One of the biggest and most talked-about professional wrestling events, WrestleMania 40, is a two-night event produced by WWE. The event took place at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Roman Reigns headlining the event against Cody Rhodes garnered the most attention.
WrestleMania XL is the first professional wrestling event to be held after WWE merged with Endeavor subsidiary UFC under the banner of TKO Group Holdings. Currently signed to WWE under the SmackDown brand, Reigns’ appearance on WrestleMania 40 has helped him set a significant record.
Roman Reigns surpasses Hulk Hogan and sets the record for headlining Most WrestleMania Main Event
Upon his appearance as the main event for WrestleMania 40, WWE Superstar Roman Reigns has successfully set the record for being a WWE superstar with the most WrestleMania main events ever. Reigns with his match against Cody Rhodes, on Night 2 of WrestleMania officially records him headlining 9 WrestleMania main events. Reigns and Rhodes also makes a record as the only two men to main event two nights of the same WrestleMania.
Reigns has very easily surpassed the record of legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan, who has had the record for headlining 8 main events. Reigns’ journey to WrestleMania main events started in 2015 with WrestleMania 31, where he headlined the event against Brock Lesnar, followed by him headlining against Triple H and winning the WWE title in 2016.
At WrestleMania 33, Reigns went up against The Undertaker and became the second wrestler to defeat the professional wrestler at WrestleMania after Brock Lesnar. The professional wrestler went up against Lesnar again the following year, but Lesnar managed to regain his championship. He returned the next year going up against Edge and Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 37. At WrestleMania 38, once again, Reigns went up against Brock Lesnar, finally defeating the wrestler to unify both championship titles.
At WrestleMania 39, the wrestler was up against Cody Rhodes and regained the title, which followed the current WrestleMania 40, where Reigns teamed up with The Rock to defeat Rhodes and Seth Rollins in a tag team match. Reigns and Rhodes went up against each other for one final fight, and despite the match being played according to Bloodline Rules, Rhodes was finally able to ‘finish the story’. Cody Rhodes now holds the title of WWE Undisputed Universal Champion.
Reigns has an 8-3 win-loss record on the grand stage, and there is no doubt that he is regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of WWE. It has been reported that it’s a record that is hard for WWE Superstars, including The Rock and John Cena, to break, as they have a record of headlining 5 main events in their respective careers.
CM Punk talks about Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s return to the ring
WWE fans were thrilled to witness The Rock’s return to the ring with Roman Reigns against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins for a tag team match. According to TJR Wrestling, The Rock’s return has seen his longest prolonged spell on WWE television in over a decade. The Rock’s feud with CM Punk following the former defeating Punk at Royal Rumble 2013 has been evident over the years.
But when CM Punk was asked about The Rock’s return to the ring during his conversation with ESPN post-show, he only had nice things to say about the latter. He said,
“I thought he looked great. As being somebody who wrestled him ten years ago, the same questions were lobbied around. Everyone wanted to know what he was going to look like, how his wind was going to be.”
The professional wrestler continued to share that there is a giant difference between a tag match and coming back to wrestle the champion. He noted that he believed that The Rock did well and looked really good, pointing out that he won the match.
CM Punk took the seat at the commentary table for the World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. He suffered a triceps injury following his match against McIntyre at the 2024 Royal Rumble, which forced him to take a seat at the commentary table.
WrestleMania 40 can be streamed on Peakcock.
