WrestleMania 42 Night 1 is in the books from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, and Randy Orton stood tall holding Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship over his head — the belt he couldn’t win, but the message he wanted to send. Cody retained. Pat McAfee ate an RKO from his own guy and is gone from the wrestling business per the stipulation. Three women’s titles changed hands. Paige returned after more than eight years away. Bron Breakker reemerged from his hernia-surgery layoff to spear Seth Rollins in half. And Bianca Belair announced a pregnancy.
Quick Results
- LA Knight & The Usos def. The Vision (Logan Paul, Austin Theory & IShowSpeed)
- Jacob Fatu def. Drew McIntyre (Unsanctioned Match)
- Paige & Brie Bella def. Nia Jax & Lash Legend (c), Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss, and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria to win the Women’s Tag Team Championship
- Becky Lynch def. AJ Lee (c) to win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship
- GUNTHER def. Seth Rollins (Bron Breakker returns)
- Liv Morgan def. Stephanie Vaquer (c) to win the Women’s World Championship
- Cody Rhodes (c) def. Randy Orton to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship
John Cena Opens WrestleMania 42
Host John Cena kicked off the show in a suit, delivering the opening address to the Allegiant Stadium crowd. Cena acknowledged that the road to WrestleMania 42 has been “chaotic, unpredictable, vocal and polarizing,” with fans, talent, and people behind the scenes all weighing in on the journey to Las Vegas. He welcomed everyone to WrestleMania, and pyro fired to officially launch Night 1.
It was Cena’s first televised WWE appearance since retiring from in-ring competition in December 2025.
Cena later returned to announce the Night 1 attendance at 50,816. That number bumped up to 50,817 when Bianca Belair made a surprise appearance in a robe of sparkly blue roses, told Cena she had one more to add to the count, and opened her robe to reveal a baby bump. Belair has been out of action since last year’s WrestleMania three-way with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky.
LA Knight & The Usos def. The Vision (Logan Paul, Austin Theory & IShowSpeed)
LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso opened WrestleMania 42 with a win over The Vision’s Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed, but the real story came after the bell.
Logan Paul turned on IShowSpeed the moment the match ended, screaming that Speed had one job and ruined WrestleMania for him and Austin Theory. Paul threw Speed out of the ring, cleared off the announce table, and laid Speed’s lifeless body across it while calling him a moron.
Paul climbed to the top rope and lined up a dive through the table, but The Usos and LA Knight stormed back out to stop him and laid Paul out with a beatdown of their own.
Knight and The Usos hoisted Paul onto the announce table and waved Speed to the top rope. Speed climbed up, measured his shot, and came off with a picture-perfect frog splash that destroyed the table and Paul in the process. LA Knight and The Usos congratulated Speed, walked him back into the ring, and the four celebrated together with a group Yeet as the Allegiant Stadium crowd erupted.
Jacob Fatu def. Drew McIntyre (Unsanctioned Match)
An absolute war. Jacob Fatu made his entrance flanked by fire dancers, while Drew McIntyre brought back his signature sword for the walk to the ring. Fatu didn’t wait — he hit McIntyre with a suicide dive before the bell rang to set the tone for a fight that had no rules and no one with authority to stop it.
What followed was a showcase of two hard-hitting brawlers trading shots through multiple table spots and an assortment of weapons, including a toolbox that came into play as the violence escalated. McIntyre also found time for his signature WrestleMania spot, firing off a tweet in the middle of the match.
Fatu landed consecutive superkicks and a Mighty Moonsault to put McIntyre away at 14:09, sending Allegiant Stadium home from the opening hour with a statement victory over a multi-time world champion.
Paige Returns, Wins Women’s Tag Team Championship With Brie Bella
Nia Jax and Lash Legend entered first in gear paying tribute to Demolition’s Ax and Smash, who were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame the night before and seated at ringside. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss and Bayley & Lyra Valkyria followed, and then Nikki Bella came out on crutches alongside Brie. Nikki told the crowd she wasn’t medically cleared, so she’d called in a favor from an old friend.
Paige was back. Making her first WWE appearance in-ring since the December 2017 neck injury that was believed to be career-ending, the former Divas Champion walked to the WrestleMania ring to a massive reaction from Allegiant Stadium.
The match worked under a fatal four-way tag structure, with only designated competitors legal and tags required to rotate partners in. Brie connected with her signature Yes Kicks on Flair early, and the bout built toward Alexa Bliss lining up a Twisted Bliss for what looked like the winning pin.
