With WrestleMania 42 officially in the books and the never-ending cycle of WWE picking right back up less than 24 hours later, it’s hard to look back at this year’s “Showcase of the Immortals” for too long.
Across two nights in Las Vegas, we saw title changes, instant classics, major returns and even a possible retirement that will reshape the pro-wrestling landscape for both the short- and long-term future. Beyond the simple outcomes of each match, let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers from WWE’s grandest annual spectacle.
Let’s not waste any time getting into the biggest shakeup we saw over the weekend. Reigns is back on top of the WWE as its World Heavyweight Champion — and immediately shot down any speculation that he’ll be a “part-timer” as the top champion on “Raw.”
In his 11th WrestleMania main event, Reigns put on an absolute masterclass in storytelling alongside CM Punk, and now gets to carry the ball once again for WWE as it navigates some rocky waters as far as fans are concerned. There’s no reason to believe that Reigns will be anything but what he has become over the past six years — the biggest draw and most bankable star in professional wrestling.
Punk has been an excellent champion and a leader on “Raw,” but Reigns’ run opens the door for fresh matchups and stories for the foreseeable future.
More than anything, classifying Vaquer as a loser has to do with the amount of time she and Liv Morgan had for their Women’s World Championship match on Night 1. Seven minutes for a feud that had become increasingly personal and violent didn’t do either woman any favors — and even as champion, Vaquer did not look particularly strong in her WrestleMania debut.
The numbers game was always going to factor into this rivalry, and getting the belt on Morgan in the way WWE did on Saturday night does protect “La Primera,” but it’s hard to see her remaining prominent in the main-event picture in the short term, assuming she loses in the inevitable rematch.
Perhaps this was always the outcome for someone who rose so quickly to WWE stardom, but her title run felt a bit underwhelming considering what we have seen from Vaquer in the past.
Anyone with a set of eyeballs knew that Oba Femi, Je’Von Evans and Trick Williams were destined for great things when they came up to the main roster this year — and they made good on that potential in a big way on Sunday night.
Femi needed a shade under five minutes to obliterate Brock Lesnar and instantly become a main-event player on “Raw.” His entrance drew some of the largest reactions from the crowd all weekend, and getting put over by Lesnar is a true changing-of-the-guard moment. Evans — already well known for his jaw-dropping aerial offense — had the spot of the night with his OG Cutter to Rusev in a show-stealing ladder match. It’s worth noting that Femi and Evans were both featured during the first hour of Night 2, which aired on ESPN. Finally, Trick Williams got a star’s entrance and captured his first main-roster championship by defeating Sami Zayn.
It’s not out of the real of possibility that these three are in a WrestleMania main event in the not-so-distant future.
There has been plenty written and said about the ratio of in-ring action to commercials and entrances at WrestleMania 42, so I will not rehash that. (Our man Robert Jackman already crunched the numbers on this front — and they may be even more shocking than you’d think.)
What I will say is that some of the time constraints truly prevented matches from reaching a higher level, most notably the amazing Night 1 clash between Gunther and Seth Rollins. Despite being one of the longer matches on either night, I believe that if Rollins and Gunther had been given 5-10 more minutes, they may have put together one of the best WrestleMania matches of all time. I also believe that given more time, Vaquer and Morgan could have both looked significantly stronger coming out of Night 1.
Ultimately, many of the weekend’s matches felt like they were better suited to be television main events than WrestleMania showcases, due in large part to the lack of time given to allow WWE’s performers to shine.
Cargill faced plenty of questions and doubts heading into WrestleMania 42, despite being WWE Women’s Champion. Her lack of title defenses and sudden pairing with B-Fab and Michin left many skeptical of how her match with Rhea Ripley would play out on Night 2.
Yet Cargill didn’t just weather that storm — pun intended — she also put together the best match of her entire career against one of the best women’s performers in WrestleMania history. The action and storytelling were top-notch here and fans were treated to the best women’s match across the entire WrestleMania weekend.
Cargill may have dropped her title to Ripley, but she’s in a much better position moving forward because of the standout performance she had in doing so.
McAfee’s involvement in the Night 1 main event was polarizing and overshadowed a match the wrestling world had been looking forward to ever since Cody Rhodes returned to WWE in 2022. For better or worse, it generated real heat for himself and Orton, which was likely the intended outcome — but as it turned out, McAfee’s involvement in the match itself was minimal. It was the right call to have him removed from ringside after a beatdown from Rhodes and Jelly Roll, which allowed the main event to be a mostly one-on-one affair, but his return in a neck brace and referee shirt only helped polish off a confusing double turn in the match’s closing segment.
Ultimately, we could’ve gotten to the same outcome without McAfee’s presence, because the fans were behind Orton in the weeks after the Elimination Chamber and Rhodes’ heel-like antics during Saturday’s match helped hammer home his persona changes. McAfee’s a good WWE in-ring performer and great commentator — he just felt badly miscast in this role.
Speed had a small role in Night 1’s opening match, but he also had one of the most-talked about moments with his splash onto Logan Paul through an announce table.