WrestleMania 41’s final card MUCH different from early plans, per WWE Unreal

Photo by Leon Halip/WireImage

In a scene from the writer’s room on Netflix’s new WWE Unreal docuseries, all five episodes of which are out on the streamer today (July 29), a white board shows a proposed line-up for the two nights of WrestleMania 41 which took place in Las Vegas this past April.

As Unreal does on multiple occasions in its first season, that glance at a pitched line-up doesn’t come with a lot of context. For example, you’ll have to fantasy book how Jade Cargill captured the Women’s World title on the road to ‘Mania

— and guess at why WWE pivoted to keeping Cargill with Naomi while IYO SKY defended against Bianca Belair & Rhea Ripley. In some cases injuries explain changes, but other than that we’re pretty much on our own.

That’s a pretty fascinating thought exercise for a lot of wrestling fans, though.

Here’s the line-up shown in Unreal, which would have given us Steve Austin doing more than crashing an unfamiliar 4-wheeler...

Netflix via @LuigiWrestling

• Undisputed WWE championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

• Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins

• WWE World Heavyweight championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. CM Punk

• WWE Women’s World championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Bianca Belair

• Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens

• 10-Person Mixed Tag Team Match: The Wyatt Sicks vs. Judgment Day

• WWE Women’s championship: Jade Cargill vs. Nia Jax

• WWE Women’s Tag Team championship: Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. IYO SKY & Asuka

• A.J. Styles vs. Logan Paul

• Bad Bunny vs. Dominik Mysterio

• Bron Breakker vs. Drew McIntyre (Special Guest Referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin)

• Rey Mysterio (“w/T. Scott”, which we’re assuming to be Travis Scott) vs. Chad Gable

• WWE Intercontinental championship — Six-Way Ladder Match: Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn vs. Sheamus vs. Bronson Reed vs. Ludwig Kaiser

• WWE United States championship — Six-Way Ladder Match: L.A. Knight vs. Jimmy Uso vs. Andrade vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Santos Escobar vs. Carmelo Hayes vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Here’s the WrestleMania 41 line-up we did get...

• Undisputed WWE championship: Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Seth Rollins

• WWE World Heavyweight championship: Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso

• WWE Women’s World championship: IYO SKY (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley

• WWE Women’s championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

• Randy Orton vs. surprise opponent (Joe Hendry)

• WWE World Tag Team championship: The War Raiders (Ivar & Erik) (c) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena

• WWE Women’s Tag Team championship: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria

• AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul

• Intercontinental championship: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Penta vs. Finn Bálor vs. Dominik Mysterio

• Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano

• United States championship: LA Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu

• Jade Cargill vs. Naomi

• Sin City Street Fight: Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre

Wrap your head around that and let’s discuss in the comments. All episodes of WWE Unreal are available to stream on Netflix here.

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