Night one of WrestleMania 38 lived up to the hype with the electric returns of Cody Rhodes and Stone Cold Steve Austin, setting the expectations high for night two of WWE’s premier event being held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The main event of the night – and the entire event – was the WWE Championship and Universal Championship Winner-Takes-All match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. After each opponent delivered blow after blow to one another, Reigns emerged victorious against Lesnar, giving him the status as the top star of the company.
Another pair of celebrities made their WrestleMania debuts Sunday. “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville won the incredibly-entertaining anything goes match against Sami Zayn in a rivalry been in the works since the Royal Rumble in January. Former NFL punter and rising radio host Pat McAfee picked up a victory against Austin Theory, lost to Vince McMahon and was then stunned by Stone Cold Steve Austin in one of the best segments of the weekend.
Here are the biggest takeaways from night two of WrestleMania 38:
Roman Reigns cements himself as chief of WWE
Time to acknowledge the tribal chief.
Billed as “the biggest WrestleMania match of all-time,” Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar lived up to the hype, each delivering powerful blows to one another from the start. Lesnar took every hit from Reigns and it seemed as if he couldn’t be taken down, but Reigns was able to land one final spear to put Lesnar down and win by pinfall.
It was a relief to see the match ended in fair fashion rather than interference and not end in totally disappointment. Still, it was going to be tough for this one to become the greatest WrestleMania match ever, and it was far from it.
Now, with Reigns taking down John Cena, Goldberg, Bobbly Lashley and now Lesnar within the past year, it’s tough to see who could possibly challenge Reigns for the title in the foreseeable future. But one thing is clear: Reigns is the undisputed face of the company, and will be for a long time.
Pat McAfee does it ‘For the Brand,’ has his WrestleMania moment
He’s been an NFL punter, a radio host and a WWE commentator. Now, Pat McAfee can call himself a WrestleMania legend after his victory against Austin Theory.
The build-up to the match was intense, and McAfee had all of AT&T Stadium on his side as the crowd did the “Seven Nation Army” chant much of the match. He showed he has trained for this moment, delivering suplexes, backflips off the top rope and having the energy a WWE face needs.
But that wasn’t all.
McAfee challenged WWE CEO Vince McMahon to a match. The crowd couldn’t believe McMahon got in the ring, but the match was plagued by interference from Theory, allowing McMahon to punt a football into McAfee and easily getting the pin. Even though it ended with a loss, McAfee showed if he ever wants to pursue being a full-time talent, he can certainly do it.
Stone Cold stuns Vince McMahon once again, gets McAfee
Lighting may not strike twice, but the “Texas Rattlesnake,” sure does bite twice.
As McMahon and Theory celebrated the chairman’s win over McAfee, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s music hit the speakers of AT&T Stadium and the crowd went wild. Austin clearly wasn’t done after beating Kevin Owens last night, as he emerged into the ring and got Theory out.
In historic fashion, Austin gave McMahon some beers to drink, only to once again, hit the chairman with a Stone Cold stunner – even if he could barely stand – and send the stadium into a frenzy.
That wasn’t the end of it. Austin got McAfee back into the ring to celebrate and do something the radio host always wanted to do. The two shared beers, before McAfee suffered a fate many have this weekend, getting stunned by Austin.
What a weekend for the Hall of Famer.
Sheamus and Ridge Holland win in dud match
The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland was moved to Sunday after time constraints on Saturday, but we were far better off if this match didn’t happen.
Woods and Kingston donned gear in tribute to Big E after he broke his neck in early March, but the match was barely anything. Sheamus hit Woods with a Brogue Kick outside of the ring and Holland hit Northern Grit on Woods shortly after for the win. Butch attacked Woods afterwards, but the entire thing was underwhelming, and the match proved not to be needed at all.
Edge teases new faction
Edge and AJ Styles are two of the best to ever do it, so it was not surprising the two put on a great show.
Styles and Edge had one of the most technical matches of the two nights, with tons of submission moves and a clean pace throughout. After hitting a Styles Clash, Styles went to get up for a Phenomenal forearm, before United States Champion Damian Priest appeared ringside. Priest was able to distract Styles long enough as Edge hit Styles with a spear in mid-air and pin Styles.
After the match, Edge and Priest shared a demonic laugh and posed, indicating the two will soon be a force in the tag team division.
Johnny Knoxville wins chaotic anything goes match
It would only make sense for the star of “Jackass” appear in a “Jackass”-like WWE match.
To say the match between Johnny Knoxville and Sami Zayn was weird is an understatement. We saw guest appearances from Wee Man, Party Boy, a boot meant to hit below the belt, a tazer, pyrotechnics, a bowling ball to the groin, a table full of mouse traps and a gigantic mouse trap.
With the help of his “Jackass” costars, Knoxville deployed the giant mouse trap against Zayn before pinning him for victory. The match was full of chaos with little wrestling actually done. But it is meant to be entertainment after all.
Sasha Banks gets first WrestleMania win in tag team title match
When there’s a fatal four-way tag-team match going, expect lots of action to keep the flow of the match going.
With the women’s tag team titles on the line, all four teams involved hit a lot of signature moves with a tag-team twist and the momentum of the match swung all sorts of ways. In the end, the team of Sasha Banks and Naomi were able to deliver a face kick with a Banks statement to Carmella to get the pin. It was also a long time coming for Banks, as it was her first WrestleMania win in seven tries.
The women’s tag team division seemed to have no direction in recent months, but having Naomi and Banks at the top could revitalize it and help establish some bona fide tag teams.
Bobby Lashley beats Omos in battle of power
The match between Bobby Lashley and Omos was built up with both seen as two of the strongest stars on the roster, and that’s exactly what we got.
The match felt like each star was trying to show off their strength over each other, before Lashley hit Omos with a spear to knock the giant down and get the win.
It was far from impressive and it lacked energy, but it was a match Lashley needed to get him back into the swing of things and a possible character turn.
RK-Bro win wildly entertaining triple threat tag-team match
WWE needed a thrilling match to carry the momentum of night one, and the triple threat match for the Raw Tag Team Championship was the perfect call.
The teams of RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle), Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis) and The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) are all some of the best personalities in the company, and the match allowed each other to have their moment.
There were near falls throughout the match, but the fan favorite duo of the veteran Orton and partner Riddle put on a great ending. Riddle used Orton’s signature RKO on Ford off the top rope, before Orton delivered another signature moment with the RKO on Gable as he flew off the top rope.
To add to the fun, the Street Profits and RK-Bro celebrated with Olympic gold medalist and WWE roster member Gable Steveson. Gable interrupted, only to get a suplex from Steveson.
Triple H says goodbye
A WWE icon and now executive with the company, Triple H kicked off the night with an emphatic entrance, enjoying every second as he made his way to the ring.
After the crowd chanted “thank you Hunter,” Triple H took the mic to welcome the crowd to WrestleMania.
In a recent interview with Stephen A. Smith, Triple H told Smith he was suffering “bad” heart failure, wondering if he would survive. He also said what happened meant the end of his wrestling career.
Triple H left his wrestling boots in the middle of the ring as he walked off and embraced his family ringside, officially closing the chapter on his time wrestling.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WrestleMania 38: Roman Reigns wins, Pat McAfee gets stunned