WWE WrestleMania 40: Best Potential Matches to Main-Event in Philadelphia

WrestleMania 40 takes place in Philadelphia, home to some of the most passionate and vocal fans in professional wrestling, and the importance of having bona fide main events at the top of the card will be key.

On the heels of an event that instantly ranks among the best the company has ever produced, the pressure will be on to present a suitable followup.

These are three potential main events for the landmark show in The City of Brotherly Love.

Brock Lesnar vs. Gunther

Ahead of WrestleMania 39, it was rumored that Gunther's opponent for the event would be Brock Lesnar. Ultimately, it was decided that The Ring General needed another year of legitimizing to make that match happen.

After a five-star performance against Drew McIntyre and Sheamus that saw him successfully defend the Intercontinental Championship, Gunther appears poised to make good on that challenge, barring any creative setbacks.

The Austrian-born competitor squaring off with Brock Lesnar in a physical, punishing matchup is the type of fight Philly fans relish. It is one that would likely serve as The Beast's best in recent memory and help establish Gunther, indisputably, as a top star in WWE.

Of course, that is all dependent upon Lesnar being willing to put over Gunther, because the last thing anyone needs is for Brock to squash his momentum.

Especially in Philly, where they may love The Beast but would not hesitate to lash out with furious vengeance if it looked like that match was detrimental to someone like Gunther, who had earned the right to be in that spot.

Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns II

At WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes lost a main event that appeared to be tailor-made for him to win and assume the role of top dog in WWE. He was supposed to win the match, capture the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and celebrate with fans.

Instead, he sat defeated in the center of the ring while Roman Reigns stood triumphantly on the ramp, his titles held high overhead as pyro exploded behind him.

It was slightly different but eerily reminiscent of a demoralized John Cena watching The Rock celebrate his victory at WrestleMania 28. The next night on Raw, Brock Lesnar returned and obliterated Cena, and a decade later, The Beast did the same to The American Nightmare.

The parallels are there—maybe too much—but it certainly appears as though WWE is setting up to run back Rhodes vs. Reigns, just as it did Cena vs. Rock.

Time will tell if that is the right call, but it is at least a main event, as we witnessed in 2023, that has the star power to be in that spot on the card.

The redemption of Rhodes is a story that can work, even if he is not nearly as hot as he was a year earlier, when fans were champing at the bit to see him capture the gold. He can be heated back up in time for the showdown with Reigns, and maybe even get back to the level he was previously through sheer determination alone, but it will take work and careful booking.

If anyone can make that happen, it is Rhodes and Triple H. If anyone can greet the match with the reception it deserves, it is Philadelphia.

Conversely, if there is a city that will be boisterous in its rejection of bad booking in that spot, it is The City of Brotherly Love.

Still, with no other obvious challenger for Reigns on the horizon and Rhodes still desperately needing a payoff to his story, a sequel to the hotly anticipated WrestleMania 39 classic feels like the right move. At least for now.

Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley

WWE can run back Rhodes vs. Reigns on WrestleMania Saturday, but there is exactly one match that has earned the right to headline the 40th incarnation of The Showcase of the Immortals and it is Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley.

The two women tasked with leading the next generation of women's wrestling have repeatedly outperformed expectations, with Belair making having one of the best matches on the WrestleMania card three years running and Ripley delivering an all-time-great performance against Charlotte Flair just this year.

They have experienced parallel journeys to the top, proving to be two young competitors capable of picking up the women's revolution where the Four Horsewomen of NXT left off. They have been extraordinary, and an in-ring confrontation between the Raw and SmackDown Women's champions teased that a major matchup between them is on the horizon.

The fans want it, the women have earned it, and WWE should see to it that it happens.

With a strong, steady build throughout the next year, Belair vs. Ripley is a potential WrestleMania show-stealer. That it would headline one of the nice, round milestone WrestleManias would only accentuate the history and meaning behind the match.

Considering how much WWE loves those milestones and enjoys patting itself on the back (and rightfully so), it feels like a no-brainer.

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