1 Main Event Confirmed on SmackDown
Anticipation is building for WWE’s grandest annual event, as it always brings massive hype. A month out, it seems fans know who will square off in some of the top matches of the two-day extravaganza at WrestleMania 40.
Bayley‘s Royal Rumble win propelled her to a title match at WrestleMania. While Rhea Ripley presented an intriguing matchup, once her Damage CTRL teammates turned on her, the Role Model chose to challenge IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship instead.
In a surprising turn of events, Cody Rhodes told Roman Reigns on the Feb. 2 episode of SmackDown that he would not challenge for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. While it seemed like the logical continuation of Rhodes’ storyline, one wondered how much CM Punk’s injury changed WWE’s WrestleMania plans for the top title matches.
Nevertheless, Rhodes surprised the audience by bringing out The Rock to share a face-to-face moment with Reigns in the ring, closing the show. This comes just a month after the People’s Champion proclaimed on Raw that he would “sit at the head of the table.”
However, then came the WrestleMania Kickoff event in Las Vegas on Feb. 8. Rhodes, Reigns, The Rock and Seth Rollins were all billed for it, with a teaser that the American Nightmare made his decision on what he’ll do at WrestleMania despite what happened.
The Tribal Chief tried to take matters into his own hands at the Sin City show, declaring he’ll face the People’s Champion at WrestleMania. After a handshake agreement, Rhodes interrupted the festivities and told them he wanted Reigns at Lincoln Financial Field after all.
It sparked a fierce war of words, with The Rock snapping back at Rhodes and Rollins for talking about his family. Most comments were explicit and bleeped from the Peacock broadcast as the faces traded words with the Bloodline members.
For any questions about how definitive that event’s shenanigans were, Triple H confirmed on X that Reigns vs. Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Rollins got his own challenger at Elimination Chamber, when Drew McIntyre outlasted five other men to earn his world title shot. Becky Lynch did the same earlier on the show, and will take on Rhea Ripley for the Women’s World Championship.
But that’s not all. After the events of the first few shows of March, a huge tag team match has been set for Night 1. Rhodes and Rollins will team together to face Reigns and The Rock with high stakes for Night 2: If Cody and Seth win, the Rhodes-Reigns rematch will be one-on-one, but if they lose the tag team match, that rematch will be fought under Bloodline Rules, meaning anything goes.
WrestleMania 40 goes down on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. We’ll update this post with more matches as WWE makes them official, so check back often until Mania week rolls around.
Dwayne Johnson would also reveal on this week’s episode of SmackDown that if Cody were unable to defeat Roman in the Night 2 main event of WrestleMania 40, which will be for Reigns’ aforementioned World title, he could never challenge for the title again.
