Mr. Tito’s PHAT WWE Wrestlemania 40 Night #2 Review with Match Thoughts and Show Grade

Welcome to my Night #2 review of Wrestlemania 40, which was headlined by Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns with “Bloodline Rules” thanks to the result of the main event of Night #1. All I thought about today was how the Cody vs. Roman match would go, which makes me believe that WWE telling stories from night to night was a great idea. For anyone complaining about Iyo Sky and Bayley not main eventing Night #1, well, how could you ever top that tag match last night?

But I need to call out many fans before I begin… FINGER OF SHAME to you, cynics. “Wahhhhhh, Rock/Roman vs. Cody/Seth had 16 minutes worth of entrances and 45 minutes of a match, it was too long!!!” My response to ANYONE complaining about Night #1’s Main Event is this: F*** YOU.

You know what needs to be shorter? The MIDCARD matches before Rock/Roman vs. Cody/Seth. All of those multi-person matches could be shorter or not exist, and I personally thought that the Uso Superkick Fest (aka Young Bucks tribute) could have been better. But ya want LESS time with the top superstars in the business?

No, Rock/Roman vs. Cody/Seth should have been TWO hours long… I could watch those guys perform for hours without flinching.

Are you OUT OF YOUR MINDS complaining? You complained about the Hall of Fame being too long. Guess what, it RECORDS on Peacock. If you’re too weak to stay up late on a Friday night and unable to sleep in on a Saturday morning, that’s on you.

Good lord, we’re seeing WWE hitting peak levels right now, and all you idiot online marks want to do is complain. Would you like the WWE to go back to the UTTER CRAP that was peddled out there during 2018-2019? Christ… Would you like Vince McMahon to return? This is the BEST version of the WWE since the Attitude Era and yet many of you have the NERVE to complain.

The freakin’ Rock hasn’t wrestled a full legitimate match since April 2013 (yes, I know he had that very short match years later) and not only goes 45 minutes, but looked great doing it. The guy is 51 years old, performs at a high level, gives both Cody/Seth the opportunity to wrestle a legend, and you nerds do nothing but complain about it? “Wahhhhh, it was too long”. You know what else is lengthy? The amount of time watching a wrestling product that you claim to hate.

So yeah, you haters online about Night #1’s main event absolutely suck.

Go watch that terrible AEW product who is going to reveal the All In 2023 security footage on Wednesday. You deserve to watch a miserable product if you refuse to enjoy the current WWE shows.

Onto Night #2’s review, which I am going to enjoy.

*****

Mr. Tito’s PHAT Wrestlemania 40 Night #2 Review

I hurried in after cutting grass and taking a shower only to see Stephanie McMahon coming down about 10 after to start the show. Good to see her back, while also showing major pride for her husband Triple H. Remember those IDIOTS who were pushing that Stephanie and HHH were having marriage problems? Oops, you were wrong… Truth of the matter is that she was dealing with her dad, Vince McMahon, who had major problems on the horizon and that was tough for her. It would be tough for anyone…

Show opens with Seth Rollins (c) versus Drew McIntyre, with both guys having quite the entrances. And of course, Seth continues to go over-the-top with his entrance outfits. HOPEFULLY, Seth is selling the leg injury from the previous night… Drew is aggressive to start, as Seth is selling fatigue and the bad knee (atta boy) to start the match. Love having CM Punk on commentary and crapping Drew throughout the match. Hopefully, Punk stays in good graces with WWE and can be on color commentary full-time when he’s older. Drew just overwhelmed a weakened Rollins, though to Rollins credit, he survived about 3 kicks before the 4th one finished him. Given the psychology that spilled over from Night #1, I actually liked this win by Drew. Makes sense, so it gets my praise rather than Seth Rollins not selling anything. Afterward, Rollins sells the agony of losing his World Title, which was another nice touch. GREAT moment to see Drew get a big win in front of a Wrestlemania crowd. Like how the WWE is showing the spouses of wrestlers, too, whereas Vince often tried to keep that hidden.

Then, Drew McIntyre comes over to the announcer’s table and is taunting CM Punk, and then CM Punk trips Drew as he’s standing on the table. Punk then goes on the assault, and then, Damian Priest runs down to cash in the MITB briefcase. After bashing in Drew’s head with the briefcase, Priest cashes in and hits his finisher to immediately win the World Heavyweight Championship as most everyone expected would happen. Afterward, CM Punk is clapping while sitting Indian Style criss-cross-applesauce on the table and Priest celebrates with Judgment Day at the top of the entrance. Well executed sequences here to start night #2. Nicely done… If I were WWE, I’d have Priest use the Judgment Day to protect him as champion while he gets used to being a Main Eventer.

