Tag: Wrestlemania 41

Bianca Belair reflects on WWE WrestleMania 41: ‘It was just magic’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

When Bianca Belair reflects on her instant classic from WrestleMania 41, one of the things that makes the match special is that it was just her, Rhea Ripley, and IYO SKY doing what they do best.

Belair, Ripley, and SKY had one of the best matches of 2025 so far when they opened night two of WrestleMania 41 this April. Their triple threat match stole the show that night, even earning high praise from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Appearing on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Belair looked back at the match and how it proved you don’t need to break out new, never-seen-before moves to create magic in the ring.

“It was just magic,” she said. “And what I love most about that match, and I’ve told them this too, is that sometimes when you’re at WrestleMania or planning a match, you think like, it’s WrestleMania, I have to go out there, we have to do this, that, we have to do that, we have to pull out these new moves. If you watch that match, none of us did anything that we don’t normally do.

“And so I think we had the best of both worlds. You had everything that Rhea does, you have everything that I do, you had the high-flying moves that IYO has. We had moments in there, it was emotion in there, and we literally just went out there and did what we did, and that was good enough, and it ended up being great. And I love that because it’s not always about the moves, it’s really about the magic that you create in there and what you make people feel.”

Belair said she’s only watched the match back once, and that was because her husband Montez Ford urged her to.

“I’ve actually only watched the match back once, and it’s only because my husband forced me to watch it. Because lot of times if I have a really good match and it goes well and it goes great, I don’t want to watch it back because I know I’m going to pick it apart,” Belair said. “So I was like, ‘Just give me a few days, let me just live in the moment, and let me just be happy about it.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to watch.’ He’s like, ‘You have to watch it.’

“So we were sitting at home, he put it on, and I watched it, and I enjoyed it. I didn’t pick it apart, but I’ll probably never watch it again, because it just takes way too much out of me, because I get nervous when I watch it again. I feel all the emotions again. By the end of watching, I just feel so exhausted. So I’m like, okay, one and done, and I’m happy with that.”

SKY retained the Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania but dropped the belt earlier this month when Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase during the main event of Evolution.

Since WrestleMania, Belair has been sidelined since suffering a broken finger in the triple threat. She is still recovering from the injury and doesn’t have a return date set yet.

Rhea Ripley names her new favorite WWE WrestleMania moment

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Rhea Ripley has a new favorite WrestleMania moment after sharing the ring with IYO SKY and Bianca Belair in Las Vegas.

On a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Ripley said — despite losing — her show-stealing triple threat match against SKY and Belair from WrestleMania 41 is now her favorite Mania moment of her career. Before this, it was WrestleMania 39 against Charlotte Flair after their match three years prior had to take place on a closed set at the WWE Performance Center amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I always said my match with Charlotte, because it’s everything that I wanted my first Mania to be. Because it ended up being the COVID Mania — I didn’t get my family, I didn’t get the crowd, I didn’t get anything that normally goes into a Mania,” Ripley said. “And it was just like, ‘Wow, I’m back at the place that I really didn’t like going to every day, and this is my WrestleMania.’ So to then go and face Charlotte again, but it being in front of a crowd, and I saw my family in the front row, I had like all the adrenaline in the world. Everything was so perfect, and then I beat her for the first time. I won the SmackDown Women’s Championship. That was my WrestleMania moment.

“But now I feel like the match with IYO and Bianca has triumphed that. I am literally so proud of that match. I love those two so much. And going through NXT with them, overcoming things with them, watching them overcome things, and watching them grow as performers. And then me growing as a performer to get to that point where we could go to WrestleMania and have such a stellar match, and have people chanting, ‘This is awesome’ and us being the opener — I couldn’t ask for anything more. I understand I lost, it doesn’t matter at that time. It really didn’t, because that was IYO’s moment, but we all got a moment from it at the same time.”

SKY pinned Belair to win the triple threat, retaining the Women’s World Championship in the process. SKY is still champion and has now held the title for almost four months after winning it from Ripley in March.

This Saturday, Ripley will compete in a street fight against Raquel Rodriguez at WWE Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia.

