What Should WrestleMania 43 Look Like?

If you look at your calendars, we are currently at the almost exact halfway point between WrestleMania 42 and the heavily rumored dates for WrestleMania 43.

Seems like a pretty good time to look to the future.

It’s too early to make actual predictions for what will be happening six months from now. Storylines will be different between now and then. Championships will change hands, and probably more than once, between now and then. God forbid, but things like injuries and releases can also take place between now and then, shaking things up. Not everyone on the NXT roster today will be there in six months, as main roster call-ups will happen between now and then.

That’s simply too many variables.

One way to put on a Barry Sanders type juke move on that, avoiding those variables altogether, is to switch from “this is what I think will happen” to “this is what should happen” or “this is what would happen if I were in charge of things.”

That’s what I’m going to do here.

If Paul Levesque came to me and gave me the proverbial pen to lead the WWE Creative Team, what would the card for WrestleMania 43 look like?

The only “catch” is that things have to at least be somewhat realistic. I won’t be booking an AEW “hostile takeover” that sees guys like Jon Moxley, Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, and MJF showing up and attacking Roman Reigns after his match. We all know that isn’t a possibility, so why bother with that here?

Let’s have some fun.

A New Location: This one may or may not be pushing the whole “be at least somewhat realistic” thing. It’s still something that is doable, but the closer we get to WrestleMania season, the more difficult it will be to move the show. This isn’t like 1991, when the WWF changed the location of WrestleMania 7 at about the last minute, but they moved the show from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, a mere quarter-mile away. That’s a relatively easy thing to pull off. Moving the show from Saudi Arabia to somewhere potentially on the other side of the world at the last minute would not be.

Like many of you, I’m done with the shows in Saudi Arabia. While the live crowds there are infinitely better than they were when the WWE/Saudi partnership began, they still aren’t great. The shows themselves often feel like glorified, big budget house shows. Now, in addition to the endless commercials that WWE features during their pay-per-views, we also have to deal with the numerous propaganda pieces for Saudi Arabia during every show on top of that. That’s not even counting the obvious stuff about the potential safety issues for anyone going to the country for shows, from fans to the wrestlers themselves. I’d be finding every way possible to get out of the deal that was agreed upon, and once that happens, it would be time to scramble to find a suitable replacement to host the event.

I won’t pretend to know or understand the logistics of how “easy” it would be to change the location of WrestleMania to another international spot compared to changing it to a spot in the United States. Would it be easier to move the show to, say, London or to Los Angeles? Paris or Philadelphia? Turin or Tampa? From what is currently being reported, WWE apparently has a “backup city in the US that is on the table” for Crown Jewel, which is their pay-per-view that takes place 25 days from the day I type this very sentence. Perhaps that’s a sign of what would be necessary to get a show like WrestleMania moved.

I’ll say this, though… I’d rather have WrestleMania take place in Saudi Arabia than to have it take place in Las Vegas again. I’d rather WWE just say there won’t be a WrestleMania next year than to have the show take place in Las Vegas again.

Rhea Ripley vs Bianca Belair: I have been calling for this match for every year that these two have been main roster competitors, and I will continue to call for it until both women are retired. Maybe even longer than that. It is the biggest women’s match that WWE can give us right now, especially considering it’s been hyped and promoted, and yet, Rhea and Bianca have never once had a one-on-one match since being on the main roster, after having only two one-on-one matches during their time in NXT. It’s a big-money, big-fight situation, and the company should pull the trigger on it. What better time than on their biggest show?

I’m well aware of the two big hurdles in front of Bianca Belair right now. One is that she is currently out on maternity leave. However, the time between her giving birth and when WrestleMania 43 is rumored to be taking place is just over eight months. For the sake of comparison, that’s the same amount of time between Becky Lynch giving birth to her daughter in 2020 and her return to the ring at SummerSlam 2021. It’s certainly possible that Bianca’s body would be ring-ready in that span.

