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.

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.

George Kittle was surrounded by fellow wrestling fans on Sunday night but the 49ers tight end was reminded that he was still in Philadelphia.

The sold-out Lincoln Financial Field crowd booed Kittle when he was shown on the scoreboard before the fans popped for rapper T-Pain.

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.

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.

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.”

LA Knight and AJ Styles delivered.

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

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.

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.

Snoop Dogg made an entrance at WrestleMania and served as guest commentator for the 6-man Philadelphia Street Fight match between The Final Testament and Bobby Lashley and the Street Prophets.

The rapper is a WWE Hall of Famer and longtime fan. In 2023, Snoop Dogg made an appearance at WrestleMania and stepped in to deliver a People’s Elbow on The Miz, the host of WrestleMania 39.

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.

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.

CM Punk is serving as special guest commentator for the first match of WrestleMania on Sunday between Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins and Drew McIntyre.

CM Punk was originally expected to compete at WrestleMania, potentially in the main event against Rollins, when he returned to WWE in November. He suffered a torn tricep at Royal Rumble in January that kept him sidelined at the event and did have a significant brace on his arm during his entrance.

For Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, it was the Sky Hook. For Muhammad Ali, it was the Ali Shuffle. For Thornton Melon, the Triple Lindy. And on Saturday night at WrestleMania 40, we got to see another signature move in from The Rock: The People's Elbow.

For fans of a certain age, they'll remember "the most electrifying move in sports entertainment" from the WWE's "Attitude Era." That also coincided with the last time WrestleMania was in Philly, when The Rock headlined the 1999 event with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who is rumored to potentially be one of the surprise guests at the Linc on the second night.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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: