WrestleMania 41 week has finally finished. It feels like WrestleMania runs longer than a seven game World Series. It is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot to take in.

My initial reaction to the Saturday and Sunday shows is that they were entertaining but fell short of perfection. There were some great matches and some fun moments. But there were one or two head-scratching moments that were a distraction.

With a few exceptions, it was a good weekend to be a bad guy. It is rare to have a WrestleMania end with the bad guy winning, but both main events featured just that. The heels thrived in the undercard, too.

We were led to believe the Saturday main event was a story about CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns. But that match was all about WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman. Heyman started off dancing to Living Color as he walked CM Punk to the ring. He proceeded to off the rare feat of making two heel turns in a single match, turning on both CM Punk and Roman Reigns! Who saw that coming?

The Sunday main event won’t be remembered as a classic. The match’s major creative flaw was that The Rock failed to appear and interfere. Instead, Travis Scott was the heater. I never understood why Travis Scott was at the Elimination Chamber, and I don’t understand why he interfered in the match at WrestleMania. Nobody talks about him and his motivations, and he never cut a promo.

On the WrestleMania Sunday post show, Peter Rosenberg quipped that nobody will “put the match in The Louvre”. But the historic outcome remains, John Cena won his record-breaking 17^th world championship, breaking Ric Flair’s record of 16.

Elsewhere over the weekend, The New Day, Jacob Fatu, El Grande Americano, Drew McIntyre, Dominik Mysterio, and Logan Paul all won as heels. Dominik Mysterio got a huge babyface reaction to his win. It is almost as if the bad guys are the good guys in today’s WWE.

The only major heel to lose was Gunther in a fantastic match against Jey Uso. But don’t shed too many tears for him, his attack on Pat McAfee on the following Monday Night Raw will keep him very hot going forward.

The biggest takeaway from the weekend was it is apparent where the WWE is headed, and where it is not headed.  

The company is clearly behind the John Cena retirement tour in 2025. Seth Rollins was anointed as another top star in the company with his main event win. Jey Uso is going to have a long run as the secondary champion. Dominik Mysterio is going to rule the mid-card with his Intercontinental Championship run. Bronn Breaker went from losing his championship to being a Paul Heyman Guy.

On the other end of things, Roman Reigns is now stuck in neutral, he no longer has Paul Heyman, The Bloodline, or a championship. Cody Rhodes, whom the fans willed to a championship win at WrestleMania Xl, was loudly booed during his match which he lost. These two feel like they are a long way from their “face of the company” tenures.

My breakdown of winners and losers is as follows.

Losers

• The War Raiders: That was probably their last big match in WWE.
• LA Knight: What is he going to do now that he is no longer a champion of any kind?
• Charlotte Flair: Her comeback from injury was botched by the company, no way someone of her stature should have lost to Tiffany Stratton.
• Roman Reigns: If he isn’t the top guy, where does he even go from here?
• Bayley: I don’t know if her injury is real or not, but it sucks to get pulled from the WrestleMania card like that. It tells me her best days are behind her.
• The woman in the front row: Steve Austin is either losing his ability to drive or was drunk when he hit that barrier knocking that woman to the ground. How much did she pay for that ticket?
• Cody Rhodes: Is it me, or is he losing the crowd? That’s almost unfathomable considering where he was just one year ago when he finished his story. Maybe he needs to write a new one. I hear that being a heel is all the rage these days.
• Solo Sikoa, Sami Zayn, and Braun Strowman: There was nowhere on either card for these guys?

Winners

• The fans that no longer have to listen to “F!EIN”: That had to be the worst WrestleMania theme song of all time. That is not because I don’t like the genre. It is because it is objectively bad. It was just someone singing “FE!N” repeatedly. It didn’t have a hook or anything catchy to it at all. Give me Flo Rida or The Weeknd any day over this guy.
• Jey Uso: He is an organic babyface that won gold at WrestleMania. A difficult feat to achieve these days.
• Jacob Fatu: This guy came out of nowhere to win a WrestleMania championship match. He has a lot of upside potential.
• El Grande Americano: The best luchador on the roster today!
• Seth Rollins: Biggest win of his career, and a red-hot storyline going forward.
• Iyo Sky: She looked terrible headed into WrestleMania but pulled off a big win in a surprisingly fun match.
• Drew McIntyre: He always looks good no matter what he is asked to do.
• Dominik Mysterio: A signature win for this Judgement Day member. He even managed to win over the crowd.
• Joe Hendry: Whoever this guy is, he managed to have his WrestleMania moment even though he is not a WWE wrestler!
• Logan Paul: Just keeps on winning.
• John Cena: GOAT status with his 17^th championship win, and first as a bad guy

I am excited for the possibilities for the rest of 2025. There is a two-day SummerSlam in my home state of New Jersey and I expect excellence!