WWE’s WrestleMania plans are finally coming into focus, though not without multiple pivots along the way.
Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk is now locked in as the marquee match for WrestleMania, following Reigns’ Royal Rumble victory on January 31 in Riyadh, where he last eliminated Gunther.
Reigns officially set the direction during a heated, back-and-forth promo exchange with Punk on the February 2 episode of Raw in Philadelphia, making Punk his chosen opponent on the grand stage.
The other WrestleMania main event, expected to headline the Saturday night show, is Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship.
There has also been internal discussion about potentially adding Jacob Fatu to the bout, though nothing has been finalized on that front.
Behind the scenes, these two main events have been reworked twice since WWE’s original WrestleMania plans were put together.
The foundational concept was simple: WWE views Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Seth Rollins as its four biggest stars.
Early creative called for Rollins to defend the World Championship against Reigns, a singles match WWE has deliberately avoided since Rollins won the triple threat at last year’s WrestleMania and, in storyline, took Paul Heyman away from Reigns.
Meanwhile, Rhodes was slated to defend his title against Punk in a rare babyface-versus-babyface showdown, something WWE has teased several times since Punk’s return but never fully committed to.
That plan unraveled once Rollins was injured.
With Rollins sidelined, WWE pivoted to Punk as champion, mapping out a three-step program that included Bron Breakker challenging Punk on the Raw Netflix anniversary show, losing, then winning the Royal Rumble, and finally defeating Punk at WrestleMania.
The long-term vision was to anoint Breakker as the company’s top full-time star and eventually build to another long-avoided singles match: Breakker vs. Reigns.
Under that version of the plan, Rhodes would defend his championship against Punk, who was expected to earn the shot by winning the Elimination Chamber.
Then Drew McIntyre entered the picture.
McIntyre pushed the idea that, after repeatedly coming up short against Rhodes, it made more sense for him to win the title within the already announced Three Stages of Hell match. Rhodes was reportedly on board, and significant creative had already been discussed for another Rhodes vs. Reigns program, a matchup WWE internally views as its ultimate star-versus-star rivalry, with Rhodes positioned as the company’s top full-time star and Reigns as the biggest overall attraction despite his part-time status.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque ultimately sided with Rhodes and McIntyre, with the decision coming just days before the Three Stages of Hell match.
The belief was that the previous direction had become too predictable, and Rhodes vs. Reigns had already headlined two WrestleManias.
At that point, Reigns, Rhodes, and Punk were seen as WWE’s clear top three stars, effectively moving McIntyre into the title spot that had previously been earmarked for Breakker.
Once that call was made, Breakker winning the Royal Rumble was scrapped. The remaining options were Rhodes or Reigns.
WWE opted against having Rhodes win outright, instead leaning toward making him “earn” the shot via the Elimination Chamber while building the road to WrestleMania around Reigns vs. Punk as the primary attraction.
While a swerve involving Jacob Fatu remains possible, all signs still point toward Rhodes being in a championship match at WrestleMania.
That led to the now-infamous Royal Rumble angle.
Breakker was attacked at the start of the match by a masked man who delivered a curb stomp on the floor, allowing Oba Femi to quickly eliminate him. The angle was designed to make viewers believe Seth Rollins was responsible.
Current expectations are that Rollins will be cleared in time for WrestleMania and face Breakker in a singles match, a storyline payoff tied to Breakker injuring Rollins earlier after Rollins suffered a shoulder injury believed to be a torn rotator cuff. That injury stemmed from a bad landing during a coast-to-coast headbutt spot in the Champion vs. Champion match against Rhodes at Crown Jewel in Perth on October 11.
That match is already listed internally as part of the WrestleMania lineup.
As for the masked attacker, there is no confirmation that the person who delivered the stomp will even be revealed as the same individual later on.
Internally, most speculation has pointed to Grayson Waller, though that has neither been confirmed nor denied. Waller was in Saudi Arabia all week but did not appear on SmackDown or the Royal Rumble card, instead working a dark match.
WrestleMania 42 takes place on April 18 and April 19 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV. Make sure to join us here at WrestleMania on 4/18 and 4/19 for live results coverage of the shows.
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New Vignette about the WrestleMania sign.
I love video packages like this!#RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/Rr0rtlRWCg
— The Movement – Pro Wrestling (@TheMovementXx) January 31, 2026
(H/T: Wrestling Observer Newsletter at F4WOnline.com)
