WrestleMania 38 Night 2 Review: The Biggest WrestleMania Match of All Time

RESULTS FROM WRESTLEMANIA 38 NIGHT 2:

1. RK-Bro def. Alpha Academy and The Street Profits – Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the Raw Tag Team Titles
2. Bobby Lashley def. Omos – Singles Match
3. Johnny Knoxville def. Sami Zayn – Anything Goes Match
4. Sasha Banks and Naomi def. Shayna Baszler and Natalya, Carmella and Queen Zelina, and Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan – Fatal 4 Way Match for the Women’s Tag Team Titles
5. Edge def. AJ Styles – Singles Match
6. Sheamus and Ridge Holland def. The New Day – Tag Team Match
7. Pat McAfee def. Austin Theory – Singles Match
8. Vince McMahon def. Pat McAfee – No DQ Match
9. Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar – Championship Unification Match

WrestleMania Night 2 had a bit of a tough task ahead of it trying to follow what I thought was a really good night 1. The show started with the Raw Tag Team Title Match featuring RK-Bro, Alpha Academy and The Street Profits. This was a great choice to open the show unlike the previous night’s Smackdown Tag Team Title match. This match had a great pace, and the crowd was pretty good for it too. RK-Bro have a really great formula in their matches where Riddle takes the beating for awhile and then Orton comes in for the hot tag. All three teams worked hard and put in a great performance. I loved Riddle hitting the RKO on Montez Ford from the top rope followed by Orton hitting Chad Gable with the RKO in mid-air. Great opener that proves why WWE should let RK-Bro team for awhile longer. They work so well together and whenever the inevitable turn happens; I expect a great storyline.

Up next was Bobby Lashley vs Omos. I should copy and paste my thoughts on the Corbin vs McIntyre match from last night right here. This match didn’t deserve to be on WrestleMania and just dragged down the show which isn’t what you want from your second match. It is great to see Lashley get a huge win but other than that, this didn’t need to happen. Omos clearly isn’t ready for big singles matches despite being in the ring with Lashley who is a pretty good wrestler. This felt like something you would see on Raw and wasn’t WrestleMania-worthy.

After that match, we had something completely different than anything on the show. Johnny Knoxville defeated Sami Zayn in an “Anything Goes” match. I saw a lot of praise for this match, and I definitely understand why so many people liked it. Personally, this isn’t a style of match I enjoy, but even I laughed at some of the ridiculously fun spots. If WrestleMania had a “Most Fun” match, this would definitely win the award. Sami Zayn just takes everything WWE gives him and makes the most out of it. He sold everything perfectly and while I don’t like him losing this match, I’m sure it won’t really matter in the long run. Here’s hoping WWE uses Zayn in more high-profile matches like this because this was a blast to watch.

The second match on the card that felt like a match you would see on Raw or Smackdown was the Fatal 4 Way for the Women’s Tag Team Titles. While this certainly wasn’t a bad match, I just found myself not really caring too much about it. There were some really nice near falls at the end which helped the match quality and Sasha and Naomi winning the tag titles was a cool moment. However, that is about the only positives I can take away from this match. I understand why WWE booked this match, but again, it didn’t feel WrestleMania-worthy to me.

My most anticipated match of the entire weekend was up next, and I can’t help but feel disappointed in the match. Maybe I got my expectations too high, but I definitely expected more from this “dream match” between two of the best in-ring performers WWE has. Was it a bad match? Not even close and I would say it was probably the best match of night 2, but I was expecting a great match. Edge and AJ delivered a good match, but not a great one. It did seem like they were holding back a bit which leads me to believe that they are going to have a rematch eventually. I’m not sure if it will be at SummerSlam or WWE’s next PPV (Backlash?), but I definitely expect round 2 between Edge and AJ. The finish was interesting. Damian Priest and Edge as a team? That sounds intriguing and something I can almost guarantee that Edge pushed for. Their new team definitely has potential and there are rumors that it might turn into a full-fledged faction with other members. Edge’s new character still has to grow on me, but I would absolutely be down to see him lead a faction, similar to how he started in the Brood. So, overall, this was my match of the night despite the fact that I was disappointed in the match.

