5 Wrestlers Who Will Disappear After WWE WrestleMania 41

WWE's WrestleMania season is always star-studded to ensure the card is appealing as possible for fans. That includes familiar faces resurfacing despite being absent for a good chunk of the year so they can take part in a marquee match on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

The Rock notoriously returned ahead of Elimination Chamber solely to confront Cody Rhodes and seek his “soul.” Although he hasn't appeared since joining forces with John Cena at the event, it's safe to assume he'll make his presence felt at 'Mania in some form or fashion.

Beyond that, aside from the occasional cameo, it's doubtful that he'll have a recurring role on WWE TV for the remainder of the year. Thankfully, Cena is slated to be around after not having a limited schedule during this year's Road to WrestleMania, regardless of whether he leaves as Undisputed WWE champion.

In fact, many Superstars have a clear direction coming out of the event and will play a prominent role in the immediate fallout. For others, it's unknown where they'll factor in and what's next for them once they inevitably lose in Las Vegas.

Don't expect to see the following five wrestlers around for a while once WrestleMania season is through.

Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns hasn't been a full-time member of the WWE roster in nearly three years, so his impending post-WrestleMania break shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

It's been confirmed that, despite not having anything at stake, Reigns' Triple Threat match with CM Punk and Seth Rollins will headline Night 1 of WrestleMania 41. He'll also be going at it alone with Punk being backed by Reigns' wiseman Paul Heyman, per Punk's favor from WarGames.

Heyman's involvement is the key to the entire story and making it meaningful. Although many assume he'll decide where his allegiance lies between Reigns and Punk, Heyman helping Rollins reign supreme—whether it be intentional or not—is also a real possibility.

Reigns being betrayed by Heyman would give him much-needed character development. After all, he has hardly changed since technically turning babyface upon returning at SummerSlam, despite being cheered by a vast majority of the audience.

Heyman severing ties with The Tribal Chief would simultaneously set up Reigns' next storyline and give him a reason to disappear post-WrestleMania for a few months. Reigns against either Punk or Rollins with Heyman in their corner would be worthy of a main-event at either night of SummerSlam this August.

Logan Paul

WrestleMania 41 will mark the fourth installment Logan Paul has been a part of, yet the build to his bout with AJ Styles has left a lot to be desired.

Once the bell rings, they'll undoubtedly deliver an excellent outing. Paul has consistently shined whenever the lights are on bright, and Styles is one of the very best wrestlers WWE has on its roster.

Unfortunately, they've only had a handful of segments to generate a ruthless rivalry and nothing they've done up to this point has been anything but basic. At the very least, it gets Styles in a singles match on the 'Mania card, and it should result in a rebound victory for him following last year's loss to LA Knight.

Similar to Roman Reigns, Paul routinely takes time off from WWE TV once the Road to WrestleMania winds down. That was the case last year even while he was United States champion, and thus there's even less of an incentive for him to stick around after WrestleMania this year.

He'll inevitably return for Money in the Bank and SummerSlam season, but he can leave Raw for a few months and it'd barely be noticeable.

Bayley

Bayley may be a bit of a surprising name to see listed, but she'd benefit more than most from an extended leave of absence after WrestleMania.

The multi-time champion made her grand return from a year-long layoff due to injury at SummerSlam 2022 and debuted Damage CTRL as her new faction that same night. She played a prominent role in Raw and SmackDown's women's divisions in the years that followed, even winning the WWE Women's Championship from Iyo Sky at WrestleMania 40 and holding it through SummerSlam 2024.

Since dropping the belt to Nia Jax, she's remained active but has very much been booked as an afterthought. She failed to regain the gold at Bad Blood, floundered in the undercard on SmackDown and took her talents back to Raw only to stay at the exact same level.

Days removed from unsuccessfully challenging Lyra Valkyria for the Women's Intercontinental Championship, Bayley paired up with Valkyria to become to earn an opportunity at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania. The bout effectively ensures they'll all be featured on the premier pay-per-view, but Bayley and Valkyria are a makeshift team and shouldn't walk away with the twin titles.

Bayley growing frustrated with her recent string of losses and snapping on Valkyria post-WrestleMania would be logical, but between Becky Lynch and potential NXT call-ups waiting in the wings, she isn't needed on the red brand for the foreseeable future.

Jey Uso

Jey Uso wasn't topping most fans' lists of possible opponents for Gunther at WrestleMania 41, but Uso's Royal Rumble win made the match much more appealing on paper than it would have been at the beginning of the year.

Almost everything they were involved in from the Rumble through the end of the March wasn't a World Heavyweight Championship caliber program, but they finally turned things around with Gunther's vicious assault on Jey's brother Jimmy on the March 31 edition of Raw.

Jey followed up that angle with an outstanding promo on the next week's Raw, upping the excitement level for their upcoming clash in the process.

Gunther must lose to Jey at the event to make their entire rivalry worthwhile, after which he can take a step back from WWE TV to recuperate.

His credibility won't be damaged from a defeat to Uso, but it will be a while until he can get his once-unstoppable aura back to where it was upon suffering his second pinfall loss since joining WWE's main roster three years ago.

It'd be unnecessary for WWE to have him and Uso run it back so soon after 'Mania, if at all. Gunther being gone will allow others to rise up the card and enter world championship contention for a change.

Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes has been such a constant on WWE TV for the last three years since returning to the company that it'd be difficult to imagine him disappearing from programming anytime soon, if only temporarily.

Then again, he missed the entire second half of 2022 with a torn pec and came back at the Royal Rumble in 2023 hotter than ever before, so it's not as if some time away would hurt his momentum in the slightest.

If anything, the eventual return of Rhodes would get fans to rally behind him that much more, provided he loses the Undisputed WWE Championship to John Cena at WrestleMania 41 as he should. Rhodes retaining runs the risk of the audience turning on him as he surpasses one year as champ.

Cena stealing the strap would be the ultimate disgrace to The American Nightmare, forcing him into a self-imposed exile and paving the way for a highly-anticipated rematch at SummerSlam. Cena can spend the months in the meantime running through the roster and holding the gold hostage to maximize his heel turn.

WWE won't completely crumble without Rhodes around, but his hiatus should serve as a reminder of how important his presence truly is.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.