Night 2 immediately felt like a course correction. After Night 1, which was honestly an abomination, this show came out with urgency and purpose. The crowd sounded alive again, the pacing felt tighter, and it actually felt like WrestleMania instead of whatever Night 1 was trying to be. From the jump, you could tell this was going to be a much better show.
Oba Femi defeated Brock Lesnar
Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar was everything it needed to be and more. This was a perfect match. It took the expectations people had going in and completely blew past them. The structure was tight, the pacing was spot on, and every moment felt deliberate. There was no wasted movement, no filler, just two forces colliding in a way that felt genuinely special.
Oba Femi came out of this looking like an absolute megastar. He did not just hang with Brock Lesnar, he matched him and then surpassed him. Brock, for his part, played his role perfectly. There was a real sense that he was giving something back here, elevating Femi in a way only he can. Knowing now that this was Brock’s retirement match adds even more weight to everything they did. It felt like a passing of the torch in real time, and they nailed it. A genuinely perfect opener that set the bar for the entire night.
Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
This was chaos in the best possible way. Penta, Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, Rey Mysterio and Rusev all just went for it.
Ladders flying everywhere, constant movement, and barely a second to breathe. It felt like every wrestler understood the assignment and just committed to the spectacle. The crowd stayed loud throughout, and the match delivered exactly what you expect from this kind of stipulation without ever dragging.
It was messy, but in a controlled WrestleMania way where the mess is the point. One of the most fun matches on the card.
Trick Williams defeated Sami Zayn (c) (United States Championship)
Sami Zayn vs Trick Williams had a really strong story running through it. Sami brought the experience and the crowd connection, while Trick felt like a star in the making the entire time.
The crowd was fully behind Trick, and the match leaned into that perfectly. Every comeback hit, every near fall mattered, and the finish felt like a genuine moment rather than just another result. This felt like a star making performance.
A really well structured match that did exactly what it needed to do.
“The Demon” Finn Bálor defeated Dominik Mysterio
Finn Bálor as The Demon against Dominik Mysterio had that big match aura before it even started. The presentation alone made it feel important.
Once it got going, it delivered a solid, character driven match with a clear story. Dom continues to play his role perfectly, and Demon Bálor brought the intensity you expect from that version of the character. It was not trying to outdo the ladder match, and that was the right call.
Instead it focused on atmosphere and storytelling, and it worked.
Rhea Ripley defeated Jade Cargill (c) (WWE Women’s Championship)
Rhea Ripley vs Jade Cargill felt like a clash of forces. This was all about presence, power, and star aura, and both of them delivered on that.
They kept it tight, focused on impact, and built to the finish well. The involvement toward the end added a bit of chaos without completely taking away from the match itself. It felt like a big WrestleMania moment in the women’s division.
Both came out looking like stars, which is exactly what this match needed to achieve.
Roman Reigns defeated CM Punk (c) (World Heavyweight Championship)
Roman Reigns vs CM Punk should have been the defining match of the weekend. Instead, it completely stalled the show, and a lot of that falls directly on CM Punk.
From the moment he came out, Punk looked gassed. Not halfway through, not during a long stretch, right from the start. It set the tone in the worst possible way, because the match never recovered from it. Roman Reigns was clearly trying to hold everything together, slowing things down, guiding the pacing, and essentially dragging the match forward piece by piece.
This was a wrestling match version of the film Weekend at Bernies. With one man propping another up and pretending they are still active, and that is exactly what this felt like. Roman was out there trying to carry Punk through sequences, repositioning, resetting, and stretching moments out just to keep things coherent. Instead of building tension, those pauses killed it.
It just kept dragging. Long stretches where nothing progressed, transitions that felt laboured, and a crowd that slowly lost interest. What should have been a clash of two icons turned into Roman doing damage control in real time while Punk struggled to keep up. A terrible slog that felt unending, and one of the most disappointing WrestleMania main events in recent memory.
Even with that main event dragging the life out of the room, Night 2 still came out as a much stronger show overall. The undercard delivered, new stars were elevated, and the pacing for most of the night actually made sense.
It is frustrating that the biggest match is the one that falls apart, but outside of that, this felt like WrestleMania again. And after Night 1, that alone is a win.