Next up is a Street Fight because I’d worry that a regular six man would have its issues, Bobby Lashley/Street Profits vs. The Final Testament. To help us get through this match, Snoop Dogg arrives to join us on commentary. Love that guy! To improve this even further, Bubba Ray Dudley is the special guest referee. One half of the greatest tag team of all time… Final Testament are guys from Triple H’s struggles during the 2010s EVP of Talent Relations tenure, but Triple H refuses to give up on these guys (AOP and Karion Kross). Oh, and Snoop is here because he’s advertising alcohol, once again, on the WWE product. This is definitely a different WWE… Want to get AOP over? Study Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul for the Salamanca Twins… Reminds me of the early 2000s Hardcore Matches on Wrestlemania where everybody hits each other with the typical weapons, but here in 2024, nobody can go for the headshots. Little bit of fighting with the women getting involved (Scarlett & B-Fab), too, and they did a Russian Leg Sweep into a table. Wow… I’m reminded that Kross has the weirdest looking tattoos. Kross pushes Bubba, and Bubba puts on the Dudley glasses and he’s encouraging Lashley/Street Profits to do Dudley trademarked stuff (What’s Up Drop & Get the Tables). And the table broke, LOLOLOLOL! Botchamania, enjoy that! 2nd table didn’t break, and Profits/Lashley get the win. Where in the hell where AOP? Where they sleeping on the outside? No where to be seen, especially as Profits/Lashley took forever to hit that table spot. Goofy filler match and it’s time to (a) push Montez Ford as a singles and (b) reconsider the roles of Kross/AOP.

Backstage, Paul Heyman is there to explain “Bloodline Rules”, which are whatever Roman, Rock, and the wiseman want them to be.

While the new WWE 2K24 looks great, I just don’t have time to play all of its modes… I played WWE 2K22 for a while, but got bored with it. Maybe it’s just an age thing, as I recall playing the crap out of Wrestlemania 2000 back in my day along with Day of Reckoning.

Up next, LA Knight vs. AJ Styles… Everyone needs to apologize to Kevin Nash, as he was right about LA Knight being a copycat of the Rock. The real Rock is now here, so thus LA Knight isn’t as big as he was during 2023. Meanwhile, I like AJ Styles’s new character and appreciate the tremendous shape that he’s in. I enjoyed the reality based brawls they did at both AJ Styles’s home and WWE World. Heading into this match, I thought if they could pull off a great singles match, it would help both guys tremendously. Sponsored by Slim Jim, as I can only imagine how many years of my life on the back-end thanks to the many Slim Jims consumed in my life. I don’t like AJ’s newer music.. They are aggressively going at each other to start to get right into the action. Match was a very even back and forth between the two competitors, with good crowd reactions backing LA Knight. Very crisp, tight action without any flaws and lots of combo and counters between them. LA Knight hits the BFT to defeat AJ Styles. GREAT match! I just wonder where each guy will go next following the possible closure of this feud.

Saudi Arabia shows announced, with Smackdown on 5/24 and King/Queen of the Ring on 5/25. WWE’s ATM machine…

Hall of Fame recap is up next… As I said in my Ask Tito, I enjoyed the ceremony and liked the class overall. Paul Heyman’s speech was pure gold, and I love anytime Mike Rotunda or Barry Windham get their flowers. They brought the Hall of Famers out… Heyman coming out to ECW seems so odd to me now, given his character we’ve seen since 2012. Seems like so long ago (and it was).

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul(c) is up next for the United States Title. Interesting comments by Logan Paul on the Pat McAfee show the other day, as he expressed how impressed he is with the WWE roster and how addictive it is to be a wrestler. He’s got his Prime drink sponsoring WWE shows, too. Just laughing to the bank, but he takes his wrestling seriously and I predict he’ll be a WWE World Champ someday. Nice callback with Sami Zayn encouraging Kevin Owens to go out there and win the title, “your turn now”. Paul came out in a monster truck, so Owens one-upped him (I think) with a golf cart entrance but he did pick up Randy Orton to drive him to the ring. Match is 2 on 1 to start (Owens/Orton vs. Paul), but I have a suspicion that the person wearing the Prime costume will be up to no good. Their alliance doesn’t hold, and Logan Paul is able to get in some offense (beautiful Swanton). Uppercut contest between Logan and Orton… Why would you let anyone hit you? Makes zero sense, and I made this point with Okada willingly joining chop contests and the Usos superkicking each other. Love Orton hitting the DDT through the ropes on both KO and Logan. Crowd is heavily into this, and the 3 were hitting great moves on each other and seemed to be having fun inside the ring. Logan Paul hits Orton with the brass knuckles and I’m like, why isn’t the referee stopping this? Always vague whether Triple Threats are no-disqualification or not. Randy was about to hit his punt kick, but the Prime bottle pulled Logan out of the ring. Apparently, it’s a fellow streamer and Paul flunky and Orton goes aggressively after him and RKOs the kid on the announcer’s table. Lots of great moves hit between all 3, and Logan Paul gets the win after Orton hit a nice RKO out of KO’s Pop-Up Powerbomb and Paul threw Orton out of the ring for Paul to hit the Froggy Splash for the win. GREAT Triple Threat match, and Orton looked tremendous selling well for the 2 competitors. They nailed it and this match was fun!

