes’ WWE Championship feud with Reigns. The story of Rhodes finally overcoming Reigns to win his first world title after coming up short at Wrestlemania 39 was already interesting enough; however, adding The Rock into the mix has brought it up a whole another level.
The stipulation of the main event on the first night of Wrestlemania was simple — if Rhodes and Rollins won, there would be no Bloodline interference on the second night in the main event between Reigns and Rhodes. However, if the Bloodline won, that means the main event would be contested under their rules.
In fitting fashion, The Rock pulled out all the stops to deliver his team (and his family) the win on the first night of Wrestlemania. Those “stops” included threatening the referee’s job to prevent a count out and using the belt to hit Rhodes towards the end of the match before delivering a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow to pin “The American Nightmare.”
While the idea of Rhodes defeating the Rock and Reigns would have been a nice touch on his way to winning his long-overdue WWE Championship, the direction of having him lose on the first night — only to have him overcome all the odds, even with Bloodline rules — and then win on the second night is a much more satisfying angle.
Intertwined in the middle of the match was Reigns accidentally spearing The Rock while going for both Rhodes and Rollins. The mistake nearly cost The Bloodline the match with both Rollins and Rhodes hitting Triple H’s former finishing move — The Pedigree — on both Reigns and The Rock, only for both superstars to kick out.
That mistake on Reigns’ part is important because it now plants the seed for the inevitable Rock versus Reigns feud that will likely take place down the road, potentially at next year’s Wrestlemania. Secondly, it also plants the idea that The Rock will either turn on Reigns during the main event of the second night of Wrestlemania or accidentally cost his cousin the match — and ultimately the title — which would obviously even out the two after Reigns accidentally hit The Rock with a spear.
In the grander scheme of things, The Rock’s win over Rhodes — after weeks of belittling him, including an epic beatdown of a bloodied Rhodes to close out Raw — plants the seed of the now highly-anticipated matchup between the two, likely to take place at this year’s Summerslam. By having “The Final Boss” beat Rhodes, it will also incentivize both to have their first-ever one-on-one matchup.
Rhodes will want his comeuppance after getting pinned by The Rock after weeks of the latter getting the better end of him, including an epic slap during a Wrestlemania media event in Las Vegas. Secondly, The Rock would want to defend his family’s honor — assuming Reigns loses to Rhodes — and win the title back for The Bloodline.
All in all, the WWE’s handling of creative direction when it relates to the main event of Wrestlemania has been masterful. They risked massive backlash if they moved forward with the original storyline of Rhodes conceding his title shot against Reigns at Wrestlemania to The Rock. Instead, they found gold with this tag team main event, setting up Rhodes’ long-awaited WWE Title win and creating two future main events in the process with Rhodes versus The Rock and Reigns versus The Rock.
As Triple H mentioned to kick off Wrestlemania, it’s a “new era.” The WWE is now under the leadership of the former World Champion, with Vince McMahon no longer involved in the company — this was the first Wrestlemania without him — in a major capacity following his sexual assault lawsuit. As a result of that drastic change, the WWE’s storylines and execution have been top-notch, with ratings reflecting that.
It also doesn’t hurt that The Rock — the highest-earning actor for three consecutive years between 2019 and 2021 and the biggest name in WWE history — has given them a massive boost in the process.
The Rock spoke of the feeling that the WWE was ushering in a new era tonight at Wrestlemania.
“I think that HHH has done a tremendous job as Chief Creative Officer,” said The Rock during the post-event press conference. “I like ushering in new things, new times and new eras. It feels like a new era that we’re ushering in. I spoke to HHH earlier as we were kicking off, it was a special night for him. It was marking the beginning of something under his creative. I think from a company standpoint, this is a very exciting time.”
Mike Roe of The Wrap mentions how The Rock has given Friday Night Smackdown a 15% boost in TV ratings in the 18-49 demographic compared to last year through March 22.
Roe also notes how how Smackdown has ranked No. 1 in the demo for all Friday broadcast programming for 11 of the first 12 weeks in the quarter.
“The Feb. 16 episode of “SmackDown” was the most-viewed primetime broadcast show for that week, scoring 985,000 viewers in the key 18-49 demo,” writes Roe. “The show also ranked No. 1 in the demo for all Friday broadcast programming for 11 of the 12 weeks of the quarter.”
It’s clear the WWE is trending in the right direction; a direction that really hasn’t been seen in the company in many years.
The first night of Wrestlemania not only lived up to expectations, but it represented the shift into the “new era” for the company.
While The Attitude Era will never be replicated, there can always be a new era that creates the enjoyment and memories similar to what we experienced during that time period.
Wrestlemania XL could very well end up representing the beginning of that era that fans have long been waiting for.