WWE Rumors on Nixed Reigns vs. Rhodes WrestleMania Match, Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio, Bella Twins

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

Reported WrestleMania 42 Plans for Reigns vs. Rhodes Before Changes

WWE reportedly discussed a major stipulation for a potential Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes match at WrestleMania 42 before going in a different direction with both Superstars.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Reigns vs. Rhodes was the original plan for the main event of WrestleMania 42, which would have marked their third WrestleMania singles match against each other in four years.

On top of that, there was reportedly talk within the company of making it a Hell in a Cell match.

That would have differentiated Reigns vs. Rhodes III from their previous two WrestleMania encounters, and it would have made for a rare sight on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Only four Hell in a Cell matches have ever occurred at WrestleMania with the most recent example being Edge's win over Finn Balor at WrestleMania 39 in 2023.

Instead of going back to the Reigns vs. Rhodes well again, the creative team had Reigns choose world heavyweight champion CM Punk as his WrestleMania 42 opponent after winning the men's Royal Rumble match.

Rhodes dropped the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre in January, but he won it back last week on SmackDown, setting the stage for Cody to defend against men's Elimination Chamber winner Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

While there may not be a Hell in a Cell match in the cards for WrestleMania 42, both Reigns vs. Punk and Rhodes vs. Orton stand out as compelling title bouts.

Reported Reason for Delaying Balor vs. Dominik

Dominik Mysterio and the rest of The Judgment Day turned their backs on Finn Balor during Monday night's episode of Raw by viciously attacking him.

According to Meltzer (h/t Mukherjee), there were plans to do a Balor vs. Dirty Dom feud much earlier, but WWE decided to hold off until now.

The creative team reportedly felt The Judgment Day was "still hot," so instead of doing Balor vs. Mysterio last year at SummerSlam as was originally planned, the group was kept intact for several more months.

Meltzer added that had the match happened at SummerSlam, the plan was for Balor to utilize his popular Demon character in the bout. While it isn't known if that is still part of the plan now that the turn has happened, it suggests that the return of the Demon is possible.

All signs point toward a Balor vs. Mysterio match at WrestleMania 42, as Dominik blamed Balor for costing him the Intercontinental Championship against Penta recently.

Balor stopped JD McDonagh from helping Mysterio to cheat, and Penta took advantage of the distraction by winning the match and the title.

McDonagh, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are all still aligned with Dom, which suggests Balor will be at a huge numbers disadvantage at WrestleMania.

One way to equalize things would be the return of the Demon gimmick since Balor has had a high success rate when wrestling as that character during his time in WWE.

Bella Twins Reportedly Nearing Return to WWE TV

The Bella Twins have not been seen on WWE programming since the Feb. 2 episode of Raw, but their absence reportedly may not last much longer.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlePurists), Nikki and Brie Bella are scheduled to make their return "very soon."

Nikki returned to WWE on her own as a surprise entrant in the 2025 women's Royal Rumble match, and by June she was making regular appearances on WWE programming.

She eventually turned heel and unsuccessfully challenged Stephanie Vaquer for the Women's World Championship.

At the 2026 Royal Rumble premium live event in January, Brie returned as a surprise entrant in the women's Rumble, marking her first WWE match since 2022.

On the ensuing episode of Raw, Nikki and Brie announced their intention to go after the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships during an in-ring promo segment, but they have not made any appearances since then.

At the time of the promo, Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky were the tag champs, but they have since dropped the titles to Nia Jax and Lash Legend.

If The Bella Twins are going to become women's tag team champions for the first time, it appears as though they will have to beat Jax and Legend, as well as potentially some other teams at WrestleMania 42.