WrestleMania 40 recap: Philly shines on Sunday as Cody Rhodes finishes his story; guests include John Cena, Snoop Dogg, many more

It was somewhat inevitable.

For weeks, we've heard, almost ad nauseam, that Cody Rhodes wanted nothing more than to "finish his story," and beat Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE universal championship. Before Reigns was played into the ring by Philly school students, Rhodes was escorted to the ring by his wife, Brandi, with his mother and father-in-law seated ringside.

To get to the finish line, the main event at WrestleMania 40, they pulled out all the stops, and poured on the spectacle: tables, chairs, kendo sticks, and false finishes.

WWE announced Sunday's attendance as 72,755 — marginally beating out Saturday's total by a few hundred fans. That makes it the 13th largest single-night crowd that WWE has announced, although this is wrestling and in the past the numbers were inflated a little.

That brings the two-night total to 145,298.

Snoop Dogg, who was joined by Eagles mascot Swoop and some of the team's cheerleaders, announced the attendance as 145,420 instead ... because he’s a professional who is always in character.

IYO SKY and Bayley's match for the WWE women’s championship could have been an afterthought.

It was the penultimate match of Night 2, tasked with competing right before Cody Rhodes faces Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Championship.

But the two competitors didn't take the task lightly.

Logan Paul could have almost been an afterthought in the triple-threat match for his own WWE U.S. title.

Kevin Owens and Randy Orton are both former world champions, and have more ring experience and savvy.

But Paul more than carried his own.

Tony DeStefano took his sons to a WWE event in 2013 but feared they wouldn’t be able to sit through the show.

“They were riveted the whole time,” said DeStefano, who lives in Collegeville. “They didn’t move.”

So there was Destefano and his sons Luke and Zack on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field, taking in their fourth WWE show in three days as they near the finish line of a professional wrestling marathon. The DeStefanos were at the Wells Fargo Center for Smackdown on Friday and NXT on Saturday afternoon. They were at the Linc on Saturday for Night 1 of ‘Mania and will finish the tour de force on Monday by returning to the Wells Fargo Center for Raw.

LA Knight and AJ Styles delivered.

The two stars are known as excellent grapplers, and they worked up a mat classic.

The contest, which got off to an early start at WWE World at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Friday, was littered with false finishes and high spots, but the highlight was Knight executing a beautiful Avalanche German Suplex.

It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia street fight without some representation from Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Bubba Ray Dudley, who got his start wrestling in Philly at what is now called the 2300 Arena, just showed up as the surprise guest referee. The Philly-based promotion ECW was legendary for bringing “hardcore” wrestling to an American audience in the 1990s before closing in 2001.

The messy, car-crash of a match included Kendo sticks, trash cans, folding chairs, and big spots. And it included rapper Snoop Dogg on commentary.

Damian Priest learned to wrestle in South Jersey, lived for a time near Philadelphia, and became a star with Philly-based Ring of Honor. So it was fitting that Priest became WWE world heavyweight champion on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

Priest, who’s real name is Luis Martinez, started training at South Jersey’s Monster Factory in 2003. He commuted from North Jersey and worked as a bouncer to pay for wrestling school. The school has trained a cast of future stars. Martinez dreamed of being the next in the Monster Factory pipeline.

But his road to the industry’s top company was not fast. Martinez quit wrestling in 2008, returned to the sport, and reapplied himself. He worked at the school as an instructor while he was Punishment Martinez in Ring of Honor, a promotion that once ran shows at a South Philly recreation center.

Night 2 of WrestleMania 40 kicked off with epic entrances, a strong opening match, and two world title changes.

Scottish professional wrestler Drew McIntyre won the WWE world heavyweight championship with a decisive victory over Seth Rollins.

McIntyre, who was played to the ring by The Ulster Scottish Pipe Band of Pittsburgh, pinned Rollins, who was dressed as a Mummer and was escorted to the ring by a group the Philly legends.

Seth "Freakin'" Rollins brought out the Mummers for his entrance at night two of WrestleMania, even dressing in a Mummers’ costume himself.

The Mummers, famous for their long-running Philadelphia New Year’s Day parade — and of course for Jason Kelce’s Super Bowl speech — played Rollins’ theme music and paraded down the ramp to the ring with WWE world heavyweight champion ahead of his match with Drew McIntyre.

The collection of Mummers included representatives from every string band in the Philadelphia Mummers String Band Association, made up of 14 groups of Mummers across the area.

