411’s WWE WrestleMania XL Kickoff Report

-Live coverage of the show just finished, and thank you to everyone that joined me. I appreciated all the comments and it seemed like everyone had a good time. Let’s get to what we just saw.

-Michael Cole welcomes us to the show and he is joined on the panel by Pat McAfee (um, McAfee is not undefeated at WrestleMania as Cole mentioned. We know who he lost to even if that is going to be erased going forward), Big E, and CM Punk! Good panel!

-Big E notes that he is here so Punk doesn’t get fired. He knows of Punk’s reputation. FANTASTIC!

-Cole namedrops AJ Lee and that pops the crowd. Punk gives a shout-out to all the Cole-Miners!

-Big E gives a health update and says he is in great health. Punk says his injury sucks and he is upset that he is not 100% after only a week out of surgery. He notes his mouth still works and he can still piss some people off. That’s our Punk!

-McAfee had The Rock on his show and we get some boos and then the crowd chanting Rocky. Dueling “We Want Cody” and “No We Don’t” chants.

-Punk wants to know where all these fans were in 2013 when this happened to him. He thinks if everyone plays their cards right, we can be in for a hell of a ride. He mentions the Super Bowl is around the corner (GO NINERS) and equates what is happening to Tom Brady stepping in to play this weekend. Niners tried to replace Purdy before the season with Brady. He understands box office even if it sucks for that guy.

-Big E is here to beat the drum for Cody and talks about the way he relates to people. He mentioned everything he did for the Huber Family after Brodie passed. Cody is the guy to put the crown on and carry the company.

-Jackie Redmond is backstage and confirms The Rock is in the building. Jackie is great! She held it down on Talking Smack to give that show an identity after floundering with format changes and a revolving door of hosts and co-hosts.

-Byron Saxton is backstage with Paul Heyman. He says the mood of The Bloodline hasn’t changed. They know some want Cody and others wants the movie star, The Rock. In the end it all comes down to who Main Events WrestleMania against Roman Reigns. Until someone beats, Roman that is where the Main Event of WrestleMania will remain. “My Tribal Chief, how is your mood? Byron wants to know.”

-McAfee and Big E think Roman wants The Rock at Mania. Punk understands box office and says Roman wants Rock, but Cody is the one who won the Rumble. It’s more who Roman doesn’t want and he doesn’t want Cody.

-Breaking News: WWE Speed is coming to X. A weekly video series with matches up to 5 minutes long.

-Cole introduces Paul “HHH” Levesque as it is go time now! Let’s Go!

-For those not watching it is basically set up like a UFC Weigh In would be.

-HHH mentions WrestleMania I in 1985 with Piper/Mr. Wonderful vs. Mr. T and Hulk Hogan. Some boos from Hogan! HHH runs down the celebrities that were there: Ali, Lauper, Liberace. WrestleMania launched WWE from a small regional promotion to a juggernaut selling out stadiums all over the globe. A lot has changed in the 40 years since then: Closed Circuit, PPV, Cable, Streaming, and now Netflix for $5 billion.

-He runs down the icons: Hogan, Savage, Andre, Flair, Michaels, Hart, Austin, The Rock (booed), Undertaker, Foley, Batista, and Cena.

-On April 6 and 7 they will take it to a new level and this is an all new WWE. Hmmm. “You ain’t see nothing yet.” He works the crowd as he hits the “Are You Ready?” spiel!

-Cole and McAfee are on the stage now as HHH takes his leave.

-We get a video package on Bianca Belair as she will be our first guest this evening.

-Bianca Belair makes her way out on the stage and the crowd is happy to see her. EST chant! She mentions The Super Bowl (Go Niners!). She plugs her Hulu reality show with Montez and covers why they decided to do the show. It’s no coincidence they are filming the show on the Road To WrestleMania. Oh wow, she mentions Sasha Banks and notes she walked out as Champion. She also tore the house down with Becky Lynch and walked out as Champion. She three-peated and beat Asuka to walk out as Champion again. This year she isn’t walking in as Champion, but she will continue her undefeated streak even if she doesn’t know what lane she will be in on The Road to WrestleMania this year. You can’t spell WrestleMania without EST.

-Cole notes Bianca is in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match tomorrow night on SmackDown. I assume we get Bianca/Jade at Mania!

