WWE
WRESTLEMANIA 42
APRIL 18-19, 2026
ALLEGIANT STADIUM
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Watch: ESPN2 (First Hour on Saturday) / ESPN (First Hour on Sunday) / ESPN Unlimited (US) / Netflix (Non-US)

MEET YOUR PREVIEWER:

Suit Williams: Check out SuitWilliams.com for show reviews, like the AEW Dynasty pay-per-view this past weekend, and long-form writing projects like Williams Watches WrestleMania and Suit’s countdown of the 50 Greatest Matches in WrestleMania History, which concludes this Friday!

I’ve found that the Road to WrestleMania often reflects the state of WWE over the past year, and this year’s road has been no exception. In a year marked by unusual booking decisions, roster stagnation, fan discontent, and landscape-altering injuries, this WrestleMania build has been marred by all four maladies. The promotion is feeling it too, despite what the press releases masquerading as news will tell you.

They’ve shuffled the deck chairs in the booking room, leading to “Road Dogg” Brian James departing the company. They’ve had multiple sales on WrestleMania tickets as the shows struggle to reach 45,000 people a night, well below the 60,000 they drew on both nights last year. Those are still obviously successful shows compared to the rest of the pro wrestling business, but TKO isn’t in the business of “comparatively good numbers.” They hit the proverbial panic button, yanking John Cena off a movie set four months after the conclusion of his lackluster retirement tour to host the shows in the hope of getting some last-second movement.

What we’re seeing is a promotion that got too high off its own supply to stay in lockstep with its fanbase. They were too busy celebrating record gates and filming Netflix shows about how good the creative process is to get things set up when their current top stars cooled off, as it looks like they have. Paul Levesque was too busy writing hour-long Hall of Fame speeches to get the next set of heels ready for their top babyfaces, leaving Cody Rhodes in an ice-cold, months-long feud with Drew McIntyre that did no one any favors. They fell into the same pitfalls as other hot promotions, falling back on the pat hands instead of giving the ball to new stars while fan interest was peaking. The hot streak that WWE has been on for the past half-decade is coming to an end, and it has caused the powers that be to try a more…unconditional route to reverse course.

WRESTLEMANIA SATURDAY

UNDISPUTED WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
CODY RHODES © VS. RANDY ORTON (W/ PAT MCAFEE)

The main event of the Saturday show is Randy Orton challenging Cody Rhodes for the “Undisputed” WWE Title. Orton won the Elimination Chamber match to earn the shot at the title, the title which Rhodes won from Drew McIntyre on the SmackDown after Elimination Chamber. Orton turned on Rhodes soon after to raucous cheers, as not only was this a MOMENT involving a wrestler that fans perceive as a company legend, but the WWE fanbase has also tired of Rhodes as the top guy. Four years is a pretty long time in wrestling.

Orton’s turn on Rhodes felt simple, as Orton and Rhodes share a ton of history. Orton was Cody’s first feud in the WWE, a feud that stemmed from Orton being the last man Dusty Rhodes ever wrestled on PPV at the 2007 Great American Bash. They were a part of the Legacy unit, which was the main event heel act in WWE in 2009 before they split in 2010. These two fought at WrestleMania 26, alongside Ted Dibiase Jr., as part of a triple threat match that Orton won. There was a lot of history that could be referenced between these two, history that could’ve been treated with far more reverence than it deserves, as someone who watched Legacy in real time.

Instead, they chose a different route.

The company teased that Randy Orton had been receiving phone calls from someone who had influenced Orton to turn his back on Rhodes and the fans (who are still cheering him). The speculation arose, especially after Orton’s comments about how there was more than one royal family in pro wrestling, in mockery of Rhodes’ entrance song. Could it have been his father, Cowboy Bob Orton, who had seconded his son in the past? Was it Shane McMahon, who Legacy fought back in 2009, and knows how dangerous Orton can be? There were even whispers of THE DISRUPTER, The Rock.

None of those men was the mystery caller. None of those men were worthy of involving themselves in the storyline that would be main eventing WrestleMania.

SEND IN THE PUNTER.

The man on the phone was Pat McAfee. The former NFL punter turned sports media star, who was most recently seen on WWE television as the affable doofus on commentary that fought Gunther to defend the honor of the Allegedly Improved Michael Cole. The reveal was made on the April 3rd episode of SmackDown, which further complicated matters as that show took place in Orton’s hometown of St. Louis. McAfee appeared (pardon the pun) from out of nowhere to punt Rhodes in the balls before cutting a truly incomprehensible promo about how the WWE was terrible.

