Cody Rhodes DEFEATS Roman Reigns for Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania XL

In the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes defeated "The Tribal Chief" Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, finally putting an end to Roman's legendary and historic championship title reign.

Match results courtesy of Matt Boone of Rajah.com:

WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship (Bloodline Rules)
Roman Reigns (C) vs. Cody Rhodes II

It's main event time!

Once the post-match commercial break after Bayley-IYO SKY wraps up, we return inside Lincoln Financial Field where Michael Cole introduces the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, who are with hip-hop legend and WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg in the ring. Snoop announces an attendance of 72,755 for night two of WrestleMania XL, bringing the two-day total to 145,298.

Cole, McAfee and Graves run down many of the celebrities in the house, who are shown on-camera in cameo appearances in the crowd. Among them are George Kittle, T-Pain and many others. After this, we head into the pre-match video package to tell the story leading up to tonight's night two main event.

Tonight, we find out if, in fact, Cody Rhodes can finally "finish the story" on, of all places, "The Grandest Stage of Them All." The pre-match package wraps up and we return inside the stadium. The lights go down and fire pyro starts shooting out of the top of the entrance stage. Out comes "The American Nightmare" with a bad ass mask/helmet on.

Rhodes is greeted by his beautiful bride, Brandi Rhodes, who gets a big pop from the crowd. She takes his mask/helmet off and then the two embrace before the leader of the "Cody Crybabies" makes his way down the massive entrance ramp to try and "finish his story" once and for all in his second WrestleMania night two main event in two consecutive years.

An image of Cody with Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho in an arena before an AEW show is among those that appeared in a montage during the build-up to the main event this evening. Social media is all over that one, I'm sure. An enormous orchestra comes out to the top of the entrance stage to begin the start of Roman Reigns' theme, which they play live.

It makes this feel even bigger. They're doing almost everything perfect from the time the Bayley match ended until now with both guys in the ring, in terms of making this feel big and special. It couldn't be done much better. Now it's on Cody, Roman and the booking the company came up with to take the ball, already deep in the field, to the end zone for the game-winning score.

"The Tribal Chief" Roman Reigns emerges accompanied by "The Wise Man" of The Bloodline. As the two head to the ring past the orchestra playing the theme for "The Head of the Table" live on the stage and ramp, Michael Cole talks about how historic the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship reign for Roman Reigns has been. Feels like a eulogy for his title reign. We'll see!

Reigns and Heyman settle inside the squared circle and throw their 1's up as the orchestra finishes up the theme music for the reigning and defending champion. Samantha Irvin begins the formal pre-match ring introductions for this WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship showdown under Bloodline Rules. After she wraps up the introductions, the bell sounds and off we go.

The crowd couldn't be more on fire for this match as it is getting started. The two slowly close in on each other and go face-to-face in the middle of the ring as the already deafening crowd reaction and energy somehow gets considerably louder and more intense.

Reigns smiles real big as they stare each other down. The two back up and Cody yells let's go. He goes after Reigns and the two finally get this one started. Early on, Cody sends Reigns into the post and out to the floor. He heads out and pulls a table out from under the ring. Reigns kicks him to stop him and then he slides the table back under the ring as the crowd loudly boos.

A kendo stick enters the picture, as Reigns beats Cody down with the foreign object back inside the ring. Cody ends up fighting back and now he's got the stick. Cody goes to work on Reigns' leg. He slaps a figure-four leg lock on him in the middle of the ring. Reigns rakes the eyes to get himself free. He stumbles after getting up, showing that his leg has been softened up in the process.

Back out on the floor, Reigns continues to work over Cody with punishing offense. He says he's gonna miss doing this, as Cole explains on commentary how if Reigns wins tonight, it's the last time he'll have to deal with Cody. The fight spills out into the crowd, as Reigns takes Cody over the barricade and into the sea of tens of thousands of fans inside Lincoln Financial Field.

Out there we see the two fighting on an elevated platform, where Cody fights back into competitive form and hits a massive suplex. He takes Reigns back down to the barricade and throws him over. Cody stops and yells, "Hola boys!" into the headset of one of the Spanish commentators. He brings Reigns back in the ring and goes for a Disaster Kick, but Reigns stops him in mid-air and power bombs him down hard.

"I'ma send you to Hollywood with the rest of 'em, this is my company, b*tch!" says Reigns as he chokes Cody over the ring ropes. "Talk your sh*t, Roman!" says Pat McAfee in reaction to that on commentary. The Paul Levesque Era, folks! Reigns goes for a cover on Cody after a big move, but only gets two. He goes to work on Cody with submission work on the mat, taunting him all-the-while.

After some more back-and-forth action, we see things end up on the floor again, where Cody clears off the commentary desk. He goes to pick up Reigns, but Reigns low-blows him and puts him through the table. Back in the ring, he hits his finisher and goes for the cover, but Cody kicks out. Reigns hits Cody with his own Cross-Rhodes finisher, but again Cody kicks out.