-Video package for Rhea Ripley!

-WWE Women’s World Champion, Rhea Ripley, makes her way to the stage. She just carries herself like a Superstar should. “Mami is here.” That gets a “Mami” chant! More Road to WrestleMania talk as they have to make sure to hit the buzz words. She will walk in and out of Mania as the most dominant woman to hold a title in the history of this company. More Mami chants! She isn’t surprised Bayley turned on her friends and challenged Iyo. “Why waste your WrestleMania Golden Ticket when you know you are going to lose?” Rhea plugs Elimination Chamber in Australia as they have plugged Bianca’s show and now the next PLE.

-Hey, here’s Becky Lynch! I mean, we all assumed Lynch is winning at EC to get to Rhea, but they aren’t even trying to hide it here. Not that I am complaining as it is the biggest match they have on the Woman’s side. Becky notes she will be inside The Elimination Chamber for the first time ever and she will win. She will then challenge Rhea at WrestleMania: The Man vs. Mami! For the first time ever. She notes that depends on if Rhea can get by Nia Jax first. She tells Rhea that Mami will learn what it’s like to be on the bottom and the stare each other down. Pearce is out to separate them, and I mean, just sign the match now. Don’t get cute and try to swerve us. Just give us the match at WrestleMania.

-Cole runs down the matches we know as of now for Elimination Chamber!

-Here’s Seth Rollins arriving sporting a tuxedo earlier today.

-Still to come: The Rock, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns!

-I guess this is intermission as we get a Pizza Hut commercial!

-WWE2K24 commercial! It’s been a few years since I bought a 2K game, so I think I will get this one. The WrestleMania history feature has me intrigued. They had that in a previous game and I enjoyed it.

-WrestleMania Moment: WrestleMania I (1985)! My childhood though I was just shy of my 4th birthday.

-Cole mentioned The Super Bowl! GO NINERS!

-Video package for Seth Rollins!

-Rollins in a tuxedo is actually pretty tame. The crowd hums the music as Seth does his little dance. Seth says it is a party in here tonight and there goes the crowd with his theme music again. Seth hits the catchphrases and notes it is still a pretty big pop. SHOTS FIRED! Seth wants to cut to the chase and get a WrestleMania Main Event. He wants to bring out the man that can make that decision.

-He wants to bring out Cody, but instead it’s ROMAN REIGNS! HERE WE GO!

-Roman and Paul Heyman hit the stage and finally some intrigue with this show. A small, Tribal Chief chant starts and Roman milks it until it gets a little louder. ACKNOWLEDGE HIM! Seth: “Hey guys. He showed up for work once.” Roman: “He showed up for work in his wife’s shoes.” These two are great and I enjoy them busting on each other.

-Roman wants to talk about Cody Rhodes. He calls him Mr. Hesitation and says if you hesitate, your moment will move on. It is no longer his decision. It is now Roman’s decision. Tonight he will choose who faces him in the Main Event of WrestleMania. He calls Seth a bum and wants him off the stage. Roman chooses The Rock! Seth tells him that’s now how it works!

-HERE’S THE ROCK! Cody getting the last entrance! They have to be setting up a mini tournament with all 4 of them on the stage at once (when Cody gets out here).

-Many boos for The Rock, but there is also a Rocky chant mixed in. The boos are growing as The Rock is about to go into his spiel. “You suck Rock,” from a little kid in the crowd. More boos as The Rock gets the mic to his mouth! He hits The Finally and he has a question for the crowd. He wants to know if Roman is going to beat The Rock at WrestleMania. That seemed like a a yes. Yep, here is the Yes chant and now there is a No chant. The Rock asks if the fans think he will beat The Tribal Chief. Boos!

-WE WANT CODY CHANT chant as The Rock just takes it all in. There is also a Cody sucks chant. The Rock is milking this for all it’s worth! “Do you think The Rock and Roman Reigns will be the biggest Main Event in the history of the WWE.” MANY BOOS! Sorry, nothing will ever top Hogan/Andre at Mania III.

-The Rock welcomes the press and the WWE Universe! WE WANT CODY/NO WE DON’T! The WE WANT CODY side is winning. The crowd still does The Millions and he welcomes The Cody Cry Babies! DAMN! This is classic Heel Rock! They know what they are doing here.

