WWE trips to Madison Square Garden are always more important than a regular house show. As the company announced its March 5 home court trip as the last major stop on its way to WrestleMania 38, expectations were higher than ever.
And that was before the rumors started. When a couple of outstanding voices like Combat and WrestleVotes reported that big things could happen tonight…
I was just told, “Look after the Garden tonight”…
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) March 5, 2022
…fans’ imaginations began to play out. Debut of Cody Rhodes! Stone Cold kicks off their program with Kevin Owens! Brock Lesnar Relinquishes WWE Title!
The company played last. Lesnar would face a mysterious opponent chosen by Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman in the main event. People on Twitter from the venue said that the WWE camera was spinning as the Incarnation of the Beast came in. That must have been the reason for all the fuss, right?!?!
Yeah. Austin’s theory.
Okay.
There was a reason why it was filmed. After making quick work of WrestleMania rival Pat McAfee, Brock showed up. Reigns (who successfully defended his Universal title by choking Seth Rollins before intermission) fell back with The Usos (who had previously beaten The New Day to retain their SmackDown Tag Team Championship). Lesnar initially fought them off, but Heyman distracted his former client, allowing the tribal leader to hit him with a chair.
Brock was opened – bloody self-mutilation! Jimmy and Jay brought the steps into the ring, the Universal Champion threw the WWE Champion at those with rock bottom(!) and closed the show by standing over him with both belts.
Unsurprisingly, if you were there and didn’t have a Twitter photo shoot, it looks like everyone had a good time. Brock did!
Here are all the Manhattan results:
– Alpha Academy def. RK-Bro to retain the Raw Tag Titles. Riddle and Randy Orton uninjured his stereo RKO after Otis pinned Riddle.
– Finn Balor def. Damian Priest by disqualification (low blow) for retaining the United States Championship
– uso def. The New Day to keep the SmackDown Tag belts. Kofi got pinched after 1D
– Becky Lynch def. Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair will retain the Raw Women’s Championship. Belair hit Ripley with a knockout, but Lynch went over her from the ring and stole the pin.
– Roman Reigns def. Seth Rollins to retain Universal title in about five minutes
– Miz TV with Kevin Owens featured KO as a babyface when The Miz ranted about how he felt about his WrestleMania partner Logan Paul at last year’s Mania. This ended with Owens hitting The Miz with a stun gun.
– Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zane through the pin with Claymore
– Ronda Rousey and Naomi def. Charlotte Flair and Sonia Deville. Instinct touched Rosie’s hand
– Brock Lesnar def. Austin Theori to retain the WWE title; then was beaten by Reigns