WWE finally made its long-awaited $5 billion debut on Netflix and the show featured plenty of legends and top stars who rose to the occasion.
The company went all out with a title match, two blood feud endings and a host of A-list names, so let’s get into the action.
The banner show started with a cold open video package showing the history of WWE leading up to their $5 billion deal with Netflix, fittingly narrated by Triple H himself.
As soon as the video stopped, The Game stood in front of the 17,000-strong audience in Los Angeles. After a boisterous speech welcoming everyone to the ‘Netflix era’, the current creative was quickly followed by one of his biggest rivals ever: The Rock.
The Rock dropped the first swear words of the Netflix era just 15 minutes into the broadcast, when he called “bulls***” in his own attempt to turn his famous catchphrase into “Finally, WWE has come back to Netflix” – which was rightly met with silence.
Cody Rhodes was watching from ringside – for some reason – and Rock took the time to give the current WWE Undisputed Heavyweight Champion his props. The interaction these two had after WrestleMania last year led many to believe it was a lock they would fight when The Rock returned again – apparently not.
The Rock took the time to acknowledge Roman Reigns as the true matriarch and said he would be keeping a close eye on his fight with Solo Sikoa, paving the way for the said match.
Solo Sikoa against Roman government
Sikoa, the young whippersnapper (who is only eight years younger than Roman, but still) who wants to be the true leader of the Bloodline, dominated the legendary Reigns in the beginning, much to the dismay of Paul Heyman.
A monitor on the head set the tone. Ring posts and steel chairs followed. Of course, according to Bloodline rules, that’s all fine and legal. After Roman tried to fight back, he was met with a spinning Solo on prone chairs.
Logan Paul also made his intentions clear on the show after weeks of speculation
Reigns hit a drive-by to get back in, but a kendo stick to the head cut off his comeback. The six-time world champion turned his fortunes around as he was beaten in the corner when he powerbombed Sikoa through a table, but before he could secure a three-count, Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu interrupted him.
After multiple finishers, Reigns still kicked out and Sikoa covered the referee. That prompted Sami Zayn and Jimmy Uso to try to make the save and turn the tide in Reigns’ favor. This time it was Sikoa’s turn to take out a number of finishers, including Reigns’ Spear.
Kevin Owens made a shocking entrance into the match against Stun Reigns, which OTC also kicked out of. Then Cody Rhodes came to save Reigns and fight Owens. Are you keeping up with me?
In the end, only Reigns and Sikoa remained. One spear later, Reigns finally got his ula fala back.
The Rock joined Reigns in the ring after the match and every fan was on the edge of their seat waiting for the final boss to turn on his real cousin. But it didn’t happen.
Roman Reigns and The Rock could meet at WrestleMania 2025
Instead, The Great One placed the ul fala on Reigns and, after a tense look, let the OTC have his moment.
John Cena’s retirement tour started with a promo after the Samoan clash and before our world title match.
The crowd went wild for Cena’s return to television and the now Hollywood star wasted little time talking about his connections to the LA area at the start of his career and what he wants to do with the final year of it.
John Cena’s retirement tour is officially underway for all of 2025
Can he become a record-breaking 17-time world champion in WWE? That’s what he wants, but he realizes that the main event scene is so crowded that he has to take the opportunity instead of fighting his way to the top.
Money in the Bank or Elimination Chamber options, but when Cena said she won the Royal Rumble, the Los Angeles crowd went wild. That led to Cena declaring that he was going to enter the Rumble and not only that, he was going to win.
The rumors that he will face Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas are alive.
Liv Morgan (c) vs. Rhea Ripley – WWE RAW Women’s Championship
Morgan started the match trying to outsmart the much more powerful Ripley, but she rarely got her rewards.
Morgan, complete with Raquel Rodriguez and Dominik Mysterio at ringside, did her best to throw off the former champion, but Ripley was in an unstoppable mood.
After three Riptides to close the match, Ripley got the one, two, three and became a three-time world champion.
After the match, Ripley first took revenge on Dirty Dom, the man who betrayed her to join Morgan. When Dom wanted an apologetic hug, he was quickly kicked in the groin.
As Ripley left, The Undertaker drove to the ring in his American Badass persona and celebrated with Ripley, capping off a career moment.
The Undertaker, as the American Badass, and Rhea Ripley share a cool moment
Jey Uso vs. Drew McIntyre
Travis Scott arrived to walk to the arena and very clearly smoke marijuana, much to the shock of fans and other WWE stars online!
Jey, who was absent from the Samoan meeting and was presumably preparing for it, met McIntyre following the Scot’s promise to punish anyone associated with Reigns or CM Punk. After attacking his brother Jimmy and Zayn in recent weeks, it was Jey’s turn.
Predictably, McIntyre had most of the match, but in the final stretch, as the former three-time world champion readied his Claymore, a laid-out Uso turned it into a roll-up and secured the shocking pinfall victory.
Hulk Hogan arrived and when we say virtually no one was happy to see him, we mean it.
His beer, ‘real American beer’, is now a sponsor of WWE and was on display on the ring mat. You can understand why he was run out, as Michael Cole said on commentary: none of us would be here without Hogan.
But that was a great run in the 1980s. More recently, he has been exposed for making vile racist comments, for which many in the WWE locker room did not believe he properly apologized, and has aligned himself with Donald Trump.
It turns out that WWE fans don’t like that and he was roundly booed even when he tried to tell the fans that they were the best tag team partner he’s ever had.
Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk
After Hogan’s nightmare outing, it was time for the main event. Finally, a match between Seth Rollins and CM Punk that was decades in the making was on the cards, beautifully narrated by Michael Cole before the first bell and fitting for the main event of a historic show like this.
This was the first time these two had ever touched, but it certainly didn’t seem like it. Fluid, compelling action from two seasoned pros who conveyed their contempt for each other with every beat.
CM Punk gets the win over Seth Rollins, but this won’t be their last time in the ring together
Rollins dominated the vast majority of the match, catching Punk with his own GTS and following up with a Buckle Bomb with his curb stomp for a pair of near falls. He even put Punk on the announce table and in the ring again, but still couldn’t get the win.
No, it was Punk who instead got the win with two GTSs in a row, scoring a victory that will surely send Rollins further into madness.