Backstage Report Details Tentative Match Order For WWE WrestleMania 40 Card

By Jon Jordan
The Rock points a finger at Cody Rhodes as Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins look on. WWE

With WrestleMania 40 now only a day away, a new report from the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" details what is believed to be the match order as of "last week." Of course, as Dave Meltzer was sure to point out, "the actual bouts each night are official, but the order could change." Meltzer also noted that "the plan was to do four long matches on Night 1," and those matches "have shots at being exceptional," and are "likely to be very different." The match order for Night 1 according to the report is:

  • Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women's World Championship

  • Six-Pack Ladder Match for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship, featuring: The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth), The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller), New Catch Republic (Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne), and DIY (Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano) challenging The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest)

  • Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio vs. Santos Escobar and Dominik Mysterio

  • Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso

  • Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, and Naomi vs. Damage CTRL (Asuka, Dakota Kai, and Kairi Sane)

  • Sami Zayn vs. GUNTHER for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

  • Cody Rhodes and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns and The Rock

The matches Meltzer cited as scheduled to be long were Lynch/Ripley, the ladder match, Zayn/GUNTHER, and the main event, noting that with "Bloodline Rules" on the line for Night 2's Reigns vs. Rhodes showdown, it would be likely to have a significant amount of interference.

Twists and turns expected on Night 2

Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes are set to run it back for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. WWE

As for Night 2, the report has it planned around the two big world title matches, and Meltzer points out that with main events scheduled for both nights, Reigns is set to bring his career total to nine WrestleMania main events, which will become one more than Hulk Hogan's record of eight. The reported match order for Night 2 is as follows:

  • Drew McIntyre vs. Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

  • The Pride (Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits) vs. The Final Testament (The Authors of Pain and Karrion Kross) in a Philadelphia Street Fight

  • LA Knight vs. AJ Styles

  • Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens vs. Logan Paul for the WWE United States Championship

  • Bayley vs. IYO SKY for the WWE Women's Championship

  • Rhodes vs. Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship

The main event, capping off WrestleMania weekend, should come with "a lot of booking twists and turns," according to Meltzer, with either Reigns or Rhodes vs. Rock set up in the aftermath. "So much depends on Rock's schedule," however, he wrote, opining that Rhodes vs. Rock is the bigger match and Rock always has an eye on maximizing business. Still, Meltzer said, "Rock vs. Reigns is also a gigantic match and the one that was talked about even before the pandemic." Again, in wrestling, just about everything is subject to change, but per Meltzer, this is the order to expect for what is primed to be a weekend fans will remember for years to come.

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