Pat McAfee Was A Waste Of Time, and The Biggest Takeaways From WWE WrestleMania 42 Results
WWE WrestleMania 42 night one is officially in the books, and we have more questions than answers following a bizarre main event.
The first half of The Greatest Spectacle in Sports Entertainment was uneven to say the least. Seth Rollins and Gunther delivered the match of the night, and Bianca Belair's pregnancy announcement was a beautiful moment.
Jacob Fatu looks poised to move into the main event scene after a strong showing against Drew McIntyre. However, the show also had its warts. The company's overreliance on virality and attempts at corporate synergy have made the product arduous to watch at times.
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With that in mind, there are three of our biggest takeaways from a divisive evening of pro wrestling at Allegiant Stadium.
The WWE Premium Live Event Format Needs An Overhaul
The most glaring takeaway from Saturday night's festivities was how much the current WWE premium live event format doesn't work.
Theoretically, a seven-match card should allow the company to optimize time, trim the fat, and deliver the best matches possible. Instead, night one still clocked in at four hours with less than an hour and a half of in-ring action.
There was way too much filler and ads, which often bogged down the event's pacing. Even more, most of the matches were too short. More than half of them ended under 10 minutes, and the women's matches, in particular, could've used more time to develop.
It's still hard to understand why Superstars like Carmelo Hayes, Iyo Sky, or Tiffany Statton didn't make it onto this year's card. Adding another match or two would ensure that there aren't as many egregious omissions.
Overall, WWE needs to reassess the goal of this format and revise it accordingly. These short cards worked so well for NXT TakeOver because the developmental brand focused on top-notch, no-frills wrestling.
The main roster will never commit to a similar approach because the company serves too many masters. However, there must be a happy medium that creates a better viewing experience.
A Big WrestleMania Return Overshadowed Bayley…Again
WWE's underutilization of the women's tag team championship has been a hot topic since its inception. More to the point, the company doesn't have a great track record of developing rivalries for the titles or showcasing them at WrestleMania.
Nevertheless, the growth of the women's tag division was among the highlights of 2025 and the weeks leading up to this year's event. Yes, the bar is low, but we should applaud the effort that went into creating interest in Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, and the rise of Lash Legend.
Still, Lyra Valkyria and Bayley's journey back to The Showcase of the Immortals should've been a more prominent story. After all, many fans were upset that Becky Lynch randomly replaced the latter last year, even though it led to a tremendous feud.
If the pair were victorious this time, it would've been a satisfying full-circle moment. That also would've been a nice way to reward viewers for their patience with Valkyria's stop-start push and plot points that never paid off.
Paige's return was a nice surprise, but it was disappointing to see Bayley become an afterthought again. Even more, the company spent months establishing teams, but the pairing with the least experience together won on The Greatest Stage of Them All.
The Pat McAfee Plot Line Was A Waste Of Time
If you weren't already sure of it, Pat McAfee's inclusion in Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton turned out to be a colossal waste of time.
First, Jelly Roll took out McAfee early on, and Rhodes didn't even get the pop for putting him through the commentary table. You would think that the former NFL player generated heat so that Orton would get booed and the champion would get cheered for taking him out of the equation, right?
Even worse, the challenger ultimately got an even bigger reaction for hitting McAfee with an RKO with no explanation as to why. That's right. After weeks of this, Rhodes didn't even benefit the most when he finally got his comeuppance.
Fans still don't want to boo Orton, and they still rejected Rhodes when he showed an edge throughout the match. That shouldn't have been the intended result when he finally learned his lesson from last year's main event and the outcome of the men's Elimination Chamber match.
Unfortunately, WWE has conditioned its audience to value nostalgia over everything else. The story should've always been about whether Rhodes will finally turn heel. McAfee was an unnecessary addition to this feud with years of history, and a clear motivation for The American Nightmare to break bad.
