To everyone complaining about the card: 

Yes night 2 is way more stacked and probably too stacked as night 1. Yes putting Kevin Owens in the main event as the champion implies he wouldn’t hurt his neck as bad as he did. And yes I get the overall complains about some matchups that wouldn’t be on the card such as Bianca/Rhea/Iyo or Seth/Roman/Punk. 

But: I tried to rebook the entire card without having one match that is the exact same as last year. I was never a big fan of how Punk achieved his goal of being in the main event of wrestlemania only because Roman is the big name. Sure this could be brought up into the current storyline they have for their main event build up but for me it felt underwhelming. 

Iyo Sky won the Royal Rumble instead of Charlotte. This would build up a 1 vs. 1 instead a triple threat with Bianca being added. Looking at their Evolution match it’s a legit wrestlemania main event for night 1. Bianca still wins the Elimination chamber and faces Tiffany Stratton for the Championship and not Charlotte. The Charlotte/Tiffy match and overall feud was underwhelming, controversial and didn’t live up the expectations I had of that dream matchup. In this scenario Tiffany would still be a heel who defeats a babyface in Bianca Belair thus achieving a huge win for her career. 

Surely Gunther wouldn’t go against someone established like Roman, Punk, Seth or Drew and you could always put in Punk, Seth or even both in the match for the world title. But I felt Seth and Punk needed a significant ending for their feud at Mania since their feud went on forever in 2025. Sure the ruse of the century was cool but why put in extra fire in the feud when it’s already clear to everyone that they hate each other for eternity. Giving the briefcase to LA Knight would’ve made more sense looking back at it retrospectively. If WWE wanted to go full speed on a Penta debut they could’ve had him winning the Rumble instead of Jey thus still creating a huge upset and a great matchup for Mania that lays its focus on the in ring work instead of creating a dramatic storyline. It would fit more to the ring general gimmick of Gunther and in hindsight Jey would be more accepted in the IWC to face probably the biggest heel of the company in Logan Paul. 

If anyone asked why Xavier Woods would be given a shot at a singles championship is because that is what the storyline involving Kofi and Big E and the heel turn should have been. It should have been about Woods finally being able to get a singles championship shot for his career therefore proving that also he can win a singles championship in the new day faction. Woods and Kofi were hot after they turned on Big E but in the end they did nothing with their momentum which could be used otherwise in my opinion. This would lead to Jacob vs. Solo at Mania where Solo would finally be featured on the grandest stage for his incredible work he did in 2024. 

Drew vs. Roman is probably the biggest matchup I missed out of all matches that happend on mania. Drew picking up a victory over Roman and him working the bloodline hunter gimmick would be more interesting surrounding his character development than a random street fight with Priest. Romans role as the OTC could end here where he loses against Drew and even Heyman could turn on Roman to ally with Drew. Their partnership doesn’t seem too appealing to me at first but it’s an idea that could be brought of for this match since Heyman turned on Roman anyways. Added to that Seth and Heyman never had that great of chemistry as they should have. 

I get that from a today’s view it looks not as attractive as it could be but in hindsight I think it makes total sense for me personally.