Randy Orton details how Joe Hendry was chosen as WWE WrestleMania opponent

Posted on by Joseph Currier

In an interview with Billboard, Randy Orton detailed how his WWE WrestleMania 41 match against Joe Hendry came to be.

Orton vs. Kevin Owens was originally scheduled for the event and had even been officially announced by WWE, but plans had to change with Owens having a neck injury requiring surgery. With that grudge match off the books, WWE pivoted to something else entirely with Orton defeating Hendry — the TNA World Champion — in a quick three-minute bout.

This was Orton’s 20th WrestleMania, and he told Billboard that was an important milestone for him. He confirmed that he pushed for Hendry to be his opponent once a replacement was needed. Orton said a couple of people in WWE were unsure about the idea, but he was able to talk them into it.

“It kind of came down to, ‘OK. We need to get Orton an opponent. Who’s it gonna be?’ And there was a very short list of guys on our own roster, but we had some new guys coming in — and it was one of those things where I needed to win, but considering we knew where I was going to be going thinking about Backlash, we needed me to look good coming out of Mania,” Orton said. “It couldn’t be one of our new guys, because when we debut a new talent into the show [we couldn’t] have him start with a loss.

“So we put our heads together and it was actually my idea [for it to be] Joe Hendry. I kept pushing for it, and a couple people were unsure, but I was able to talk everybody into it. I’m really glad that they went with him. It was perfect. It was different from anything else on the card. It was a legitimate surprise, and we were able to keep it a surprise for the most part. We got that really cool, ‘Holy s–t’ moment when his music hit, and it was great. He was great. It was actually a stress-free fun Mania for me, because I didn’t have this crazy 30 minutes balls-to-the-walls match with all this high-risk s–t. I had this cool little segment with Joe, and we didn’t have to do much to have fun out there. So I was really able to enjoy the week and just soak it all up.”

Rusev and Aleister Black were two of the in-house options that WWE had making their returns. Both returned to WWE programming after WrestleMania.

Hendry is proud of the match he had with Orton and thinks it went exactly how it should have gone. A TNA World Championship defense will take place at NXT Battleground on Sunday, May 25 with Hendry putting his title on the line against Trick Williams.

At WWE Backlash this Saturday, Orton will renew his rivalry with John Cena when he challenges Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship. It will likely be their last time ever facing each other with Cena set to retire from the ring in December 2025.

Orton told Billboard that he hopes his hometown crowd in St. Louis brings the energy for this different dynamic of him being the babyface and Cena being the heel.

“Now, it has the potential to be completely opposite of how it used to be, and the pressure is on me as the good guy,” he said. “But I think being in the hometown [of St. Louis], him being the bad guy, it’s just really weird. There’s no way to call it — and I think the match itself will be good, but I think the energy in that arena is going to cause it to be possibly very good. It’s completely up to the energy of that St. Louis crowd. So I’m hoping they’re all ready to go.”

WOL: WWE WrestleMania 41 fallout

Posted on by Andrew Zarian

Following WrestleMania 41 weekend, I share my thoughts on the main event of night two and the negative impact of The Rock’s absence as part of today’s Wrestling Observer Live.

I also discuss how Rock attempted to backtrack and rectify the situation instead of simply admitting he never planned on being at WrestleMania.

I talk about the Raw after WrestleMania as with John Cena as champion again, we’re getting another program with Randy Orton. Additionally, we witnessed the formation of a new faction led by Paul Heyman.

AEW is building towards Double or Nothing. I offer my insights on this week’s Dynamite and Collision with the highlight being FTR’s heel turn and alignment with Stokely Hathaway.

Plus, I share my thoughts on the Owen Hart Cup finals, Gunther’s time off, and more!

Click here to listen or watch on YouTube

WOR: WWE WrestleMania 41 weekend recap

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

Dave Meltzer and I are back with our Friday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, talking about all the big news from today’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Here were some of the things we discussed:

  • Steve McMichael
  • The Rock on Pat McAfee
  • John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes
  • WWE and AAA
  • Dark Side of the Ring

Click here to listen (sub needed) or watch on YouTube (video sub needed)

Fight Game: The best & worst of WWE WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I are back to talk about the major topics in the world of wrestling on this week’s Fight Game Podcast. You can also watch this show on video below as it was livestreamed to our YouTube channel.

