WWE WRESTLEMANIA 42: NIGHT 2
APRIL 18TH, 2026
ALLEGIANT STADIUM
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Watch: ESPN (First Hour Only), ESPN Unlimited (US), Netflix (International)
Meet your reviewer:
Sean Sedor: After watching the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas, Sean is back to review Night 2 of WrestleMania 42 (while also watching the IndyCar race at Long Beach). For the most part, Night 1 was pretty abysmal, and featured one of the most nonsensical WWE PPV main events in recent memory, so Sean is curious to see if Night 2 will be any sort of improvement. You can find Sean on Twitter @SASedor2994 and on BlueSky @sasedor2994.bsky.social. If you’re interested in some of Sean’s other escapades, you can watch him play the NASCAR and Formula 1 games on YouTube (just search his name and you’ll find the channel), and you can also go to the Be The Booker forums if you’d like to check out Sean’s EWR Diary, where he plays as WCW (started in 1998, currently in September 2004….with the 2004 Crockett Cup Tournament on the horizon).
OBA FEMI def. BROCK LESNAR
Kicking off Night 2 is the one match across both WrestleMania shows that I was even remotely interested in. Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi has been EASILY the best built match through this entire WrestleMania cycle, and what’s so funny is that it’s been the simplest feud from a booking standpoint. Of course, for this match to work, WWE needed to stick the landing and put Oba Femi over, though given what we saw last night, WWE doesn’t exactly like doing things that make sense.
The match oddly got off to a slow start as they battled through a collar and elbow tie up, but that quickly changed as Oba brushed off Lesnar’s initial attacks and sent him to the floor. However, Lesnar quickly gained the advantage on the floor as he sent Femi into the steps as well as the post. Back in the ring, Lesnar quickly followed up with German Suplexes. An F5 followed shortly thereafter, but Femi got back up and responded with a chokeslam. He then followed up with the Fall From Grace, and that was it! Oba Femi beat Brock Lesnar in less than five minutes.
I guess my only critiques of this one (and they’re minor) are that I wish it was worked a tad faster in terms of the pace, and that there were more bombs thrown between the two before the eventual finish. Aside from that, this was pretty much perfect. WWE did the right thing (a rare thing to say these days) and had Brock Lesnar put over Oba Femi clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring. It’s one of those matches where a star rating (which I’ll include here anyway) doesn’t properly do this justice. They kept it short, put Femi over strong, and officially christened him as the company’s new monster. Not much else to say beyond that! This accomplished exactly what they wanted to accomplish. We did get a big post-match bit as Lesnar left his gloves and boots in the ring before embracing Paul Heyman, thus signaling his retirement from wrestling. We did get everyone clapping and some loud “Thank You, Lesnar” chants, which is all a bit creepy considering Lesnar’s involvement in the Janel Grant lawsuit (especially the new revelations that came out several weeks ago), though I honestly wouldn’t expect anything less from belt mutants and the weirdos that shelled out thousands upon thousands of dollars to attend this show. ***1/4
WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE – LADDER MATCH
PENTA (c) def. DRAGON LEE, JD MCDONAGH, JE’VON EVANS, REY MYSTERIO, & RUSEV
Imagine being Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, and Rusev. You manage to get a spot on the WrestleMania card, but you don’t even get an entrance. Instead, you’re an “already in the ring” guy while the other half of the participants in this match do get entrances. Just something that I find amusing (particularly with Rusev). The opening moments of this match did see Je’Von Evans and Dragon Lee hit some early high spots, but Rusev was largely the one that received the most shine, as he tossed both bodies and ladders around. After Evans took a big spill to the floor, Mysterio managed to hit a 619 with Lee stuck in a ladder, though Lee would respond a few moments later with a top rope dropkick while Mysterio was stuck upside down in one of the ladders.
