Father and son duo Chris and Cole Casuccio return to Biff Bam Pop! with their thoughts on the upcoming WrestleMania 42, which airs Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18.
To build a proper house, you need a sound foundation; to write a strong story, you need a solid structure; to establish a lasting relationship, you need to start with honesty. To set up a great WrestleMania, you need all three.
Of course, WrestleMania 42, the prettiest person at the wrestling party, has been all Cole and I have been talking about lately. While it took a while to come into focus, we are now confident enough to approach, to see if it’s as pretty up close as it is from afar; to see if the foundation is strong, the story solid, and the right amount of honesty employed for us to truly fall in love.
Cole: Six matches have been confirmed so far for the Showcase of the Immortals; Oba Femi will be taking on Brock Lesnar; Elimination Chamber winner Rhea Ripley will be challenging Jade Cargill for her WWE Women’s Championship; Liv Morgan, following her Royal Rumble victory (which we predicted last time) will be taking on Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship; Drew McIntyre will face Jacob Fatu in an unsanctioned match; Randy Orton (who nobody predicted to win in the Chamber) will be challenging former protege Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship; and CM Punk will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns (if night two of Mania is one of the half-dozen dates Roman decides to work this year.)
Chris: Sometimes when we are at this point, just over a month out, I like to visualize the WrestleMania posters — see how each match looks with its competitors standing side by side, glaring at each other. This year, those posters are as impressive as we’ve had in recent memory. The recently added Lesnar vs Femi pairing is straight out of a kaiju movie — there aren’t two more intimidating monsters in all of wrestling. Jade and Ripley are equally terrifying, and while the heart of the feud hasn’t been established yet (are they really fighting over whose body is built for fight?), every time they face off, you can’t wait to see what happens next.
Cole: Vaquer and Morgan could have one of the better matches of the weekend, as they are two of the most talented women on the roster today. But back to that idea of the posters. Orton vs Rhodes feels as though it has been built for a show of this magnitude. A little history: according to lore, the first match Cody Rhodes ever had in the WWE was against Randy Orton. The two went on to have a storied relationship, with Orton leading the Legacy faction, which focused on second-generation wrestlers, like Cody and Ted DiBiase Jr. (the less we say about him, the better.) While Cody and Orton already had a good protege vs mentor story going into WrestleMania, Orton’s recent vicious heel-turn has added another layer of intrigue to the build.
Chris: For over a year, it seems like Orton has been lustily staring at Cody’s title in a way eerily similar to how Hogan ogled Elizabeth. He says he needs his fifteenth World Title, and with Cody recently regaining that title from Drew McIntyre, they seemed fated for this collision. But it’s gotten far darker, far quicker than we could have anticipated, and it feels like another twist is on the horizon. And yes, they look brilliant on that poster.
Cole: And in the first match that was formally announced, CM Punk will be defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns.
Chris: Just to cut in quickly, it is no secret that we are not Roman fans. When he won the Rumble, we were both annoyed that they took the easiest path possible rather than elevating a young, deserving star who actually shows up and has more than one facial expression. That disappointment faded after their first face-off on RAW. We were wrong — we’re not too big to admit that.
Cole: That first confrontation on RAW quickly changed our view of the feud, as Punk eloquently expressed every negative thing we have been saying about Roman for the past six years. While he didn’t mention how long, boring and repetitive Roman’s title defences were, we left that evening feeling optimistic about the feud going forward.
Chris: Like the Cody/Orton feud, Roman/Punk started with honesty. Orton and Cody loved each other, Punk and Roman hated each other. That felt true. That was enough for us to believe.
Cole: Great, so there are all of our posters, and they all look impressive. But now let’s start speculating. One of my favourite things leading into Mania each year is predicting who will go toe-to-toe on the undercard. The current roster is stacked with incredible talent which, if used correctly, could shape a powerful WrestleMania.
Chris: We have watched a few older Manias this month, and you’re right, when watching over six hours of wrestling in one weekend, you can’t have one-match cards. You need every encounter to mean something, or you risk killing your crowd. While Bret vs Austin at WM 13 is our favourite match of all-time, the undercard, featuring such thrillers as Rocky Maivia vs The Sultan and Billy Gunn vs Flash Funk, bored us terribly.
