Wrestlemania 40 Night 2 Recap - Wrestlemania Recap

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Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it? My main event was EO Sky vs. Baylee for the WWE Women's Championship. The World Women's Championship between Rhea and Becky, that had the name power. Those are the names you wanted to see. But there were not too many stories better than EO and Baylee. Baylee who started Damage Control in SummerSlam 2022. She just saw it go away. It was a round against SummerSlam 2023. EO Sky cashed in her money in the bank to become champion. She had been champion since. Baylee was right there rooting her on. Baylee would go on to win the Royal Rumble. Damage Control was nowhere to be found to watch in a celebration. It set the stage for what was an amazing match. If it wasn't for the main event, this could have easily been a match of the weekend. It was wrestling at its finest. It was storytelling at its finest. Baylee finally got her WrestleMania moment. I want to give flowers to EO Sky. She won the NXT Women's Championship not too long ago. She's had amazing matches with Charlotte Flair. This matchup with Baylee may be her best matchup she's had in a WWE ring. She was amazing. Her championship reign, I wish they would have done a little bit more with her. But I hope people understand how amazing EO Sky is in that ring. At the same time, I hope people understand how special Baylee is. She's been one of the pillars and the cornerstones of the women's division since she came up in 2016. Paul Levesque, Triple H, said it best that she doesn't get as recognized as much as the other four horsewomen like the Charlottes, the Beckys, and the Sashas. But let it be said that Baylee is indeed a gem. I've said this before. One of my favorite matches of all time, and arguably my favorite women's match of all time, is Baylee-Sasha in Brooklyn. And I thought that was as good of a storytelling as well as ring action I've ever seen. That was just so well done. And this matchup in WrestleMania 40 is just the same. Baylee cashed in her Royal Rumble opportunity and became the women's champion and just the sky is the limit for her. And her legendary career continues with a very big and very special WrestleMania moment. And that takes us to the main event of not just night two of WrestleMania, but the main event of WrestleMania 40. It was the undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes. And I don't know what can be said about this matchup that hasn't already been said. I had said this during our WrestleMania podcast, that this match felt like it was going to be a love letter to professional wrestling. And that's exactly what it was from the entrances that both men had. They were so big, so grand. It fit their personalities. It fit this match. It fit this stage perfectly. They went back and forth, had a very good match. And then the interference or the bloodline rules, as they say, got started. Jimmy tried to come out to interfere with the match only to have Jay come out, come off the ramp onto a table, onto the floor of the stadium. And then that was like that was only the start of something big. And then you as a Mexican, you had Solo Secoa come out. And then all that happened after that was John Cena came out. And John Cena gave him an attitude adjustment to the table. Solo is now out. Here comes John Cena. And then comes the final ball. Comes the Rock. And he takes out John Cena. And it looks like now the Rock is standing. And here comes Seth Rollins, only to be super hand-punched by Roman Reigns. And then, as it looked like the Rock was going to be standing tall, here comes the gong, here comes the Undertaker. And the Undertaker chokeslams the Rock, takes those final balls out the picture. And then three crossroads later, the American Nightmare lives the American Dream. As he is Cody Rhodes, defeated Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship. And it was storytelling at its absolute finest. I would tell anybody who has never seen professional wrestling to watch this match and see how it is done. There's so many ways and levels to look at this matchup. Let's look at all the people that were involved. All the people had history with one another or were part of this storyline. Even the Undertaker, who lost his second WrestleMania match to Roman Reigns. Now, a lot of people would have felt that that should have been so-called. He lost his fight, I'm probably one of them as well. But if you're going to tell me the Undertaker is going to make a surprise appearance at WrestleMania 40, who am I to tell the dead man no? But you had John Cena with all his run-ins with The Rock and Roman Reigns and Solo Sokola taking him out for as long as he did. Jimmy and Jey Uso who were members of the bloodline. Jimmy siding with Roman, Jey siding with Cody. It was just to see everybody who was involved in that match. And then it wasn't just the interference, it was just those small little things that emphasized the beautiful storytelling that is professional wrestling. When Seth Rollins came out and The Rock and Roman took him out, and then when The Rock got taken out of the match, Roman Reigns had a chair. And in the ring were Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. And it feels like everything about the Tribal Chief, it almost just came to fruition. If he hits Cody, he's probably still champion. But instead, he goes back and delivers a chair shot ten years in the making. When Seth Rollins told Roman Reigns that he had a plan B, his plan B, Seth Rollins, was to crack Roman Reigns on the back. Ten years later, Roman Reigns said, I got your plan B. Wrecked him. But it ultimately became his downfall in the match. And it ultimately showed that Seth Rollins was still in Roman Reigns' head overall and all. But that's, like I said, this was a love letter from the WWE to pro wrestling fans. And it reminded us all why we love storytelling. Why we love pro wrestling. We love it because