Night 1 of WWE’s Wrestlemania 38 has come to a close, and the KO Show turned into a No Holds Barred match between Kevin Owns and Stone Cold Steve Austin. The April 2 event also saw the return of Cody Rhodes to the WWE as he was announced as the mystery opponent for Seth Rollins. You can check out all the results for Wrestlemania 2022 and a review of each match below.
The match of the night at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas was Becky Lynch losing her Raw Women’s Championship to Bianca Belair in an amazing battle–one of the best of either of their careers. Logan Paul also got beaten up a lot but showed a lot of great maneuvers inside the ring.
In total, there were three championship matches one Night 1, including the Smackdown and Raw Women’s Championships and the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. And this was all just the first night, as the PPV really has become too big for one night.
In order to watch Wrestlemania, you can head to a local movie theater, order it through your cable or satellite provider or watch it on the streaming service Peacock . While Peacock has a free tier, you will not be able to watch the WWE event through that. you’ll need a Premium ($5 a month, with ads) or Premium Plus Peacock ($10 a month, no ads) account. Regardless of which tier you choose, there will be a few WWE-related ads throughout the show.
There are multiple ways to watch Peacock. Aside from watching it on mobile devices and on the PC, Amazon Fire devices, Android TV, Apple TV, LG Smart TVs, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xfinity, and more.
Check out the match card for the bouts you’ll be seeing tonight below.
Night 1 Match card:
- Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey (Smackdown Women’s Championship)
- Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair (Raw Women’s Championship)
- Seth Rollins vs. Mystery opponent
- Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
- Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
- The Usos (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
- King Woods and Kofi Kingston vs. Ridge Holland and Sheamus [CUT]
- “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to confront Kevin Owens on “The KO Show”
Above, you can check out a recent episode of GameSpot’s wrestling podcast, Wrestle Buddies. Chris E. Hayner and Mat Elfring predict all the results for Wrestlemania alongside their AI machine PredictionBot 3000 v2.0.
Below, you’ll find live updates and results for Wrestlemania 38 as it airs on Peacock. Additionally, there will be a review of each match from the Wrestle Buddies.
Kickoff Show
- The Kickoff Show begins at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. We’ll have a YouTube link for you when it goes live.
- Updates to the match card will be added here.
Watch the Kickoff Show below live on YouTube.
There will be no matches on the Kickoff Show. Onto the main card we go!
Main Card
The Usos (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Rick Boogs (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
The Usos win by pin.
Mat: This is my first time being right next to Chris, in the same room, reviewing a wrestling program. It’s a very special night. Also, Boogs kicks off the evening, which is special. It all makes sense now. Boogs was also sponsored by adult, alcoholic lemonade. Is it a good boozy drink? Not by any means, but I’m happy someone is giving Boogs money to play guitar. I love Rick’s feats of strength that make no sense but are a delight to watch–up until Boogs hurts his knee. At first, I didn’t think it was real, but from the looks of the press box, there’s been medics with him the whole time. That moment seemed to throw a wrench into what could have been a really great match–as The Usos are a brilliant tag team–but because of the injury, this match wasn’t able to really deliver the way it should have. Get better, Boogs.
6/10
Chris: Even at Wrestlemania, Pat McAfee has a dance in his heart when Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs make their way to the ring, and I love him for it. Having this match kick off Mania is the right call. It’s good vs. evil and four seriously entertaining wrestlers. What’s not to enjoy? Unfortunately, this match started off with what looked like a legitimate injury to Rick Boogs that took him out of the match. There’s no telling how bad the injury is, but medics were at ringside with him through the end of the match. It’s unfortunate because this match seemed like a layup for a fantastic start to the show that was seemingly cut short. Still, what we got was pretty good and the crowd was alive and well for it.
6/10
Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin
McIntyre wins by pin.
Mat: Can we all take a minute to congratulate Madcap Riddick Moss for his Andre The Giant Battle Royale win. Please be silent for an appropriate amount of time (10-25 minutes) starting now… Also, put on a shirt in social situations please, it’s weird. Here’s the thing, I must live in a bubble because when Drew McIntyre came out, this crowd popped hard, and I had no clue people liked him that much. Then again, I’m the dumb dumb who LOVES Happy Corbin. While I’m not particularly on Team McIntyre, both of these guys put on a real fun show. It was a nice powerhouse brawl, and a solid recovery after an injury in the prior match. However, the post-match moment with McIntyre trying to murder Moss with the sword was so weird. And now, the ring ropes have been destroyed.
