During Sunday night’s WWE WrestleMania 35 event at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the entire landscape of the company was flipped on its head as all but two main roster championship changed hands throughout the evening. The eight title changes on Sunday night were a record for most title changes on a WrestleMania card that didn’t feature the WWE Hardcore championship.
WrestleMania 35 Resets WWE Landscape
#AndNEW: Tony Nese Wins The WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The first of two championships on the line during the pre-show was the Cruiserweight Championship as Buddy Murphy defended against Tony Nese. Despite being one of the original 205 Live stars after his appearance in the Cruiserweight Classic, Nese had never really been positioned as one of the top tier talents. He could more than get the job done in the ring and has the charisma for days – clearly, WWE now sees that as The Premier Athlete defeated The Best Kept Secret to win his first title as a WWE star following a Running Kneese.
#AndNEW: Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder Win WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
Inbetween the two Battle Royals, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) put their Raw Tag Team Championships up for grabs against the recently reunited duo of Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. For the whole match, you could cut the tension with a knife as everyone wanted to see Hawkins end his streak of almost 300 losses. After playing possum for the majority of the match, Hawkins rolled up Dawson to not only win the titles with Ryder but also end his 269 match losing streak. The first of many feel-good moments for the show.
#AndNEW: Seth Rollins Wins WWE Universal Championship
When the main show kicked off, not many people would’ve expected to see the Universal Championship match as the opening contest. But Paul Heyman stated that if Brock Lesnar wasn’t main eventing then he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, demanding Seth Rollins get down to ringside. No matter the position on the card, it was still a typical Lesnar match – German suplex after German suplex after German suplex. Then, the tide turned as the referee was taken down, allowing Rollins to low blow The Beast Incarnate and connect with not one, not two, but three Curb Stomps to finally end Brock’s reign of terror over Monday Night Raw. Another huge WrestleMania moment for The Architect.
#AndNEW: The IIconics Win WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
With the inaugural champions being crowned at February’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event, the Women’s Tag Team Championships made their WrestleMania debut as The Boss’n’Hug Connection (Sasha Banks and Bayley) defended against Nia Jax and Tamina, The Divas of Doom (Beth Phoenix and Natalya), and The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce). The match was in a bit of a hard spot, coming after The Miz and Shane McMahon‘s epic Falls Count Anywhere Match but despite that, all eight women delivered a quality match. As the action winded down, The Glamazon gave Bayley a huge Glam Slam off the ropes. In a shocking move though, Kay removed her from the ring and stole the pin to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions.
#AndNEW: Kofi Kingston Wins The WWE Championship
Coming into this year’s WrestleMania, the journey of Kofi Kingston saw many twists and turns. He was finally getting his one on one opportunity at “The New” Daniel Bryan‘s WWE Championship and for the entire bout, the fans were cheering Kofi on. Big E and Xavier Woods took out Rowan with a Midnight Hour on the floor of the arena, giving Kingston the opportunity later on to nail the Trouble in Paradise on the once-popular Bryan to finally fulfil his destiny. This win makes him the 30th Triple Crown Champion and the 20th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all.
Without your love & support, especially over the past couple months, none of this happens. You helped me achieve my childhood dream & I’m eternally grateful for each & every one of you.
Sincerely,
Your WWE World Heavyweight Champion
-Kofi
— Kofi Kingston (@TrueKofi) April 8, 2019
#AndNEW: Finn Balor Wins WWE Intercontinental Championship
The penultimate match of the evening saw “The Almighty” Bobby Lashley once again face Finn Balor for the former’s Intercontinental Championship. Balor was rocking his Demon gear for the match, coming out on the grandest stage of them all under the persona for the first time ever. Although he took a rather nasty Big E-style apron spear from Lashley, Finn was able to bounce back and lift his second Intercontinental Championship, gaining his first WrestleMania victory as a result.
#AndNEW: Becky Lynch Wins WWE Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships
A historic main event was on offer for this year’s ‘Mania as the women were the showcase piece for the first time ever. Not only that, but it was winner takes all as Becky Lynch took on Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair to close the show. There were short alliances forged throughout the match between all three women, with Flair landing back-first on a table propped in the corner. As the match winded down though, Lynch reversed a Piper’s Pit attempt from Rousey into a pinning predicament to officially end WrestleMania as WrestleMANia.
