Update on WWE’s Original Plans for WrestleMania 42 Main Events

Last weekend, Roman Reigns won the Men’s Royal Rumble for the second time in his career, last-eliminating Gunther to earn a world title match at WrestleMania 42. On the following RAW, The Tribal Chief picked World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk as his opponent for The Show of Shows. As of now, per Dave Meltzer, the other main event planned for ‘Mania is Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes, though Jacob Fatu could still be added to the matchup.

However, Roman wasn’t allegedly the initial pick to win this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble. In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer detailed the creative team’s evolving plans for the main events of WrestleMania 42. According to Meltzer, the company had initially planned Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk as the top matches for this year’s Show of Shows.

However, Rollins’ unfortunate shoulder injury at Crown Jewel: Perth meant that the creative team had to pivot. The plan was then to crown CM Punk as World Heavyweight Champion and then have a three-step program with Bron Breakker, with The Vision member losing the title match on the first RAW of 2026 and then winning the Royal Rumble and finally dethroning Punk as World Heavyweight Champion at ‘Mania.

However, the creative team decided to pivot again after Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes pitched the idea of the Undisputed WWE Title changing hands during the Three Stages of Hell Match on SmackDown last month. According to Meltzer, the creative team had plans worked out for Cody vs. Roman III, but Paul “Triple H” Levesque eventually came around to the idea of Drew dethroning Cody to freshen up things on the Road to WrestleMania. Hence, the initial plans of having Breakker win the Royal Rumble were scrapped, with the new choices being Cody or Roman.

The promotion, per Meltzer, avoided having Cody win the 30-man Battle Royal and went with Reigns with the idea to build the show around Roman vs. Punk until the end of this month and then have Cody earn his shot by winning the Elimination Chamber Match in Chicago. He further added that Fatu could still be added to the Undisputed WWE Title match.