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0:00 - WWE WrestleMania 41 Night 1 Review
1:17 - Jey Uso vs Gunther
3:04 - New Day vs War Raiders
4:20 - Naomi vs Jade Cargill
4:55 - LA Knight vs Jacob Fatu
6:23 - El Grande Americano vs Rey Fenix
7:31 - Charlotte Flair vs Tiffany Stratton
8:52 - Seth Rollins vs CM Punk vs Roman Reigns
Paul Heyman BETRAYS Roman Reigns & CM Punk! WWE Buys AAA! WWE WrestleMania 41 Review | WrestleTalk
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Join https://www.patreon.com/wrestletalk today!
WATCH: Dom & Sully play WWE 2K25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ76ren1Yyg
More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/
Unlock the secrets to working in professional wrestling, sign up to https://www.wrestlingmasterclass.com/
0:00 - WWE WrestleMania 41 Night 1 Review
1:17 - Jey Uso vs Gunther
3:04 - New Day vs War Raiders
4:20 - Naomi vs Jade Cargill
4:55 - LA Knight vs Jacob Fatu
6:23 - El Grande Americano vs Rey Fenix
7:31 - Charlotte Flair vs Tiffany Stratton
8:52 - Seth Rollins vs CM Punk vs Roman Reigns
Paul Heyman BETRAYS Roman Reigns & CM Punk! WWE Buys AAA! WWE WrestleMania 41 Review | WrestleTalk
#WWE #wrestlemania #WrestleTalk #WWERAW #AEW
Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/
Sources used for research:
Youtube Channel Comments Policy
We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00The World Heavyweight, US and Tag Team titles all change hands, WWE promotes their newest
00:06superstar signing, a whole Mexican promotion, and Seth Rollins turns heel.
00:12Well, he turns more heel I guess, he was kind of been a heel for a while anyway, but he
00:18took Roman and Punk's pool off them, so he's now more clearly a heel.
00:22I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News Review of WrestleMania 41 Night 1.
00:40Showing that Triple H actually stands for Humble Humble Hunter, the night after he headlined
00:45the Hall of Fame with an hour plus long speech, WrestleMania 41 officially opened on a voice
00:50over package narrated by him for the live feed to start on Triple H actually in the ring
00:56to get a bit of his music played, and then cut another promo.
00:59Welcoming everyone in the stadium and congratulating them for the first time ever for being watched
01:04live all across the globe right now in the first ever Netflix Mania, but still on Peacock
01:12if you're in the US.
01:13And to prove Hunter's humbleness, he would get another entrance later in the show.
01:17The first match of the weekend, as Luke called the day after Jey Uso won the Royal Rumble
01:21back in February, was Jey vs Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship.
01:25Meaning, I owe Luke 20 pounds.
01:27The whole thing was designed to get a big yeet moment at WrestleMania in a stadium.
01:31Despite a DJ at the top of the ramp, cheerleaders lining the stands, and yeet flag bearers on
01:36the entrance ramp, Jey was at the point in his feud where a he had to be serious and
01:41two had to conserve cardio for a 15 minute match.
01:44It meant that as far as Yeet Mania goes, there's been far better entrances on Monday Night Raw.
01:49Then Gunther just got a normal entrance.
01:51So guess Jey's winning then.
01:53They told one of the versions of the various stories they've been building.
01:56Jey immediately dropped Gunther with the right hand, showing how Gunther has underestimated
02:00him.
02:01Jey later started laughing because being driven by vengeance has made him invulnerable.
02:05Thankfully they didn't do any of the bits where Jey would intentionally or accidentally
02:08botch moves.
02:09The splashes, spears and powerbomb started halfway through the match, making it feel like the
02:13big move exchanges came too soon.
02:16The final few minutes were very good though, when Gunther used the title belt on Jey's
02:20head, and then locked in a sleeper for Jey to fire back with three splashes and a sleeper
02:25of his own, where Gunther instantly tapped out.
02:30Not only did they make Gunther submit, they did it seconds after Jey had locked in Gunther's
02:35own hold.
02:36Meaning Jey joined Ilya Dragunov as the only person to have ever made Gunther tap.
02:40It was a decent Mania match that marks the end of one of the most disappointing title
02:44runs of the Levesque era, and arguably its most overcooked feud.
02:48But ever since Jey won the Rumble, it's only ever been about one thing.
02:52Giving him this WrestleMania moment.
02:54And that's what we got when Jimmy came out to celebrate with him.
02:57But they can't even do that right!
03:00Why wasn't Rikishi there to lead them in a two-call dance celebration?
03:04The show then went from Hunter's most overcooked feud and disappointing reign to easily his
03:08worst follow up of an angle, the New Day's heel turn back in December.
03:12The video package tried to gaslight me into thinking their tag title shot against the War
03:16Raiders was this epically built up championship match, after the whole locker room turned against
03:20them for throwing out Big E. When really, I know, they just chucked it together three weeks
03:24ago on Raw.
03:25The real lack of storyline tension and the crowd being a bit yeeted out from the opener
03:29meant this was more of a palette cleanser match on the card.
