WWE’sWrestleMania 41weekendrolls on with WrestleMania Night 2 on Sunday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The event will feature four championship matches, including a headlining bout between Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and John Cena and a triple threat for the Women’s World Championship between Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair.
The main event will markthe first time Cena has competed since his shocking heel turnat theElimination Chamberevent back on March 1. Cena has vowed to beat Rhodes, win a record 17th world championship andretire with the championship to “ruin” its lineage. One of the big questions surrounding the match iswhether The Rock will get involved, as Cena aligned himself with Dwayne Johnson as part of his heel turn, but"The Final Boss" has been absentfrom WWE programming ever since.
Here are your key moments from WWE WrestleMania 41 Night 2:
John Cena Wins An Awkward Main Event
Cody Rhodes' Title Reign Ends With a Whimper
The Night 2main event wound up being a mixed bag. On the one hand, it was incredibly fun to see Cena embracing the role of a cowardly heel and changing up his in-ring style to reflect the character change. But having the final minutes center around Travis Scott felt like WWE desperately wanted The Rock, couldn’t get him, and had to settle for someone else. It lacked the gravity of a WrestleMania closer, and you could tell the crowd was waiting for something bigger to happen only to be met with a surprise three-count.
Speaking of which, hearing Rhodes get thoroughly booed by sold-out Allegiant Stadium crowd was odd. Rhodes had been generating universally positive reactions as world champion up until this weekend, yet he suddenly found himself in aWrestleMania X8situation where the crowd was fully on Cena’s side. The match was fine, and it makes Cena’s farewell tour all the more interesting. But it doesn’t come close to what the Night 1 main event pulled off.
Night 2 > Night 1
It Wasn’t Close
Awkward main event aside, Night 2 was overall considerably better than Night 1. The women’s triple threat will be strong contender for Match of the Year. Drew McIntyre’s win over Damian Priest was as brutal as it was necessary in getting his character back on track. The crowd was fully behind Dominik Mysterio winning the Intercontinental Championship, and it was cool to see Joe Hendry pop up as Randy Orton’s surprise opponent.
Overall, the consensus surroundingWrestleMania 41seems to have been correct - it wasn’t as good asWrestleMania XLand the strange booking decisions made for some odd moments. A lot of the issues could have been solved if The Rock was available (and the entire main event picture would have changed if he was able to wrestle), but WWE reportedly knew he wouldn’t be available since the start of the year.
