Greg WyshynskiApr 18, 2025, 07:58 AM ET
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- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL creator.
As a provider to fanatics who’ve a common pastime in WWE however may now not know the way John Cena in spite of everything broke unhealthy, we are satisfied to supply this FAQ as a information to WrestleMania 41, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
John Cena is in the principle tournament, shopping to damage Ric Aptitude’s all-time checklist with a seventeenth global championship. Cena stated this will probably be his final WrestleMania as an in-ring competitor. Fanatics’ throats should be uncooked from cheering him so passionately at the highway to WrestleMania!
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John Cena turns heel in surprising second at Removing Chamber
John Cena turns heel and assaults Cody Rhodes after profitable Removing Chamber with the assistance of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In truth, they hate him now.
Smartly, numerous them have all the time hated him, no less than in keeping with the chants all through his front theme. However now the remainder of the fanatics hate him, too, as a result of he stated “every one among you has been terrible to me” for the previous 25 years.
John Cena. ‘The Face That Runs the Position’ is now … a heel?
For the extraordinarily lapsed amongst us, let’s run it again.
Cena helped his pal Cody Rhodes “end the tale” at WrestleMania 40 via sprinting into the hoop to take out Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Then in July, Cena introduced he would retire from WWE festival on the finish of 2025, that means WrestleMania 41 could be his ultimate Mania. It additionally intended that the 2025 Royal Rumble could be his ultimate Rumble. Cena made the overall two within the Rumble most effective to have Jey Uso knock him off the apron.
It was once in his postmatch information convention that issues began to get just a little darkish for Cena. He mentioned dedicating his occupation to doing “what is very best for trade,” and had determined that showing in the principle tournament at WrestleMania was once in truth “very best for trade.” Long past was once the man prepared to combat anyplace at the card for the good thing about the display, changed via determined entitlement.
In the meantime, issues have been getting bizarre between Rhodes and The Rock, who had returned as soon as once more as “The Ultimate Boss.” He stated he did not need Rhodes’ championship — he sought after Rhodes’ “soul” — which was once very Undertaker of him.
What does The Rock imply via in need of Rhodes’ ‘soul’ precisely?
Cody Rhodes became down The Rock’s be offering for his “soul.” Joe Camporeale/Imagn Pictures
No person is aware of.
Flash ahead to Removing Chamber, the place Cena has some other likelihood on the WrestleMania major tournament. It was once Cena vs CM Punk as the overall two, with Punk searching for his first Mania major tournament. Seth Rollins, who have been eradicated previous via Punk, returned to ship a stomp on him. Cena took good thing about the interference, slapped at the STF and screamed “I am sorry” as he choked Punk out for the win.
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The last phase of Removing Chamber noticed Rhodes confront The Rock about that complete “give me your soul” trade. Cody memorably declined at hand over his soul via telling The Ultimate Boss to “pass f— your self.” (The Angle Generation by no means died, it was once simply resting!)
Cena was once within the ring for all of this and bounced over to present Rhodes a celebratory hug … sooner than obtrusive over Rhodes’ shoulder at The Rock, who gave Cena an exaggerated throat slash gesture. Cena promptly delivered a punt to Rhodes that might have made Pat McAfee proud, and a protracted beatdown of the champ started — person who incorporated The Rock’s sidekick, rapper Travis Scott (!), turning in a punch so stiff it gave Rhodes a black eye.
So did The Rock and Cena plan this? Used to be he all the time the following choice if Cody wasn’t down with the entire soul giving factor?
No person is aware of.
Let’s be truthful: This epic heel flip may have made extra sense if Cena learned that during dropping the Rumble and wanting assist to win the Removing Chamber, it was once past his skills to defeat Rhodes at WrestleMania. So in his maximum determined, craven, “what is excellent for the trade is me in the principle tournament” egomania, he became on a pal and offered his soul to a former rival, who will be offering him the ability that incorporates being a TKO board member to make sure Cena wins the championship in Vegas.
Except for that isn’t the place the tale went. For higher or worse.
On March 17 at Uncooked in Brussels, Cena uncorked an all-timer of a promo, blasting the fanatics for what he known as “an abusive courting” for many of his occupation. “All you ever do is thieve from me. You thieve my non-public moments. You thieve my time. You may have made me your freaking toy. I am an object to you,” he stated. “You may have made me the butt of a silly, invisible comic story for 15 years, and you continue to suppose it is humorous. It is not humorous. It is pathetic.”
