John Cena and the Real Winners and Losers of WWE WrestleMania 2025 Night 2 Match Card

WrestleMania 41 began with a bang on Night 1 by delivering huge championship matches and shocking moments, ending with Paul Heyman aligning with Seth Rollins.

Night 2 needed to live up to that, and it certainly did so with a wild showcase of some of the best athletes in the world.

Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley stole the show to start, finishing up with a welcome victory for The Genius of the Sky.

Drew McIntyre defeated Damian Priest in a vicious Sin City Street Fight, which closed out with a brutal Claymore into a steel chair.

Dominik Mysterio caught Judgment Day teammate Finn Bálor with a frog splash to capture the Intercontinental Championship.

Joe Hendry made his WrestleMania debut by answering Randy Orton's open challenge but fell to an RKO. Logan Paul cheated AJ Styles to pick up another victory at The Show of Shows.

Becky Lynch returned to team with Lyra Valkyria, backing her up to win the Women's Tag Team Championships.

Finally, in the much-anticipated main event, John Cena defeated Cody Rhodes with the help of rapper Travis Scott to become a record-breaking 17-time WWE world champion.

The following were the real winners and losers from Night 2 of WrestleMania 41.

Iyo Sky might have been the biggest winner of the entire WrestleMania weekend. She and Bayley stole the show last year, but it came in a loss for The Genius of the Sky.

This year, the Japanese star did not just come to work but also to win. It was an incredible showcase of her ability, flying around and bumping big for two of the best.

Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair came into the match as made stars. They had the backing both in credibility and booking, pushing the champion into the underdog role.

However, Sky left this match looking like she could stand tall over and defeat both The EST of WWE and Mami on any night.

It was a moment in time when reality and booking aligned as The Genius of the Sky walked out with the title of best women's wrestler in WWE.

Hopefully, this momentum will continue for a while as the 34-year-old has plenty of exciting matchups available in the coming year as women's world champion.

Drew McIntyre had a career year in 2024, and many hoped it would be rewarded with a world title match at WrestleMania 41.

Instead, The Scottish Warrior battled Damian Priest, who had his own career year last year, in a Sin City Street Fight.

Luckily, both men came out to work and delivered one of the best contests of the weekend, brutalizing each other throughout.

In the end, the Scot emerged victorious and has likely added himself to the world title conversation going forward.

Few matches will be talked about as much as this one, a rare extreme contest for 'Mania, so everything worked out in the end for The Scottish Warrior.

Credit should also go to Priest, who sold so well throughout this fight and proved he deserves more premium live event singles matches in the future.

When Dominik Mysterio first debuted at SummerSlam in 2020, he impressed many, only to quickly receive criticism in the following months for not fitting the mold of his father, Rey Mysterio.

However, in these past four-and-a-half years, Dirty Dom has transformed into his own man, incorporating elements of both Rey and his uncle, Eddie Guerrero.

The most hated heel in wrestling has slowly become beloved and may have just turned face while winning his first main roster singles gold.

The WrestleMania crowd seemed overjoyed to see him escape the shadow of Finn Bálor and likely The Judgment Day.

This is an important moment in his legacy that could signal that the 28-year-old has arrived completely in WWE.

Mysterio has crafted a legacy in this time that should make him a household name sooner than later, especially after a long-awaited final match with his father.

Say his name and he appears.

Joe Hendry worked his first WrestleMania match on Sunday. He walked out with the TNA World Championship and an excited crowd behind him.

It was not a competitive match, but opponent Randy Orton is one of the all-time legends in WWE. Hendry is not established anywhere near his level yet.

This was all about having a fun moment with a star on the rise, who is likely to find himself in a marquee position with WWE in the future.

Few can say they have fought The Viper at WrestleMania, and the Scot did exactly that.

Hendry, 36, can live on this moment for the rest of his career, but he is likely to do so much more in the future after this.

In the build to WrestleMania, AJ Styles declared Logan Paul unworthy of his opportunities and promised to put him in his place.

Instead, after weeks of The Maverick laying out The Phenomenal One, Styles lost to the YouTuber at The Show of Shows.

While it was a decent match and Styles was protected with a messy finish involving Karrion Kross, this wasn't the kind of result that leads to more success for The Phenomenal One in the future.

With this loss and questions about Styles' age (47), it seems inevitable that the career end is near for one of the all-time greats.

Hopefully, this was not Styles' last WrestleMania.

Until Saturday, Bayley was booked for WrestleMania 41, at least publicly. However, a backstage attack took her out of her Women's Tag Team Championship match just before 'Mania began.

Luckily, Becky Lynch was already in town to support Seth Rollins and could team up with the woman who idolized her growing up in Ireland.

The Man took that opportunity and ran with it, not only winning more gold but helping make her protege a double champion on the main roster.

Lynch and Lyra Valkyria have more history than The Valkyrie has with Bayley, but it is still a shame for The Role Model to miss WrestleMania after a great 2024 helping to carry the women's division.

At the very least, WWE could have come up with a way for Bayley to come out during or after the match to support her tag team partner.

This still can lead to great stories for The Role Model, who could go after The Judgment Day or turn her resentment toward Lynch for taking her 'Mania moment.

Until fans get to see that play out, though, it feels like Bayley was cheated of her moment.

It is rare any wrestler gets a chance to carry two WWE championships at the same time, but Lyra Valkyria is officially "Lyra Two Belts" (in honor of co-champion and mentor Becky Lynch).

The Valkyrie has played her role to perfection in WWE so far, even while still figuring out how to capture the attention of the audience.

Her run through the Women's Intercontinental Championship tournament solidified the potential of the new title as a workhorse championship.

The 28-year-old will now be pushed even more into that role, defending more gold and likely wrestling more often post-WrestleMania.

Moreover, she gets a chance to team with and learn from Lynch, who was integral to her development in 2023 and early 2024.

WWE has put Valkyria in position to become one of WWE's true top stars of the future with this huge 'Mania debut.

Cody Rhodes promised to make John Cena pay after his vicious attack at Elimination Chamber, but The Last Real Champion found a way to beat him at WrestleMania.

WrestleMania 40 may forever stand as the greatest moment of The American Nightmare's career, but this year's event could be seen as one of his worst after receiving a mixed reaction from the crowd and losing the world title to his former idol.

At the end of the day, Rhodes is too popular and successful to fall too far, but he may find himself stuck in a similar neutral position to Roman Reigns after 'Mania.

Meanwhile, Cena is walking away with his gold after promising to make a mockery of the world title in his final year.

John Cena bet everything on an alliance with The Rock that required him to "show his true colors" in the early stages of his retirement tour.

If Cody Rhodes had defeated the man calling himself The Last Real Champion, he would have thrown away everything to gain nothing in return.

Instead, Cena will walk out of WrestleMania with his 17th world championship reign, eclipsing Ric Flair as the greatest world champion in WWE history.

It was also a solid match for The GOAT throughout, playing to a hot mixed crowd that was all-in on the action even if they could not find a universal answer on who to support.

The future of WWE will be defined by The Last Real Champion, and no one has any idea what Cena will do next.