WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 1 reaction: Stone Cold returns to main event
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
After nearly 20 years away from the ring, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin made his triumphant WWE return this weekend at WrestleMania — and it was a moment that will be remembered for a long time to come.
Welcome back to my "Highs and Lows," this time covering WrestleMania Saturday (aka WrestleMania 38 Night 1) which featured Stone Cold opening a can of whoop ass on Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes coming back to WWE, an amazing match between Bianca Belair/Becky Lynch and the in-ring debut of Logan Paul.
First, here’s a recap of the match results:
- The Usos defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs via pinfall to retain the SmackDown tag team titles
- Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin via pinfall after being the first person ever to kick out of the End of Days
- The Miz and Logan Paul defeated Rey and Dominik Mysterio via pinfall
- Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch via pinfall to become the new Raw Women’s champion
- Cody Rhodes defeated Seth Rollins via pinfall after hitting the Cross Rhodes multiple times (as well as a Bionic Elbow)
- Charlotte Flair defeated Ronda Rousey via pinfall to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship
- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defeated Kevin Owens via pinfall in a No Holds Barred match after hitting the Stunner
WRESTLEMANIA SATURDAY HIGHS
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
There are things in life that make you happy as an adult because they take you back to your youth. The younger days when you didn’t have any problems, and all you had to focus on was being a kid. That can be a scent, a theme park like Disneyland, or even some type of food that triggers all your senses. For me, one of those things is watching "Stone Cold" Steve Austin wrestle.
The Texas Rattlesnake brought joy into my home on a weekly basis, and there’s no other performer I was more invested in as my fandom began. I have such fond memories of taking in the product with my dad and arguing with my brother about Stone Cold being better than The Rock.
Steve Austin meant so much to me that for most of my life, when someone would ask what’s on my bucket list, I’d say I didn’t have a bucket list — because there was only one thing on it, and that was drink a beer with Steve Austin.
So, with all that being said, it was a big deal for wrestling fans that Stone Cold returned on Saturday. Even in predicting that the bell would actually ring and a real match would happen in my article leading up to the event, a piece of me still thought there was no way it would.
However, when Stone Cold’s music hit — and he came out wearing those knee braces — every wrestling fan knew that we were about to see something special.
And that’s exactly what it was for the next 30 minutes.
The No-Holds Barred stipulation allowed for Steve Austin to get some of his trademark brawling in, but don’t get it twisted: The amount of actual bumps he took was shocking. The fact that he hit a suplex on the stage was nuts, too.
Every single thing these two performers did on Saturday connected with the audience, and it made for an unforgettable main event.
This was the perfect way to end night one of WrestleMania in Dallas for the current fans, for Steve Austin, and for every other person like me who hoped to one day see their idol do what he does best again – open an ice-cold can of whoop ass and raise some hell.
The Texas Rattlesnake returns
Surprise! It’s Cody Rhodes
The die-hard fans knew this was most likely happening, but just like with Austin, there were enough seeds of doubt planted in order to make you think otherwise. That helped make the anticipation feel even greater.
So when "Kingdom" began to play over the loudspeakers at WrestleMania, it was one of those moments where I said to myself, "I never thought I’d see this happen."
That’s the exact reaction you want out of your audience, so this was a win in every sense of the word.
It was a win for WWE, as they now gain a top star in wrestling who has such a huge fanbase behind him that he was able to help launch an entirely new promotion.
It was a win for the fans, as they got to feel genuine surprise and excitement.
It was a win for Cody Rhodes, since he is now as desirable as he always wanted to be in the eyes of WWE.
And it was a win for wrestling, because the actual match was fantastic.
Wrestling has more than one royal family
Bianca Belair regains Raw Women’s title
The right woman won here. The fans were invested in Bianca finally getting her revenge on Becky Lynch, and when it happened, they were elated to finally cheer on their favorite.
This match might have had the best in-ring storytelling of the night, too. You could feel Bianca’s struggle, as well as Becky’s desperation to keep the belt, and they played into our emotions to perfection.
Well done by both women.
The right decision for the women
Logan Paul’s debut match
Much like Bad Bunny last year, Logan did a great job of silencing his haters by showing he’s got natural abilities in a wrestling ring.
Had it not been for the Three Amigos and Frog Splash he hit on Rey, I may have rated his performance lower, but the heat he got for that was insane. There are some people who go a whole career without getting that kind of a reaction from a crowd of 75,000 people.
A win and a betrayal for Logan Paul
WRESTLEMANIA SATURDAY LOWS
Ronda Rousey loses
Huh?
This was a very confusing decision. I’m the biggest Charlotte Flair fan, but bringing Ronda back, somehow getting the fans on her side again, then having her lose was an odd decision from my viewpoint.
Hopefully this will make more sense if I let it play out a little, but right now I’m much more confused about this anything.
Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.
