WWE WrestleMania 2023: Will Sunday's Matches Be Able to Top Saturday's Card?

The WWE Superstars who will take to the squared circle Sunday night inside SoFi Stadium for Night Two of WrestleMania face the unenviable task of following an extraordinary Saturday night show that saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeat The Usos and end their historic reign as WWE Undisputed Tag Team champions in an instant classic.

On top of that, Rhea Ripley's victory over Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship, the hellaciously fun battle between Seth Rollins and Logan Paul, and the emotional grudge match between Rey and Dominik Mysterio set the bar extremely high for Sunday's participants to eclipse.

Impossibly high, some might say.

Saturday Results

WrestleMania 39, Night One results (from opener to main event):

• United States champion Austin Theory defeated John Cena
• Men's WrestleMania Showcase Match: The Street Profits defeated The Viking Raiders, Alpha Academy, and Braun Strowman and Ricochet
• Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Logan Paul
• Becky Lynch, Trish Stratus and Lita defeated Damage CTRL (Bayley, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai)
• Rey Mysterio defeated Dominik Mysterio
• Rhea Ripley defeated SmackDown Women's champion Charlotte Flair to win the title
• Pat McAfee defeated The Miz
• Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated WWE Undisputed Tag Team champions The Usos to win the titles

Sunday's Match Card

Announced for Sunday's card are:

• Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match: Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns
• Raw Women's Championship Match: Bianca Belair vs. Asuka
• Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus vs. Gunther
• Hell in a Cell: Edge vs. Finn Bálor
• Women's WrestleMania Showcase Match: Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan vs. Shotzi and Natalya vs. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler
• Brock Lesnar vs. Omos

Emotional Stories Fueled Saturday's Blockbuster Presentation

Saturday's WrestleMania 39 offerings were defined by the raw emotion that accompanied them.

The family feud between Rey and Dominik Mysterio captivated audiences because there was a clear case of a disrespectful, ungrateful kid who needed to be knocked back to reality by his father, and unfortunately for the Mysterio family, it had to happen in front of a worldwide audience.

The involvement of Angie and Aalyah, Rey's wife and daughter, only helped enhance what was already a red-hot match to begin with.

There was Rhea Ripley's shot at redemption, which she made the most of by defeating Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship and Seth Rollins' quest for vengeance as he sought to spoil social media megastar Logan Paul's birthday and second WrestleMania appearance.

All of that set the table for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship Match that saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens put the first stake in the heart of The Bloodline by defeating Jimmy and Jey Uso in a brilliant match.

Driven by raw emotion, thriving on the reaction of the crowd and featuring a goosebump-inducing finish, it put an exclamation on the night's action and ensured that any attempt to one-up Saturday's broadcast would be difficult.

The talent is there Sunday night for Night 2 to do just that, but the emotions that helped define Saturday's card are not.

At least not to the degree that they were for the first night of action, making it more difficult to get fans to invest in the action in the manner that they did Saturday.

Is the Main Event Enough?

The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship is at stake in the main event Sunday night in the much-discussed showdown between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns. That match, barring any unfortunate injury and unforeseen circumstance, should be every bit as great as we expect it to be.

Whether Sunday can surpass Saturday will be determined by the undercard title bouts in Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship and Gunther's defense of the Intercontinental Championship in a Triple Threat against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus.

Belair has earned a reputation for performing up to the moment at WrestleMania while the three competitors in the IC title match have extraordinary chemistry with each other but have yet to face a task as daunting as bringing it together in an oft-tricky Triple Threat setting.

The X-factor of the night will be Hell in a Cell featuring Edge and Finn Balor.

The former has tended to overthink at times during this comeback run, leading to unnecessarily long matches that overstay their welcome and become bogged down rather than ascending to the greatness everyone knows Edge is capable of.

Balor is a veteran performer too, though, and should be able to help reign in some of those bad tendencies. The desire to have a great match will be there but something has been off with Edge over the last year or two, with expectedly great matches faltering.

If the conclusion to their 10-month feud does the same, Saturday's card will handily beat Sunday's.

Even if it does not falter, Saturday's card still feels like it is too difficult to eclipse.

So, no, Sunday's card will not best Saturday's, making it three years counting that Night 1 has been the better of the two broadcasts.

---

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below.