of the storytelling. We love it because of the pomp. We love it because of the circumstances. We love it with the good versus evil. We love the craziness that comes in with it. And it was just an unbelievably fun night to watch from home or to be in Philadelphia and to remember why we all became wrestling fans. And there's not a lot more to say that hasn't been said. History will now take over to see where this matchup will go on WrestleMania top tens or top fives all over the world. And it's ironic now because we just did our top ten list. I think when we do our top ten next year, this match will find its way there. This match will find its way there. It was... There's not a lot more to say about it. And it's so ironic. We were so mad last year at WrestleMania 39. Why didn't Cody finish the story? Paul Heyman has said something so profound that it found its way back throughout the week. He has said we were only in the bottom of the third in describing this Roman Reigns feud. Well, if we were at the bottom of the third at WrestleMania 39, then Cody Rhodes, Joe Carter, WrestleMania 40, came up, bottom of the ninth, two outs, hit the game-winning, woke-off, World Series home run. And that's what Cody Rhodes did with this performance tonight. So what does this all mean moving forward? Well, first, on the Wild Sports Podcast, we give our flowers. I want to acknowledge our tribal chief and say thank you to Roman Reigns for your three and a half years as champion. You defended the title 31 times. Quite frankly, brother, I didn't care. You were an attraction wherever you went. You were the person we were not supposed to like. You were the person that we were supposed to despise, and you played it. You did your job perfectly. This match and this moment does not happen without you. So to my tribal chief, Roman Reigns, I'm throwing up my ones. I'm acknowledging you, sir. Thank you for this legendary ride, and thank you, thank you, for letting this story play out the way it did. To Paul Heyman, Hall of Famer, I can't say anything more. His facial expressions, they tell a story all by themselves. He don't even have to speak a word, and you can just see how a story is going by just looking at his face. Nobody does it better than Paul Heyman. For the longest time I grew up, Bobby Heyman was my favorite manager. Bobby Heyman was the manager, and I'm not afraid and I'm not ashamed to say that Paul Heyman is that now. Greatest manager of all time. This story does not get told without you, sir. Cody Rose, I have a special podcast. I did it right after he won the title of WrestleMania 40, and please check that out. All I have to say about Cody is there is so much of the American dream in him that it's not even funny. He left the WWE in 2016. He didn't cry. He didn't trip up. He reinvented himself. He did the work. He busted his ass and gave us the greatest story, and for the longest time he had literally been building. If you had watched his career, especially these last eight years, when you saw the work that he did in Ring of Honor, when you saw the work he did with Nick Aldis in the NWA World Championship, when you saw what he did with AEW, when you just look at how he came back in the WWE, this story is so much deeper than Cody Rose, but nobody could have told this story better than Cody Rose. And finally, let me give my flowers to my favorite wrestler of all time, The Rock, and let me, if he will allow me, let me apologize. When he first came back into the story, I wasn't sure how he was going to fit. I still feel at times he overshadowed this match, but it was because of his involvement, everybody got taken to another level. The final boss character is arguably the best Rock character ever. Now, for me, I'm still Hollywood Rock. I will always and forever be Hollywood Rock, and in part because of the Sacramento concert, but there was something about this final boss, where he had to dig deep and truly find his heel. I almost feel like he got his inspiration from Triple H, his longtime rival and nemesis and became friend. I almost feel like he had to dig deep into that to find that heel and find that character. The final boss character is awesome, and the WrestleMania 40 story could not have been told without the final boss. So where does that leave us now? The story is over. Well, and I think we'll start to see on Monday Night Raw that not only does Cody Rhodes find a new story or write a new book, but so does the WWE. As we talked about earlier on this show, the talk of sports entertainment is dead. We are now in the professional wrestling era, and I almost would dare to say that's what we would almost call this era. We've gone through the ruthless aggression era. We've gone through the attitude era. We have gone through the era of reality, but never in the years that I have been alive have we ever been in an era of legitimate professional wrestling and have been proud to call it professional wrestling. Not just in the WWE, but in AEW, but in IMPACT and in New Japan, we are celebrating professional wrestling all over the world, and it almost feels like we couldn't do that until the WWE got on board. They're on board now. There is no better time ever, and I've lived through the attitude era. I love the attitude era. This is right now the professional wrestling era, maybe the best era of all time. We just had the greatest WrestleMania of all time. I'll say it. I'll say it. This is even better than 17. I will go out and say it. This WrestleMania is the best ever, and we finally have a WrestleMania that overtakes WrestleMania 17. In a couple of weeks, we're going to see Daniel Bryan versus Will Ospreay. Are you serious? We're going to see Shane Strickland go against Samoa Joe for the AEW world title. This weekend, we saw Mark Briscoe become the Ring of Honor world champion. This weekend, we got to see two African-Americans main event an event during WrestleMania weekend. On this weekend, we got to see two of the greatest championship reigns