WWE Wrestlemania 38- Night One
April 2, 2022
AT&T Stadium
Arlington, TX
*Randy Orton d. Brock Lesnar by Pinfall
Randy Orton and Kevin Owens had both won the Men's Royal Rumble match back in January, and both men were set to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship over Wrestlemania weekend. To break the deadlock, WWE official Adam Pearce proposed that one man would face Reigns in the Main Event of Night One, while the other would face the winner of that match in the main event of Night Two, with a coin flip determining who would choose to go first or second amongst the challengers. To make it fairer, whoever got the Night Two Championship Match would have to face an opponent of Reigns' choosing in the opening of Night One. Owens won the coin toss and elected to go first, leaving Randy Orton to face Reigns' choice, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had agreed to the match, as Reigns had offered to lift the ban on Lesnar challenging him for the World Heavyweight Title in the future, provided Lesnar beat the Viper. After a back and forth match though, Lesnar would be surprised by Orton, who caught the Beast Incarnate with an RKO out of nowhere and then followed up with a Punt Kick to get the upset pinfall victory. After the match, though, Lesnar would lay out Orton, busting him open with his fists and then drilling him with an F5 through the Spanish announce table, leaving Orton needed to be helped to the back.
*Logan Paul d. AJ Styles by Pinfall
The Social Media Maverick Logan Paul and the Phenomenal One AJ Styles had crossed paths with each other in the Royal Rumble match in January, with Styles being eliminated by Paul during the course of the match. Styles then went on Paul's podcast and the two got into a verbat argument that had to be broken up by the security staff on hand, leading to Styles challenging Paul to a match at Wrestlemania. As he had done in previous outings, Paul surprised a lot of people with his athleticism and high flying ability, but Styles tried to ground him, even locking Paul in the Calf Crusher and getting a visual tapout. Unfortunately the referee was down, and Logan's brother Jake Paul came out of the crowd and attempted to intervene. Styles went after Jake and eventually caught him, taking him out by ramming him into the ringpost. When he came back in the ring though, Logan used a pair of brass knuckles to KO Styles, before delivering a high elevation Frogsplash to the Phenomenal One as the referee came too to pick up the win.
*The Usos [Jimmy & Jey Uso] d. Rey & Dominik Mysterio by Pinfall to Retain the WWE Tag Team Titles
The father and son tandem of Rey and Dominik Mysterio had won a tournament to crown new #1 contenders to the Usos WWE Tag Team Titles, leading to this familial clash at Wrestlemania. The Usos spent much of the time of the match focusing exclusively on Dominik, doing everything they could to keep Rey on the outside. Dominik had been adamant on "carrying his weight" during the build to the match, leading to some disagreement between father and son, and so Dominik was reluctant to tag in Rey. Eventually though desperation won out, and Rey got the hot tag from his son, leading to him cleaning house of the Usos. It was mostly a two on one advantage at that point however, despite Dominik's best efforts, leading to the Usos hitting the 1D on Rey to pick up the pinfall win and retain their titles.
*Drew McIntyre d. Lucky Corbin w/Maniac Moss by Pinfall
Since January, former Intercontinental Champion Lucky Corbin and his sidekick, Maniac Moss, had been parading around with the Claymore sword family heirloom that they had taken from Drew McIntyre when they injured him at Day One and on the subsequent episode of Smackdown. This frivolity came to an end at Elimination Chamber, when McIntyre returned and cost Corbin a shot at the WWE Championship, and then later when McIntyre cost Corbin the Intercontinental Title against Shinsuke Nakamura. Having taken his prized possessions from him, McIntyre looked to finish his revenge against the "Luckiest Man in WWE." Corbin fared much better than most would have expected against the former WWE Champion, even hitting the End of Days on McIntyre, only for the Scottish Warrior to kick out. Maniac Moss attempted to get involved, but was taken out by a Claymore Kick from McIntyre, who followed up with another Claymore on Corbin to get the pinfall victory.
