Los Angeles [US], April 19 : The day one of Wrestlemania 42 saw Cody Rhodes retaining the Undisputed WWE Championship against 14-time world champion Randy Orton in a 'student versus mentor' clash at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
Besides Cody's win over Orton, matches between Seth Rollins and Gunther and Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu also stole the show.
The chaotic main event between the 'mentor' Orton and 'student' Cody, making the best of their two decades of understanding each other's game. Even before the bell could ring, Cody, along with his ally and musician Jelly Roll, took down Orton's ally, former WWE commentator Pat McAfee, causing him to leave the scene on a stretcher.
While Orton dominated the early stage of the match, Cody soon started unleashing some smart offence on his opponent, who seemed to be struggling with back issues.
The match-up eventually saw Randy getting some offence, but getting bloodied after being hit head first on the ringpost, and both Randy and Cody hitting their opponents' finishing moves on each other, with Randy unleashing a Cross Rhodes while Cody hit Randy with the RKO.
As the match went on, both opponents looked spent. A bloody Orton knocked down the referee with an RKO after being blindsided by an eye rake from Cody, who also low-blowed him in the groin without the referee checking.
However, just when Cody seemed to come back, the 14-time champion blasted the champion with another RKO. With no in-ring official in sight, McAfee came running down to deliver the count, but Cody managed to power out. Out of frustration, Randy blasted McAfee, his own ally, with an RKO. But Cody, now a bloody mess himself, was just behind him, and the champion finally secured the win with a Cross Rhodes.
However, after the match, just as Cody celebrated his win gained due to his different level of killer instinct against his mentor, the veteran delivered a loud championship belt shot to his head and ended the proceedings with a football punt kick to Cody's skull, holding the championship in his hand.
In another standout match of the day, 'The Career Killer' Gunther, after retiring icons like Goldberg, John Cena and AJ Styles, ticked another big name by defeating Seth Rollins in a one-on-one slugfest, which represented pro-wrestling at its technical best. Both men traded strikes and traditional wrestling moves relentlessly, with Rollins, having his first match in months after an injury, showing tremendous heart against Gunther's signature chest slaps and sleeper hold, fighting off with a pedigree and curb stomp, but failing to put Gunther down.
A pivotal moment of the match saw Rollins take down Gunther with a couple of suicide dives as action spilt outside the ring, with Gunther returning the favour with two back-breaking powerbombs, one through the ring apron and one on the announce desk. Just when Rollins won back the momentum with a pedigree, stomp combo on the announce desk, Bron Brekker, who had put Rollins out of action months back, broke him in half with a spear. The interference from Bron, the part of 'The Vision' faction which Rollins once spearheaded, caused Gunther to lock Rollins in a sleeper hold and win the match via technical submission as his opponent passed out.
Former WWE champion Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu also locked horns in a brutal "unsanctioned" match-up, which started on a brutal note with Jacob interrupting McIntyre's entrance to the ring with a monstrous suicide dive. What followed was both men unleashing doses of offence on each other turn by turn as the sounds of chairshots, boots, and broken tables rang throughout the venue. A standout moment of offence saw McIntrye flying out of the ring for a massive flying senton and suplexing Jacob through a chair, but it was the latter's flying moonsault off the top rope through a table which sealed the match for the Samoan wrestling star.
The opening bout saw the team of The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) and LA Knight defeating The Vision (Logan Paul and Austin Theory) and YouTuber IShowSpeed in a back-and-forth match. The critical moment of this match was the YouTuber knocking out Logan in an attempt to take out Knight, for which the YouTuber received a beatdown post-match from Logan. However, The Usos and Knight made the save, encouraging and finally helping the IShowSpeed pull off a stunning splash on the former US Champion through the announce desk.
The other clashes in women's wrestling division saw The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki) and a returning Paige, beating the Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend), Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss and Bayley and Lyra Valkyria in a Fatal-4-Way clash for the WWE Women's Tag Team titles, Becky Lynch regaining the WWE Women's Intercontinental title from AJ Lee and Liv Morgan beating Stephanie Vaquer to capture the Women's World Championship.