The Road to Wrestlemania: Where Things Stand

The build to both Women’s World Championship matches has been noticeably flat. Rhea Ripley is Rhea Ripley she carries her spot but the other women in this picture haven’t been given the platform to feel like genuine marquee names. It’s a missed opportunity, because that division needs more than one pillar. The hope is that the matches do the work the build didn’t, because if they fall flat too, that’s a real setback not just for the talent involved, but for the next wave of women who are ready to be elevated.

Punk and Reigns are making the most of what they have, which is impressive given Roman’s part-time schedule. The Punk vs. Samoan Dynasty thread has legitimate upside. If The Rock shows up that weekend, this becomes appointment television. If an Uso turns on Roman, it continues the Bloodline inner drama in a way that actually means something. Either way, does Paul Heyman find his way into this match? He has to. There’s no clean version of this story that doesn’t run through him.

The WWE Championship picture is where things get genuinely spicy and after last Friday’s Smackdown in St. Louis, it also got genuinely concerning. We all talked ourselves into a Cody Rhodes turn that’s on us. But Randy Orton turning felt right the moment it happened, and the crowds have confirmed it. Almost twenty years of history and potential big match energy is more than enough to make that match a huge deal on its own. The problem is what’s being layered on top of it.

Pat McAfee is now involved in the Orton/Rhodes feud, and this has real finger poke of doom potential if it isn’t handled carefully. The honeymoon phase with McAfee in WWE has been tittering for a while. He has a massive platform, a genuine passion for the product, and real crossover appeal (all the new buzz words) but there’s a ceiling for celebrities in this role and being inserted into a main event of Wrestlemania that isn’t a tag match is past it. The fans aren’t as locked in on McAfee as they were in 2021, 2022, or even 2023. The commentary run didn’t land the way it should have. The in-ring work has been mid at best the Gunther match being the honest exception. This feels like too much, too close to the show.

Now I should have trusted my gut on where The Rock fits into all of this. The “sell your soul to me” offer Cody turned down last year could absolutely be rehashed with Orton taking the deal this time around, which potentially sets up the celebrity tag match with Orton and McAfee vs. Rhodes and a partner that we thankfully did not get with Travis Scott last year. We don’t know whether this is a TKO call or Triple H’s play, but the reactions out of St. Louis and online last Friday were strong enough that a pivot is not only possible, it’s necessary. That match between Rhodes and Orton, can be built on nearly two decades of history, doesn’t need the noise. It is the noise.

One note that still stands regardless of how this shakes out: Jelly Roll’s enthusiasm is appreciated, but please find him a smaller corner of the show. A WrestleMania match maybe against The Miz, a cameo with Joe Hendry, or a long shot surprise with a Walk with Elias live concert featuring Jelly Roll would be just fine, not in the one of the main events of the weekend.

Last Friday in St. Louis also gave us the clearest sign yet that Sami Zayn is running out of goodwill, and watching it happen in real time was something. The segment with Zayn, Trick Williams, and Lil Yachty who should never get in the ring but great in the crowd with the custom belt, don’t touch that formula. But the segment riddled with the crowd chanting “We Want Melo,” which tells you everything about how Hayes has been received despite being handed a raw deal. Melo’s run deserved better. He was essentially in witness protection for months, and that’s a shame regardless of how this Zayn feud resolves.

That said, the US title match at WrestleMania carries real double-turn potential, and honestly, that possibility speaks to a larger missed opportunity: Zayn as world champion, even briefly, would have produced one of those crowd moments that you remember. The visual alone would have been worth it. Hopefully they don’t make the same mistake with LA Knight. If this feud ends with Trick Williams winning and reigniting the Trick/Melo rivalry on Friday nights, it was worth the wait because that feud on the main roster could another Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn.

Finn Bálor vs. Dom Mysterio is going to steal the show. I’ll put that in writing now. The multi-team women’s tag title match belongs on the WrestleMania card, but it carries real “downer” risk depending on placement and crowd. Hope I’m wrong.

AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch II needs to be the women’s IC title’s Savage vs. Steamboat moment the match that redefines what that championship means. It has to be great following the Elimination Chamber, and the expectation from the hardcore fanbase will be high.

Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi is the big hoss fight we’ve been waiting on. Femi needs a dominant performance here not just a win, but an impression. If he puts Lesnar away convincingly, he joins a very short list.

The unsanctioned match between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu might be the most interesting match on the card. The build has been the right kind of chaotic. The promos have been effective. The key is execution: as long as they don’t fall into the no-DQ, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink trap that turns these matches into spotfests, this will be a genuine banger. Fatu is undeniable at this point, and this is his coming-out party on the main stage. Drew can absorb a loss here and still be positioned as a main event threat heading into the summer ideally with a title chase to follow.

Added after last week’s Raw: The Intercontinental title ladder match with Penta, JD McDonagh, Je’Von Evans, Dragon Lee, and Rusev  is exactly the kind of match designed to produce a WrestleMania moment. Penta or Evans is the most likely recipient. Either would be a worthy one.

And the match that came out of nowhere: Seth Rollins vs. Gunther. That answers the question of where Gunther fits, and it answers it well. This one is going to be flat-out excellent, the kind of match that even the most skeptical critics won’t be able to dismiss. Which also brings us back to Heyman: does he have a role here too? The man is everywhere this WrestleMania season, and somehow that still feels earned.

The in-ring quality of this WrestleMania card looks strong. The buildup has been uneven but some feuds are firing, others have been frustratingly thin, and last Friday in St. Louis was a reminder that corporate influence has its uses but can do real damage to the product when it overreaches. When the lights come on though, this roster tends to deliver. We’ll see if the moments match the potential.