Seth Rollins Win and Best and Worst Booking Decisions of WWE WrestleMania 41 Results

No weekend is more important to WWE than WrestleMania, and this year was no different.

Each match on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 would set the standard for what WWE will look like in the future.

Jey Uso finally proved himself by making Gunther submit after a series of Uso Splashes and a sleeper hold.

The New Day captured the World Tag Team Championships from The War Raiders, while Jade Cargill got some needed revenge against Naomi.

Jacob Fatu took down LA Knight to win the United States Championship, before El Grande Americano cheated his way to ruining Rey Fenix's WrestleMania debut.

Tiffany Stratton overcame the best efforts of a personally driven Charlotte Flair to retain the WWE Women's Championship. And Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and CM Punk with the help of Paul Heyman in a stunning turn.

Follow here for the best and worst booking decisions of Night 1 of WrestleMania 41.

All signs pointed to Jey Uso defeating Gunther to capture the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania.

The 39-year-old is immensely popular, with so many in the crowd at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas obviously supporting him over anyone else at The Show of Shows.

This was Uso's make-or-break in-ring moment, and he came out looking the same as he did coming in. He delivered a decent match against one of the best in the world.

This is no reason to move away from Uso's popularity, but WWE did make a choice with the finish that could do more harm than good.

After wrestling a basic bout throughout in which he tried to keep up with Gunther, he locked in a sleeper to force the submission.

The Ring General tapped out immediately to a move that Uso has not used before and executed poorly. It made Gunther look weak.

This leaves the Austrian star more vulnerable in the ring than he has been in his career, and it takes away from the mystique of a possible rematch with such a definitive result.

At the very least, the submission finish should have been saved for the rematch.

If the ultimate argument for who makes the WrestleMania card is whether the crowd reacts to them, The War Raiders vs. The New Day had no reason to make it.

With almost no story behind the angle beyond the aftermath of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods' heel turn in December, the audience did not react to the action.

New Day remain one of the greatest teams in WWE history, while Erik and Ivar have done what they can with the limited spotlight they have been given.

However, this story simply did not work on this stage. Considering how stacked WWE's roster is, there is no reason to put filler on this card.

The better answer for 'Mania would be the contest WWE announced for next week's SmackDown: Street Profits vs. #DIY vs. Motor City Machine Guns in a TLC match.

This WWE Tag Team Championships contest has had a better build over the past few months, and the crowd is more invested based on reactions.

The stipulation would have also allowed the SmackDown tag team division to stand out among the pack.

The New Day's title win hardly made an impact in comparison to what Montez Ford could have done flying off a ladder.

WrestleMania 41 presented Jade Cargill with the most important spotlight of her career. This was the chance to make her a future title contender, and a win helped her on that path.

While Naomi has grown well into her heel role, she did not need to win on Saturday. She is a two-time SmackDown women's champion and tag team champion. She has built-in credibility.

The Storm showed she could not just hang with a multiple-time champion but she could also win big. This was a dominant showcase for Cargill.

The match itself was fine, though not up to the 'Mania level. It will be up to Cargill to prove over the next year why she should keep getting spotlights like this.

When Jacob Fatu debuted on the June 21, 2024 edition of SmackDown, fans immediately gravitated to him as a dangerous monster who could back up his words with action.

His athleticism helped him stand out even more, especially his impressive moonsault that helped him pick up the win at WrestleMania over LA Knight.

While The Megastar is popular and a worthy champion in WWE, this was the moment to go big with The Samoan Werewolf.

WWE did not miss that chance. Fatu took his shot and won gold. This adds a necessary story element to make The Bloodline relevant again post-WrestleMania.

Solo Sikoa will likely struggle to deal with The Samoan Werewolf holding gold while he has nothing.

Meanwhile, Fatu can go on a dominant run with the United States title that could run throughout the rest of the year, building his credibility all the more.

Rey Fenix was not originally booked for WrestleMania, but an injury to Rey Mysterio on SmackDown changed the focus of the contest.

The Master of the 619 handpicked Fenix, trusting him to defend lucha libre from El Grande Americano.

On the night when WWE announced it had bought one of the top promotions in Mexico, a heel gimmick parodying lucha libre defeated one of the top luchadores in the world a month into his run with the company.

Even if Mysterio was originally booked to lose to El Grande, Fenix should not have been placed in this position to lose to this gimmick this early in his WWE career.

While Fenix can certainly rebound, building momentum much like his brother, Penta, this was a chance to solidify the future of lucha libre.

Instead, WWE doubled down on a gimmick that is actively mocking lucha libre as a concept while also taking from Chad Gable's ability to get over with his own name.

Fans may never know quite how much Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair truly hate one another, but they sold it on the Road to WrestleMania and at The Show of Shows.

This was the kind of contest WWE does not often deliver: It was scrappy and heavily physical. And the champion may even have lost a tooth from the strikes of The Queen.

At times, it looked like Flair might genuinely be working against Stratton to make this match work, but she fought hard through it all.

By the end, the woman who came out from a Barbie display case for her entrance walked out of 'Mania looking like a warrior.

Stratton needed to not just survive but also win clean—as she did. She walks out clearly made as a top women's champion, and it will take a while to establish someone ready to challenge her at this level.

Anything can happen in WWE, but this comes off as a special star-making moment for the 25-year-old.

Seth Rollins came out with flamethrower and a costume change in mind for his main event, but his real goal was to steal the spotlight from CM Punk and Roman Reigns.

He did just that by defeating both The Best in the World and The OTC when their personal issues got in the way.

All of the Paul Heyman drama needed to lead to something, and it did just that as The Visionary pulled off a new heist for a new century.

He convinced The Wise Man to turn on both his Tribal Chief and his best friend and help him defeat them for the sake of the future of the business.

It was a great plot twist to sell the true stakes of this main event. This match changed the direction of Heyman, a man who has made more world champions than any other WWE manager.

WWE fans will be discussing the ramifications of Saturday night's main event long after the end of WrestleMania 41.