It’s her injured hand that continues to be of a bigger concern, though. She suffered the injury 18 months ago, and is still dealing with it. A broken finger in multiple places, including a break at the knuckle joint, never really healed, and it led to surgery. Post-surgery, she has been dealing with continued swelling and pain, and is now battling carpal tunnel syndrome that is causing no grip strength in her injured hand.

It remains to be seen if her hand will cooperate with her and allow her to return to the ring by the time that WrestleMania rolls around. If it does, though, let’s put this match together and hype it up as the special, first-time-ever-on-the-main-roster match that it is.

An El Grande Americano Appearance: This one might depend on whether or not the show remains in Saudi Arabia. I don’t think this is going to be a controversial take, but something tells me that Saudi Arabia isn’t exactly swimming in people who are staying up-to-date on what is going on in AAA and in the world of Lucha Libre.

If the show is moved somewhere else, though… especially if it’s moved to somewhere that is a strong Lucha base… then I’d make sure El Grande Americano has a match on the card. He has been rewarded a bunch for the fantastic work he has done in AAA, and I think another fine reward would be a match at WrestleMania. It’ll make it even better if he’s defending the AAA Mega Championship, putting a different spotlight on the title and on AAA itself.

The man has more than earned a spot on the show, and with two nights worth of matches to put together, there’s room for him.

A Cody Rhodes Heel Turn: It’s time. Actually, it’s beyond time. A lot of people are predicting Cody will be facing CM Punk at WrestleMania, which makes sense. That plays into the joke that I made a while back, when I pointed out that someone seems to turn heel on Cody every year during the same Road To WrestleMania time period, then said that Cody would probably be facing Punk in 2027, which means… Punk would be turning heel on Cody.

Would it surprise me to see Punk turn heel on Cody either at WrestleMania 43 or at least in the road to the event? No. Not at all. Is it something I would rather see than Cody turning heel? No. Not at all.

I have no doubt that Punk would shine as a heel again, but as I said… it’s beyond time for Cody. Live crowds are already pushing him in that direction, anyway. I think Cody could be an excellent smarmy, slimy politician-type, and I think he’s someone that can have that rocket strapped to him for a lengthy run in that position.

A Big Ladder Match: It’s not an every year occurrence at WrestleMania, but it happens enough these days that fans are starting to expect them. This year, we got a Six-Pack Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title. You know what, though? I’d be going back-to-back years for that title being defended at WrestleMania in a Ladder Match.

Chad Gable, Austin Theory, Big Cass, Penta, Carmelo Hayes, Dragon Lee, Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Ethan Page, Jacob Fatu, Je’Von Evans, LA Knight, Logan Paul, Royce Keys, Solo Sikoa… just go ahead and pick a champion going in, and pick five (or seven, if you’re feeling froggy) challengers, throw a bunch of ladders in the arena, and then sit back. Easy.

Rey Mysterio’s Final Match: Please don’t get it twisted… I think Rey can still “go” in the ring. He has been able to turn back the clock a lot. Working a total of 17 times in 2026 to this point helps that tremendously.

At the same time, though, Rey will be turning 52 two weeks before Christmas. When WrestleMania 43 rolls around, he will be close to the 38th anniversary of his pro wrestling debut. He’s had such a lengthy laundry list of injuries through the years. Realistically, how much more time does he possibly have left before it’s time to go?

Now that his daughter is a recruit at the WWE Performance Center, I know Rey has visions of potentially wrestling with Aalyah on a big stage like he has done with his son, but that’s a big ask. Rey himself has mentioned Aalyah’s training, hinting that she picks things up differently than Dominik did when Dom was training, and that’s mainly because Dom was always around the business growing up, while Aalyah was not. Dom was training to be a pro for two years before he and Rey worked a match together on a big stage. According to Rey’s own timeline, Aalyah will have been training for about two-and-a-half months when I post this column. Unless Aalyah hits a different gear that Dom just didn’t have when he was training, or unless WWE recklessly rushes her to the main roster long before she’s ready, can we really expect Rey to hang on until he’s at least 54 years old?