I’m not kidding. He talked about how Orton called him (wait?) and told him that the business had gone in a direction that nobody liked, with 5’5” guys doing “45-minute ironman matches every week for no rhyme or reason,” and how the company had forgotten the “Attitude Era fans” that got them to the billion-dollar television deals they have now. He said, on a WWE television show, that WrestleMania tickets were still on sale and that SmackDown had just had its lowest-rated show ever (a fact that’s only true if you were looking at Cagematch ratings instead of Nielsen ratings). McAfee blamed Rhodes for all of this, calling him a puppet champion, and that Orton was going to “save the fucking business.”

This was one of the most shocking segments of pro wrestling television that I’ve ever seen, in that it was truly shocking to see a promotion so desperate to turn around some sagging business and so creatively bankrupt that THIS was their big Hail Mary. There has been endless talk about why McAfee got involved, with the blame seemingly landing at the feet of TKO Chairman (and McAfee’s agent) Ari Emanuel. Emanuel is alleged to have wanted McAfee to be inserted into things, as this WrestleMania would be the first on ESPN Unlimited (with the first hour of each show on linear ESPN channels). McAfee is one of the faces of ESPN, so the connection would allow for bigger promotion and synergy. On paper, you can see where Emanuel is coming from, even if it wasn’t smart to shoehorn McAfee into a main event angle.

In execution, it’s one of the dumbest angles I’ve ever seen as a wrestling fan. I grew up watching Russo-era TNA, so that really means something. To tell your fans that the product that they’ve enjoyed for years is actually bad is so mind-numbingly stupid that it truly earned comparisons to dying days WCW. We aren’t selling tickets! People aren’t watching the shows! Come buy a ticket and watch the show! The heel manager who told you this show sucks is giving you 25% off tickets courtesy of Dodge Ram Trucks!

Did Ari Emanuel write this segment himself? Did McAfee go out there and wing it? Or did a desperate creative team, led by two-time Booker of the Year Paul Levesque, try to go for a shock value angle while venting real frustrations? Either way, this has been one of the most reviled angles in years, with dyed-in-the-wool WWE fans trashing it. Unfortunately for them, this isn’t the end of it.

As reported by Dave Meltzer, the plan is for this feud to continue to Backlash. Orton and McAfee would team up to take on Rhodes and his partner, the singer Jelly Roll, whom Orton teamed with at last year’s SummerSlam and was dropped with an RKO as part of this current feud. With McAfee stating that he would leave WWE forever if Orton lost at WrestleMania (love introducing a manager and immediately doing a Loser Leaves Town gimmick), that is a clear signal that Orton will be winning the title for Rhodes to chase through the spring.

If they’re this desperate to sell tickets for a two-night WrestleMania, what the hell are they gonna do for the two-night SummerSlam in Minneapolis this August? Prediction: Randy Orton

WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
STEPHANIE VAQUER © VS. LIV MORGAN

Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan challenges Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Title. This has been a pretty straightforward feud, with trash talk and brawling for weeks on end. There’s been a hint of WWE vs. The World, with Morgan talking about how she trained in WWE while Vaquer trained in “flea-infested rings for ten years.” There’s been some Spanish curse words thrown around. Vaquer gave us the most disgusting shoot headbutt on a WWE TV show, maybe ever, when she sent Morgan head-first into Roxanne Perez in a backstage fight.

Vaquer has had a fine reign, but they haven’t given her anything to sink her teeth into until now, and she’s probably losing the title. They’ve done a good job of treating her like a big deal, but if she loses the title here, I can see them losing focus on her fairly quickly. The company sees Liv Morgan as a headline act. I don’t, but I’m not in the room. With two women in her group, and thus, two women she can have dissension with until the next stadium show, expect Morgan to win the title here.

Also, Liv Morgan put out a music video for a song she did, and it’s as bad as you would expect a Liv Morgan music video to be. Prediction: Liv Morgan

WOMEN’S INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
AJ LEE © VS. BECKY LYNCH

In the feud that no one asked for that will not fucking end, AJ Lee defends the Women’s Intercontinental Title against Becky Lynch. At the very least, Becky has quit acting like a Looney Tunes character and is being serious, but I can’t imagine anybody on Earth caring about this. Becky wins the title back, and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, we can move on from this. Prediction: Becky Lynch

WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCES (NIA JAX & LASH LEGEND) © VS. BAYLEY & LYRA VALKYRIA VS. CHARLOTTE FLAIR & ALEXA BLISS VS. TBD (EITHER THE BELLA TWINS OR THE KABUKI WARRIORS)

Nikki Bella sprained her ankle, so if she’s not ready to go, The Kabuki Warriors will fill the fourth spot in this match. WWE was building to Asuka vs. Iyo Sky for this show, but pulled it in case Asuka is needed here. Why couldn’t they just have Asuka work double duty? Again, don’t ask me.