end, and we were so happy for the new champions, but we were so grateful for the men that carried those belts in Gunter and in Roman Reigns. We live in an amazing era right now of professional wrestling. I am a 44-year-old man. I have seen every WrestleMania. I have seen damn near every WCW event, damn near every ECW event, every Impact event, every AEW event. I have seen them all, and I have not gotten this passionate about anything in a very long time. And I feel like this is why I made this podcast, because I want to keep sharing my love of sports. I saw my wife this weekend be excited about Bianca Belair, Naomi, and Jade Cargill against Damage Control. She is still a big Raw fan, but that was the match. That was the match that brought her to WrestleMania. That's why I love sports so much, because I get to share, and people get to feed off it. And the fact that I got my wife to do it, I can't wait to do it again. That's why we love sports. That's why this podcast exists. I can't wait to keep sharing that love with all of you. So to the WWE, because you and I, Lord knows, we've had our rocky relationship, but thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for just doing it the right way and making it an investment in time that we want to go back and spending three hours on Monday night, two hours on Friday night, two hours on Tuesday nights to watch NXT. And for the wrestling industry as a whole, baby, you are back, mainstream. Don't keep attacking each other. Find a way to keep lifting, because that's what this industry needs to continue to do right now. I can't wait to see what's next. I'm legitimately excited to see what happens on Monday Night Raw and what happens next. Roman Reigns may be gone for a little bit. The Rock may be gone for a little bit. But it's okay, because we've got tremendous wrestlers, tremendous stories, and for the first time in a long time, there is strong leadership at the top that makes me feel like if The Rock steps away, if John Cena steps away, if Undertaker steps away, we're going to be okay, because we are in an era where there are new stars. We are guys that we are now going to be invested in and cannot wait to see what the next step. May they be the brand new champions of Damian Priest. May they be champions that we get reminded of how great they were in Bayley. May they be the stories that inspire us of all time, like Cody Rhodes. Or may they be continuing of dominance, that is Mami, Rhea Ripley. The world of professional wrestling is going to be in great hands. And the WWE, congratulations to you on officially ending your story and starting a brand new one. And pray that the leadership at top, that you take care of the wrestlers, and more importantly, you take care of those that are behind the scenes. And don't let people be afraid to come to work. Don't let people be afraid or be intimidated to just doing their job. I can't say anything more than I already have. WrestleMania 40, we can talk about it, where it stands historically. To me, this really may be number one. I actually had to wait a night to take a step back. So I didn't say this out of hyperbole or anything else like that. And I'll probably still take another minute to rethink, and I may revisit this again. But when you give me the underdog stories of Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes, when you give me the great women's matches and Bayley in the Yellow Sky, Rhea and Becky Lynch, when you give me fun matches, even like the Philadelphia Street Fight, when you give me great athleticism like Logan Paul, and you can... You gave me a great ladder match for the Tag Team Championship. There's not a lot of missing things on this card. You introduced a new star in Jay Cargill. You got to celebrate those established veterans, and you got to officially bring in stories. This is what WrestleMania is all about. I compared it to WrestleMania X when we got to see Bret Hart become champion. You knew the new generation was here. When Stone Cold Steve Austin won his title in WrestleMania XIV, you knew a new era was upon us. You saw it again in WrestleMania XXI, and you have seen it again on WrestleMania XIV. All I can say is this is why we love wrestling. This is why we love sports, because it is the passion that ensures. And then when you really look into it, these stories inspire us to do what we do on a daily basis. For anyone who's got those issues and got those troubles, sometimes we use sports as an escape from reality, but sometimes we can use sports as a reminder of some of those people that have done the same thing. They have overcome the odds. We get inspired by them. And I hope some way and somehow you get inspired by a story that you saw. May it not be just in wrestling, but may it be what you see in sports in general. I can't say anything more, but I love y'all so much. I'm so glad we got a chance to do this. I can't wait to do this again sooner rather than later. We're going to do another podcast later on this week to highlight the rest of the Final Four this week. We got to send our love and give more flowers to Dawn Staley and those Lady Gamecocks of South Carolina winning their national championship. I swear April the 7th, 2024, might have been one of the best sports days I've ever had in my life. It started with Dawn Staley. It ended with Cody Rhodes. I love what came in between. Thank you all so much for listening in. This is the Y Sports Podcast. It's been your boy, Alvin Spain. And when they ask you why sports, we just simply answer why not. And if they want more information, just tell them, go find any WrestleMania 40 clip on YouTube. Go watch it on Peacock. And you get reminded that sports brings out the child in us, brings out the fun in us, and brings out smiles. And it brings us closer to strangers that we've never met, but we love what we all see. Thank you all again so much for listening. It's been the Y Sports Podcast. It's been your boy, Alvin Spain. Talk to you soon. Love you. Bye-bye.