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0:00 - WWE WrestleMania 41 Night 2 Review
2:03 - IYO Sky vs Rhea Ripley vs Bianca Belair
3:26 - Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre
4:16 - Bron Breakker vs Finn Balor vs Penta vs Dom
6:05 - Randy Orton vs ???
7:13 - Logan Paul vs AJ Styles
8:06 - Liv & Raquel vs Lyra & ??
10:37 - John Cena vs Cody Rhodes
DISAPPOINTING John Cena Vs Cody Rhodes FInish, WWE WrestleMania 41 Review | WrestleTalk
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WATCH: WrestleMania 41 Night One review https://youtu.be/VhoNlnQTSfw
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0:00 - WWE WrestleMania 41 Night 2 Review
2:03 - IYO Sky vs Rhea Ripley vs Bianca Belair
3:26 - Damien Priest vs Drew McIntyre
4:16 - Bron Breakker vs Finn Balor vs Penta vs Dom
6:05 - Randy Orton vs ???
7:13 - Logan Paul vs AJ Styles
8:06 - Liv & Raquel vs Lyra & ??
10:37 - John Cena vs Cody Rhodes
DISAPPOINTING John Cena Vs Cody Rhodes FInish, WWE WrestleMania 41 Review | WrestleTalk
#WWE #johncena #wrestlemania41 #WrestlingNews #WrestleTalk #WWERAW #AEW
Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/
Sources used for research:
Youtube Channel Comments Policy
We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Two shock WWE returns, Stone Cold Steve Austin drives a car into a woman, and John Cena beats
00:07Cody Rhodes to win a record-breaking 17th world title thanks to his wrestling heel alliance
00:14with… with Travis Scott.
00:18Okay, no, don't worry everyone complaining, this isn't my first rodeo.
00:23It ain't over till the WWE copyright logo appears on the screen.
00:26The Rock's definitely showing up guys, The Rock, he's definitely showing up.
00:30Okay, there's the copyright logo, and still no Rock.
00:33Okay, what they're gonna do, the copyright logo's gonna go down, it's all a swerve,
00:37and then The Rock's gonna come out.
00:38Okay, now the feed's gone black.
00:41Still no Rock?
00:42Quick!
00:43To the parking lot!
00:44Like when KO attacked Cody Rhodes after the show went off air!
00:48That is where The Rock is gonna show up, he's gonna whip Cody with his belt the kinky sod.
00:52Alright, I'm at the John Cena press conference now.
00:56The Rock should turn up here cause he's their best buds, right?
01:00No Rock?
01:01No, he's not on the Raw after Mania either.
01:05Or the SmackDown after Mania.
01:08Or Backlash.
01:10Or Money in the Bank.
01:12Or the all-women's pay-per-view evolution.
01:17I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News Review of WrestleMania 41 Night 2…
01:26In about 10 minutes.
01:28Support WrestleTalk!
01:30Before I get into the review, please make sure you superkick the subscribe button.
01:34Superkick!
01:35Do you know first when Mine and Luke's podcast review of WrestleMania 41 Night 2 is up, along
01:39with all our Raw After Mania coverage.
01:42And join us over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk for loads more bonus videos.
01:47WrestleMania 41 Night 2 part 3 forward slash IIII section 9A opened with Stephanie McMahon
01:53telling every single one of us fans that we're part of her family.
01:57Guess we've all got another inappropriate uncle now.
02:00And welcome to WrestleMania, Night 2.
02:03Night 2 began just like how Night 1 ended, with an excellent triple threat.
02:08Bianca Belair got a bunch of people skipping rope for her entrance.
02:11Rhea Ripley got a spiky helmet coming out last because she's the biggest star.
02:14The Minute Maid sponsors told us to bring the juice, but that's against the wellness
02:19policy.
02:20And Io, the defending champion, came out first with no special entrance.
02:25It was all presumably part of establishing the story of this feud and the merch.
02:29Io is the third wheel.
02:31Rhea and Bianca got in each other's faces right at the start, ignoring Sky, but this
02:35time she took them both out.
02:3815 minutes of non-stop three-way spots followed.
02:41It's like they had as many sequences as the Night 1 main event, but half the time to
02:45fit them in.
02:46So instead of soap opera drama, we got an all action metal song.
02:50It was huge move after huge move after huge move.
02:53One excellent sequence saw Rhea get her boots up on Io's moonsault for Sky to fly right into
02:58Bianca's KOD for the pin to just get broken up by Ripley.
