Hey, it's the Showcase of the Immortals. Wrestlemania 41, this weekend from Vegas, this is the annual preview.
UNDISPUTED TITLE: CODY RHODES v. JOHN CENA (Night 2)
-A year ago, Cody won the primary title in the promotion, he has retained throughout the year and defends against the 16 Time World Champion Cena. Cena's no longer a wrestler, having long established an acting career, but his desire to win that 17th title, which, within storyline, would break Ric Flair's record, brought him back. Cena turned on Cody at the Rumble, joining the Rock (who has not subsequently been part of the build) either because of anger at the fans or because he does not believe Cody is a fitting champion, depending upon which week of the build we are discussing. They'll need a lot of whistles and bells for this to be more than passable, a switch to Cena is what makes the most sense to set up the rest of Cena's final year of active wrestling.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: GUNTHER v. JEY USO (Night 1)
-This is the secondary title in the promotion, established in 2023, Gunther won it at SummerSlam; Gunther has been the top worker in WWE for the past few years, he's almost certainly losing the title to Uso here, whose entrance really got over with the WWE crowds over the past year. Gunther killed Jey's brother Jimmy in one of the heaviest TV blood angles WWE has ever done and it would be challenging to salvage Jey's character were he to fail to win this belt.
TRIPLE THREAT: ROMAN REIGNS v. CM PUNK (w/Heyman) v. SETH ROLLINS (Night 1)
-An all babyface match; with whom will Heyman align being the primary plot point to be resolved in the match. Reigns was the longtime champion, losing the belt to Rhodes a year prior; he and Rollins were once 2/3 of The Shield, a dominant faction; Rollins turned on the group and by and large, the two have been on and off opponents in the many years subsequent. Punk returned to the promotion after a decade long absence and was immediately challenged by Rollins, who expressed the sort of "shoot style" opposition to Punk personally that was effectively utilized in AEW; Punk has a longtime relationship with Heyman that has largely been offscreen, whereas Heyman has been Reigns' mouthpiece during Roman's title reign; Who Will Heyman Choose is the primary point of contention between them. One's mileage may vary about the effectiveness of the build to this match, but the crowds seem invested and the 3 present as stars. This should be a good match, perhaps very good, depending upon how much booking they feel needed. Roman winning makes the most sense given the build, Punk winning and going after the new champion Cena, who is threatening to take the title with him back to Hollywood or New Japan or ROH (if they know what they're doing, Cena cuts a cross legged promo on the stage and shouts out Colt Cabana) is what makes the most global sense (Summer of Cena, they could really lean in)
WOMENS WORLD TITLE: TRIPLE THREAT: IYO SKY v. RHEA RIPLEY v. BIANCA BELAIR (Night 2)
WWE WOMENS TITLE: TIFFANY STRATTON v CHARLOTTE FLAIR (Night 1)
-Iyo holds the RAW Womens Title, she took from Ripley on the first Netflix RAW, this belt has been around since '16. This is an all babyface match; Belair won the right to challenge for this belt and Ripley, not having received a rematch from losing her belt, maneuvered her way in. Ripley is the top women's star in the promotion, Sky the best worker - I'd assume its time to get Ripley the belt back.
-Stratton cashed in her briefcase and took her title from Nia Jax back in January, this is the Smackdown title, also been around since '16 (Charlotte was the first title holder). Flair returned after a long layoff, won the Rumble and challenged Stratton - they've had a promo segment that apparently veered from the script far enough that elements were deleted from subsequent reairs of the episode. "They have real life heat" now becomes the primary story element; Flair is the heel, only because the crowd refuses to ever cheer for her.
IC TITLE: FATAL FOUR WAY: BRON BREAKKER v. FINN BALOR v. PENTA v. DOMINIC MYSTERIO (Night 2)
US TITLE: LA NIGHT v JACOB FATU (Night 1)
-Bron and Penta are babyfaces, Balor and Dom are heels in the same stable. Bron is Rick Steiner's kid, he's an asskicking babyface, he took the IC from Jey Uso on RAW in October, Penta recently arrived from AEW and has yet to lose a match; Finn and Dom have tension resultant from their both competing for this belt - Dom is not a particularly good wrestler and if you made me bet, he'd be my pick to come away with the title here.
-I really dislike LA Knight; he's probably my least favorite major American wrestler presently, Knight took from Nakamura in March - the crowd is very likely to view this as an all babyface match, Fatu is an asskicking heel to whom the crowd has taken - I'd be inclined to squash Knight and really get behind Fatu.
