Rhea Ripley: The heel fans love (2024)

Cody Rhodes "finished the story."

Night 2 of the two-night WrestleMania XL in Philadelphia concluded with Rhodes defeating Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed Universal Championship Sunday evening at Lincoln Financial Field. In a "Bloodline Rules" match, where there were no rules and tons of interferences, Rhodes managed to dethrone Reigns, who was champion for 1,316 days.

The match featured a variety of well-known WWE Superstars past and present, including The Rock, The Undertaker and John Cena. Seth Rollins also was a part of the match — and he dressed up as a member of The Shield, the former faction he once teamed with Reigns.

Sunday also saw the World Heavyweight Championship change hands. Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to become the champion. Minutes later, Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase after attacking McIntyre, then pinned McIntyre to become the champion.

Bayley also took center stage as she defeated Iyo Sky to win the WWE Women's Championship. Logan Paul, who entered Sunday as the United States Champion, retained by beating Kevin Owens and Randy Orton in a Triple Threat Match.

Fans can read all of the content building up to WrestleMania XL by clicking here.

NIGHT 2 WRESTLEMANIA XL RESULTS

• World Heavyweight Championship: Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins to become new champion
• Money in the Bank cash-in: Damian Priest def. Drew McIntyre to become World Heavyweight Champion
• Philadelphia Street Fight: Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) def. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam and Rezar)
• LA Knight def. AJ Styles
• United States Championship (Triple Threat Match): Logan Paul def. vs. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens to retain
• Women’s Championship: Bayley def. Iyo Sky to become new champion
• Undisputed WWE Universal Championship: Cody Rhodes def. Roman Reigns to become new champion

NIGHT 1 WRESTLEMANIA XL RESULTS

• Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Becky Lynch to retain
• Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match: A-Town Down Under (Grayson Waller and Austin Theory) win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) win the Raw Tag Team Championships
• Rey Mysterio and Andrade def. Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio
• Jey Uso def. Jimmy Uso
• Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi def. Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka and Kairi Sane)
• Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn def. Gunther to become new champion
• The Rock and Roman Reigns def. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins

Is Rhea a face or a heel?

The crowd is very much pro-Rhea Ripley as she takes on Becky Lynch. It's to the point where Becky even received some boos from the crowd during introductions.

A lot of talk was made about Logan Paul's Prime hydration drink being a major WWE sponsor, with a logo in the middle of the ring.

As Triple H hit the ring for a show-opening welcome, it looked like some of the turnbuckles had Prime logos, as well.

Money talks!

Joel Embiid isn't shy about his love of pro wrestling, and when WrestleMania XL was announced for Philly a while back, it made sense to wonder whether the reigning MVP would make an appearance.

WrestleMania is more than a two-day event, and Friday's edition of "SmackDown" and Monday's edition of "Monday Night Raw" are both at Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA's 76ers, who play tonight in Memphis and tomorrow in San Antonio. So unfortunately, Embiid isn't in town.

But I wonder if we'll see some pre-recorded Embiid video package (the big man returned earlier this week from a knee injury, so he had a little free time recently), or maybe a heel running down Embiid's injury history or the 76ers' recent playoff shortcomings.

And speaking of Philly sports, Eagles center Jason Kelce is now retired and has a podcast to push, and we'll have 70,000 folks in the stadium he helped fill for so many years. He's gotta show up at some point ... right?

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by Grammy Award-winning singer and actress Coco Jones. You might know her as Hillary Banks from "Bel-Air," the reboot of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

"Bel-Air" can be seen on Peaco*ck, which also is carrying WrestleMania.

This is the first WrestleMania fully under Triple H's control, with Vince McMahon out of the company.

Paul "Triple H" Levesque opened the show by coming out and telling the crowd: "Welcome to a new time. Welcome to a new era. Welcome to WrestleMania."

