WrestleMania 42 Night 2: 7 big takeaways for Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar's WWE future, CM Punk, Rhea Ripley and more

A title at one point referred to as WWE's workhorse championship now sits around Reigns’ waist, who almost certainly won’t be defending the belt every couple of weeks. Still, he did what he promised in returning to WWE to claim his seat at the head of the table. Sunday's outcome now opens a new path forward for what happens in the World Heavyweight championship picture — Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, Gunther and certainly Punk will all be vying for the belt.

Whether this launches into a new iteration of the Bloodline — or if not, how Reigns navigates the path forward — instantly becomes WWE's top storyline as we move into the summer. For Punk, it’s consecutive years of just falling short. He can carry the ball until WrestleMania season but crumbles under the pressure, which feels like a theme WWE will key in on over the coming year.

2. When one door closes, another opens

Oba Femi’s WrestleMania debut was exactly what it needed to be, and it surprisingly also signaled the beginning of Brock Lesnar’s apparent departure from professional wrestling.

Lesnar’s exit is relatively stunning. It’s been less than a year since he returned to the WWE and squashed John Cena on 2025's retirement tour. Including his WrestleMania match against Femi, Lesnar wrestled just three other matches post-Cena, competing in the Royal Rumble and WarGames. It’s completely valid to point out the staying power Femi now retains for being the one to potentially retire Lesnar, but if this was the direction WWE was truly going to take, why not build toward a match with Gunther as the guy who is building his entire persona around retiring legends?

In Sunday's match, Femi was dominant. He no-sold clothesline attempts and an F-5, and was explosive in gaining advantages against Lesnar. Against the all-powerful "Beast," it was Femi who showed superior strength in dropping the former UFC heavyweight champion with a Fall From Grace for the win.

For Femi, it’s quite the feather in his cap to have a dominant showing against Lesnar (and be the one to retire him, if that's what actually happens). I almost wrote this sentence in December after Femi's match with Cody Rhodes as part of John Cena’s final show, but it feels even more appropriate now — I would bet on "The Ruler" being in a world title match at next year’s ‘Mania. He’s that good, that over, and it actually wouldn’t surprise me to see him hovering around the main-event scene even earlier.

3. Mrs. WrestleMania strikes again

A year after battling Iyo Sky for the world championship, it was Sky helping Rhea Ripley earn the Women’s WWE Championship. Ripley earned the pinfall after hitting Riptide on Jade Cargill, but only after interference from Michin and B-Fab, and some help from Sky.

The title change felt like a necessary reset atop the Smackdown women’s division. Cargill built a great deal of momentum since wrestling Naomi at last year’s WrestleMania, but she wasn’t given much to work with over the last few months since winning the championship. That’s an unfortunate trend that’s followed the title, with a string of relatively forgettable reigns.

Perhaps giving Cargill space to chase the title will allow her to continue building on what she’s achieved over the last year, with Ripley’s star power driving the division, and ideally better creative to support sustained momentum. Despite the loss, all signals point toward continuation between Ripley, Sky, Cargill, and her Baddies faction.

Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley celebrate after Ripley won the WWE Women's Championshipt a WrestleMania 42.

(WWE via Getty Images)

4. Crown that champ

Destiny has been fulfilled, as WWE crowned Trick Williams as the United States Champion in his WrestleMania debut.

The Las Vegas crowd was incredibly hot for Williams all throughout Sunday's match, offering a roar at his every successful move. That meant that Sami Zayn, despite playing the babyface across television, was met with heavy boos. He leaned into it though, attacking rapper Lil Yachty early for absolutely no reason and dropping Williams with a gnarly Brainbuster on the apron. An interference from Lil Yachty opened the door for Williams to mount his comeback and eventually earn the belt with the Trick Shot.

It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out across television for these two in the upcoming post-'Mania shuffle. Williams has enormous star power, and seems to be one of those guys that no matter what he does, he’s going to get cheered. Putting him in rivalries with cut and dry good guys is going to make things muddy real quick (see: Zayn). The challenge for WWE will be figuring out how to allow Williams to retain all of his redeeming qualities of trash talk and aura, while still getting heat for his rivals.

5. That’s all, folks

Dominik Mysterio may have been able to handle Finn Bálor, but he was no match for "The Demon" in a match that likely signals the end to their long-running rivalry. "The King of the Luchadors" built a bit of momentum early, but Bálor ultimately unloaded on Mysterio with chair shots and landed a Coup de Grace through a table for the win.

WWE packaged more than a year’s worth of tension into a nice and tidy 10 minutes here. Bálor is a proven former champion, and his matches against CM Punk over the past year showed he’s still right there when it comes to in-ring capabilities. There's opportunity now for Mysterio, after showing he’s a capable mid-card champion, to elevate into the main-event scene — though with this rivalry most likely behind them, ideally both men in this duo ascend into WWE’s upper-card conversation.

6. Broken ladders and broken bodies, oh my

Night 2 was structured in a very similar way to Night 1 — open with a star-power match to draw fans to the card (Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi), and then roll out a car-crash-style second match that’s meant to make viewers want to watch the rest of the show.

Sunday's six-man ladder match had insane spots, ranging from Rey Mysterio dropping Rusev through a ladder, Penta hitting a Mexican Destroyer on JD McDonagh onto a ladder, and Je’Von Evans flying from the corner to drop Rusev with a cutter. At the end it was Penta who stopped Evans with a Mexican Destroyer, getting to the top of the ladder and pulling down the Intercontinental Championship himself.

If Evans wasn’t going to win, it only made sense for the belt to stay with Penta. The six-man chaos was exceptional, but it'd be great to see the Intercontinental Title picture booked with more consistency and a longer-term approach. Penta and Evans are two stars on the rise, so the goal now should be to see fewer challengers and more opportunities for these two to grow into a proper rivalry on the main roster.

7. Welcome to WrestleMania-hausen

In the span of a month, Danhausen’s ability to go from a relatively mundane WWE debut to receiving intentional time on the promotion’s biggest show of the year is nothing short of remarkable.

His screen time is can’t-miss television, and any segment featuring him with The Miz and Kit Wilson is comedy gold. The way WWE built around Danhausen this WrestleMania weekend signals plenty more to come.