Wrestlemania 41: WWE Scrapped Idea Of Having Current Champion On Match Card

As of last week, both nights’ match cards for Wrestlemania 41 were almost finalized, with the expectation that one final announcement could come this weekend. Randy Orton isn’t willing to miss the show after his original opponent, Kevin Owens was sidelined due to injury, and WWE is likely to schedule a new opponent for him.

Meanwhile, there’s one noticeable absence from the Wrestlemania 41 match card: Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green. Despite finding success in the first-ever run with the newly introduced title in last year’s December, Green was not announced for either night of the event. Recent reports suggest that there were no concrete plans for her involvement on the card, at all.

Fightful Select reached out to WWE sources to know whether there was any creative direction for Green and a championship defense. They were informed that “as of late last week, she was not scheduled for the show.”

It was informed to Fightful that initial ideas were there to include Green in a non-wrestling capacity, including the option of her being the Host of WrestleMania 41, but the idea wasn’t approved. “We’re told there had been a couple of pitches for her to host the show,” the report noted. But, “there was nothing there” once they reached that weekend.

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Sources close to WWE’s creative team further suggested that there was still a slight possibility of having Green on Wrestlemania 41 in a different capacity, but no segment was added to the finalized card. “Once the show is formatted out, it’s possible that a skit or segment (could) be added,” one source said, before clarifying that, “as of each of the last two times we’d asked, that wasn’t the case.”

That being said, neither the women’s United States nor the Intercontinental title will be on the line at Wrestlemania 41. While the IC title-holder Lyra Valkyria will be competing for the women’s tag titles, the US title-holder Green will team up with Secret Hervice (Piper Niven & Alba Fyre) to take on Zelina Vega, Katana Chance & Kayden Carter in a six-woman tag team match on this week’s Smackdown.

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Wrestlemania 41 WWE premium live event will emanate from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20. To date, 13 matches have been confirmed for the biggest PLE night of the year, as given below,

WWE Wrestlemania 41 PLE Night One Match Card

– Triple Threat Match: Roman Reigns vs. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins (Wrestlemania 41 Night One Main Event)
– WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. Jey Uso
– WWE Women’s Championship Match: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
– WWE United States Championship Match: LA Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu
– WWE World Tag Team Championship Match: War Raiders (c) vs. The New Day
– Jade Cargill vs. Naomi
– Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano (Chad Gable in a mask)

Wrestlemania 41 PLE Night Two Match Card

– Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena (Wrestlemania 41 Night Two Main Event)
– WWE Women’s World Championship Triple Threat Match: IYO SKY (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley
– WWE Intercontinental Championship Fatal-4-Way Match: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Penta, Finn Balor, and Dominik Mysterio
– WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria & Bayley
– Sin City Street Fight: Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest
– AJ Styles vs. Logan Paul