WWE WrestleMania 41 Original Card, Rumors on Cody Rhodes, Happy Gilmore 2, McIntyre

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

'WWE: Unreal' Reveals Original WrestleMania 41 Card

Tuesday's release of WWE: Unreal on Netflix contained many nuggets for fans to pore over, not least of which was the originally-planned card for WrestleMania 41.

One moment in the series showed a whiteboard with 13 planned matches for the biggest show of the year:

Of the matches on that card, the only one that took place was Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena for the undisputed WWE championship. Randy Orton and Kevin Owens would have happened, but Owens was pulled from the card two weeks prior to the show due to a legit neck injury.

Some of the matches were fairly close to what actually happened, but with an additional person added into the fold. The Rhea Ripley-Bianca Belair bout turned into a three-way with Iyo Sky for the women's world title. CM Punk was put into the Roman Reigns-Seth Rollins match as the main event for night one.

One detail revealed on the Netflix docuseries was that most of the creative team initially pushed for Punk or Cena to win the Royal Rumble, but Michael Hayes and Ed Koskey made the case for Jey Uso after his popularity exploded as a singles star late last year.

Triple H and the rest of the creative team opted to go with Uso in the Rumble, leading to him taking the originally-planned spot for Punk to challenge Gunther for the world heavyweight title.

Of course, now that Gunther has won the title back after Uso had a brief run with it, he will get his match with Punk at SummerSlam on Saturday night.

Even though the card as originally laid out didn't come together for any number of reasons, WrestleMania 41 worked out well for everyone involved. The two best bouts on the show wound up being the two triple-threat matches that came together over the course of putting it all together.

Cody Rhodes Missed Out on 'Happy Gilmore 2' Role

While there are no shortage of figures from the wrestling world in Happy Gilmore 2, there could have been an even larger presence if Cody Rhodes' schedule had lined up.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), the producers of the film contacted Rhodes to ask if he would read for a role, and the two sides had talks about casting him.

However, the report notes those discussions fell through when Rhodes was unable to line up his schedule with the film's production.

It's unclear how close Rhodes was to being cast, nor is there any information on what his potential role would have been.

Despite the absence of the American Nightmare, both Becky Lynch and MJF do appear in the sequel to the 1996 film. MJF plays one of Adam Sandler's sons. Lynch appears as Flex, a member of the rival team challenging Gilmore and the traditional golf group.

WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella also filmed a role, but she said a majority of her scenes were cut in the finished version.

Even though Rhodes was unable to make his schedule work out for Happy Gilmore 2, he still has an increased profile in Hollywood. The former undisputed WWE champion will appear in The Naked Gun remake being released on Friday and he has been cast as Guile in the new Street Fighter movie scheduled for a 2026 release.

In the meantime, Rhodes will be busy this weekend when he challenges John Cena for the undisputed WWE title at SummerSlam on Sunday. 

Drew McIntyre's Status Still Unclear

As Drew McIntyre remains stuck in London due to a passport issue, his status for both Friday Night SmackDown and SummerSlam are still up in the air.

Per TC of WrestleVotes, one person in WWE said the "wheels are in motion" for alternative plans for SmackDown in the event McIntyre can't get to the show and his status for SummerSlam is still to be determined.

In a video posted to social media on Sunday, McIntyre explained he was at the airport in England ready to fly back to the United States after attending a friend's wedding, but TSA wouldn't let him board the plane because he didn't have his U.S. passport.

Fightful Select (h/t Faden Cloete of Wrestling Inc.) did noted people in WWE "feel confident" the situation will be rectified, but the report didn't specify if it would happen in time for the show this weekend.

McIntyre is scheduled to partner with Logan Paul against Randy Orton and Jelly Roll in a tag match as part of the Saturday card for SummerSlam.

WWE may have started to plant the seeds for McIntyre's replacement in the event he can't get back to the U.S. in time for the show. The Miz posted a video on Instagram offering to replace the Scottish Warrior in the tag bout.

McIntyre was on the July 25 episode of SmackDown in an angle with Paul, Orton and Jelly Roll to further the build for their match.