WWE’s biggest event, WrestleMania 42, returns this year to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. The event will be held in the Las Vegas Convention Center on April 18th and 19th, with the host being retired wrestler turned actor, John Cena. The main headlines that are highly anticipated are CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton, and Jade Cargill vs. Rhea Ripley.
Punk and Reigns will run back their WrestleMania 41 main event, this time without Seth Rollins. Reigns won the men’s Royal Rumble match, earning him a world title match. He chose Punk on the following Monday Night Raw as both men ran each other down. The build to the match has leaned heavily on trash talk. Punk said that he would bury Reigns next to his deceased father. Reigns then called Punk an old man, which drew a punch out of Punk. The following week saw a beatdown from Reigns on Punk after more trash talk about the family.
Randy Orton is WrestleMania-bound Drew McIntyre had gone to great lengths to ensure that Cody Rhodes and Jacob Fatu wouldn’t get a shot at his title. First, he prevented Fatu from winning two separate Elimination Chamber qualifying matches. Then, his interference in the men’s Chamber match gave Orton a pivotal opening to pin Rhodes. However, SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis granted Rhodes a title shot after McIntyre’s repeated interference. Rhodes, with help from Fatu, beat McIntyre for the title and took his WrestleMania spot. Orton then turned on Rhodes on the next episode of SmackDown, busting him open and destroying him with a chair shot inside the steel steps.
Paul Heyman announced that Brock Lesnar will issue an open challenge at WrestleMania. On March 16th, Oba Femi answered the challenge after hitting Lesnar with an impressive delayed pop-up power-bomb.
Rhea Ripley and her tag partner, Iyo Sky, had lost their tag team title against Lash Legend and Nia Jax. But after Ripley won the women’s Elimination Chamber match, she secured a spot in WrestleMania. Ripley will be up against Jade Cargill for the WWE women’s champion belt.
After Liv Morgan won the women’s Royal Rumble match, she chose Stephanie Vaquera as her WrestleMania opponent. The two will be fighting for the World Women’s Champion belt. If Morgan wins, this will be her third time winning the World Women’s belt.
AJ Lee won the women’s Intercontinental title 11 years after her first professional wrestling retirement. Becky Lynch couldn’t let the loss go and attacked Lee on Raw. The following Monday, Lee responded by offering Lynch a shot at the title at WrestleMania, which Lynch claimed was Lee “falling into my trap.”
A modern WrestleMania isn’t complete without a multi-person ladder match. This year, the intercontinental championship will dangle from the rafters. Four high flyers, Penta, Je’von Evans, Dragon Lee, JD McDonagh, and Rusev will all be going up against each other for the international men’s championship.
On Friday Night SmackDown, The Bella Twins wrestled their first tag team match in eight years. Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair interfered in the match, forcing a no-contest. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria saved the champions’ rivals from a beatdown the following week. It was only a matter of time before the match was made official.
Finn Balor is riding solo for the first time in a long time. Balor’s demands for Dominik to win without Judgment Day cost “Dirty Dom” the Intercontinental title. The faction subsequently turned on Balor, kicking him out of Judgment Day. Tensions escalated from there, and they’ll settle the matter at Mania.
Sami Zayn is once again the U.S. champion. Zayn reclaimed the title in an open challenge against Carmelo Hayes. Trick Williams inadvertently helped Zayn win the title and now seeks to claim it for himself.
WrestleMania is the biggest event of the year for professional wrestling fans. Mania 42 will be streamed on ESPN Unlimited for viewers to watch at home on April 18 and 19.