WWE WrestleMania 38 Night 2 reaction: Reigns conquers Lesnar, Austin stuns McMahon
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
ARLINGTON, Texas — Roman Reigns solidified his role at the very top of WWE on Sunday by conquering Brock Lesnar and becoming the Undisputed WWE Universal champion at WrestleMania 38.
Welcome back to my "Highs and Lows," this time covering night two of WrestleMania 38 featuring Roman’s crowning achievement, Vince McMahon wrestling a match, Pat McAfee living out his dream and Sami Zayn stealing the show.
Here’s a quick recap of the match results:
- RK-Bro defeated Street Profits and Alpha Academy via pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team titles
- Bobby Lashley defeated Omos via pinfall after hitting a spear
- Johnny Knoxville defeated Sami Zayn via pinfall after wrestling a Jackass-style, anything goes match for nearly 15 minutes
- Sasha Banks and Naomi defeated Queen Zelina/Carmella, Rhea Ripley/Liv Morgan and Natalya/Shayna Baszler to become WWE Women’s Tag Team champions
- Edge defeated AJ Styles via pinfall after a distraction from Damian Priest
- Ridge Holland and Sheamus defeated New Day via pinfall in under two minutes
- Pat McAfee defeated Austin Theory via pinfall
WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY HIGHS
Roman reigns supreme
WrestleMania: Roman Reigns defeats Brock Lesnar to unify WWE championship belts
While the match may have been shorter than I was hoping for, this was still an intense clash between two physical specimens that had me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out who’d come out on top in the end.
Building Roman Reigns' legacy is important to the brand, so having him win was the right call. This was his moment for the taking at WrestleMania.
My only critique would be that putting it on directly after Vince McMahon wrestled his first match since 2010 might have been a mistake.
The crowd was still fired up from seeing a vintage showdown between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon, which might have taken their attention away from the beginning of Roman/Brock.
Vince McMahon, Stone Cold, Pat McAfee and Austin Theory
WrestleMania: Stone Cold Steve Austin returns to stunner Vince McMahon one last time
This ruled on so many levels.
Pat McAfee had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand from the moment "Seven Nation Army" hit. It was amazing to be there live and hear how much support he had from the crowd wrestling against Theory. I’ve been to tons of wrestling shows where world-class performers don’t get that kind of prolonged reaction. So to hear an announcer/analyst making the crowd react that way was special.
As good as the match against Theory was, though, the real shock came when Vince ripped off his button-up shirt to wrestle McAfee. The crowd reacted so loudly it legitimately felt like the roof was going to blow off.
As for (what could be) the final showdown between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon, instead of writing how I felt about it, why don’t I just show you instead.
Johnny Knoxville’s Jackass match
The match that no one expected to steal the show absolutely did, because it was the most fun of the night.
WrestleMania: Johnny Knoxville defeats Sami Zayn in Jackass-style match
If you grew up watching both Jackass and wrestling like such a large portion of the audience clearly did, this was heaven. There was interference from Party Boy, Jackass pranks such as the big hand, and Wee-Man pulling a WrestleMania 3 by body-slamming Sami Zayn.
The crowd was electric from start to finish, and that’s what you hope for in a celebrity match such as this. Success all around.
WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY LOWS
New Day getting squashed
The disrespect of New Day continues.
First, they were pushed off night one. Then, their match on night two was nothing more than a squash. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are two of the most popular Superstars in the company. Why treat them this way?
The fact that this happened while they were wearing Big E-style gear to pay tribute to their injured friend made it even worse.
Lashley defeats Omos
It’s not that this match wasn’t entertaining, because it was. I was just confused by some of the booking decisions.
Is Lashley suddenly a face now? Shouldn’t there be an angle or something to explain why he’s no longer with MVP and slapping hands with kids? It just felt like we skipped a chapter, and everyone was OK with it.
I would’ve been much more content with this win for Lashley if a face turn had been established beforehand in some way.
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.