Reigns laughs and says that moves sucks, he didn't think it would work. He says no one wins any matches with that move. He goes for his Superman Punch, but Cody avoids it and hits a disaster kick. He hits a Cody Cutter, but Reigns kicks out. Cody hits Reigs with his own Spear and covers him, but Reigns kicks out. Cody hits a Cross-Rhodes on Reigns and picks him up for a second one, but in comes Jimmy Uso with a super kick.

"Main Event" Jey Uso runs out to his theme music and fights with Jimmy. They fight up the ramp, where Jey spears Jimmy off the stage. Back in the ring, Cody rolls a distracted Reigns up, but Reigns kicks out. The two get back after it and as Cody takes over again, we see him hit a Cross-Rhodes. He holds on and picks Reigns up for a second one, but in comes Solo Sikoa with a Samoan Spike to Cody.

Solo pummels Cody on the mat and then picks a lifeless Cody up and yells at Roman to "finish his story." Reigns yells, "I know!" He backs in a corner as Solo holds Cody. He charges at him and connects with a Spear at the same time as Solo hits a Samoan Spike. He covers Cody, but somehow Cody kicks out after two. Solo and Reigns go back to work on Cody until the theme for John Cena hits.

"The Greatest of All-Time" runs down to the ring and takes out Solo Sikoa and brings him out to the floor where he hits him with an Attitude Adjustment that puts him through the Spanish commentary desk. From there, the sounds of The Rock's music hits and out comes "The Final Boss" to a massive crowd reaction. Cena rolls in the ring and stares as Rock makes his way down looking ready to handle business.

Rock and Cena slowly close in on each other as the crowd soaks it up. The fans chant "Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t!" Cena takes his shirt off for a big pop. Cena and Rock slowly get closer to each other and stare each other down. Cena does the "You can't see me" gesture and then Rock hits him with a Rock Bottom. Rock takes his weight belt off and gets ready to whip Cena until out of nowhere, the theme for The Shield hits. Rock looks around.

No one shows up as Rock looks around. Out of nowhere, we see Reigns run across the camera shot and connect with a Superman punch to someone off-camera. We see after it connects that it was Seth "Freakin'" Rollins in his old Shield gear. Rock looks at Cody crawling in the ring and says "C'mon boy!" just as we hear the iconic sounds of Undertaker's gong,. The lights go out.

When they come back on, we see The Rock in the ring with his weight belt talking trash while staring at the WrestleMania XL entrance stage. He slowly turns around and realizes The Undertaker, in street clothes, is standing behind him. The Rock turns around just as Undertaker grabs him by the throat and hits a choke slam. The gong hits again and the lights go out. When they come back on, Cody is laid out in the ring. Reigns is standing.

Reigns grabs a steel chair. He blasts Rollins with it again as Michael Cole talks about this being years in the making, with Reigns wanting revenge on Rollins for whacking him with a chair to end The Shield and turn on him. He blasts Rollins and turns around and sees Cody, who hits him with a Disaster Kick. Cody hits a Cross-Rhodes. He holds on and picks Reigns up and hits a second one. After another, Cody goes for the cover and gets the pin.

Ladies and gentlemen, "The American Nightmare" did it. He finished his story. WWE ring announcer Samantha Irvin is super emotional and crying, barely able to do her job of announcing Cody Rhodes as the winner and new WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion. It only added to the feel of it and made it better. We see an emotional Cody fall to his knees as he is handed the WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship.

His wife, Brandi Rhodes, slides in and shares the emotional moment with him. Out comes Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and others to the ring to join Cody Rhodes in his celebration. LA Knight, Randy Orton and others are also entering the ring to share the moment with Cody. The commentators talk us through highlighhts of the Uso to Uso spear off the stage, the surprise appearances by Seth Rollins, The Rock and The Undertaker.

Winner and NEW WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion: Cody Rhodes

THE CHAMP IS HERE!!!

It's payback time at #WrestleMania XL! pic.twitter.com/qWwkHtFp0Q

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

ROCK. CENA.
WRESTLEMANIA. pic.twitter.com/3OHIA3wRWS

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

SIERRA
HOTEL
INDIA
ECHO
LIMA
DELTA

WRESTLEMANIA pic.twitter.com/1lFRUqKbFA

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

UNDERTAKER!!!!!!#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/zUlo3bItZu

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING.#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/z6gwSwMNXH

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

FINISHED. THE. STORY. ❤️#CodyRhodes earned that #WrestleMania moment. pic.twitter.com/U5IAnBimgv

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2024

 

When you DO THE WORK, you go from UNDESIRABLE TO UNDENIABLE!#CodyRhodes rules at #WrestleMania XL! pic.twitter.com/5ZzUKCdD3y

— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 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