WWE WrestleMania XL PLE Results: 4-6-24 (Night #1)
(2) THE JUDGMENT DAY (c, Finn Balor & Damian Priest) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. AWESOME TRUTH (The Miz & R-Truth) vs. NEW CATCH REPUBLIC (Pette Dunne & Tyler Bate) vs. AUSTIN THEORY & GRAYSON WALLER vs. THE NEW DAY (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) – Six-Pack Ladder match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships
All twelve men stood in the ring looking up at the two sets of tag team titles. Wrestlers came to blows immediately. The fight left the ring right away, with various people focusing on taking down Damian Priest. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller returned to the ring quickly with two ladders, trying to steal a win. Multiple wrestlers came back in to stop them. Judgment Day returned to the fold and took everybody down. Priest tossed a ladder at Waller, knocking him out of the ring. Finn Balor tossed wrestlers into Priest’s ladder and he batted them down like baseballs. The champions propped a ladder in the corner and tossed Tyler Bate onto it. The “Big Strong Boy” rolled out of the way, sending Priest crashing onto the steel.
Balor grabbed a ladder. Bate hoisted him onto his shoulders, ladder still in tow. He completed an airplane spin, then tossed the dizzied champion onto the propped ladder. On the outside. Xavier Woods traded blows with both members of New Catch Republic. The duo cleared a path and climbed a ladder on the outside. Wrestlers gathered under both sides. Bate and Dunne hit tandem Moonsaults off the top of the ladders onto the crowd of wrestlers below as the match crossed 4:00.
Back in the ring, New Catch Republic set up a ladder and began to climb. Damian Priest pulled Dunne off the ladder and launched him into it,. dropping Bate in the process. Priest re-positioned the ladder in between both sets of titles and began to climb. The Miz pulled him down. He set him up for a Skull Crushing Finale, but the two got their feet tangled in the ladder and stumbled dangerously. R-Truth leapt onto the apron, asking for a tag. The crowd popped big. Miz made a leaping dive, reaching his partner. Cole said that Truth thinks it’s a regular tag team match. Truth completed a standard “hot tag” comeback, finishing it off with a Five Knuckle Shuffle and Attitude Adjustment to Balor onto a ladder. Truth pinned Balor and counted to three for himself. The crowd reacted like he’d just won. So did Truth.
DIY returned to the ring. Truth told him to tune up the band. Miz and Truth fed Priest to Johnny Gargano, who hit Sweet Chin Music. Tommaso Ciampa gave Priest a Pedigree. Truth offered the Raw titles to DIY if he and Miz could retrieve the Smackdown titles. The teams tried, but Austin Theory and Grayson Waller knocked both teams off the ladders. Waller ascended the ladder himself and retrieved the Smackdown Tag Team titles just after 7:30. Samantha Irvin announced them as the new champions. Cole noted that that they could become Undisputed champions if they retrieve the Raw titles. Theory tried, but was quickly pulled down by Pete Dunne. Meanwhile, Tyler Bate grabbed Waller off his ladder in Powerbomb position. He launched Waller over the top rope, through a propped ladder between the ring and announcers desk.
Outside the ring, Ciampa tossed Tyler Bate into the ringside Prime “hydration station.” He and Gargano retrieve a table from underneath the ring, much to the delight of the Philly faithful. On the apron, DIY tried to Suplex Woods over the ropes and onto a pair of tables. Kofi Kingston cut them off. New Day propped a ladder against another ladder and the middle rope. Xavier hit a frog splash onto Ciampa, who was laid out on the ladder. New Day began ascending the ladder as the match approached 11:30. Kofi, too far to reach the belts, delivered a trust fall out of the ring onto a group of wrestlers below.
Austin Theory ripped Xavier Woods off the ladder and began climbing. New Catch Republic caught up to him. They manipulated his fingers until he released his grasp on the steel and fell into their waiting arms. They gave him the Burming-Hammer. Meanwhile, Johnny Gargano gave Pete Dunne a tornado DDT off the apron and through a table on the outside. Tommaso Ciampa climbed the ladder to join Tyler Bate. He gave him an Air Raid Crash onto the mat. Cole said he killed him.
R-Truth entered the ring, all alone, as the match crossed 13:30. He began climbing the ladder. J.D. McDonaugh appeared, ripping Truth to the mat. He helped Finn Balor climb the ladder. New Day returned to pull Finn back to the mat. J.D. was left alone atop the ladder. Cole explained that it wouldn’t count if he pulled the titles down. New Day tipped the ladder, sending J.D. crashing through the two tables on the floor. Damian Priest returned and gave Xavier Woods a Big Boot. He delivered a Razor’s Edge to Kofi onto a chair.
Priest began climbing the ladder. Referees tried to get his attention, seeing that the ladder was falling apart. Priest ignored them. Miz ran up the ladder. It nearly broke under his weight. Priest and Miz fought back to the mat. Priest tossed the damaged ladder to the outside. R-Truth returned with a new ladder. Priest took it from him and set it up. He began climbing, but Truth pulled him off and onto his shoulders. He gave Priest an Attitude Adjustment to the floor. Truth climbed the ladder and retrieved the Raw Tag Team titles.
