WWE WrestleMania 40 review: Cody Rhodes finishes his story

Cody Rhodes finishing his story at WWE WrestleMania 40 on Sunday was the most predictable finish WWE could do. That’s why it worked so well.

In a match under Bloodline rules, Rhodes finally won the undisputed WWE Universal Championship, defeating Roman Reigns to end his 1316-day reign as champion. It was a tremendous match that finally capped off two years of storytelling, something that would probably never happen in Vince McMahon’s WWE but did under Triple H’s reign.

The first twenty minutes of the match was good back-and-forth WWE action. But then, of course, Jimmy Uso came out. He was taken out by brother Jey, but then, it was time for Solo Sikoa. But unlike last year where Sikoa’s interference cost Cody the match, John Cena, who was totaled by Sikoa last year, came out for revenge. The Rock then came out to lay out Cena, but then of all people, The Undertaker chokeslammed The Rock. Cody then hit three Crossroads and pinned Reigns to a tremendous reaction.

After Cody won, a wonderful celebration took place with his family, Triple H, Bruce Prichard and all of the other babyfaces that were taken out by Reigns over the last three years. It was one of the most satisfying finishes to a show I have seen from WWE in years. Many matches this year on a technical level will probably be better than this main event. But in terms of presentation, build, and story, it was one of the best matches in WWE in quite some time.

Pro wrestling isn’t hard to book. You sign talent that people want to see succeed and win, you book them against effective heels you want to see lose, and you go from there. Under Vince McMahon’s watch, especially in the last decade of his run, he could not book a babyface to save his life. Everything was about heat. He booked horrible, terrible wrestling with disappointing finishes to the point where he couldn’t even book happy things during the pandemic, one of the worst things to happen in the world in decades.

All weekend long, I kept hearing the phrase “it’s a new era in WWE,” probably because the company crammed that phrase down everyone’s throats. But you know what? Unlike all the other times WWE promised change, this time it does feel like a new era: an era where storylines pay off,. one where no one is trying to book against the crowd, and the storylines actually kind of make sense. Things pay off. Triple H had the easiest job in the world to convince people things have changed, and by the end of Sunday, he accomplished that goal.

Since I talked about the major story everyone is invested in, I’ll run down the rest of both cards quickly. Here we go!

The rest of Saturday’s night one:

• The main event of night one was tremendously boring as The Rock and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins in one of the most plodding main event matches I have seen in quite some time. They just kept wrestling. They just kept DOING THINGS until finally, The Rock pinned Cody Rhodes, a sign that perhaps a singles match between the two is down the line. Rock looked fine, you got to see him wrestle for a VERY LONG TIME, and didn’t seem out of step. This would have been a fine match if it were maybe 20 minutes shorter. Instead, it was a dull 40-minute bore.
• Sami Zayn and Gunther was an excellent presentation from start to finish and absolutely the highlight of the first night. From Zayn hugging his family before walking to the ring to Gunther harassing Zayn’s wife at ringside, everyone told their story so well and the match itself was a perfect David vs. Goliath battle. Zayn executing the turnbuckle brainbuster for the first time in years was also a sight to see.
• Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch was good, but I think both have had better WrestleMania matches. This was a very prototypical big WWE match where everyone hits their finishers and scores big nearfalls. I expected Ripley to win and she did as there just isn’t anyone on the Raw roster right now that comes close to her aura.
• The ladder match separated the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team titles with Awesome Truth winning the Raw titles and Grayson Waller & Austin Theory claiming the SmackDown titles. The match itself was good and was a lot of atypical ladder spots and some brutal-looking ones as well. Toward the end, it just felt like a lot of the same thing with one team climbing the ladder, another team taking them out, rinse and repeat. It was the right finish as it was probably time for Judgment Day to move on from the tag title scene. The situation the next day proved that.
• I don’t have much to say about the Rey Mysterio & Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio & Santos Escobar match or Damage CTRL vs. Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair, and Naomi. Both were just kinda there and didn’t feel like big-time matches. The matches did do their jobs, however, with Philadelphia Eagles stars Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson helping Mysterio’s team and Cargill looking strong in her WrestleMania debut.
• I wasn’t feeling the Uso vs. Uso match going into WrestleMania. I kept thinking that for a brother vs. brother match, there should be more heat here. I was astonished by how flat the match ended up being. Jey and Jimmy just had a nothing match in front of a crowd that didn’t seem to care. Then, Jey just won. There isn’t more to say and for a feud that has lasted for months, that’s quite sad.

The rest of night two:

• The opener between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre was a very good match with McIntyre winning the World Heavyweight title…for a while. After mocking CM Punk at ringside, Punk attacked him. That allowed Damian Priest to cash in and win the World Heavyweight Championship. This makes things interesting as now I want to see McIntyre’s reaction to the loss and who will first challenge the new champion.
• Lashley and the Street Profits defeated The Final Testament in a Philadelphia street fight. Bubba Ray Dudley was the referee. I don’t have much to say it was a weapons match. It was fine. The Final Testament does not feel over at all. Next!
• LA Knight defeated AJ Styles in a match I thought was better than expected. I’m so-so on Styles these days, but both looked good and had a good match.
• Logan Paul kept the United States title over Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. I expected that finish as one would assume that Paul will be wrestling in Saudi Arabia next month. A good match, though I am old enough to say I did not know who “iShowSpeed” is. He was in the Prime bottle this year and was taken out by Orton.
• Bayley defeated IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s title in a very good match. The final few minutes were excellent and I think it was better than the Women’s World title match from the previous night. Good chemistry and good heat.

And that is it for WrestleMania! New stories will start on Raw Monday and we’ll see where WWE goes from here. All I can say is that the Raw after WrestleMania cannot be as bad as last year’s show. I think.