The Only Recap You Need Before WrestleMania 41

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WrestleMania season is the most exciting time of the year, and the lead-up to WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, Nevada is certainly no different. WWE has put pieces for big championship matches in place since the Royal Rumble, where Jey Uso and a returning Charlotte Flair outlasted 29 other people, and the Elimination Chamber, where a soon-to-be-retired John Cena and Bianca Belair were victorious. Smaller matches were even set up in storylines during both big events to make sure both nights of WrestleMania will be full of action.

All major championships are set to be defended on "The Grandest Stage of Them All," including the Undisputed WWE Championship and the Women's World Championship. WWE has alluded to many other matches being added to the two-night card including those for mid-card championships and other grudge matches between stars. Fans are taking to social media to fantasy book more matches based on WrestleManias of the past, including wondering if there will be another multi-person ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship or another mid-card belt.

There have already been so many shocking, and even historic, moments ahead of "The Showcase of the Immortals" that it can be difficult to keep everything straight. We've put together a match-by-match recap of everything you need to know before WrestleMania 41 so you can be sure you're caught up ahead of the big event.

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Bianca Belair is known as "Mrs. WrestleMania" for her undefeated streak at the event, and this year, she's headed to Las Vegas to take on Women's World Champion IYO SKY, who recently defeated Rhea Ripley for the title, punching her own ticket to WrestleMania. There's a big chance, however, that this singles match will soon include Ripley and turn into a triple threat after a recent contract signing segment went awry on "WWE Raw."

Belair had an impressive showing in the Royal Rumble but came up short due to a multi-woman elimination by Nia Jax. She went on to the Elimination Chamber, where she defeated Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Roxanne Perez, and Liv Morgan. She became the first two-time women's Chamber winner and knew she would go on to challenge for the Women's World Championship, but didn't know who that would be. SKY had earned a title opportunity against Ripley the Monday after the Chamber premium live event.

SKY defeated Ripley in the main event of "Raw" with Belair at ringside. Ripley took offense to the Elimination Chamber winner's presence and got in her face, causing her to become distracted enough for SKY to take her out with an Over the Moonsault. Ripley was despondent in various social media posts and blamed Belair for her losing the gold.

On the March 10 edition of "Raw," SKY and Belair were set to sign the contract for their match at WrestleMania. The pair were interrupted by Ripley and things broke down, leading to a brawl between the three. Ripley took out SKY and Belair and power bombed them through the table. The former champion then took the pen and signed the contract herself. General Manager Adam Pearce was adamant that didn't officially add her to the match, but Ripley continued to insist.

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Charlotte Flair had been on the shelf for over a year with a serious knee injury where she tore her MCL, ACL, and meniscus when she made her triumphant (though announced ahead of time) return to WWE during the women's Royal Rumble match. Flair entered the match at number 27 to much fanfare. She battled it out with Nia Jax and Roxanne Perez in the final three and sent Perez crashing to the floor from the apron with a big boot for the victory and to become a record-setting two-time women's Rumble winner. Flair chose Stratton as her WrestleMania 41 opponent after confronting Ripley initially on "Raw" and even stopping by "WWE NXT" to check out the competition there. Flair and Stratton have been closely compared, between their looks and star power, ever since Stratton made it to the main roster from "NXT."

Tiffany Stratton cashed her in Money in the Bank contract on frenemy Jax back in January on an episode of "SmackDown" after weeks of the pair not seeing eye-to-eye, with Jax forever wary of Stratton's briefcase. Jax, alongside Candice LeRae, successfully defended the championship against Naomi, who had Bianca Belair in her corner. Jax beat down both women after the match and Stratton took out the rest of the field after she ran out and cashed in her contract. She hit a Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax to become champion.

Since Flair challenged Stratton at "The Showcase of the Immortals" the pair have brawled numerous times, with Flair usually standing tall over the younger star. However, Stratton got the upper hand on "The Queen" on the March 14 episode of "SmackDown." Backstage officials attempted to keep the pair apart but failed, and Stratton hit two moonsaults on Flair, including one from the top of the tron. 

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The first true shocking moment of 2025 in WWE belongs to "Main Event" Jey Uso. Uso entered the Royal Rumble at #20 and fought his way through to the finish, outlasting the likes of Finn Balor, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and most surprisingly, John Cena, the fan favorite to win the Rumble match. Uso wiggled out of an Attitude Adjustment from Cena and sent him crashing to the floor from the ring apron to end the match. Uso went back-and-forth in his decision to face either Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes or World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER, the latter of whom he had just lost to at Saturday Night's Main Event weeks before.

GUNTHER has been the World Heavyweight Champion since defeating Damian Priest at SummerSlam. By WrestleMania weekend, he will have held the title for over 250 days. The champion has not been thrilled by Uso's challenge, however, and has done everything from beat him down in surprise attacks after matches to mocking Uso's beloved ring entrance where he walks to the ring through a hyped up crowd.