*Sami Zayn d. Gable Steveson w/Kurt Angle by Pinfall
At the Royal Rumble, Olympic gold medalist and recent WWE signee Gable Steveson was in the crowd and was challenged to an impromptu match by Sami Zayn. Steveson proceeded to embarras the former WWE Champion, leading to Zayn walking out on the match and taking a countout loss. Zayn would get his revenge in Pittsburgh, when he confronted Steveson and another former gold medalist, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle. This led Steveson to challenging Zayn at Wrestlemania for his first official WWE match, with Angle in his corner. Zayn accepted, and despite his experience advantage, Steveson again was able to toss Zayn around with little difficulty. However the experience did make the difference in the end, as Zayn rolled up Steveson from behind and used leverage from the ropes to get the pinfall. After the match, when Steveson offered a handshake, Zayn blew him off, leading to Steveson hitting an Angle Slam on Zayn and then celebrating with Angle in the ring.
*Chelsea Green & Alexa Bliss d. The Unholy Union [Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn], The Young Tigers [Mia Yim & Xia Li] & Sasha Banks & Naomi by Pinfall to Win the Women's Tag Team Titles
Chelsea Green, the resident "Karen" of WWE, had made it her goal to win gold in the company, targeting the Women's Tag Team Titles with a variety of partners over the months. Her latest partner was the disturbed Alexa Bliss, who despite no longer being under the thrall of Bray Wyatt, was still portraying a spooky character, who seemingly was infatuated with Green. The duo faced the Unholy Union, as well as former champions The Young Tigers, and the dream team of Sasha Banks and Naomi in a Four Team Elimination Match. Surprisingly enough the champions were the first ones eliminated, followed by Yim and Li. It looked like Green's quest would fail again at the hands of Banks and Naomi when the Boss had Green in the Banks Statement, only for Bliss to make the save and take out the former Women's Champion. Green then rolled up Naomi from behind and got the sudden pinfall victory to finally win gold in the WWE.
*Big E d. Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods by Pinfall
The New Day had disintegrated at the Royal Rumble, when Xavier Woods turned on WWE Champion Big E and cost him his title. At Elimination Chamber, Woods continued his heel turn by targeting Kofi Kingston and nearly costing him his career, only for Big E to return and confront Woods. This would lead to a triple threat match at Mania, with Kingston also looking to not only get revenge on Woods but to stand on his own as he had a few Wrestlemanias prior. In an emotionally charged match, Woods would be pinned by Big E with a measure of revenge via a Jackhammer Slam after dodging a Steel Chair shot, similar to the one that took out Kingston. After the match Woods sulked off as Kingston and Big E shook hands and reaffirmed their own friendship.
*Liv Morgan d. Charlotte Flair by Pinfall to Win the WWE Women's Championship
At Day One, people had been surprised by the success that Queen of the Ring winner Liv Morgan had against Charlotte Flair, even though Morgan eventually failed to unseat the unofficial Queen for her Women's Championship. A lifelong WWE fan, Morgan rededicated herself and unexpectedly won the Women's Royal Rumble Match for another shot at Flair. Charlotte however didn't take Morgan seriously, asking what in the last three months had changed that would make the outcome of their match any different. And indeed it looked like Flair would prove prophetic, as she controlled much of the match, targeting Morgan's knee in an effort to set up the Figure 8. However Morgan was able to avoid the submission hold and hit the Oblivion DDT to pick up the win surprisingly, much to the crowd's delight as she was crowned the Women's Champion for the first time in her career.
*Roman Reigns w/Paul Heyman d. Kevin Owens by Pinfall to Retain the World Heavyweight Championship
The first World Title defense of the weekend saw Roman Reigns defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Kevin Owens, one of the co-winners of the Royal Rumble match. The former champion didn't allow Reigns his customary grandiose entrance, attacking him on the rampway and launching into a brawl the went up and down AT&T stadium in the early going before finally getting the match back in the ring and officially underway. Once that happened, Reigns asserted his dominance, slowing the pace down and fighting back against Owens' unique offense, including a long spot when he locked the Canadian in a Guillotine Choke and nearly choked him out. Owens fought back and hit a Stunner for a near fall, but before Owens could follow up, Reigns drilled him with back to back Superman Punches before hitting a thunderous Spear for another near fall. With both men down, Brock Lesnar slowly made his way to ringside to watch, only to be taken out by a returning Randy Orton, who brawled with the Beast. Reigns took advantage of the commotion on the outside to grab the World Heavyweight Championship Belt from his Wiseman Paul Heyman, drilling Owens across the skull and then following up with a second Spear to pick up the win to end Night 1 of Wrestlemania 38.