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE: WAR RAIDERS v NEW DAY (Night 1)
WOMENS TAG TEAM TITLE: LIV MORGAN/RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ v. BAYLEY/LYRA VALKYRIA (Night 2)
-War Raiders have the RAW tag belts (the Smackdown belts are not being defended on the show, it would appear) they took from Balor/JD McDonagh in June on RAW - these belts have been around since '02 (Benoit and Angle were the first champs). New Day turned heel a couple of months ago and are very, very likely to win this belt
-These womens belts have been around since '19 (Bayley and Banks were the first champs) Morgan/Raquel are heels, part of the Judgment Day, they won the belts on RAW in February and I'd assume they keep them, Morgan is the only wrestler in the match who the promotion cares about,
REY MYSTERIO v. CHAD GABLE IN A MASK (Night 1)
JADE CARGILL v NAOMI (Night 1)
AJ STYLES v. LOGAN PAUL (Night 2)
STREET FIGHT: DREW MCINTYRE v. DAMIEN PRIEST (Night 2)
-Gable's doing a luchador gimmick with a metal plate in his mask, eventually Rey wins this feud, the only question is when that happens (presumably not until a Mask v Mask match, and this isn't that). Naomi turned heel on Cargill; it's Jade's highest profile singles match of her life and she's going to win and it's going to be short. AJ/Paul should be good; Logan's a heel, I'd guess he goes over, AJs contractual situation is unclear - and the heel McIntyre now has an eyepatch courtesy of the babyface Priest and likely beats him here.
It's not a great show - there have been some high level matches over the past two years and that seems less likely here; the Punk match is probably the top worked match- probably one's interest in Cena is really the deciding factor in this year's show.
I've kept a running list ranking every Mania match over its history - that is done now, I'm cutting it off at 100. The star ratings are mine, the match times are approx. WM number in the parentheticals (WM#)
1 IC Title: Razor Ramon d. Shawn Michaels 19 min (10) 5
2. Owen Hart d. Bret Hart 20:30 (10) 5
3. Bret Hart d. Steve Austin 22 min (13) 4 ¾
4. IC: Ricky Steamboat d. Randy Savage 14:30 (3) 4 ¾
5. Tags: Sami Zayn/Kevin Steen d. Usos 24:15 (39) 4 3/4
6. World Title: Chris Benoit d. HBK d. HHH 24:30 (20) 4 ½
7. WWF Title: Kurt Angle d. Shawn Michaels 27:30 (21) 4 ½
8. Undertaker d. Shawn Michaels 30:30 (25) 4 1/2
9. WWF Title: Shawn Michaels d. Bret Hart 62 min (12) 4 ½
10. Tags: Edge/Christian d. Hardys d. Dudleys 22 min (16) 4 ½
11. Tags: Edge/Christian d. Hardys d. Dudleys 15:30 (17) 4 ½
12. IC: Gunther d. Sheamus/McIntyre 16:45 (39) 4 1/2
13. Smackdown Women's Title: Rhea Ripley d. Charlotte Flair 23:30 (39) 4 1/4
14. WWF Title: Randy Savage d. Ric Flair 18 min (8) 4 ¼
15. IC Title: Sami Zayn d. Gunther 15:30 (40) 4 1/4
16. WWF Title: Seth Rollins d. Brock Lesnar/Roman Reigns 16:30 (31) 4
17. WWF Title: Brock Lesnar d. Kurt Angle 21 min (19) 4
18. Undertaker d. Shawn Michaels 24 min (26) 4
19. Universal Title: Roman Reigns d. Daniel Bryan/Edge 21:30 (37) 4
20. Undisputed Universal Title: Roman Reigns d. Cody Rhodes 34:30 (39) 4
21. WWF Title: Steve Austin d. The Rock 15 min (15) 4
22. Kurt Angle d. Chris Benoit 14 min (17) 4
23. Eddy Guerrero d. Kurt Angle 21:30 (20) 4
24. HHH d. Brock Lesnar 22:30 (29) 4
25. Money in the Bank 15 min (21) 4
26. IC: Bret Hart d. Roddy Piper 14:00 (8) 4
27. Shawn Michaels d. Chris Jericho 22:30 (19) 4
28. Daniel Bryan d. HHH 26:00 (30) 4
29. WWE Title: Kofi Kingston d. Daniel Bryan 24 min (35) 4
30. Smackdown Tags: Ladder: John Morrison d. Jimmy Uso/Kofi Kingston (36) 18:30 4
31. Undertaker d. CM Punk 22 (29) 4
32. Ultimate Warrior d. Randy Savage 20:30 (7) 4
33. RAW Tags: Hardys d. Cesaro/Sheamus d. Cass/Enzo d. Anderson/Gallows 11 min (33) 4
