If I were to describe WrestleMania 40 to someone who does not watch professional wrestling, I would say that watching Cody Rhodes finish his story and end Roman Reigns’ historic 1,316-day reign (pun unavoidable) as Undisputed WWE Champion on April 7, 2024 was like watching “Avengers: Endgame” and “Star Wars: A New Hope” for the first time simultaneously, if that were possible.
It’s hard to describe in words how it felt to see John Cena come to Rhodes’ aid by fighting off Solo Sikoa, then for The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) to rush in and end Cena with a Rock Bottom like it was 2012, then finally for the Undertaker to appear out of the shadows of a blacked-out stadium to choke-slam Rock attitude-era style. Everyone in Lincoln Financial Field and watching at home was taken back to their childhood that night, and it all culminated in the start of a new, exciting chapter in WWE that has yet to disappoint.
Going into this year’s WrestleMania, I was most curious about the main event of night one: a triple-threat match between CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Reigns. Paul Heyman was forced to stand in the corner of his best friend, CM Punk, instead of Reigns, to whom Heyman had been undyingly loyal since 2020. The main draw of this match was the history behind it, with each man playing a significant role in shaping the WWE into what it is today: Rollins, the visionary who fought tooth and nail for his position every single week, delivering some of the most memorable moments in wrestling history in his decade as a solo act; Reigns, the ruthless Tribal Chief, whose time as Universal Champion carried the company through the pandemic and brought more money to professional wrestling than ever before; and finally, CM Punk, the defiant voice of the voiceless, whose embodiment of all the frustrations of WWE fans and wrestlers alike—on- and off-camera—had an undeniable influence on the drastic changes undergone by the company in the years between his departure in 2014 and eventual return in 2023.
Resentment had been brewing between Punk and Rollins for the past two years due to Rollins’ anger at Punk for waltzing in after almost ten years of absence and gunning for the top spot that Rollins had worked day in and day out for during all that time. Things got even more serious when Reigns showed up on the March 10, 2025 episode of Monday Night Raw and beat both of them severely, calling off the remainder of their brutal steel cage match. He was furious at Punk for eliminating him from the Royal Rumble, and at Rollins for attacking him after the fact, on top of the hatred he already had for Rollins that had been brewing since Rollins betrayed Reigns by sneaking up on him with a steel chair and breaking up The Shield (a faction comprised of Rollins, Reigns, and wrestler Dean Ambrose, who now goes by Jon Moxley, in AEW) in 2014.
These three furious superstars agreed to settle their differences at WrestleMania, but there was one final catch. CM Punk was owed a favor from Heyman for helping Reigns take back his title as Tribal Chief at War Games, and he cashed in this favor by asking Heyman to stand in his corner at his first WrestleMania main event match instead of the corner of Heyman’s Tribal Chief. This request shook Heyman to his core. On one hand, Heyman was Punk’s best friend, for whom he advocated since he first saw his talent in Ohio Valley Wrestling (a developmental territory owned by WWE), even getting himself fired from WWE in 2006 after a bitter fight with then-CEO Vince McMahon because he did not feel that Punk was getting the push that he deserved. The history between these two is undeniable, and they both paved the way for each other’s success when Punk became the superstar that Heyman always knew he could be. On the other hand, Punk had been gone for almost a decade, and during that time, Heyman aligned himself with Reigns, serving as special counsel to the Tribal Chief and becoming an essential part of his historic success. Because he owed him this favor, CM Punk forced Heyman to betray his closest associate just so he could have a full-circle moment at WrestleMania, which is not something that someone would do to their best friend.
Finally, the moment of truth came. Rollins entered in his usual flamboyant style, except this time with a flamethrower. Reigns entered solo with his music and his family’s Ula Fala around his neck. Punk had his most grandiose entrance, with Living Colour playing his theme song live and Heyman, the only man who ever believed in him, right by his side. The fight went pretty much as expected until, at the very end, with each man battered and depleted, Heyman entered the ring and hit both Punk and Reigns with punches to the family jewels, allowing Rollins to win the main event of night one of WrestleMania 41.
For recapping purposes, I’m going to leave reactions to the end and segue to night two, which is a whole other can of worms than night one, so here goes. After Cena won the Elimination Chamber and secured a main event opportunity against Rhodes at WrestleMania, Rhodes’ congratulations to Cena were interrupted by The Rock and Travis Scott. Anyway, The Rock and Scott entered the ring, and The Rock gave Rhodes one final chance to sell him his soul. When Rhodes refused, Cena hugged him, but when Rock gave him the signal, he kicked Rhodes in the groin (a recurring theme here) and proceeded with one of the most viewed beatdowns of all time that marked Cena’s infamous heel turn (wrestling terminology for becoming a bad guy).
