Best and Worst Booking Decisions from WWE WrestleMania 2023 Night 1 Results

The first night of WrestleMania 39 was filled with memorable moments and great pro wrestling action. In fact, some might say the majority of the matches were booked with the most satisfying conclusions in mind.

Here is a quick rundown of all the outcomes from Saturday night:

• Austin Theory defeated John Cena
• The Street Profits won the Tag Team Showcase
• Seth Rollins defeated Logan Paul
• Trish Stratus, Lita and Becky Lynch defeated Damage CTRL
• Rey Mysterio defeated Dominik Mysterio
• Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair
• Pat McAfee defeated The Miz
• Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeated The Usos

While most of what we saw was booked well, it wasn't a perfect show. Let's look at the best and worst decisions from the night.

Best: Rhea Ripley Wins the Title

The first time The Queen and The Irradicator met at WrestleMania in 2020, it ended with Charlotte winning the NXT Women's Championship from Ripley.

She had won the right to challenge the champion of her choosing after winning the women's Royal Rumble match that year, but instead of choosing the top star on Raw or SmackDown, she decided to head to the black and gold brand for some new competition.

Three years later, the roles were reversed. Ripley won the Rumble in January and immediately made her intentions clear when she challenged the 14-time champion on SmackDown.

The match they had was a great showcase of their talents and a definite improvement on their previous performance. The Queen has been good for a long time, but you could really see how much Ripley has grown in those three years.

Not only was this the right outcome, but it was done cleanly and without any outside interference from Dom or anyone else from Judgment Day. This was Ripley's moment and she earned the right to celebrate on her own.

Best: Seth Rollins Beat Logan Paul

WWE obviously sees a lot of value in Paul because they keep booking him in high-profile matches at big events, but to management's credit, they have also booked the right outcome in every match.

His bout with Rollins at WrestleMania was another impressive performance that the prominent YouTuber can add to his resume, but he won't be adding it to the win column.

Rollins is not only one of the best performers in all of pro wrestling, but he is one of the most decorated champions in WWE today. He has held every major championship, most more than once, so booking him to lose to a social media celebrity would have been a big mistake.

Paul will probably work more matches and he will eventually get a singles win he can tout, but for now, having The Visionary score the win was absolutely the right call.

Not only did Rollins win, but he did it after showing up in one of the most ridiculous entrance attires in 'Mania history. If there is one thing he is going to do besides steal the show, it's wear something memorable.

Worst: Adding a Random Match with The Miz and Pat McAfee

The Miz served as a co-host for this year's PPV alongside Snoop Dogg, but he was also claiming that he wanted to fight at the event.

He alledgedly put out an open challenge that nobody else saw, and when Pat McAfee showed up, he called The Miz out for lying about the open challenge before saying he would fight The A-Lister right then and there.

Like the coward he is, The Miz tried to back out, but he ended up facing and losing to McAfee in a couple of minutes. It was a typical WrestleMania moment, but it felt forced in this instance.

We've seen this kind of thing at numerous 'Manias before. A good example is when The Rock defeated Erick Rowan in a surprise match in less than 10 seconds. It's just supposed to be a fun addition to the card that doesn't take away from the main attractions.

While nothing about this segment was overly bad, it didn't do anything to elevate the show either. It's a minor complaint from what was largely a great show, so it's hard to be mad about it.

Best: A Father Teaches His Son a Lesson

After a build that lasted several months and saw more than one family holiday ruined, the Mysterios finally came face to face when Dominik and Rey face each other on Saturday.

Dom played into his ex-con persona by having a police escort, and he even wore a Mysterio-style mask during his entrance just to rub salt in the wound.

For Rey's arrival, he had Snoop Dogg drive him into the arena in a low-rider that would have made Eddie Guerrero proud.

The match that took place might be the greatest one-on-one performance of Dom's career thus far, and the best part is that it ended with Rey teaching his son a lesson about respect by defeating him at the biggest show of the year.

This feud is nowhere near over yet and there is a good chance they have some kind of encounter at SummerSlam, or even as early as Backlash. Dom will have a chance to get a victory over his dad at some point, so giving Rey the win the night after he was inducted into the Hall of Fame was the best possible way this could have ended.

Best: Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens Finished The Story

There was a lot to like on the first night of WrestleMania, but there is no denying that the match most people were truly invested in was The Usos vs. Zayn and Owens for the Undisputed Tag Team Championships.

The story that has been unfolding over the past several months has easily been the most satisfying tale WWE has weaved in many years. Making it the main event of night one was the first good decision management made in regard to this bout.

The second good decision was booking Zayn and Owens to win. Any other results would have led to the WWE Universe reacting with almost universal anger. It may have ruined the whole weekend for some people.

After everything he has been through, to rob Zayn of that monumental moment alongside his best friend would have felt shortsighted and cruel.

WWE made a lot of good decisions on Saturday, so let's hope it did the same thing for Sunday so we can officially call this one of the best WrestleMania's in years.

What did you think were the best and worst parts of the show from night one?