Making the Positive Case for WrestleMania 42

To use Paul Heyman’s words, it’s “fight week!” This Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and April 19, is WWE’s biggest show of the year: WrestleMania 42. The two-night extravaganza is my favorite time of the year; it’s my sports/entertainment equivalent of Christmas. But it’s in dire need of defending since the fanbase — at least the most vocal fans on the Internet — has been roundly criticizing this year’s event. The overall consensus seems to be that the build, or what we call the stories for each wrestling match, has ranged from subpar to actively awful resulting in a diminished excitement around watching WrestleMania this year.

Spoiler alert: I think they’re wrong. This WrestleMania has largely been built well, with intensity and strong stories up and down the card, resulting in my usual excitement for WrestleMania weekend. That isn’t to say everything has gone off without a hitch. Far from it, in fact. But as fans of professional wrestling, we tend to take the bad with the good, as it were. In other words, it’s rare that we like everything offered on a wrestling show, much less something as intensely scrutinized as WrestleMania’s two-night card is given its status as the biggest show of the year. Unlike a traditional TV show or sporting event, though, I think it makes sense to not like everything on the show because tastes differ so much as to what one may like in their wrestling show and with their wrestlers.

I suspect some of the animus around the build this year is partly manifest from external factors that have nothing to do with the build itself. Those factors include running Las Vegas as a location and venue two years in a row (WrestleMania 41 in 2025 was held there); the increased ticket prices year-over-year that often price out the average fan; and general frustration with WWE and/or TKO (the owner of WWE) stemming from the end of the “honeymoon period,” which itself was the result of questionable creative decisions on television, as well as real life issues, such as WWE leadership’s coziness to some extent with the Trump administration. That all said, the build on its own merits has drawn ire and to some extent, rightfully so.

There are 13 matches slated for WrestleMania 42 as of this writing. I think three of them have had actively bad storytelling: Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship; Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship; and The Irresistible Forces (Nia Jax and Lash Legend) vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. The Bella Twins for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. Let me briefly break down why:

Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton: Most of the animus around the WrestleMania 42 build starts with and is most fervent here. Indeed, this build has cast a pall over WrestleMania for a segment of the audience. I’m not sure I would have even done this match because of Cody’s likelihood of being booed two years in a row against a legend — and a legend who is seeking a pivotal world title, no less. However, given that WWE did, I think turning Orton was the right call, albeit, I wouldn’t have leaned into the 2009 nostalgia people have for the dastardly version of Randy Orton, the viper. They should have creatively done something different to ensure Orton would be booed as a bad guy. What they absolutely should not have done was insert Pat McAfee, siding with Orton, and to a lesser extent, Jelly Roll, into the story. Instead of it being a story about Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton, who have a legitimate 20 years of history together, it instead became about McAfee ostensibly trying to “save the business.” There’s even an added stipulation that if Orton loses, McAfee will leave the industry permanently. Supposedly, Endeavor (the parent company of TKO) CEO Ariel Emanuel, who is the agent of McAfee, inserted him into this WrestleMania storyline. If the edict was to do so, then the onus was on the WWE creative team to find a way to, well, creatively insert him. They didn’t. It was actively bad. It sent the Rhodes/Orton story into a tailspin that somehow only got worse in the second week of that “pivot.” There is no rationalizing or putting a positive spin on this storyline. It’s been awful. My fear with this match is it will be an overbooked mess with McAfee continuing to be a distraction. But I’m still interested in the match on the sole basis of liking Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. Cody Rhodes, as unlikely as it seems given purported plans for future shows and the McAfee stipulation, needs to win, however. He cannot lose two WrestleMania main events in a row to a legend and he cannot lose after being told his time at the top of WWE is hurting business.

Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill: The story started as a blurring of the lines on Twitter that didn’t carry over to TV (with Jade saying Rhea kisses ass backstage, essentially). On TV, the story was that Jade’s remarkable body is all look and no action, whereas Rhea backs up everything she does. Moreover, that Jade doesn’t respect the title or the business itself, and Rhea does. Then the story became about Jade aligning herself with Michin and B-Fab to take down Rhea, and then Iyo as a way to further hurt Rhea. While the story is getting what we call heat, or a reaction from the crowd, it’s not a particularly well-told story. Again, though, I’m interested in the match on the basis of Rhea being one of the biggest superstars on the show. She also needs to win. The top woman on the show needs to be positioned like the top woman on the show again.

Women’s Tag Team Championship: This match was hurt partly by extricating Rhea from the Rhea and Iyo tag team so that Jade Cargill had an opponent for WrestleMania. But also, regardless, they haven’t tried much to tell a deeper story. There is certainly dynamics to work with, whether that’s the return of the Bella Twins as a tag team for the first time in eight years, or the redemptive arc of Bayley and Lyra, or the continued clash of styles between Charlotte and Alexa that makes their friendship click, or the absolute dominance of the Irresistible Forces, particularly honing in on how Lash Legend, who is new to the roster, is proving herself. Instead, they did a lot of variations of one-on-one matches with the competitors. It’s going to be a fun match most likely, but the build has left a lot to desire given how hot the women’s tag team division had been running for months before the WrestleMania build.

