Wrestlemania Saturday: The Bloodline headlines Night 1
FILE–Roman Reigns vies Undisputed WWE Universal Title Match during WrestleMania Goes Hollywood at SoFi Stadium on April 02, 2023 in Inglewood, California. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines—The first night of the WWE’s biggest annual wrestling event will host what’s widely considered “the best tag team match in Wrestlemania history.”
The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will team up with a returning Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to take on the team of 2023 and 2024 Royal Rumble winner Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin’” Rollins to main event Wrestlemania 40: Night 1 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Sunday (Manila time).
The two-on-two bout will determine the stipulation of the following night’s main event between Reigns and Rhodes for the Undisputed strap.
READ: WWE: Roman Reigns celebrates 1,000-day reign with new Undisputed Universal belt
Should Reigns and Rock win on Sunday, Night 2’s main event will be determined under “Bloodline rules”–where anything goes.
However, should the win go to Rhodes and Rollins, the rematch between the former and “the Tribal Chief” will be without outside interference.
Last year’s first night of Wrestlemania 39 was also a tag match between The Usos vs. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens where the latter reigned victorious to notch the Undisputed Tag Team Titles.
But this year, the tag team titles will be defended in a six-pack ladder match where champions Finn Balor and Damian Priest will take on five other teams in what’s promising to be a hardcore affair.
READ: WWE: Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes meet in main event as Wrestlemania goes ‘Hollywood’
The Judgment Day will take on the teams of Miz and R-Truth, Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne, DIY (Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano), The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) and Grayson Waller and Austin Theory.
There will be no shortage of “Bloodline” action on Wrestlemania Saturday though, as former tag champs and twins Jimmy Uso is set to take on Jey Uso.
Since the departure of Jey from the family’s stable last year, he switched brands from Smackdown to Raw and racked up wins to earn the right to face Intercontinental Champion Gunther last month.
However, Jimmy cost Jey the victory late in the title match. He instead asked his brother for a match at the “Grandest Stage of Them All” to set up only the third brother vs. brother match in the history of Wrestlemania.
Gunther will have his own job to work with on Sunday as he defends his championship against Sami Zayn.
Zayn looks to end the longest Intercontinental Championship run that’s currently logged at 660 days and counting.
Damage CTRL’s troika of Dakota Kai and Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane will take on the squad of Jade Cargill, Naomi and Bianca Belair.
CTRL has been attacking Belair and Naomi during the build-up to WWE’s biggest night of the year but Cargill, a rookie out of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), made her Smackdown debut two weeks before Mania which evened the odds for the six-on-six grudge match.
Also in women’s action, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley will defend her hardware against Becky Lynch.
Ripley most recently defeated Nia Jax in the main event of Elimination Chamber which took place in her own hometown of Australia.
Ripley’s fellow Judgment Day cohort Dominik Mysterio will also see action as he joins forces with Santos Escobar to take on the team of luchadors Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee.
The father-son tandem of Dominik and Rey already had their match last year with Rey coming out on top. This year will see a rematch between the two with the addition of uprising Mexican stars Lee and Escobar.