Instead, Rey, being the deadbeat dad that he is, should retire before Aalyah ever gets the chance to wrestle with him. That’ll teach her for waiting until she was 25 years old to begin training. By the time Rey was 25, he had literally been a pro for over a decade and had already built up a legendary career in AAA, ECW, and WCW.

No, I think Rey should hang up the boots and work on a backstage role with WWE, NXT, and/or AAA. He’d be a very valuable asset in that role.

If he’s going to retire, it makes perfect sense that Dominik would be involved.

Not only that, but I’d take it two steps further than that.

One, I’d make it a Mask vs Hair Match. If you know your Lucha Libre, you know how big of a deal that is, even though we’ve already seen Rey unmasked once before.

Two, after Dom wins the match, I’d pull the trigger on a face turn for him. It wouldn’t take much. He’d be a dastardly heel for the entire build of the match, but once he wins, and once the emotions and the pageantry of the moment takes over, you could have Rey crying, Rey’s wife crying, Rey’s daughter crying, and then… Dominik himself crying. He understands what the moment means, and knows what his father just did for him.

Dom has proven, both in the United States and in Mexico, that he could be a major babyface star, but the company just likes to tease a face run for him here and there, and nothing ever comes from it. Let’s go ahead and change that here.

Roman Reigns vs Oba Femi: Even though this is a column about what I would do if I was running things when it comes to WWE’s creative direction, it feels weird that this doesn’t say “Roman Reigns vs The Rock” after me calling for it for a couple years straight. As much as I’d like to see the match, and as much money as it could make, I have such little faith that it will ever happen that it bled over into my fantasy booking. Besides, Roman vs Oba is something that needs… n-e-e-d-s… to happen.

WWE has really found themselves in a tough, yet very interesting, spot when it comes to Oba Femi. I’m not sure what WWE’s initial trajectory for Oba was, but I truly believe he has surpassed everything they originally set out for him.

Roman vs Oba is a big time, big fight match. That was obvious right away, and when Oba called Roman out after WrestleMania 42, fans wondered how the hell WWE was supposed to keep those two away from each other for an entire year. We all assumed Brock Lesnar was retired, but he came back to keep Oba occupied for a bit longer, and then Oba moved on to a feud with The Vision.

Now, he has called Roman out for a second time. How much longer can WWE delay the inevitable?

Luckily for the company, Crown Jewel is the next pay-per-view, and that will see Roman facing off against Sami Zayn for the Crown Jewel Championship unless one of them loses their respective titles between now and November 7th. After Crown Jewel comes Survivor Series, and it sure seems like Roman will be a participant in War Games once again, now that The Bloodline is at war with 946. That leaves us with Wrestlepalooza on December 12th and then the Royal Rumble on February 6th. With Wrestlepalooza taking place in Western Australia this year, that might also bode well for the company, because they rarely pull out ALL of the big guns for their shows overseas. You might not have both the World Titles on the line, and Lord knows Roman isn’t wrestling on every pay-per-view, title or no title.

That leaves a pretty clear path to the Royal Rumble… where you can book Oba to win the men’s Rumble and have him immediately say that he wants Roman at WrestleMania. Boom. Problem solved. Oba still has some issues with The Vision that can take up a little bit more of his time, and then he can easily move on to matches with someone like Royce Keys. Hell, he can even work with some of the other guys in The Bloodline for a while.

Either way, waiting until WrestleMania for Roman vs Oba is definitely doable. Barring injury or some sort of unforeseen circumstances, I think you can put that match down in ink for Mania, so I’m not exactly going out on a limb to call for it. It’s a no-brainer.

A Youth Movement/Fresh Faces: I’m not saying that you can’t win a match at WrestleMania if you’re over the age of 30. What I am saying is that WrestleMania is a very important time of year for WWE. Not just because it’s a big show, but also because it’s a way for the company to lay things out for the year to come, and often, several years to come.

There are 14 champions on the WWE main roster right now… 18 if you count main roster members who are holding a title of some sort in AAA. Of those names, a total of three of them are currently under the age of 30… Austin Theory, Bron Breakker, and Tatum Paxley…. and Tatum will be turning 30 less than two weeks after this column is posted.

