WrestleMania week has always been the most glorious time of the year for wrestling fans. It brings together both hardcore and casual audiences to tune in to watch wrestlers compete on the grandest stage in WWE in front of a jam-packed stadium.
With the recent WrestleMania 41 in Vegas, my friends and I had so much to look forward to,from Cena’s possible 17th record-breaking championship win to CM Punk competing in his first-ever main event match at the show.
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Although the entire show was a mixed bag this year on both nights, the list I’ve prepared, where I’ll rank every WrestleMania 41 match from worst to best, is sure to give you a definitive answer.
The ranking criteria are based on the match quality, the build-up, notable spots, and, of course, my personal opinion of them.
14The New Day Vs The War Raiders
Nobody Cares About Your Town Hall Level, Pat
Firstly, while I’m not opposed to the idea that everyone in the locker room deserves to be on the WrestleMania card, there is no way this match had to be on the card due to its uninteresting nature on paper.
My optimism got the better of me for just a bit that Kofi and Xavier might cook, but as soon as Michael Cole and Pat McAfee started talking about Clash of Clans, my attention span for this match took an immediate nosedive.
The match itself wasn’t anything special either. You had a particular spot where Erik hot-tagged Ivar and got the crowd riled momentarily, but yeah, that’s really it, with the match soon ending with a cheap pin from the New Day to secure the Raw Tag titles.
Overall, while I yearned for Big E to get medically cleared and compete against his former brothers here,this match only proved how ignorant the Raw Tag Team division is in the eyes of the creativebecause they could have added either A-Town Down Under or American Made to amp up the match quality or variety here.
13El Grande Americano Vs Rey Fenix
Not The Ideal Lucha Libre Exhibition Match
I wish Chad Gable had the opportunity to compete at Mania too; it would have been great to have him and Rey, making this a possible tag match, since El Grande Americano pairs so well with Gable.
Anyway,I like that Rey Fenix was inserted as a replacement due to Rey’s injury; it allowed him to have a WrestleMania match straight after his prior debut from SmackDown. However, the match quality itself fell short of my expectations, which is unfortunate.
After the initial five minutes, the match ended with a finish from Americano, thanks to the metal plate in his mask allowing for a quick submission against Fenix. I understand that Fenix was still relatively new, but the match could have been extended a bit to showcase more of the two wrestlers' athletic prowess.
12Jey Uso Vs Gunther
YEETMania Ran Wild
Before you point pitchforks at me for having an IWC-like opinion, I love Jey Uso, especially during his initial right-hand man daysfrom the COVID era with Roman and his initial push to stardom. However, I can’t argue against his bland in-ring ability and this Vine catchphrase gimmick.
Although the build-up got saved a bit with Jimmy being added to the mix and then acknowledging that Jey constantly botches moves, it still wasn’t enough to make their match at Mania feel exciting, since we all knew what the outcome would be, and sadly, we were right.
The overall match was a slop fest of epic proportions, in which it hardly felt like Gunther was a monstrous individual, from powerbomb counters to a somewhat decent spot where Jey did a suicide dive on Gunther to the outside.
The finish was arguably the most infuriating to me. Three Uso Splashes and then a sleeper hold, where Guntheralmost immediatelytapped out, made him lose any credibility and threat he had possessed from their build-up.
While I’m all for being happy for Jey, this was one of the most bland wrestling matches of Mania. But hey, I’ll give it credit where it’s due for hyping up the crowd as the opening bout for Night 1, since the Yeet taunts ran all across the Allegiant Stadium.
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11Becky & Lyra Vs Liv & Raquel
What Was Even The Point?
I have no blatant criticism against any of the women in the match, but I seriously despise the Women’s Tag titles in WWE. They have absolutely zero integrity, and I’ve even retired them from my personal Universe Modes inWWE 2K24andeven the latestWWE 2K25.
As soon as my Discord buddies and I saw Becky being revealed as Lyra’s new partner, we already knew what the outcome was going to be, because there was no way a returning Lynch was losing this match, especially since this was going to be a 2-Belts moment for Lyra Valkyria.
The match itself was fine with some decent spots. The main attraction was getting a viral pop for Becky’s return, which they did. I love Becky, but what was the point of winning these titles if they were going to drop them on the Raw after Mania show and turn her heel?
If anything, Liv should’ve challenged Lyra and won the two titles for herself, considering the workhorse she’s been throughout the past year, but oh well, despite how things turned out, I hope Becky brings her Big Time Becks gimmick back in her new heel run.
10Jade Cargill Vs Naomi
Solid Build-Up, Above-Average Execution
After being separated from Bianca, I thought Jade might be ready for her singles run. While it did seem promising enough with her feud against Naomi, especially the latter’s promo post-Elimination Chamber with Bianca, it still wasn’t enough to make Jade feel all too credible in the ring.
That’s evident by their showdown at WrestleMania 41, which ended up feeling more like a showcase match for Cargill than a proper rivalry match between the two former friends.