The match is one that has been hotly debated by fans online as to where it should appear on the WrestleMania two-night card, as technically, the Royal Rumble winner is billed to get a main event title match at WrestleMania. With so many other hot feuds and big matches, both for championship gold and other hot grudge matches, those who love the "Yeet! Master" and those who aren't as convinced with his main event capabilities are in disagreement as to if the match fits the main event of either night. As of this writing, Uso is currently feuding with A-Town Down Under to seemingly give him something to do ahead of WrestleMania, which isn't giving the "Yeet!" lovers much to go off of.

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After Cody Rhodes fought his way through the Bloodline to "finish the story" at WrestleMania 40, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson attempted to throw a wrench in his plans for "The Showcase of the Immortals" once again. Back in 2024, The Rock attempted to take Rhodes' rightful spot as Royal Rumble winner to challenge Roman Reigns. This infamously led to an uncomfortable Rhodes promo where he said he wouldn't be challenging Reigns for the second year in a row at WrestleMania and brought out Rock to face off with his cousin in the middle of the ring.

After fan outcry both on social media and in person at WWE events, Rhodes took it all back at a WrestleMania press conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rhodes, with the help of Seth Rollins with him on stage, slapped Rock and the pair got into a scuffle. This led to a two-night Bloodline main event WrestleMania, with Rollins and Rhodes teaming up against The Rock and Reigns on night one to determine the stipulation for night two. Rock got the pin on Rhodes, which led to his match against Reigns the following night being a Bloodline Rules match. Despite the interference, Rhodes was still able to defeat Reigns for the championship.

The following night on "Raw," Rhodes and Rock had an interaction in the ring. Rock seemingly gave something to Rhodes and told him that Rhodes may be champion, but their story wasn't over. The Rock made an appearance at Bad Blood that year, simply appearing on stage to make a throat-slashing motion, but nothing came of it. Rock and Rhodes' next interaction would kick off 2025 when "Raw" debuted on Netflix, with Rock offering Rhodes an olive branch and praising the champion, who was sat ringside.

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The Undisputed WWE Championship story for WrestleMania really began when The Rock appeared next on "Raw" to announce the location of next year's event. He also called out Rhodes for some friendly banter, before ominously telling Rhodes he "wanted his soul" and wanted him to be "his champion." In his promo, Rock explained how he and Rhodes had become close over the last year and brought up his position on the TKO board of directors, leading fans to believe Rock wanted Rhodes to turn heel. He said he'd get Rhodes' answer at Elimination Chamber.

After losing the Royal Rumble, John Cena entered himself in the Chamber match and won after knocking out CM Punk with the STF. Rhodes came out to celebrate with "The Leader of the Cenation," but before they could do much in the ring, The Rock arrived alongside rapper Travis Scott. Rhodes told Rock to "go f*** himself" and said he'd never sell his soul. Cena gave him a big hug but stared directly at Rock, his former "Once in a Lifetime" nemesis.

Cena hit a low blow to Rhodes and beat him down with not only the championship, but Rhodes' father's Rolex he was gifted by WWE officials after winning at WrestleMania 40. Shocked fans had to wait a few weeks to hear from the newly heel Cena, who appeared in front of a crowd on WWE's European tour. He told fans he was breaking up with them because they had been so ungrateful toward him for the last 25 years. Rhodes said he wanted the "old" Cena at WrestleMania, but neither of them brought up The Rock's involvement. As of this writing, Rhodes and Cena are set to be under the same roof on "Raw" on Monday, so fans are likely to learn more.

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The long-awaited grudge match pitting Randy Orton against Kevin Owens was made official for WrestleMania on the March 21 episode of "SmackDown." The former friends have been feuding since Owens was upset at Orton for supporting Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes when Rhodes asked Roman Reigns to be his tag team partner at Bad Blood. Owens, who has longstanding issues with the Bloodline, didn't take too kindly to former friend Rhodes asking his mortal enemy for help. When Orton attempted to calm Owens down, the pair started to get physical. It was meant to culminate in a match at Crown Jewel, but the pair brawled all over the arena in Saudi Arabia and the match never got underway.

Owens crossed a line on the "SmackDown" following Crown Jewel and hit Orton with a banned move, the package piledriver, and sent him out of the arena on a stretcher. Orton was on the shelf for months before he made his surprise return at Elimination Chamber and beat down Owens following his brutal unsanctioned match against Sami Zayn.

The pair went face-to-face on "SmackDown" and Owens tried to clear the air with his former friend. He said they should forgive each other, because it was his dream to challenge for the tag team championships alongside Orton at WrestleMania. Orton shot him down and challenge Owens to their match on "The Grandest Stage of Them All."

