WrestleMania 41

Background

WrestleMania is WWE's flagship pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, having first been held in 1985. It was the company's first PPV produced and was also WWE's first major event available via livestreaming when the company launched the WWE Network in February 2014. It is the longest-running event in WWE history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April, featuring wrestlers from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.^[1] Along with Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, it is one of the company's five biggest events of the year, referred to as the "Big Five".^[2]^[3]^[4] WrestleMania was ranked the sixth-most valuable sports brand in the world by Forbes,^[5] and has been described as the Super Bowl of sports entertainment.^[6] Similar to the Super Bowl, cities bid to host WrestleMania.^[7]

On May 4, 2024, during NBC's pre-race coverage for the 150th Kentucky Derby, it was announced that Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas district of Paradise, Nevada would host WrestleMania 41 on Saturday, April 19, and Sunday, April 20, 2025, marking the first WrestleMania to be held during Easter weekend. This will subsequently be the second WWE event to be held at the venue after SummerSlam in 2021.^[8] This will also be the second WrestleMania held in the Las Vegas area, after WrestleMania IX in 1993, which was held at Caesars Palace, with the event in turn marketed as "WrestleMania Vegas".^[9] Two-day combo tickets went on sale on October 25, 2024,^[10] while single day tickets went on sale from January 24, 2025.^[11] One of the official theme songs for the event is "Timeless" by The Weeknd and Playboi Carti, marking a record sixth consecutive year that a Weeknd track has served as a theme song for a WrestleMania.^[12] "Fein" by Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti is also an official theme song.^[13]

Minneapolis, Minnesota was also a finalist to host the event at U.S. Bank Stadium. Its proponents said they had been informed that the decision to place the event in the Las Vegas area was driven by a "change in direction by new ownership", following the 2023 merger of WWE and Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as TKO Group Holdings, controlled by UFC's previous sole owner Endeavor.^[14] U.S. Bank Stadium would in turn get SummerSlam for 2026.^[15]

Broadcast outlets

In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view worldwide, WrestleMania 41 will be available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that have not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marks the first WrestleMania to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas. The select few territories that still have the standalone WWE Network will eventually merge under Netflix once the pre-existing contracts expire.^[16]

Other WrestleMania week events

As part of the WrestleMania festivities, WWE will hold a number of events throughout the week. The week will kick off with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Monday Night Raw, held at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. On April 17, Netflix will present WaleMania X from the Brooklyn Bowl.^[17] The night before WrestleMania 41 on April 18, WWE will kick off WrestleMania Weekend with a special "WrestleMania Edition" of Friday Night SmackDown, which will host the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.^[18] Immediately afterwards, the 2025 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony will commence. During the afternoon of WrestleMania Saturday, WWE's NXT brand will hold its annual WrestleMania Weekend event, Stand & Deliver. After WrestleMania Saturday's conclusion, WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker will host his 1deadMAN show. After WrestleMania Sunday's conclusion, there will be a comedy event, "The Roast of WrestleMania Featuring Tony Hinchcliffe & Friends". On April 21 will be the Raw after WrestleMania, with all WrestleMania week events concluding with NXT on April 22. SmackDown, Stand & Deliver, and Raw will be held live at the nearby T-Mobile Arena,^[18] while the Hall of Fame ceremony, 1deadMAN Show, Roast of WrestleMania, and NXT will be held live at the nearby Fontainebleau Las Vegas in the BleauLive Theater.^[19]^[20]^[21]

In partnership with Fanatics Events, WWE will also host the second annual WWE World at WrestleMania, a five-day fan convention, which will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The event will begin on Thursday, April 17 and run through Monday, April 21. It will include interview panel sessions with WWE wrestlers, live podcast recordings, meet-and-greets with wrestlers, and a large merchandise store with various memorabilia honoring WrestleMania's 41-year history.^[22] WWE World will also host the Slammy Awards which will be held during the afternoon of April 20.^[23] Also, throughout April, WWE partnered with Clash of Clans with various superstars featured in the game, and included an "enhanced match sponsorship" at WrestleMania 41.^[24] On Friday, April 18 and Monday, April 21, WWE commentator Pat McAfee will host his eponymous ESPN afternoon talk show live from WWE World.^[25]

Storylines

The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,^[26]^[27] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.^[28]

Main event matches

In his final WrestleMania match, John Cena is set to face Cody Rhodes for SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship in an attempt to become a record 17-time WWE world champion.^[a]

