WWE has reportedly locked in Cody Rhodes for a major match at WrestleMania 42.
The road to WWE WrestleMania 42 is heating up, and the promotion has two matches lined up for the PLE so far. 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan has opted to face Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship, and Roman Reigns, who won the men’s contest, will challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship. He will face the winner of the CM Punk vs. Finn Balor match from Elimination Chamber tomorrow.
The winner of the men’s Elimination Chamber match will go on to challenge Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE Championship. However, according to recent reports, the title picture for WrestleMania 42 is still unclear. Now, F4WOnline‘s Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Cody Rhodes, who’s in the Chamber match this weekend, is a “virtual lock” for the Undisputed WWE Championship match at the Show of Shows in Las Vegas.
Meltzer noted that while Cody Rhodes taking on Drew McIntyre is confirmed, there are frustrations within WWE about it being a singles match. Some feel that way because Rhodes and McIntyre have already wrestled three singles contests, including two in PLEs in recent months.
Rhodes and McIntyre have actually wrestled four singles matches since September 2025. Two took place on episodes of SmackDown, one on the Wrestlepalooza PLE, and one on the Saturday Night’s Main Event TV special.
Jacob Fatu could join Cody Rhodes in the WWE title match at WrestleMania 42
Dave Meltzer said that Jacob Fatu could be added to the match and that WWE is not looking to involve more than three people in the contest. He also believes the promotion has already decided the Undisputed WWE Championship picture for WrestleMania 42 despite the rest of the show undergoing rewrites.
“The other talk regards McIntyre’s WWE title match. It’s a virtual lock Rhodes would be involved in that. Whether it’s a singles match or a three-way with Jacob Fatu, or even more that would involve Randy Orton, Sami Zayn or others is unclear, and may not even be finalized. What we have been told is that a match involving more than three people is not being talked about right now.”
“My impression is that this has already been decided even though plans for the rest of the show are being rewritten. There has been frustration that the original plans were ditched and the idea of McIntyre vs. Rhodes has been questioned as a single because it’s too predictable and is what people expect.”
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