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The match pitting Roman Reigns against Seth Rollins and CM Punk has a lot of moving pieces, as none of these men are the biggest fans of each other in storyline. Reigns and Rollins have hated each other since the breakup of the SHIELD when Rollins turned on his stablemates and smashed Reigns across the back with a chair. Rollins also infamously hates Punk and the world became aware of that when Punk made his shocking return at Survivor Series: WarGames in 2023. However, Things broke down between the three men at the Royal Rumble.

Punk eliminated both Rollins and Reigns from the Rumble before being eliminated himself almost immediately after. Rollins didn't take too kindly to the elimination by his nemesis alongside his other arch-enemy and beat both of them down. Rollins landed a stomp on Reigns on the floor then brawled with Punk as officials worked to separate them. Rollins hit another stomp to Reigns on the ring steps before the three were eventually kept apart and sent to the back.

Things between them only broke down further when Rollins and Punk attempted to settle their score in a steel cage match on "Raw." Reigns made a surprise return and pulled Rollins from the cage, technically giving "The Visionary" the victory, and beat him down with a pair of his own stomps to the floor. To end the show, Reigns' "Wise Man" Paul Heyman was seen comforting Punk in the ring following his loss. Reigns hit Punk with a spear to end the show. 

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It's almost easy to forget that Heyman is a big part of the match between the three men, as he has more to do with Reigns and Punk than Rollins. Back in November, Punk agreed to be on Reigns' team for WarGames to take on Solo Sikoa's Bloodline. Punk only agreed to help the "Original Tribal Chief" if he was owed a favor in return from Heyman. That mysterious favor remains on the table as of this writing.

Rollins, Reigns, and Punk were all under the same roof at "SmackDown" in Bologna, Italy on March 21. Their promo battle ended in a three-way brawl after Punk thanked Heyman for "delivering the Tribal Chief on a silver platter." Punk said at that moment, the favor could wait, and he went right after Reigns. Rollins joined in the brawl and the episode went off the air with the men being pulled apart by officials, but not before both Punk and Rollins could point at the WrestleMania sign. Following the confrontation, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque made the match official.

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While all of the major championship matches have been set for WrestleMania 41 thanks to the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, WWE has done a good job setting up other matches that aren't for the gold. One of the biggest grudge matches going into 'Mania weekend, though it has yet to be announced or made official, is Jade Cargill versus Naomi. Cargill was taken out backstage and laid out on top of a car back in November and that storyline didn't culminate until Elimination Chamber. When Cargill was taken out, she was still one-half of the Women's Tag Team Champions alongside Bianca Belair, so the third member of "The Big Three," Naomi, easily slid into her place as champ.

The mystery of who attacked Cargill went on for weeks until Belair and Naomi were shown footage placing Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez in the vicinity of the attack. However, when Cargill showed up at Elimination Chamber to seemingly take out Morgan who was in the ring instead of locked in a pod, Cargill went right for Naomi instead. It was revealed that Naomi was Cargill's attacker, and she explained herself in a promo to Belair and the fans. Naomi said she was tired of Cargill riding off of Belair's success, and when Belair turned her back on Naomi and left the ring after their emotional segment, Naomi called her an "ungrateful b****." 

That brought out Cargill, who nodded briefly at Belair and went on to beat down Naomi further. Belair may have IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley to worry about at WrestleMania, but it's highly likely that this grudge match pitting her two former friends against each other will be added to the WrestleMania card.

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In another match that could be added to WrestleMania, Drew McIntyre, and Damian Priest aren't fans of each other since Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against McIntyre just minutes after he won the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40. The pair would go on to face each other at Clash at the Castle, with McIntyre once again coming up short due to CM Punk's involvement. 

More recently, Priest was the one to eliminate McIntyre from the Royal Rumble and the Elimination Chamber, enraging the "Scottish Psychopath" even further. Ever since McIntyre has been taking shots at Priest both on social media and backstage, and it looks like they could be headed to clash once again at WrestleMania.

Logan Paul versus AJ Styles is another match fans could potentially see at 'Mania. The pair have been taking shots at each other on WWE programming for weeks, which culminated on "Raw" on March 10 in a segment involving comedian Andrew Schulz. Paul attempted to beat down Schulz after he said he was most excited to see Styles on "Raw," but "The Phenomenal One" raced down the ramp to make the save.

Mid-card championship matches for both the men and the women have yet to be set up for WrestleMania, as do all three tag team championships. LA Knight recently defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win back the United States Championship and on the WWE Tag Team title end of things, the Street Profits toppled #DIY to win the gold. Amid the drama with Bianca Belair, Naomi, and Jade Cargill, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were able to begin a record-setting third reign as Women's Tag Team Champions.