WINNERS: Austin Theory & Grayson Waller in 7:30 to win the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, Awesome Truth in 17:27 to win the Raw Tag Team Championships
(An expected level of chaos and carnage in a very entertaining WrestleMania ladder match. I’m surprised its taken them this long to split the tag team titles, but it certainly made sense for them to pull the trigger here. The two winners made a lot of sense, too. Theory and Waller have been firmly established as a team as of late and should be able to rehabilitate their image some with a strong tag team title run against a variety of capable opponents on Smackdown. On the Raw side, R-Truth and Miz seemed primed for a title win for a long time now, with many having originally predicted they’d face Priest and Balor in a regular tag match at WrestleMania. The crowd was with them every step of the way, and Truth’s antics proved wildly over with the audience. A solid, feel-good moment for this show. I expect they’ll get plenty of TV out of Judgment Day trying to get their titles back from Awesome Truth, unless their break up comes sooner rather than later.)
(3) SANTOS ESCOBAR & DOMINIK MYSTERIO (w/ Legado Del Fantasma) vs. REY MYSTERIO & ANDRADE (w/ L.W.O.)
Rey Mysterio kicked things off with Santos Escobar. Cole and Graves noted that the temperature seemed to drop another few degrees right as the bell rang. After a brief exchange, Santos and Rey tagged out. Andrade caught Dominik Mysterio with a hard shot to the jaw, sending him to the outside. Andrade tagged Rey back in. Mysterio leapt onto Andrade’s shoulders and the duo leapt together off the apron onto Mysterio and Escobar. The camera cut to a shocked and pleased Zelina Vega.
In the ring, Mysterio removed his belt and prepared to use it on his scorned son. Dominik cut him off with a knee to the gut, then tossed him to the floor. Dom called for the referee’s attention so he could tag in Santos. Graves said it was “wisdom beyond his years.” Escobar gave Mysterio a kick to the midsection, then tossed him back in the ring. Graves noted that it must be hard for the tag partners on the outside to keep their muscles warm in this weather. McAfee said it’s nothing like football, where at least they had warm benches.
Escobar tagged in Dominik, who flipped into the ring onto his father for a cover and two count as the match hit 4:00. Dom grabbed a front face-lock as members of L.W.O willed on their faction’s leader. Dominik dropped Rey with a spinning back elbow and covered him for a two count. Dom tagged in Escobar. The duo dropped Rey with tandem back elbows and dropkicks. Santos covered Rey for another two count. The crowd continued to boo Dom as he riled them up from the apron. Escobar hoisted Rey onto the northeast turnbuckle. He rose to meet him, using his leverage to try to rip Rey’s mask off. Rey held onto it, but Santos pulled Rey into tree of woe position. He gave him a kick to the gut. Rey crumbled to the mat.
Mysterio battled out of an abdominal stretch and worked Escobar into the corner. He gave him a quick trio of punches before Santos hoisted him onto his shoulders out of the corner. Rey slid down his back and delivered Code Red. Both men were down in the center of the ring. Both managed to reach their partners for a tag. Andrade exploded into the ring, delivering dragon screws to both Santos and Dominik. Dom retreated to the northeast corner. Andrade caught him with double running knees. He climbed to the top rope and went for a Moonsault. Dominik rolled through. Andrade landed on his feet and hit a standing Moonsault instead. He covered for two just before 8:00.
Dominik Mysterio landed a neckbreaker after ducking a clothesline. He and Andrade reached their respective corners for tags. Rey delivered a Hurricanrana to Escobar, draping him over the middle rope. Dom tried to get involved, but Rey tossed him to the floor. Andrade leapt onto Dom on the outside. Mysterio hit the 619. He climbed the southwest turnbuckle to finish it off, but Angel leapt on the apron out of sight of the referee. He kicked Rey to knock him off balance. Escobar pulled him down. Meanwhile, Elektra Lopez leapt onto the apron to distract the referee. Zelina Vega pulled her down. She flipped onto Lopez below.
L.W.O took out Legado Del Fantasma on the outside. They set up Wilde for a massive dive onto the entrance way. In the ring, Escobar told Dominik to retrieve a chair He tried to, but two large men in Rey Mysterio masks attacked him. They tossed him back in the ring. Rey tripped up Escobar and Dom into the middle ropes. He hit the 619, then a splash from the top rope for a cover and three count.
WINNERS: Rey Mysterio & Andrade in 11:02
The masked men revealed themselves to be Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson. They celebrated with L.W.O. and slapped hands with fans.
(The match was fine, but felt like more of a set-up for the action on the outside of the ring and the eventual appearance by Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson. It was strange, by keeping them both under masks for such a long time, the crowd didn’t seem to know how to react. It sort of felt like they kind of knew who they were, but they weren’t sure enough to react until they finally took the masks off. The ensuing pop was big, but not quite as significant as I’d have expected for Kelce. Still, a fun moment for what it was. The match more or less did what it set out to do, but it certainly didn’t feel like this settled anything.)
