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Rapper Travis Scott played a key role in John Cena's WrestleMania 41 win over Cody Rhodes. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Ethan Miller via Getty Images
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D’Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D’Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
WrestleMania 41 has come and gone. The biggest show of 2025 featured some incredible matches, great surprises for the fans … and controversy in the main event.
As I wrote a week ago, I believed John Cena should defeat Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, and that’s exactly what happened. It was the right call — the final year of John Cena’s iconic career shouldn’t have wrestling’s version of an old rock band playing their greatest hits. That works for fans in the arena — it cannot work for 30-plus live-streamed dates a year.
There’s been a mixed reaction to how Cena got the belt in Las Vegas last Sunday.
I know what they were going for — Roddy Piper nobly refusing to smash Bret Hart with the Intercontinental Belt at WrestleMania VIII — but that’s a tough sell in 2025. Many argue that Cody looked soft, naïve — but I doubt WWE were unaware that would be how it might come across in the modern era.
This appears to be a setup for a more ruthless Cody Rhodes to return, and I think after Cena squares off with Randy Orton and one or two more foes, we’ll come back to Cena vs. Rhodes later this year.
Several people who know their wrestling — including our own Ariel Helwani on Monday — have said they don’t “buy” Cena as a heel. They argue it’s hard to take him as a snarky, bitter villain when we know that in real life, this is a guy who granted more than 650 Make-A-Wish visits to critically sick children.
I don’t understand that reasoning … did they believe Mark “Undertaker” Callaway had supernatural powers?
Also, you know who held the record for the most Make-A-Wish appearances in the 1980s? Hulk Hogan.
Think on that.
For me, I think Cena is doing an incredible job with this new heel material. The bullying of ring announcers … the way he refused to accept the fans’ apology on Monday’s "WWE Raw" … telling the fans who chant “You Can’t Wrestle!” that, 'Hey, I don’t have to wrestle, I get paid per appearance, not per match.'
Some fans can’t bring themselves to boo John on their last chance to say goodbye to him — and after WrestleMania 41 went off the air, John broke character just for a second and gave them a slight nod. Other fans are simply contrarians. WWE is right to continue to tell their story and let people cheer their top heel if they want to.
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Travis Scott faces off against Cody Rhodes during the WWE championship match against John Cena at WrestleMania 41. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Ethan Miller via Getty Images
I get the potential for a new audience that a name like Travis Scott brings to the business. He’s also said to be a genuine fan of professional wrestling.
But.
The reaction to his involvement in the finish to the biggest match of the year was almost universally negative — and not just because fans were disappointed it wasn’t The Rock interfering in the match instead.
Scott looks like he’s 130 pounds soaking wet, and him leaping into the ring to challenge wrestling’s World Champion, face to face, with zero fear, just didn’t sit well with many.
Again, I get what WWE is doing here and maybe I am just too much of a traditionalist … but I couldn’t help but think what '70s world champ Harley Race would've done if put in the kind of situation Cody was.
After joining with Paul Heyman to win the main event of WrestleMania Saturday, Seth Rollins is ready for the biggest run of his already incredible career. The match vs. CM Punk and Roman Reigns was fantastic, and WWE booked it perfectly.
You almost forgot Paul Heyman was there as we got into the thick of the match, until he revealed his scheme to turn on both Punk and Reigns. Then, on "WWE Raw," Bron Breakker joined what fans are already calling a “Dangerous Alliance,” referring to Heyman’s WCW faction from the early '90s.
This is a huge opportunity for Breakker. He’ll learn so much from Seth and Paul. Heyman is more than an on-screen advocate, he advocates for his guys tirelessly behind the scenes as well. Look for Bron to explode in every aspect of the game this year.
WCW’s Dangerous Alliance had Madusa and now everyone’s saying Becky Lynch — Seth’s real-life wife — could be the next addition to the modern group. But I wonder — Becky is already a megastar; is there a younger female talent who’d have more to learn from Seth/Heyman in the same way Breakker will?
A lot of people said Rollins vs Punk vs Reigns “stole the show.”
It didn’t.
WWE's Saturday main event — especially one featuring those three guys — was always going to be great.
The real show-stealer was Sunday's women’s title triple threat between Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. That was not only the best match of the weekend but one of the all-time greats.
As someone who was instrumental in creating the TNA Knockouts division that pioneered treating women’s wrestling seriously all those years ago, I was so very happy and proud of those three women.
It was incredible stuff.
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Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley tore the house down during WrestleMania 41 Sunday at Allegiant Stadium. (Andrew Timms/WWE via Getty Images)
WWE via Getty Images
Jey Uso’s WWE World Title win over Gunther was everything it needed to be.
Now that Jey has slayed that dragon, it’s going to be interesting to see how they keep this momentum going — and who will be his new feud now that Gunther appears to be heading into a program against Pat McAfee.
As someone who lived and breathed TNA and one of several who knew Joe Hendry had limitless potential, I was thrilled he got a WrestleMania moment. Sixty-three thousand people (according to WWE) knew him, his theme song and waved their hands on cue.
Joe got one of the biggest pops of the weekend, a thunderously loud message to the entire industry.
Forget that he only lasted three minutes against Randy Orton. This was an incredible step in Joe’s career and got TNA some much-needed exposure.
What shouldn’t go unmentioned, WrestleMania or not, is that on April 16, "AEW Dynamite" aired its 289th episode. That surpassed the 288-episode run of "WCW Monday Nitro," and AEW is now the longest-running weekly primetime wrestling show in Turner Broadcasting history.
AEW vs. WWE is tribal, but, no matter your tribe, it is undeniable that AEW is the best No. 2 the sport has had since the '90s, maybe ever.
AEW has increased opportunities in this business for talent, increased talent pay, put on amazing events and matches, and even if you're a diehard WWE fan, I’m here to tell you AEW has made WWE better too.
Congratulations, Tony Khan and his team.
If you’ve not yet checked out my Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotion, we’ve put two entire PLE events up for free for you to check out on YouTube above!
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