I have nothing else to add about this match. Prediction: Bayley & Lyra Valkyria

SETH ROLLINS VS. GUNTHER

In the “My Original Opponent Got Hurt” Bowl, Seth Rollins wrestles Gunther. Rollins was meant to wrestle Bron Breakker before Breakker’s hernia injury, while Gunther was penciled in to wrestle Rey Mysterio before Mysterio suffered a rib injury. Breakker reportedly got cleared, and Mysterio is wrestling on Sunday. Don’t ask me, I just write about it.

This is less a match and more a representation of the time WWE has wasted over the past 12 months.

What a year Seth Rollins has had. Won the Saturday main event of WrestleMania last year. Got a unit built around him as the lead heel on Raw on Netflix. That nonsensical fake injury that led to the cash-in at SummerSlam. The nonsensical real injury he got from doing a coast-to-coast headbutt at Crown Jewel. And now, he’s a midcard babyface again that dresses like a cat burglar (an improvement). That was definitely worth spending the first year of Netflix focused on.

Meanwhile, Gunther retired John Cena and AJ Styles, spent a few weeks beating up Dragon Lee, then disappeared before showing up to choke out Rollins. I said it when Gunther retired Cena, and I’ll say it again now: For the Cena win to truly have meant something, he needed to win the Royal Rumble and challenge one of the two babyface World Champions. Instead, he was going to wrestle Rey Mysterio before that fell through, and now he’s just stuck here against Rollins.

He’ll win, though, as the cleared Bron Breakker will cost Rollins the match and give those two more time to build a match that they shot the angle for in October. Prediction: Gunther

UNSANCTIONED MATCH
JACOB FATU VS. DREW MCINTYRE

They’ve been feuding for months now, with McIntyre taking Fatu out back in October. Fatu returned and accidentally helped McIntyre win the WWE Title in January, then cost McIntyre the title in March. This will be your big weapons brawl of the night.

WWE has completely squandered whatever they had with Jacob Fatu. When he debuted in June 2024, he immediately felt like a big deal, outshining Solo Sikoa in the midst of his failed main event push. And instead of capitalizing on that and making him the star of the act, they had him simmer behind Sikoa for a year, LOSE THE FEUD TO HIM, then try to circle him into the WWE Title mix before he got hurt and missed the rest of 2025. Now he’s in the Damian Priest spot. Literally. Last year, it was Damian Priest in an undercard plunder match against Drew McIntyre. He’s now one half of the SmackDown Tag Champions alongside R-Truth. Remember R-Truth?

In a company dying for fresh faces at the top of the card, they may have missed their window to make Fatu a truly meaningful top guy. Maybe he and Bron Breakker can start a club. Prediction: Jacob Fatu

THE USOS & LA KNIGHT VS. THE VISION (AUSTIN THEORY & LOGAN PAUL) & ISHOWSPEED

I would say that “Main Event” Jey Uso has tumbled back down the card, but he opened Night One last year in his World Title match. Anyway, we seem to be spared of singles Jey Uso for the time being, as he’s back teaming with BIG JIM on a regular basis. They won the tag team titles in December before losing them to the remnants of The Vision on the March 30 Raw, due to incidental interference from Twitch streamer IShowSpeed. This interference happened because Speed was cursed by Danhausen.

What the fuck am I talking about? Prediction: The Usos & LA Knight

WRESTLEMANIA SUNDAY

CM Punk defends the Fake World Title in the real WrestleMania main event against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns. This feud has been heated, with Reigns picking Punk to fight because he hates him. Works for me. These two sent jabs back and forth with each other, with Punk bringing up Reigns’ dead father and promising to lay Roman to rest next to him. Roman’s response was to…call Punk old. He also went on Jimmy Fallon and said Punk wasn’t a star, when Reigns is (generously) a bottom 10% guest on that show in terms of fame.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: When Roman Reigns has to share the stage with a legitimate top guy, he comes up short. He doesn’t have what it takes to produce like a real top draw, and at this point, he never will. Don’t forget that they had to call John Cena to sell tickets to the show that’s main evented by the so-called Needle Mover.

