WWE WrestleMania 35 Results: Seth Rollins defeats Brock Lesnar – Seth Rollins has defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship in the opening WrestleMania match as WWE finally corrected the mistake that it made at WrestleMania 34.
At WWE’s flagship pay-per-view in 2018, “The Beast” defeated Roman Reigns in what was one of the most shocking match outcomes in recent WrestleMania history. The long-running plan, after all, was for Reigns to defeat Lesnar in the main event on the grandest stage of them all and cement himself as the official replacement for John Cena. Instead of Lesnar finally getting his comeuppance, Reigns lost a match he had long been heavily favored to win, and when Reigns finally did defeat Lesnar four months later at SummerSlam, his victory didn’t have nearly the impact it should have had.
At WrestleMania 35, Seth Rollins didn’t have to feel Reigns’ pain.
Lesnar was once again defending the Universal Championship he’s long held hostage, and this time, WWE finally did the right thing when Rollins slayed “The Beast.” In what was a massive surprise, Lesnar and Rollins opened the show, and after a short bout that followed a heinous attack by Lesnar on Rollins, “The Architect” put away Lesnar after a whopping three Curb Stomps.
Now, Rollins’ title win will long be remembered as one of the most memorable show-openers in WWE history.
Over the past two years or so, Rollins has been WWE’s biggest workhorse and arguably its most consistently popular star. While the popularity of other top stars like Braun Strowman has faded here and there (largely due to questionable decisions), Rollins’ popularity has remained steady since late 2017. In route to solidifying himself as one of WWE’s top five merchandise sellers, Rollins also cemented himself as perhaps the best overall performer in the company, setting records with his epic match performances and endearing himself to fans in a way that even Reigns couldn’t.
That’s why most fans expected Rollins to end his three-year world title drought with a win over Lesnar at WrestleMania 35, especially with uncertainty regarding Lesnar’s future in WWE.
The latest indication is that Lesnar’s WWE contract will expire at or around WrestleMania 35, and with UFC president Dana White recently all but confirming that Lesnar will return to UFC at some point, there was optimism among fans that Lesnar’s cloudy future would signify the end of his second lackluster title reign. Many WWE stars are reportedly waiting to re-sign with WWE to get a better sense of the lay of the land when their contracts get closer to expiring, and after what transpired at WrestleMania, Lesnar, who notoriously uses a possible UFC return as a way to get a better deal out of WWE, may be returning to the octagon after all.
The good news: WWE avoided the same mistake of WrestleMania 34, when Lesnar beat Reigns (even though it seemed like a shoo-in that Lesnar would lose), WWE announced shortly after that Lesnar had re-signed and then Lesnar held the Universal title all the way to SummerSlam. That was very similar to what happened at Crown Jewel last November. Lesnar had inked a “seven figure” deal to work the show, where he defeated Braun Strowman to win the vacated Universal title even though Strowman, much like Reigns before him, was the clear betting favorite to win the title for the first time in his career.
Rollins’ somewhat shocking (depending upon who you ask) WrestleMania 35 victory over Lesnar felt like a win for the fans. First, Reigns. Then, Strowman. But not Rollins.
Rollins won clean and avoiding becoming the next Reigns and Strowman in the process, and with the Superstar Shakeup taking place next week, Rollins could be the face of Raw or SmackDown moving forward.
And the best part? Lesnar isn’t holding the Universal title hostage anymore.