Why WWE’s WrestleMania 42 Card Exposes a Roster Depth Crisis

Roman Reigns looked CM Punk dead in the eyes on Raw this week and told him the truth: “I’m choosing you because I hate you. I’ve always hated you.” That single line carried more weight than any scripted promo WWE has produced in years. It wasn’t performative. It wasn’t a catchphrase designed to sell t-shirts. It was a man settling a grudge that started over a decade ago, and it officially set the main event for WrestleMania 42 night two. But here’s the uncomfortable reality about the WrestleMania 42 card beyond that one blockbuster match: WWE doesn’t have much else.

Night two is sorted. Roman Reigns versus CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship will close the show, and nothing else on the card will come close to touching it. The problem is night one, where WWE is genuinely struggling to put together a match worthy of closing out a WrestleMania. Cody Rhodes versus Drew McIntyre has been done to death. The women’s division is loaded but narratively thin. And the Elimination Chamber on February 28th needs to clarify several things before any of this starts making sense.

Roman Reigns Killed CM Punk in That Promo — And It Wasn’t Close

The segment between Roman Reigns and CM Punk on Raw was the best thing in wrestling all week. Not just the best WWE segment — the best thing across both promotions, across every show, across every platform. Roman was a completely different animal standing across from Punk without Paul Heyman by his side, and he more than held his own.

What made this promo special was the layers of real resentment woven into the performance. Roman brought up the Colt Cabana podcast — the infamous interview where Punk left WWE and told the world he was constantly told to “make Roman look strong.” That single podcast appearance turned Roman Reigns into a villain in the eyes of the fanbase before he ever had a chance to earn their support on his own terms. “You made my life way harder than it had to be,” Roman told Punk, and the weight of that statement hit differently because it’s true.

The perception from that podcast was clear: WWE wants this guy to be the next John Cena, and we’re going to reject him as hard as possible just to ruin their plans. That mentality followed Roman Reigns for years. He spent half a decade getting booed out of buildings for sins that weren’t entirely his own, and Punk’s words on that podcast poured gasoline on that fire. For Roman to address it directly, face to face, with genuine anger behind it — that’s the kind of angle that only works when it comes from the performer themselves. Nobody in a writer’s room would think to script that.

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Roman also addressed the Survivor Series moment where Punk shook his hand, then walked behind him, mugging and mocking him while holding the belt up. “Treating me like some young boy. I’m not your young boy.” The crowd started chanting “OTC” — telling Punk to his face that this is still Roman’s show, that he’s still the main attraction, and that the only reason CM Punk is main eventing night two of WrestleMania is because his opponent happens to be Roman Reigns.

Punk had his moments. The line about holding the belt for 434 days with Paul Heyman and Roman doing a thousand days with the same manager — “You’re following in my footsteps. Just because you did it longer doesn’t mean you did it better” — was sharp. But Roman had an answer for everything. Every fire Punk lit, Roman immediately threw water on it. The tribal chief was next level, and after that promo, it’s impossible to imagine any other match closing out night two.

The WrestleMania 42 Card Has a Night One Crisis

Here’s where the WrestleMania 42 card starts to fall apart. Roman and Punk will headline night two. That’s locked. But what headlines night one? The honest answer right now is: nobody knows, and that’s a problem.

Cody Rhodes versus Drew McIntyre is the most likely WWE Championship match heading out of the Elimination Chamber. The rumor is a potential triple threat, adding Jacob Fatu, which would at least make the match tolerable. But Cody and Drew have wrestled so many times at this point — including a Three Stages of Hell match — that doing it again one-on-one at WrestleMania feels like a waste of the biggest stage in wrestling. Adding Jacob Fatu is necessary for that match to be worth anything, but even a triple threat probably shouldn’t close night one.

Next week’s SmackDown features a massive triple threat qualifying match: Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu vs. Sami Zayn, with the winner earning a spot in the Elimination Chamber. All signs point to Cody winning that match. But there’s a world where the match devolves into a brawl that never finishes, and all three end up in the Chamber anyway.

The women’s division might actually be the answer. Liv Morgan won the Royal Rumble and is presumably heading toward a match with Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship. Could that be the main event on night one? Possibly — but Stephanie Vaquer’s promo ability is a concern, and Liv’s post-Rumble promo on Raw wasn’t exactly electric. Last year, Charlotte Flair and Tiffany Stratton generated genuine main event buzz through their promos alone. Can Liv and Stephanie create that same momentum? It’s not guaranteed.

