Wrestlemania 39 comes to you from Los Angeles. It is the 145th WWF PPV
(Dark: Nakamura/Styles d. Riddle/Knight
McDonagh d. Dunne/Alexander
Dark Ride Title: Dragunov d. Dragon Lee)
The opening package is every wrestler who left the previous 38 Manias as a champion, lot of pinfalls, holding of belts, celebrations, etc...
1: Tito Santana/Brutus Beefcake
Roddy Piper
Ricky Steamboat
2: Bret Hart/Davey Boy Smith (w/Anvil)
Randy Savage
Dynamite Kid
3. Hart Foundation
Randy Savage
Ricky Steamboat
4. Rougeau Brothers
Bret Hart
Dynamite Kid
5. Brainbusters
Rick Rude
Randy Savage
6. Rick Rude/Marty Jannetty
Bret Hart
Mr. Perfect
7. Road Warriors
Bret Hart
Mr. Perfect
8. Money Inc.
Randy Savage
Bret Hart
9. Steiner Brothers
Shawn Michaels
Bret Hart
10. Lex Luger/Bam Bam Bigelow
Razor Ramon
Owen Hart
11. Smoking Gunns
Razor Ramon
Bret Hart
12. Steve Austin/Dustin Rhodes
Vader
Shawn Michaels
13. Davey Boy Smith/Owen Hart
Cactus Jack
Steve Austin
14. New Age Outlaws
Ken Shamrock
Owen Hart
15. Hardys
Al Snow
Cactus Jack
16. Hardys
Eddy Guerrero
Chris Benoit
17. Dudley Boys
Steve Austin
Kurt Angle
18. Chris Jericho/Lance Storm
Rob Van Dam
Kurt Angle
19. Shawn Michaels/Triple H
Rey Mysterio
Kurt Angle
20 Ric Flair/Leviathan Batista
Eddy Guerrero
Chris Benoit
21. Randy Orton/John Cena
Edge
Eddy Guerrero
22. Paul Wight/Kane
HHH-M
Rey Mysterio
23. Juventud Guerrera/Super Crazy
Randy Orton
Fit Finlay
CM Punk
Booker T
24. John Cena/Leviathan Batista
MVP
CM Punk
25. Paul Wight/Kane
Rey Mysterio
Chris Jericho
26. Kingston/Killings
Matt Sydal
Chris Jericho
27. Wade Barrett/Justin Gabriel
Sheamus
Nic Nemeth
28. CM Punk
Young Money
The Rock
Bryan Danielson
29. Tyler Black/Dean Ambrose (w/Langston)
Nic Nemeth
Brock Lesnar
30. The Shield
Nic Nemeth
Claudio Castagnoli
31. Bray Wyatt
The Shield
Brock Lesnar
32. Sasha Banks
Jimmy Uso/Jey Uso (w/Reigns)
El Generico
AJ Styles
33. Becky Lynch
Hardys
Brock Lesnar
AJ Styles
34. Asuka
The Revival
Shinsuke Nakamura
35. Asuka
Brock Lesnar/Kurt Angle/Shelton Benjamin
Ricochet
AJ Styles
36. Street Profits
Asuka
Angel Garza
Tyler Black
37. Randy Orton/Damien Priest/Apollo Crews
Rhea Ripley
AJ Styles
Matt Riddle
38. Ronda Rousey
The Usos
Cody Rhodes
Roman Reigns
The Announcers are Michael Cole (4) Corey Graves (6) Wade Barrett (6)
1. STREET PROFITS d. VIKING RAIDERS
-Standard opening tag, fast paced, quick tags - babyfaces get the win and everyone starts off happy.
2. LEGENDS MATCH: LOGAN PAUL d. JOHN CENA (special guest referee-Pat McAfee)
-The big spot here is McAfee turning heel, quick counting Cena, Paul gets the win and he and McAfee are once again aligned, they leave the ring together with a joint livestream as they head up the ramp.
3. BAYLEY/NATTY NEIDHART/TRISH STRATUS d. LIV MORGAN/RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ/CHELSEA GREEN
-The long war between Clique and Harts may have reached its end, Natty and Trish aid each other and Bayley gets the fall on one of the members of the heel trio.
