INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Let Snoop Dogg become WrestleMania 39’s most valuable performer.
In a weekend that saw World Wrestling Entertainment set a two-night attendance record for their signature event, the company set to be sold and Roman Reigns remaining the undisputed champion, the iconic rapper stepped in in case of emergency.
Snoop Dogg was co-hosting a segment between matches Sunday at SoFi Stadium with wrestler Mike “The Miz” Mizanin when he pushed Mizanin into an impromptu match with Shane McMahon, who appeared at a WWE event for the first time in 14 months. . McMahon and Mizanin exchanged punches before McMahon ripped his quad when he did a leapfrog maneuver while trying to avoid Mizanin.
Doctors checked McMahon before he was helped out of the ring. Snoop Dogg then returned to the ring to continue the match, as he hit ‘The Miz’ twice, then stole a page from ‘The Rock’ and landed a people’s elbow to secure the win.
“I tip my hat to Snoop, I just picked him up and I’m like, ‘oh man, is he hurt? It’s okay, I’ll fix this.’ Just a born artist,” WWE Chief Creative Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said. put on a different playing field and a respect factor for me. I know a lot of guys who have been in business for a long time; if that happened, they would say, ‘what do we do?’ It was amazing.”
The biggest upset, however, came less than eight hours after Reigns pinned Cody Rhodes in the main event when UFC Endeavor owner announced Monday morning that he had signed a deal with WWE to train a new company that will put the UFC and WWE under one roof.
Levesque didn’t respond to questions about Endeavor on Sunday night, saying he wanted to focus on what happened over the weekend.
Outside the ring, attendance on both days was 161,892 and set single-day stadium records on both nights. The first WrestleMania in Los Angeles since 2005 is expected to generate record gate and sponsorship revenue when final numbers are announced.
The Doggfather stepping in as a pinched wrestler continued the trend of celebrities walking in and not looking out of place.
Social media star Logan Paul took part in a WrestleMania match for the second straight year on Saturday. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle came out of the stands and was part of a game between former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee and “The Miz.” Rapper Bad Bunny made an appearance during the match between the Mysterios.
“They have no right to be this good,” Levesque said of the celebrities stepping into the ring. “What’s great is the grind and the level of what they’re willing to put in there because they respect the business, respect the WWE Superstars and what we do and the people who preceded them. It’s cool to see them doing that, but also awesome to see how good they are and how much it raises the bar for everyone.
In addition to co-hosting with “The Miz” on both nights, Snoop drove Rey Mysterio onto the stage in a lowrider before his match against his son Dominik Mysterio.
Paul, who lost to Seth Rollins, pulled off stunts and high-flying moves like he’d been performing for over 10 years. McAfee was a WWE announcer for 17 months (April 2021-September 2022) and had one match at WrestleMania last year, while Kittle is a lifelong wrestling fan.
Bad Bunny, who competed in a tag team match at WrestleMania two years ago, will host WWE’s next premium live event on May 6, which will take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is the first time since 2005 that WWE has visited Puerto Rico.
Bad Bunny might also be in for a game that night. On Saturday, he was making comments in Spanish during Mysterio’s match when he stopped Dominik from using a steel chain with which he would hit his father. Rey Mysterio capitalized on the distraction and would land his knockout blow to pick up the win and set up a possible storyline between Bad Bunny and young Mysterio.
One of the biggest surprises of the weekend was Reigns continuing his 900+ day reign as champion. Cody Rhodes had all the momentum heading into the game, and all indications pointed to a title change. Still, WWE’s creative forces decided to maintain Reigns’ dominance at the top of the company.
Barring injury or a giant surprise, Reigns will become the first WWE wrestler to reach 1,000 days as a champion in early June. At this point, Reigns will likely retain the title until Summerslam in early August in Detroit, or he could still be the champion by next year’s WrestleMania in Philadelphia.
“I want someone to step in and take that ball from us,” Reigns said. “Because if you don’t, we’ll just choke on it.”
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