Iyo Sky vs. Bayley is up next, as this was supposed to be the Night #1 Main Event according to many politically correct online wrestling marks. Yeah, let’s see if this tops Rock/Roman vs. Cody/Seth. Bayley comes out with an Egyptian type entrance, which is interesting I guess. Love the tights choice for Bayley, much improved from prior months. Looking like a badass tonight! Iyo Sky looks very undersized when compared to Bayley, and Bayley is just 5’6″. Quiet crowd and lots of movement to indicate bathroom breaks or more beers to buy. The issue isn’t so much Bayley, but Iyo Sky is not exactly thrilling as Women’s Champion. Some nice moves, such as the Sunset Flip bomb into the turnbuckles or the double Germans by Iyo, but there just isn’t much excitement around Iyo as champion and Bayley trying to overcome an undersized and weak champion. Match is warming up as the fans are sensing Bayley is going to win this and she does with a 2nd attempt at the Rose Plant finisher. New champion… Match was honestly better than I expected, particularly the 2nd half of the match. Good for the undercard, but this wouldn’t have been a better Main Event for Night #1.

Snoop Dogg back in the ring with the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders and mascot to announce the attendance of 72,755. Imagine that, both nights of Wrestlemania defeated All In 2023’s turnstile attendance at Wembley Stadium and likely drew much more money.

Starting at quarter till 10pm, we’re getting the Main Event cooking… Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns is finally here with “Bloodline Rules” in play thanks to the results of Night #1. Cody arrives with a mask on and his beautiful wife Brandi is there to accompany him. Why isn’t the WWE using her? She is gorgeous and let not her AEW performance sway you… When Creative is right, people can shine and it clearly never was for her in AEW. Mrs. Tito is watching the main event with me this evening and she keeps commenting on how LAME Cody’s theme music is. Ha! Roman has an orchestra for his theme and Mrs. Tito approves of his theme music (probably him, too). LOVE seeing Charles Robinson as referee for this! Both guys are milking the crowd to start the match, as we have no members of the Bloodline out there to start the match. Funny spot when Cody tries to pull out a table, but Roman puts it back under the ring for major heat. Roman is working well as a heel and making sure to show disdain for any of the Philly fans. That’s important, as I felt the reactions yesterday were lukewarm for Cody against Rock/Roman. Guys wrestling a clean match makes it feel weird, given the hype of Bloodline Rules. Where is everyone? Cody takes a Powerbomb through the anouncer’s table and then a Superman punch, 2 count only. Why is a Powerbomb now like a bodyslam. What a shame… Powerbombs have been nerfed, but Spears are often finishes now. What’s up with that? Cody got the upperhand and was about to hit the CrossRhodes, but then Jimmy Uso interferes to stop it. That prompts Jey Uso to arrive and take out Jimmy, as both fall of the stage and onto tables. Lots of CrossRhodes by Cody after a spear through the barricade, and Solo Sikoa invades to attack Cody. 2 count only on Cody, but now Solo is attacking Cody. Spear and Spike at the same time, 2 count only. And then John Cena arrives and he not only knocks Solo out of the ring, but Attitude Adjusts Roman and then delivers one to Solo on the table.

Then, the freakin’ Rock arrives… HOLY COW, we have Rock vs. John Cena, and the Rock actually quickly disposes of Cena with a Rock Bottom. Seth Rollins tried to invade dressed up as his Shield version, but Roman dispatched of him. Then, GONG… The Undertaker and he’s in the ring with the Rock when the lights come on, chokeslams Rock, and then disappears with the lights. Now, we’re left with Roman Reigns with a steel chair and he smashes Rollins with it, but fails to Spear Cody and Cody begins his CrossRhodes moves by hitting 3 of them and he WINS THE WWE TITLE TO FINISH THE DAMN STORY! NEW CHAMPION!!! He did it! Beautiful Brandi arrives to the ring to celebrate with him and Cody salutes the crowd as champion. Cool moment as the babyfaces from the locker room enter the ring to celebrate. Afterward, Cody wants Bruce Prichard and Triple H to come out to embrace.

Here’s my issue… WTF were Bloodline Rules? What did I miss? We only had Jimmy, Solo, and Rock interference but Cody could have any help that he wanted (Jey, Cena, Seth Rollins, and Undertaker). Made ZERO sense to me. Cool to have big stars entering and countering the Bloodline and Rock, but what’s the purpose of the Bloodline Rules if nobody was interfering throughout the entire match? This is why you can’t just wing it on the fly and make up stipulations out of thin air.

*****

LAST WORD: Stronger Night #2, as they had multiple matches that did well or exceeded expectations. Fans were much more alive for this, too, as evidence. The main event was mostly great, though I’m baffled as to what “Bloodline Rules” truly were. Makes my point about booking-on-the-fly… But overall, the main event was great and Night #2 was packed with great matches. [ A+ ] for this night and this was truly a great finish to the story for Cody.

I’m sure many online wrestling marks hated this show, but F them.

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