4. EMANCIPATION MATCH: DOMINIC MYSTERIO d. REY MYSTERIO
-The finish comes when Defiance interferes, Priest distracts the official, Solo spikes Rey - Dom gets the fall - postmatch, he joins Defiance, ripping off his mask (one of Rey's legendary masks). Rey gets wiped out with finishing moves and Defiance poses above his body.
5. SHEAMUS d. THE MIZ
-McDonagh gets his redemption, running down to stop the Miz from some type of outside skullduggery, Sheamus gets the fall and he and McDonagh shake hands postmatch.
6. 2 of 3 FALLS: IYO SKY d. ASUKA
-A real step up for workrate - this might be the best bell to bell womens match in the history of the promotion. Asuka gets the first fall - then intentionally draws a DQ in the second fall by working Sky over with a chair - Sky bravely battles through it, defeating Asuka in the third fall for the biggest win of her career.
7. MONEY IN THE BANK: LOGAN PAUL d. KEVIN STEEN/SAMI ZAYN/TYLER BLACK/JIMMY USO/JEY USO
-Paul, recall, was not announced, the 6th man was a mystery opponent. And he doesn't appear until the end of the match.
-Black gets knocked out midway, taking whatever level of giant ladder bump he's able to take
-The tag spot that was teased on TV happens, they toss the ladders out of the ring and do a few minutes, Usos v. Steenerico.
-That ends with a big bump, like if the Usos were stacked on a tables and Steen hit a senton off of a ladder on the outside. All 3 men, dead.
-That leads to Defiance running in. Priest/Dom/Solo -- they attack the Usos/Steen; or rather, they start with Steen but then Priest and Dom move to the Usos - Solo steps in, shakes his head - he and Priest have a moment where it looks like they might go at it....but then they don't - all 3 men turning their attention to Steen.
-As that was happening, Zayn was grabbing a ladder, putting it up, and starting to slowly climb - so what we're looking at is the Usos, dead, having been put through the tablestack - and Steen being attacked by 3 members of Defiance. Zayn can win this match - he can climb the ladder and win this match.
-But he doesn't. The storyline is Zayn has never stepped up to aid Steen in this period where their rivalry is not as intense as it had been - that Steen, multiple times, had "saved" Zayn, in a clear attempt to repair their broken friendship, but Zayn had not returned the favor, clearly holding onto the much discussed offenses Steen committed.
-Instead - Zayn, hopefully at the urging of the fans, makes the decision to aid his teammate - he leaves the ladder - diving out of the ring atop Defiance -- saving Steen, but because Steen is not able to stand with him, it's 3 on 1 essentially.
-And thats when Logan Paul appears (with McAfee).
-The 6th entrant was a mystery - and that mystery is solved, Paul runs to the ring - McAfee behind, doing the streaming -- Paul climbs the ladder - and Logan Paul wins Money in the Bank, he can challenge for any title any time in the next year. He and McAfee exit in celebration
-Attention now returns to the outside, Defiance stomping Zayn - Steen is aroused - Steen and Zayn now fight together, running off Defiance.
-Steen and Zayn return to the ring, trying to put together what happened.
-The video wall shows the finish - shows Paul's win, which is how Zayn and Steen see that - and also shows Zayn giving up the win to help Steen.
-So, we get the makeup moment - Steen sees that Zayn has sacrificed - it's emotional - the weight of all their years together and now apart evident in the ring - Steen extends his hand -- Sami shakes his head no -- and then offers a hug. It's a reconciliation, Steen and Zayn, together again - here at Wrestlemania 39!
And that's the end of the first half of the show.