03:02The finish came when Rhea hit an Alabama slam on the top of the ring post from the top rope
03:06on Io.
03:07Bianca hit a KOD onto Rhea, but Io's moonsault broke it up and pinned Bianca to retain.
03:13This scuppered Belair's streak of never being pinned at Mania, and it takes the wind
03:17out of Bianca vs Ripley's rematch for next year's show.
03:20But Sky retaining was the right result for the story WWE have been telling.
03:24And she's also my favourite, so I'm happy.
03:26The first two thirds of the Night 2 card had a really good match order, where everything
03:30felt really different from the one before.
03:33And Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre at Sin City Street Fight up next gave fun weapon spots.
03:37Drew was brilliant as always, taking a selfie at one point with the downed Priest.
03:41I thought they were focusing on McIntyre's arrogance as it would eventually cause his downfall,
03:46because Drew's biggest enemy isn't really CM Punk or Roman Reigns, it's himself.
03:52But then McIntyre went on to win really easily, barely an inconvenience.
03:56Drew pushed Priest off the top rope through two tables on the outside, hit a Claymore in
04:00the ring and got the three count.
04:02Damian had one or two big moves, like a razor's edge through a table, but I felt he looked significantly
04:07lower down the card than McIntyre.
04:08It'll be interesting to see where Priest goes next, as I feel he's getting crowded out
04:13of the main event scene he found himself entering at last year's Mania.
04:16We've had fast-paced three-way action, we've had tables in a street fight, and now in
04:21a totally new vibe, we've got Bron Breaker spearing everyone.
04:24I actually think Bron should be in more multi-man matches, simply because it gives him more bodies
04:29to do awesome moves to.
04:30It's really saying something when Penta is in there, who I think is one of the coolest
04:35wrestlers on the planet, and I just want to see him take Breaker's Frankensteiners or
04:39Suplexers or Spears.
04:40There were two other people in this four-way though, and they were both supposed to be
04:44on the same team.
04:45Judgment Day's Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio started off working together, but in one of
04:50those great soap opera moments that has become less and less frequent in WWE recently, one
04:54faction mate turned on the other in a great spot of dramatic irony.
04:58Balor found himself leaning on the ropes closest to the hard camp, letting us see the whole crowd
05:03rise to their feet when they realised Don was behind him in the perfect position to hit
05:08a 619.
05:09Dom went for it, but Balor blocked it, prompting their alliance to combust.
05:13Carlito kept saving Dom from getting pinned, making it feel like the Judgment Day fix was
05:17in for Dom rather than Balor, but Carlito managed to die a second time during this feud, as Bron
05:22hit an awesome spear through the announce table.
05:25Back in the ring, Dom almost had it won on Breaker, but Finn stopped him, hit his own
05:28coup de grace, but then Dom stole it back to hit a splash on Bron to become the new Intercontinental
05:34Champion.
05:35Even though he's a despicable heel who just pinned everyone's favourite Bron Breaker,
05:39the crowd exploded into cheers, as Dom ran back down to the ring to celebrate for a second
05:45time.
05:46It was a fun match, a great moment, and it ramps up Balor's tension with the Judgment
05:50Day that I can't wait to see combust on the Raw after Mania… in 2027.
05:56Then they showed Hank from Breaking Bad in the crowd.
05:58I don't care about all the rappers and UFC fighters.
06:01Finally, a celebrity that I both like and am familiar with their work.
06:05And not done with the surprise reveals, Randy Orton came out for his open challenge.
06:09Say his name and he appears a-believe in…
06:14The Rock?
06:15The Rock?
06:16Still not going to appear.
06:22Joe Hendry!
06:25In a brilliant reveal, TNA World Champion, not midcard champion as you'd expect from
06:29his quick loss here, World Champion Joe Hendry was Randy's surprise opponent from outer
06:35Scotland.
06:36Randy beat Joe in three minutes with an RKO from out of nowhere during Hendry's trademark
06:40turnaround pose, which Orton hilariously did his own version of afterwards.
06:44Another successive card placement.
06:46This was more of an angle than a match.
06:48It was really fun, and I am so happy for Joe.
06:51But this might be tough, I'm going to ask you to hold two contradictory opinions in your
06:55head at the same time.
06:57Because this is also a terrible portrayal of a world champion, and no self-respecting
07:02promotion would ever sign off on this.
