SUMMARY
- WrestleMania 40 is officially half done, as Saturday's show is now in the history books.
- Night 1 of the event was a spectacular one, but it also had a lot of botches.
WrestleMania 40’s Saturday show is now in the history books, and it was a night filled with a lot of memorable moments from start to finish. The first night of the event ended with The Bloodline standing tall by winning the main event, and it was something that has left them even more excited for Sunday’s show in Philadelphia.
Alongside all the good things that happened on the show, some forgettable moments also took place, especially the botches. Amid the fast pace of the event, a lot of fans might have missed them, so let’s look at 5 insanely ridiculous botches you might have missed during night 1 of The Showcase of the Immortals.
Damian Priest botched a major spot at WrestleMania 40
The first moment on this list of five insanely ridiculous botches you might have missed during WrestleMania 40 is from the Undisputed Tag Team titles match. Being only the second match of the night, the WWE Universe was pretty hot for this 6-way ladder match, and it had several memorable spots throughout the match.
But the incident that stood out from the encounter in a bad way was when Damian Priest botched a major spot in this match at WrestleMania XL. This happened when the MITB briefcase holder was already on the ladder to pull down the titles, but The Miz climbed up to stop him and started attacking him.
Was that a Priest botch?? Feels like a chokeslam fail.#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/YAt5RMxrEy
— Samir | WWE fan (@SamirParvez) April 7, 2024
The A-lister’s attack forced Damian to go down a few steps, but he again climbed up and put his right hand on Miz to give a Chokeslam. But Priest wasn’t successful in delivering it, as the ladder was broken from one side, and that’s how Damian’s attempt to take out the veteran ended up becoming a botched spot that’ll surely go down as a missed opportunity by The Judgment Day star at WrestleMania XL.
Rey Mysterio botches a fist bump
The first night of WrestleMania XL was a great day for WWE fans, and the legendary Rey Mysterio also had a similar experience on the show. The wrestler won his tag team match against Dominik Mysterio and Santos Escobar, but even before it started, Rey botched a fist bump. This botch took place during LWO’s entrance before the match, as they accompanied the 49-year-old in-ring star for his match against the heels.
During his entrance, The Master of the 619 gave a fist bump to his tag team partner, Andrade El Idolo, and then turned his attention towards other members of the faction. But when Mysterio was about to do so with Zelina Vega, Andrade came in the way, and did another fist bump with The Giant Killer, which seemed awkward.
Even after this, Rey was still able to do a fist bump with Zelina, as he eventually executed the plan. But as the second bump with El Idolo was probably not what Rey Mysterio was trying to do, it was a botch, however, as it was something that not many might have noticed due to the fast pace of the WrestleMania 40 event.
Sami Zayn’s victory was the result of a botched move
As the night went further, the occurrence of botches continued, and the classic match between Sami Zayn and Gunther was also affected by it. The result of the match was something not many expected to happen, as the Canadian-born performer was able to come out victorious.
In fact, The Underdog from the Underground’s victory was the result of a botched move, as the brainbuster wasn’t executed that well by the fan-favorite star. Due to this underwhelming finish, a lot of fans have been pointing out the botched spot across social platforms.
An absolute botch led to Gunther’s reign coming to an end. Brutal. #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/Kv7OrwCEu6
— Rob Schiff WKBT (Trust me) (@robschiff316) April 7, 2024
While it’s true, the WWE Universe has been left shocked by Sami’s victory, as no one really expected Zayn to dethrone The Ring General from his historic title run as the Intercontinental Champion. But as it was the plan of the Triple H-led promotion, its execution could have been better, and in that way, the ending could have been way more impactful than it actually was.
Seth Rollins forgot to pin Roman Reigns
This is one botch that not many might have noticed because of the masterclass the main event encounter was, but even this match wasn’t able to save itself from having a botch. Considered to be the biggest tag team match in history, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Dwayne Johnson, and Seth Rollins gave it their all in this high-profile match at WrestleMania 40.
But despite the brilliant performances all four participants gave, there was a botch during the bout, as The Visionary forgot to pin The Tribal Chief. This spot took place after Cody and Seth took over control of the match and gained momentum. As The Rock was taken out at that moment, they continued their attack on Reigns and delivered several moves on him.
ROMAN KICKS OUT #WrestleManiaXL #WrestleManiapic.twitter.com/ZQRp8UH7RV
— Regina (@MediCule_) April 7, 2024
After Rhodes, Rollins took centre stage, as he was the legal participant, and landed a splash on The Bloodline Leader from the top of the rope. But after landing on The Head of the Table, his former Shield teammate took a momentary pause before going for the pin on his opponent, and it resulted in Roman Reigns kicking out despite being beat down viciously.
As the encounter involved several major spots for the storyline progression, Seth potentially forgot that he had to go for the pin, and that’s probably how this botch happened. But on the other hand, it’s also true that such moments take down the brilliance of the matches and leave a bad taste in the minds of the WWE Universe.
The Rock’s botches in the main event and other such spots from WrestleMania 40
Seth Rollins’ botch wasn’t the only forgettable spot that occurred in the tag match, as Dwayne Johnson had several botches in the main event. In one such moment from the high-profile encounter, The Rock hit his own head on the side, and it looked bad to people watching WrestleMania 40 from across the world.
Rock botch #Wrestlemania pic.twitter.com/2h8fEzZJhE
— Shockmastersheetrock (@Shockmaster81) April 7, 2024
In addition to this, Dwayne’s in-ring work during the match against Cody and Rollins was a bit rusty, and it was clearly visible how he’s been away from action for a long time. Amid the other botched spots that took place on the show, fans called out WWE for such moments and showed their disappointment across social platforms.
Pointing out how the botches have taken a huge toll on the overall success of the Saturday show, an audience member wrote, “Not the best of nights execution wise.” “A lot of botches in the main event of wrestlemania lol,” someone said about the high-profile tag team match. “Bro what the hell is this,” an X user commented to express his disappointment over the show.
Such comments from the pro wrestling community show how the special event was filled with botches throughout the night. It’s important to point out that such things happen, but it’ll be interesting to see how well the Triple H-led promotion fare on Sunday, as they look to end WrestleMania XL on a high to make it one of the most memorable editions of The Grandest Stage of them All.