The Triple Threat Match WWE Has to Book For WrestleMania 41—And the 1 It Must Avoid

With WrestleMania 41 right around the corner, WWE is looking to finalize the card for this year's two-night event with two potential Triple Threat matches.

Most of the biggest matchups started to take shape following Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble. However, the opening and closing moments of Monday's Raw may have given viewers a glimpse at two more high-profile contests planned for The Showcase of the Immortals.

CM Punk opened the flagship show this week with a blistering promo, which led to another pull-apart brawl with Seth Rollins. Tension between these two bitter rivals has been brewing since The Straight Edge Superstar returned in November 2023 at Survivor Series: WarGames.

Still, it's unclear if next week's steel cage match will be enough to settle this feud or if another noteworthy star will emerge to set up a rumored multi-man match.

Meanwhile, Iyo Sky's upset win in the main event gives WWE the perfect opportunity to weave three long-standing plot threads together.

Iyo Sky vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley Would Be A Welcome Addition

Although nothing could top John Cena's heel turn, Sky's world title win proved WWE still had some tricks up its sleeve. This is the best way to add The Genius of the Sky to this year's card.

More to the point, it will allow Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley's paths to converge with the Japanese wrestler's redemption arc. All three women have something to prove, and an encounter on The Grandest Stage of Them All offers them the chance to do so.

Losing to Lyra Valkyria in the Queen of the Ring semifinals lit a fire under Sky to eventually win without relying on Damage CTRL or the Money in the Bank briefcase. Last year, she won fans over by putting on excellent matches and earning a title shot against Liv Morgan.

When she lost her chance to compete for another opportunity at Elimination Chamber, the popular high-flyer subverted expectations. Now, she seeks to enter Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 19-20 as champion and avenge her loss to Bayley at last year's event.

Conversely, Belair is determined to reestablish herself as a singles competitor after a successful run as a tag team wrestler.

The EST of WWE hopes to put her struggles in 2024 behind her, and a rematch against the woman who has arguably become the most persistent obstacle throughout her WWE career is a great start.

Sky has had Belair's number ever since she dethroned her at SummerSlam in 2023, and their acclaimed match from the Sept. 16, 2024 episode of Raw drove this point home.

Beating her would likely lift a weight off her shoulders, and that's what Ripley doesn't seem to understand.

Their friendship and the WrestleMania match they always talked about aren't as much of a priority for The EST right now because she put her aspirations on the back-burner for a year to be a part of a team. In truth, The Eradicator should understand that better than most.

The runner-up in the 2021 women's Royal Rumble match, which Belair won, lamented about being a team player and giving her friend a fair chance to win. This motivated her to return to the event and win in 2023, but she's conflicted now because she's not the same person anymore.

After everything she went through with Morgan and The Judgment Day, Ripley wanted to believe she had a friend on Raw and that they wanted the same thing. Instead, Belair is showing signs she could turn heel if she did attack Jade Cargill in November.

There are so many layers to this storyline, and the hints at a Triple Threat became evident when they stood on the stage together after the women's Elimination Chamber match. WWE illustrated this again at the end of Raw, and it's the right call.

Putting two of its homegrown stars up against someone as experienced and respected as Sky makes so much sense, and they're both seeking a definitive win over her now.

Ripley vs. Belair could also become a major feud that will play out throughout the year.

Who Will Be Roman Reigns' WrestleMania 41 Opponent?

The fallout from the men's Rumble match was the latest chapter in Punk and Rollins' heated rivalry. Their matches have been tremendous, and their segments are electric because their animosity is so believable.

The fact that they already have a second match set for Monday would imply that the rumored Triple Threat match with Roman Reigns is still planned for WrestleMania 41. But it's hard to see how The Tribal Chief will factor into this now.

The second-generation star has been out indefinitely since Rollins attacked him outside the ring at the Royal Rumble. The angle was one of the highlights of the event, and it perfectly set up a showdown between the three.

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Nevertheless, the longer Reigns is out of the equation, the more it seems like this feud never needed him in the first place. The brawl from the latest episode of Raw was so compelling without him that it would make sense to keep it going or do something else.

Frankly, every combination of these three stars is more interesting as a one-on-one match, and this seems like an attempt to please everyone. Rollins vs. Reigns is long overdue. There is plenty of continuity to lean on there, and their last interaction gave us the ideal inciting incident.

Punk's relationship with Paul Heyman, and the ominous favor he owes him, is a fantastic way to build to a match with Reigns, but that doesn't have to play out immediately. A Triple Threat match doesn't give WWE the chance to delve into his deep history with both opponents effectively.

These two storylines are too big, and throwing it all into a catch-all match does them a disservice. It would make more sense for Punk to use his favor to insert himself into the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match and move forward with Rollins vs. Reigns.