07:05But if you want a self-respecting promotion, don't go to TNA.
07:09I say that as a long, long time TNA fan.
07:13Logan Paul vs AJ Styles was the point that Night 2 started to level off for me.
07:18Up until Randy's fun pose, everything felt like it was getting better and better.
07:22The excitement building higher and higher.
07:24But while Logan vs Styles was very good technically, both in wrestling and production, with Paul's
07:29incredible vlog drone that would fly around the stadium and then return back to its spot
07:33like its laser beacon sound wave, I make that Transformers comparison just to pop Laurie,
07:38the story never really hooked in the crowd.
07:41Maybe because the feud never really captured anyone's imagination.
07:44Maybe because there wasn't a huge viral spot to jolt the crowd to their feet.
07:48Instead they went back and forth with very well executed moves, Logan hit a Styles Clash,
07:53AJ rolled through to hit another Styles Clash right after, but he declined taking the brass
07:57knuckles from Karrion Kross, and he walked right into a pulverizer for Logan to win.
08:02This felt more like the first match in a trilogy, rather than a climax.
08:06I know KO's injury was out of WWE's hands, but they also knew that about two weeks ago.
08:11In that case, I wouldn't have booked two mystery opponent reveals for the same night.
08:16I'd have probably moved Randy vs Hendry to night one, so Becky Lynch's shock return
08:21here was kept as far away from Seth's heel turn as possible.
08:24She came back as the surprise tag team partner of Lyra Valkyria, fighting for the women's
08:29tag team titles against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez.
08:31Which, while awesome, they showed someone crying in the crowd, I just don't get.
08:38Becky replacing Bayley at the last moment has reportedly been the plan for a while.
08:42If so, that's a clunky as all hell plan for WrestleMania.
08:46I'm hoping this builds a Becky vs Bayley feud down the line, otherwise, what a pointless
08:50swerve.
08:52This was a totally standard WWE tag match.
08:54Lyra got worked over, Becky got the hot tag, the match breaks down.
08:58Like a lot of night one, most Raw main events were better.
09:01Becky is back and she won the tag belts with Lyra, but it all felt bittersweet, coming at
09:05the weirdly empty storyline expense of Bayley.
09:08But WrestleMania 41 is right back on track with a surprise squash match of Stone Cold Steve
09:13Austin vs. A Woman in the Front Row.
09:17Austin's music hit for him to drive down and announce the overall attendance number.
09:21Steve does this, a corporate segment to read an artificially inflated crowd figure, but
09:26he turns down a spot with The Rock in the main event of last year's Mania.
09:30What are your standards, Steve?
09:32But in a brilliantly funny botch, he drove his doom buggy into a barricade, causing a woman
09:37to fall backwards.
09:39People nearby the spot said that the WWE president himself, Nick Calm, rushed over to try to apologise
09:45and smooth things over.
09:46Before I get into the main event though, here's a word from our corporate sponsor… us.
09:51It's viscera!
09:53Do you want more WrestleTalk videos?
09:57For $6.50 a month, you can get exclusive series of…
10:01Monday Night War!
10:02Uh-oh!
10:03You can imagine a sacrifice being made at the top of this WrestleMania stage!
10:06Tables, lists and chairs!
10:08WrestleTalk Extra!
10:09And more!
10:10Get all that by joining us over at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk now!
10:26Luke and I will have our brand new Patreon video this Friday, where we're trying to
10:29fantasy book Wrestlemania… 52.
10:34That's 11 years away.
10:38After a couple of matches slightly off the boil, though, it was time for the actual whole
10:41weekend's main event, and not just the match before the Mania intermission, John Cena vs
10:46Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship.
10:50Cena's entrance was brilliant.
10:51He had his normal music, but there was no traditional Cena WrestleMania ballyhoo.
10:56The only thing accompanying him was his name in white text on a black background on the
11:00stadium's screens, like WWE were using a graphics holding image until the full package
11:05arrived.
11:06He was wearing black, he didn't run down to the ring, he just walked with disdain.
11:10It was mad to think this is Cena's final WrestleMania entrance ever as an active competitor.
11:18In contrast, Cody had everything.
11:21The Cody Vader.
11:22A cool skull helmet that had the face part pop open.
11:24Motorbike riders zooming from left to right.
11:27Brandi and his daughter at ringside, which I thought would set them up for a spot later
11:31in the match.
11:32Just like Cena's family were also shown at ringside.
