WWE Making It Obvious Who Wins Men's Title Matches at WrestleMania 41

Predictability doesn’t have to be a bad thing in pro wrestling. In fact, even the most predictable of results can be all-time moments—it all hinges on the characters and story long before the execution of the predictable moment in the ring. 

Whether the super-obvious outcomes to the top men’s title matches at WrestleMania 41 will be good, however, is very much up for debate. 

Look at the two matches. The historic bout between Cody Rhodes and John Cena, due to the path traveled to the encounter by the characters, has a painfully obvious outcome. 

And the conclusion to the stuck-in-quicksand feud between Gunther and Jey Uso is even more obvious. 

The why to both isn’t hard to figure out, either. Cena finally turned heel, a landmark moment in WWE history. He’s not about to lose in his first marquee match like that and lose all credibility. Looking back on it a decade or more from now, we’re not going to be saying that Cena finally turned heel and lost right away. 

It’s a necessity for Rhodes, too. He’s the guy who took down the legendary Roman Reigns title reign and derailed the Bloodline, effectively. WWE will want to keep the prestige of that victory a bit and only somebody like Cena is really on that level of ending his title run right now. 

On paper, Cena getting the title off Rhodes opens the door for him to do what all the great legends do—go out on his back while helping to build up another top star. This can happen in six months or at ‘Mania a year from now—but the idea dies if Rhodes somehow wins at ‘Mania this year. 

And to get a little meta and real-world-like on this topic, Cena has already been announced as appearing at the Backlash PLE in May, which feels like a spoiler that he’s winning. 

While the possible outcomes of that match are fun, the Uso-Gunther situation is just plain ugly. 

By now, it’s pretty clear the whole feud isn’t really working. That’s at least one part of the reason it’s unquestioned that it won’t be in a show-ending spot on either night. 

WWE crammed through Uso as the Royal Rumble winner while attempting to keep building up its latest solo star success story. Problem is, his singles work and promo work underwhelmed and now he’s stuck in a feud that could headline a Raw episode, not WrestleMania itself. 

In fact, Uso-Gunther has been a feud and weekly television match already in the past. Attempts to layer compelling storytelling atop the retread haven’t worked. 

All that said, Jey winning the title is the obvious end result here. It will please the live crowd that enjoyed the entrance and bought his merchandise. There’s nothing overtly wrong with that—he’s in that Super Cena territory as far as being strictly an attraction for younger audiences at this point.

Gunther doens’t help. His title reign has been underwhelming to a major degree, too. The character is good and fitting, but the booking hasn’t done him any favors. Fighting the likes of Axiom and Otis, among others, hasn’t exactly raised the prestige of the title or feud so far.

Right now, Gunther winning doesn’t really do anything for either wrestler in the match. This is a predictable exit point for that era of the title before things move to Jey. Problem there is, where things go after the title changes hands won’t match the initial live-audience excited reaction of him finally getting his moment. 

There’s also something to be said for the fact that WWE subverting expectations in either direction won’t really accomplish much or feel good for viewers. Cena losing and going away again would feel anticlimactic. It doesn’t help that The Rock randomly hangs around the proceedings at times, either. 

Gunther winning would actually harm his regin in terms of fan reception and cripple Jey, throwing away the meaning of the rumble win, too. 

Only super random things figure to swing these results away from predictable outcomes. Things like, interference costing Cena. Or Jimmy turning on Jey (again) to cost him the title or something. But it’s hard to imagine WWE wants a dusty finish to one title match right now, let alone two. It made sense with all things involved in the Bloodline last year and everyone teaming up to effectively end Reigns’ Thanos-like run. Now, not so much.

The above just leaves the predictable results. Predictable can be good, but it’s a little deflating here when eyeballing the choices made along the way in terms of promos and bigger items like rumble victors and opponents encountered for title-holders. 

As always in pro wrestling, there’s time to salvage all. And the outcomes and long-reaching consequences don’t need to be disappointing as WWE heads into a new “season” post WrestleMania. 

But if fans feel or see rumblings that there just isn’t that much hype for this year’s WrestleMania, the predictability of the top two men’s title matches feels like a big culprit.