03:32Going just under 10 minutes, there wasn't much different from a regular TV match.
03:36The finish came abruptly when Kofi held down Ivar's leg, letting New Day become the new
03:40tag team champions.
03:42This should have had a hardcore stipulation like the go home promo teased to keep the
03:45crowd going.
03:47It's visceral!
03:48Do you want more WrestleTalk videos?
03:52Of $6.50 a month, you can get exclusive series of…
03:55Monday Night War!
03:56Uh oh!
03:57You could imagine a sacrifice being made at the top of this Wrestlemania stage!
04:00Tables, lists and chairs, WrestleTalk Extra and more!
04:07Uh oh!
04:08What's the end of that sentence?
04:09Get all that by joining us over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk now!
04:18Both Naomi and Jade Cargill got cool entrances, with Naomi breaking through caution tape in
04:25the tunnel, and Jade having a campy weather report showing that a storm is coming.
04:29Naomi worked really hard in this match, which is a hard task in the feud's dynamic. The
04:33smaller wrestler having to dominate the giant, and Cargill executed her strength-based comeback
04:38spots perfectly.
04:40As the story mostly became, Jade's going to catch Naomi and do something impressive.
04:44The second rope dive caught into a vertical suplex, standing up out of rings of Saturn,
04:50and for the finish awesomely turning an electric chair into a powerbomb. She then hit the jaded
04:55to win.
04:56Solo Sokoa walked Jacob Fatu out onto the stage for his US title match against LA Knight, but
05:00didn't come down to the ring with him. I thought for sure that meant Solo would turn
05:04up later on to dramatically interfere, but it ended up again being a straight, clean match.
05:09I'm assuming WWE made the creative choice to not do any interference, as that will feature
05:14heavily in both Knight's main events. Which I agree with philosophically, but it does
05:18come at the expense of the rest of the card. Which all felt a bit B-level title defenses going
05:23no longer than 10 minutes. Knight and Fatu had really good chemistry though, with Jacob
05:27blocking a BFT with a brilliant counter in the second move of the match. That and Fatu's
05:32star power instantly hooked me in a way that other matches on the card hadn't so far.
05:37He was the first title challenger I was really into seeing win the belt. The back and forth
05:41action peaked with a great final sequence, when Knight somehow caught Fatu's moonsault
05:46into a BFT, which Jacob just broke the pin of by holding the bottom rope. But then Fatu
05:51fired back with two moonsaults to win. Another title change with no solo interference. And
05:58even more disappointingly, again with the No Rikishi 2 cool dance celebration.
06:03Next came the incredible news that WWE and TKO have acquired, which is business speak for
06:08the same, bought to expand Monopoly power, the Mexican promotion. Triple A. Triple H said
06:14he wants to honour the legacy of Lucha Libre. Has he ever watched Triple A? Alberto Del Rio
06:19is their mega champion right now. And he intends to do that by… having a joke Luchador beat
06:25one of the best in the world in the next match.
06:27With Rey Mysterio unfortunately hurt on SmackDown, Rey Fenix replaced him in this match against
06:32Legendary Luchador El Grande Americano, who Alicia Taylor billed from the Gulf of America,
06:38which Cole and Pat had to correct to the Gulf of Mexico, because WWE pulled back from the
06:42gimmick's initial US vs Mexico political satire. You know what, I actually think WWE
06:47and Triple A is a match made in carny heaven. Despite this being a comedy feud, Gable, I mean
06:51Legendary Luchador El Grande Americano is incapable of having a bad match. Especially against Phoenix,
06:58who I still believe is one of the most exciting in-ring wrestlers working today. They told
07:03the match's story through physicality. The more frustrated Americano got with Phoenix,
07:08the more he'd resort to the more American amateur wrestling style. One insane 5.40 cent
07:13on later, Grande loaded his mask, hit in a flying headbutt to win. This could have been
07:18one of the best matches on the show if it was given more time. But it was only ever there
07:22for a bit of fun, and the seemingly billed Gable, I mean Americano, going down to AAA, where
07:27we could feud with Vakingo, who had slapped him at ringside.
07:31Going by the video package for Charlotte Flair vs Tiffany Stratton, this was a totally professional
07:37normal build for a match. Which is a shame, because the messy shoot style of their feud
07:41has actually really added to the personal rivalry. Thankfully, the match itself was very much
07:46like their off the rails promo segments. It was back and forth. It was intense. Charlotte
07:51was trying to be both the heel and the babyface. In a weird part that totally worked for me,
07:56both women targeted the exact same body part. For Tiffany, that made sense. Charlotte was
08:01coming back off a leg injury. Flair then didn't really sell it, and tried to take out Stratton's
08:06leg for her figure 8 submission. And stiffest of all, Tiffany appeared to have all her front
08:11teeth chipped by the end. She hit her prettiest moonsault ever for the only title retention
08:15of the night. It'll be very interesting to see what happens with Charlotte now. She's
08:20undoubtedly a big star, but one from another time, who seems to be struggling working with
08:25others. We got a recap of the Hall of Fame headlined by Humble Humble Hunter, and then
08:30the full class were applauded on the WrestleMania stage for Levesque to get his own special entrance,
08:36expertly making him look like a way bigger star than both Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bret Hart.