The Women’s Tag Division Might Be WWE’s Secret Weapon

Here’s a sentence that would have been unthinkable in any previous era of the women’s tag team championship: a multi-team women’s tag match could realistically close out night one of WrestleMania. That’s how loaded the division is right now.

Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY are the current champions, and they might be the most impressive tandem WWE has ever assembled. Rhea might be the most over person in the WWE, and IYO might be the best wrestler in the entire company. Every time IYO performs, something extraordinary happens — she did a dive on SmackDown this week where she landed on her head, popped up as if nothing happened, and started pointing at herself. The woman is incredible.

.@RaquelWWE didn't mean to do that, @YaOnlyLivvOnce! 😭 pic.twitter.com/CjFHvgpY4A

— WWE (@WWE) February 7, 2026

Now picture a four-way tag title match at WrestleMania: Rhea and IYO defending against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, the Bella Twins, and Nia Jax and Lash Legend. That’s massive star power concentrated in one match. Charlotte, Rhea, and the Bellas — these are some of the biggest names in the history of women’s wrestling, all in the tag division simultaneously. Where else are you going to put all of them at WrestleMania?

Speaking of the Bellas, their return promo on Raw this week was awkward. They came back as babyfaces targeting the women’s tag championships, and the crowd seemed to be waiting for a heel turn that never came. The reality is that Nikki and Brie are legends and Hall of Famers, but they’re several steps behind the current women’s roster in the ring. The women’s tag division is so strong right now that putting the Bellas anywhere near the top of it as a standalone team would be a disservice. Hiding them in a multi-team match is the smart play.

Jade Cargill defends the Women’s Championship against Jordynne Grace next week for the first time. That match will tell us a lot about Jade’s trajectory heading into WrestleMania. The dream scenario for the women’s singles title remains Jade versus Bianca Belair — a match that could easily close night one if Bianca returns. But if Bianca isn’t available, Jade versus Tiffany Stratton, who qualified for the Elimination Chamber this week, is a tougher sell.

Sami Zayn’s World Title Window Is Closing — Fast

The camera found Sami Zayn on SmackDown this week looking dejected after losing the WWE Championship match to Drew McIntyre at the Royal Rumble. It was the saddest sight of the night: “Sad Sami,” just sitting there, wondering what comes next. And honestly? The answer might be nothing.

WWE should have pulled the trigger at the Royal Rumble. Sami Zayn winning the WWE Championship in Saudi Arabia — where he’s the only wrestler on the roster who speaks Arabic — was the layup of the century, and they bricked it. Dave Meltzer reported that Sami was pushing for the win internally and that WWE was genuinely considering it. They chose not to, and that decision will haunt them.

If not now, then when? That’s the question that hangs over Sami Zayn’s entire career. He’s a top-level performer. He’s one of the most overrated wrestlers in the company. He’s been talking about winning the big one for years. But every time the moment arrives, they pull the rug out from under him. At some point, nobody’s going to believe in him anymore. You can’t keep sending a guy out there, having him talk about his dream of being world champion, and then watch him come up short over and over without the crowd eventually checking out.

Kevin Owens’ neck injury makes this even more urgent. Nobody knows for certain if Kevin is coming back. He’s 40. He’s got money. Quality of life matters. And if you look at Kevin’s situation and then look at Sami standing right next to him, you realize these guys aren’t going to last forever. If the biggest Sami Zayn fans in Montreal — and there are a lot of them watching — are waiting for the world title, the honest advice is: don’t hold your breath.

It’s @tiffstrattonwwe's world and we’re all just living in it! ✨ pic.twitter.com/Y57HCYbsAV

— WWE (@WWE) February 7, 2026

Chelsea Green’s Babyface Turn Is Being Engineered — And It’s Working

Chelsea Green lost her Elimination Chamber qualifying match to Tiffany Stratton on SmackDown, and the crowd wanted her to win. That’s significant because a few months ago, no one would have predicted that level of fan support for Chelsea.

The catalyst was that viral clip from WWE’s Unreal show where Michael Hayes essentially called Chelsea a role player — someone who will never be Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch, someone whose job is to make the real stars look good. Wrestling fans heard that and immediately rallied behind her. The reaction was overwhelmingly: Why not? She’s super talented. She’s entertaining. She’s better than most people we see on TV. Why can’t she be a world champion?

