WrestleMania is supposed to feel huge, ridiculous, overbooked, a little dumb, and somehow still essential. Congratulations to WrestleMania 42, because it appears to have checked every one of those boxes before the bell even rang.
This year’s show takes place over two nights, Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with a 13 match card and eight title matches packed into the weekend.
Night 1 is set to close with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes defending against Randy Orton, while Night 2 is headlined by World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk against Roman Reigns. So yes, the star power is there. So is the usual WrestleMania nonsense, and frankly that is part of the charm.
Let’s start with the obvious: WWE has done what it usually does with WrestleMania season, which is give fans several things to be genuinely excited about and at least one main event program that makes you stare at the screen like your uncle just tried to explain crypto at Thanksgiving.
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Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton should feel massive on paper because it is Cody and Orton at WrestleMania, two names with real history, real credibility, and enough main event gravitas to carry a stadium. Instead, the buildup has had a strange, chaotic, “sure, why not throw that in too” energy, with Pat McAfee tied into the story and enough side noise floating around to make the whole thing feel like WWE forgot it had a built-in blockbuster and decided to decorate it with extra nonsense. And yet, because this is wrestling, it still might work. Or it might become glorious nonsense. Either way, people are going to watch.
Then there is Seth Rollins vs. Gunther, which feels like the match that wrestling fans will be talking about afterward if both guys get time and nobody tries to overproduce it into oblivion. This is the type of matchup that does not need three choirs, four celebrity cameos, and a forklift entrance to matter. It just needs a bell and two maniacs who know how to make violence look elegant.
Rollins has spent years building a WrestleMania resume that keeps growing, and Gunther has become one of the most believable punishing forces WWE has. If you are looking for the match most likely to make people say, “That stole the weekend,” this is near the front of the line.
Night 1 also has Stephanie Vaquer defending the Women’s World Championship against Liv Morgan, and that one has real heat. Vaquer and Morgan have gotten to the point where this feels less like a standard title defense and more like two people who would absolutely fight in a parking lot if security turned its back for ten seconds.
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There is also AJ Lee defending the Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch, plus a Women’s Tag Team Championship fatal four way involving Nia Jax and Lash Legend, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, and Nikki and Brie Bella.
In other words, Night 1 is loaded, even if part of the loading process appears to have involved WWE spinning a giant wheel labeled “famous people and grudges.”
Night 2 might actually be more intriguing if you like your WrestleMania with a little chaos and a little risk.
CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns is a legitimate headliner, not just because of the names but because of what those names mean to different eras of WWE. Punk as champion against Reigns is the kind of match WWE can market in giant bold letters and not feel guilty about it.
But the real wildcard might be Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar. If WWE is serious about creating the next monster-level main event presence, this is the kind of match where that happens. Femi is still just 27 and turns 28 days after WrestleMania, while Lesnar is 48 and at the point in his career where every major match feels like it should matter. If WWE wants to make a statement, this is the one.
And because WrestleMania cannot simply behave like a normal wrestling event, the card also includes the glorious mess of a six pack ladder match, plus Finn Bálor bringing back “The Demon” against Dominik Mysterio, and an unsanctioned match between Jacob Fatu and Drew McIntyre that feels likely to involve enough violence to make the commission suddenly remember it has rules.
There is also celebrity seasoning on the weekend, including a six man tag with Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed against The Usos and LA Knight. Because apparently one of WWE’s guiding principles remains, “What if this was even louder?”
That is really the story of WrestleMania 42. It has the heavy hitters. It has the workrate match. It has the giant spectacle nonsense. It has title matches that matter, grudges that feel personal, and enough weird edges to keep the whole thing from feeling too clean. Some of the storytelling has been excellent. Some of it has felt like it was assembled by raccoons in a production truck. But this is WrestleMania. It is not supposed to be subtle. It is supposed to be big, a little chaotic, and impossible to fully ignore.
So yes, Dougie Doug will be watching. Probably yelling. Definitely second-guessing booking decisions in real time. Because even when WWE gets weird, and especially when WWE gets weird, WrestleMania still knows how to make itself the only show in town.
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