WrestleMania 40 highlights: The Rock returns with a win; plenty of Philly flavor on Day 1 — from Rocky to Eagles players

The main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania delivered on the spectacle.

The Rock's involvement in his first match since 2016, and his insanely elaborate entrance, certainly brought a big-match feel to the final bout of the opening night.

And incorporating the company's two biggest stars, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, only raised the stakes.

Call him Sami Balboa.

Sami Zayn completed his Rocky-like underdog story with a victory over the vaunted WWE intercontinental champion, Gunther.

The very Philly storyline centered on Zayn overcoming his shortcomings to defeat the long-running champion with his family at ringside to cheer him on.

Jade Cargill had her coming out party at WrestleMania 40.

Cargill, who teamed with Bianca Belair and Naomi in a terrific six-woman tag team match, helped lead her team over Damage CTRL, which includes Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane.

The beginning of the match was mostly Bianca Belair "kicking wholesale [butt]," as commenter Pat McAfee so eloquently put it, but the end of the match belonged to Cargill, who hit her "Jaded" face-plant finisher over Dakota Kai for the win.

One of the most anticipated matches of the evening was Jey Uso facing his twin brother, Jimmy Uso. Family, and former tag team champions, turned enemies.

The storyline centered on Jey leaving The Bloodline stable, which is led by undisputed universal Champion Roman Reigns and will be featured in the night's main event, while Jimmy stayed under the thumb of the Tribal Chief.

Babyface Jey came out to an enormous pop, played to the ring by rapper Lil' Wayne, and Jimmy soaked in the Philly boos.

The WWE team championships are no longer undisputed.

The Judgment Day, a team including Finn Balor and Damian Priest, walked into the the "Six-Pack Tag Team Ladder Match" as the undisputed champions, carrying both the Raw and Smackdown tag-team titles. And they were riding high, having beaten nearly every other team in their second reign as champions.

And they left the match without either set of belts that began the match suspended in the air over the ring.

In the opening match of Night 1 of WrestleMania 40, Rhea Ripley retained her WWE women's world championship title with a victory over Becky Lynch.

Ripley, who was played to the ring by Scranton's own Motionless in White singing a live version of her entrance song "Demon in Your Dreams," pinned Lynch after executing her finishing move, the Riptide Slam.

The two competitors popped the crowd with a few false finishes and an incredible offensive performance from the champion in an exceptionally athletic WrestleMania opener.

Samir McCloud, with a replica of the now-defunct WWE European championship belt over his shoulder, watched his first-ever live wrestling match in a ring set up in the middle of a closed-off block of South Street.

“I was jaw-dropped,” said McCloud, 32. “The sound of the ring. The sound of the crowd. I’m used to what I see on WWE on TV. But this is a different story.”

McCloud, an Army veteran from North Philly, said he’s been a wrestling fan since the late ‘90s, staying up late on Sunday nights during “The Attitude Era” to watch the pay per views with his brother. But he never got out to a live show.

Death, taxes, and wrestling. At the lots of the Linc, fans of all ages described WWE as a constant on weekends and schoolyards where they practiced putting classmates in a friendly chokehold.

People like Teddy Smith, 37, traveled hours — in his case three from Washington, D.C.

Smith said he actually fell out of the loop until one of his best friends got him hyped for WrestleMania 40. For all the new characters introduced, Smith said the world of WWE remained familiar.

Just a few miles north of Lincoln Financial Field, where WrestleMania will take place this weekend, was a colorful celebration of LGBTQ wrestlers at the sold-out EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch.

The event first began in 2020 as a way of elevating LGBTQ wrestlers while providing a safe space for them, and has since expanded to multiple events each year across the country. The brunch sold out before the talent lineup was announced, an indication that people are starting to pay attention, according Taylor Gibson, better known by the ring name Effy.

“We have some of the best talent in the world,” he told the crowd before the start of the event.

Can you smell what the Linc is cooking? It's nostalgia and a bit of frenetic energy shared by fans of various generations.

Wrestlemania 40 hit South Philadelphia with the force of a Manhandle Slam with parking lots open for tailgating at 8:30 a.m., though Saturday's marquee event isn't slated to begin until 7 p.m..

Grilled meat scents wafted through the parking lots as people set up television rigs so they could watch the earlier WWE NXT Stand & Deliver matches.

WrestleMania 40 is coming to Philadelphia, and Jason Kelce might be making a grand return to Lincoln Financial Field for the festivities.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com first reported that WWE was in talks with Kelce to make an appearance at wrestling’s biggest event, and all signs point to the recently retired Eagles center showing up at some point during the weekend.

The Kelce brothers are longtime wrestling fans, and Jason even celebrated in a luchador mask after Travis’ Super Bowl win with the Kansas City Chiefs in February.

Wrestler AJ Styles isn’t from Philly, but he is a Georgia Bulldog fan, and that’s basically the same as being an Eagles fan nowadays.

With Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, Nakobe Dean, Kelee Ringo, and D’Andre Swift all on last year’s Eagles team, there’s a lot for Bulldog fans to cheer for at Lincoln Financial Field.

“I love it,” Styles said of the connection. “I’ve got a hat with the Eagles, I guess it would be flames or wings on it, with the Georgia Bulldog face that I wear constantly.”

The WrestleMania feud between AJ Styles and LA Knight took yet another turn at WrestleMania media day on Friday.

Knight confronted Styles, who was in the next chair over, and the two started an all-out brawl, knocking over the media day setups.Styles left with a bloody nose, but not before registering an MMA-style takedown of Knight right there on the hotel floor.

Their storyline has been heating up in the leadup to WrestleMania. Knight donned a disguise at SmackDown on March 29 to get the up on Styles, who eliminated him from World Heavyweight Championship consideration at WrestleMania with a steel chair in the Elimination Chamber.

Before he was a beloved action hero or a WWE favorite, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was a college football player. And before that, he was some “punk kid” at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa.

Johnson will return to the ring as a headliner for WrestleMania at the Linc this Saturday. It’s his first scheduled match in 11 years, and he’ll be just 75 miles from where he met Jody Cwik, the football coach Johnson credits for setting his life on the trajectory toward success.

It all started with an apology, and a handshake, after a bathroom run-in.

If you’re visiting Philadelphia for WrestleMania 40 or you’re just a local wrestling fan, Suplex Vintage Wrestling is probably a place you want visit.

The store, located at 628 South Street, is filled to the brim with vintage wrestling merchandise including T-shirts, championship belts, action figures, and more. It even features a “Stone Cold Saloon.”

Suplex Vintage Wrestling also hosts a variety of events for wrestling fans, including a WrestleMania block party — that will feature live wrestling — on Saturday, April 6 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

» READ MORE: Before WrestleMania, step inside Philly’s top pro-wrestling store: Suplex Vintage Wrestling

It took 25 years, but WrestleMania has finally returned to Philadelphia.

WrestleMania 40 kicks off Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field, featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is making his return to the ring for his first full wrestling match in 11 years.

Johnson’s return to wrestling began in January, after he joined the board of TKO, the parent company of WWE and UFC. But he’s not the same Rock wrestling fans got to know in the 1990s and early 2000s. This time, the “People’s Champion” has gone full heel, becoming the “Final Boss” in a rivalry with Cody Rhodes that included a bloody beatdown in the rain last month.