We’re still almost six months away from WrestleMania 41, and while some of the matches are starting to come into focus, there are still some huge question marks. For the sake of this article, let’s just talk about the biggest two. What are the main events of the two nights going to be? To be honest, I’m not even entirely sure WWE knows at this point, which is why the rumors and speculation are really heating up on social media. Most of it has been in one ear and out the other for me, but this week, I came across a prediction I need to talk about.
The prediction in question was discussed by Steve and Larson on Friendo Club Wrestling, and it goes something like this. Cody Rhodes will face The Rock during the WrestleMania Night One main event and the winner will face Roman Reigns during the Night Two main event. Now, I’m not saying this is going to happen, but I will say it’s very interesting and solves a few problems WWE might have. So, let’s talk it out.
The big question mark around WrestleMania is, of course, The Rock. After an initial miscalculation and fan backlash upon his return last year, he turned heel and put in an all-time great run in the lead-up to WrestleMania 40. Business absolutely boomed after he leaned into his new Final Boss heel character, and his actual wrestling performance at ‘Mania was widely praised by fans who were impressed by how much he still had. He’s dealt with some injury problems this year, but if he’s ready to go in time, he’ll certainly be in one of the main events. But what does that mean for Cody and what does that mean for Roman?
A lot of fans have speculated that we could see a Triple Threat main event on Night Two. That would incorporate all three into the biggest match of the festivities, and it would keep the odd man out from having to find someone else to wrestle, but that idea has always felt a little scattered. You can make an easy case for why any of the three men involved would have personal animosity with each other, but the story The Rock and Roman would tell is fundamentally different from the story Roman and Cody would tell or Cody and The Rock would tell. You could find a way to co-mingle them together, but from my vantage point, it would lessen the impact of each. So, I don’t like the triple threat.
I also think the match fans want to see more than any other is The Rock vs Roman Reigns, but putting that as the Night Two main event would leave Cody with a lesser match (probably Randy Orton) and could put the WWE Championship in the position of being little more than a random match on the ‘Mania card with an outcome that seems pretty obvious. Because of that, Triple H and company would likely go with The Rock and Cody Rhodes instead, but it’s unclear whether The Rock would even be a viable option to win because he’d have to, you know, stick around and defend the title. Given he’s 52 years old, it would also create reasonable questions about whether The Rock and Roman Reigns will ever even happen.
This multiple night match format, however, would solve a lot of those issues. We’d probably get a Rock victory on Night 1. That would allow him another glorious moment at WrestleMania and another WWE Championship run, while also allowing him to lose the belt on Night 2 and give us the Roman/ Rock match we all desperately want. I can’t imagine that idea of accomplishing all that wouldn’t be appealing to everyone involved.
That being said, this should still be taken as nothing more than a juicy bit of speculation. WWE did a one match leading into another format at last year’s WrestleMania, and I’m not really sure they would want to do that again. I’m also not really sure they would want to have Night 1 of WrestleMania close with a match that seems to have a likely outcome, given how much everyone wants Rock And Roman and the fact that Roman and Cody have already closed the last two WrestleManias. I also don’t know if The Rock is going to be able to do two main event matches on consecutive days. That’s hard on anyone’s body, let alone a part-timer in his 50s. And I also don't know that WWE is going to want to give both main events to The Bloodline when there are some other great options, most prominently CM Punk and Seth Rollins.
For now, all we can do is keep watching the product each week and look for some clues as to what’s going on. The biggest of those will take place at The Royal Rumble in February. I can’t wait.
