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Bad Bunny in the house, as we reported earlier today for Elite subscribers.
The next bout is Dominik vs. Rey Mysterio. They built up Dom and had him come out flanked by a ton of cops, one of whom was played by Dan Barry. Dom had a Mysterio mask on. GREAT entrance.
Snoop Dogg drove out Rey in a low rider. LA popped huge for those. They hit Eddy Guerrero's old theme song and Rey did the shimmy, which made the crowd EXPLODE. That segued into the traditional Rey theme. Rey is wearing red and yellow like The Flash. Dom has purple that looks to be playing off the classic Rey look from Halloween Havoc vs. Eddy Guerrero.
Dom showed some really great heel poise early on. Out of all the matches thus far, you could feel the crowd was the most invested in this out of everything thus far on the show. Rey took off his belt and whooped Dom in the rear. Dom went to the floor where he got into with his mom and sister. He grabbed his sister's drink and splashed her in the face. Dom took over and hit and old Eddy Guerrero style splash into the ring. He beat down Rey and when they went to the floor, got in his mother's face. She slapped him, which fired up Rey. He sent his kid into the ring post and then garnered some momentum, including a Code Red style move for a two count.
Judgement Day came out to distract Rey, setting Dom up to nail an insanely cool powerbomb into the buckles. Rey made a comeback and hit the 619 but Dom took over. They tumbled over the top to the floor. Damian Priest went to get involved but the LWO hit the scene and brawled with them. Dom hit Rey with an underwhelming 619 and then a much better frog splash but Dad kicked up.
Dominik went to use a chain that had been smuggled to the ring but Bad Bunny grabbed it. Rey dropkicked Dom and nailed the 619, scoring the pin. Great finish that potentially sets up Bad Bunny vs. Dom or Damian Priest down the line. Maybe Backlash? The best Dom match to date. That work in progress has been truly working out for WWE. Rey celebrated with his wife and daughter. Fun soap opera stuff.
Next up is Rhea vs. Charlotte. Flair had a look on her face like she wasn't a happy camper. Rhea had a "11" themed makeup deal. Nice pyro for her entrance though. I wonder if they were waiting for the sun to set for pyro. Rhea looked strong early until being drilled with a big boot to the face. She had the control until being slammed into the buckles face-first. Rhea controlled the match for some time, battering Flair and working her over. Flair fought back with chops. She was backdropped over the top but landed on her feet. She went for a bodypress but Rhea rolled through and went for Riptide, only to have it reversed into a DDT for a CLOSE pinfall attempt.
Flair went for the figure eight but was small packaged for a two count. Rhea kept firing with big shots and crashed Flair down to the mat face-first but Charlotte still kicked up. Flair nailed Natural Selection but Rhea escaped and rolled to the outside. They battled on the outside but Rhea maintained control, continuing to score two counts. Rhea was getting more and more frustrated. They battled back and forth until Flair ate an evil looking back suplex that landed her on her face-first. Flair booted her hard in the face. Flair worked her over and nailed a moonsault to the floor.
Flair almost speared the referee when Rhea ducked out of the way. Rhea nailed Riptide but Flair kicked out. Rhea was spent, wondering what more she had to do. They had lots of near falls. Rhea locked in a submission and Flair fought to the ropes. She speared Ripley, who kicked out. Flair was now wondering what else she had to do. They began battering the hell out of each other. Flair nailed a massive bog boot and went for the Figure Eight Leglock but Rhea was too close to the ropes. This is easily the best thing on the show thus far.
They battled to the ropes where Rhea caught Charliotte and nailed Riptide off the top and scored the pin. New champ!
Tremendous stuff.
I missed the Miz/Snoop segment as they were moving media in place for the post-show media scrum.
I should note there were LOTS of LA Knight chants and calls all night in the crowd.
I want to say this about the main event. There have been a lot of people over the years who criticized Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn or came up for reasons they weren't stars or shouldn't be on top or whatever. I want to point this out: I have been to every single Wrestlemania since 2001 on and I truly believe the pop when they won the titles was the loudest reaction ever live, except for perhaps Steve Austin beating the Rock at Mania X7, and that was in an enclosed dome while this was an open air stadium with sound traveling. It was absolutely insane and probably one of those moments live that everyone who attended will always remember. There is no argument against them, there never should have been and after tonight, there never will be again.
As far as the match itself was damn, damn good. The Usos should be in the conversation with The British Bulldogs, The Midnight Express, etc. as one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Everyone did an incredible job, but the facial expressions from Sami Zayn as he nailed the Helluva Kicks were pitch perfect amazing and the type of emotional performance that the greatest babyfaces showcase. This was one hell of a brawl and Night Two's roster are going to have a hell of a lot of work to do to top this night.
There will be fans who watch this tag match and believe tag team wrestling can and should be main event wrestling, the same way fans watched Steamboat vs. Savage at Mania 3 and were inspired by the work in that match - which led to a new generation of wrestlers wanting to have *that* Mania moment for themselves - and over the course of subsequent generations, the evolution of "workrate wrestling."
Owens, Zayn and The Usos just had the tag team equivalent of that match and the ripple effect will probably be felt for generations as we trace the butterfly effect back to this moment in Los Angeles.
They touched perfection in that main event.
The end.
Onto Night Two.
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