John Cena. The “hustle, loyalty and recognize” man. The arena checklist holder for “Make-a-Needs” granted. Principally telling the WWE Universe that he resents them and was once carried out with them eternally.
Once more, there is an interpretation of this Cena flip that renders it totally ludicrous. What is with the soul stuff and why was once it by no means discussed once more? Why align with The Rock? Or Travis Scott? Why disparage and annihilate the similar fanatics Cena credited and embraced in July all through his retirement announcement? Would not all of this have made extra sense a couple of years in the past when Cena had exact “pass away” warmth as a substitute of forcing this flip at the fanatics at a time when the vast majority of them enthusiastically sought after him to win a record-breaking name?
However there is not any arguing that Cena’s heel flip with The Rock was once transcendent and probably the greatest moments of marvel villainy in wrestling historical past. There is no arguing that the promo Cena lower on his fanatics gave him supernova heel warmth. In any case, Cena was once proper: Being in the principle tournament of WrestleMania, because the loathsome baddie in opposition to loved Cody Rhodes, is what is “very best for trade.”
Additionally excellent for trade: Rumble winner Jey Uso deciding to not chase Rhodes’ name and opting for Gunther as a substitute. Which made sense from a storyline viewpoint, if now not essentially from a non-public protection viewpoint.
May not Gunther take Jey Uso, chop him up and eat him like such a lot Austrian goulash?
Hello, Jey Uso virtually took out Gunther at Saturday Night time’s Primary Match again in January! Granted, after two spears, a superkick and an Uso splash from the highest rope, Gunther nonetheless put Jey away with two powerbombs, however the large guy broke a sweat and extra importantly, the gang totally purchased the opportunity of the Uce-pset.
However then, what is not the gang purchasing from Jey in this day and age? They are purchasing a metric ton of “YEET” merch bearing Jey’s catchphrase, whilst chanting “YEET” when he enters the world and operating “YEET” again when he hits a large transfer in a fit. The WWE it appears discovered from the “YES motion” that once the fanatics lean this difficult into a personality, it is time to trip that wave till it crests.
To that finish, it is no marvel he received the Rumble.
The impetus for this feud was once if truth be told Gunther referencing Jey’s fan toughen, calling him “the corporate mascot” and fortifying the large guy’s recognition because the WWE’s maximum underrated insult comedian.
However we now have noticed a fan favourite underdog seeking to win his first heavyweight championship in opposition to a sentient mountain such a lot of occasions sooner than. So that they determined to throw a bucket of his brother’s blood at the storyline to switch the formulation.
On Uncooked this month, Gunther zip-tied Jey to the ropes and bludgeoned Jimmy Uso with the championship name, busting him open. Gunther in the end unfold Jimmy’s plasma on his torso like a macabre spa remedy.
So it is not an underdog tale — it is actually a blood feud as Jey seeks revenge “for his circle of relatives” with the gang passionately at the back of him, making this factor a heck of much more compelling than when Jey first challenged him.
Even if most likely now not as compelling as some other fit Saturday night time: What can affectionately be known as “The Paul Heyman Bowl that includes CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.”
CM Punk in spite of everything will get his WrestleMania major tournament and it is a triple danger fit?
CM Punk is in spite of everything getting his alternative in a prime tournament at WrestleMania. Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports activities
Consistent with Seth Rollins, it is an important triple danger fit “within the historical past of his business,” so there is that.
He is framing this factor as seeking to save wrestling from Punk (who runs clear of the WWE when issues do not pass his approach) and Reigns (the feared “too well-known to combat full-time” affront). However this three-way feud boils down to 2 issues: non-public historical past and Paul Heyman.
Punk and Rollins have had red meat since Punk returned to the WWE, together with an eradicated Rollins returning to screw Punk out of an Removing Chamber win. Rollins and Reigns have a sophisticated historical past courting to their days in The Protect. Punk teamed with Reigns at Survivor Collection WarGames however issues were given just a little messy on the Royal Rumble, when Punk eradicated each Rollins and Reigns concurrently sooner than being eradicated himself. However the actual rigidity between Punk and Reigns is over Heyman, the “Sensible Guy” guide to Reigns in his glory years and any person whose courting with Punk tracks to their days in ECW in combination. Reigns is the Authentic Tribal Leader. Punk may well be the Authentic Paul Heyman Man.
