Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn vs The Usos Was A WrestleMania Main Event For The Ages
Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn vs The Usos just headlined WrestleMania Night 1 in a match built as the potential "biggest/greatest tag team match of all time" and they STILL managed to overdeliver in that pressure-filled spot. That was simply out-of-this-world good. I'm on a wrestling high right now.
Seriously - that was the most emotional, drama-filled main event since WrestleMania 30 or 31 and perfectly encapsulated the whole feud in a match just over twenty minutes. Plus, this visual closing WrestleMania?!
C'mon - that's a diehard wrestling fan's DREAM COME TRUE right there!
Sami and Kevin are two of the most beloved wrestlers on the roster…for good reason! Not only are they two of the best workers/talkers in the company, they're two guys who break the mold of what a "WWE Superstar" typically looks like, two guys who were told their whole careers that they'd never make it to this very spot, and two guys who worked their asses off to prove everyone wrong over the last couple decades. They deserve this highlight spot and moment as much as anybody on the planet and I couldn't be happier for them.
As far as the match, and how it felt like a mini-version of this whole storyline; The Usos spent a lot of time putting Sami down, really aggressively tearing him apart with superkicks and other signature maneuvers while Kevin was taken outta the equation, but Sami never gave up. Time and time again, he kicked out of the worst they had to offer - even if it took every last bit of his strength….until Kevin was able to come even the odds!
Once things were evened up, the teams went back and forth and traded false finishes truly worthy of a WrestleMania main event, until Sami/KO proved themselves as the brothers with zero quit.
Sami hit three incredibly satisfying Helluva Kicks on Jey Uso and put him down for the count to send SoFi Stadium home happy.
They were crying, their families were crying - I'll admit, I was welling up over here! I'm not afraid to admit when it gets a little too real to me, dammit!
I thought Night 1 of WrestleMania was amazing overall, and I think it'll be VERY hard to top tomorrow. Some quick thoughts on each match before I fall asleep….
-John Cena and Austin Theory put on a decent-to-good opener that kicked things off on a great note.
-The tag-team showcase was an awesome spotfest, and exactly what it needed to be; I loved Chad Gable's crazy german suplex spot and all of the flippy-doos.
-Rollins/Logan Paul was tremendous, and I'm impressed by Logan finding a way to go viral AGAIN - read more about that HERE.
-The six-woman tag was fine, and served as a nostalgia trip down memory lane every WrestleMania usually has.
-Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik put on a spectacular match with even more spectacular entrances, and this was my second favorite match of the night after the main event. I'd call it the best match of Dominik's career, and as a diehard Rey fan, I think it was his best match in a quite some time as well. Loved his Muta inspired mask.
-Charlotte vs Rhea completely overdelivered and had the crowd losing it over near-falls, despite the heel/face dynamic totally missing with the crowd. Rhea winning was totally the right call, too - and I'm happy for her.
-Pat McAfee showed up for a short, fun, impromptu segment/match with The Miz - and our pal George Kittle helped Pat out!
-Finally, that KO/Sami vs Usos main event was a better drama than The Godfather. There's not enough amazing things I can say about it - it was just good ol' fashion pro wrestling at its best! Good guys take down the dastardly bad guys who wronged them! Feel good ending!
I can't believe we have another whole show tomorrow! Two night Mania rules!
I'm gonna catch some sleep now, and I'll see you guys tomorrow when I publish my Night 2 preview blog.