34. Undertaker d. HHH 29 min (27) 4
35. WWF Title: Steve Austin d. Rock 28 min (17) 4
36. Cody Rhodes d. Seth Rollins 21:30 (38) 4
37. Seth Rollins d. Logan Paul 16:15 (39) 4
38. WWF Title: CM Punk d. Chris Jericho 22:30 (28) 4
39. IC: Seth Rollins d. Finn Balor/Miz 15:30 (34) 4
40. Undertaker d. HHH 30:30 (28) 4
41. Edge d. Mick Foley 14:30 (22) 3 ¾
42. WWF Title: Daniel Bryan d. Randy Orton/Batista 23:30 (30) 3 3/4
43. IC Ladder Match 15:30 (32) 3 3/4
44. IC Ladder Match 14 min (31) 3 3/4
45. MITB: 14 min (24) 3 ¾
46. WWF Title: Steve Austin d. Shawn Michaels 20 min (14) 3 ¾
47. WWF Title: Hulk Hogan d. Randy Savage 18 min (5) 3 ¾
48. Kevin Owens d. Sami Zayn 9:30 (37) 3 3/4
49. Kevin Owens d. Seth Rollins 17:30 (36) 3 3/4
50. RAW Women's Title: Bianca Belair d. Becky Lynch 19 min (38) 3 3/4
51. Smackdown Women's Title: Bianca Belair d. Sasha Banks 17:30 (37) 3 3/4
52. Womens Title: Bayley d. Iyo Sky 14:15 (40) 3 3/4
53. RAW Women's Title: Bianca Belair d. Asuka 16 min (39) 3 3/4
54. WWF Title: AJ Styles d. Shinsuke Nakamura 20:30 (34) 3 3/4
55. AJ Styles d. Shane McMahon (33) 3 ¾
56. Smackdown Women's Title: Charlotte Flair d. Asuka (34) 13:30 3 3/4
57. Women's Title: Charlotte d. Sasha/Becky 16 min (32) 3 3/4
58. IC/Euro: Chris Jericho &Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle 13:30 (16) 3 ½
59. WWF/IC Titles: Ultimate Warrior d. Hulk Hogan 23:30 (6) 3 ½
60. WWF Title: Diesel d. Shawn Michaels 20:30 (11) 3 ½
61. World: Undertaker d. Batista 16 min (23) 3 ½
62. World: Rey Mysterio d. Kurt Angle d. Randy Orton 9:30 (22) 3 ½
63. Rock d. Steve Austin 18 min (19) 3 ½
64. Universal Title: Cody Rhodes d. Roman Reigns 33:30 (40) 3 1/2
65. WWF Title: Bobby 7Lashley d. Drew McIntyre 18:30 (37) 3 1/2
66. Christian d. Chris Jericho 15 min (20) 3 ½
67. Hell in a Cell: Edge d. Finn Balor 18:15 (39) 3 1/2
68. MITB 19 min (23) 3 ½
69. MITB 12:30 (21) 3 ½
70. Undertaker d. HHH 18 min (17) 3 1/2
71. Randy Orton d. Seth Rollins 13:30 (31) 3 1/2
72. WWF Title: HHH d. Rock d. Mick Foley d. Big Show 36:30 (16) 3 ½
73. NXT Women's Title: Charlotte Flair d. Rhea Ripley 20:30 (36) 3 1/2
74. Shawn Michaels d. Ric Flair 20:30 (24) 3 ½
75. World Title: Undertaker d. Edge 24 min (24) 3 ½
76. Brainbusters d. Tito Santana/Rick Martel 9 min (5) 3 ½
77. Street Profits d. Viking Raiders/Alpha Academy/Ricochet&Strowman 8:30 (39) 3 1/2
78 MITB 13:30 (26) 3 ½
79. MITB 14:30 (25) 3 ½
80. WWF Title: John Cena d. Shawn Michaels 27:30 (23) 3 ½
81. Rock d. John Cena 30:30 (28) 3 ½
82. John Cena d. Rock 24 min (29) 3 1/2
83. Womens Title: Rhea Ripley d. Becky Lynch 17 min (40) 3 1/2
84. Cesaro d. Seth Rollins 11:30 (37) 3 1/2
85. US Title: Sheamus d. Riddle 11 min (37) 3 1/2
86. US Title: Kevin Owens d. Chris Jericho 16:30 (33) 3 1/2
87. Bad Bunny/Damian Priest d. Miz/Morrison 15 min (37) 3 1/2
88. Smackdown Tags: The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) d. Aleister Black and Ricochet, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura (with Lana), and The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) 10 min (35) 3 1/4
89. RAW Tag Titles: RK-Bro d. Street Profits/Alpha Academy 11:30 (38) 3 1/4
90. Brock Lesnar v. Dean Ambrose 13 min (32) 3 1/4
91. Ric Flair/Randy Orton/Batista d. Mick Foley/Rock 17 min (20) 3 ¼
92. Rey Mysterio d. Eddie Guerrero 12:30 (21) 3 1/4
93. Chris Jericho d. AJ Styles 17 min (32) 3 1/4
94. Tags: Cactus Jack/Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) d. New Age Outlaws 10 min (14) 3 ¼
95. Matt Hardy d. Jeff Hardy 13 min (25) 3 ¼
96. World Title: Chris Jericho d. Edge 15:30 (26) 3 ¼
97. Undertaker d. Diesel 16:30 (12) 3 ¼
98. Randy Orton d. CM Punk 15min (27) 3 ¼
99. Edge d. AJ Styles 24 min (38) 3 1/4
100. World Title: Drew McIntyre d. Seth Rollins (40) 3 1/4
