WrestleMania: Five titles change hands on WWE’s biggest night of the year

Five of WWE’s titles changed hands on the company’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania.

Roman Reigns fell short in his bid to take the Universal title from Brock Lesnar in the main event of a show which drew a crowd of 78,133 to the New Orleans Superdome.

In a hard-hitting encounter, Reigns and Lesnar traded big blows with a furious exchange of F5s, Superman Punches and Spears.

The turning point came after Reigns kicked out of a fifth F5. A visibly irate Lesnar removed his gloves and started unloading bare-knuckle shots, busting open Reigns.

With The Big Dog weakened, Lesnar delivered a sixth and final F5 of the contest, sealing a successful defence of his Universal title.

It capped off a thrilling night in the Mercedes-Benz Arena, with five titles changing hands – Ronda Rousey making her in-ring debut, Daniel Bryan’s triumphant return from retirement and the re-emergence of The Undertaker.

Bryan and McMahon take down Yep! Movement

Daniel Bryan made a successful return to in-ring competition, teaming up with Shane McMahon to defeat Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

Having been fired on SmackDown two weeks prior, Zayn and Owens needed a win to return to the blue brand’s roster.

They gained the upper-hand before the bell rang with a sneak attack that culminated with a power-bomb to Bryan on the ring apron.

With Bryan being attended to by medics, Owens and Zayn went to work on Shane. They looked to have him beaten when Bryan returned to the ring and began taking the pair apart.

After hitting both superstars with running kicks, Bryan planted Zayn with Yes kicks, landed a running knee and trapped Zayn in the Yes Lock for the win.

Nakamura snaps after Styles defeat

AJ Styles retained the WWE title after defeating Shinsuke Nakamura, but was the victim of a shocking post-match assault from the King of Strong Style.

In what had been billed as a ‘dream match’, both superstars threw caution to the wind and put on a fine show for the WWE crowd.

Nakamura looked to be on his way to the title but Styles reversed a Kinshasa into the Styles Clash for the win.

The pair embraced after the match but Nakamura stunned the New Orleans crowd, hitting a low blow on Styles and nailing a Kinshasa outside the ring.

Undertaker returns

After weeks of silence, The Undertaker returned on the grandest stage of them all to defeat John Cena.

Having been frustrated by The Dead Man in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, Cena had taken his seat in the crowd, seemingly being nothing more than a spectator.

That all changed, however, when a match official came over and spoke to Cena early in the evening, prompting the 16-time world champion to sprint to the locker-room.

With Cena back in the ring, the lights dropped with the WWE crowd calling for The Undertaker. Instead Elias emerged to serenade the New Orleans crowd.

A frustrated Cena interrupted Elias’ performance and began walking back to the locker-room. That’s when the infamous gong sounded and The Phenom made his entrance.

Inside the ring, ‘Taker was in complete control, going straight on the attack. Cena briefly fought back into the contest but was caught with a chokeslam and a match-ending tombstone.

Ronda Rousey makes a winning start

Ronda Rousey kicked off her WWE career in style as she and Kurt Angle teamed up to defeat Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.

The former UFC champion silenced any doubters, nailing some blistering moves on Stephanie and, at one stage, hoisting Triple H onto her shoulders.

After several missed attempts to catch Stephanie in an arm-bar, Rowdy Ronda finally trapped the Raw Commissioner in the centre of the ring, forcing Stephanie to tap out and pick up her first win in WWE.

Rollins becomes a grand slam champ

Seth Rollins joined a prestigious club of grand slam champions after defeating The Miz and Finn Balor to capture the Intercontinental Title – the one belt that’s eluded him in his WWE career.

All three superstars put everything on the line, but after Balor hit Miz with his signature Coup De Grace, Rollins capitalised, hitting both opponents with a Curb Stomp and pinning The Miz.

Charlotte ends the streak

Asuka suffered the first defeat of her WWE career as Charlotte retained the SmackDown Women’s title.

In a back-and-forth duel, Asuka wowed the crowd by spectacularly countering a moonsault into a Venus Fly-Trap submission hold which Charlotte quickly reversed into a Boston Crab.

Asuka managed to escape that hold, but when Charlotte caught her in the figure-eight lock, the Empress of Tomorrow had no choice but to tap out, ending her 900-plus day undefeated streak.

Mahal claims United States title

Jinder Mahal upset the odds to claim the United States title in a brutal Fatal Four Way match.

With Bobby Roode and Randy Orton outside the ring, Rusev looked to be closing in on the title as he sized up Mahal for The Accolade.

But Sunil Singh interrupted proceedings, distracting the Bulgarian Brute long enough for Mahal to recover and plant Rusev with The Khallas for the win, much to dissatisfaction of the New Orleans crowd.

Jax captures Raw women’s title

Nia Jax got revenge on Alexa Bliss and claimed the Raw Women’s title in the process.

As the bout began, Jax smartly took out a ringside Mickie James, leaving Bliss to fend for herself.

The champion was willing to play dirty to keep her title, gouging Jax’s eye on a few occasions, but simply couldn’t compete with Jax’s raw power.

The challenger fought back, eventually planting Bliss with a brutal Samoan drop from the middle rope to pin the champion.

New SmackDown tag champions crowned

The Bludgeon Brothers overpowered The New Day and The Usos to win the SmackDown tag team titles.

Utilising their size and strength advantage, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan dismantled their opponents, picking up the win after power-bombing Kofi Kingston from the top rope.

Strowman reveals his mystery partner

Braun Strowman defeated The Bar to win the Raw Tag Team titles after enlisting the services of a young boy from the WrestleMania crowd.

The Monster Among Men came to the ring with the WWE Universe desperate to know who he would be teaming up with.

But rather than introduce someone from the locker room, Strowman walked into the crowd in search of a partner, eventually settling on a young child called Nicholas.

With Nicholas in tow, Strowman took the fight to The Bar and hit Cesaro with a running powerslam to win the belts.

WWE WrestleMania replays are available on Sky Sports Box Office until Thursday.

(c) Sky News 2018: WrestleMania: Five titles change hands on WWE’s biggest night of the year