WWE Wrestlepalooza is officially part of the history books, and while there are certainly winners and losers of matches on the records, that's only part of the story especially in an industry like wrestling! No, there are levels to these discussions; questions to be asked and judgments to be made. Who's stock up? Who's stock down? Who's coming out of the first-ever Wrestlepalooza feeling like they just got made, and who's coming out feeling like they just got played?
As always, if you're looking for an objective rundown of the show, our Wrestlepalooza results page has you covered. If you want to know how various members of the WINC staff felt about various aspects of the event, go read about what we hated and what we loved! If you're still here after learning that information, however, you're seeking the answer of a very simple question that has been asked since time immemorial. It's time for the WWE Wrestlepalooza Winners and Losers which one are you?
With only five Cena appearances left, I think it's safe to say at this point that the retirement tour has been nothing short of an abject disaster. Cena turned heel on a whim with no follow-up plan and turned babyface again the same way; his last WrestleMania main event was universally panned; the matches fans wanted to see against people like CM Punk and Sami Zayn have been marred by interference and the rest of the run has been spent working with the likes of R-Truth, Logan Paul, and now Brock Lesnar, whose return soured the taste of the one Cena retirement match everyone seemed to like. The abrupt babyface turn was at least a sign that WWE recognized the heel character simply wasn't working in the absence of The Rock and Travis Scott, who have both noped out of this entire thing, but they followed it up with the Paul and Lesnar matches, and now with a Lesnar victory.
I think a lot of fans were holding out hope that the Lesnar thing would be mitigated at least somewhat by a clean Cena win and the notion that Lesnar might leave again for a little while after the loss. Instead, Cena got his ass kicked and Lesnar is already teasing Paul Heyman stuff, which is bleak enough before you even consider the horrific possibility of more Cena/Lesnar matches ahead. Beyond the sheer moral nihilism of it all, it's just starting to become apparent that Cena's last run never meant all that much to either him or WWE, which I suppose makes it fitting that it will end on "Saturday Night's Main Event" on Peacock after everyone has switched over to ESPN.
Congratulations to the only male Wrestlepalooza participants under the age of 40 (fine, Rollins is 39, but he turns 40 in May) for their victory over The Usos! On a show that had very little interest in getting young talent over outside the women's division, Bron Breakker (the only person under the age of 30 on the entire card) and Bronson Reed got a really important, mostly(?) clean win over arguably the best tag team in WWE history. Sure, there were LA Knight shenanigans, but Knight honestly called the match pretty evenly and only interfered to the extent that he was allowing more rulebreaking than usual. Beyond that, Bron and Bronson straight-up beat Jimmy and Jey in a tag team match, and that should be treated like a big deal.
With Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch guaranteed to take the loss in the mixed tag, the other Vision representatives really needed to step up and secure that dub for the group to continue to be taken seriously, and right now they feel like by far the most dangerous part about it. I've expressed concerns elsewhere that the ascension of Reed and Breakker might not be good for the tag team division, and I still feel that way, but it's undeniably good for Reed and Breakker, who I imagine will be getting strapped up with tag title gold sooner rather than later. How can you call them anything but winners?
A year and some change ago, Stephanie Vaquer was wrestling Mercedes Mone in a Forbidden Door match that resulted in her losing the NJPW STRONG Women's title but gaining a WWE contract, which is broadly speaking a net positive. Now she's winning the Women's World Championship on ESPN and handing it to her dad in the crowd. I'm not sure what we're calling the move she hit on IYO SKY to secure the pinfall, but whatever it is, it's an appropriate metaphor for her meteoric rise: tricky to pull off, but she nailed that thing perfectly.
I'd argue that Vaquer's victory was also a big win for the NXT women's division, which despite how often it's been talked up over the last couple years, has been struggling to make waves on the main roster. Tiffany Stratton is the one big success story; beyond that you've got Roxanne Perez' on-again, off-again pushes, a couple lackluster reigns with the new midcard women's titles for Lyra Valkyria and Giulia, and wrestlers like Jordynne Grace and Blake Monroe still languishing in the little leagues. Vaquer winning the title here is a massive vindication for the entire project that was the NXT women's division, and I hope watching it makes Paul Levesque want to really do something with the wealth of talent at his disposal.
I'm just saying I'd be calling, that's all. If I was Kaitlyn or Eve Torres or Layla or any of the other women who wrestled entirely in the age of 30-second TV matches and Playboy Pillow Fights, and I wanted to come back to wrestling, I would be kicking the tires right about now. How can you not look at the match AJ Lee just had and not think "Man, they just gave her more time and more freedom than she'd basically ever had before, and she had the performance of her life. What could I do under those circumstances?"
Granted, these women can't all be winners, because WWE also has to be interested. But there's never been a better time to pick up the phone if you're a female performer from that particular era. Beyond just the prospect of more match time and broader move sets (not to mention there's no longer a leering sex pest trying to write you into creepy backstage scenes with him, though obviously the company itself is still an issue) it seems at least somewhat likely that Lee's success will translate into increased fan interest in the wrestlers from her original era, and perhaps increased company interest as well, if WWE decides Lee needs some old friends to feud with. Not everyone is coming back (and maybe nobody is, who knows) but the window for a return for these particular women is open wider than it's been in a long time.
I almost don't know what else to write. He lost again; he's a loser. Not sure how much more evidence we have to see. Maybe Drew's feud with Cody Rhodes keeps going and he ends up winning the title down the line, but personally I'm about at the end of my rope when it comes to investing in Drew McIntyre becoming a top guy. A surprise title win here might have been enough to rekindle the old spark, but a relatively clean Cody victory while Wade Barrett tries to do a thing where the ref was being incompetent doesn't inspire anything but renewed pity for McIntyre's prospects.
Actually, you could argue that McIntyre's prospects were dead in the water long ago this match just outlined the corpse. Supposedly this was the main event because ESPN wanted a title match to close the show, but if that's true, it was the wrong call; the Wrestlepalooza audience wasn't terribly invested in this match, presumably because they knew McIntyre wasn't winning, because McIntyre never wins anything anymore. Realistically, any of the Wrestlepalooza matches except The Usos vs. The Vision could have made an argument for main-eventing over a match that had basically zero build because of Rhodes' "Street Fighter" commitments. Forcing Rhodes vs. McIntyre into that spot only highlighted the comparative richness of the rest of the show, and the crowd reaction tells me people have been done putting their faith in Drew for probably months now. Maybe he can be salvaged with some semblance of his old status, but right now he really is just a loser.
How'd that go for you, ESPN? Did you enjoy that? Did you like your little five-match WWE card with only two titles on the line? Did you have fun watching a bunch of 40-year-olds roll around for your entertainment? I hope so because WWE already has your money, so you're on this ride until it comes to a complete stop!
I'm probably overreacting here; I'm sure the numbers for Wrestlepalooza will turn out to be just fine, and that's all ESPN cares about anyway. But man, for the first PLE of the ESPN partnership, a show that's already being hyped up potentially to WrestleMania levels, shouldn't it have felt a little less like Payback? Because not much of anything really happened here. We have a new Women's World Champion, but we were always going to. The Brock win was shocking, but not in a fun or interesting way, and the biggest thing to look forward to coming out of the show is a potential women's Intercontinental title match for AJ Lee. Beyond that, basically nothing happened with any real implications going forward. And remember, this ESPN thing is a big deal this is what Paul Levesque's booking looks like when he's trying.
So yeah, that's what you paid for, ESPN. That's a typical WWE PLE in 2025. Have fun!
