Once the dust settles on the Elimination Chamber pay per view premium live event, it has become a yearly tradition for WWE fans to fantasy book their WrestleMania card. As recently as last week, our man Cain continued that conversation in The Feed right here on Cageside Seats. As each episode of Raw and Smackdown comes to a close, the permutations and possibilities decrease and the picture becomes more clear. With WWE’s recent penchant for smaller cards for their PLEs, fitting every deserving member
of the roster on the card becomes tricky. In recent years, they’ve ditched their standard 5-match card for 6-8 matches per night once ‘Mania rolls around, but spots on the show this year remain at a premium.
How many matches we’ll see each night remains to be seen, but at this point, there are several big name stars whose path to the Showcase of the Immortals hasn’t quite materialized yet. Five matches have been made official, with all four major title defenses locked in and a huge clash between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi added last night on Raw. With just over a month left before the WWE’s biggest show under the bright lights of Las Vegas, here’s a look at some huge names that not only aren’t on the card yet, but whose placement on it isn’t obvious at this point.
Gunther
Der Ring General has been one of the WWE’s go-to heels this past year and a half. At WrestleMania 41, Gunther’s first World Title reign would end after 258 days when he tapped out to Jey Uso. The big Austrian would regain the title less than two months later before losing it again to CM Punk at Summerslam. One of his title defenses along the way was a win over Goldberg on a Saturday Night’s Main Event in July, which was the genesis of Gunther’s reputation as the Career Killer. After being a fixture in the main event scene for all of 2025 and going on to retire both John Cena and AJ Styles this past winner, Gunther hasn’t been seen on TV much lately.
His most recent feud was with Dragon Lee, who was trying to avenge Gunther retiring Styles at Royal Rumble, but where WWE ends up slotting the former World Champion on the WrestleMania card remains to be seen. Years-long rumors of a pending clash with Brock Lesnar were put on hold when Brock’s showdown with Oba Femi was signed last night. Rumors elsewhere have hinted that Gunther’s run-in with Dragon Lee could be leading to a ‘Mania match with Rey Mysterio, but a rib injury has kept Rey out of the ring for the last few weeks.
Time will tell if a Mysterio/Gunther match is still the plan, but much of that probably depends on Rey’s health. If his rib injury lingers and keeps him out of action for an extended period of time, how will WWE manage to get Der Ring General on the ‘Mania card?
Iyo Sky
Another top star who featured prominently at ‘Mania in Vegas last year and is currently on the outside looking in is former World Women’s Champion, Iyo Sky. Iyo and her best friend turned tag team partner, Rhea Ripley won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles on the first Raw of 2026 and were one of the best parts of any show they were featured on during their reign. Just last month, the duo affectionately dubbed RhIyo lost their titles to Lash Legend and Nia Jax and any thoughts of winning them back were put on hold when Rhea won the Elimination Chamber and earned a singles title match at WrestleMania.
Riding solo for the first time in awhile, speculation was that Iyo could tie up some loose ends and mix it up with one or both of the Kabuki Warriors at ‘Mania. On Raw last night, Asuka and Kairi declared that they were pursuing tag team gold, and Iyo had a physical confrontation with Raquel Rodriguez that ended with Iyo getting thrown over the announce table. With rumors that the WWE could add as many as 6 women’s matches to the ‘Mania card, could Iyo be headed for a one-on-one match with Big Mami Cool? Or is there another spot on the card that Iyo can slot into?
LA Knight
Recent stories about LA Knight focused more on a not-so-flattering moment in gorilla featured on the most recent season of UnReal than on any plans for an LA Knight push. For years, the Mega Star has seemed to hover around the main event scene without ever getting his turn at the top of the mountain. For the last few months, Knight has been mixing it up with The Vision after getting Tsunami’ed on top of a car by Bronson Reed back in December.
Since then, it’s appeared as though Knight was primed for a marquee match with The Vision, but injuries may have derailed those plans. With only two healthy members of Paul Heyman’s faction lingering around and Seth Rollins, LA Knight, and the Usos all looking like logical opponents, it’s not difficult to envision a situation where LA Knight gets left off the card in Vegas. Knight teaming with Rollins to take on Logan Paul and Austin Theory could be the way to go, but where would that leave the Usos? If Bron Breakker is able to get back, a showdown with Rollins would be a no-brainer, which could leave Paul and Theory to face the Usos and stick Knight back in catering for the biggest show of the year. Will WWE find a way to get LA on the card, and if they do, will it be in a role that his fans are satisfied with?
Je’Von Evans
Part of a trio of huge NXT callups in recent months, Je’Von has taken a bit of a backseat to Trick Williams and Oba Femi, who have been featured more prominently on the main roster. The Young OG is still around and getting regular screen time, but his direction for WrestleMania is currently not very clear.
The past few weeks on Raw, Kofi Kingston has taken a bit of a break from the cocky gimmick the New Day has taken on since their big heel turn in December of 2024 to offer his mentorship to Je’Von. The parallels in look and athleticism between the two are uncanny, so it only seemed like a matter of time before Evans and Kingston would cross paths once Je’Von was called up. The question at this point is, what’s the end game? Does Kofi find a way to successfully recruit Je’Von into the New Day, potentially taking Grayson Waller’s place after Danhausen cursed him last night? Or does Evans turn down the offer and end up facing Kofi and/or Woods in some fashion in Vegas? It seems like WWE has high hopes for Je’Von as they’ve featured him regularly, but will they find a spot for him at ‘Mania this year?
Aleister Black
WWE.com" />
Aleister Black spent most of the last year feuding with Damian Priest and reuniting in storyline with his real-life wife, Zelina. The duo has (almost comically, at this point) filled the role vacated by Karrion Kross and Scarlett of playing mind games and playing the devil on the shoulder of many of the WWE’s top babyfaces such as Sami Zayn and Randy Orton.
With Randy Orton lined up to face Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, and signs pointing to Sami Zayn facing off with Trick Williams after several encounters between the two, Aleister seems to be the odd man out at this point. Is there another babyface he and Zelina can play some mind games with to get Black a spot on the card in Vegas, or will he have to settle for just being the WWE Pot-Stirring Champion and spending WrestleMania weekend in catering?
So what do you think Cagesiders? Will these five stars end up featuring prominently at WrestleMania 42, or will some of them be left off the card? Who else’s ‘Mania prospects are you worried about with less than five weeks before the big show? Let us know in the comments below!