It’s not just about age, though. It feels like, far more often than not, the same people continue to get the same opportunities for the same titles. I would change that.

Having Oba Femi defeat Roman Reigns to become the new World Heavyweight Champion would go a long way to change things. Yes, Oba will be right on the verge of turning 29 when WrestleMania rolls around, but he’s a fresh name in the title picture.

How about someone like Je’Von Evans winning the aforementioned Ladder Match to become the new Intercontinental Champion?

Jaida Parker has already made quite the mark in her very brief time on the main roster. She’d be quite the contender for the Women’s Intercontinental Title, but so would Sol Ruca and Lola Vice.

Are we going to keep delaying the inevitable of Roxanne Perez breaking free from The Judgment Day and reaching the top of the women’s division on Raw? We shouldn’t be.

Again, I’m not saying only people of a certain age should be winning at WrestleMania, nor am I saying every title should change hands to a younger, first-time winner. I just think it’s time to start building the future to be brighter, stronger, and maybe… just maybe… better.

What are some things that would be taking place at WrestleMania 43 if you were in charge of things? You can be serious or a bit silly, but either way, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.

Now, let’s switch things over to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing it out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.

Weekly Power Rankings

The Young Bucks vs Kyle Fletcher & Kevin Knight: In last week’s column, I wrote about my love of tag team wrestling. This was one of those fantastic modern day tag matches that produces plenty of divide with wrestling fans, but it’s a still that I greatly appreciate. All four men looked really strong, and the match featured a frantic pace that continued to build and build.

Andrade El Ídolo vs Tommaso Ciampa: While Andrade did really well here, Ciampa was the true star, even in defeat. He worked an incredibly entertaining match, finding a great balance of comedy spots and brutal physicality. The spot where he “wrestled” against Andrade’s pants, only for the pants to “kick out” of a pin attempt was exactly the type of absurdity that I love about this sport.

Swerve Strickland, Kofi & Austin Creed vs “Hangman” Adam Page, Bandido & Brody King: It’s a trios match in AEW… no matter who is involved, it’s going to be high quality. These teams together makes for some extra fun because of the side story that is Swerve and Hangman’s legendary rivalry. The other four men are trying to have themselves a great match, but then you have Swerve and Hangman looking to murder each other at every turn. Now that the Trios Titles have changed hands, I have to assume Kofi and Creed will be going after the AEW Tag Team Titles sooner than later.

Stephanie Vaquer: You saw those pictures of her in Hawaii… you know why she’s listed here.

Chad Gable vs Rey Fenix: Both men are on quite the roll with their in-ring performances. Gable has been the Intercontinental Champion for about two-and-a-half months now, but he has continued to have a quietly great reign. It doesn’t get anywhere near the credit it deserves, because there’s so much going on in WWE over that span, but he keeps having great match after great match. I’d really like to see him move up the card a bit.

Jon Moxley vs Mark Davis: It would be difficult to find a match with a slower pace that doesn’t involve two 400-pounders, but they more than made up for it with their physicality. They were dropping bombs on each other from the opening bell, and it’s almost amazing that the match lasted as long as it did because of that.

Persephone vs Hyan vs Queen Aminata vs Dani Luna: Another entertaining, physical bout that featured good pacing. This one was put together well, and I was a bit surprised to see Persephone retain her TBS Title. Not shocked… just a bit surprised. To me, it seemed like Aminata was being built up to be the new champion. Obviously, that can still happen. I just figured it would take place here.

Noam Dar & Romeo Moreno vs Nathan Frazer & Axiom: The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has been a blast to watch, and even though the tournament isn’t over yet, there has already been a few teams to get a major spotlight placed on them. I like what is happening in NXT’s tag division right now.

Will Ospreay vs Samoa Joe vs Adam Copeland vs Ricochet vs Konosuke Takeshita vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs Kazuchika Okada vs Darby Allin: The match was entertaining, even though there was never a real reason to believe Ospreay was going to lose the title this soon after all the effort that went into him winning it to begin with. My biggest gripe with the match, though, is the asinine amount of falls in the match. In 33 minutes, there were 13 total falls, including 11 in the official 15-minute “scoring period.” This is the company where even a random match between midcarders on Collision is going to go 15-20 minutes and feature both wrestlers kicking out of finisher after finisher… and now, all of a sudden, finishers work? C’mon, son.

