It did look a bit odd looking at Night 1 schedule of WWE Wrestlemania 38 with a chat show set to close Saturday’s show, even though Texas’ own Stone Cold Steve Austin was scheduled to appear. More so after the return of Cody Rhodes and rather lacklustre SmackDown’s Women Championship match, The KO show had a lot to do in terms of closing out the show in a big way. And with no pun intended, the mighty Kevin Owens and the returning Texas rattlesnake delivered in a grand style at the AT&T stadium. 19 years since his last match, Steve Austin rolled back the years for one final hurrah for a surprising retirement match of sort and put on a proper main-eventer in a no holds barred match against the ever-brilliant Owens. The Celebrations that followed may not rival the ones during the Attitude Era, but it was as close as it could have gotten to WWE’s best era.
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Owens – Austin Deliver Big Time
Owens in his usual way worked the crows so very well, that by the time Austin made his appearance first on foot and then once more in the RV, the tone for the main event was set. It did not take long for Owens to propose a match and both Austin and Owens were done talking soon, engaging in a no hold barred match. Austin ran with the momentum early on, before the match spilled to the outside. Austin at 57 took some hard bumps on the exposed concrete on the rafters while Owens sold every move like it was nobody’s business. He took a ride on the RV, fought Austin on the entrance ramp and took a suplex off it. It was nothing but a dream for Owens to have a Wrestlemania moment with the great Steve Austin and he was not going to hang back. Back in the ring, he even delivered the first stunner of the match on Austin for a cover. Austin kicked out and soon after hit his own to close out the match.
Rhodes Makes a Fitting Comeback
And while Austin, as expected, stole the show on Night 1 of Wrestlemania 38 that saw an attendance of over 77, 000 – as per WWE – at the AT&T stadium, the return of Cody Rhodes as the American Nightmare lived up to the expectations. The intrigue over Seth Rollins’ mystery opponent of Vince McMohan’s choosing had been blown over after various media outlets confirmed that it could very well be Rhodes leading up to the event, which had little effect on what Rhodes offered on the night. The surprise was WWE allowed Rhodes to run with the American Nightmare character – something he had developed after leaving WWE six years back – and the Kingdom theme song which he had used extensively in AEW. Rhodes and Rollins then put on the best match of night, easily trumping any of the other productions, barring a slight overshoot of an top rope spot. Rollins added yet another classic to his long list of unforgettable matches and Rhodes. Fresh off an incredible in-ring run made it work at the AT&T centre. Rhodes closed out with three straight crossroads, but not before hitting a Cody Cutter from the top rope and paying homage to his father the late great American Dream Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes evaded the Curb Stomp a few times through the match, but coped with an invert superplex and a couple of falcon arrows. Rollins was methodical in his approach and allowed Rhodes to be himself. There was a brief reference of his old character Star Dust and ironically, before leaving WWE it was in Wrestlemania that Rhodes played Star Dust character one final time and six years on, he shed that character and performed as himself
Ronda Rousey Falls to Charlotte Flair
That this match was positioned to go just before the KO Show segment hinted that high hopes have been put on how Charlotte Flair would be able to carry the match and carry she did, commendably as the SmackDown Women’s Champion. Rousey to her credit has worked a lot on her in-ring movesets and all of them were on display, but there was always a sense of that brief moment now and then where Rousey would hesitate that tad bit, waiting for instructions. That led to a couple of awkward spots, most noticeably a botched Piper’s Pit throw. The outcome could not have been straight forward and as expected Rousey was protected even in the loss. In the closing moments, Rousey had Charlotte pinned for the three-count before the ref – Charles Robinson – disallowed the win as Charlotte had a rope break. Rousey was also given the spot of being the first out to get out of the Figure-eight, Charlotte’s famed submission move, which once again proved too high a spot for Rousey to come out clean. Rousey was always looking for the arm bar and oftentimes went for the ankle lock. She eventually had Charlotte taping with the submission move, but with Robison out cold – courtesy an inadvertent bump from Charlotte – Rousey was ‘robbed’ of a clean win. Rousey went to check on Robinson and charlotte pounced with a boot to the face for the pin. Here also, Rousey’s timing was a bit off.
Bianca Belair trumps Becky Lynch
The second best match of the night? Well, you could argue, but then again you had Bianca Belair who main-evented Wrestlemania with Sasha Banks and you have the Big time Becky Lynch. This match had to deliver and it did. The time allotted too worked well for both superstars. Lynch often has her bet matches in longer duels and Belair too had enough time to show her versatility. Lynch had the advantage in the early goings and Belair withered the storm to hit some sensational spots showing off her insane power and stamina. The storyline was probably the smoothest here with Lynch trying to remain outside of Belair’s hitting range and Beliar repeatedly falling to Lynch’s trap and getting worn out outside the ring. Man Handle Slam played its part here and there with Belair evading one early on and then managing to survive another on the steel stairs. Belair managed the KOD – her finisher –an argentine facebuster only once that was it for her to win the RAW Women’s title.
Logan Paul – Miz set to continue
Logan Paul was this year’s big celebrity match-up as he teamed with the Mix to take on The Father-Son duo of Rey Mysterio and Dominick Mysterio. The Mysterios ran the match well and Logan Paul himself put on a great show. Last year, Bad Bunny was terrific with Damien Priest and dare I say, Paul did far better than Bad Bunny. The professional boxer executed a perfect frog splash and even completed the great Eddie Guerrero’s ‘Three Amigos’ and came off looking really good. Miz played his part well and grab the opportunity to win it for his team. However, this will surely not be the end of Logan Paul as Miz backstabbed his partner and hit a Skull Crushing Finale on Paul before fleeing. This story will play out in the weeks to come
McIntyre Ends Corbin’s streak; USOS Retain Tag Title
Drew McIntyre got the better of Happy Corbin in a short duel with the only noteworthy thing being McIntyre kicking out of Corbin’s End of Days. Not since his NXT days has anyone kicked out of the variation of a reverse STO, But, if someone had to, I had to be the Big Scott, whose own finisher, The Claymore is a protected finisher in WWE. There was not much in terms of interference from Corbin’s side-kick, Madcap Moss who had won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on SmackDown the night prior.
The opening contest proved to be a bit of a dud, due to a legitimate injury to Rick Broogs. Broogs and Shinsuke Nakamura were challenged the Bloodlines Jimmy and Jay Uso for the SmackDown Tag titles but an untimely injury. To Broogs, cut short the match with Nakamura eating the pin.
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