At Money in the Bank in 2024, John Cena revealed that he would retire from professional wrestling at the end of 2025, and also announced that he would compete at WrestleMania 41.^[29] After losing the men's Royal Rumble match at the eponymous event,^[30] Cena entered himself into the men's Elimination Chamber match for one last chance to challenge for a world championship at WrestleMania 41, citing that main-eventing his last WrestleMania and becoming a record 17-time WWE world champion would be "best for business".^[31] Also around this time, TKO board member Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tried to bribe SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes to be his corporate champion, claiming that they had become friends following their clash at the prior year's WrestleMania XL and that he could elevate Rhodes's career.^[32] At Elimination Chamber: Toronto, Cena won the eponymous match, earning a title match against Rhodes at WrestleMania. Following the match, Rhodes appeared to congratulate Cena followed by The Rock to get Rhodes's answer to his offer. Rhodes declined and Cena embraced Rhodes; however, Cena then viciously attacked Rhodes, siding with Rock, turning heel for the first time since 2003.^[33] In the weeks following, Cena berated the audience, claiming they had mistreated him for the last 20+ years, and that he turned on Rhodes because he was disgusted by him. Rhodes chastised Cena and told him he wanted to face the real Cena at WrestleMania 41, not this "whiny" version.^[34]^[35] Cena also claimed that that after he won the title, he would retire with it.^[36]

CM Punk is set to face Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match in his first WrestleMania main event. This will be Reigns's record 10th WrestleMania main event and Rollins's third.^[b]

Upon CM Punk's return to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames in November 2023,^[37] he immediately became a target of Seth Rollins. Unable to compete for several months after tearing his tricep at the 2024 Royal Rumble,^[38] Punk returned from injury and had various encounters with Rollins, further enraging him. In November, Punk joined Roman Reigns's team as its fifth member at that year's Survivor Series: WarGames in the WarGames match on behalf of his former manager and Reigns's special counsel, Paul Heyman, with Heyman owing Punk a favor for agreeing to the match, which they won.^[39] Punk became the target of Rollins once again due to Rollins's hatred of both Reigns and Punk. This culminated in a match on Raw's Netflix premiere, in which Punk defeated Rollins.^[40] At the 2025 Royal Rumble, Punk eliminated both Reigns and Rollins before his own elimination. The three brawled at ringside where Rollins performed a two-footed stomp on Reigns, ruling him unable to compete for the next few weeks.^[30] Punk also eliminated Rollins from the men's Elimination Chamber match. Following his elimination, Rollins subsequently performed a Stomp on Punk, costing him the match.^[33] On the following episode of Raw, Punk spoke about his failure to compete in a WrestleMania main event before brawling with Rollins.^[41] They then faced each other the following week in a Steel Cage match, which Rollins won after a returning Reigns pulled him out of the cage to attack him as revenge from the Royal Rumble. Then, enraged by Heyman tending to Punk in the ring, Reigns also attacked Punk.^[42] After a brawl between the three men on the March 21 episode of SmackDown,^[43] a triple threat match was scheduled for WrestleMania 41.^[44] During the contract signing the following week, Heyman announced that the match would main event WrestleMania.^[45]^[46] While grateful for finally competing in the main event of a WrestleMania, Punk stated that it was not the favor he was owed from Heyman.^[45] On the April 4 episode of SmackDown, Punk revealed his favor which was that Heyman would be in his corner at WrestleMania, much to Reigns's dismay.^[47]

Undercard matches

At Saturday Night's Main Event XXXVIII, Gunther defeated Jey Uso to retain Raw's World Heavyweight Championship.^[48] Uso then won the men's Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble the following week, earning a world championship match of his choice at WrestleMania 41.^[30] While not making an official decision, Uso confronted Gunther on the following Raw where Gunther stated that Uso should choose SmackDown's world champion because he had already defeated Uso and instead deserved to defend the title against someone like John Cena.^[49] After making an appearance on that week's SmackDown,^[50] Uso opened the February 10 episode of Raw where he was attacked by Gunther. Uso subsequently decided that he would challenge Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41.^[51]

At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's Charlotte Flair won the women's Royal Rumble match, earning a world championship match of her choice at WrestleMania 41.^[30] Flair subsequently appeared on the following episodes of Raw, NXT, and SmackDown to confront each brand's respective champions before finally choosing to challenge Tiffany Stratton for SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania 41.^[52]

