We’re barely more than a month away from WrestleMania 40, and a lot of the matches are starting to come into focus. Only the four World Title contests have been officially announced at this point, but WWE is also being pretty obvious with some of the other puzzle pieces including Jimmy And Jey Uso, Awesome Truth and Judgment Day, AJ Styles and LA Knight and Logan Paul, Randy Orton and maybe KO. Gunther will also obviously get a prime spot on the card and will defend The Intercontinental Championship, though his opponent is less clear, and it’s been heavily rumored and hinted at on screen that we’re going to get Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes vs The Rock and Roman Reigns in a tag match.
Altogether, it’s shaping up to be one of the most stacked and exciting cards in WrestleMania history, but it’s also presenting a really obvious numbers problem for WWE. If you only count the matches I referenced above, that’s 10 slots that are pretty close to locked in for ‘Mania. Last year, if you don’t count The Miz’s two unannounced comedy fights, there were 13 matches on the card. If you remove Vince McMahon’s unannounced match from WrestleMania 38, there were 15 matches that year. The year before that at WrestleMania 37, there were 14 matches. That range seems to be the sweet spot WWE likes, and given The Rock is involved this year and likely to get a significant amount of time, it’s hard to think Triple H and company are going to push for more than usual.
Here’s the problem: all those matches I outlined above don’t include a ton of huge names. Let me just run down several of the heaviest hitters we haven’t talked about yet: Bianca Belair, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, Jade Cargill, Dominik Mysterio, Asuka, Austin Theory, The New Day and Liv Morgan. Now throw in Sheamus and Rey Mysterio, both of whom are rumored to be ready to return from injury. Now throw in all of the following people who fans love and/ or have been getting TV time over the last few months: Andrade, Grayson Waller, Naomi, Nia Jax, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Street Profits. Alpha Academy, Bronson Reed, Ivar, Chelsea Green, Santos Escobar, Carlito, Raquel Rodriguez, Dakota Kai, Ricochet, Baron Corbin, Zelina Vega, DIY, Karrion Kross, Kayden Carter And Katana Chance, Piper Niven, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, Omos, Pretty Deadly, New Catch Republic, Imperium, JD McDonagh, Ivy Nile, The Creed Brothers, Natalya, Michin, The Good Brothers, Xia Li, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, among others.
And what about some of the recent NXT call-ups who seem like they’re in line to get a huge push? Bron Breakker and Tiffany Stratton have both been made to look really strong, including in big premium live event moments over the last month. What would be the point of bringing them up before WrestleMania and then ignoring them at the biggest show of the year? If you really want to develop momentum for someone, the best way to do it is with a strong showing at The Showcase Of The Immortals.
Now, some of these people don’t have to be on the WrestleMania card, and some of them can be used without having an actual match. I’m not going to put anyone on blast, but you can rundown that list above and probably pick out at least 15 or 20 people you don’t think need to be on the card. There are also creative ways WWE can use Dominik Mysterio, Dakota Kai and a few others that don’t require their own match, but at some point, those easy cuts start getting harder and harder. At some point, you realize WWE might be forced to make choices between heavy hitters like Sheamus and Bobby Lashley or The Street Profits and A New Day or Bronson Reed and Austin Theory.
My guess is WWE is going to mix in at least two or three matches with a high volume of participants. I think Gunther, as an example, might defend The Intercontinental Championship in a gauntlet match with like five or six competitors. I think we might get a women’s midcard belt introduced in some kind of battle royal or my personal preference, a ladder match. Maybe we’ll get some four team tag matches like we did last year at ‘Mania. There’s going to need to be some creativity here, but even with that, I think we all need to be prepared for a WrestleMania that’s missing some big names.
Because of injuries, circumstances and plotlines just not working as expected, there are always unexpected people who don’t make the ‘Mania card. That’s just how it works, but ordinarily, five weeks out from WrestleMania, there aren’t this many big stars without a clear path forward. Many of them will make the card in some capacity. Barring injury, Bianca Belair is going to have a match, as are Sami Zayn and quite a few others, but there’s not room for all of these people. Don’t be surprised if some of the people left out are ones you’d never guess.