That’s when Nikki got involved. Still on crutches, she yanked Flair out of the ring and went to work on her, giving Paige just enough time to raise her knees and catch Bliss on the way down. Paige followed with the Rampage on Bliss for the three count, claiming the Women’s Tag Team Championship in her first WWE match in more than eight years and her first singles or tag championship win since the AEW Women’s Championship in 2023.
Paige and Brie Bella are your new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Becky Lynch def. AJ Lee to Win the Women’s Intercontinental Championship
This was the entrance show. Becky Lynch had The Wonder Years perform her entrance live. AJ Lee walked out flanked by roughly a dozen young fans all wearing matching gear and carrying replica title belts — her first WrestleMania appearance in eleven years, her last being WrestleMania 31 in a tag match alongside Paige, of all people, against the Bella Twins.
Lynch came in with a lot to avenge. She tapped to the Black Widow at WrestlePalooza, at Survivor Series WarGames, and at Elimination Chamber, where she lost the Women’s Intercontinental title to AJ for the first time. Three prior Lee wins. WrestleMania was Becky’s chance to flip the ledger, and she took it.
Becky Lynch is a three-time Women’s Intercontinental Champion. The head-to-head singles record between the two is now 1-1 on titles, with AJ still leading the overall head-to-head 3-1 when tag and multi-woman matches are factored in.
GUNTHER def. Seth Rollins (Bron Breakker Returns)
Rollins walked to the ring wearing black contacts that turned his eyes fully dark — equal parts creepy and cool, and a callback to the headspace he’s been in heading into this match. GUNTHER wasted no time and jumped him before the bell, turning what fans expected to be a technical wrestling match into a ringside brawl from the opening seconds.
Once the pace settled, the Ring General took over with trademark chops, slowing Rollins down in the center of the ring. A Buckle Bomb and clothesline from Rollins reset things at the five-minute mark, and the two started trading chops and strikes. GUNTHER answered with a powerbomb and a close near-fall to shift momentum back his way.
The match hit its highest gear with both men on the top rope. Rollins countered a superplex attempt and drilled GUNTHER with his signature superplex/Falcon Arrow combination, then locked in his own sleeper. GUNTHER reached the ropes to break it, rolled outside, and Rollins followed with three suicide dives. GUNTHER caught him with two powerbombs onto the apron and announce table. When the Ring General went for a third, Rollins countered into a Pedigree and a Curb Stomp through the announce table.
That’s when WrestleMania flipped. As Rollins celebrated, Bron Breakker’s music hit, the lights exploded, and the man supposedly out of action with a hernia injury charged the ring and speared Rollins in half. GUNTHER rolled back in, locked in the sleeper on the dazed Visionary, and Rollins passed out cold. GUNTHER takes WrestleMania at 15:48.
Breakker wasn’t done. After the match, he ran the length of the ramp and speared Rollins again, then told him he should have finished him off when he had the chance. Paul Heyman walked out to the top of the ramp and hugged Breakker — making official what the spear already signaled. Breakker is aligned with Heyman and The Vision, and Rollins paid the price.
The WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2026 was then shown on stage, including Demolition, Dennis Rodman, and family members representing Bad News Brown, Hulk Hogan (joined by longtime friend Jimmy Hart), Andre the Giant, and Sid Vicious. AJ Styles and Stephanie McMahon came out to their own music to round out the segment.
Liv Morgan def. Stephanie Vaquer to Win the Women’s World Championship
Liv Morgan made her entrance with a full stage performance of her new single “Trouble,” lip-synced with backup dancers before heading to the ring still sporting the bruises from her recent collision with Roxanne Perez. Stephanie Vaquer followed with rose petals raining down as she hit the ramp. It was Vaquer’s first WrestleMania match.
Vaquer took the early lead with a double-leg takedown into a striking exchange, sending Morgan into the barricade before hitting a running double knee strike in the corner. Morgan fired back by countering Vaquer on the turnbuckle with a springboard sunset flip powerbomb for a near-fall, then ran through the Three Amigas in tribute to Eddie Guerrero.
