Sami Zayn and The Real Winners and Losers From WWE WrestleMania 2024 Match Card

Sami Zayn and The Real Winners and Losers From WWE WrestleMania 2024 Match Card0 of 7

Sami Zayn won in the biggest match of his career and regained the Intercontinental Championship.Credit: WWE.com.

Night 1 of WrestleMania 40 delivered on the spectacle of WWE’s biggest show. Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia was rocking throughout the night.

While the in-ring action was not consistently excellent, stars emerged from this night who will stand above the pack for years to come.

Sami Zayn ended Gunther’s record Intercontinental Championship reign in the match of the weekend so far.

Jade Cargill ran through Damage CTRL with an unstoppable fervor that even Bianca Belair and Naomi could only stand back and enjoy.

Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under captured the tag team championships, breaking them up again into separate gold for Raw and SmackDown.

However, others struggled to solidify their legacy or find their WrestleMania moment.

Jey and Jimmy Uso could not deliver on the dramatic promise of their battle of brothers.

Becky Lynch fell short of her own lofty standards against Rhea Ripley before losing clean to the woman she guaranteed she could beat.

Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio got run over by Rey Mysterio and Andrade with the help of Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson.

All of this did not matter as much as the ultimate brawl in the main event, where The Rock and Roman Reigns made Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins pay for stepping up to them.

This was a mixed night for the top stars of the business, but the impact of WrestleMania 40 Night 1 will be felt for a long time to come.

Loser: Becky Lynch1 of 7

In one of the most important matches of her career, Becky Lynch apparently walked in with a fever and it showed.

Rhea Ripley and The Man did what they could in the moment, but it was not as crisp as both women can deliver at their best.

Lynch also lost this contest clean, a match that she sold as one of the most important of her career. This could be the moment that sends her down the card for a long time to come.

Hopefully, the two will get a chance to do this again when The Man is fully healthy. Even if the win does not come against Mami in a rematch, at least she can add another great contest to her resume.

Winners: Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under2 of 7

There are finally Raw and SmackDown tag team divisions again. The new champions of the red and blue brands are Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under, respectively.

R-Truth and The Miz have finally won the tag team titles together. This was a decade in the making and likely won’t be a long run.

However, it was fun to see Truth get that WrestleMania spotlight for the first time in his long career.

Austin Theory and Grayson Waller have come together to create a powerful hated alliance. That has paid off in tag team gold and a chance to restart the SmackDown tag team division.

A-Town Down Under do not have much credibility as champions, but the duo could build it with Logan Paul in their corner.

Either way, WWE has chosen these teams to reestablish a foundation for the tag division that does not involve The Judgment Day.

Loser: ‘Legado World Order’3 of 7

Santos Escobar had a chance to establish himself and his “Legado World Order” crew at WrestleMania. Instead, he was embarrassed by two Philadelphia Eagles legends getting involved.

The tag team match was solid until the action broke down. Even so, Escobar never looked like a serious threat to beat either Rey Mysterio or Andrade.

This came off as a clear filler contest where Legado Del Fantasma was never going to be treated as working on the same level as LWO.

Perhaps Legado will get revenge and regain momentum from there, but Escobar lost serious shine as a solo star and leader of a heel stable at WrestleMania.

Losers: The Usos4 of 7

Jey and Jimmy Uso wanted their big moment fighting each other at WrestleMania. This was supposed to be a showcase of two men who have forever great chemistry.

Instead, the crowd was inconsistent behind a melodramatic battle of superkicks that built to a flat finish.

Neither man gained anything by the close of this bout. Jey was as over going in as he was leaving. Jimmy still looks like a lackey to Roman Reigns and The Rock instead of becoming his own man.

It is a shame that the two brothers could not have a lasting WrestleMania moment against each other. Hopefully, they can both move on now and tell their own stories.

Winner: Jade Cargill5 of 7

Damage CTRL being in action is a big deal. Bianca Belair at WrestleMania is becoming increasingly more special. Naomi’s return to ‘Mania was a big moment for her legacy.

Despite all of that, the six-woman tag team match was all about Jade Cargill making her ‘Mania debut.

Many questioned whether WWE was all-in on Cargill after her signing. Even if she will take longer to acclimate to the women’s main event scene, she looked like an absolute star on the grandest stage.

This was basically a squash match once The Storm was tagged in. She ran through three of the top women of SmackDown with complete confidence.

It is hard to see her going anywhere but challenging for the WWE Women’s Championship after this.

Winner: Sami Zayn6 of 7

Sami Zayn walked into his match with Gunther as an uncertain underdog. Fans weren’t completely behind him as the right man to take the Intercontinental Championship.

However, through pure infectious performance, The Underdog from the Underground sold himself as the man who needed to stop Gunther’s reign of terror.

Zayn and The Ring General had a phenomenal match that is likely to stand as the best of the weekend.

In its closing stretch, Gunther became too focused on mocking Zayn with his wife watching at ringside. This gave the challenger enough time to fire up and run down the Austrian. His win set up the most memorable pop of Night 1.

Even if it could still be argued that Zayn was not the perfect man to dethrone Gunther, this moment will live forever in his highlights. It makes him a likely WWE Hall of Famer regardless of what comes next.

There is no question that Zayn was a huge winner in this moment. He will have big shoes to fill following Gunther, though.

Loser: Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins7 of 7

Cody Rhodes bet everything on a chance to get his hands on The Rock, and The Bloodline made him pay for it.

Seth Rollins and The American Nightmare thought they could deliver together and put an end to The Bloodline’s dominance in WWE. But the heels made them both pay for it.

At the close of the WrestleMania 40 Night 1 main event, Roman Reigns and The Rock stood tall over the biggest babyfaces in the company, and the stage is set for The American Nightmare to walk into hostile territory on Night 2.

While this does not mean Rhodes will be a loser of the weekend, the stage has been set for the ultimate uphill climb to capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

This was the ultimate villain moment, ending with a cliffhanger that fans will need to see concluded on Night 2.