WWE WrestleMania 39 Saturday review: A happy ending for Sami & Kevin

The first night of WWE WrestleMania 39 was an excellent show — the first WrestleMania in a long time where most matches delivered and even the worst matches were merely fine.

The top two matches on the card were excellent.

Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens, in storybook fashion, defeated The Usos to win the undisputed WWE Tag Team titles for the first time. It was a dramatic match filled with excellent near falls towards the end and the crowd ended up being hot for just about everything. And when Zayn and Owens won, the people loved it. A WrestleMania ending on a happy note — who would have thunk it?

It is hard to speculate what happens now as we still have another half of the show to go on Sunday. I think back to a promo not too long ago where Cody Rhodes predicted that The Usos, Solo Sikoa, and others would eventually turn on him, causing his downfall. I wonder if the first show is due to drop on Sunday if Roman Reigns loses.

Charlotte and Rhea Ripley, who co-main evented, worked as if they were, in fact, in the main event. 

I feel like while the main event had dramatic elements that really added to it, this match was an excellent back-and-forth workrate-type match that delivered in spades. This was the best Ripley match ever and I can’t think of too many Charlotte matches that were this good either. Rhea winning was the right choice and she should have the title for a long time to come.

Elsewhere on the card:

  • John Cena and Austin Theory had a very basic by the numbers match. Nothing bad, nothing good — this was a match that existed. I’m struggling to figure out what the deal with Theory is because this rebranding really isn’t working and he just doesn’t stand out. They want him to be something, but there’s something missing. You can tell me 10,000 times he’s a star but none of that will be true until he finds it.
  • The tag team showcase was as advertised: a showcase for four teams that did all sorts of cool stuff. Probably the craziest move of the night was Chad Gable hitting Braun Strowman with a Chaos Theory suplex. Yes, you weren’t dreaming, that happened. This a match where they just let the four teams stand out and it exceeded expectations.

  • Dominik and Rey Mysterio had a really good match. I think what worked best here were the dramatic elements. When Rey SPANKED HIS SON with a belt, the people absolutely loved it. People hated it when he threw the drink at his sister, same when his mother slapped him after he insulted her. It is fascinating to see just how well Dominik adapted to being what he is now. He knows exactly what he needs to do and is very smart about it, and turning heel was the best thing for his career.
  • Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul was good, but not great. The Reigns match in Saudi Arabia was better. More than anything else in this match, however, I’ll probably remember KSI getting put through that table by Paul.

  • Trish Stratus, Becky, and Lita vs. Damage CTRL was fine. There were some cool spots, like when Stratus took Dakota Kai with her feet and threw her off the turnbuckle onto her partners below. But, this was just merely fine in a sea of really good matches. I do wonder what the program is for Becky Lynch next. There had been rumors of a Trish Stratus heel turn, but they did not happen here;
  • I don’t remember anything about Pat McAfee and The Miz match except for that I hated this was put on prior to the main event as I just wanted to see the damn main event. Not very good filler.

Stay tuned to the second part of this WrestleMania review Monday morning where we’ll finally see if Cody Rhodes can defeat Roman Reigns. And don’t forget Brock Lesnar vs. Omos. I can’t wait.