7.5/10
Chris: Don’t mind me, I’m being silent for Mat. Drew McIntyre isn’t respecting the silence, though, swinging his sword around and making fire go boom. Come on, Drew. Madcap is a champion now. The funny thing about Happy Corbin is he just had the exact same attire as early days Bray Wyatt. But it’s an absolutely different character–and it works for him. Truth be told, this is the match I’ve been looking forward to least. I love Happy Corbin, but Drew McIntyre has been rather stale to me for quite a while. What I appreciate about it, though, is it’s just two big dudes beating the crap out of each other. There’s not a lot of that on the Night 1 card, so a good powerhouse brawl is a welcome addition. This match was far more entertaining than I expected, even with the outcome we all saw coming. Corbin is such a good goofy heel and his dynamic with Madcap Moss is awesome. Sure, Drew tried to murder Madcap after the match, but whatever.
7/10
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. The Miz & Logan Paul
The Miz and Logan Paul win by pin.
Mat: Logan Paul had a Pokemon card around his neck. I respect that. He was also overselling the heck out of a punch early on, which I don’t respect. This is a celebrity match, so overall expectations weren’t high, but Paul showed early on that he cares about this and had some training and pulled off a nice powerslam, among other moves–like a pretty good blockbuster later. Commentary is spending way too much time talking about people’s follower counts, and it’s annoying. I’m old. Listen, Logan Paul is not my type of person, but he was a damned blast to watch in the ring, especially pulling some fantastic heel work like doing the Three Amigos and the Frogsplash. This match had no right to be this fun–and the icing on the cake was the Miz turning on Paul at the end.
8/10
Chris: I loved Dominic and Rey doing the pop out of the stage entrance Rey did in his early WWE days. Logan Paul is a natural heel because, well, he’s known for being kind of awful and he seems to enjoy that fact. Plus, he’s got a born heel The Miz on his side. Paul certainly played up the heel side throughout the match, even using Eddie Guerrerro’s moves and mannerisms against Rey. Ultimately, Miz took advantage of the Mysterios focusing on Paul and was able to sneak out a win for his team–and then delivered a Skullcrushing Finale to Paul for some reason. Is Mix a babyface now? I don’t know but I’m convinced the Mysterios winning would have been more fun–and Miz still could have turned on Paul. Regardless, one of the better celebrity outings (not as great as Bad Bunny last year but still pretty good).
7.5/10
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair
(Raw Women’s Championship)
Belair wins by pin.
Mat: No matter who wins, we win. That’s how the Aliens vs. Predator slogan goes, right? Going into this, you’re getting two WWE wrestlers at the top of their game. They’ve both main evented Wrestlemania, and they’re both capable of putting on the match of the night. This bout between them feels brutal, yet it’s a battle of the wits. This is a match that will define Belair’s career. I was on the edge of my seat for the entirety of this–especially when Lynch did a flip off of the middle rope and kicked Belair in the face. Belair has had back-to-back dynamite matches on Mania. Sorry for my lack of words here, I was completely engrossed in the match, applauding hard with the rest of the press box at AT&T Stadium
10/10
Chris: Holy cow, these two were not playing around. First of all, Becky getting her own personalized version of the WWE stinger is the exact thing I’d expect from this character, but how can you not love Bianca being played to the ring by a marching band? Wrestlemania! Almost immediately, these two were gunning to finish the match quickly, leading to some very hard hits thrown back and forth. This is exactly the kind of match I wish we’d gotten between them at Summerslam, but after months of storytelling, it means so much more than it would have otherwise. And the live crowd is with them every step of the way.
That heel kick to Bianca’s face was vicious and certainly is something the challenger will be feeling tomorrow–along with the Manhandle Slam on the stairs. But the match these two put on was flat out wonderful and I’m not sure how anything else tonight will top it. And you get the happy ending with Bianca reclaiming her Raw Women’s Championship. What a great match. Bianca now has two Wrestlemania main event worthy matches in the last two years and Becky just had by far the best outing since her return last year. And I’m not alone in thinking that, you can see how Mat felt about it above and the press box inside AT&T Stadium lost its mind when Belair hit the KOD for the win. Everyone was stoked.
9.5/10
Seth Rollins vs. Cody Rhodes
Cody wins by pin.