We kicked off the show by giving out our Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down winners and losers of the week before going into our Top Five topics which included:

  • The best and worst of WWE WrestleMania 41
  • The Rock on The Pat McAfee Show
  • AEW Dynamite recap
  • NXT Stand & Deliver and their show from Tuesday
  • The last two Dark Side of the Ring episodes on Tony Atlas and “Superstar” Billy Graham
  • RIP Steve McMichael

Click Here to Listen (sub needed)

Steve Austin congratulates IYO SKY: That WrestleMania match was ‘killer’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

When IYO SKY arrived backstage after her WWE WrestleMania 41 victory, she received praise from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

WWE uploaded a four-minute video today documenting some of the behind the scenes of WrestleMania 41. Among the footage included was an interaction between SKY and Austin after SKY retained the WWE Women’s Championship over Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match.

“That f*cking match was killer,” Austin said. “That was a f*cking great match, very physical… Congrats.”

“I’m so happy, I’m so honored,” SKY responded. “Thank you very much. Thank you.”

The SKY vs. Belair vs. Ripley triple threat opened the WrestleMania 41 night two card and was a tough act to follow. Though Belair was pinned to end her 4-0 streak of WrestleMania victories, she also spoke highly of SKY backstage following the match before cutting a promo on Ripley.

“I think I broke a finger. My finger’s hurt, my feelings hurt. Nah, I’m so happy right now. That was amazing. Win or lose, it’s WrestleMania. The Mania streak is broken. But you know what, I would prefer it to be IYO out of anybody. One of the greatest wrestlers on the planet. So I can’t be mad at that. Congratulations to IYO. Rhea, still coming for that ass, okay? This ain’t over, because it’s your fault.”

Austin appeared at both nights of WrestleMania in Las Vegas, taking part in the Hall of Fame segment on Saturday and then announcing the attendance on Sunday. His match against Bret Hart from WrestleMania 13 was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday as the winner of the first-ever Immortal Moment Award.

Lex Luger explains missing WWE WrestleMania Hall of Fame segment

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Lex Luger would have liked to appear for the Hall of Fame segment at WrestleMania 41, but he wasn’t able to due to not feeling well.

The WWE Hall of Fame class of 2025 was acknowledged on stage at night one of WrestleMania on Saturday. Paul “Triple H” Levesque, Michelle McCool, Steve Austin & Bret Hart, Tugboat, and the family of John Tenta were all there with only Luger missing. Luger explained on The Ariel Helwani Show today that, the day before his Hall of Fame induction, he suffered a fall at the airport while trying to get into his wheelchair. With that and with the ceremony going late into the night on Friday, Luger was feeling wiped out by the time WrestleMania began.

“The next day, on Saturday, I could hardly get out of bed,” Luger said. “So I just called the guys and they were so cool about it and said, ‘Look, we’d love to have you down there. Let’s see how you feel later today.’ But it was obvious by late afternoon that time that I wasn’t going to be able to get out there.”

Luger did make his scheduled appearance at WrestleCon earlier on Saturday.

When asked if it bums him out that he wasn’t able to appear at WrestleMania, Luger said he’s still basking in his Hall of Fame induction.

“Saturday would have been great, but it was a no-go,” Luger said. “If I could have, I would have.”

Diamond Dallas Page, who has been working with Luger to improve his mobility, helped induct him into the Hall of Fame. Luger was able to stand up from his wheelchair unassisted at Friday night’s ceremony.

WOR: WrestleMania 41 night two review

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Image: WWE

Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including full coverage of night TWO of WrestleMania, the John Cena title win, the return of Becky Lynch, DIRTY DOM, and more, plus the latest on WWE acquiring AAA!

A fun show as always so check it out~!

Click Here to Listen or watch on YouTube with a premium sub

John Cena wins 17th World title, defeats Cody Rhodes at WWE WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Josh Nason

In his final WrestleMania match, John Cena made history by defeating Cody Rhodes for the undisputed WWE title at WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The win gives Cena his 17th World title reign, breaking Ric Flair’s recognized record of 16. It’s his first since 2017 and comes as he is in the final year of his in-ring career and days before he turns 48.

