WWE Hot Take: WrestleMania 41 Match Card Is Shaping Up to Be a Massive Disappointment

WWE’s WrestleMania 41 appears to be top-heavy to an extreme degree, to the point of concern. 

Things look amazing at the very top thanks to John Cena’s decades-in-the-making heel turn as he (allegedly) wraps up his pro wrestling career. 

But the rest of the known and projected ‘Mania match card feels like a minimal-interest disaster. 

Feel free to start right at the top with the Triple Threat featuring Roman Reigns, CM Punk and Seth Rollins. It sounds like an amazing match that should have plenty of incredible storytelling moments given the in-ring psychology of all involved, including Paul Heyman. 

But as a whole? It’s not escaping the typical WWE allegations when it comes to jamming as many names as possible into multi-man matches at ‘Mania. It feels like the less-than-ideal way to finally get Punk and Rollins an actual ‘Mania main event—especially when compared to what any of the three being involved in a solo feud with each other could have been. 

As a result, the build has been messy (the “favor’ even sort of underwhelmed). It’s hard not to think about what a Seth-Punk feud could have been on its own, or Seth-Roman finally settling things once and for all. 

The Bloodline, by the way, is mostly totally absent and ruined. Solo Sikoa is off in no man’s land. It feels like The Rock is a major point of blame here. His on-and-off again status is insufferable. It started at Raw’s debut on Netflix, where he awkwardly wrote himself out of storylines, then re-inserted himself for Cena’s heel turn, only to disappear again. 

We can rapid-fire much of the rest, right? 

That Tiffany Stratton-Charlotte Flair feud that should be a passing-of-the-torch moment has gone off the rails with awkward promos. 

Over with the Women's World Championship, the Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley Triple Threat match has been equally perplexing, especially with Belair somehow getting booed by live audiences. 

Then we have the total derailment of Drew McIntyre, who went from Brock Lesnar-defeating and company-headling juggernaut to yet another showdown with Damian Priest, whose stock has predictably cratered. 

Though it’s easy to do so, try not to forget about Gunther vs. Jey Uso for the former’s world heavyweight title. Gunther’s reign has underwhelmed and Jey got the Royal Rumble win for winning over live audiences, but it’s a retread of a match and feud where there’s really no good result. 

Other apparently planned matches include the US title showdown between LA Knight and Jacob Fatu, though The Street Profits apparently won’t get to defend their tag titles. 

Matches aimed at letting audiences rest between bigger matches (ie, tempo matches) include Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano and Jade Cargill vs. Naomi, to name just two. And the big sort of part-time spectacle is…Logan Paul taking on AJ Styles. 

WWE can’t take direct blame for the injury that will keep Kevin Owens off the card, of course. But somebody like Randy Orton took far too long to get into a must-see feud for the event. And of the many notable names without anything going on this ‘Mania season, Becky Lynch reigns above all. 

This all really begs the question: What does this ‘Mania have going for it without the Cena heel turn? 

Because even with it, the current build and card flirt with feeling like a mostly standard episode of Raw, or perhaps the card one might find on a much lesser PLE. The fault rests in many places, but it’s written all over the path traveled, with highlights being Rock’s status, booking decisions like Jey, veering away from Reigns/Bloodline and so much more. 

This isn’t to say ‘Mania won’t be a success. In a funny twist, the lukewarm expectations created by the outlook help in this regard, as jumping over the low bar should be pretty simple. 

But it is uncanny that the strong suit of the Triple H era had been long-term booking and sensible storytelling steadily building hype to the biggest events, only for it to fall off a cliff this year. 

Of course, wrestling fans will watch ‘Mania regardless and the name recognition will lure in plenty of non-hardcore fans no matter what—but that’s not really the point, nor an excuse for how we got here, is it?