It’s been a while since you’ve seen/heard from me. Last time I came to you with some Wrestling News/Insight, it was in January to discuss the (at the time) newly released Season 2 of WWE: Unreal, the Netflix Docu-series covering the unseen side of what goes into the production of WWE’s shows/storylines. And before that you hadn’t seen me since my coverage of SummerSlam in August 2025. I’d like to get back to the monthly cadence we once had. And I figured where better to have this kind of soft reboot than with the Showcase of the Immortals, Wrestlemania.
This year, in a situation that has only ever happened once previously Wrestlemania will be emanating from the same venue for the second year in a row. With Wrestlemania again happening in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. As is usual these days, the card is split into two nights, with 7 matches set for Night One & 6 Matches set for Night 2 (note: I am writing this article before this Friday’s Smackdown and I am fully aware it is possible a 14th match gets added for symmetry but I can’t predict the future.) And while we don’t know the precise order of all the matches on each night, we know for each night what will be Main Eventing & also the sets of two matches that will occur in the first hour (shown live on ESPN2 for no additional cost).
For Night One, we know that the two early matches will be the Unsanctioned Match between Drew McIntyre & Jacob Fatu, and a Six-Man Tag Team Match where LA Knight will team up with The Usos to take on Austin Theory & Logan Paul of The Vision and also The Vision’s latest (against his will) recruit, Social Media Superstar ‘IShowSpeed’. LA Knight of course has been feuding with The Vision for what feels like years, some recent key points being that it was during his match with Seth Rollins that the ‘Ruse of the Century’ was set into place as Seth faked a knee injury, and LA Knight eliminated both Theory & Bronson Reed during this years Royal Rumble. And The Usos have their own score to settle with The Vision after losing their Tag Team Titles to The Vision on Raw a few weeks ago. This came due to an accidental intervention from Speed who seemed mortified at what he had done, and is now basically stuck with The Vision lest he be torn apart by LA Knight & The Usos. as for Jacob & Drew, they have been going back and forth with each other for a long time, and in recent months Jacob has indirectly helped Drew win & cost Drew the WWE Championship, having incidentally allowed Drew to win his Three Stages of Hell match in January after being distracted by Cody Rhodes and then interfering in their rematch in March costing Drew the belt. And considering we still don’t know who assaulted Jacob Fatu back in October taking him out of action before he returned during the aforementioned Three Stages of Hell match, one can only assume Jacob is under the assumption it was Drew. These two men in recent times have been constantly at odds & fighting back and forth, so they have been given the Unsanctioned Match as a way to let them just go to war with nothing stopping them to hopefully put a pin in their issue once and for all.
Throughout the remainder of Night One, we will also see an Eight Man Tag Match for the Women’s Tag Team Championships where Nia Jax & Lash Legend will have to defend their titles against The Bella Twins (Nikki/Brie), The Allies of Convenience (Charlotte/Alexa Bliss) a the team of Bayley & Lyra Valkyria. This match is cool in many ways, most of all as a full circle moment as of course last year at WrestleMania 41, Lyra & Bayley were also supposed to be competing for these same titles before Bayley was taken out/replaced by Becky Lynch at the last moment. As well as getting to see The Bella Twins team together again, Nikki of course has been back with WWE for a while now, but Brie’s return is far more recent with her only having come back during this years Royal Rumble.
Speaking of Becky Lynch, she will on Night One be looking to regain Women’s Intercontinental Championship against AJ Lee. Ever since AJ’s return to WWE last September, Becky Lynch has never been able to truly get away from her, being forced to tap out both during AJ’s return match at Wrestlepalooza as well as during the Women’s WarGames match. And most recently again falling to, and losing the Women’s Intercontinental Championship again to AJ Lee in February. Given the well known animosity between their respective partners, Seth Rollins & CM Punk, it’s fitting that now AJ Lee & Becky Lynch seem to be stuck in this cycle of “I think we’re destined to do this forever” though you’d imagine Becky would much prefer finally getting one over on AJ Lee and regaining the Women’s Intercontinental Championship and never having to think about her again.
