The Rock Electrifies and Top Takeaways From WWE WrestleMania 40 Results

WrestleMania 40 kicked off Saturday night in Philadelphia with a blockbuster broadcast that saw undefeated streaks end, championships change hands, sibling rivalries write their latest chapters and the most important tag team main event in WWE history close the show.

The show served as a warmup for Sunday's closer, leaving fans with several buzzworthy takeaways.

What were they and what do they mean for the Superstars involved?

Find out with this recap of the first night of action from a monumental Showcase of the Immortals, a collaboration between B/R's Erik Beaston (@ErikBeaston) and Graham 'GSM' Matthews (@WrestleRant).

Rhea Ripley Retaining Reinforces Four Horsewomen Era Has Been Surpassed

The Four Horsewomen era of the WWE women's division is largely credited for taking women's wrestling to new heights and rightfully so.

The "women's evolution" ushered in by Charlotte Flair, Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in the mid-2010s changed the game for all who have followed, including Ripley.

With her emphatic victory over Lynch in the WrestleMania 40 opener, though, the Australian has proved she's at the forefront of an all-new era entirely.

The Eradicator cemented her spot among WWE's most elite athletes early into her main roster run and has put together an incredible resume in a relatively short span of time.

Beating Flair at last year's installment elevated her to the next level, while defeating Lynch on Saturday merely enforced the obvious: She's in a league of her own.

WWE has hardly moved past the Four Horsewomen as a whole and nor should it. All are perennial main event players and proven commodities.

Sasha Banks has since taken her talents to All Elite Wrestling as Mercedes Moné, but Bayley, Banks and Flair are mainstays in WWE title pictures and are pivotal pieces in the progression of the division.

WWE has done a commendable job of building new female stars in recent years, and Ripley leading the revolution ensures many more are soon to follow. — GM

Long Overdue Title Split Upgrades Tag Team Division

The tag team championships in WWE are officially split, and all is right with the world.

R-Truth and The Miz captured the Raw titles by outlasting The Judgment Day and paying off months of storytelling. After Damian Priest invited him into the group, then betrayed and beat him down, Truth dumped Senor Money in the Bank to set up the victory.

Earlier, Grayson Waller and Austin Theory snatched the SmackDown titles from the rafters, seemingly ensuring the first split champions since RK-Bro and The Usos held separate belts in 2022.

It was an overdue booking decision that should bring stability back to growing divisions on both brands.

Now, teams such as Pretty Deadly, New Catch Republic, The New Day, LWO and Legado del Fantasma will have an opportunity to compete for stakes rather than waiting for WWE Creative to come up with a way to get the champions onto SmackDown, as has been the case with the Friday night show over the past year.

Truth and Miz are a duo who can hold the title for weeks or drop them as soon as the Raw After WrestleMania, while Waller and Theory can rule the roost on Friday nights as a central heel team.

As Triple H continues to build the tag divisions on both brands, he has enhanced both by giving them something to strive for rather than fighting the same aimless matchups every week with nothing to show for it.

A creative wrong righted. — EB

Jey Uso Lives Up to 'Main Event' Nickname

The looming threat of Jimmy Uso has held Jey Uso back from attaining greater singles success since SummerSlam.

He's fallen short whenever it has mattered most as a member of the Raw roster despite being one of the most popular performers on Monday nights.

Jey defeating Jimmy in their long-awaited WrestleMania matchup means the former can finally put the latter in his rear view and enter championship contention where he belongs.

Although the battle of brothers was nothing special from an in-ring standpoint, the outcome was of utmost importance. Jimmy emerging victorious would have unnecessarily extended the rivalry and delayed the inevitable, whereas Jey winning puts the rivalry to rest and allows him to move on to bigger and better things.

Jey's "Main Event" moniker has never been truer than it is today. It might be some time before he finds himself chasing world title gold again, but either of the midcard championships could well be within his reach.

In addition to having history with new intercontinental champion Sami Zayn, Logan Paul potentially escaping Night 2 of WrestleMania with his United States title in tact could be a fun possibility if they end up on the same show post-draft.

Either way, a climb up the card and a chase for a championship are in Jey's immediate future. — GM

Jade Cargill Will Benefit Long-Term From Partnership In Big 3

Jade Cargill is a star, which was clear Saturday after she teamed with Bianca Belair and Naomi to defeat Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai and women's tag team champions Asuka and Kairi Sane.

It is in that partnership where The Storm's long-term development lies.

One of the biggest issues with Cargill's run in All Elite Wrestling was that she was put on television as a singles star and expected to sink or swim early in her career, with minimal in-ring training.

She succeeded at a level higher than she should have given the circumstances, but she was never going to be the star she could be without further evolving as an in-ring performer.

WWE clearly understands what it has in the 31-year-old in terms of a potential star power, but it appears to be willing to be patient with her, too.

Pairing her with Naomi and Belair, highlighting her in tag team action where she can explode into the ring, get her signature stuff in and score the win will go a long way in establishing a connection with fans until she gets to the level of in-ring performance where she can consistently deliver in singles setting.

It also gives Triple H another group to work with as he creates feuds that he can weave in and out of one another without exhausting fans with the same faces and matchups.

The positives of keeping Cargill with Naomi and Belair and not rushing the process far outweigh the negatives. — EB

Gunther Benefits More from 'Mania Loss Than Sami Zayn Will from Title Win

Gunther's record-setting 667-day run as intercontinental champion is over courtesy of Sami Zayn, yet it will be The Ring General who benefits most from the historic outcome.

The build to Zayn vs. Gunther was lazily rushed but resulted in a massive 'Mania moment for Zayn thanks to how exceptionally it was executed.

The quality of Zayn's fourth IC reign is guaranteed to be great, but Gunther's ascent to the main event scene will be the bigger story going forward.

The Ring General has long been ready for WWE's next level. Losing the title will ultimately be what catapults him to the world championship picture on either Raw or SmackDown.

Given how prominently Gunther has been booked under WWE's Triple H creative regime, it's more a matter of when than if he'll be holding world title gold. The Bash in Berlin premium live event in August would be the most likely place for where he'll get his overdue coronation.

However, depending on who walks out of Night 2 of WrestleMania as world heavyweight champion and undisputed WWE universal champion, it could be coming sooner rather than later. — GM

Bloodline Rules

The Rock returned to the WrestleMania stage Saturday night for the first time since 2016, teaming with undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns to defeat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, ensuring Sunday's main event will be under Bloodline Rules.

The wild, chaotic, unpredictable main event echoed the tropes of the Attitude Era, injecting crowd brawling, dramatic near-falls, callbacks to previous encounters and even odes to Triple H and The Young Bucks.

With Rollins hobbled by his previously established knee injury and The Final Boss influencing the referee's decisions countless times throughout the contest, the odds were already against the babyfaces.

They will be even more so Sunday when Rollins enters a showdown with Drew McIntyre a one-legged man in a kicking competition and Rhodes challenges The Tribal Chief knowing he will be cut off at every turn in an attempt to prolong The Head of the Table's lengthy run atop WWE.

It sets the stage for The American Nightmare to overcome the odds, a trope WWE excels at, to finish a story that has been the topic of conversation since he returned to the company two years ago.

WrestleMania is The Showcase of the Immortals and home to some of the most unforgettable moments in wrestling.

If Rhodes can overcome Bloodline Rules, dethrone Reigns and finish his story, it will have another. — EB