For the third year in a row, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin coming out of retirement to the return of Cody Rhodes and a winner-take-all main event for both world championships, the "Showcase of the Immortals" provided hours of entertainment in a way that only WWE can.
WrestleMania 38 took over AT&T Stadium and the greater Dallas, TX area for several days including and leading up to the big two-day event. WrestleMania Saturday was headlined by The KO Show, a talk show segment hosted by Kevin Owens that turned into an impromptu match against one of wrestling's all-time greats: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The show also featured two big women's championship bouts, and Cody Rhodes' first WWE match since he left the company in 2016. WrestleMania Sunday was headlined for the third time by Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, as the two waged war to decide the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
While celebrities have been a part of the WrestleMania spectacle ever since the event's conception in 1985, this year's event featured three actual matches involving celebrities and non-wrestling personalities in action. What's more, to the surprise of virtually everyone, each of these matches were wildly popular with fans and ended up being some of the most entertaining performances of the whole weekend. From former NFL punter Pat McAfee electrifying Dallas to the Jackass crew and the ever-controversial Logan Paul stepping into the ring, WrestleMania 38 was can't-miss for all the right reasons. Here's a full breakdown of every single WrestleMania 38 match, ranked worst to best.
16. Mr. McMahon defeated Pat McAfee
Clocking in at just 3 minutes and 45 seconds, this was the second shortest match of WrestleMania 38 weekend—and arguably should have been much shorter. This bonus content came after former NFL punter Pat McAfee's all-star performance and victory against Mr. McMahon's hand-picked protégé, Austin Theory. Essentially an elongated 2-on-1 beatdown, this "match" was an excuse for 76-year-old Vince McMahon to finally get a WrestleMania win. In execution, McAfee seemed to have a little too much fight left in him from beating Theory, before taking a few weak clotheslines from the boss and eating the pin—although to be fair, he also had his groin rammed into the ring post.
At best this felt obligatory, and at worst it completely invalidated a highly entertaining win that McAfee earned just moments prior. The good news is, McAfee is primarily a color commentator, and taking an "L" really doesn't mean anything long-term. Getting rid of this short match entirely, or having Theory brutally attack McAfee with a chair to make McMahon's win more believable may have helped the show flow better overall. Thankfully, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin capping this all off with a series of stunners and copious amounts of beer made it all worth it, giving fans one more special moment between WWE's greatest adversaries.
15. Sheamus & Ridge Holland defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)
These four really got the short end of the stick. Their match was pulled from WrestleMania Saturday entirely, despite the show featuring a troubling number of recaps, ments and video packages for night two. When it aired on WrestleMania Sunday, they were given less than two minutes after entrances for what was basically your average TV segment. All four did their best to elevate the performance given the special occasion, with Kofi hitting Trouble in Paradise right out of the gates, and Sheamus promptly Brogue Kicking him out of the air. The match started well enough and seemed to have potential, but interference from the absurdly renamed Butch (fka Pete Dunne) led to a quick win for the villains. Largely a waste of two former world champions and the most popular WWE tag team of the last decade on the big stage. At least the new guy got a win.
14. Smackdown Tag Team Champions Jimmy & Jey Uso defeated Rick Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura
This was on track to be a good tag team match, but an unfortunately all-too-real injury quickly forced them to call an audible in the very first match of WrestleMania Saturday. Shinsuke Nakamura kicked things off with some explosive offense, and Rick Boogs got a good reaction from an impressive lunging vertical suplex. Shortly after The Usos began to dominate the action, Boogs attempted to scoop up both brothers and blew out his knee. Nakamura tried to salvage what he could on his own, but with the extent of Boogs' injury unknown, the decision was made to quickly finish the match and keep the titles on The Usos.
13. Bobby Lashley defeated Omos
Omos is billed at 7-foot-3 weighing around 400 pounds. While WWE is famous for exaggerating these kinds of details, it was genuinely frightening watching this giant of a man toss around Bobby Lashley—a nearly 300-pound heavyweight in his own right—like it was nothing. While his offense is certainly not pretty, Omos doesn't need to do very much to look effective; dropping someone from 10 feet in the air generally gets the trick done. This felt like the kind of spectacle that would have ruled in the late 80s/early 90s era of WrestleMania, but that doesn't mean there wasn't fun to be had in 2022. The crowd was into Lashley as he attempted to chip down the big man, and at under 7 minutes, the match thankfully didn't overstay its welcome.