Ilja Dragunov: He’s the newest addition to the AEW roster, and his style presents him with every opportunity to thrive there. As usual, though, his success truly depends on Tony Khan’s booking. How many times have we seen AEW bring in a “flavor of the month” signing, push them for a brief period of time, and then seemingly forget about them on a roster that is too deep and too talented? It wouldn’t surprise me if Dragunov was the AEW World Champion before 2026 comes to an end, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if Dragunov is losing matches to members of the Don Callis Family on Collision before 2026 comes to an end.

Will Ospreay & Andrade El Ídolo vs Samoa Joe & Tommaso Ciampa: A nice appetizer before the pay-per-view, previewing two different matches for WrestleDream. It was nothing earth-shattering, but it did what it set out to do.

Konosuke Takeshita vs Brian Cage: Cage looked good here in defeat, but that defeat was always going to be the outcome. Can you imagine if he would’ve earned a spot in Clockwork Carnage out of nowhere? He rarely wins singles matches on AEW programming, and when he does, it’s usually against lower-tier guys like Zachary Wentz or Anthony Bowens. He was never going to defeat someone like Takeshita, but maybe his performance here will carry him to something bigger. We’ll see, I guess, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Carmelo Hayes: Would I have preferred to see him in a face role? Yes. I think there was a lot more that could’ve been done there. However, I’m just happy to see him back on television again. He hasn’t wrestled in two months, and hasn’t won a match on television in five months. Being the newest member of 946, and working a feud against The Bloodline, gives him the biggest spotlight he’s had to date in WWE. It will be fun to see what he can do with that.

Chazz “Starboy” Hall & Mini Vikingo vs Brad Baylor & Ricky Smokes: Like I said earlier, I’ve enjoyed seeing what the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic has been able to do for some of the teams in the tournament. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Starboy and Mini Vikingo, even after they’ve been eliminated from the DRTTC.

Trick Williams vs Johnny Gargano: A fun match, but probably not something that you’re going to remember in a week or two. Them’s the breaks, really. Not every match is going to be a Match Of The Year contender, and that’s fine.

The Usos & Solo Sikoa vs Royce Keys, Lucien Price & Bronco Nima: A good enough brawl to continue the feud between both sides, but it’s going to be overshadowed by Carmelo Hayes showing up to join 946.

This Week’s Playlist: “Nowhere Fast” by Lucky Daye… “Knockin” by Lucky Daye, Muni Long & The Paradox… “Make believe” by Rachel Chinouriri… “West Coast ’96” by KXNG Crooked… “Piece Of Mind” by Darkside Ballaz… “COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS” by $uicideboy$… “Oh, What A Wretched Man I Am!” by $uicideboy$… “Waiting Room” by Aaron Page… “Rock Wit’cha” by Bobby Brown… “Good Enough” by Bobby Brown… “Do What I Gotta Do” by Ralph Tresvant… “Shy Guy” by Diana King… “Tease Me” by Chaka Demus & Pliers… “Girl I’ve Been Hurt” by Snow… “Shake You Down” by Gregory Abbott… “They Gonna Talk” by Beres Hammond… “Here Comes Trouble” by Chronixx… “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” by 2Pac… “All About U” by 2Pac, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Hussein Fatal & Yaki Kadafi… “How Do U Want It” by 2Pac, K-Ci & Jojo… “2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted” by 2Pac & Snoop Doggy Dogg… “Life Goes On” by 2Pac… “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” by 2Pac & Danny Boy… “Can’t C Me” by 2Pac & George Clinton… “When We Ride” by 2Pac & Outlaw Immortalz… “All Eyez On Me” by 2Pac & Big Syke… “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin… “Gimme Back My Bullets” by Lynyrd Skynyrd… “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers… “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger… “Cannonball” by The Breeders