Courtesy of WWE
WRESTLEMANIA XL KICKOFF REVIEW
- Rob Crowther, Editor In Chief
After a tumultuous six days amongst members of the WWE UNIVERSE and the IWC, many questions were answered at the official WrestleMania XL Kickoff event Thursday evening in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tempers flared, arguments were made, and at the end of the day we may have been left with more questions than answers.
The show began with your typical WWE pre-show panel set-up, but featuring Michael Cole, Pat McAfee, Big E, and even CM Punk. As someone who's been very critical of Punk over the years, I have to say he was fantastic at the desk, saying, "My mouth still works." Punk compared the Cody, Roman, Rock situation to a hypothetical situation to where you as the starting QB carry your team to the Super Bowl, but then the team tells you Tom Brady is going to play in the Super Bowl. Punk added A LOT more at the show's conclusion, while E looked to be doing very well and provided a lot of levity on the panel.
Bianca Belair kicked off the event as the first official WWE Superstar to address the Vegas crowd, stating that even though her road to WrestleMania is not yet defined, you can't spell WrestleMania without EST.
In my mind, it has to be Jade Cargil vs Bianca, and I hope we get some good storytelling in the next few months leading into what could be a show stealer.
Up next, the Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley addressed the Vegas crowd stating that once she's done with Nia Jax, she looks forward to taking on whoever wins the Elimination Chamber match in her home country. Ripley is interrupted by Becky Lynch who is dead set on facing Rhea at WrestleMania, and that may very well be the case.
After the showdown between Rhea and Becks, The World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins makes his entrance. Rollins gets to say very little before he is interrupted by the Tribal Chief, and The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Reigns belittles his "little brother" Rollins and his World Heavyweight Championship. Reigns goes on to essentially say that if you (Cody) "hesitate" the decision is no longer yours. Therefor the choice for Roman's opponent is his alone, and he chooses The Rock.
The Rock comes out to a mixed reaction. "We want Cody" chants instantly emerge from the Las Vegas Crowd. The Brahma Bull is barely able to get out his signature, "FINALLY....." catch-phrase before echos of boos fill the arena. This is an interesting situation, and we knew it would be. The Rock handled the crowd by not trying to appease them, but almost trying to educate or instruct them. This gave me major politician vibes. The Rock went on to show an absolutely incredible graphic of The Bloodline family tree that included his and Roman's grandfathers, The Usos, Solo Sikoa, Trinity Fatu (Naomi), Afa Jr. , Lance Anao'i, and even Jacob Fatu.
This was an incredibly impressive visual that I very much appreciated, but it almost felt like a smokescreen to provide a very quick story that instantly gave The Rock the WrestleMania main event. The Rock explained that Roman and himself were bound by blood, and that was reason enough.
Now don't forget at this point in time in the show, the choice is Cody's alone, because he won the Royal Rumble, regardless of how anyone feels about it. The disconnect here being that Cody seemingly stepped aside for The Rock to get his opportunity on last week's SmackDown.
Well, The Rock and Roman (with Seth still off to the side) are interrupted by Cody Rhodes with no entrance music or pyrotechnics. This was Cody Rhodes with a microphone and a big pop from the Vegas Crowd. Cody simply says, "This right here is BULLSHIT!" which certainly was unexpected terminology from the Amerian Nightmare. Cody spoke about families, his conversations with The Rock in recent weeks, and more. In fact Cody echoed my previous politician statement when he says that they are standing here just "dictating" WreslteMania.
Cody goes on to say that it is his distinction and he has won The Royal Rumble. He says that even though they are a part of The Bloodline neither of them have been doing "The Cooking" for two years addressing their respective schedules. Therefor the choice remains his and he is going to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania to the delight of the crowd and the dismay of the Rock.
A few quick takeaways before moving forward:
- This is the right move in terms of pure storyline
- The Rock seemingly stands beside and possibly aligns with Roman and his family moving forward
- Getting here was a little bumpy and this still doesn't explain why Cody stepped aside on SmackDown
- I personally felt this made Seth look like an afterthought more-so because he was standing on stage
- This opens up A LOT of possibilities
The Rock takes exception to Cody's proclamation and slaps him in the face after telling him, "Now WE have a problem." A brawl breaks out on stage with Seth seemingly trying to aid Cody. HHH, Adam Pierce, Nick Aldis and WWE Officials clear the stage with The Rock being the last one alone on the stage as they throw it back to the kickoff panel.
Interestingly enough Punk takes some shots at The Rock who is in earshot and still on the stage and doesn't seem to happy about having no microphone. We know the history between Punk and The Rock so this is getting even more interesting. McAfee and Big E reign things in and ponder how this will play out since there are two nights of WrestleMania.
Backstage HHH is being interviewed and is conveniently interrupted by The Rock and Roman. The Rock wasn't too pleased about how his family was treated and has some choice strong language for Triple H. This is either some next level Hollywood stuff or coming from some real emotion from the Rock.
Something else I noticed was the strong language exchanged between Seth and The Rock all night, and if you notice The Rock shoulder bumps Seth when he makes his entrance into the arena. Something worth keeping an eye on.
Although there are a few missing dot connects here stemming back to last week's SmackDown, this was a lot of fun controlled chaos and the right move going into Mania Season in terms of telling stories and delivering some truly unique matches. I for one am very excited to see the next chapter in THIS story.