Seth Rollins will also be in action on Night One, competing against Gunther. Gunther of course is on a really hot streak lately, having both beaten/retired John Cena in December and doing the same to AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble. At first it was unclear what exactly Gunther’s issue was currently with Rollins however he recently explained in a promo with Seth that it is simply a matter of he takes issue with Seth’s belief that he is the best wrestler in the company and wishes to beat him at Mania to prove otherwise. In another world, I’m sure Seth would have preferred to go after Bron Breakker at Wrestlemania after his betrayal in October where he took Seth out of action and took leadership of The Vision for himself. However cosmic irony has left Breakker injured for WrestleMania, leaving Seth free to square off with The Ring General to see who is the better competitor, which sometimes is all the reason you need for a good fight (Seth will not have to follow Cena/AJ Styles & retire should he lose).
The Women’s World Championship will also be on the line, as Champion Stephanie Vaquer will be defending against Liv Morgan. Vaquer has had a really impressive first year on the Main Roster after her debut on the Raw after Wrestlemania 41, having almost immediately qualifying for but failing to win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, then winning a Battle Royale at Evolution to qualify for a Women’s World Championship match at Clash in Paris, which turned into a match for the vacant title at Wrestlepalooza after Naomi, who was champion at the time had to vacate the title due to her being pregnant, where Vaquer beat Iyo Sky to win the Championship and has held it ever since. Liv Morgan, of course won the Women’s Royal Rumble this year to earn this opportunity to face Vaquer and their feud has been one of the most heated in the buildup to Mania, especially in recent weeks to the point where there is a movement by some fans that this match should be the Main Event of Night One vs the actual Main Event, for reasons that will be addressed shortly.
Night One will actually be main evented by Cody Rhodes, main eventing his 4th Wrestlemania (5th if you count both Nights of WrestleMania 40) defending the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. There is a long, storied history between Orton & Rhodes, including their shared time as part of Legacy almost 20 years ago, and both Cody & Orton are strong contenders to be considered faces of their respective eras. And many were excited to see Randy Orton once again embrace his darker side & listen to the Voices in his head brutally assaulting Cody during their contract signing a few weeks ago. And the following week we saw Randy communicating with a mysterious individual over the phone thanking the mystery man for helping him revive his true self and remember who he truly was. There were several theories of who this mystery caller was, ranging from Kevin Owens, who has had his own troubled history with Cody, Ted Dibiase Jr the third former member of Legacy, or even potentially The Rock who we have not seen in WWE since he activated the Sleeper Agent in John Cena when he turned on Cody Rhodes at last year’s Elimination Chamber.
With all of these theories, no one could have guessed & fans were left… confused to put it lightly when the mystery man was revealed to be none other than Pat McAfee, who revealed himself two weeks ago on Smackdown, low-blowing Cody and then lambasting the current state of WWE with Cody as champion and expressing how he felt there was no wonder WrestleMania had so many unsold tickets/ratings were so low when they have Randy Orton and he isn’t the WWE Champion (definitely has nothing to do with extortionate ticket prices). Many have expressed frustration at all the history between Cody & Orton being glossed over and McAfee at times seeming more like the main villain than Randy Orton himself, such as on last weeks Smackdown, where after another assault on Cody it was McAfee who left with the Championship over his shoulder in place of Orton. But the backlash from McAfee’s involvement and various other gripes it has really caused people to criticise more than ever recently could be an article of it’s own. Even though it has not been given as much attention in the build up as it probably should have, the history between Cody & Orton is still there and both men have plenty of experience being the main guy/show closer so they will no doubt put on a good match, and Cody after getting screwed by Travis Scott last year, should be looking over his shoulder at all times for McAfee, for the reasons above, as well as the fact he has promised that should Orton lose to Cody, he will never involve himself with anything WWE again.
That covers everything happening on Night One of WrestleMania, keep an eye out for my follow up article addressing Night 2, including the much anticipated match between Brock Lesnar & Oba Femi, the return of ‘The Demon’ as Finn Balor takes on Dominik Mysterio & the long awaited One on One clash between Roman Reigns & CM Punk.