The reason I don’t have the six-man ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship featuring Penta vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dragon Lee vs. JD McDonagh vs. Rusev vs. Rey Mysterio among the aforementioned is because it doesn’t have a build in order to be bad. And to be honest, a six-man ladder match not having a story is the least offensive thing about this WrestleMania. Once the bell rings, it’s going to be all about the spectacle.

So, in essence, then, I’m saying out of 13 matches at WrestleMania, three have had actively bad or poor storytelling, with an additional one having no storytelling to speak of, and even then, I’m still interested in at least three of those matches once the bell rings (like I said, the women’s tag will likely be fun, but I’m not actively interested in seeing it). That’s not too shabby for a two-night, 13-match card!

That leaves 9 matches I’ve been compelled by to varying degrees, but the common thread tends to be intensity:

• Jacob Fatu vs. Drew McIntyre: Intense, with a months-long story behind it.
• Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship: Intense, with a story built-up since the end of January. More on this below.
• AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Intense, particularly with Lynch returning more to form with The Man character, and it’s the longest built match on the show (depending on how you look at Finn/Dom).
• Seth Rollins vs. Gunther: Intense as hell, albeit with a short build not of WWE’s making given injuries curtailing other plans. I’ve loved what Seth and Gunther have been able to do in short order to make me fully bought in to their clash. This one has the possibility of stealing the weekend match-wise.
• Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar: Perhaps the most intense one on this list, with epic clashes and a killer Oba promo on the go-home Monday Night Raw. The story has been pitch perfect throughout its duration leading to this being the match I’m most looking forward to seeing.
• “The Demon” Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio: Low-key, simmering intensity, given the sneak attacks against Finn, as well as Finn resorting to bringing the Demon back for the first time in three years. And like I said, depending on how you look at it, this rift into full blown feud between Finn and Dom goes back more than a year at this point including to last year’s WrestleMania.
• CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship: Intensity via words and also pull-apart-brawls and action. Every segment featuring these two, or the couple weeks Roman wasn’t there, but Punk was, was must-watch television. They’ve built an incredible story since the beginning of February that has encapsulated the 14-years of history and “bad blood” between them. This isn’t being talked about enough as the dream match that it is.

The only match I didn’t list here as intense was Sami Zayn vs. Trick Williams for the United States Championship. While it hasn’t been intense like the above matches, it is a story they’ve been telling for a while now. However, this is also another sticking point for those frustrated by the WrestleMania booking since Sami defeated Carmelo Hayes for the title and now Carmelo isn’t even on the show. I don’t have an issue with that because the story they’ve been telegraphing for a while is Sami vs. Trick. You can argue it didn’t need the title, but I’d argue the title only adds fuel to the potential heel turn (or double turn) of Sami Zayn.

Now, I want to turn to a deeper dive of Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan, which has been so damn intense! Their story started as essentially Stephanie arguing Liv had it easy whereas she had to go up the hard way from her home country of Chile to wrestle throughout the world to make it to WWE to live out her dream. Liv, on the other hand, argues she’s worked hard for everything she’s earned and Stephanie’s plight is overwrought. From there, though, the story evolved into a “fight on sight” leading to awesome, brutal intensity between these two that has reached a fever pitch. I can’t wait to hear that bell ring and for these two to go at it.

How does their story stack up in the modern era, though?

Going back to WrestleMania 32, or 10 years, these have been the women’s world title matches:

• WrestleMania 32: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks for the WWE Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 33: Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship; Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Mickie James vs. Natalya for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 34: Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka for the SmackDown Women’s Championship; Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 35: Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair for the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships
• WrestleMania 36: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Bazler for the Raw Women’s Championship; Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship; and Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi vs. Tamina for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 37: Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship; Rhea Ripley vs. Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 38: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship; Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 39: Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship; Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 40: Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship; Bayley vs. Iyo for the WWE Women’s Championship
• WrestleMania 41: Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women’s Championship; Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship
• WrestleMania 42: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship; Rhea Ripley vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship

Out of those matches, the top three builds arguably were:

1. WrestleMania 35: Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair for the Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships
2. WrestleMania 38: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship
3. WrestleMania 37: Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
4. WrestleMania 34: Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship
5. WrestleMania 42: Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship

In other words, Vaquer/Morgan is the best built women’s world title feud since at least WrestleMania 38 four years ago! Or to put it another way, it’s the fifth best built women’s world title match out of the 20 women’s matches featured at WrestleMania since the women’s revolution. And that’s with the built-in obstacle, if you want to refer to it that way, of a language barrier with Vaquer, although that’s not the first time that’s been the case (Asuka and Iyo have been in multiple world title matches at WrestleMania).

I am genuinely stoked for Vaquer/Morgan and am so happy to see a women’s feud get a level of intensity, arguably, we’ve only previously seen for the respective WrestleMania 35 and WrestleMania 37 women’s main events.

WrestleMania 42 is marked by intensity, long-term story-building, and matches I’m excited to see get in the ring. Yes, the McAfee of it all is very frustrating, particularly stacked up against what happened last year with the John Cena heel turn and Travis Scott. And yes, it’s dismaying that potentially Randy Orton’s last WrestleMania main event is marred by all this, just as Cena’s last WrestleMania was by Scott’s involvement. But that’s one match and one build of a two-night 13-match card that otherwise has largely pleased me! So, why wouldn’t I be excited?!