Rhodes and Reigns headline WrestleMania for the second night — and second year in a row. After Rhodes and Seth Rollins lost to The Rock and Reigns on Night 1, the main event match would be held under “Bloodline Rules,” seeming putting the challenger at a severe disadvantage.
Rhodes entered first, with a fiery, almost war-like video package. As he rose from beneath the stage, he was wearing a crown and skull mask in what appeared to be an homage to Triple H — how far these two have come, right? Rhodes was accompanied by his wife Brandi for the first time since he came back to WWE.
Reigns’ entrance included the School District of Philadelphia All-City Orchestra, but the champion was only accompanied to the ring by Paul Heyman despite the “Bloodline Rules” stipulation. Reigns has now been in the main event of WrestleMania a record nine times, surpassing Hulk Hogan. Reigns’ run as champion is the 4th-longest in WWE history, behind Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund and Hogan.
Much like the Night 1 match, both men engaged in staring contest in the very beginning. The Philadelphia crowd was far more engaged in the early stages on Sunday compared to Saturday. Reigns used his power advantage, while Rhodes relied on his speed, avoiding a Reigns spear to have the champion crash into a ring post.
Rhodes was actually the first to bring weapons into the equation, pulling a table out from under the ring. Reigns hit Rhodes with a “drive-by” dropkick and the champion put the table back under the ring, disappointing the Philadelphia crowd. Rhodes continued to lean into the violence, sending Reigns into the ring steps.
Moments later, Reigns regained the upper hand by pummeling Rhodes with a kendo stick. Rhodes dodged a blow and eventually locked Reigns in the “figure-four.” The WWE announcers suggested that the “Bloodline Rules” essentially amounted to a no-disqualification match, but pinfall or submission needed to happen in the ring.
Action spilled into the crowd shortly after, loosely following the structure of the Night 1 main event. Reigns teased a massive suplex off among the crowd, but Rhodes countered into a suplex of his own and guiding the action back to the ring area.
Rhodes, with a bit of momentum, went for a “disaster kick” but was caught in mid-air and powerbombed, snuffing out the brief swing in the challenger’s favor. Reigns then taunted Rhodes, saying he would send him to Hollywood with the “rest of them,” referencing John Cena and his cousin The Rock.
Reigns stayed in control, using a submission hold and a fisherman’s suplex for a near-fall. After the referee counted to two and Rhodes kicked out, Reigns began to show visible signs of frustration despite maintaining control.
The pace briefly picked up as Rhodes and Reigns exchanged superkicks and big boots before taking each other out with a double clothesline. Rhodes finally regained the advantage with a scoop slam and “disaster kick,” leading to a near-fall on the champion.
As Rhodes went for a “Cody cutter,” Reigns caught the challenger and — in a sign of ultimate disrespect in wrestling — tried to end the match using Rhodes’ own finisher. Reigns’ taunts allowed Rhodes to recover enough to dodge a “superman” punch and hit the champion with his father’s patented “bionic elbow” combination.
Reigns would leverage the “Bloodline Rules” to land a low blow on Rhodes and powerbomb him through an announce table. Reigns quickly threw Rhodes back into the ring and hit a “superman” punch for another dramatic near-fall. Rhodes followed up by countering a spear from Reigns and hitting the “Cody cutter” for a near-fall of his own. Rhodes would get another near-fall after countering a “Rock bottom” attempt and hitting a spear on Reigns.
Finally, nearly 22 minutes into the match, there was much-expected outside interference. Jimmy Uso hit Rhodes with a superkick as he attempted to hit Reigns with a finisher. Jey Uso, who beat Jimmy on Night 1, followed shortly after and took out his twin with a spear off the WrestleMania stage and through a table.
Back in the ring, Reigns landed a spear on Rhodes for yet another near-fall, but the challenger kicked out. Action spilled outside shortly after, allowing Rhodes to spear the champion through a barricade.
As Rhodes again went for a trio of “crossRhodes” finishers, Solo Sikoa interfered, delivering a Samoan spike to the challenger — a callback to how last year’s main event ended. Sikoa dragged Reigns onto Rhodes for the cover but the challenger kicked out, stunning Sikoa and his cousin. The Bloodline duo hit a combo spear and spike, but Rhodes kicked out again.
Much like Jey Uso did, John Cena came to the rescue to get revenge on Sikoa. Cena hit Reigns with an “attitude adjustment” and then put Sikoa through an announce table with another “AA.”
That flurry from Cena brought out The Rock. Cena and Rock faced each other at WrestleMania 28 and 29, with each winning one match. The two megastars stared each other down before The Rock landed a “Rock bottom.” As Rock took off his weight belt, The Shield’s music hit and Rollins was about to take out The Rock with a chair — a callback to his betrayal of Reigns a decade earlier.
Chaos continued as The Undertaker’s music hit, the lights went down and the legendary superstar appeared in the ring to chokeslam The Rock. The lights dimmed again and just Rhodes, Rollins and Reigns were left in the ring with a steel chair.
Reigns, rather than hitting Rhodes, turned his attention to Rollins, payback for his aforementioned betrayal. This allowed Rhodes to recover, hit a knee on Reigns and finally, land three “crossRhodes” and finish his story.
Cody Rhodes defeats Roman Reigns in 33:23 to win the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
After the match, LA Knight, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Brandi Rhodes and Cody’s family celebrated in the ring with the new champion.
Rhodes addressed the celebrating crowd, saying he is surrounded by greatness in the ring and stadium. He called out Bruce Pritchard and Triple H out, saying he would never have returned to WWE without those two men.
Source Agencies