Throughout February, qualifying matches were held to determine the participants for the women's Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber: Toronto with the winner earning a match for Raw's Women's World Championship at WrestleMania 41. During Iyo Sky's qualifying match, reigning Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley attacked Sky's opponent, unintentionally causing a disqualification loss for Sky. Due to this, Ripley rewarded Sky with a title match, which was scheduled for after Elimination Chamber on the March 3 episode of Raw.^[49] At Elimination Chamber, SmackDown's Bianca Belair won the eponymous match,^[33] while Sky subsequently defeated Ripley on Raw to win the title, confirming that Sky would defend the Women's World Championship against Belair at WrestleMania.^[41] During the contract signing on the March 17 episode, however, Ripley interrupted and performed a powerbomb on Sky onto Belair, after which, Ripley instead signed the contract.^[34] Sky was then scheduled to face Ripley on the March 31 episode in a title rematch with Belair as the referee,^[36] which ended in a double disqualification, thus Sky retained.^[35] Raw General Manager Adam Pearce subsequently decided that Sky would defend her championship against both Belair and Ripley in a triple threat match at WrestleMania 41.^[53]

At the Royal Rumble, SmackDown's AJ Styles made a surprise return from injury and competed in the Royal Rumble match only to be eliminated by Raw's Logan Paul.^[30] As part of WWE's transfer window, Styles was transferred to the Raw brand.^[54] After several weeks of confrontations, Styles challenged Paul to a match on the March 31 episode of Raw, however, Paul declined, stating that he did not "fight for free" and pointed to the WrestleMania sign, after which, a brawl ensued between the two men. Later that night, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce scheduled a match between Paul and Styles for WrestleMania 41.^[35]

After LA Knight regained the United States Championship on the March 7 episode of SmackDown,^[55] several wrestlers stated their intentions to challenge Knight for the title, including The Bloodline's Jacob Fatu.^[56] On the March 21 episode, Braun Strowman, who had been embroiled in a rivalry with The Bloodline (Fatu, Solo Sikoa, and Tama Tonga) for the past few months, defeated Fatu via disqualification after Sikoa and Tama attacked Strowman, who as a result earned a title match against Knight that was scheduled for the following week,^[43] which ended in a no contest after Fatu attacked both Knight and Strowman.^[45] On the April 4 episode, Fatu defeated Strowman in a Last Man Standing match, earning a United States Championship match against Knight at WrestleMania 41.^[57]

On the February 10 episode of Raw, Bayley defeated Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria in a non-title match to qualify for the Elimination Chamber match at the namesake event.^[51] Two weeks later, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.^[58] At Elimination Chamber: Toronto, Morgan also competed and eliminated Bayley, although failed to win the match herself.^[33] On the March 10 episode of Raw, Rodriguez defeated Bayley to earn a future title match against Valkyria,^[42] but despite losing, Valkyria promised to give Bayley a future title match.^[59] On the March 24 episode, Valkyria defeated Rodriguez to retain the title despite interference from Morgan. After the match, both Rodriguez and Morgan attacked Valkyria, who was saved by Bayley.^[36] On the April 7 episode of Raw, Valkyria successfully defended the title against Bayley,^[53] and on that week's SmackDown, Bayley and Valkyria won a women's tag team gauntlet match to earn a title match against Morgan and Rodriguez at WrestleMania 41.^[60]

On the November 22, 2024, episode of SmackDown, Jade Cargill was found attacked by an unknown assailant in the parking lot and was ruled unable to compete for the foreseeable future.^[61] During Cargill's absence, Naomi volunteered to replace Cargill as one-half of the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions alongside Bianca Belair. Naomi and Belair also launched their own investigation into the attack on Cargill. They came to the assumption that Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez attacked Cargill and agreed to defend the championship against them on the February 24, 2025, episode of Raw, where they lost the title.^[58] Belair and Naomi then qualified for the women's Elimination Chamber match at the namesake event. However, before the match began, Cargill made her return and viciously attacked Naomi, who was deemed medically unable to compete in the match.^[33] On the following episode of SmackDown, Naomi revealed the truth that she was in fact Cargill's attacker and regretted not doing it sooner, thus turning heel for the first time since 2016. Belair subsequently walked out on Naomi, ending their partnership.^[55] In the following weeks, Cargill and Naomi continuously attacked each other leading to SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis scheduling a match between them at WrestleMania 41.^[57]

On the February 17 episode of Raw, after Judgment Day member Dominik Mysterio's match, Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker accidentally attacked Mysterio, which led to a non-title match between Mysterio and Breakker on the next episode.^[62] That match ended in disqualification after Mysterio's fellow stablemates Carlito and Finn Bálor attacked Breakker.^[58] On the next episode, The Judgment Day attacked Breakker, but he was able to get the upper hand.^[41] On the March 17 episode, Mysterio discussed adding Penta to their ranks, much to the irritation of Bálor. Later that night, Breakker defeated Bálor to retain the Intercontinental Championship. After the match, Mysterio and Carlito attacked Breakker before Penta appeared to even the odds. Breakker and Penta subsequently stared each other down.^[34] The following week, Mysterio formally offered Penta a spot in The Judgment Day. Later that night, Breakker defended the title against Penta, which Breakker won via disqualification after Mysterio and Carlito attacked him. After the match, Mysterio tried to have Penta attack Breakker with a chair, but instead, Penta attacked Mysterio.^[36] Breakker and Penta then faced Bálor and Mysterio in a tag team match the next week, which they won after Breakker accidentally speared Penta.^[35] On April 7, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce scheduled Breakker to defend the title against Bálor, Mysterio, and Penta in a fatal four-way match at WrestleMania 41.^[63]

