The biggest week of the wrestling calendar is here at last, and while many will be focusing on Easter over the weekend, wrestling fans will be settling down for the Biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania 41. Taking place in the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, with the final match card seemingly set in stone (there is a remaining episode of Smackdown where things could change) consisting of currently 13 matches.
The glaring omission currently is Randy Orton, who fans will know was set to face Kevin Owens at the show, but of course Kevin Owens has had to pull out of the show due to a neck injury which reports suggest may keep him out of action for multiple years. However Randy Orton has expressed he is adamant that he will not miss Wrestlemania, and this Friday’s episode of Smackdown will likely set in stone what his weekend plans are. The two most likely outcomes based on what we have seen is a match either against Solo Sikoa, or against Smackdown’s General Manager Nick Aldis, who if you don’t know has a long storied wrestling career of his own, having wrestled with companies such as TNA and NWA.
For the purposes of convenience, this article will only cover Night 1 of Wrestlemania. Night 2’s matches will have their own article. As for Night 1, the confirmed card includes:
- Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Seth Rollins
- Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women’s championship
- Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso for the WWE World Heavyweight championship
- LA Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu for the United States title
- Jade Cargill vs. Naomi
- Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano
- The War Raiders (Ivar & Erik) (c) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) for the WWE World Tag Team championship
El Grande Americano has been a thorn in the side of Rey Mysterio and the LWO for weeks. El Grande Americano has made quite an impression in his first weeks with WWE, even winning over Chad Gable who initially was annoyed that El Grande Americano was getting so much attention, to now happy that despite Gable himself missing Wrestlemania, that El Grande Americano is getting the respect he deserves, another fact that should dispel the baseless accusations that El Grande Americano is Chad Gable. So a match between Americano & Mysterio can once and for all establish who is the greatest luchador of all time, and maybe finally dispel the rumours of Americano’s true identity.
Jade Cargill & Naomi have been intense enemies ever since Cargill’s return at Elimination Chamber and the revelation that Naomi was the one who assaulted Cargill all that time ago and took her out of action for months. And this match also has a unique honor of being the first Women’s Singles match at Wrestlemania not involving any titles/championships since 2006. And as a reminder of just how far Women’s Wrestling has come, that match in 2006 (Wrestlemania 22) was Torrie Wilson taking on Candince Michelle in a ‘Playboy Pillow Fight’. So needless to say, this match between Naomi & Jade Cargill will be a far better affair.
Jacob Fatu ever since his WWE debut in June of last year has constantly been one of the most dangerous people in the company. And if anything, despite being part of Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline, has firmly outshined Solo as the biggest threat of the New Bloodline. So LA Knight will surely have to give absolutely everything he has if he wants to defeat the Samoan Werewolf and keep hold of his US Championship.
Interestingly as well, both Royal Rumble winners will have their title match on Night One of Wrestlemania, and neither of them are the Main Event. Charlotte’s feud with Tiffany Stratton recently caught alight and suddenly became far more personal. In what was supposed to be a fairly simple face to face interview, Tiffany Stratton mocked Flair for being a “Nepo baby”, alongside her multiple divorces, and Charlotte in turn insinuated that Stratton’s real life partner, Ludwig Kaiser had been in her DM’s (which no one believed, and Kaiser has since denied). If there’s one thing WWE fans dislike, it’s how often Charlotte will return after a long absence, and then almost immediately been awarded a title, so a majority are backing Stratton in the hopes that she can prevent history repeating itself yet again.
Jey Uso’s feud with Gunther has also caught fire recently, as Gunther violently brutalised Jimmy Uso and put him in the hospital, quite literally bathing in his blood with Jey tied to the ring ropes forced to watch as his brother got mauled with him unable to do anything about it. This has lit a fire under Jey Uso, and enabled him to put any doubts he had about his ability to defeat Gunther to one side and reawaken “Crashout Jey” and the attitude that made him the Right Hand Man in the early years of The Bloodline with Jey now adamant that he will defeat Gunther and finally reach the top of the mountain and claim the World Heavyweight Championship.
The actual main event of Night 1 will be the triple threat match between Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, & CM Punk. Which, while not for any championships is naturally the main event given the combined star power/popularity of all the people involved. There is so much hatred and loathing going into this bout. For Seth Rollins, it’s his long expressed hatred for CM Punk’s disrespect for WWE in years past and general character alongside his inner guilt he especially expressed in the lead up to last years Wrestlemania for his part in creating ‘The Tribal Chief’ when he broke up The Shield all those years ago. For CM Punk, it’s that shared hatred for Seth Rollins, and as for Roman, Punk’s true interest is ‘The Wiseman’ Paul Heyman who has been a friend of Punk’s for a very long time, with Punk having a brief stint as a ‘Paul Heyman Guy’ in his previous run in WWE. And for Roman Reigns, he has never been able to forgive Seth Rollins’ betrayal of The Shield all those years ago. Again highlighted at last year’s Wrestlemania where Roman’s refusal to get over what Seth did quite literally cost him everything as Cody Rhodes had a few extra seconds to regain his bearings and put an end to Roman’s 1000+ day reign. And for CM Punk, its again tied to Paul Heyman, intensified by the reveal that CM Punk’s promised favour, that he got for agreeing to side with Roman Reigns at last year’s Survivor Series, would be that Heyman would accompany Punk to the match and not Roman Reigns.
Of all the people who have betrayed Roman Reigns, whether it be Seth Rollins all those years ago, The Usos breaking away from Roman Reigns while he was still Champion, or Solo Sikoa breaking away and forming his own version of The Bloodline in Reigns absence post Wrestlemania 40. Paul Heyman is the only one who has truly never betrayed Roman. And at last year’s Hall of Fame ceremony, while inducting Heyman, Roman stated that the moment there was no Wiseman, there would also be no Tribal Chief. It is impossible to predict where Heyman’s allegiances lie, with different fans seeing it possible that Heyman aligns with any of the 3 men involved in this match. So one wonders if Heyman does become the latest in a long list of people to betray Roman, what happens then.
As I said at the beginning, these are only the matches of Night 1 of Wrestlemania. And Night 2 (again, will have it’s own article), is set to be just as massive, including the triple threat between Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair & Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship, Damien Priest & Drew McIntyre settling a feud that has been going for the entire year in a “Sin City Street Fight”, and of course John Cena’s final Wrestlemania match, taking on Cody Rhodes in the main event which if he wins, he cements his legacy as the Greatest of All Time as that would be his 17th title reign, breaking Ric Flair’s record.