But here’s the thing about Unreal: it’s called Unreal for a reason. It’s in the title. They’re telling you it’s not entirely real. WWE knows cameras are rolling. The editing process is a WWE production. They’re planting stories in that show the same way they plant stories on Raw and SmackDown. The Michael Hayes clip wasn’t an accident — it was a calculated move to turn Chelsea Green babyface by making fans feel like she’s being held down. And it’s working perfectly.

Chelsea still holds the United States Championship, so WrestleMania isn’t out of the picture for her. But the bigger story is the organic shift in how fans perceive her. A babyface run is coming, and when it does, it’ll feel earned — even if every step of it was manufactured by a production team that knows exactly what they’re doing.

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar Is Coming — But There’s an Accent Problem

WWE is positioning Oba Femi for a WrestleMania match against Brock Lesnar. That much is clear from the way they’ve been pushing him — squashing the War Raiders on Raw, beating Kit Wilson on SmackDown after Kit cut an excellent promo. The presentation is there. The look is there. The problem is the voice.

Oba Femi is doing a fake accent, and everybody knows it. The same way Apollo Crews did one for a while and eventually dropped it. The same way Kofi Kingston famously had to abandon his Jamaican accent because he wasn’t Jamaican. The same way Lana spoke with a Russian accent until one day she didn’t. At some point, Oba Femi is going to have to just talk regularly. The question is when, and what happens to the character when he does.

The preferred match for many fans would be Gunther vs Brock Lesnar — the career killer versus the beast. Gunther’s been on a tear, retiring John Cena and AJ Styles back to back. A match with Brock feels like the natural next step. But WWE doesn’t seem to be going in that direction, which means Gunther versus Randy Orton — legend killer versus career killer — might be the fallback option. Either way, Oba Femi vs Brock is the match they’re building, and if the accent issue gets sorted out, it could be a spectacle.

MATCH HIGHLIGHT: Thanks in part to a distraction from Hangman Page, @BrodyXKing was able to make short work of @The_MJF and earn his shot at the AEW World Championship at #AEWGrandSlam, Saturday 2/14!

Watch the #AEWDynamite replay RIGHT NOW on @SportsOnMAX! pic.twitter.com/EXpiuwhQC0

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 5, 2026

AEW Dynamite Delivered Back-to-Back Shockers

While WWE figures out its WrestleMania 42 card, AEW is quietly building momentum. Dynamite this week turned everything upside down with surprise finishes that genuinely caught people off guard.

Brody King squashed MJF in what was supposed to be a title eliminator match, winning in dominant fashion to earn a world title shot at Grand Slam Australia. MJF — the world champion — lost clean and got destroyed in minutes. Andrade El Idolo beat Kenny Omega with some help from Don Callis, eliminating Kenny from title contention and setting up what looks like a Hangman Adam Page vs. Andrade match to determine who faces MJF at Revolution.

The expected path was Kenny versus Hangman for a shot at MJF. Instead, AEW zigged when everyone expected them to zag. Hangman vs. MJF makes the most sense for Revolution — it’s the bigger match with real history, and Hangman is a babyface against MJF’s heel, which is the alignment you want. But the fact that AEW is making multiple contenders feel like genuine threats to the world title is something WWE struggles with. AEW is elevating a lot of people to the main event, where you start believing in a bunch of different people as potential world champions. WWE struggles to do that.

MATCH HIGHLIGHT: @KennyOmegamanX fought @TheDonCallis Family's @AndradeElIdolo in a hard hitting battle with the winner moving on to an AEW World Championship #1 Contendership Match at #AEWGrandSlam Australia!

Watch the #AEWDynamite replay RIGHT NOW on @SportsOnMAX! pic.twitter.com/fCFWet8bQQ

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 6, 2026

Andrade in particular has been a revelation. Watching him over the past few weeks in AEW, it’s clear this is a top-level talent that’s been underutilized for a very long time. He could easily be an AEW World Champion at some point. The Don Callis Family faction is working as the top heel stable, and Andrade fits perfectly within it.

Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford also scored an upset, beating the women’s tag champions Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron in a non-title match to earn a title shot. The tag team work between Bayne and Ford has been excellent, and they could legitimately be the best tag team in AEW’s women’s division right now.

