Welcome to the WrestleMania Stock Report. This annual five-part series looks at everyone on last year’s WrestleMania card and what they’ve been doing since to make a determination of whether they’re in a better position in April 2026 than they were in April 2025. Was it a good year? Was it a down year? Are they the definition of Even Steven?
Most folks who were not on last year’s card will not be included, though I made a few exceptions for those who I felt deserved some time.
We’ll go match-by-match
from Night One through Night Two. With many of the people on the WrestleMania 41 card, I’ll try to pinpoint their best and worst moment of the past 12 months. Sometimes that’ll be in-story. Sometimes I’ll focus more on booking/real life. Some folks didn’t do enough this year to really warrant much discussion of either, but that’s something for y’all to debate in the comments. Premium Live Event records are listed for each wrestler evaluated; in addition to wins and losses, that’s interesting information because it tells us how active someone was during the year (records include multi-person matches, including the Royal Rumble). These do not count Saturday Night’s Main Event.
I will make the call on how much everyone’s stock is up or down, or if it’s unchanged. Of course, such judgments are subjective, and feel free to debate those as well. If you want a reminder to where we left folks last year, feel free to check out last year’s edition here.
And a final note: When I use the term “last year” I mean since WrestleMania 41 and not calendar year 2025.
Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns & CM Punk to win Paul Heyman
Seth Rollins
PLE Overall record (4-1), one on one (2-0), championship (2-0)
Night One last year ended with a big Seth Rollins win against two of the biggest stars in the company. Of course, Seth Rollins is a big star in the company, but CM Punk & Roman Reigns are various levels higher. This was a big feather in his cap.
The next night, he’d introduce the Vision, his stable with Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker. Soon Bronson Reed would joint them. This was quite the formidable group, poised to allow Rollins to because Raw’s top heel while Breakker & Reed grew under him.
The plan — or Vision if you will — seemed like it was going swimmingly when Seth Rollins won the Money in the Bank ladder match. However, during match on Saturday Night’s Main Event against LA Knight, Rollins came up lame suffering an apparent injury. I say apparent because said injury was bullshit. It was some grand work. Who were they working and why? I don’t know. Felt like something they did purely to feature on their WWE UnReal behind the scenes Netflix show.
He revealed the ruse at SummerSlam, cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase on CM Punk, who just claimed the world heavyweight title in a battle with Gunther.
Unfortunately, it was only a couple months later that Seth Rollins suffered an actual injury and had to be written off TV. Was it karma for their needless fake injury that they laughed at us all about? I’m not going to weigh in on that. The creative to write him off involved the entire Vision turning on him.
Seth Rollins returned to attack a very different looking Vision. Both Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed, the men that turned their back on him, were out injured. Is that part of a The Curse of the Ruse of the Century? I’ll let you decide on that.
Because he was left without a dance partner, he has a date with Gunther at WrestleMania. It’s a match that is worthy of both men, but it’s not a title defense against CM Punk in the main event, where we may have been headed.
Best moment: The SummerSlam title win
Worst moment: The Curse (OK, now I’m saying it)
Stock: Due to injuries/creative changes, Seth Rollins’s stock is definitely lower than where he was after walking out of the main event of night one the victor. He’ll always be fine though.
CM Punk
PLE Overall record (3-4), one on one (2-2), championship (2-3)
CM Punk and Seth Rollins seemed liked they’d be intertwined much of the year, with the possible plan for a title match at ‘Mania (one that was already postponed years ago due to a CM Punk injury). However Punk’s first big championship feud was a program with heel John Cena in Saudi Arabia.
The Cena heel turn was floundering, and it felt like creative believed a Punk feud could breathe some life into it. Hell, that was even a talking point during their program. And I would argue it was the most entertaining aspect of John’s heel run. This sent Punk back to Saudi where he had to apologize for his prior comments regarding WWE’s relationship with the country. You can call it growth or you can call it weak convictions. Either way, John Cena loved it.