08:41And you can tell Bret saw right through that as he rolled his eyes after Triple H shook his
08:46hand. Yet the 4 out of 10 there was, the 4 out of 10 there is, and the 4 out of 10 there
08:51ever will be. Then, with barely a whole hour left, we've just about had time for Night
08:55One's main event, with an excellent video recap package to Machine Head's song Sail
09:00Into The Black. Tyler Black! It was right there! Seth Rollins came out with a flamethrower because
09:06he's going to burn it down? Yeah, but does he have his own name in giant letters in the
09:11Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders? Amateur? CM Punk got an awesome video promo using his old WWE music,
09:18and then Living Colour actually hitting their queue for Cult of Personality Live? But with
09:22Roman Reigns, his stories always start from the moment his music hits. He didn't get a
09:27big entrance. He didn't get big staging. Unlike last year, he got nothing. No title,
09:33no bloodline, and no Paul Heyman either. And when he finally got to the ring, there was no
09:37one to take. He's Ula Fala. He's utterly alone.
09:41To be honest, the rest of Night One was pretty middling. Mostly 10 minute matches for feuds that
09:45were either built for too long, built too weirdly, or not built at all. But this triple threat
09:49main event was so good. Even now, right here, after recapping all those other matches, I'm
09:54like… damn good show overall. Because each man had their own unique dynamic with the other,
09:59every exchange or pair up was loaded with a decade plus of context. Seth and Punk hate each other,
10:04so they brawled into the crowd with weapons. Seth and Roman were former Shield brothers,
10:09where Reigns would try to kill Rollins, but Rollins would occasionally try getting them to team up.
10:13And whenever Roman and Punk interacted, Heyman would burst into tears on the outside.
10:18I came into this match really thinking it needed a championship belt on the line. But it turns out
10:22they had one all along. The World Heymanweight title. I wish I came up with that, I saw it on Reddit.
10:29The final third of the match went into finisher overdrive. There were Spears, Stompson go to
10:33sleeps. There were counter versions of them all. Most seamlessly, Seth catching Roman Spear into a
10:38pedigree. There was one moment where all three men hit their finishers right after each other in a way that
10:43made sense. Seth even tried to get the old Shield finisher, shouting at Roman he doesn't have the
10:48bloodline anymore. He doesn't have Mox. Jon Moxley WWE return confirmed for the second Mania in a row.
10:55So let's team up and powerbomb Punk through the announce table. But Roman rejected him,
11:00and powerbombed both guys through separate tables instead. It was night time by then,
11:04so there was no daylight between them. So Heyman grabbed the match, and two different guys…
11:09by the balls. Heyman got a chair. It looked like he was going to do the Roman and Brock slide bang in
11:16the middle spot. But he slid it to Punk. Roman was devastated. But then… Heyman low-blowed Punk,
11:23and sided with Reigns. Roman's selling was brilliant, his mouth slowly breaking into a gleaming white
11:28smile. His wise man was playing a game above. Of course he was always going to acknowledge the true
11:35tribal chief. I'll just take this steel chair and go to finish the match on Seth learning to trust my
11:40closest advisor once again. Oh no, my testicles! Because Heyman low-blowed Roman too. And he didn't
11:47just low-blow him. He did this weird side-to-side forearm motion, presumably to grind his balls even
11:53further, the kinky sod. Heyman handed Seth the chair. Rollins did the Shield break up spot on Roman
11:59again, costing Reigns his second WrestleMania win in a row. Seth's future of this business
12:05line in the go home promo makes more sense now. This was no late in the day Heyman change of heart.
12:11They appear to have been planning this for quite some time. The wise man and the architect together
12:18will presumably control the future of WWE. On Raw, because SmackDown has John Cena as their top heel.
12:27Give me some fantasy booking scenarios for Heyman and Rollins' first feud in the comments down below,
12:32and Luke and I will read out the best ones on our podcast review later today.
12:36What an excellent one match right at the end, which means WrestleMania 41 Night 1 is 75%.
12:42Now go watch Sullivan and Dom play WWE 2K25 over on our Control Freaks channel.
12:47Here's a clip.
12:48I'm gonna get him! Oh no, I'm just climbing down gently. No, no. What are you doing?
12:53It's gotta be a jump. It's gotta be a jump onto him!
12:55Oh, that'd be a jump!
12:57Rubbish!
13:00There was a box.
13:01Absolutely rubbish!
13:03The fools!
13:04No, forget it, Wes.
13:05No, not again!
13:08Hi, Andre.
13:09No, Andre!
13:10No, not again!
13:13Sullivan, you might end up in trouble here, because Adam and Wes might get eliminated,
13:17and it'd be down to you to deal with The Undertaker, Andre the Giant.
13:20One, two, three.
13:25No!
13:25I thought I timed it perfectly!