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Welcome to my live, ongoing blog from high above SoFi Stadium from Wrestlemania 39!
I have never been here before but not only is this one of the coolest and most insane stadiums I've ever been in, but the staff has been amazing and friendly at a Disneyland level of helpfulness.
The staging for the show, designed to look like an Oscars stage with the entire LED backdrop changing for the entrances is absolutely phenomenal. Whatever they paid for the design, those responsible earned their money and more!
There is an entire balcony section filled with NXT talents watching.
The show opened with a great Kevin Hart video before Miz and Snoop Dogg came out to welcome everyone to the show.
Austin Theory vs. John Cena is our opener today. Cena's entrance, with Make-A-Wish kids on the stage was pretty cool and true to who he is and the commitment he's made to that great charity. Both got great reactions live here in Los Angeles. Really fun back and forth stuff early. Cena went for the FU but Theory grabbed the ropes to save himself and when he did, he rebounded and kicked the referee down. Cena locked him in the STF but Theory came back and nailed his finisher and scored the clean pinfall. Obviously a HUGE moment for Theory, who has been a great hand for the company, gets the biggest won of his career. Cena looked really good and is probably already on a plane back to Atlanta. He worked super hard. I really thought this was a fun opener. The crowd with them all the way live.
They are having problems with the video screens here in SoFi.
Next up is the Fatal Four Way. Some cool entrances for Braun Strowman and Ricochet and then The Viking Raiders, who are making their Wrestlemania debut. The Raiders got to show off their power and mandhandle Ricochet and Angelo Dawkins. Chad Gable hit an awesome German suplex on Braun. Ivar missed a top rope moonsault. Braun went to the top and hit a splash off the top! That was pretty crazy to see. They built to a cool Tower of Doom spot. They did the deal where Braun ran around the ring running through everyone but Angelo Dawkins WIPED HIM OUT. That was nuts. They went into a series of cool sequences before the Street Profits won the bout. This was absolutely GREAT live and probably way more fun than I expected going into tonight. Really good stuff.
Third is Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins. Logan did a zipline to the ring and had the mascot of his drink brand come out with him. Could it be Jake Paul in disguise? For Rollins' entrance, they had a conductor leading his "theme song", which was pretty cool as it hasn't been done before in WWE. Rollins came out in this flamboyant red outfit that was right out of the Met Gala and then unveiled a secondary set of ring gear (which looked a little Double J-esque) before removing that as well. The action was good early on. Logan tossed Seth to the floor and mocked his signing, which sparked an angrier Seth. The Mascot has remained at ringside. I don't think it's Pete Rose in there! Paul showed some good aggression, drilling Rollins with some punching combinations. The crowd was signing for Seth to rally.
The tide turned after Logan missed a moonsault. The video screens in the stadium started broadcasting the match and the place popped. Seth tossed Logan over the top to the floor. He nailed some nice dives and went for the Pedigree. Logan escaped and they went into a series of near falls until being KO'd by Paul with a right hand. The idea is Paul has that screw in his hand. He covered Seth but he kicked out. Seth went to finish him but the Mascot pulled Logan out. It was someone named KSI, who is from Logan Paul's circle.
Logan was going to frog splash Seth off the top through a table but KSI, who was filming it, was pulled over the table as Logan leaped and Logan crushed his own guy. That garnered a huge pop from the audience. Logan came back for a Coast to Coast but was superkicked in the face, stomped and pinned. Very entertaining match!
They had a fun Sin City-inspired video and entrance for Becky's team ahead of the six woman tag against Damage CTRL. Lita got one of the biggest pops of the night for their entrance. This would be the Mania debut for IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. Becky and Dakota started out strong. Bayley mocked Lita's dance, which the crowd popped for. Kai blind tagged in and that allowed them to take out Becky. Lita and IYO tagged in. They went back and forth until Kai attacked Lita from behind when she was pounced on the ropes.
Damage CTRL took over with a triple-team effort on Lita. Bayley was pretty damn funny mocking Trish at this point. They are leaving Trish for the big hot tag. She gets it and nailed the Lou Thesz Press before unloading on Kai. Stratus still looked really damn good in the ring. They did a cool spot where Trish hit a headscissor off the top on Kai, sending her crashing into her partners on the floor. Becky showed some really awesome fire against Bayley. Everyone ended up on the floor, where IYO took them out with a beautiful moonsault. They went back and forth until Becky scored the pin. Really enjoyable.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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