Pantoja’s WWE WrestleMania 41: Night 1 Review

WWE WrestleMania 41: Night One

April 19^th, 2025 | Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada

Alright, I watched this show with my friend last night while drinking too much bourbon, so I didn’t write anything. That means this will be a quick and dirty review (with a more substantial one for night two).

World Heavyweight Championship: Gunther [c] vs. Jey Uso

I have been on the Jey Uso train despite so many people not liking this push to the top. The guy is absurdly over, and while he’s not the best wrestler out there, he’s far better than a lot of World Champions we’ve had in the past. The match itself was solid, though it had some sloppy parts. It felt like Jey might’ve messed up his arm during his entrance. He wasn’t using it properly and didn’t seem to fully YEET as much as usual afterward. Anyway, I thought they did well for most of the finish. I liked Jey busting out his own powerbomb and hitting multiple splashes, but I do think people need to stop doing the Spear if you aren’t Bron Breakker or Roman Reigns. Having Gunther tap to the sleeper was a choice. The idea wasn’t awful, but I’d have had Gunther fight in the hold for a bit or even pass out. The fact that he tapped so quickly felt anticlimactic. Jey won in 16:21. [***]

World Tag Team Championship: War Raiders [c] vs. The New Day

The Tag Title scene on SmackDown has actual build, and the TLC announced for next week feels like a Mania match. This doesn’t, and I totally believe the reason it was added to the card was because Big E was cleared to do something, anything, in it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Instead, we got a generic Raw match for the titles, and nobody really cared. They dropped the ball on heel New Day by having them do a bunch of nothing after the turn, so by now, it’s hard to care. When New Day won with their backbreaker/stomp combo, along with Kofi holding the leg during Woods’ pin at 9:12, it was very much just a blah moment. A TV match. [**]

Jade Cargill vs. Naomi

Naomi’s CAUTION gear gives me Owen Hart vibes. Color me surprised, but this turned out to be very good. We all know that Jade has work to do in terms of singles matches that aren’t squashes, but clearly she was working on that while she was away. They busted out some surprisingly big moves like a dope top rope bulldog and I’ll always pop for the Rings of Saturn, which Naomi did well. I like that this wasn’t some easy squash because heel Naomi has some legs and could be a solid Women’s Title challenger coming up. Jade’s electric chair drop into a powerbomb was one of the best spots of the night. She turned that into Jaded and won in 9:20. A very good power match, Jade looked impressive out there, and Naomi has done well in this new role. [***¼]

WWE United States Championship: LA Knight [c] vs. Jacob Fatu

LA Knight is a lot like Tiffany Stratton to me. I get why they’re over, and I see the appeal, but it’s just not really for me. I don’t actively like or dislike them, they’re kind of just there. Jacob Fatu, on the other hand, feels like a big deal, and that was the case here. He looked like a monster out there, and Knight was good in the role of the champion, trying to overcome a seemingly impossible and dangerous challenger. I will say, the crowd was kind of quiet for a lot of this, which was surprising given who was involved. A super over face and a very over heel. The spot where Knight avoided the moonsault and turned it into the BFT was a cool idea, but it took me a minute or so to realize what exactly happened. Fatu came back with a Samoan Drop and hit two moonsaults to win the title in 10:38 and celebrate with Haku. I will always pop for a Haku appearance. Good stuff here. [***¼]

El Grande Americano vs. Rey Fénix

Apparently, the Rey Mysterio injury is legit, but it feels like it’s a work because they had El Grande Americano attack Fénix ahead of that, and this is a way to get him on the Mania card. It’s wild that this is only Fénix’s third or fourth WWE match. This was very good from a technical standpoint, with fun stuff like Americano busting out some kind of moonsault with an extra half spin in it so it became a senton. Leave it to Chad Gable to come up with something like that for a goofy gimmick like this. Americano loaded up the mask, and when it hurt Fénix’s ankle, that set up the Ankle Lock. Fénix survived that but took the loss after eating a headbutt and then a flying headbutt off the top in 7:55. Quality stuff here, even if I’m surprised they had Fénix do the job here. [***¼]

WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton [c] vs. Charlotte Flair

I can’t remember a women’s match at Mania that I’ve cared less about. Since women’s matches started mattering in WWE, that is. I just have no connection to Tiffany, and I’ve never liked Charlotte. The build to this made it seem like it would be a total dumpster fire, but it wasn’t. They had a pretty stiff match, and it looked like Charlotte was really laying in those shots. She stiffed the hell out of Tiffany a handful of times, and it was visible on Tiffany’s face by the end. I thought she might’ve lost a tooth. My biggest gripe with the match was that it took a while before it got good, but once it did, it was pretty strong. Tiffany survived Natural Selection and the Figure Four before winning with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever in 19:09. I did not expect Tiffany to win, but that was a welcome surprise. Solid enough here. [**¾] 

CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins

It’s hilarious that this is the main event because it has literally no stakes. At least add a #1 contender’s stipulation or something to it instead of fighting over Paul Heyman’s love. Punk’s pre-match video package was fantastic, and the live performance of “Cult of Personality” was cool. I think I prefer the one at WM 29, though. This reminded me a lot of last year’s night one main event in that it was long and filled with classic WWE main event style storytelling. That’s not a bad thing because it’s something I enjoy when done right, and this was done right. The brawling came off well, and they did nice little things like tease a Shield powerbomb, only for Roman to level Seth. The spot where we got a GTS, Spear, and Curb Stomp all in succession was awesome. The big moment came at the end when Heyman gave Punk a chair instead of Roman. He then hit Punk with a low blow, and Roman wailed on Punk with a chair. When Roman went to hit Seth in the back with the chair, Heyman hit him with a low blow as well, aligning himself with Seth. Rollins hit another Curb Stomp on Roman and pinned him to win in 32:39. Great stuff here, giving us a classic big match main event and a memorable finish that sets up some storylines going forward. [****½]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Not a great night of wrestling but a good show. Nothing was bad outside of the lame tag title match, we got a few notable title changes, and the main event delivered. Night two feels like the better show on paper so this one not being great makes sense.