10 Hidden Details Fans Missed About WWE WrestleMania 37 Night 1

The first night of WrestleMania 37 is in the books. The show was well-received, with breakout performances by Bianca Belair, Cesaro, and Omos in particular. Fans witnessed only the second women’s WrestleMania main event and a still relatively rare instance of a heel retaining his world title at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Related: Winners and Losers: Night One Of WrestleMania 37 Offers Some Standout Performances

From a rain delay to a Tag Team Turmoil Match, a Steel Cage outing, to an alarmingly good celebrity performance from Bad Bunny, the night was nothing if not memorable. Like every WrestleMania, the event had moments of historical significance, Easter eggs, and points of statistical interest that were easy to miss.

10 Bianca Belair Was The First Wrestler Since Brock Lesnar To Main Event In Her WrestleMania Debut

Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks worked the night one main event for WrestleMania 37 in a match that lived up to its main event billing. The entertaining, intense, back and forth match impressed fans and was all the more impressive for it being Belair’s very first WrestleMania match.

Belair became the first person in eighteen years to main event in their WrestleMania debut, following in the footsteps of Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 19. Better yet—when Belair went for her shooting star press (albeit a standing one), she hit the move successfully, unlike The Beast.

9 The First WrestleMania Steel Cage Match In 35 Years

Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman engaged in a Steel Cage Match during night one of WrestleMania. The occasion was auspicious if only because a Steel Cage Match hadn’t happened at WrestleMania since WrestleMania 2 when Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy headlined in the cage.

Related: 5 Reasons Why The Steel Cage Is Better Than Hell In A Cell (& 5 Reasons Why It Is Not)

To be fair, there have been Hell in a Cell Matches at WrestleMania in the interim. WWE Steel Cage Matches are all but defined by victory via escape, however (or at least the potential for matches to end that way). The psychology of Hell in a Cell is quite different with a roof over the cage, and the match carrying on even if combatants do get outside.

8 The First Time A World Title Match At WrestleMania Had Previously Been A World Title Match In TNA

Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley opened WrestleMania 37, creating an instant moment for having the first main roster match in front of a full live crowd since COVID-19 altered WWE’s live performance model. McIntyre and Lashley are top-tier performers and had stakes worthy of the situation, with the WWE Championship on the line.

It’s interesting to note, though, that this was the first time two men who had competed for the TNA World Championship went on to compete for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. While there are more matches than some fans realize that happened in TNA and were then reprised in WWE, few of them happened at the main event level for both companies.

7 The First Time New Day Has Ever Defended Titles At WrestleMania

New Day is quite arguably the most iconic tag team of their generation, with achievements including eleven tag title reigns, including the longest one in WWE history. Despite their high profile role for the last six years plus, the team had never actually defended titles at WrestleMania before this year.

To be fair, Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods did reign as champions going into WrestleMania 32 opposite The League of Nations, but the titles weren’t on the line in their six-man tag team match. Otherwise, the team has either found themselves in the challengers role, or out of the tag title mix.

6 Shane McMahon Joins His Family In Having A Losing Record At WrestleMania

Going into WrestleMania, Shane McMahon had an even 3-3 win-loss record at WrestleMania. That’s a respectable mark, particularly considering the statistics for the rest of his family. His father Vince has gone 0-4 at the event and his sister Stephanie lost her only WrestleMania match in 2018. Shane’s brother-in-law Triple H certainly has the more iconic WrestleMania resume, but that comes with the asterisk that he actually has a losing record of 10-13 across his 23 ‘Mania bouts.

Shane joined the ranks of his family with a losing record when he suffered a pinfall loss to Braun Strowman. With that, he dropped to a 42 percent win rate, one point worse than Triple H’s mark.

5 The First Non-Gimmick Women’s Match To Main Event A PPV Other Than Evolution

In 2016, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks worked the first women’s main event on a WWE main roster PPV, duking it out inside Hell in a Cell. Since then, women have headlined a handful of other PPVs, most notably at WrestleMania two years ago, with Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey joining Flair in a Triple Threat.

Night one of WrestleMania 37 marked only the second time women main evented a PPV without it being a gimmick match such as Hell in a Cell, a Triple Threat, or TLC Match. The only time it ever happened before was at the all-women’s Evolution PPV, so this marked the first time women “beat out” men to close the show with a traditional, one-on-one match.

4 Omos Parallels Big E With His Main Roster Match

This past fall, AJ Styles introduced Omos as his bodyguard. The pairing followed the tradition of the old Shawn Michaels and Diesel partnership. The smaller workhorse wrestler got a credibility boost via big backup. The inexperienced big man got mentoring from one of the best wrestlers in the world, with hopes of progressing from a bodyguard to a starring role in his own right.

More than Kevin Nash, however, the first time main roster fans saw Omos in a proper match, he followed in the tradition of Big E. Big E debuted on the main roster as an enforcer for Dolph Ziggler, and made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 29, teaming with Ziggler to challenge Team Hell No for their titles. Omos and Styles chasing New Day’s Raw Tag Team Championship followed this template.

3 The First Time A WWE Championship Match Kicked Off WrestleMania

When Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley kicked off WrestleMania 37, it marked the fourth time a world title match launched the event. WrestleMania 27 saw Edge successfully defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio, and WrestleMania 28 saw Sheamus unseat Daniel Bryan for the same title. WrestleMania 35 began with Seth Rollins slaying the beast as he won the Universal Championship off of Brock Lesnar.

When McIntyre and Lashley clashed, however, it was the first time it was WWE’s longest continuously running title was defended first at ‘Mania. It was a fitting way to welcome back live fans to WWE action for the first time in over a year.

2 DH Smith’s First WrestleMania Appearance In A Decade

DH Smith made a brief appearance at WrestleMania 37 in honor of his late father, The British Bulldog, commemorating his WWE Hall of Fame induction. Smith was a part of WWE himself for a time, most notably as half of the Harty Dynasty tag team with Tyson Kidd.

Related: Every Version Of The British Bulldog, Ranked From Worst To Best

Smith has carried on with his career since leaving WWE in 2011, highlighted by distinguished work in Japan. His appearance at WrestleMania 37 marked his first appearance at the biggest show of the year since WrestleMania 27 when he worked the pre-show battle royal. His only previous appearance on the main card of WrestleMania was in support of his uncle Bret Hart for his match with Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania 26.

1 Former WWE Champions Kick Off The Raw Tag Team Championship Match

The Raw Tag Team Championship match between New Day and the team of AJ Styles and Omos pleasantly surprised a number of fans through shrewd booking, and a better than expected main roster debut match from Omos. All that’s not to mention the surprise of Styles and Omos winning the titles.

Of further interest, the match started with AJ Styles and Kofi Kingston in the ring. A fun subplot was that, with this pairing, fans saw the man who walked out of WrestleMania 34 WWE Champion and the man who walked out of WrestleMania 35 WWE Champion squaring off in this very different context.

Next: The 10 Worst WrestleMania Matches In History, According To Dave Meltzer