The result here is in very little doubt to me. Punk has worked his ass off to stand in this spot. He’s been as good as he’s been in his WWE return, as thankfully, this big feud didn’t involve charm bracelets or Seth Rollins. He’s earned the spot in the real main event of WrestleMania. Unfortunately, just as it was in 2013, his job is to make Roman look strong. Roman Reigns went on the Pat McAfee show in January and talked about how he gave everybody else two years to run the show, and talked about how no one else stepped up and how he was tired of seeing “mediocracy.” The boss call has been put in, so expect Hogan Reigns to run wild in the desert and stand tall as Fake World Champion. Prediction: Roman Reigns

Over the past year, Carmelo Hayes made strong efforts to get over on the SmackDown roster. He put in good performances in the ring, got his character over with the fans, and peaked on the last SmackDown of 2025 by beating Ilja Dragunov for the United States Title. Hayes was an example of putting your nose to the grindstone and making the most of every opportunity given. That effort was rewarded by him losing the US Title three weeks before WrestleMania and being left off the card entirely.

The man who won it was Sami Zayn. WWE fans have turned hard on Zayn, as he’s somehow earned the reputation of being a backstage politicker. This reputation was earned despite him definitively losing a WWE Title match to Drew McIntyre in Saudi Arabia and putting Dragunov over for this very title back in October. So, Zayn is leaning into it and setting up a double turn against Trick Williams, who has gotten over well since his call-up. It’s another mess where the company and the fans are misaligned, but at least they’re trying to realign here. Prediction: Trick Williams

In a feud that both women clearly don’t want to be involved in, Rhea Ripley will challenge Jade Cargill for the SmackDown Women’s Title. In WWE’s infinite wisdom, they’ve given Jade new Baddies (Michin & B-Fab) as they rip her AEW gimmick even further. This is clearly an attempt to get Cargill over by putting her in the ring with a top star that could possibly get a good match out of her. That hasn’t stopped Jade from telling everyone who would listen that she would rather be wrestling Charlotte Flair at this show, but Rhea is probably a bigger star at this point in time.

Iyo Sky, whose own match against Asuka may be delayed as I stated earlier, and was performatively called the best wrestler in the world by Michael Cole for much of last year, has found her role reduced to the woman who gets beaten up to get heat on another match. She did a clean job to Jade in the run-up to this match, which tells me that she’s probably not wrestling at Mania anyway. Fun fact: neither women’s champion from last year (Sky, Tiffany Stratton) is booked on this show.

Anyway, expect Jade to get a showcase win here, as I don’t see what a Rhea win accomplishes here. The hope is for a good match, and given that Jade’s best match to date was against someone of similar stature to her and Rhea (Kris Statlander), there’s a chance we get one here. There have been reports, primarily from Self Made, that Bianca Belair is expected to be on these WrestleMania shows in some form or fashion. I can see her showing up after this match to challenge the champion, no matter who it is. Prediction: Jade Cargill

LADDER MATCH FOR THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
PENTA © VS. JE’VON EVANS VS. DRAGON LEE VS. JD MCDONAGH VS. RUSEV VS. REY MYSTERIO

Penta defends the Intercontinental Title in a ladder match against five guys picked out of a hat. They announced the participants in this match, saying that all of them had won qualifying matches on WWE Main Event (which still exists), then ran old Main Event matches on YouTube after this was announced to make sense of it all. If that’s the level of effort they’re putting into this match, then allow me to match it. Prediction: JD McDonagh

THE DEMON FINN BALOR VS. DOMINIK MYSTERIO

The feud that was teased at last year’s WrestleMania will finally come to fruition on this year’s show, as Finn Balor was kicked out of the Judgment Day by Dom after Dom lost the Intercontinental Title to Penta (due to a curse from Danhausen). With Finn turning face, we’ll see the return of The Demon, Finn’s body paint character that he brings out for his big feud enders. This will be simple, as Finn will handle Dom and give everybody a nice pop for the Demon coming back after a few years away. If I were booking, I’d have him beat JD for the Intercontinental Title and give him a short run. But if I were booking, a lot of things would be different on this show. Prediction: Finn Balor

OBA FEMI VS. BROCK LESNAR

The most anticipated match of the show might just be Brock Lesnar taking on NXT call-up Oba Femi. Lesnar announced an open challenge for WrestleMania, which was answered by Femi. Femi proceeded to lay Lesnar out with a Fall From Grace and get the better of him at every single turn. He has stood tall in every segment, leading him to get over in short order ahead of this match. These segments have gotten so over that Paul Levesque shoehorned himself on-screen to remind everybody who booked them. This is classic pro wrestling, as the bully on the block finds himself seemingly outmatched by a new rising star.

This is the easiest call of the show. Oba Femi is fresh. He is over as hell. He is a new star in a time when WWE desperately needs new stars as fast as they can make them. Femi cut a damn good promo on the go-home Raw to a great reaction. An Oba Femi win here can buy WWE some real goodwill after stumbling into two WrestleManias in Vegas. An Oba Femi win is the only logical option.

Fuck you. Prediction: Brock Lesnar