A brief exchange between Penta and Mysterio led to the latter putting Rusev through a ladder bridge that had been set up on the floor. An attempted dive by Mysterio off a ladder was countered by Dragon Lee into a Styles Clash, though Lee himself was wiped out moments later with a Spanish Fly off a ladder. McDonagh then got wiped out by a Mexican Destroyer from Penta on a ladder bridge (which surprisingly didn’t break). This seemingly left things wide open for Je’Von Evans, but Rusev put a stop to him. Evans briefly did his best Jeff Hardy impression as he hung from the belt, though he soon crashed down to the mat. Rusev tried to climb the ladder, but Evans (who had recovered fairly quickly from that fall), wiped out Rusev with a crazy OG Cutter. This left the door wide open for Penta to climb the ladder and retrieve his title. By WWE Ladder Match standards, this was certainly one of the better ones. It feels like recent Ladder Matches in this company have been a mixed bag as of late, though it’s safe to say that they delivered on this occasion. We got some pretty crazy spots from start to finish, and everyone involved got moments to shine. I suppose it just takes having the right combo of guys involved (in this instance, you had a lot of high flyers/guys willing to do some crazy things) for one of these matches to deliver. While this wasn’t quite the match of the weekend (there were definitely other matches that were better than this one), it was easily the best match across both nights of WrestleMania up to this point. ****
WWE UNITED STATES TITLE
TRICK WILLIAMS def. SAMI ZAYN (c)
Sami Zayn came out to a mixed reaction from the crowd in Las Vegas, which isn’t much of a surprise given how things have played out on TV over the last few weeks. Lil Yachty came out as part of Trick Williams’ entrance, which featured Trick wearing a jacket that stretched the entire length of the entrance ramp. Trick was in firm control in the early going as he connected with a string of offense on Zayn, but Zayn managed to retort with a boot and a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Zayn then jumped Lil Yachty on the floor as he was trying to pump Trick back up (as if you needed more evidence that Zayn was turning heel). Trick then ate a big brainbuster on the apron. After Trick beat the count, Lil Yachty got back involved as he attacked Zayn while the referee was tending to Trick. Zayn recovered enough to get back in position for the Helluva Kick, though Trick managed to block it with the Trick Shot, and that was it. Trick Williams is the new WWE United States Champion. A relatively fine contest that was better than the majority of the matches from Night 1. The wrestling was solid enough, though similar to much of what we saw the night before, it felt like the kind of match that you could’ve seen on your average edition of WWE television (aside from the Lil Yachty involvement, I suppose). The result wasn’t much of a surprise, as they were bound to put this title on Trick at some point, and even though Zayn didn’t fully turn heel here, he was acting heelish enough that you figure that turn is coming imminently. It’s pretty crazy to see Zayn heading back towards the heel sign of things after how over as a babyface he was three years ago. It especially sits in stark contrast to the big AEW World Title change on Wednesday involving Darby Allin. They had the opportunity to give Zayn and the fanbase a huge moment (even if it was a short title reign, which wouldn’t have been the worst thing), but they evidently had no desire to interrupt the long title reign of Roman Reigns, and thus, Zayn is at where he’s at right now. ***
STREET FIGHT
“THE DEMON” FINN BALOR def. DOMINIK MYSTERIO
This was changed to a Street Fight earlier today during the Kickoff Show, presumably so they can get away with doing Judgment Day interference spots. Dominik came out on this gigantic throne for his entrance. Meanwhile, as you would expect, Finn Balor had a grand entrance in his demon body paint, and controlled the early moments of the match until Dominik was able to hit a dive to the floor. A series of weapons were introduced, and Dominik was the first to use them, as he smacked Balor with a chair a few times. He then set up some chairs in the ring, but ended up getting slammed through them by Balor. Shortly thereafter, we saw the Slim Jim tables getting introduced and, much like last night, I find it hilarious that we’ve got this hardcore match in a feud that WWE wants us to take seriously, and we’re using tables with giant Slim Jim logos on them.
Dominik put Balor through one of the tables, and then brought another table into the ring to dish out more damage. However, the Demon had recovered, and after going to town on Dominik with a series of chair shots before putting him through a table with the Coup de Grace to score the pin. After a strong start, we’ve now had two matches in a row that put this show much closer to Sunday Night RAW territory. This Street Fight was the textbook definition of average. There was nothing wrong with it, but there was nothing notable or memorable about it whatsoever. I guess the most surprising part of this match was that the rest of Judgment Day were nowhere to be seen. These two just had their Street Fight, and Balor ultimately won it clean with no issue. By comparison, the Unsanctioned Match with Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu from Night 1 blew this match away (and McIntyre/Fatu wasn’t even something I’d call great). An easily skippable affair all around. **1/2
WWE WOMEN’S TITLE
RHEA RIPLEY def. JADE CARGILL (c)
In case you were wondering, Alex Palou won the IndyCar Series race at Long Beach (he’s really THE guy in that series right now). For me, the big intrigue with this match was seeing what Rhea Ripley could get out of Jade Cargill in this spot. After the opening exchanges, the action spilled to the floor, where Jade tossed Ripley into the barricade. Jade remained in control as they returned to the ring. Once Rhea managed to fight back, she hoisted Jade up in the Electric Chair position before dropping her right on her face. Following a few more nearfalls and exchanges between the two, B-Fab and Michin showed up and got involved, allowing Jade to regain control. Then, in what was probably the most shocking thing on the show thus far, Jade busted out the ONE WINGED ANGEL of all moves for a nearfall.
