Drew McIntyre Defeats Seth Rollins for World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL

In the opening bout of Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, "The Scottish Warrior" Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Match coverage courtesy of Matt Boone of Rajah.com:

WWE World Heavyweight Championship (CM Punk On Commentary)
Seth "Freakin'" Rollins (C) vs. Drew McIntyre

We see CM Punk in a suit with his arm-brace on standing behind the curtain at Gorilla position as the opening notes for his Cult of Personality theme song hitting. He walks through the curtain and begins heading down the long entrance ramp to join Michael Cole, Pat McAfee and Corey Graves on commentary for our opening contest. Redmond wraps up the Countdown to WrestleMania Sunday pre-show.

Michael Cole welcomes us back inside Lincoln Financial Field after the new Triple H-narrated "WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together." opening signature airs to officially start the main show portion of night two of WrestleMania XL. We head to the cold open video package featuring Philadelphia hip-hop star Meek Mill.

After that wraps up, we return live inside the stadium as Cole officially welcomes us to night two of WrestleMania XL. We see live shots backstage of Drew McIntyre and Seth "Freakin'" Rollins in their ring gear getting ready to come out. We see a large bagpipe band come out to perform. This leads directly into a bunch of men with swords on each side of the long entrance ramp.

They touch swords in the middle as the music transitions to Drew McIntyre's theme. He makes his way out for his big title opportunity in our opener. As he settles in the ring, Punk on commentary mentions how McIntyre has a pipe band, but it's okay because he's got a pipe bomb. Cole then sends things over to the Spanish commentary team for their brief on-camera cameo to introduce themselves.

Back to Cole, who jokes about the internet ragging on him for multiple weather updates during the cold night one show. He says thankfully tonight isn't as cold. Now we see an enormous band with accordians and horns and banjos in the most colorful, ridiculous-looking outfits you've ever seen playing the theme for Seth "Freakin'" Rollins live at the top of the stage.

This shifts to "BURN IT DOWN!" and the traditional theme plays on the house speakers as the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion emerges in an outlandish fancy outfit that would make the late "Macho Man" Randy Savage and living legend Ric Flair blush. Rollins leads the enormous Philly-based band that played the opening of his entrance tune down the massive entrance ramp.

Punk jokes about not even knowing what to do with what he is seeing right now. It is big enough that as goofy as it might seem on the surface, it definitely feels like a moment that will stay in the memories of fans for years to come, good or bad. The two super-elaborate ring entrances wrap up. Samantha Irvin handles the final formal pre-match ring introductions and then the bell sounds to get our first match started.

As soon as the bell sounds, Drew sprints across the ring and immediately blasts Rollins with a Claymore Kick that lands flush. He immediately covers him and hooks the leg, but Rollins kicks out at two-and-a-half as the crowd gasps. Punk says he hates to admit it, but that was smart by McIntyre. Cole points out that Rollins is being smart now too, as he rolls out of the ring to recover. Drew heads out after him.

We see the action continue at ringside between these two as Rollins starts to take over. The commentators talk about how Rollins is heavily taped up on his back and is said to be very much beat up after his tag-team main event alongside Cody Rhodes against The Rock and Roman Reigns in last night's night one tag-team main event. Back in the ring, Rollins hits a Stomp for a close near fall of his own.

Rollins connects with a Pedigree and another Stomp moments later and he goes for the cover. McIntyre kicks out at two. The commentators start to ponder what Seth is going to have to do to finish off "The Scottish Warrior," who Punk accidentally calls "The Irish Psychopath" on commentary before catching his mistake and correcting it.

McIntyre starts to fight back, but things head out to the floor at ringside where Seth takes over again. McIntyre recovers and lays out Seth and then mocks CM Punk's "GTS" gesture before clearing off the commentary desk. Rollins fights back and hits a big Stomp to Drew on the desk. Back in the ring, McIntyre takes over again and connects with a Claymore Kick. He hits some more trademark spots and then another Claymore Kick earns him the three-count.

Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Drew McIntyre

CLAYMORE as soon as the bell rings!#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/Wf1ebHuikZ

— WWE (@WWE) April 7, 2024

 

MCINTYRE! MCINTYRE! MCINTYRE!!!!#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/blzSP0PdP7

— WWE (@WWE) April 7, 2024

⚡ WWE WrestleMania XL Night 2 Results (04/07/2024)

The following are the results of Night 2 of WWE WrestleMania XL, courtesy of Matt Boone of Rajah.com: Stephanie McMahon-Levesque Kicks [...]

— Caylon Knox Apr 07, 2024 07:16PM