Tossing Salt Presents:
Wrestlemania 38:
Night One Review
April 3, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Well, last night was Night One of the most stupendous show of the year for WWE. Did it deliver? Let’s take a look back and see, but I’ll warn you now, I’m leaning towards a hell yeah! Let’s do this.

We started off with a tag team match as The Usos, Jimmy & Jey, defended against the team of Rick Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura, both of who looked like they raided The Reverse Flash’s closet. Boogs played himself and Shinsuke to the ring while announcer Pat McAfee danced on the announce table. It was a fun moment.

And then the match happened. It wasn’t a bad match by any means and both teams were getting in their spots and looking good. Then, it happened. Boogs tagged in and was going to town on an Uso. The other Uso jumped on Boogs shoulders and trying to carry both Usos was too much. The leg buckled and Boogs went down. Boogs rolled out, obviously injured, and Shinsuke came back in. Some more back and forth and then the Usos with the 1-D, to get the pin.

I’ll give this one a rating of 2 out of 5. Everyone looked ready and were lined up for big match, but when Boogs got hurt, they cut it short, went straight to the finish and Jimmy & Jey retain their belts.

Then we went to a long video segment to give everyone time to clear the ring and Drew McIntyre versus Happy Corbin with Madcap Moss was next.

And this one? It is what it is. A good match really, with Corbin in control for most of it, but Drew would make the comebacks and look like a beast. Just some good back and forth action. Then for some reason, Madcap got on the ring apron and caused a distraction to Corbin. Drew took advantage and took over. We saw Madcap take a belly-to-belly on the floor and some fun action, but then Corbin hit the End of Days. Two count as Drew becomes the first man to kick out of this move. Drew with the Claymore for the pin.

This one gets three out of five ratings. A good match that told a story, but I’m glad it’s over. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. After the match, Madcap got up on the ring apron again and faced off against Drew. Drew swung the sword at him and cut the top two ropes. And there you go.

Match Three was Rey and Dominick Mysterio versus The Miz and Logan Paul. Another fun match where everyone looked good, and Paul looked far better than I was expecting. Mainly, it was by the numbers as the heels beat up Dominick until he managed to get a hot tag to Daddy. Paul pissed off the fans by doing the Three Amigos/Frogsplash deal, shades of Eddie Guerrero, complete with the swagger. We even saw Logan do a Buff-Buster from the top rope. I know Buff Bagwell was watching and smiling. And in the end, we had craziness and confusion, but Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Rey to get the win.

I’ll give this one a 3.75 out of 5. It was far better than it had any right to be and I enjoyed it from start to finish. And after the match, we had a little swerve. Logan and Miz were celebrating the win and then Miz turned on Logan and nailed him with a Skull Crushing Finale. This one is to be continued.

Stephanie McMahon came out for a moment to introduce Gable Steveson, the Olympic Gold Medal Winner, who waved to the crowd for a good pop.

And next, it was the match for the RAW Women’s Championship as Becky Lynch defended against Bianca Belair. This match was everything we expected it to be. Becky looked great. Bianca looked great. Both women came to steal the show and while it didn’t happen quite that way, they came awfully damn close. As expected, Bianca won the match and we have a new Raw Women’s Champion. This one gets a 3.75 out of 5 ranking. A good strong match to be sure.

Seth Rollins is up next and he gets a Choir to sing him to the ring. Seth is wearing a jacket that looks like he slaughtered the entire cast of the Muppet Show to make. And then we finally get to find out who the mystery opponent is. The American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes.

These two beat the holy hell out of each other. Lots of back and forth and just solid, stiff wrestling. The fans were really into it with every move and both men went above and beyond the call of duty. I’ll give it a 4.5 out of 5. It was a strong match, really good, and it’s great to see Cody, who won after nailing the Crossroads, back in WWE. An awesome fight.

Next was a look at the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2022. Taker got the biggest pop and had his smoky entrance, as expected. Congrats to the Dead Man for a great career and a great induction to the WWE Hall of Fame.

77,899 fans in attendance. Damn, that’s a lot of people.

The next match was Charlotte Flair defending her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Ronda Rousey. These two women went at it 150% and literally beat the shit out of each other. Ronda had a big handprint from Charlotte’s chop tattooed on her chest, and it was one hell of a fight. These two women were yanking, kicking, chopping, and just going to school on each other and it was quite the spectacle to behold.

I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 ranking, something I never thought I’d do for a women’s match. And the big swerve at the end. Ref bump by Little Naitch, Charles Robinson, and then Rousey makes Charlotte tap. No ref though to see it happen. Charlotte gets sneaky and stiffs Becky to get the win. Yes, Charlotte wins and keeps her belt. This one had me sitting at the edge of my chair and if you haven’t seen it yet, go watch it… now. I’ll wait.

And finally, we have the main event. It’s Steve Austin as the guest on the Kevin Owens Show. I’m not going to give away everything here, but let’s just suffice it to say that The Texas Rattlesnake may not have had a match in 19 years, but he can still stomp a mudhole in someone’s ass. And he still likes to drink a lot of beer. It was a spectacle and over-the-top encounter and was an excellent way to top off a great show. I’ll give this a 5 out of 5, and that’s the bottom line because I just said so.

Let’s just wrap this up by saying that when it comes to crunch time, aka Wrestlemania, WWE rarely fails to deliver, and for Night One of Wrestlemania 38, they certainly went above and beyond and put on one hell of a show. Every match was solid and everybody worked their butts off and gave it a thousand percent. The folks working tonight on Night Two have their work cut out for them to try and equal or beat what the Night One talents put out last night. I think they will though. We’ll just have to wait and see.

And there you go. My review for Night One of Wrestlemania 38. As a whole, I’ll give it a 4 out of 5 ranking. It was solid and entertaining from start to finish, and while a couple of the matches ran a little long for my tastes, there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch.

And with that, I’m wrapping this up. My cat, Storm, escaped a few minutes ago to the outside. He’ll be back shortly, but I’m going to try and lure him in with treats. Wish me luck.

Enjoy Wrestlemania, Night Two, tonight. And let me know what you’re thinking. Any comments, thoughts, or questions are welcome and appreciated. Take care and be good. I’ll catch you later.

Ubuntu!