Punk lost this match due to Seth Rollins, returning to his larger feud. A gauntlet match victory earned him a world title match at SummerSlam against Gunther. The Ring General and the Voice of the Voiceless had themselves a bit of a war that concluded with Punk finally winning his first title since returning to WWE. But that would be very short lived as Rollins revealed he was faking his injury and cashed in the Money in the Bank case to defeat Punk for the title.
This feud eventually added Becky Lynch which led to the big return of AJ Lee to back up her husband. Lee & Punk were successful in their mixed tag against the Rollins-Lynch clan.
Soon Punk would find another title opportunity when Seth Rollins sustained a legit injury and had to relinquish his title. CM Punk won a triple threat qualifier and faced Jey Uso at Saturday Night’s Main Event, where he won the vacant title. It was the choice that made the most sense after Rollins injury. Punk is a ready-made main eventer and despite the plan likely to draw this out, they had no choice but to crown him champion to anchor the Raw brand.
The title run included a WarGames loss (notably alongside Roman Reigns) and matches against Bron Breakker, Finn Bálor, and AJ Styles (which ended in DQ).
WrestleMania for Punk this year will be a one on one match against Roman Reigns for the title. It’s a match they have had in their back pocket since his return and with Rollins’s injury throwing plans into flux, it made perfect sense to go here. Both men have made this personal and it’s got the juice to warrant the Night Two main event.
Best Moment: Getting to watch his wife return to WWE
Worst Moment: Seth Rollins cash in
Stock: There isn’t much movement with a guy like Punk, but going from Night One main event to Night Two is an improvement, especially as champion. We can talk about the Roman Reigns factor in a moment (I don’t think Seth vs. Punk would close the entire show), but it’s the best he can do.
Roman Reigns
PLE Overall record (3-2), one on one (1-1), championship (none)
There’s no sugar coating how part-time Roman Reigns is now. He has a program and then peaces for awhile. He’s had a total of five matches since last WrestleMania so let’s list them all.
- Reigns & Jey Uso def. The Vision (Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker) with Jey Uso getting the winning pin (SummerSlam)
- Reigns def. Bronson Reed (Clash in Paris)
- Bronson Reed def. Reigns (Crown Jewel)
- Team Brock def. Team Roman (WarGames)
- Wins Royal Rumble
Not a year to really write home about. A singles loss to Reed was a shocker. His cousins were involved in that match and did more harm than good, but a loss is a loss, especially to a guy like Reed who is firmly lower on the card than Reigns.
The amazing thing is despite a pretty underwhelming year, this man won the Rumble and is the main event of night two. That’s better than last year!
That goes to show that Roman is a constant. And I’d argue he’s the top guy still. We’ll delve more into that in a couple days when we look at Cody more. But you could argue that it was the strength of Reigns that positioned a non-title match last year in the main event of Night One. And that it’s his presence that gets Punk into Night Two.
Best Moment: The Royal Rumble win
Worst Moment: A rare singles loss
Stock: Unchanged. Roman is Roman.
Iyo Sky def. Rhea Ripley & Bianca Belair
Bianca Belair
No PLE matches in the past year
Unfortunately, Belair significantly injured her finger in this match and hasn’t wrestled since.
She did act as special guest referee at Evolution for Naomi vs. Jade Cargill but that was the extent of her year.
Injuries are always a damn shame. The path of this one seemed to be the worst case scenario – trying rehab prior to finally getting surgery at the end of last year. Creatively, it’s also a shame. Bianca is a lynchpin of the women’s division and at times, the women’s division felt her absence. Bianca is a main event talent who can be champion at any time. They also lost Naomi who had elevated her to the top of the division. Losing Bianca could be why Tiffany Stratton’s year lost steam as we spoke about yesterday. She never had the caliber of opponent that she should have to test her.
We don’t have any recent word in regards to her finger, but I’m going to keep mine crossed that she’s just waiting for the Raw after ‘Mania.
