WrestleMania 39 Night 1: New Champions, Pat McAfee Return, Bad Bunny, Match Producers, More News

Apr 2, 2023

New SmackDown Women’s and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions at WrestleMania 39

Saturday’s WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 event in Inglewood, California featured two championships changing hands.

The first title to change hands was the SmackDown Women’s Championship which saw Rhea Ripley defeat Charlotte to be crowned the new champion.

#MamiMania pic.twitter.com/gyR6hQGUKN
— WWE (@WWE) April 2, 2023

The second title to change hands was the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship which saw Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeating The Usos in the main event. This title win saw the Usos record breaking tag team title reign come to an end after 622 days as champions.

WHAT AN ENDING! YOU DESERVE THE WORLD SAMI ZAYN & KEVIN OWENS❤️#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/l8gnVpj9Tz
— s̑̈ (@uwublonded) April 2, 2023

Pat McAfee Makes Surprise Return, Defeats The Miz in Unannounced Match

Friday’s WrestleMania 39 Night 1 event also featured Pat McAfee making a surprise appearance. This was McAfee’s first appearance in WWE since this past January’s Royal Rumble 2023 event.

During a promo segment by WrestleMania 39 co-hosts The Miz and Snoop Dogg, Miz stated that he had put an open challenge on social media for the show and was disappointed nobody had accepted his offer. Miz’s promo was interrupted by McAfee’s theme music followed by McAfee making his surprise return.

During a promo between the two, McAfee stated that he was going to answer Miz’s challenge and while the Miz tried to back out claiming that he did not have any power to make matches at WrestleMania 39, Snoop Dogg stated that he did and made the match official between the two.

He’s baaaaaaaaaack!@PatMcAfeeShow is here at #WrestleMania and he wants a match RIGHT NOW! pic.twitter.com/0ZTiqiSBuf
— WWE (@WWE) April 2, 2023

This impromptu match resulted in McAfee defeating The Miz with the assistance of San Francisco 49ers player George Kittle.

Bad Bunny Makes Surprise Appearance, Helps Rey Mysterio Defeat Dominik Mysterio

Saturday’s WrestleMania 39 Night 1 event also featured musician Bad Bunny making his official return to WWE.

Prior to the start of the Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio match, WWE announced that Bad Bunny would be joining the Spanish commentary team as a guest announcer for the match.

During the match, a brawl took place at ringside between Judgement Day (Finn Balor & Damian Priest) and the Latino World Order (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, & Cruz Del Toro) which resulted in the LWO chasing Judgement Day to the backstage.

Near the end of the match, Dominik tried to use a chain as a weapon that had been secretly hidden in a shirt by Priest. Before Dominik could use the chain, Bad Bunny left the commentary booth and grabbed the weapon away. This led to Rey shoving Dominik into the ropes and hitting a 619 and Frog Splash to defeat his son.

Thank you @sanbenito!!!#WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/CnCACLURRF
— WWE (@WWE) April 2, 2023

Match Producers for WrestleMania 39 Night 1

Fightful Select reported that the following people were the match producers for WrestleMania 39 Night 1:

John Cena vs. Austin Theory (c), United States Championship – Adam Pearce
Braun Strowman & Ricochet vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. The Viking Raiders, WrestleMania Men’s Fatal Four-Way Tag Team Showcase – Petey Williams
Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul – Shane Helms
Becky Lynch, Lita, & Trish Stratus vs. Damage CTRL – TJ Wilson
Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio – Jamie Noble
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair (c), SmackDown Women’s Championship – Jason Jordan
Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos (c), Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship – Michael Hayes

WWE WrestleMania 39 Night 1 News & Notes

During Saturday’s WrestleMania 39 Night 1 event, WWE announced an official attendance of 80,479. The real number is expected be around the 70,000 range with the paid amount expected to be slightly lower.

During the post-show media scrum, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated that WWE generated around $22 million in ad activations.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Paul “Triple H” Levesque was the person in charge backstage running the show. Johnson reported that Vince McMahon was backstage helping in a supervisory role.