If you blinked, you probably missed the next match. Sheamus and Ridge Holland defeated The New Day in less than 2 minutes. This was originally supposed to happen on night 1 but got moved to night 2. I am not sure if they were originally supposed to have a longer match, but this was definitely not good. They should have stuck this on the pre-show and let them go 10 minutes. This served zero purpose and left fans wondering why this was even put on the card at all.

After the 2 minute match we just saw, WWE decided to book a segment that went on for nearly 30 minutes. First, we had Pat McAfee defeat Austin Theory in a highly entertaining match. McAfee has a certain “It” factor. The way he carries himself in the ring is just captivating in a way. I can’t help but watch whenever he is on screen. Also, he can actually wrestle pretty well. We saw him wrestle Adam Cole a few years ago, so we did have an idea of what he could do in the ring. However, in this match, he was wrestling Austin Theory who is a fine wrestler but not on Adam Cole’s level in terms of in-ring ability. Pat didn’t seem to mind as he put in just as great of a performance and Theory held up his end just as well. Definitely an entertaining match. Then, we had the next match on the show between Pat McAfee and Vince McMahon. A 76 Vince McMahon booked himself to beat Pat McAfee at WrestleMania. If you didn’t watch the show, you would think I was making that up, but it actually happened. This match had no business being here. Pat actually had to sell those clotheslines from Vince like they actually hurt him which made Pat look terrible. Then, to top it off, Vince pins him after punting a football into his ribs. The Rock Bottom, the One Winged Angel, and the Football Punt into the ribs. All iconic finishers no doubt. In all seriousness, if you wanted Stone Cold to come out and Stunner everyone, why did Vince have to wrestle? Couldn’t Theory and Vince have beaten up Pat and Stone Cold comes out to make the save? I guess not. Watching Austin come out again was great and him giving Theory and Vince the Stunner will always entertain me. I enjoyed this segment overall, but I could have done without the 76 year old man wrestling.

After all of that, it was finally time for the “Biggest WrestleMania Match of All Time.” Was this ever going to actually be the “Biggest WrestleMania Match of All Time?” No, it wasn’t. Could the match deliver an epic main event that people would be talking about for years? Probably, but it didn’t. If you have seen any Brock vs Roman match, then you’ve seen this one. Instead of doing something different, they ran through the same spots they’ve always done and delivered a basic Brock vs Roman match. I am not saying it was bad, but it wasn’t good either. After all of the build up that this match had, the match itself just didn’t deliver. After a good weekend of wrestling, this should have been the epic crescendo that everyone wanted. It wasn’t. Hopefully, Roman is healthy after that match. The finish seemed out of nowhere and it definitely could have been due to Roman’s arm being injured. We have to wait and see on Roman’s condition, but even before the rushed finish, the match wasn’t anything special. An unfortunate way to end WrestleMania. At least WWE had the right guy win. Roman picks up the win and is now holding both the WWE and Universal titles. Will he defend them separately or as one title? I am not sure, but I am interested to see what WWE has planned for this stage of Roman’s title run.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Before I discuss my final thoughts on Night 2 and WrestleMania 38 as a whole, I wanted to discuss the opening of the show. Triple H coming out was a really nice moment and him leaving his boots in the ring was an emotional way to start the show. Triple H can enjoy his retirement that he has more than earned. In comparing Night 1 to Night 2, I felt Night 1 was by far the better show. Both shows had positives and negatives, but Night 1 felt more like WrestleMania to me than Night 2 did. Now, I’m not saying Night 2 was bad, but it wasn’t up to the WrestleMania standard that I personally expected. I love that WWE has decided to go to the 2 nights format with WrestleMania for this reason exactly. If one of the nights doesn’t deliver, WWE has another night to try and make up for it. So far, WWE has done three of these 2 night WrestleMania’s and all of them have been really good. Even the crowd less WrestleMania 36 benefited from being 2 nights. So, taking into account both night 1 and 2, I would say this year’s WrestleMania was really good. I enjoyed WrestleMania 37 better, but that doesn’t mean this one was bad. It certainly isn’t one of the top WrestleMania’s or anything, but it was a fun show that delivered some great moments and matches.

Photo credit: wrestlesite.com