WrestleMania season has rolled around again, as WWE’s biggest event of the year heads to Las Vegas this weekend.
More than 65,000 fans are expected to pack into Allegiant Stadium for each evening of the two-night show, with some of WWE’s most high-profile performers involved.
The legendary John Cena and current star Cody Rhodes are set to headline one of the nights, while CM Punk and Roman Reigns have since been added to the match card.
Furthermore, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been involved in the build-up, and he will surely feature in some capacity – even if he does not wrestle, as he did at WrestleMania 40.
Here’s all you need to know.
Confirmed WrestleMania 41 matches
Night 1
War Raiders (World Tag-Team Champions) vs The New Day
Rey Mysterio vs El Grande Americano
Jade Cargill vs Naomi
LA Knight (United States Champion) vs Jacob Fatu
Tiffany Stratton (Women’s WWE Champion) vs Charlotte
Gunther (World Heavyweight Champion) vs Jey Uso
CM Punk vs Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins
Night 2
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (WWE Women’s Tag-Team Champions) vs Bayley and Valkyria
Logan Paul vs AJ Styles
Bron Breakker (Intercontinental Champion) vs Penta vs Dominik Mysterio vs Finn Balor
Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest (‘Sin City Street Fight’)
Iyo Sky (Women’s World Champion) vs Bianca Belair vs Rhea Ripley
Cody Rhodes (Undisputed WWE Champion) vs John Cena
When is it?
WrestleMania became a two-night event in 2020, and this year it will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 April at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. In the US, each evening of action will begin at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET. In the UK, that works out to 12am BST on Sunday and Monday morning.
How can I watch it?
WrestleMania 41 will stream live on Netflix in the UK and most territories worldwide, as part of subscribers’ existing plans (at no additional cost, in other words). In the US, however, the event will air live on Peacock pay-per-view.
In January, all of WWE’s shows began streaming live on Netflix in the UK and most territories worldwide; in the US, every show except SmackDown (which remains on the USA Network) also airs on Netflix.
Will The Rock compete?
Last year, The Rock competed in the Night 1 main event of WrestleMania 40, teaming with Roman Reigns to beat Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. He also interfered in the Night 2 main event: Reigns vs Rhodes. He is not advertised as competing this year, but expect him to feature in some capacity.
Why is John Cena a ‘bad guy’?
In pro wrestling, ‘good’ characters are called ‘babyfaces’ and ‘bad’ characters are ‘heels’. Cena spent most of his career as a babyface, having last been a heel in the early-mid 2000s – until February’s Elimination Chamber event, where he attacked Rhodes and joined forces with The Rock. This is part of a storyline in which Cena, during his final year as a pro wrestler, is desperate to win a record-breaking 17th world championship. Rhodes is WWE’s biggest babyface, while The Rock is a heel authority figure, given Dwayne Johnson’s real-life position on the board of TKO (WWE’s ownership group).
How much do WWE stars earn at WrestleMania?
The specifics of WWE contracts have long been hard to ascertain. However, WWE star-turned-executive Triple H (real name Paul Levesque) told The Athletic in 2022 that $250,000 is the minimum base salary for wrestlers in the company. That figure might have risen since, of course, and it reportedly only applied to members of the Smackdown and Raw rosters – not wrestlers on NXT, which is WWE’s developmental show.
However, wrestlers’ wages are boosted by merchandise sales and, it is believed, by cuts of pay-per-view sales as well. Of course, merchandise sales are likely to be significant on a WrestleMania weekend, as well as pay-per-view sales, so 19 and 20 April could be the most lucrative days of the year for most WWE wrestlers.
In 2023, The Mirror reported some of the highest WWE wages as these: Roman Reigns $5m per year; Randy Orton $5m per year; Seth Rollins $3.5m per year; Cody Rhodes $3m per year; Logan Paul $2m per year. These figures reportedly don’t include bonuses.
