WrestleMania 42 Saturday Review: Ads, Celebrities, and a Confounding Finish

There have been amazing endings to a WrestleMania show.

There have been boring finishes. Terrible finishes. Chaotic finishes.

But Saturday’s close to WrestleMania 42 night one might be the most confusing in the spectacle’s long history.

The night ended with Randy Orton turning against Pat McAfee, losing to a villanous-kinda-maybe Cody Rhodes, Jelly Roll teleporting like The Undertaker, and then finishing it all with Orton punting a downed Rhodes to close the night.

Who is the good guy? Who are we supposed to cheer for? What was the whole overarching storyline with TKO supposed to tell us?

Will McAfee now never be on WWE television again after promising that he’d leave if Orton didn’t win the WWE title?

It was a confounding end to a night filled with ads, sponsorships, and commercials, intermixed with celebrity cameos and shout-outs, with some pro wrestling snuck in.

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Unlike previous WrestleMania nights booked under Triple H, there was no classic match that will be remembered for years to come by wrestling fans. Gunther vs. Seth Rollins came the closest, but even that was used as a vehicle to continue the Rollins vs. Bron Breakker feud with a run-in finish.

All the women’s matches were notably under 10 minutes, with the women’s world title match between Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgon lasting just over 6 minutes.

It was a baffling show where, every time you thought it might turn the corner, a new advertisement would hit you, or a match would be over before it hit its next gear.

And in the end, where a main event can save a bad show, it only added to the baffling nature of everything else that had occurred on the night.

Cody Rhodes is still the world champion, but he might be evil? But he got taken out by Orton, so maybe they’ll strip him of the title due to injury?

A good WrestleMania leaves you satisfied. A great WrestleMania leaves you wanting to know what’s going to happen next.

So far, WrestleMania 42 has left me scratching my head, and not in the way that makes me want to tune into weekly television to find out.

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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 7:28 PM.