Lil Wayne Rocks, Lil Baby’s Son Roars, the Rock Rules at Wrestlemania
When you’re Lil Baby’s lil’ baby boy, there are perks to rolling with your old man, even if the elder Lil Baby isn’t even 30 — like going to WrestleMania XL and sitting with his friends Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, Wale and comedian-actor Druski. But more importantly, you get to sit in the front row and be close enough to cheer on the Rock as he literally hit “Rock Bottom.”
On Saturday night, WWE put on its Super Bowl: night one of WrestleMania XL at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. “The biggest WrestleMania of all-time,” as it is being hyped, was headlined by the return of wrestler-turned Hollywood megastar the Rock. The man also known as Dwayne Johnson returned to his roots in the wrestling ring, aligning with WWE cornerstone and his real life cousin, Universal Champion Roman Reigns. They faced World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and his popular partner, superstar, Cody Rhodes (real life son of the late great “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes). The match was billed “the biggest tag team match ever.”
The much-anticipated face-off lived up to expectations with a special effects-laden ring entrance and enough action to give the audience chills (even more chills than sitting in an open-air stadium on a sub-50-degree evening). And although Rock and Roman were victorious, their opponents gave them all they handle, including Rhodes performing the Rock’s own finishing maneuver — the “Rock Bottom” — putting him through an announcer’s table.
“Rawwwwk!” Lil Baby’s five-year-old son Loyal is seen yelling in footage in his dad’s Instagram story, as well as Meek Mill‘s.
“Tell him to get up,” Lil Baby chimed in.
“Rawwwwk, get up!” the youngster yelled. “Punch him in the nose!”
Not only did the Rock get up and punch Rhodes in the face later in the match, he pinned his opponent’s shoulders to the mat.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reacts during a tag team fight against Cody Rhodes and Seth “Freakin” Rollins at WrestleMania 40. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
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“I feel great, body feels great,” the Rock told reporters during a post-Mania press conference. “I just had the time of my life. I put in a lot of work. We had a helluva training camp that lasted probably about 10-12 weeks. I wanted to make sure I was as prepared as I possibly could be. These guys I who wrestled with tonight, as you guys know, they’re the best in the world and on the planet. I wanted to make sure I came in game ready and ring ready as best I can.”
Lil Baby, 2 Chainz, Wale and company didn’t just come to Philly to see the match — they also wanted to see one of their favorite peers rock the mic. On Monday Lil Wayne appeared on Monday Night Raw and told grappler Jey Uso (who happens to be the cousin of the Rock and Roman Reigns) that he would be coming to Mania to perform a new song. On Saturday night, Wayne kept half his promise — he pulled out a hit instead of premiering a new track.
Just before the match between Jey Uso and his twin brother Jimmy, Wayne performed one of the biggest staples of his iconic catalog, “A Milli.” Introduced as “The Greatest Rapper of All Time,” Weezy exploded out of the gate with a few bars of his popular smash, and stopped as Jey’s theme, “Main Event Ish” came on. Jey came out, gave Wayne dap and the two walked down the ramp to the ring together. As the words of the song “It’s just me Uce, day one ish,” rang through the stadium, chimed in with some ad libs.
“Lil Wayne’s performance adds to the rest of the legacy of guys who have come out and performed at Mania before such as Lil Uzi Vert, Snoop Dogg and Kid Ink,” said podcaster and DJ/ radio host Bootleg Kev.
“Wayne is my GOAT besides Jay[-Z],” said Freeway, one of Philly’s rap icons. “Jay and Wayne sit on my Mount Rushmore by themselves.”
Grammy-winning R&B singer Coco Jones sang the national anthem; Scranton rockers Motionless in White performed WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley’s theme song “Demon in Your Dreams”; and Philadelphia’s own, Meek Mill, started WrestleMania off, hyping “the greatest show in all of entertainment” in a pre-taped package. “Every city lives by a code,” Meek said. Only difference is, when you crack that Philly code, you put the whole world on notice… If you come for the Bloodline, you best not miss.”
Ripley, who won her match against Becky Lynch to retain her title, said, “I went out there with one of the best in the federation, Becky Lynch. And to be able to step toe to toe with her and bring the fight to her, it meant the absolute world to me. And to be able to have it on the ‘grandest stage of them all’ at WrestleMania XL, it’s very special. And not only that, but to have Motionless in White be there too, everything sort of came together for Mami — I’ve loved that band since high school.”
Other highlights from Mania night one included the tandem of Bianca Belair, Naomi and Jade Cargill soundly defeating Damage CTRL and Sami Zayn winning the Intercontinental title from Gunther.
