Triple H and WWE's Growing WrestleMania 42 Problem

WrestleMania 42 returns to Las Vegas on April 18-19, but instead of the excitement surrounding the annual event, there is an overwhelming sense of "meh" instead, further evidence of Triple H and WWE's growing problem with its biggest show of the year.

There are more than a few reasons why the WWE chief content officer of pro wrestling's greatest empire and his team are facing the issues that they are:

A lack of direction

Failure to capitalize on big moments

Lack of enthusiasm for the product

Absence of must-see matchups

Dive deeper into each in this examination of why WrestleMania 42 is facing the mounting issues that it is.

Directionless Creative

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WrestleMania 42 is seven weeks away, and it has become clear that Triple H and WWE Creative have no idea where they want to go with the Undisputed WWE Championship match on the show.

Drew McIntyre is the champion, but he has taken a clear back seat to Cody Rhodes and even Jacob Fatu. It appeared a foregone conclusion that McIntyre would battle both in a Triple Threat match, but that no longer feels like the case.

Randy Orton's win in the men's Elimination Chamber match, coupled with Rhodes' shot at the title this Friday on SmackDown, sure feels like there has been a creative about-face behind the scenes.

Add to that reports from Ibou of Self Made Pro and Mike Johnson of PWInsider Elite that Rhodes will face Orton at WrestleMania, and it is clear WWE is still in the process of ironing out the top match for its most prominent star, while deciding what that means for McIntyre and Fatu.

That there are plenty of undercard rivalries and feuds that feel thrown together or undecided this late supports that argument.

Does anyone really believe Rhea Ripley suddenly splitting with Iyo Sky, going to SmackDown, and challenging Jade Cargill despite no backstory to speak of was originally on the bingo card? How about Dominik Mysterio dropping the title he beat John Cena for to Penta in a thrown-together TV match on Raw? WWE put Gunther over Cena and AJ Styles in retirement matches, yet it still hasn't indicated a clear path to The Show of Shows for him.

Injuries have impacted the road to Vegas in 2026. But, in that WWE title picture especially, there is no excuse for how poorly it has been constructed and how directionless it has been.

Speaking of a lack of direction...

Where Do We Go From Here?

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Outside of Seth Rollins' victory over Roman Reigns and CM Punk last year and the creation of The Vision, did any match result from the WrestleMania 41 card feature any substantial follow-up?

Even John Cena's historic 17th title win over Cody Rhodes had little creative impact. The new champion moved on to battle Randy Orton at Backlash before returning to his program with Rhodes in time for Money in the Bank.

By the time SummerSlam rolled around, Cena was a babyface again, essentially negating what we saw in the main event of the biggest show of the year.

Triple H and Co. have proved to be good at delivering big moments but somewhat inconsistent in following them up.

That has hurt the overall impact and resulted in a lack of momentum entering WrestleMania 42, which should be the culmination of those explosive chapters. Instead, especially in the case of last year's show, it feels like any other premium live event but with a bigger production budget.

As important as constructing the WrestleMania card is knowing where to go from there. If it is not the genesis of something new and exciting, it might as well be Backlash.

Absence of Enthusiasm

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It cannot be overstated how much of a letdown WrestleMania 41 was, especially after the momentous year WWE enjoyed leading to it.

If not for the extraordinary Triple Threat matches on the two-night card, it may well have ranked among the worst in modern history. For a show that had fans buzzing, it failed to put an exclamation point on Triple H's second year as a booker and create enthusiasm within the fanbase.

Worst of all, it did not leave the greatest impression on those in and around Las Vegas or convince fans elsewhere to throw down a huge amount of money to hop on a plane and return to Sin City for a second year. That is an enormous ask of an audience when there has been little in terms of creativity to be excited about.

Even less so when Rhodes, in whom fans have invested time, energy, emotion, and their hard-earned money in, does not have a clear 'Mania main event so close to the broadcast.

When WWE rests on its laurels creatively, intentionally or not, and does not give the audience something to invest in, enthusiasm is non-existent and the idea of filling a giant stadium with fans becomes more daunting.

Tickets will inevitably sell because of the desire to be in attendance, but it will not be because of the card and stories the company has constructed.

Lack of Must-See Matches

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CM Punk and Roman Reigns are going to take every personal shot at each other that they possibly can to make their WrestleMania 42 main event for the World Heavyweight Championship a must-see affair.

Even then, though, it does not have the aura, build or emotion of Rhodes' victory over The Tribal Chief two years ago in Philadelphia.

That main event, and Punk's Hell in a Cell war against Drew McIntyre at Bad Blood in October 2024, are the last times matches felt truly must-see in Triple H's WWE. Appropriately enough, they were both the culmination of lengthy builds, featuring characters fans cared about, thanks to the quality of their stories.

It is not that WWE suddenly stopped having stars at its disposal. Fans were ready to watch ultimate underdog Sami Zayn beat Roman Reigns for the WWE title in February 2023 because of the story supporting the match. People cared about Seth Rollins' involvement in the Rhodes-Reigns match because of his connections to the latter.

Triple H has proved he and his team can create intertwining stories that drum up interest and make the audience care. Look no further than the summer of 2024 and what he accomplished with Otis, Maxxine Dupri and Chad Gable.

Unfortunately, he also dropped that story and moved on, an issue facing the company as a whole, but WrestleMania 42 specifically. What made The Game the acclaimed booker he was earlier in his run was that his stories had a beginning, middle and end, and he rarely sacrificed them for the unpredictable. It was OK if we knew the outcome because everything leading to it was awesome.

Rediscover that and those must-see matchups for wrestling's biggest night will come organically. Unfortunately, none of those are in sight for this year's Showcase of the Immortals, and the result is another underwhelming build leading to a growing problem with limited time to fix.