Vaquer connected with a backbreaker and, in the night’s biggest spot, hit Morgan with Morgan’s own ObLIVion. Morgan kicked out. The Judgment Day numbers game went to work from there: Roxanne Perez distracted the referee while Raquel Rodriguez draped Vaquer across the ropes, letting Morgan connect with an ObLIVion. Vaquer kicked out again, took Perez and Rodriguez out on the floor with a springboard crossbody, and looked primed to retain.
Morgan caught her on the way back in with the steel steps, then connected with a Codebreaker followed by ObLIVion for the pin at 6:50. “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio ran down with the championship and hoisted Morgan up as Perez and Rodriguez joined them in the ring to celebrate.
Morgan is now a three-time Women’s World Champion, completing the Rumble-to-Mania run she mapped out when she returned at Survivor Series last November. Vaquer’s reign ended at 211 days.
Main Event: Cody Rhodes def. Randy Orton to Retain the Undisputed WWE Championship
Pat McAfee walked out first, flipping off the crowd and cursing at fans on his way down. Orton followed to the usual “Voices” singalong from an Allegiant Stadium crowd that hasn’t fully turned on him. Rhodes’ entrance rolled a montage of every gimmick he’s worn in WWE, including Dashing Cody Rhodes and Stardust, before the American Nightmare rose from under the ramp decked out in all gold and an American Nightmare mask.
The match couldn’t start clean. As Alicia Taylor handled introductions, McAfee grabbed the mic to introduce Orton himself, then he and Orton jumped Rhodes before the bell. Cody fought both men off, and as McAfee scrambled, Jelly Roll appeared at ringside and drove McAfee through the announce table with an elbow drop. A stretcher wheeled McAfee away from ringside, removing Orton’s corner guy before the bell even rang — or so it seemed.
Once the bell rang, Orton and Rhodes locked up in a classic collar-and-elbow. Orton won the opening exchange with shoulder tackles to establish his power advantage. Rhodes answered with speed and counters, capping the flurry with a scoop powerslam. He picked Orton’s back apart with a sidewalk slam and a Disaster Kick, and at one point wiped Orton’s blood across his own chest — a glimpse of a darker Cody than the American Nightmare fans are used to. Throughout the match, Rhodes leaned on underhanded tactics that felt new for WWE’s top babyface: an eye poke, a low blow, a willingness to target Orton’s open wound with punches and kicks after Orton was busted open on the ring post.
Orton hung in and answered with vintage offense: a superplex, clotheslines, a scoop powerslam, and his own draping DDT. Every RKO tease got countered. Rhodes hit a backslide, then shocked Orton by hitting him with his own RKO. Orton kicked out at two. Cody mocked the RKO setup; Orton caught him with a CrossRhodes for a near-fall. Rhodes lined up the triple CrossRhodes, and Orton snapped back into an RKO out of nowhere — another close two. Orton even hit referee Charles Robinson with an RKO at one point during the scramble.
And then McAfee was back. After being stretchered out, he returned as a replacement referee with the match continuing to spiral. That set up the finish everyone will be talking about for weeks. After a Rhodes kickout, McAfee ordered Orton to finish Cody off. Orton stood up, turned, stalked McAfee instead, and hit the mystery-caller with an RKO. With Orton distracted and McAfee down, Rhodes hit CrossRhodes for the pin at 22:40. Cody Rhodes retained the Undisputed WWE Championship. Per the match stipulation, Pat McAfee is now banned from the wrestling business forever.
But this wasn’t a celebration. As the bell rang, Orton got back to his feet, stole the title belt from Rhodes, and cracked Cody in the skull with it. He followed up with the Punt Kick to put Cody down for real and held the Undisputed WWE Championship over his head as the show went off the air. Orton didn’t win the title. He used his own RKO to clear out the version of himself that was embarrassing him, and then sent a message to Cody about what’s next.
Cody walks out of Night 1 still Undisputed Champion. Orton walks out still chasing his 15th world title, fully turned, and fully alone. This rivalry isn’t over.
What’s Next
WrestleMania 42 Night 2 streams live Sunday, April 19 at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT from Allegiant Stadium, headlined by CM Punk defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. Also on the card: Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi, Jade Cargill defending the WWE Women’s Championship against Rhea Ripley, Sami Zayn defending the United States Championship, and a six-way Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match. Stay tuned to SEScoops for Night 1 fallout and Night 2 live coverage.
How to Watch
- Date/Time: Saturday, April 18, 2026, 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT
- Venue: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas (attendance: 50,816)
- United States: ESPN (first hour also on ESPN2)
- International: Netflix
