11 WrestleMania 42 Card Predictions After WWE Royal Rumble 2026

1. CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns

WWE WrestleMania 42 CM Punk Roman Reigns
WWE

Rumble winner Roman Reigns has had several pencilled in opponents for this year's WrestleMania since hype began for it. The Rock will seemingly be rumoured forever in a 'Final Boss' vs. 'OTC' battle to determine who's actually the 'Tribal Chief', and Seth Rollins seemed to be a surefire Roman-botherer at one stage last year. Nope, it's CM Punk who will get his full attention this April.

Roman going after Punk's World Heavyweight Championship (a belt he's technically never won) makes a heck of a lot more sense than Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre. That'd be sudden, and it lacks the intricate, admittedly minor story beats WWE has laid down on the Raw side with Punk.

He and Reigns have shared a few frosty glances since CM's return to the company.

The writing team have had to sit tight and wait to slap a green light on this match, so they'll be keen to get it sorted for 'Mania 42. Netflix will be happy with the predicted result too, because it guarantees them some (part time) goodness from Roman afterwards.

Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns. There isn't much else to say here. He seems like a lock to take the World Title from Punk and rule the roost on Raw heading into the rest of 2026. From there, WWE can get to Roman vs. Gunther, Oba Femi, Chris Jericho and more.

What other matches could be spread across both nights at WWE WrestleMania 42? For more like this, check out 7 New Directions For WWE After Royal Rumble 2026 and 12 Times WWE Buried Their Own Champions!

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.