Winners from WrestleMania 40 spoke to the media following Sunday night’s show.
New World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest, WWE Women’s Champion Bayley, and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes, as well as Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, spoke to the media following the second night of WrestleMania. Here are the notes:
Damian Priest
- When asked what message he wanted to send to Puerto Rico, he said he had a whole island behind him and a whole culture. He couldn’t be prouder of his people.
- He said this is the hottest WWE has ever been, the company is doing things the Attitude Era never did. It is something he’s humbled and proud of.
- He liked the idea of the World Heavyweight title being the workhorse title. He thanked Seth Rollins for taking the championship to a higher level.
Bayley
- During her questions, Bayley brought up the Jada Stone t-shirt she was wearing. She explained that Stone used to wait outside every single time to see wrestlers and now she’s wrestling on the indies. She said that used to be her.
- She brought up names like Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, and Zoey Stark who are coming up due to the success of the Four Horsewomen. Bayley said that this is exactly what they wanted.
- When Stephanie McMahon and Brandi Rhodes’ names came up, Bayley said that McMahon “was such an awesome person to have around” and called her genuine. She also noted that she was sitting down next to Brandi during the main event and had to rub her back to calm her.
Cody Rhodes
- Rhodes said that there was a difference between being in the main event and being the main event. Roman Reigns’ run with the title is the “greatest in both sports and entertainment”. He hoped he could be half the champion he was for WWE as a leader and “as the quarterback.
- Regarding the post-match celebration, he was happy that people like Kevin Owens and Randy Orton were there, as well as John Cena and LA Knight. “I think it was just the joy. There is respect for Roman and The Bloodline, no doubt, but nothing is bigger than the company and industry itself. This was a win for the people and certainly, a win for me.”
- He felt that many people relate to the father-son story that had been told the last two years, and it was also a story of legacy. He’s very proud of what the story has become “because it’s real.” He thought he had failed when he didn’t hand his father the WWE Championship. “But the story was beyond me at that point and I still felt the need to finish it…even if I didn’t believe, people believed, so I had to do it.”
- He said that after he went backstage, Nick Khan, Triple H, and Bruce Prichard gave him the same watch that his dad had pawned so he could go to acting school.
- When asked what he would want to say to his father, he said: “I hope that I lived up to your name, and thank you for that name. And then I would say sorry for the tattoo.”
Triple H
- WrestleMania 40 set records for social media, merchandise, and sponsorship, and “destroyed” the record for gates. He said “by every metric” this is the biggest WrestleMania of all time.
- WWE is using 145,298 as the total combined number for both nights of WrestleMania.
- When talking about Roman Reigns, he said that there was a lot of banter about the greatest of all time. Few guys that come along are here to change the industry. He said that Roman Reigns is that good and can’t say enough good things about him.
- On Cody Rhodes, he said Sunday wasn’t about finishing this story, it’s about finishing the chapter. He talked about the amount of respect he had for Cody, as well as his father Dusty, saying “I could feel his dad today.”
- He rejected the idea that it is the Triple H era, something Paul Heyman mentioned in his Hall of Fame speech. “It’s not my era, it’s our era”. He praised Lee Fitting’s direction and production, people are excited about the new changes and loves working for him, as he has a passion for wrestling. “I can’t say enough good stuff about him.”
- He also brought up Nick Khan’s name, saying he can’t believe the changes he’s made. Called their partnership “amazing” and it should be his era too.
- Triple H said that the watch Cody Rhodes talked about earlier was the watch his father gave up so he could go to acting school, saying it was Nick Khan’s idea. “We just wanted to give him something that, in some way, commemorates his dad being here when this happened because he was.”
- On Stephanie McMahon’s return: “Man my wife looked good, right?” He said this is her home, and as much as anyone on the planet, she belongs here.
- Someone asked what it was like to “be Triple H.” “It doesn’t suck,” he replied. He’s loving what he does.