Status: Injured
Iyo Sky
PLE Overall record (2-4), one on one (0-1), championship (0-3)
Sky walked out of this 5-star match retaining the women’s title, which perpetuated the story that Rhea Ripley can’t beat her. That narrative built to the main event at Evolution — a slobber-knocker (and another match I’d consider a 5 star banger) that ended with neither woman walking out with the title. Instead Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase and absconded with the gold.
The Genius of the Sky couldn’t regain her gold in a SummerSlam triple threat but had an opportunity to reclaim that title after Naomi had to relinquish it when she left on maternity. However it was newcomer Stephanie Vaquer who won that match to become the world champion.
The next big step in Iyo’s journey was developing issues with her former friends Asuka & Kairi Sane, based on Asuka’s claim the others don’t respect her as a mentor. To make matters worse, they wanted to keep Iyo away from Rhea Ripley, who they felt was a bad influence. (Not to be confused with Bad Influence.)
This conflict came to a head with Sky choosing her friend Ripley, officialing joining forces with her. As a team, Rhiyo won the tag titles and held them for about two months until losing them to the current champs the Irresistible Forces.
Ripley won the Elimination Chamber and went to SmackDown to build her Mania match with Jade Cargill, leaving Sky alone on Raw to deal with Raquel Rodriquez and a bitter Asuka.
Unfortunately, it looks like none of those issues will lead to a WrestleMania match for the woman Triple H said he’d build a promotion around. Instead, she’s a player in the Rhea Ripley/Jade Cargill story. It’s obvious creative thinks highly of her with Triple H’s UnReal comments and Michael Cole making sure to call her the best women’s wrestler on the planet. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t they have something for her?
Best Moment: The WrestleMania win last year
Worst Moment: Missing WrestleMania this year
Stock: I stand by that creative holds her in high regard. But missing ‘Mania is somewhat of an indictment. I’d argue here the indictment is not on Iyo Sky as a talent but the current state of creative. But it’s a drop.
Rhea Ripley
PLE Overall record (4-4), one on one (1-0), championship (0-2)
Rhea’s post WrestleMania journey was to try to win back the title she lost a month prior to ‘Mania. She failed to win the Money in the Bank match but did get that main event title match against Iyo at Evolution, the match Naomi walked out of with the title.
Rhea and Iyo’s big moments this year were rather intertwined until they lost the tag titles. Ripley then won the Elimination Chamber to earn a WrestleMania title match against Jade.
The build to that match hasn’t lit the world on fire, on-screen or off. They tried to sell it with promo segments, but they never clicked. Instead they went with Jade recruiting Michin & B-Fab as her enforcements, forcing Rhea to depend on the number game. This led back to a speedy reunion with Iyo. If I had to guess, that wasn’t the plan but maybe it was somewhat of a panic move to try to save this program — a program that should seem like a big deal but instead seemed underwhelming. (A move that could very well cost Iyo her WrestleMania match.)
Despite the journey, Rhea is back in a world title match this year. I think her purpose here is to help elevate Jade Cargill closer to her level, whether it’s in a win or a loss. In that sense, it’s a new role for the Eradicator. In the past, all of her ‘Mania matches have been with opponents who were established prior to her (Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Becky Lynch) or on her level (Iyo Sky, Bianca Belair). This is the first time she’s facing someone newer to WWE and less experienced than her. Now she’s in the Charlotte role trying to elevate someone WWE wants elevated.
Best Moment: Winning the Elimination Chamber
Worst Moment: Failing to capture the title all year
Stock: Mildly elevated. Her dance partner isn’t as established, but it’s a bigger responsibility for her. Plus, it feels like she just got more and more popular as the year went on, to the point she’s one of the company’s biggest stars.
You can catch up with what we’ve done so far here: Part 1, Part 2
We’ll be back tomorrow to look at Drew McIntyre finally getting rewarded and Damian Priest falling down the pecking order.