Brody King, Politics, and the Divide Between WWE and AEW

The Brody King vs MJF match generated headlines beyond the wrestling world when the Las Vegas crowd began chanting political slogans during the match. Brody King has been a vocal critic of ICE, having previously worn an “Abolish ICE” shirt on Dynamite months ago. That stance has become significantly more mainstream in recent weeks due to current political developments, and the crowd’s reaction elevated Brody King’s profile overnight.

What made the moment particularly notable was the timing. Brody King advocated this position before it was widely popular. Now that the political climate has shifted, his earlier activism is adding to his babyface support among AEW’s fanbase, which tends to lean left politically. It’s an interesting intersection of real-world politics and pro wrestling character work that’s helping build a genuine connection between performer and audience.

The contrast with WWE is becoming sharper. With Triple H’s close relationship with the current administration and the McMahon family’s political connections, WWE talent appears to be discouraged from expressing political opinions publicly. The Rock’s daughter, Simone Garcia Johnson, demonstrated this perfectly — she quit WWE, and immediately posted on social media that she could finally speak freely about the current administration. “Now I can say this with my full chest” — those words tell you everything about the environment backstage in WWE. If even the Rock’s daughter felt censored, nobody is getting away with speaking out.

AEW is being positioned — whether intentionally or organically — as the alternative for fans who disagree with WWE’s political alignment. That’s an interesting market position that could pay dividends, but it also comes with risks for everyone involved.

People cant handle the truth. https://t.co/dXyblNqVP6

— Lightskin Kingpin (@KingRicochet) February 4, 2026

Ricochet’s Twitter Rant Exposed What Everyone Already Knew

Ricochet went on a Twitter tear this week about his time in WWE, and while the rant itself wasn’t surprising, the specifics were brutal. “Same thing happens to Balor, Shinsuke, Apollo, and many others. WWE kills legacies and the love of the sport. It’s what they do best.” He went further: “I’d argue El Generico has a better legacy than Sami Zayn.”

That last line didn’t sit well with Sami, who responded by posting a Mike Tyson interview clip about how legacy is meaningless because “you’re dead, it doesn’t matter.” It was a subtle but clear pushback — Sami took it personally, which is understandable. But the broader point Ricochet is making isn’t wrong.

The WWE corporate wrestling structure isn’t for everybody. When there’s heavy oversight, micromanagement of creative, and limited room to express yourself, the fun evaporates. Some people thrive in that structure. Others — like Ricochet — feel their love of the business being drained out of them week by week. “They took my love of pro wrestling away,” he wrote. “I’ll never forget how I felt walking into work every week.”

The proof is in what Ricochet has done since leaving. In AEW, given room to develop a personality and creative freedom, he’s become a far more complete performer. It’s a Ricochet with personality — something that never materialized in years of WWE programming. MJF’s analogy captures it perfectly: WWE is McDonald’s. You know what you’re getting. It’s fine. More people eat there. But AEW is the gourmet burger — the quality is higher even if fewer people seek it out.

Elimination Chamber Takes Shape

The Elimination Chamber is February 28th — three weeks away — and qualifying matches are setting the field. Randy Orton qualified by defeating Solo Sikoa and Aleister Black in a triple threat main event on SmackDown. Tiffany Stratton qualified on the women’s side by beating Lash Legend and Chelsea Green. Next week brings more qualifiers, including a women’s triple threat with Giulia, Alexa Bliss, and Zelina, plus the massive Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu vs. Sami Zayn triple threat.

The WrestleMania 42 card will largely be determined by what happens in the Chamber. All signs point to Cody winning and facing Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship, but the creative team has an opportunity to add Jacob Fatu to that equation and make it significantly more interesting. A triple threat is tolerable. Cody vs Drew one-on-one again is not.

WrestleMania 42 Card — What We Know and What We’re Guessing

Reality Check: WWE’s Depth Problem Is Showing

The Reality: The biggest indicator that WWE has a card depth problem is this: two months out from the biggest show of the year, and the only conversation is about which match could possibly close night one — not which of several great matches deserves the spot. Usually, the debate is about having too many worthy main events. This year, outside of Roman and Punk, they’re struggling to find one. The women’s tag division is the strongest it’s ever been, but asking it to headline WrestleMania is a huge ask. Cody vs Drew is recycled. And the mid-card matches — El Gran Americano vs El Gran Americano, Nattie vs Maxxine Dupri — aren’t moving the needle. WWE needs the Elimination Chamber to create urgency, because right now, night one feels like it’s being built on hope rather than certainty.

WrestleMania 42 Card Frequently Asked Questions