WWE WrestleMania 40 Results: Star Ratings for All Matches from Saturday's Card

The first night of WrestleMania 40 is in the books, and it's hard to argue it was anything short of a success.

We have a new Intercontinental champion, two new sets of tag team champions and a Night 2 set up for an epic showdown between Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns.

Here is a look at how Saturday's entire card played out, along with star ratings for each match.

Rating: **** (4/5 stars)

Some will compare this match unfavorably to last year's Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair classic, and that's fair. That may have been the best women's match in WrestleMania history.

But as far as openers go, this was still a really strong way to get the night started, even if it was a little paint by the numbers. Fantasy bookers hoping for a double turn or big emotional moment between Ripley and Lynch were left disappointed, but they still put together a strong 17-minute match to get things started.

Based on Ripley's comments from the media scrum, this feud might not be over yet, either. This match also looks a lot better looking back on the night after the next few matches failed to deliver.

Rating: **1/2 (2.5/5 stars)

At their best, ladder matches can be emotional 5-star epics. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon in 1994 and Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz in 2000 are two of the most iconic matches in WrestleMania history.

Unfortunately, this was not that.

This was the night's "get everybody on the card" match, and it showed. A 12-man ladder match is a silly concept that defies even the kayfabiest of kayfabe minds. You mean to tell me that none of the 10 other men competing in this match could go up and stop their opponents from grabbing the titles? Logically speaking, this match should still be going on when the Eagles kick off their home opener in September.

Conceptual gripes aside, this was also just not a particularly compelling match until the final two minutes. A-Town Down Under grabbing the SmackDown titles at the midway point was met with a collective shrug from the audience, and Austin Theory and Grayson Waller celebrated alone in the ring for nearly a full minute rather than going for the Raw titles as well.

There were a couple of cool spots—JD McDonough got his well-deserved comeuppance flying through a table—and R-Truth got his feel-good moment, so this wasn't a dud. It just was a bit of an all-over-the-place cluster.

Rating: *** (3/5 stars)

Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson's surprise appearance ruled. There's no other way around it. This is the type of spectacle you only get in a WrestleMania, and it will make all of the national headlines WWE wants.

The match itself was fine. This would have been a "should have been on SmackDown" classic if it weren't for the Kelce-Johnson involvement, so it's good Triple H and Co. knew the match needed something to justify its place on the card.

Andrade as a babyface remains a bit of a questionable choice from a booking perspective, and I'm surprised we didn't see Carlito turn after being spurned time and again by Rey Mysterio leading up to this match. Still, we got a huge Philly pop and Dominik Mysterio lost. Not much to complain about here.

Rating: * (1/5 stars)

This was, far and away, the biggest disappointment of the night. There is not a single positive thing to be said about this match. Everyone from the bookers, to the agents who put together this match, to the performers, should be frustrated with what amounted to an 11-minute bag fumble.

This match should have stolen the show.

Jimmy and Jey Uso spent 13 years building one of the greatest tag-team resumes in WWE history. At one point, they were in such lockstep that the running joke was no one could figure out who was Jimmy and who was Jey.

Every emotional beat in this story played out beautifully. Jey choosing Jimmy over Roman Reigns was one of the best TV moments of the entire Bloodline storyline, and Jimmy's jealousy-laden betrayal of his brother was nearly as good. WWE did the smart thing to keep them apart for several months to allow this match to simmer under the surface,

And then...nothing. A bunch of superkicks in a rushed match and some "emotional" beats that rang hollow because they never actually built in the ring. I'm not sure if their move sets are just too similar to put together a compelling match or the 11-minute run time led to some corners being cut.

Regardless, yeesh. (Not yeet.)

Rating: **1/2 (2.5/5 stars)

This was precisely what it needed to be. The presentation of Jade Cargill was flawless and she looked like a powerhouse in the ring. It's not often you'll see a bonafide superstar like Bianca Belair fade to the background, but Cargill's charisma and presence ooze through the screen.

As a wrestler, Cargill doesn't look like she's made any vast improvement from her AEW stint. But she's money in every sense of the word, and hopefully this WrestleMania preview will set the stage for her full-time run on SmackDown.

Don't be surprised if Cargill and Belair wind up holding those women's tag team titles sooner than later.

Rating: ****3/4 (4.75/5 stars)

One qualm here: Zayn's triumph probably deserved more than 15 minutes, but boy did he and Gunther pack a story into the time they were given.

Not to keep harping on the Uso vs. Uso dud, but it's incredible how much emotion and raw storytelling Zayn and Gunther included with only four extra minutes. The babyface overcoming all odds story is well-trodden, and they didn't go out there and reinvent the wheel.

That said, it was a sensationally told in-ring story from start to finish. Gunther dominated Zayn throughout the match, putting him through the best hits of moves and finishers that vanquished every foe for nearly two years. Zayn kept kicking out.

Then in one fell swoop, Sami turned the momentum, pulled out a Ring of Honor classic with a top-rope brainbuster, and gave us our only shocking result of the evening. Gunther's reign brought prestige back to the Intercontinental title, and it's hard to find a more worthy successor than Zayn. Now, off to the main event scene for the Ring General.

Match of the night in a romp.

Rating: **** (4/5 stars)

Let's state the obvious: We did not need a 45-minute main event. The first 10-15 minutes of this match featured a lot of posing and posturing and not a whole lot of wrestling. It was frankly a waste of time, and by about 10:40 p.m. ET you could see the crowd getting restless.

Then things got active.

Once the action left the ring and The Rock snapped into "board member" mode to essentially turn the match into a no-disqualification tornado tag, it was incredible.

Even if logically we all knew the Night 2 story only works if The Rock and Roman win on Night 1, everyone in the ring did an excellent job of selling the uncertainty. The double-pin spot was one of the loudest pops you'll ever hear in a wrestling arena.

While we're at it, kudos to The Rock. That man went out there and wrestled less than a month away from his 52nd birthday. A man with a net worth well into the nine figures took a table spot and sold a Reigns spear like death. The Rock could have easily come in, done his greatest hits and collected a check, but instead, he gave us his most inspired work in two decades.

If they could have cut the run time by about 10 minutes, this would have been nearing 5-star territory.

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