This decision shocked fans worldwide, and while it was unexpected in the moment, looking more broadly at Cena’s career and the general rules that govern professional wrestling makes this shift less surprising. Since its inception, professional wrestling has been built on the principle that good is more powerful than evil and that faces (good guys) will always beat heels (bad guys) in a fair fight. Because of this principle, heel champions almost always win the title due to an unfair advantage, with this advantage usually being the aid of an outside force. Examples are Hulk Hogan with the New World Order, Triple H with Evolution, The Rock with The Corporation, Reigns with The Bloodline, etc. When and how a wrestler turns heel is dictated by the crowd, with wrestlers usually turning heel around when the crowd stops rooting for their victory as a face. With this in mind, Cena has had countless opportunities to turn heel throughout his career. He received an insane amount of hate when he was put over in every match he fought in during what is now known as the Super Cena period of WWE, with it being impossible not to see a sign saying, “If Cena Wins, We Riot” at any given match of his during this time. Yet because his brand was so strong, he was kept as a face and that was that.
Around 2015, Super Cena ended as he transitioned more towards Hollywood, returning to WWE less often but always putting on good matches that promoted younger talents in the company whenever he did. As his push in WWE slowed and he became more known for his presence in movies and his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Cena gained more love from the fans, and the door to him turning heel was momentarily closed. Fast forward to July 2024, a pretty much universally adored Cena makes a surprise appearance in Toronto at Money in the Bank, announcing that 2025 will be his final year in WWE and that he will go on a retirement tour with the company as a fully committed member of the active roster, making his final attempt to secure a 17th title victory before his time expires in December.
There was just one problem: Cena had not won a singles match since April 2018. Every time he has returned to WWE since then, he has been met with the sad realization that it is a new generation in professional wrestling, and he simply cannot compete physically with the active roster like he used to, that is, unless he has some help. With this being his final chance at solidifying himself as the greatest of all time, and knowing that he had exhausted all his potential as a face, Cena knew that the only way to secure victory this time was to sell his soul to The Rock and turn heel, taking the title from Rhodes, who is essentially a younger version of himself.
Cena would then appear in the episodes of Monday Night Raw leading up to Mania, verbally berating the WWE universe for only supporting him when it was convenient to them. Many times, Rhodes would appear and the two would have a shouting match, which would sometimes end with Cena getting his ass kicked. Finally, the moment of truth came, and it went as follows: Cena entered with nothing but his music and his name on a black screen, and Rhodes had his usual awesome entrance that makes me proud to be an American every time I see it. The two fought for a while, then Scott came out (without The Rock), pulled the referee out of the ring, and distracted Rhodes enough to allow Cena to recover and grab Rhodes’ championship belt. Cena tried using the belt to hit Rhodes, but Rhodes got it back. Cena then begged Rhodes not to hit him, knowing that his morals wouldn’t let him. Then, the second Rhodes put the belt down, Cena kicked him in the nuts once again and won the match.
While I loved Saturday’s main event and thought it was the perfect continuation of what had been set up with Heyman and these three men over the past decade, I have less positive things to say about night two. Sadly, I just thought it was pretty boring, which is good for Cena, who said his goal was to ruin wrestling for everyone, but has to sting for the people who paid upwards of $15,000 to see this thing live.
I’m a fan of Scott: I own physical copies of almost all of his albums and have seen him live, so one would think that people like me are the target audience for his involvement in WrestleMania, but I just don’t understand what the heck he was doing there. You could say it kinda made sense when he was The Rock’s lackey, but why have him be the only one to show up for the biggest night of the year? Why didn’t The Rock come through? I get he has a lot on his plate, but why establish him to be the devil on Cena’s shoulder and then pretend like he was never there? It would have been so interesting to see the tie-in between Cena being the younger version of The Rock, in terms of his career path to Hollywood, and Rhodes being the younger version of Cena, in terms of being the charismatic face of WWE, incorporated into the story somehow, but we saw none of that because Rock, like he has done for as long as I can remember, pops in whenever he pleases and forces everything to somehow work around him. We shouldn’t forget that last year’s WrestleMania was a fluke, propelled by fans who were enraged at WWE’s original idea of cutting Rhodes’ momentum short to allow for a match between The Rock and Reigns. If the fans weren’t so outspoken about how much they didn’t want The Rock stealing all the attention from Rhodes (like he did to CM Punk before), WrestleMania 40 would have been a complete flop.
I loved the idea of Cena turning heel and winning the title, but it would have been so much better if The Rock had just done what was best for the long-term story instead of agreeing to a creative decision and dipping from the scene halfway through, leaving us with what we got on Sunday.
I can yap all I want about this, but at the end of the day, I am still really excited for what this WrestleMania set up and can’t wait to see how things will play out in the future, especially on the Heyman side of things.
Elijah Willner can be reached at ewillner@wesleyan.edu.
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