WrestleMania XL: The Greatest Weekend in Sports Entertainment

WrestleMania is the Super Bowl of professional wrestling, and this year’s Showcase of the Immortals did not disappoint.

Both nights had high-stake main events, with The Rock winning his first match in eight years alongside Roman Reigns against “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins in the main event of Night One, and Roman losing his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Cody in a Bloodline Rules match, a match with no disqualifications or count outs, in the main event of Night Two. There were many highlights of the two-night event, but here are the best and worst matches.

Best Match of Night 1: Gunther (c) vs. Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship

This match had me at the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Gunther, the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion in WWE history was putting his title on the line against Sami Zayn in a match that may very well be a contender for Match of the Year.

The match started pretty evenly with both men trading knife-edge chops with each other. The Ring General eventually took control by clotheslining Zayn. Later on, the Champ used Sami’s own Helluva Kick finisher, only for the challenger to land the move on Gunther. However, it was not enough for Zayn to secure the winning three count. Gunther eventually landed a brutal Power Bomb for a two count of his own. After Sami kicked out of back-to-back power bombs, Gunther taunted Sami's wife by landing two splashes from the top turnbuckle. The battered Sami Zayn fired himself up to land a Helluva Kick and top rope Brainbuster on Gunther before proceeding to land two more back-to-back Helluva Kicks to become the first superstar on the main WWE roster to pin Gunther and end the Ring General’s 666-day reign as Intercontinental Champion. I mean it when I say that I screamed at the top of my lungs when Sami won his fourth Intercontinental title. It was an emotional match, and I loved it to the very end.

Worst Match of Night 1: Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso

There is not much to talk about here. Jey was looking for revenge after Jimmy cost him two singles championship matches. The match itself was mostly the brothers Uso kicking each other in the face until Jey was able to land a Spear and Uso Splash to beat Jimmy. Overall, a pretty boring match that had so much potential given the emotion there was in the build-up to the match.

Best Match of Night 2: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes in a Bloodline Rules match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

This was not only the best match of Night Two, but the best match of the entire weekend. Roman had reached 1,316 days as champion at the time, and Cody wanted to finish the story. After the two bitter enemies went back and forth, the Bloodline eventually got involved to help Roman retain his title.

Cody had made a few calls earlier that night because Jey Uso, John Cena, Seth “Freakinn” Rollins and the Undertaker all came to even the odds. However, it was Roman who made the fatal error of attacking Seth with a steel chair, which allowed Cody to counter a Spear and land a Cross Rhodes Trinity and pin the Tribal Chief of the Anoa’i Family, ending the fourth-longest world championship reign in WWE history.

It was poetic, considering that Seth said that he’d be Cody’s shield, and he took the chair shot to the back while in his iconic Shield gear to give Cody time to recover. It was a beautiful moment that will be remembered by fans as the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time.

Worst Match of Night Two: The Pride vs. The Final Testament in a Philadelphia Street Fight w/ Bubba Ray Dudley as Special Guest Referee

Now, I personally liked this match for the fun chaos that it was, but compared to the other matches on the card, it fell a bit short. Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits were able to beat Karrion Kross and the Authors of Pain after Bubba Ray gave them instructions on how to finish the match, and Snoop Dogg’s commentary was so funny It was a pretty good match overall, but it’s not as good as the other matches of the event. At least it was better than Jey vs. Jimmy.

This year’s WrestleMania was truly special for many reasons, but the most important moment is that Cody was able to cement his family’s legacy as one of the greatest of all time. The American Nightmare made his dreams come true and finished his story.