WWE’s weekend will peak today with the second night of Wrestlemania XL in front of an expected crowd of more than 72,000. However, this week isn’t just about the WWE. Small independent and international wrestling promotions, who flock to town to take advantage of the in-flux of fans, will put on shows for crowds in the mere hundreds.

Among those was DDT Pro Wrestling, who showcased their unique brand of Japanese comedy wrestling at Penns Landing Caterers. The highlight was an unscheduled match between Dan The Dad (Dan’s character is that they’re a dad) and Chiitan (a Japanese mascot who is fairy baby otter who wears a turtle as a hat).

It started after Dan The Dad – complete with a "#1 Dad" mug, light khaki pants, and high socks – asked “what he had to do to get a gosh darn match?” This prompted Chiitan to answer the call.

Philadelphia is hosting WrestleMania for the first time since 1999, but where will the so-called "Showcase of the Immortals" be held next year?

So far, WWE hasn't released any details where or when WrestleMania 41 will take place.

Minneapolis is among the finalists to host next year's event, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, which reported the winning city should find out sometime in the next few weeks after this year's WrestleMania has concluded.

Only in professional wrestling could someone like Roman Reigns be casted as a villain.

The WWE’s Undisputed WWE Universal champion, who’s real name is Joe Anoa’i, was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2007 while trying to crack the NFL. The cancer caused him to forfeit his WWE title in October of 2018 and he left the company to undergo treatment. Reigns returned in February of 2019 and said his cancer was in remission.

The WWE’s top heel – wrestling parlance for “bad guy” – said after Saturday’s first-night of WrestleMania that his cancer remains in remission but he is still on medication for it. Reigns said he has chronic myeloid leukemia, which is treatable but not curable.

You’re not a wrestling nincompoop if you never heard of ‘Bloodline Rules,’ which will be utilized on Sunday in the main event of WrestleMania.

The Rock and Roman Reigns – two members of “The Bloodline, ” a villainous faction of Samoan wrestlers – defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins on Saturday night, therefore imposing these unknown rules for Sunday’s Undisputed WWE Universal Title match between Reigns and Rhodes.

With the Bloodline Rules in effect, it means instead of a one-on-one match between Rhodes and Reigns, “The Bloodline” – The Rock, Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa – can interfere with the championship match between. Anything goes. There’s no rules restricting their involvement, which would otherwise result in disqualification. Jimmy Uso could even serve as a special guest referee.

It’s expected to be chilly again on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field and the fans won’t be the only ones shivering as the WrestleMania performers admitted they felt the chills on Saturday night.

“Mother nature was not the most cooperative with us this week,” said Paul Levesque, WWE’s Chief Content Officer, who is better known as Triple H. “Throwing everything at us from small earthquakes to some very cold and windy weather. I’m glad it didn’t rain but it was a bit chilly at ringside. I’ve heard quite a few stories about wind gusts that just put a chill through people. When you have to be physical in what we do, that’s a difficult situation.”

Bianca Belair, who performed earlier on Saturday night, that it was freezing earlier in the afternoon when she rehearsed her entrance on an elevated platform. Her group -- which included Jade Cargill and Naomi -- talked about the importance of warming up before they performed that night in a three-on-three match.

The main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania delivered on the spectacle.

The Rock's involvement in his first match since 2016, and his insanely elaborate entrance, certainly brought a big-match feel to the final bout of the opening night.

And incorporating the company's two biggest stars, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, only raised the stakes.

Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson traded in their Eagles facemasks for luchador masks on Saturday night at WrestleMania.

The Eagles icons hopped the guard rail at Lincoln Financial Field to assist Rey Mysterio, the WWE Hall of Famer who performed in Birds-themed ring wear.

Kelce and Johnson roughed up Dominik Mysterio, who was opposing his father in a tag-team match. They hopped into the ring after Rey Mysterio claimed a pinfall, removed their masks, and climbed to the top rope as the stadium where they played together for 11 seasons came unglued. The burly offensive linemen looked like a 1980s tag team.

One night down, one night to go.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch and stream the second and final night of WrestleMania XL at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia:

A special WrestleMania Countdown prematch show is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., featuring CM Punk, McAfee, Big E, Cole, Barrett, and Jackie Redmond. In addition to Peacock, the show also will stream on WWE’s website and social media platforms, including YouTube and TikTok.