Mat: Wrestling’s worst kept secret… Cody Rhodes is back, and everyone–including me–is going NUTS. Let’s be entirely honest, any match that followed Belair/Lynch was going to fall flat… unless it was something huge like a former AEW EVP coming over to WWE. It was a bit of a slower start to the match, but when this thing got going, it was a blast. Rollins doing a reverse superplex into a reverse falcon arrow was one of the most painful-looking things in the match. However, Cody came through with multiple Crossrhodes and a bionic elbow, paying tribute to his late father, in order to get the win. This was a blast to watch, and I was truly surprised with Cody appearing–even though it was all over the internet forever.
8/10
Chris: We knew it was going to be Cody. We don’t care. When that familiar music hit and that giant American Nightmare logo flashed across the screens, the stadium came unglued. If nothing else, it shows just what Cody Rhodes has done for his own brand in the six years he’s been gone from WWE. In some ways, the match that followed didn’t really matter but Seth and Cody went on to put together a great meat and potatoes bout. Cody’s babyface character and Rollins’ uber cocky heel persona mesh well together.
The match only got more exciting as it went on, with the two attempting to Pedigree each other–with Seth ultimately nailing one for a two-count. Then after three Crossrhodes and a Bionic Elbow in tribute to his dad, the American Dream, Cody got the victory in his return. It’s exactly the kind of feel-good moment you want from Wrestlemania. Was the match as good as Becky and Bianca? No, but that’s not what this particular bout was about. It was the hero’s return after going out into the world to prove just how heroic he could be.
8.5/10
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
Flair wins by pin.
Mat: There’s so much smoke inside AT&T Stadium from all the fireworks. Listen, this is coming off of two big matches–Belair beating Lynch and Cody Rhodes coming back to WWE. There were some fun moments from this match, but there were also some very sloppy moments here as well. There was a lot of back and forth with submissions, which was a little bit of fun but wore pretty thin later on. By the end of the match, Flair got the win with some cheap moves, even after Rousey thought she had the win. The expectations for this bout were exceptionally high and it did not deliver. Hopefully, these two will get another bout again in the near future.
5.5/10
Chris: This one is a foregone conclusion, right? But it would be funny if Ronda punched Charlotte a bunch and pinned her in nine seconds. That was not the case, though. While this wasn’t a bad match by any means, it didn’t have anywhere near the same level of excitement as Bianca vs. Becky, which hurt it. It also doesn’t help that it’s following not only that match, but the return of Cody Rhodes–the audience is getting very tired. Ultimately, this match went on a bit too long and the finishing sequence, while not cheating, felt very cheap. This entire bout felt like it was setting up for a rematch, rather than the show stopping match fans wanted.
6/10
The New Day tag match has either been cut entirely or will be on the card tomorrow.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin to confront Kevin Owens on “The KO Show”
- A talk show is headlining Wrestlemania. We’ll keep you updated with whatever happens.
- It’s going to be a No Holds Barred match.
Austin wins by pin.
Mat: I have never had the chance to experience Stone Cold live. I could only afford WCW tickets during the time Stone Cold was popular–because WCW was the cheapest. Anyway, we’re getting a No Holds Barred match–like the movie but with less Hulk Hogan push-ups on a bed.
Now there’s a match… Austin grabbed a few beers early on, and it was pretty hilarious. This wasn’t going to be a barnburner match of technical move after technical move, but we got more than I expected from this match. We got the beer-swigging, ass-kicking bionic redneck, who took Owens through the crowd and beat him up. Of course, Owens got some offense in himself, but ultimately, this was about Austin delivering a ton of fun. And then, Owens got arrested for disparaging Texas or something. This was a great was to close Night 1.
9/10
Chris: This is a talk show, but we’re reviewing it anyway because it’s technically a Wrestlemania main event–and a fun one, at that. It’s hard to argue there are two better people on the mic in this building and they are obviously having a great time trashing each other. And, of course, it was always going to get physical. I did not expect it to become an on-the-record match, though.
Truthfully, Austin is moving like someone who hasn’t been in the ring in two decades–which is exactly what he is. But the attitude is still there and, ultimately, match quality doesn’t matter here. Austin is Texas through and through, this is the main event because people here love this man and wanted to watch him beat the snot out of Kevin Owens, and Austin is delivering. And what’s more, it looks like he’s having the time of his life–and I’m sure Owens is too.
Austin won, because of course he did. Owens did get a Stunner in, though. And there was so much beer tossed about. All in all, this is exactly the right way to end out Night 1 of Wrestlemania and a wonderful moment for Austin in his home state.
9.5/10
That’s it for Night 1. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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