-The Rock has something to show us and the crowd starts with The What chants and Rock knows how to play into that.

-The put a Bloodline Family Tree on the screen and someone needs to post that online for reference. On top of The Tree is Rock’s grandfather and Roman’s grandfather. The crowd continues with the WHAT chants. The Rock says this is proof there is only one dominant and powerful family in pro-wrestling. He tells us to save our boos and IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT WE THINK (if we don’t believe Rock/Roman is greatest Mania Main Event of All Time).

-WrestleMania XL: Rock vs Roman! Rock is booed when he calls himself The People’s Champion. They shake hands and hug as the crowd continues to boo.

-HERE’S CODY (without music)! “THIS RIGHT HERE IS BULLSHIT.” He tells Roman he can’t decide. He has the power because he won The Royal Rumble. He tells Rock they had a wonderful conversation, but he has made his decision. AT WRESTLEMANIA XL IN THE MAIN EVENT I CHOOSE YOU ROMAN REIGNS!

-Roman says Cody is old news and needs to go over with the number twos. Loser Bracket with the dummy in green. Cody was only a chapter in Roman’s book. He calls Roman irrelevant just like his dad. DAMN! Cody asks Roman, “How is Jey?” HHH, Aldis, and Pearce are out on the stage. Cody says neither Roman or Rock have been doing any cooking for two years. Cody gets personal and mentions Rock and Roman’s grandfathers and says they would be ashamed of them. ROCK AND ROMAN ARE JUST A TAD PISSED AT THAT COMMENT!

-Rock makes it clear to Cody that when he talks about Roman’s family, he is talking about his family. More WHAT chants at The Rock. Rock says they have a problem and he slaps Cody in the face! DICK HEEL HOLLYWOOD ROCK IS BACK! Rock: “I’ll slap the piss out of you again.” Seth drops the word shit as he yells at Rock and Roman. Rock responds with the F BOMB. This is tremendous! We still don’t have answers, but we are getting Cody vs. Roman in some form.

-Back to the panel as Punk wants to see Cody punch Rock right in the face. He notes again that it is Cody’s shot to call. Big E doesn’t know if this is heading towards a tag match. Cole wonders what this means for The World Title.

-Cole says it will be Cody vs. Roman at WrestleMania. Punk just wants Cody to start fighting back. Big E brings up that Rock is on the board and is kind of Cody’s boss. Cole again wonders what happens to Seth Rollins? Punk says he has no love lost for Seth and notes he needs to take his balls out of a purse and punch someone in the mouth.

-Big E agrees with Cole that Cody has to finish the story at Mania because he won’t get a third shot. McAfee makes sure we all know that it will be Cody vs. Roman at WrestleMania. The graphic on the stage does have Cody and Roman now. Punk notes Cody’s boss just slapped him in the face. Big E brings up the idea of both matches happening at WrestleMania.

-Jackie is backstage with Paul Levesque. The Rock walks by and he tells Paul to fix it. If he doesn’t fix it, they will. Rock says something that was muted and drew a big reaction from the crowd. HEEL ROCK IS THE BEST!

-Punk says it is easy to fix: LET THEM FIGHT! Big E agrees and he wants to see some violence. Punk: “PUNCH PEOPLE IN THE FACE.”

-Cole wraps things up and we are out!

-This was tremendous and probably sold a bunch of people on WrestleMania. I am sure we will find out what was planned and what they pivoted to, but they hit a GRAND SLAM after what went down on SmackDown. Becky/Rhea was fun and got the crowd going, but everything from Seth to the close was fantastic! It just felt real and authentic. Rock came off as a huge dick and that’s what they wanted. Seth was great at needling Roman and The Rock. Punk was great as he just wanted everyone to start punching each other. Make your own jokes! It was nice seeing Big E back and hopefully we see more of him on pre-shows while he heals and decides what’s next. McAfee always brings the energy because he is just a fan like all of us. I also appreciated the panel going through all the possibilities just like we are all doing. They didn’t seem scripted or rehearsed. They just reacted like we all did. The Rock power walking and bitching at HHH was also brilliant because we know Rock is technically HHH’s boss at this point. This was much needed and what looked like a bumpy road has turned into an intriguing one. Thanks for reading!