Night two of WWE WrestleMania 42 ended with a bang as Roman Reigns finally hoisted up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, after two long years of being away from WWE Championship gold, as he dethroned the “Best in the World” CM Punk.
Months leading up to the big event, things got extremely heated between the two, taking verbal and physical shots at each other. CM Punk made a major mistake when he said he’ll “bury” Roman Reigns alongside his father so he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. This rivalry got so bad that even Reigns’ cousins, The Uso, got involved, with Jey Uso going absolutely mental on CM Punk.
As weeks went by, CM Punk would poke the bear over and over, with Roman even delivering a Powerbomb to Punk through the announcer’s table on an episode of WWE Monday Night Raw, but Punk laughed it off, saying he doesn’t need help, but Roman Reigns needs all the help he can get. CM Punk thought he had the last laugh, getting in the head of the “OTC,” but he was dead wrong, as Roman Reigns went on an absolute tear in the main event of WrestleMania 42, which resulted in Reigns hoisting up the gold that eluded him since WrestleMania 40.
In one of the absolute best WrestleMania matches of all time, Roman Reigns and CM Punk went through hell and back tenfold, as they bloodied and battered each other. We saw both men go for their nuclear options early, the GTS and Spear, but both men would be as defiant as ever. We also saw these two men steal each other’s moves with Punk hitting a Superman Punch, and Reigns executing a GTS, but again, both men would kick out.
The WrestleMania 42 stage was a mess with these two utilizing anything and everything, with Reigns delivering a Powerbomb to Punk on one table. In the late stages of the bout, CM Punk hits a Flying Elbow Drop on Reigns on the other.
When that didn’t work, we saw them pull out the submissions. Reigns locked in Punk in the Guillotine for a long time, but Punk was ready for it and got out of it time and again. Now it’s Punk’s turn, looking to his old reliable Anaconda Vise, but Reigns would not give up.
Punk was desperate; he tried everything, so he went down low, literally. CM Punk would take off his wrist tapes and throw them in the middle of the ring, prompting the referee to remove them. With the official out of sight, Punk would execute a low blow, almost ending the “OTC” right then and there. For one last time, Punk would hit GTS, with Roman falling on his shoulders.
CM Punk had this in the bag; he only had to hit one more GTS, but Punk was absolutely spent and collapsed. Reigns would capitalize on this, hitting a missile-like Spear, but Punk ate that one like it didn’t mean anything. Roman Reigns went for one more, and finally, one of the greatest ever bouts in all of WrestleMania, finally ended, as Roman Reigns put away CM Punk to become #AndNEW World Heavyweight Champion.
After three years, Roman Reigns takes his throne back, becoming a 7-time WWE World Champion. Let us all acknowledge the one and only “Tribal Chief” and WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion, in his 11th, record-breaking time in the main event of the “Granddaddy of them All!”
That is a wrap on WWE WrestleMania 42!