For showing in WarGames, Heyman owed Punk a prefer. That prefer? Being in Punk’s nook at WrestleMania slightly than Reigns,’ which the Tribal Leader felt was once a betrayal as a result of he is necessarily paying the tab for Heyman’s prefer to Punk. However the favors do not finish there! Rollins additionally believed that Heyman now owes him a prefer for opting to not stomp him on two separate events. Which is not how favors paintings however could be very a lot how extortion does.
Paul Heyman is the sort of figuring out issue on this fit that it virtually seems like a waste to simply have him in Punk’s nook. Paul Heyman on a Pole fit! Paul Heyman in a Shark Cage Above The Ring fit! C’mon, give us one thing!
But even so Heyman’s loyalties, Punk’s likelihood for a WrestleMania major tournament win is the headline right here, in a triple danger fit with some actual animosity. However their enmity does not grasp a candle to that between Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Aptitude, which has gotten very, very non-public.
How nasty is the Stratton vs. Aptitude feud?
Charlotte Aptitude returned to the WWE in February after a 12 months away because of a knee harm. Joe Camporeale/Imagn Pictures
Oh, fairly nasty.
Aptitude, 14-time champion, received the ladies’s Royal Rumble after a 12 months away because of harm and determined to problem Stratton for the strap. This gave the impression of a slightly predictable fit heading into Mania: Charlotte Aptitude, a belt at the line and a 25-year-old champ who became face after Aptitude attacked her and would not be derailed with a loss.
After which they began speaking.
On SmackDown, Stratton and Aptitude stood within the ring for a promo. Stratton stated Aptitude won’t ever are living as much as her father Ric’s legacy. The group in Chicago booed Aptitude closely all through her retort about Stratton having “a squeaky voice.”
Stratton determined to head for the jugular: She in comparison Aptitude’s WrestleMania checklist to her checklist in marriages (0-3, along with her marriage to Andrade having simply ended) and stated she’ll be “by myself” outside and inside the hoop after WrestleMania. The phase was once already a teach damage when Aptitude attempted to land one final low blow via asking if “that is why Kaiser’s in my DMs,” a connection with Stratton’s courting with WWE celebrity Ludwig Kaiser.
This off-script phase created a number of information cycles within the professional wrestling “filth sheets,” to the purpose the place the WWE needed to cope with it on-air with announcer Joe Tessitore admitting strains have been crossed and that Aptitude and Stratton have been going through “disciplinary movements,” no matter that suggests.
It wasn’t beautiful, and it was once cringingly non-public, however the Aptitude vs. Stratton fit turned into exponentially extra attention-grabbing on account of it.
What concerning the different ladies’s championships?
Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley are in a triple danger fit for the ladies’s global name. Belair received the Removing Chamber fit to arrange a WrestleMania name battle with Ripley … till Ripley dropped the belt to Sky on Uncooked. On the contract signing for Belair and Sky, Ripley attacked either one of them and signed her title to the record. (They must in reality forestall protecting those in the course of the hoop. Discover a notary public or one thing.)
Anyway, that isn’t how contracts paintings, and Uncooked GM Adam Pearce refused to let Ripley into the fit. However as our exploration of contract legislation persisted, the WWE introduced that Ripley’s “rematch clause” in her contract would arrange a bout between her and Sky with Belair because the referee. She dominated it a no contest. Pearce then determined to make the WrestleMania fit a three-way dance anyway. It is the vacation spot, now not the adventure, on this case. It must be a banger.
The WWE ladies’s tag titles are at the line as Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, now contributors of Judgement Day, tackle Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, the latter of whom holds the ladies’s Intercontinental championship. That may well be an important a part of this matchup: Bayley, a former heel, has mentioned now not having received the IC name, which was once unveiled in overdue 2024. Valkyria has additionally mentioned rising up a Bayley fan and loves being her tag spouse. Uh-oh.
