WWE WrestleMania 41's Best Booking Options for Jey Uso vs. Gunther, Title Matches
The booking of any professional wrestling match is of the utmost importance. Good, effective booking leads to a successful match in which everyone looks good, the story is presented in a way that that makes sense within the context of everything else that had come before it, and fans are satisfied with the outcome because of what it means, or might mean, for the future.
Bad booking takes the audience out of any match and leaves them dismayed by what has played out before them. It creates questions about whether their investment in the story is worthwhile and can adversely affect the talent involved.
Ahead of WWE's venture to Las Vegas for WrestleMania 41, these are the best booking options for each championship match on the card.
Best Booking for Undercard Title Matches
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There are eight championship matches across two nights of this year's WrestleMania broadcast. These are the best booking options for the undercard title bouts.
World Tag Team Championship Match: The War Raiders vs. The New Day
The War Raiders have not had a chance to do much with the world tag titles since defeating Judgment Day for them while New Day has cooled off a bit since their epic heel turn. With more heel teams across Raw than babyface ones, it would seem as though the best booking decision would be for Erik and Ivar to pick up a legitimizing win over Kingston and Woods and continue as champions, stronger than ever.
United States Championship Match: LA Knight vs. Jacob Fatu
LA Knight is perpetually over with fans and that will not change, even if he loses his title on a grand stage such as WrestleMania. Fatu has been an unstoppable force all year and his recent win over Braun Strowman was a game-changer. The Samoan Werewolf wins here, clean and definitively, and embarks on a defining 2025.
WWE Women's Championship Match: Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair
The best booking for this one is not necessarily what will ultimately happen. WWE has identified Stratton as one of the faces of women's wrestling's future. In an ideal scenario, she defeats Flair clean on the WrestleMania stage in a match that legitimizes her as such.
Fatal 4-Way Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Bron Breakker vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor vs. Dominik Mysterio
The build to this match has been as much about Bálor and Mysterio's struggle for leadership in The Judgment Day as anything. Bálor has made it clear how much singles gold means to him while Mysterio has listened to Liv Morgan encourage him to get some of his own. The best booking decisions would see that story continue to play out, with Mysterio capitalizing on Bálor's work and winning the match, and title, for himself as a good, slimy heel would.
Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
Bayley and Valkyria will have been a team for just over a week when they take to the stage to challenge the only three-time women's tag team champions Morgan and Rodriguez. Any scenario that does not see the champions retain would be absurd. Friction between Bayley and Valkyria, over the former's desire to win singles gold from the current women's intercontinental champion, causing a miscommunication and leading to the successful retention for the heels would be a solid booking choice.
Triple Threat Match for the Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky
Belair is undefeated at WrestleMania and if her recent change in attitude is any indication, is on her way to a heel turn. Taking advantage of the rules, in which there are no disqualifications in Triple Threat Matches, and utilizing the championship to lay out either Sky or Ripley and score the (tainted) victory is one way for The EST to further establish herself as a villain. Another? Involvement from Naomi, who continued to insist in her tearful admission of guilt in the attack of Jade Cargill that she did it for Belair.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jey Uso vs. Gunther
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"It's just me, Uce," the 2025 Royal Rumble winner Jey Uso repeats in his theme music and that is how his World Heavyweight Championship match against Gunther at WrestleMania should play out.
While there might be an insistence on the part of the creative team to get Jimmy involved after Gunther's attack on him on the March 31 episode of Raw, Saturday's championship clash needs to be the coronation of Uso as a top guy in WWE and for him to get there, he has to do it as he has done everything else in this singles run: by himself.
The best booking for that match is for Uso to endure a beating at the hands of Gunther. The bigger, more physical and traditionally sound wrestler should have Uso on the brink multiple times, only for the underdog to show the grit, determination, and resiliency that has defined him.
Then, he should fight back, unloading everything he has in his arsenal on Gunther, including multiple spears to drive the air out of him. With the world champion down and the title in his sights, Uso scales the ropes, delivers his trademark splash, and wins the gold for the first time in his career.
His journey is complete, the celebration grand, and WWE has a new, legitimate main event babyface on their hands.
Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena
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John Cena embraced the dark side at the Elimination Chamber, selling his soul to The Rock in exchange for one last WWE Championship on this, his farewell tour. It was a moment that sent shockwaves through professional wrestling and was, arguably, the single most important heel turn since Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach in 1996.
For WWE to book any outcome other than Cena winning the WWE title from Rhodes in the main event of WrestleMania would be a massive misfire. It would negate such an iconic moment.
But how does the company get there?
The best way is for Cena to benefit from outside interference, since the heel turn immediately suggested he does not believe he can win without someone having his back.
Enter one of two people: either Seth Rollins as WWE's bigger picture comes into focus or The Final Boss himself, The Rock.
Either one can ensure that Cena defeats Rhodes and wins the title, then embarks on one last run as champion. More importantly, it would ensure that No. 17, the record-breaker, happens on as grand a stage as possible, an ode to the franchise star for WWE over the last two decades.
If it is Rollins and all of this talk of what's "best for business" is somehow linked to Cena's assertions of the same before his Elimination Chamber betrayal, look for the title win to tie into an even bigger, overarching storyline that engulfs WWE for the foreseeable future.
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