Throughout late 2024 and early 2025, Chad Gable went on a losing streak against several luchadors. Gable subsequently took a sabbatical (kayfabe) from WWE to solve his "lucha libre problems". On the March 10 episode of Raw, an unidentified luchador with an American-style mask resembling Gable's faction, American Made, cost the Latino World Order (LWO) (Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee) a tag team match. Gable denied that he was the luchador in question.^[42] The masked wrestler, named El Grande Americano, then defeated Lee in his "debut" match on the March 24 episode.^[36] Two weeks later, Americano and American Made members The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) defeated the LWO (Lee, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro) in a six-man tag team match after Ivy Nile put a piece of metal in Americano's mask to use against Lee. Later that night, Mysterio said that Americano made a mockery of the art and tradition of lucha libre and requested a match against him, which Raw General Manager Adam Pearce accepted, allowing Mysterio to choose the place, and he chose WrestleMania 41.^[53]

Immediately after Drew McIntyre won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL, he taunted his then-rival, CM Punk, who served as a special guest commentator for the match. Punk subsequently attacked McIntyre with his arm brace, allowing Damian Priest to successfully cash in his Money in the Bank contract on McIntyre and win the title, ending McIntyre's reign at just 5 minutes and 46 seconds.^[64] Over the next few months, Priest and McIntyre continued their feud, with Priest defeating McIntyre at Clash at the Castle: Scotland to retain the title.^[65] At Money in the Bank, McIntyre won the namesake match, and later that night, unsuccessfully cashed in on Priest,^[66] who would later lose the title to Gunther at SummerSlam.^[67] In January 2025, as part of WWE's transfer window, both McIntyre and Priest were transfered to the SmackDown brand.^[54] Both men competed in the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches at the respective events where Priest eliminated McIntyre in both.^[30]^[33] After the latter, McIntyre attacked Priest in retaliation, costing Priest the match.^[33] After several more weeks of altercations between the two men, on April 10, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis made a match between Priest and McIntyre official for WrestleMania 41.^[68] The next night on SmackDown, it was announced that the match would be a Sin City Street Fight.^[60]

After removing Big E from The New Day on the December 2, 2024, episode of Raw,^[69] Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods set their sights on the World Tag Team Championship, held by The War Raiders (Erik and Ivar). During a title match between the two teams on the April 7, 2025, episode, Woods attempted to hit Erik with a steel chair; however, the referee saw Erik inadvertently hit Woods with the chair instead, thus The New Day won via disqualification, but since championships do not change hands via disqualification or countout unless stipulated, The War Raiders remained champions. After the match, The New Day attacked The War Raiders only to be stopped by WWE officials.^[53] On April 11, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce announced that The War Raiders would defend the World Tag Team Championship against The New Day in a rematch at WrestleMania 41.^[70]

Canceled match

At Bad Blood on October 5, 2024, fans captured footage of Kevin Owens attacking Cody Rhodes as the latter was entering his bus after the event went off the air.^[71] In the following weeks, Owens and Rhodes's mutual friend, Randy Orton, attempted to maintain peace, only for Owens to attack Orton in the parking lot, believing Orton chose Rhodes over him. At Crown Jewel on November 2, Orton and Owens were scheduled for a match; however, both engaged in a brawl throughout the arena with Owens getting the upper hand, thus the match never officially began.^[72] On the following SmackDown, another brawl took place where Owens performed a piledriver on Orton, taking him out for the next few months.^[73] At Elimination Chamber: Toronto, Orton returned and attacked Owens after the latter won an unsanctioned match.^[33] On the following SmackDown, Orton spoke about the issues he had with Owens and vowed to get revenge,^[55] leading to Orton challenging Owens to a match at WrestleMania 41, which was made official.^[43] However, during the April 4 episode of SmackDown, Owens declared himself unable to compete due to legitimately requiring neck surgery, thus canceling the match. After the announcement, Orton came out to the ring, only to perform an RKO on SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis.^[74] On the April 11 episode, Orton made it clear that he wanted to face Aldis at WrestleMania 41.^[60]

Production

Background

Broadcast outlets

Other WrestleMania week events

Storylines

Main event matches

Undercard matches

Canceled match

Matches

Notes

References

External links

Wikiwand - on