5 Surprising moments from WWE WrestleMania 39 Night One

It was certainly a magical atmosphere at SoFi Stadium for the first night of WrestleMania 39. The 80,000 fans were loud and excited the entire night. They were rewarded for their energy as well on Saturday night.

WWE WrestleMania 39 was an almost perfect night of professional wrestling. We witnessed surprising appearances, an incredible crowd, an instant classic Smackdown Women’s Championship match and one of the most emotional main events in WWE history. The company is in a really good place coming off one of its biggest shows of the entire year.

As we try to figure out how Night Two can possibly match up, we should look at the top five most surprising moments of WWE WrestleMania 39 Night One.

#5. Babyfaces win the night at WrestleMania 39

One of many feel good moments on Saturday night.

In recent years, we have had some interesting results at WrestleMania. The heels have been on the winning end of multiple important matches at the biggest show of the year. At WrestleMania 39, it was surprising to finally see the good guys on top yet again at the biggest show of all.

WrestleMania 39 Night One was a good show to send fans home happy. Rey Mysterio defeated his ungrateful son Dominik. Seth Rollins took down the hated Logan Paul. The Street Profits won their tag team match. And finally, Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens defeated the Usos. In fact, we only had one real bad guy win on Saturday night. And it was a surprising one.

#4. Austin Theory defeats John Cena at WrestleMania 39

Austin Theory gets to pick up a victory over the legend John Cena.

Austin Theory was verbally destroyed by John Cena leading into WrestleMania 39. With the WrestleMania crowd and a group of Make-A-Wish children cheering Cena on, it seemed like the 16-time world champion would win the opening match and get the crowd involved in the night. But no one said wrestling is predictable.

It was an 11-minute match that was really back and forth. But after the ref was knocked down, Cena put on the STF, causing Theory to tap. As Cena celebrated his apparent victory, Theory hit a low blow followed by the A-Town Down for the pinfall victory. Austin Theory defeated John Cena at WrestleMania.

It was certainly a shock to the SoFi Stadium crowd. But since John Cena will likely not be around long-term, it made some sense. Will any WWE fans look forward to Theory bragging about his cheap victory on Saturday night?

#3. Celebrities are used the right way at WrestleMania 39

Not something you see everyday....

At WrestleMania, WWE has made it a habit to use celebrities throughout the show. While they have sometimes added to the night, it is usually mainstream celebrities being put over at the expense of the day-to-day talent that helps the company throughout the rest of the year. At WrestleMania 39, the celebrities surprisingly added quite effectively to the show.

Snoop Dogg played a host who enhanced the main WWE talent. Pat McAfee returned to defeat the hated Miz. KSI was willing to dress in a Prime Energy Drink outfit and take a huge bump. Logan Paul put over Seth Rollins in another great match by the social media megastar.

After so many years of celebrities making WWE talent look foolish, it was refreshing to see them support the full-time roster at WrestleMania 39.

#2. The physicality of the Flair-Ripley match at WrestleMania

It was a common scene in this intense match.

Some people were upset to see Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley not in the main event of Night One of WrestleMania 39. It was another year of female talent not getting the prime spot on the card. How would these two talented women perform after that disappointment? Why, they both simply beat the tar out of each other.

Ripley and Flair started the match by exchanging stiff punches and kicks. At one point, Ripley hit a series of German suplexes. The worst one was when Rhea flipped Flair and she landed straight on her face. This only seemed to anger Flair and the match became a series of big moves with some believable near-falls. After Rhea hit a massive Riptide slam, it was over.

If either competitor was disappointed with their position on the card, they didn’t show it on Saturday night. I doubt many fans will be upset with a rematch going forward. After an intense 24-minute match, it seems the time is right for more between these two talented competitors.

#1. A tag team title match is the main event at WrestleMania 39

The kick to end the epic main event.

The Bloodline storyline is arguably the best WWE has had in years. Many fans were disappointed to see Sami Zayn not win the WWE Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber. But the story continued with the Usos leading into WrestleMania 39.

A World Tag Team Championship match had never main-evented WrestleMania – that is, until Saturday night in Los Angeles. The emotional story between Zayn, Owens and the Usos seemed like a worthy way to end the first night of WrestleMania. It was a perfect mix of emotions for the entire 25-minute tag match.

Zayn took the majority of the abuse from the Usos. Whenever Owens tried to help, the Usos would try to remove him from the equation. As the Usos hit some believable near-falls, Zayn found a way to kick out time and time again. When Jimmy was finally taken out of the match, Sami was able to hit three Helluva Kicks on his former friend Jey and win the Tag Team Championships.

It was surprising to see a tag team match in the main event on one of the best nights of the pro wrestling year. But after the incredible main event and the crowd's reaction, it seems that WWE made the right choice.