While rapper Travis Scott was part of the action in a callback to Elimination Chamber when Cena turned heel, The Rock was not.

As both men were down following an offensive sequence, Scott, who had slapped Rhodes and injured his eardrum at Elimination Chamber, came out to bring everything to a halt. Cena was thrilled to see him, raised Scott’s hand, brought him up to the apron, and wanted Scott to slap Rhodes again. Rhodes evaded it and hit a Cross Rhodes but Scott pulled the referee out of the ring to break it up.

The 39-year-old Rhodes then invited Scott in the ring who tried to slap him again, but got a Cross Rhodes for good measure. Cena was waiting for Rhodes with the WWE title belt, but Rhodes stopped him and got the belt himself. Cena begged off and pleaded for Rhodes not to hit him but it was a ruse to kick him low instead. Cena then hit him with the belt, revived the referee, and got the pin and win.

Afterward, Cena celebrated with Scott in the ring to close another financially successful weekend for WWE.

Flair took to X to congratulate Cena on the victory, someone he holds in high regard:

**********

Fans were into the match from the onset, mainly booing Rhodes and cheering for Cena as had been expected more and more since Rhodes’ reaction on Friday’s SmackDown.

Cena, looking virtually the same as he did his entire run but wearing black sneakers and black knee pads, entered the ring with no entrance video or fanfare: just a black background with white letters that read his name.

Cena hit an AA that got a nearfall followed by a Five Knuckle Shuffle that Rhodes worked his way out of. He later hit another AA, this coming from the second rope, that got a nearfall. He made a mistake going up to the top rope with a missed leg drop that Rhodes countered into a power bomb of sorts. He then hit a top rope Cody Cutter that got his own nearfall.

Before the end sequence that closed the match, Rhodes accidentally kicked Cena into the referee that saw Rhodes get a visual pin after a Cross Rhodes. As Rhodes checked on him, Cena took a turnbuckle pad off and tossed Rhodes into it twice, leading into another AA for another close nearfall as the referee came to.

**********

The win ends the year-plus title run at 378 days for Rhodes that began at last April’s WrestleMania 40 with his victory over Roman Reigns that completed his “story” to win his first major World title. He successfully defended the title eight times.

‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin crashes ATV at WWE WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Ethan Renner

WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s WrestleMania 41 appearance did not go as planned.

Austin rode to the ring on an ATV on night two of WrestleMania 41, then crashed the vehicle into the ringside barricade as he maneuvered the vehicle around the ring.

As he took laps around the ring on the ATV, Austin crashed, smashing the vehicle into the LED boards decorating the barricade. A fan standing behind the barricade fell back towards their seat following the impact. Austin appeared to make an apology to the fan, then entered the ring for his planned segment where he announced the night two WrestleMania attendance, then the total attendance for both nights of the event.

As Austin’s segment concluded with him drinking his customary beers in the ring, WWE president Nick Khan was seen on camera having a conversation with the fan who fell back after the barricade was struck.

Austin was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for a second time this weekend, with his WrestleMania 13 match against Bret Hart being inducted as an “Immortal Moment.”

Austin headlined the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2009.

WWE WrestleMania 41 attendance announced —

During his segment, Austin announced a sold-out night two WrestleMania attendance of 63,226, and a total attendance of 124,693 for the two-night show.

Our live coverage of WrestleMania 41 is available here.

Becky Lynch returns at WWE WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Becky Lynch’s nearly year-long WWE hiatus has come to an end.

In her surprise return to the ring, Lynch teamed with Lyra Valkyria to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles from Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez at WrestleMania 41 night two. The match was originally announced with Bayley as Valkyria’s partner, but WWE ran an angle where Bayley was taken out in a backstage attack. Valkyria was given 24 hours to find a new partner — and Lynch was heavily rumored to be the selection.

