With the road to WWE WrestleMania 42 being plagued by injuries, there have already been massive changes made to the event.
From original plans to what remains, reports regarding the twists and turns in bringing the event together have been fascinating.
Here are nine planned WrestleMania 42 matches that have been cancelled.
9. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns
Original plans for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 42 would have seen Seth Rollins defend the title against Roman Reigns.
This would have been the first one-on-one WrestleMania match between the two former Shield members, one year on from their night one main event three-way with CM Punk.
However, due to Rollins’ injury at WWE Crown Jewel, he had to vacate the title and Mania plans had to be shaken up.
Reigns will still get his World Heavyweight Title shot at Mania this year, but it will instead be against CM Punk.
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8. Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk
While Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns was the planned World Heavyweight Title match for WrestleMania 42, there were plans in place for the Undisputed WWE Title as well.
Those plans would have seen Cody Rhodes defend the title against CM Punk.
However, Punk was chosen to become the new World Heavyweight Champion when Rollins had to vacate that title due to injury, taking him out of the equation, and he will now defend that title against Roman Reigns.
After Rhodes lost the WWE Title to Drew McIntyre but then won it back, the eventual landing spot is him now defending against Randy Orton.
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7. Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns
After Seth Rollins’ injury led to Rollins vs Roman Reigns not being an option, WWE moved in the direction of a trilogy match between Reigns and Cody Rhodes.
Reigns vs Rhodes main evented both WrestleMania 39 and 40, with the record standing at 1-1.
However, Triple H ultimately decided giving fans the same main event for the third time in four years would be a bad idea.
Reigns vs CM Punk, and Rhodes vs Randy Orton are the matches now set, but at one stage after Rollins’ injury, Rhodes vs Reigns was the plan.
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6. CM Punk vs. Bron Breakker
The first planned WrestleMania match for CM Punk after Seth Rollins’ injury led to him becoming World Heavyweight Champion was against Bron Breakker, who was planned to win the Royal Rumble.
This was while the Undisputed WWE Championship match was set to be Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns.
However, when Triple H decided to move Reigns over to facing Punk, it meant Breakker was essentially ousted out of position in the world title picture.
At that stage, instead of moving Breakker over to the Rhodes match, WWE had Rhodes drop the WWE Title to Drew McIntyre with Rhodes challenging McIntyre being the plan – although that hasn’t transpired either.
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5. Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes (With Jacob Fatu Potentially Being Added)
WWE had settled on plans for CM Punk vs Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship, with Drew McIntyre vs Cody Rhodes being the Undisputed WWE Title match.
However, in an effort to shake up excitement, Rhodes ended up not winning the Elimination Chamber match as planned, as that instead went to Randy Orton.
Then, a title change took place on the March 6 edition of WWE SmackDown that shook up the match again as Rhodes beat McIntyre to win the title, leading to Rhodes vs Orton as the championship match at WrestleMania and McIntyre out of the equation.
It now appears McIntyre will be heading into a separate match against Jacob Fatu.
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4. Bron Breakker vs. Seth Rollins
Although Seth Rollins’ WrestleMania plans had to be changed in a major way due to his injury, he is back in time for the event after all.
Adjusted plans called for him to face Bron Breakker after Breakker had kicked him out of The Vision when he suffered his injury, with Rollins being revealed as the masked man who attacked Breakker at the Royal Rumble.
However, with Rollins on course to return, Breakker suffered had to go hernia surgery of his own, leading to big question marks over whether he’ll be ready for Mania.
There’s still time if he’s able to return, but WWE seems to have put a backup plan in place coming out of Elimination Chamber of Rollins instead facing Logan Paul. Bronson Reed would likely have been second choice after Breakker, but he too suffered an injury recently and is out of Mania.
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3. Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair
After Tiffany Stratton held the WWE Women’s Championship for most of 2025, she would end up losing it in November to Jade Cargill.
At the time, it seemed the title change was a clue that there there was a big return from Bianca Belair on the horizon.
Still with unfinished business between, Belair and Cargill have never settled the score after their falling out with Belair picking up an injury at WrestleMania 41 and being out of action ever since.
While it seemed like the direction when Cargill won the title, Belair would later document her rehab after surgery and revealed that she was not near to returning to in-ring action, and Cargill is now set to defend against Rhea Ripley instead.
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2. Becky Lynch vs. AJ Lee
One heated feud that seemed like it was building to a WrestleMania 42 match was Becky Lynch and AJ Lee.
While it was expected that the eventual blow off for this bout would be at WrestleMania 42, instead the pair went head-to-head at Elimination Chamber with AJ Lee picking up a victory in front of her adopted hometown of Chicago.
With WWE Raw set to feature Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley vs IYO SKY vs Raquel Rodriguez vs Asuka vs Ivy Nile in a gauntlet match to become the #1 contender for Lee’s WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship, it remains unclear what match will end up taking place at WrestleMania 42 after all.
It is possible that Lynch vs Lee is still the direction, but the winner of that gauntlet match will have their say on the way there.
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1. IYO SKY vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Stephanie Vaquer
In what could have been a mighty showcase of some of the world’s best wrestlers taking aim at one another in WWE, a match formative for women’s wrestling forevermore seemed possible for WrestleMania between Stephanie Vaquer, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY.
However, in the end it will be Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan taking on Stephanie Vaquer for the title with Rhea Ripley winning the Elimination Chamber and challenging Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship over on SmackDown.
Hopefully IYO SKY will be able to secure place at WrestleMania 42 in the near future after putting on a show stealing performance with Ripley and Bianca Belair at last year’s event.
Recently having a stare down moment with Bayley, perhaps SKY is set to revisit a feud with her former Damage CTRL mentor.
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