Wrestlemania XL Kickoff: One day away

Adam Bazzana

Wrestlemania XL Kickoff: One day away

Fans of WWE around the world are ready for the big night(s), as the lead up to Wrestlemania is all but done after today’s Wrestlemania XL kickoff show.

The kickoff started with a video of the biggest moments from Wrestlemania’s past. We then saw Micheal Cole and Pat McAfee on a stage with the crowd in the parking lot of the Wells Fargo centre. They called the tag match between The Rock, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins the biggest tag team match in the company’s history. Jackie Redmond was backstage and said the Bloodline has been in a room together all day strategizing for the weekend.

The first guest on stage we were treated to was none other than the brain behind it all, Triple H. He spoke about how the attitude era was a special time and said right now there is that same feeling and that it is a new time and a new era for WWE. After leaving the stage, Cole commented that this era should be known as the “Triple H era”, something McAfee agreed with.

The next superstar to join Cole and McAfee was none other than ‘Mami’ Rhea Ripley, who walked out to a chorus of ‘Mami’ chants from the crowd. Ripley said after XL the Judgement Day will once again rule the WWE as she, Dom, Balor & Priest will all win their bouts and remind the WWE who is running the show. Becky Lynch then came to the stage to announce the time for talking is over and Lynch will pull off the biggest upset of Ripley’s career at the biggest Wrestlemania of all time by beating her. After squaring off middle stage, Ripley left as Becky stared her down and had some choice words for her.

We were then treated to Sami Zayn coming out in a “Win Rocky Win” shirt, and thanking the fans of Philadelphia for sticking with him from his first ever match in the states, which was in Philly, to his match tomorrow night. Zayn said he would pay them back for their support by defeating Gunther. After saying that, Gunther came out and told Sami he was a great contender but could never fill Gunthers shoes. Zayn finished the promo by reminding Gunther that last year he ended the longest title reign in tag team history by defeating the Uso’s with Kevin Owens, and he was ready to end another longest title reign in history tomorrow.

The next match to address was the match between the Uso’s. Jey came out to cheers and yeet’s galore, and said after whooping little brother Solo tonight on Smackdown he would whoop older brother Jimmy tomorrow. After Jimmy came out he said it was brother vs brother in the city of brotherly love and that it would be “No Yeet” for Jey tomorrow. He then went backstage as the crowd once again cheered and yeeted for Jey.

The last superstars we saw come out were CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. Punk came out first to hype the crowd up, followed by Rollins who said its a shame that he’s not kicking Punk’s ass Sunday night. After declaring he and Cody would take down the Rock and Roman Reigns and he would defend his belt, McIntyre emerged. He had muffins as a peace offering for ‘Corporate Punk’, and gave his three tips to cut the cringe out as a WWE fan. The first tip was to never use starts government names when addressing them. The second was if you are a full grown adult you should not have a title around your shoulder or waist. And the last tip for fans to ‘cut out the cringe’ was to stop supporting the “Cringe Lord” himself, Seth Rollins. He said Rollins is one of the best wrestlers he’s ever been in the ring with but because he is fighting Saturday before defending Sunday against McIntyre it won’t be a match but will be an execution. Rollins responded by saying it wouldn’t be an execution but instead the fight of McIntyre’s life and regardless what happens Saturday he will fight with everything he has Sunday. The crowd began chanting Rollin’s walkout song, and the kickoff ended.

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