I didn't weigh in on our predictions piece from earlier this week, but here's how I think Night 1 shakes out:

• Rhea Ripley and Gunther retain their titles, while The Judgment Day loses both of theirs (with DIY capturing the Raw tag-team titles and Grayson Waller/Austin Theory pulling down the SmackDown titles).
• Jey Uso beats his brother, while Bianca Belair, Naomi and Jade Cargill top Damage CTRL. The Rey Mysterio/Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio/Santos Escobar match is a toss-up to me.
• In the main event, I'll go with The Rock/Roman Reigns, but I'm not sure how clean that victory will be (and it seems likely one or both Usos get involved).

Before he was "Main Event" Jey Uso, he was Joshua Fatu, a physical linebacker who once played college football and NFL dreams.

Instead, he decided to be a part of the family business. His father is Solofa Fatu. WWE fans best know him as Rikishi. His uncle is Ed Fatu (the late Umaga). His cousin, the Undisputed Universal Champion Roman Reigns (known outside of the ring as Joe Anoa'i.

Of course, there's also his twin brother Jonathan — known in the ring as Jimmy Uso. Saturday's matchup will feature a heated brother-versus-brother tangle, but the WrestleMania moment is also the reason why the family business is far from a consolation prize for someone who wanted to be the next NFL linebacker to come out of Florida.

Cody Rhodes has a controversial take: He likes "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." It's the most polarizing "Star Wars" movie, but Rhodes loves it so much that he will quote Yoda on one of his weight belts this weekend.

On the belt: "We are what they grow beyond."

"I'm a big 'Last Jedi' guy," Rhodes told The Athletic. "I know that gets me more heat than anything."

Whatever you think of the movie, everyone can agree Yoda's return as an actual puppet instead of CGI and conversing with Luke Skywalker was definitely a highlight.

"Just him being his old self, giggling, blowing up the tree and that little moment," Rhodes said. "That makes it for me."

Becky Lynch was a guest on the "Sports Media with Richard Deitsch" podcast, where we discussed her process of writing her new book, "Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl." She also spoke about being a mother, a wife and a WWE star.

Here is a condensed version of that interview.

This is probably going to be the coldest WrestleMania ever, from a temperature perspective. Temps are projected to be in the mid-to-high 40s this evening.

WrestleMania has only done two other outdoor shows in the northeast, WrestleManias 29 and 35 in East Rutherford, N.J., but both shows had temps that stayed in the 50s. Bundle up if you're going tonight.

How much of the WWE's recent success can be attributed to Roman Reigns?

Paul Heyman would say a lot. He might even go a step further and say all of professional wrestling owes Reigns for its popularity.

"This entire industry has been lifted out of the pandemic by Roman Reigns," Heyman said.

Reigns, a leukemia survivor, stepped away during the pandemic and returned in his new Tribal Chief character at a time when shows were still being filmed in front of virtual audiences.

WWE has seen record ticket sales over the last 3 ½ years during his run as Undisputed Universal Champion. Heyman said Reigns' in-ring work and his work with talent backstage have been key for WWE.

"We're at a level that no one in this industry could ever have imagined in August 2020," Heyman said. "And for that, out of character I would tell you, we should all acknowledge Roman Reigns."

There have been more than 400 matches in the history of WrestleMania, dozens of title changes and plenty of highs and lows, in the ring and outside of it. The 40th edition of WWE's "Showcase of the Immortals" takes place Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia, and it’s an event that could shape up to be one of the best in the company's history.

As fans prepare for WrestleMania XL at Lincoln Financial Field, we at The Athletic asked the question: Which was the best WrestleMania? And which was the worst?

In possibly the most random blog of the day, voice actor and impressionist Matt Creason deserves some credit for turning some of the better WWE promos of late into words from Mickey Mouse, Elmo, The Muppets, Skeletor from "He-Man" and other fictional characters we all know and love.

It's random, but if you go down the rabbit hole, you'll have a good time. Enjoy them all here.