It wasn’t a bad match by any means, but I wish there were more notable spots in it because, aside from some near-falls, such as from Naomi’s split-legged moonsault, it was a pretty clean win for Jade by using her finisher to end things.
9Charlotte Flair Vs Tiffany Stratton
It’s Tiffy Time!
The Charlotte vs. Tiffany women’s championship match had a mixed reception, and no one knew just how bad things would devolve over time. Honestly, you are either someone who enjoyed this slopfest of a fight or just bashed both women for having zero chemistry with each other.
I’m in the middle here since the match looked a bit too real at times, but that’s slightly understandable considering the heat both wrestlers had with each other, especially considering their controversial promo, in which they got personal and flipped the script.
Regarding the match, the initial few minutes of the all-out brawl and constant slugfest between the two stars were great, but it slowly deviated, with Charlotte botching a few moves and struggling to keep up the match’s pace towards the end.
Considering the overall quality of Night 1, you couldn’t blame me for having just a glimmer of hope that this match might deliver, right? Well, I guess the saving grace was how Tiffany (thankfully) didn’t get buried with a golden shovel and retained her title.
8Randy Orton Vs Joe Hendry
The Forbidden Door, Opened
I was highly anticipating Randy’s open challenge. It could’ve been anyone: Rusev, Aleister Black (though they both returned on the latter shows), Karrion Kross… but WrestleMania said his name, and he appeared: TNA’s Joe Hendry.
Joe Hendry is one of those individuals who have earned extreme stardom through their charismatic character work. Unfortunately, this is one of the core traits that gets you over with the WWE Universe these days instead of your in-ring prowess or technicality.
The match only served to highlight TNA’s partnership with WWE and Hendry’s comedic undertone, who ended up giving one of themost viral moments as he got (literally) RKO’ed out of nowhere from his signature pose, sparking hilarious memes and clips all over the internet.
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7AJ Styles Vs Logan Paul
It Should’ve Been Special
Putting aside the distasteful personality and ethics of Logan Paul,you can’t deny the guy’s sheer athleticism ever since he arrived in the WWE, and being in a match against AJ Styles at Mania? That sounds like a pure money-maker bout if you ask me.
Unfortunately, the match aside for now, the build was centered on AJ proving that he’s still got it in him to compete at the grandest stage of them all. It also included Karrion Kross’s angle with Styles, which ended up playing the finish to this fight.
But here’s where it all fell apart: 15+ minutes with Paul being the dominant one for the majority of the match, a couple of high-flying spots from both men, and the use of the ring apron to trap each other, only for everything to end with a dull finish.
Karrion Kross hysterically intercepting Paul’s random entourage member gave me a good chuckle, but Styles losing clean to Logan? I get the storyline extension angle here between Styles and Kross, but the win was completely unjustified.
6Cody Rhodes Vs John Cena
John Was Right, We Deserve Nothing
I’ll probably get a bit of slack for this one, but as someone who’s adored Cena ever since his ruthless aggression days, even during times when he was Super Cena, this main event match of Night 2 was poorly paced and, most importantly, dull.
Although the build-up took some time to properly click in with Cena’s incredible mic-work against Cody in the latter weeks,you had so much to look forward to when it came to this main event match on Night 2 of WrestleMania 41.
It’s amusing how a few mutual acquaintances of mine kept defending this match with the recurring point that “Cena did say he’s going to ruin wrestling,” but that’s one of the most baffling claims I’ve seen to justify this match and its quality.
Not a single spot where Cody attempted the trifecta Cross Rhodes, no major near-falls, slow pacing, and to top everything off, we had Travis Scott show up, which left me numbingly perplexed at this match’s entire booking.
Look, you don’t have to overbook this match like the Bloodline Rules, but making Cody look weak and lose clean to a cheap title shot to the face from Cena was not what any of us were expecting, since this is the same guy who dethroned Roman Reigns' historical title reign.
I guess the only plus points I’d give it is Cena finally winning his 17th record-breaking world title,but yeah, that’s only because the nostalgic Cena fan in me couldn’t help but be overjoyed at that shot of him hoisting the title.
5LA Knight Vs Jacob Fatu
The Samoan Werewolf’s Crowning Moment
Jacob Fatu finally getting his first singles push was certainly a delightful sight, given his fantastic mic work after being the silent badass of the new Bloodline for so long and, most importantly, his high-octane in-ring ability getting some much-deserved appreciation.
Due to these two strong traits, Fatu had star power written all over him. This was also the perfect time for LA Knight to move onto the main event scene, so I had no objections to having Fatu finally win his first singles championship.
The match was great; you had memorable spots where Jacob showcased the ring resiliency he’s known for by dominating while simultaneously letting Knight get some offense in, culminating in some great spots where Knight German Suplexed Fatu off the top rope.
Furthermore, a notable highlight was Knight’s Moonsault counter into BFT, which was a thing of beauty. The cherry on top of this otherwise solid match was Fatu’s top-rope pop-up moonsault for the finish, which is always mesmerizing to see from a monstrous man like him.