Cole: One undercard match highly likely to occur is Dom Mysterio vs Finn Balor. After being violently kicked out of the Judgement Day, Finn will be looking for revenge. The US title picture has been packed full of intriguing storylines this year as well, and new champion Sami Zayn was just booked to face Trick Williams in what I feel might result in a double turn and a new champion. While that match has been building for a few months, it’s kind of a shame stars like Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura and Tama Tonga won’t be involved.
Chris: We are a month or so out, and there are still some major stars without dance partners, which will make the next few weeks interesting. Talent like Gunther, Penta, LA Knight and the Uso enablers seem to be without a solid story. Seth Rollins is also circling more than a bunch of masked dudes, with all of his potential Vision opponents filling hospital beds rather than wrestling rings. How do you think all of these matches come together?
Cole: If Rollins continues with his Vision feud, unless Bron is healed and one of the hooded men, he will likely face Logan Paul in a rematch from Mania 39. As they’ve had several heated interactions recently, LA Knight and Jey Uso may also square off in Vegas. Knight has expressed his disappointment at the return of the Bloodline, and Jey has taken on a more heelish role in recent weeks, grunting and yelling instead of yeeting.
Chris: That leaves Gunther and Penta without logical opponents. Gunther is coming off a legendary year, retiring Goldberg, Cena, Styles and hopefully Pat McAfee. The fact that he’s without a Mania opponent seems slightly befuddling. While leaning too far into the retiring monster gimmick limits him to older wrestlers on the roster, his recent unmasking of Dragon Lee leaves us feeling a match with Rey Mysterio (if he’s healthy) could be on the table. Failing that, Penta could also seek to avenge his friend’s humiliation, putting his newly won IC title on the line against that title’s longest reigning champion.
Cole: On the women’s side, there are a couple of matches that seem inevitable. Becky Lynch has been furious since losing her IC title to AJ Lee and will likely seek revenge. The tag division has been hot for months, with a Mania match likely including The Irresistible Forces, The Kabuki Warriors, Charlotte Flair, Alexa Bliss, Bayley and Lyra. That leaves Iyo Sky, our favourite female wrestler, without much to do. There were whispers about an Iyo vs Giulia match some time ago, but it looks more likely that they’ll match her up with Raquel Rodriguez, who has been pushed the past few months. Giulia’s admin assistant, Kiana James, has also been impressive lately and could face off with her boss, but it’s more likely we’ll see Tiffy vs Giulia for the US title.
Chris: Those are good examples of soup matches — throwing together whatever is left into one pot and hoping it’s not terrible. On the men’s side, our soup ingredients include Aleister Black, Rey Fenix, Solo Sikoa, and a pack of under-utilized and overly talented tag-teams. In the coming weeks, we’ll see if any manage to mix in an appetizing way.
Cole: And we can’t forget a real future asset. With Trick Williams seemingly locked into the US Title scene, we are left with Je’Von Evans needing to be booked.
Chris: Evans, who feels like a real star already, could bounce into a fun night-one opener against Kofi Kingston. Their styles match, and they’ll rope the fans in off the jump. There are bound to be some twists and turns to come, but looking at our opening analogy, does this feel like a well-built, well-told story with enough honesty to keep you hooked?
Cole: Punk vs Roman has enough honesty in every segment to keep me glued to the screen for another month. Cody vs Orton, with its rich history, is well-built despite its more recent construction and promises many twists on the road to WrestleMania. These two feuds also tell complex, highly compelling stories which should pay off with exciting climaxes in the ring.
Chris: And the undercard, as we’ve laid out, won’t leave us comatose or looking at our phones for hours. Luck, timing, and a bit of good planning have left the bookers with an undercard full of meaningful matches that could also shine in ring. But it’s not all roses — the Internet Wrestling Community has been complaining about the quality of the WWE’s product all year, and the lack of excitement surrounding Mania. Cody Rhodes has been characterized as a modern-day Hulk Hogan (in a bad way, but not the worst way) and ticket prices at Mania have been scoffed at for months. The honeymoon period for HHH has definitely passed, and every decision is being analyzed and questioned to death.
Cole: But for those fans on the fence about whether or not they’ll tune in this year, you should know, beyond everything we’ve laid out, there is one unshakable, inarguable, undeniable reason you must tune in — if you don’t, there’s a very good chance you’ll wake up on the Monday following Mania and realize…you…are…cursed!