Watch VI: Initial Notes from WWE WrestleMania 41 (Night 2)

Before I proceed with my initial thoughts, I would like to give a quick update on my mental health: A few days after my last anxiety attack, after today’s productive fieldwork and a yummy steak lunch with my Father and Younger Brother, and then having a refreshing halo-halo with my Mother to beat the summer heat, I feel much better now. And as I’m typing this, I’m about to open an ice-cold can of Jack & Coke Zero to kick off the weekend.

But before I drink, here are my initial thoughts on Night 2 of WrestleMania 41! (Like I said in the previous post, the notes are initial; this is not an in-depth review.)

1. The Women’s World Championship bout is one of my favorite matches from both nights. Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, and Iyo Sky delivered their all, and the match ended with Iyo retaining the title. Kudos, Ms. Iyo!
2. Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre delivered an excellent street fight. Notably, I love the table spots and I laughed at Mr. Drew’s posting on X during the match.
3. The Intercontinental Championship match between the champion Bron Breakker, “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor, and Penta was fucking spectacular. And Dirty Dom pinned Bálor to win the IC title… and people are cheering! I’m pleasantly surprised about that.
4. “Say his name and he appears.” TNA’s world champion Joe Hendry is Randy Orton’s surprise opponent! Seeing the current TNA champion at WrestleMania is insane. As for the match, it was quick but still fun for me.
5. Let me just say this: Joe Hendry’s camera turn always makes me laugh. If I feel sad, just send me a video of it. And Randy Orton doing his own camera turn made me laugh as well.
6. Logan Paul sucks. Sure, he’s athletic and he had an OK match with AJ Styles, but he sucks.
7. It was awesome to see my favorite female pro wrestler, Becky Lynch, in the WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony with her husband Seth Rollins. (Thank you, WWE, for streaming the whole event on YouTube.) But it never occurred to me that she would actually return at WrestleMania 41 and win the tag titles with Lyra Valkyrie. But yay, Becky’s back and Lyra now has two belts! Congratulations to both! (Note: As of this typing, I know they lost the titles the Raw after Mania and Becky turned heel. So, that’s that.)
8. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin drinking beer in the ring! Classic.
9. I love John Cena’s all-black entrance. It suits his current heel persona. And Cody Rhodes’ skull helmet looks so badass. I want one and my own version of it!
10. If I were to compare Cena vs Rhodes to Punk/Reigns/Rollins, I like the latter more. Yeah, Cena vs Rhodes was great, but I think it was not as great as Night 1’s main event because of the finishing sequence. (Oh, Travis Scott…)
11. But even if I didn’t like the finish, John Cena deserves his 17th world title, and I want to see him keep the title until the end of 2025—the end of his wrestling career. Congrats, Mr. Cena!

And that’s it! WrestleMania 41 initial thoughts: done! Sooner or later I will write a long, proper review of the show (I’m pretty sure I missed several details), and I also hope to make more wrestling reviews in the future. (I may have said that before here on The Diary, but come on… I would still like to try.)

Happy weekend, everyone!

Ω

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Published on April 25, 2025 at 11:21pm. Edits were made on April 25, 2025 at 11:45pm, April 26, 2025 at 1:20am, and April 27, 2025 at 2:15pm.