The continued attempts by B-Fab and Michin to interfere eventually led to Iyo Sky coming out to help Rhea. Following a springboard moonsault by Iyo to the floor, Jade and Rhea went through a nice sequence where they traded finisher counters before Rhea connected with the Riptide to secure the victory. Those twenty seconds or leading up to the finish was easily the best part of what was largely a decent match. Jade did some things that I don’t think I’ve seen her do before (including that aforementioned One Winged Angel), but beyond that, I can’t say this was super memorable. I was just….a match that existed. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It was just….there. Rhea getting the win was likely the result I would’ve guessed coming into this one, and I can’t say I’d be surprised if we got a rematch between these two at Backlash. **1/2
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
ROMAN REIGNS def. CM PUNK (c)
After more commercial breaks and a cringeworthy segment involving Danhausen, John Cena, The Miz, and Kit Wilson, it was time for the main event. Two things worth noting. First, up to this point, every match on this show so far has been won by a babyface (if you count Trick Williams as a babyface, which he pretty much was in his match), and that trend won’t stop here, since neither guy in this match is a true heel. Second, unless this match goes super long, this show will likely be over well before 9:30 Eastern Time (which I don’t mind one bit). Following Roman Reigns’ typically long entrance, we got a special intro video for CM Punk (featuring Miseria Cantare: The Beginning by AFI which, of course, was a theme he famously used in ROH) before making his entrance to Cult Of Personality.
It didn’t take long for this match to spit out to the floor after the initial opening exchanges. That led to the first big spot of the bout, as Punk got tossed off the announcer’s desk by Reigns after spending too much time gloating. Once they got back in the ring, Reigns was in firm control for the next few minutes until he missed a Superman Punch. That gave Punk the chance to go on a bit of an offensive flurry before he got sent into the post, which led to a Superman Punch for a nearfall. We then got to a fun spot where Punk cut off Roman’s pre-spear taunt with his running knee strikes in the corner. Punk tried to follow up with a big dive from the top rope through the announce desk, but Roman cut him off, and trapped him upside down, leaving him wide open for a series of attacks (including another Superman Punch and the Steel Steps) that left him bloodied.
Roman continued dishing out the punishment with a powerbomb through the announce desk. An attempt at a spear back in the ring was countered in a GTS for a close nearfall. Another GTS was countered, and Roman hit a spear for another close nearfall. Punk would get the better of an exchange where they attempted to steal each other’s finishers before they then took turns trading submissions (I always forget that Roman uses a Guillotine Choke….feels like he only ever used it at WrestleMania). Once they got back to their feet, the exchanges continued (though Roman did go for a knee strike that hit nothing but open air) until Punk used a timely referee distraction to hit a low blow for another close nearfall. That would allow Punk to take Roman back to the outside so he could hit the top rope elbow drop through the announce desk.
Punk attempted to follow up with more GTS attempts, but after hitting one in the ring, he collapsed on the second one. Then, Roman followed up with two spears, and that was it. Roman Reigns is the new World Heavyweight Champion. I did find it strange that Reigns won because Punk’s body just….gave out. Especially since Punk had just been on an offensive flurry for several minutes. Wouldn’t it have made more sense if Punk had collapsed during a heated, hard-hitting exchange, and then Roman managed to get the win? The way they did it here made it come off like Roman didn’t truly earn that win. Punk was pretty much kicking his ass for a number of minutes right before that happened. All told, this was still a really good main event, but that one issue does prevent this from crossing into notebook territory for me. There was definitely a lot to like about this main event. It felt like a big deal, the crowd was really into it, and it was a super straightforward match with no bullshit to speak of. After what we say in the main event of Night 1, it was a much better conclusion to the show. That being said, I do feel like this is the kind of match that is going to receive incredibly high praise in certain circles (particular among hardcore WWE fans). This was by no means a five star classic, but can I see this being THE match that WWE supporters push as their Match Of The Year? Absolutely. It didn’t get there for me, but did I have a good time while watching it? I can safely say that yes, I did. ***3/4
Final Thoughts
Night 2 of WrestleMania 42 was a much better showing compared to Night 1 overall, though that’s not exactly high praise. The first hour of the show (the hour that aired on ESPN) got things off to a hot start, with Oba Femi getting a strong win over Brock Lesnar, while the Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title wound up being the best match across both nights. From there, the show entered a lull as it got into Sunday Night RAW territory with a series of matches that were fairly forgettable. Fortunately, the show did close on a high as CM Punk and Roman Reigns delivered a very good main event that (I imagine) some people will see as the clear match of the year contender from WWE, even if I didn’t feel that it was on that super high level.