In Memorium
Antonio Inoki
Bobby Lane
Chelsey Love
Dave Hebner
Don West
Gil Hayes
Jaysin Strife
Johnny Powers
Katsuya Kitamura
Lasser
Masashi Ayoagi
Tarzan Goto
Tim White
Zebra Kid
Black Warrior
Charlie Norris
Lanny Poffo
Jerry Jarrett
Jay Briscoe
8. WOMENS TAG TITLES: FIGHT FOREVER (BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR) d. HORSEWOMEN (RHEA RIPLEY/SHAYNA BASZLER w/Tiffany Stratton)
-The first modern day WWF Women's Tag Champs are Lynch and Flair - Baszler takes the fall, there's attempted interference from Stratton to aid Ripley that backfires - Ripley clearly irritated with her stablemates with the loss. Big celebration for Lynch and Flair - tag team champions of the world.
9. TAG TITLES: NO DQ: DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (WALTER/BROCK LESNAR w/Paul Heyman) d. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (DREW MCINTYRE/CHAD GABLE w/Bobby Lashley)
-We get a real ass kicking here; the superteam of Walter and Lesnar romp and stomp - it's No DQ, so Lashley gets involved - the 3 men in the Holy Roman Empire all here to take their beating at the hands of the tag champs.
10. IC TITLE: RICOCHET d. PRINCE DEVITT
11. IC TITLE: LOGAN PAUL (w/Pat McAfee) d. RICOCHET
The 81st IC Champion is Ricochet - he takes from Devitt in a long workrate match, nearfalls, real main event style, every drop both men have sort of a match. Ricochet takes Devitt's belt - the two shake hands postmatch and their feud has ended.
And then - to the ring comes McAfee with Logan Paul and the briefcase. Paul's not gonna wait - he's gonna cash this in right now. Ricochet is spent - and in a 8-10 minute match Paul catches him in a fall.
Logan Paul is the 82nd IC Champ - Logan Paul becomes the first man in history to win 3 Wrestlemania matches on the same night - and and McAfee wildly celebrate - doing an energy drink celebration like Austin's beer bash.
12. WOMENS TITLE: RONDA ROUSEY (w/Heyman) d. BIANCA BELAIR
The 16th modern WWF Womens Champ is Rousey, she regains from Belair - postmatch, Walter and Lesnar return - the Dangerous Alliance hitting the turnbuckles - standing atop Wrestlemania 39, all 3 holding title belts.
Prior to the main event - a surprise - the return of Steve Regal - Regal is a long beloved figure in the WWF, considered the pivotal person in the developmental system - he joins the announce table for the main event.
13. WWF TITLE: CODY RHODES d. ROMAN REIGNS
The 65th WWF Champion, the 17th Triple Crown winner, is Cody Rhodes. There's no one to help Reigns, his full group having been wiped out in the tag title match, Cody hits his finisher a couple of times -- and Roman's year long reign at the top comes to an end.
Cody Rhodes, Dusty's son, Dustin's brother - the Undertaker's protegee, raised by Randy Orton, from the Bullet Club, ROH, AEW VP - Cody Rhodes is the new WWF Champion. Fireworks, tears - the whole thing as Wrestlemania comes to an end.
Long journey toward that booking decision, as I take you behind the curtain given that we're about to start the final wrestling year of the Counterfactual.
Initially - the Reigns spot was going to be Langston's. Reigns puts together the stable of non-ROH guys to take control of the promotion, but Gable's spot was Langston's - Langston would wind up getting a title shot, probably via a number one contender's battle royal, and he gets the title - Reigns is fine with that for a while, but eventually its too much for him and tears the group apart.
But - Langston got hurt, so Gable took that spot. Gable was then positioned as the version of IRL Zayn, except with him going over Reigns at the end of that story to take the belt. But - Gable hasn't worked a PPV since Summer Slam 2023 and so he can't get the belt.
So then what? Well - something that you know but the Counterfactual does not know yet is we're getting a pretty significant talent back at the end of 2023, and a title match between that guy and Reigns, given how Roman's entire narrative has used that guy long before that guy became available to be used, was impossible to pass up.
But -- then that guy worked the Rumble and got hurt. Meaning - were Roman to win that match, he'd be looking at a 2 year title run headed to WM 40.
Which was more than I wanted to do - so I backed all the way up here and did this switch. Roman was over Cody for most of the past year on the booking sheet - but it didn't turn out that way and we pivot.
Back in May for a couple of filler months before we get to Summer Slam