The opposite ladies’s fit at WrestleMania is Saturday’s showdown between Jade Cargill and Naomi, who made a tearful confession to Belair that she was once the thriller parking space assailant who put Jade out of motion for a number of months. Even if Cargill kind of figured that out already, which is why she beat the stuffing out of Naomi at Removing Chamber. That is one among two fits at Mania arrange via parking space fights. However most effective the only between Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre has been classified a “Sin Town Boulevard Battle.”
What’s a Sin Town Boulevard Battle?
Do they hit every different with massive frozen drinks from Fats Tuesday? Do they forestall the fit to take selfies with showgirls in entrance of the Bellagio fountains? The one factor we all know is that Drew McIntyre wanted one thing to do now that his mortal enemy, CM Punk, moved directly to different issues and Damian Priest choke-slammed him during the windshield of a automotive already, which units the desk for extra cutting edge violence.
What is up with the remainder of The Judgement Day?
Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio are in a deadly four-way for the Intercontinental championship, lately held via Bron Breakker. The opposite competitor in that fit is Penta, a spooky-looking luchador with a catchphrase: “Cero Miedo,” translated as “0 Worry,” and one thing you’ll be able to most probably listen round 186 occasions all through the fit from the gang. Penta laws.
Grimy Dom attempted to recruit Penta to Judgement Day however was once rejected. He additionally had some creeping rigidity with Balor, which wasn’t helped via Dom botching his interference in Balor’s fit in opposition to Breakker for the name. Dom just lately stated that Finn is an unbelievable inspiration for him and is “the dad that stepped up” in his (kayfabe) lifestyles. And clearly Dominik Mysterio would by no means activate his personal father.
Talking of which, is Rey Mysterio competing at WrestleMania?
Sure, he is wrestling El Grande Americano.
He is wrestling a menu merchandise at El Starbucks?
No, El Grande Americano is a luchador who just lately debuted in WWE and is admittedly 100% now not Minneapolis-born Chad Gable beneath a masks having long past to extremes in his feud in opposition to the Latino Global Order.
What are the opposite name fits at Mania?
WrestleMania 41 will happen at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller/Getty Pictures
On Saturday, LA Knight defends the U.S. championship he received in opposition to Shinsuke Nakamura final month, taking up Jacob Fatu. This had an actual by-the-numbers construct: Fatu wins the appropriate to stand Knight, beats him down one thing vicious and poses with LA’s belt sooner than Mania. What will be extra over with the Vegas crowd: LA Knight’s “yeahhhhh!” or Fatu’s jump-up, top-rope moon-sault?
Additionally Saturday, the sector tag crew titles are at the line because the champions, The Battle Raiders, face The New Day, who became heel in December once they kicked the injured Large E out in their team all through an anniversary birthday party. That’ll do it. No offense to the present champs, however placing the belts on The New Day most definitely opens up extra storyline alternatives than preserving them at the Raiders.
They’ve warmth. Now not, like Logan Paul warmth, however warmth.
Oh, proper, Logan Paul. What is he as much as?
The IRL model of Johnny Cage from “Mortal Kombat” is wrestling The Exceptional AJ Kinds after Paul eradicated him within the Royal Rumble. There may be been trash communicate between the 2 — or as Logan Paul calls it, “communicate” — and the fit must be an athletic spotfest. The twist has been the involvement of Karrion Kross, doing but some other variation of “I’m going to battle you till the unhealthy you emerges, as a result of that is who you want to be on this fit!” factor.
Even if Kross’s declaration that the men within the again want Kinds to defeat Paul has attainable.
That is numerous fits. Does this stack up as a vintage WrestleMania?
Each and every two-day WrestleMania has 3 forms of fits: The ones made to fill out the cardboard and get extra paydays for WWE skill; the ones championship or grudge fits that won a minimum however enough construct; and the ones cleaning soap operatic feuds that call for your consideration. The good fortune or failure of a WrestleMania rests on how a lot the principle points of interest entertain and marvel you and what number of fits in that 2nd tier outkick their protection.
So, to that finish: Rhodes vs. Cena can not omit. The Punk-Rollins-Reigns triple danger would possibly not both. Jey Uso vs. Gunther and Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Aptitude are undeniably attractive. And the mid-card has sufficient fits that would upward push to the extent of display stealer.
To place it in Vegas phrases, there are sufficient promising bets at the desk that WrestleMania 41 may just hit the jackpot.