12. Smackdown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair defeated Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey has been a polarizing figure for wrestling fans since her arrival in WWE, and unfortunately, her recent stretch since returning at the 2022 Royal Rumble has done very little to change hearts and minds. Ronda is a judo expert so there are certain things she can do really, really well. There are flashes of brilliance and moments where her performance syncs up with what the fans are feeling—like when she got too cocky and Charlotte speared her into next week, or when she grapevined an ankle lock on the champion and the crowd went wild for it—but also far too many times where Ronda's moves were just moves, lacking the emotional cohesion of a great wrestling match. It started well and ended... fine, but this was a far cry from their Survivor Series 2018 match and struggled to retain people's attention.
11. Drew McIntyre defeated Happy Corbin
For a program based around Happy Corbin stealing Drew McIntyre's sword and mocking his dead mother, this match was only a mildly elevated version of just about every TV singles match on Raw and Smackdown. McIntyre did pull off his impressive summersault dive over the top rope, and became the first person to ever kick out of Corbin's finishing move, the End of Days, but those were the key highlights in an otherwise unspectacular affair. Outside of some polite boos for Corbin, the crowd didn't really engage until the aforementioned kick-out, which came right before the end. This was fine, and nothing more.
10. Johnny Knoxville defeated Sami Zayn
While the furthest thing from a great, technical professional wrestling match, this real-life version of Mouse Trap was far more entertaining than it had any right to be. Johnny Knoxville and the whole Jackass crew came prepared—and not just with the myriad of bizarre contraptions and ready-made weapons they'd hidden around ringside. The wholly unhinged Sami Zayn played the perfect Tom Cat to Knoxville's Jerry Mouse, and the crowd, somewhat surprisingly, loved every minute of it. Dozens of past WWE celebrity guests will tell you, that is far from a guarantee. Stunts included a fire extinguisher, trash can lids as symbols, a stop sign, a table covered in mouse traps, a bowling ball, a giant spring-loaded hand, grill tongs, a live taser and a man-sized mouse trap. celebrity appearances in WWE WrestleMania history.
9. Naomi & Sasha Banks Win The WWE Women's Tag Team Titles
Clocking in just shy of 11 minutes, this four-way tag team match was a non-stop tornado of action. Sasha Banks and Liv Morgan were arguably the biggest standouts, with some great exchanges between the two early on. The big difference between this and the men's triple threat tag match earlier in the show is a lack of cohesion between some of the teams. WWE's lack of consistency with their women's tag teams leads to these kinds of matches being a flurry of moves that begin to blend together after a while, whereas more established teams like the Street Profits and even RK-Bro are able to develop recognizable patterns that help organize the chaos and keep viewers engaged. For example, within 24 hours of this match WWE split up Zelina Vega and Carmella, the former champions, and teased Rhea Ripley turning on Liv Morgan. That's not to say it wasn't a good match—all eight women worked hard and included a few spots to take things to that WrestleMania level, including a double Tower of Doom spot. The really good news is that after six consecutive years of coming up short on the Grandest Stage of Them All, "The Boss" finally got a big victory at WrestleMania.
8. Edge defeated AJ Styles
When a potential dream match like Edge vs. AJ Styles is met with 20+ minutes of polite tolerance from an otherwise energized WrestleMania crowd, it may be time to reexamine a few things. These two veterans of the craft did all the right things, played all the right cards, and had, technically, a very good pro-wrestling match. They had a great opening stretch, created weaknesses that were exploited frequently throughout the match to create additional drama, and really leaned hard on these story beats as the action came to its conclusion. Styles at one point even popped his shoulder back in to play up an injury sustained in their first encounter back at the 2020 Royal Rumble, showing just how smart a villain Edge really is in the ring. Unfortunately, the Dallas crowd largely sat on their hands and seemingly had little interest in the meal the Superstars were serving up. Part of the problem—other than going to phase two and slowing things down far too early and parking it there—may be that fans aren't connecting with Edge's frequently over-the-top character work since coming back. His in-ring psychology is still second to very few, but that has little to do with the long, rambling nonsensical promos he frequently delivers from dark rooms.
7. Pat McAfee defeated Austin Theory
It feels wrong to rank this above the long-awaited singles collision of Edge and AJ Styles, but at the end of the day, the reaction from the crowd will tell you everything you need to know. For one night, former NFL punter Pat McAfee appeared to be the biggest star in WWE, strutting down the aisle surrounded by Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders as 70,000+ chanted along with The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army". Sports entertainment is all about how you present it, and although he's not a full-time wrestler (with only two WWE matches under his belt before this) McAfee's uncanny ability to make things work has more to do with his commitment to the bit than anything else. Austin Theory is a very charismatic young star who had the often thankless job of playing the obnoxious villain, but McAfee earned every bit of the monstrous reaction he received at AT&T Stadium during WrestleMania Sunday. Not including some of the awkward bits after the bell rang, from beginning to end this segment was one of the highlights of the whole weekend, and everyone involved should be incredibly proud.