11:34America's favourite sundae cone, the drumstick in the cone zone.
11:39I described the entrances so much because, really, they were half of the whole match.
11:44The actual in-ring action was more of a holding period for the final angle, where Rock, the
11:48final, Dwayne Johnson will definitely be coming out to interfere.
11:52I don't care which country you claim to be in on social media, Dwayne.
11:55You have built this whole storyline around you.
11:59You have to be here.
12:00The match was very basic.
12:02Cena isn't an in-ring genius.
12:05And the vast amount of his experience is getting worked over to make a babyface comeback.
12:09A role he ain't in anymore, but I quite like how he turned this flaw into a feature.
12:15Felt like he was doing everything at half speed.
12:18As a face, that'd make him look like a bad wrestler.
12:21But as a heel, it had the same hypnotising effect of Jake Roberts lowering his voice
12:25to cut a promo.
12:26It emphasised all the crowd controlled performative gestures that he does so well.
12:31He had an almost comically basic moveset, each one of which he audibly called out loud
12:37to Cody.
12:41So when he hit a Tornado DDT, it felt like he just did a Phoenix Splash.
12:46It really, really felt like watching Hulk Hogan's basic wrestling at X8 against The Rock.
12:50All the way down to the crowd heavily cheering him, and booing that actual face, Cody.
12:57But just like the end of Mania 40, that very long, basic slow opening was all worth it for
13:01the crazy finish.
13:03So when the ref got bumped and missed Cody's visual pin, you could feel the shenanigans
13:07coming.
13:08Cena exposed the turnbuckle.
13:10He threw Cody into it and hit an AA.
13:12Near fall.
13:13And then the music hit If Ya Smelll, while Grammy Award winning musical artist Travis Scott is
13:22cooking.
13:23Scott arrived on the ramp with his stupid replica hardcore title for The Rock to come
13:27out next.
13:31I said for The Rock to come out next.
13:39I said oh my god The Rock's not coming.
13:42Scott took forever to walk down to the ring, where he just started getting involved right
13:46in front of the referee.
13:48Cody hit a crossroads on Scott to get rid of him.
13:50Cena went to use the WWE title, but Rhodes wrestled the belt off him.
13:54Yet despite the events at Elimination Chamber, despite all the mean things Cena has said to
13:59him in the build, despite Cena saying he's going to ruin wrestling and Cody is the only
14:04person who can stand in his way, Rhodes hesitated.
14:09He looked morally conflicted about hitting Cena with the belt, even though Cena had already
14:14used Scott to cheat, even though Cena had already used the exposed turnbuckle, even though Cody
14:20already scored a visible pin.
14:23Cody looked like a dork.
14:26So Cena kicked Cody in the dick.
14:28Was a bad weekend for men's private parts.
14:31Hit him with the WWE title, and won the record breaking 17th World Championship, and thus ended
14:38Rhodes' year long reign.
14:40Not even with a finisher.
14:42Cena then celebrated with Scott in the ring, with not a rock in sight.
14:47One of the best parts of Pool of X booking has been how incredibly multi-layered the main
14:51event storylines are.
14:53And this is no different, it's just that it's multiple layers of sh**.
14:57Last year, it took WWE's equivalent of the Avengers for Cody to defeat Roman.
15:01Here, it was just a non-wrestler rapper who carries around a fan's belt.
15:06What was the actual benefit of Cena selling his soul to The Rock?
15:10Cena already had the title shot won from Chamber, so the big benefit of aligning with the final
15:15boss was…
15:17Grammy Award winning musical artist Travis Scott to come down and not interfere very well.
15:22And why did Cody hesitate when he's already completed that part of his morally restrained
15:27character arc against Kevin Owens back at the Royal Rumble?
15:30The Rock made WrestleMania 40 arguably the greatest event in company history.
15:35But his involvement at Chamber this year, likely massively deviating from Levesque's original
15:40plans where Cena was going to turn heel here at Mania, and then not showing up at all afterwards
15:46has significantly damaged the quality of what could have been an all-time great storyline.
15:51Instead, we got a great moment at Chamber, but not the fantastic overall Mania story we
15:56could have had.
15:57WrestleMania 41 Night 2 is 70%.
16:01Now click the video on screen to watch my review of the slightly better overall Night 1.
16:06thing.
16:07.
16:10.
16:11.
16:11.
16:12We'll I'll Square.
16:13.
16:14.
16:25.