The finish of the match was Lynch getting revenge on Morgan by pinning her after a Manhandle Slam. When we last saw Lynch on WWE programming, she lost a steel cage match to Morgan on Raw in May 2024 after Dominik Mysterio interfered.

During her hiatus from WWE, Lynch focused on acting work, including picking up a role in the upcoming Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.”

The new Women’s Tag Team Champions are both from Ireland, and Lynch has been a mentor to Valkyria in her career. She put Valkyria over in 2023 by dropping the NXT Women’s Championship to her.

Valkyria is now a double champion, holding the Women’s Intercontinental Championship in addition to the Women’s Tag Team titles.

The identity of Bayley’s attacker has not been confirmed by WWE. Morgan & Rodriguez claimed that they were not responsible.

TNA Champion Joe Hendry answers Randy Orton’s WWE WrestleMania 41 challenge

Posted on by Joseph Currier

TNA World Champion Joe Hendry was in action at WrestleMania 41 night two, answering Randy Orton’s open challenge.

Hendry made his surprise WrestleMania debut in a loss to Orton at Sunday night’s event in Las Vegas. Though Hendry entered with his TNA World Championship belt, it was not on the line in this impromptu matchup. They wrestled for three minutes until Orton got the win with an RKO out of nowhere as Hendry was posing.

After the match, Orton showed respect to Hendry and gave him a moment in front of the crowd — before dropping him with another RKO.

It was originally supposed to be Orton vs. Kevin Owens tonight, but Owens had to be pulled from the WrestleMania card due to injury. Owens announced on SmackDown earlier this month that he’s been dealing with a neck injury and needs to undergo surgery.

Insisting that he still wanted a WrestleMania match, Orton issued an open challenge for anyone to face him. WWE kept his opponent a surprise until Hendry’s music hit.

Hendry’s popularity has grown over the past year with his “I Believe in Joe Hendry” theme song going viral on social media. With the partnership that exists between WWE and TNA, Hendry made several NXT appearances in 2024 and was later a surprise entrant in the 2025 Royal Rumble.

Hendry became TNA World Champion this January — and his next title defense will be at TNA’s Rebellion pay-per-view next Sunday (April 27) in a three-way match against Frankie Kazarian and NXT wrestler Ethan Page.

IYO SKY retains Women’s World title at WWE WrestleMania 41

Posted on by Joseph Currier

IYO SKY is still Women’s World Champion after surviving two challengers at WrestleMania 41.

Night two of WrestleMania opened with SKY defeating Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match to retain her title. Dubbed an instant classic by the commentary team, the match was a 14-minute fast-paced sprint with the three competitors going back and forth until SKY pinned Belair.

The finishing sequence included Belair striking Ripley with her braid and then landing a KOD. It looked like Belair had the victory, but SKY broke up the pin with a moonsault and then got the three count on Belair to retain.

Belair had a 4-0 career WrestleMania record before taking the loss here. She was booed by the Las Vegas crowd tonight in this all-babyface matchup.

This is SKY’s first WrestleMania win. Her reign as champion began last month when she defeated Ripley. The story was that Belair — who had already secured a Women’s World Championship shot at Mania — got involved in that match leading to Ripley’s loss. With Ripley blaming Belair for costing her the title, a triple threat was eventually made for WrestleMania.

Paul “Triple H” Levesque praised the SKY vs. Belair vs. Ripley match, calling it “F’N incredible.”

WOL: WWE WrestleMania 41 night two preview, full Saturday recap

Posted on by Andrew Zarian

It’s the Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live on a WrestleMania weekend.

With night two of WrestleMania 41 getting ready to start any minute now, I break down night one, concluding with the big turn at the end with Paul Heyman aligning with Seth Rollins.

The other big story from yesterday was the acquisition of AAA by WWE. I give my thoughts and talk about what we know as of now on this situation, what it means for smaller promotions, including NJPW and others.

I also preview night two of WrestleMania and give my thoughts on the main event between John Cena and Cody Rhodes, and why Bayley was pulled from the Women’s Tag Team title match.

Plus, highlights from some of the bigger independent shows, including Minoru Suzuki taking on Butterbean at the WrestleCon Supershow.

Click here to listen or watch on YouTube