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Headlining WrestleMania is the WWE equivalent of a sports team winning a trophy at the end of a hard-fought season. However, unlike other sports, WWE does not have an off-season, which means the company's Superstars perform at a high level every week of the year.
WWE promotes WrestleMania as the pinnacle of sports entertainment, with the RAW after 'Mania kick-starting the beginning of a new year in WWE.
Unfortunately, while it is the full-time Superstars who are involved in the majority of WWE storylines on a weekly basis, only a select few of them have been booked to compete in the main event of WrestleMania over the last decade.
John Cena, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, AJ Styles, and Drew McIntyre have all main-evented WWE's biggest show of the year as full-time Superstars, while Ronda Rousey also worked a full-time schedule prior to her leave of absence after WrestleMania 35.
So, will part-time Superstars like Brock Lesnar continue to headline WrestleMania in the years to come? Or is it time for WWE's current crop of Superstars to step up and battle to compete in the last match of the night?
In this article, let's take a look at five Superstars who believe they will be in WrestleMania's main event one day.
#5 Seth Rollins (WWE RAW)
The biggest moment of Seth Rollins' WWE career so far came in 2015 when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 31 to win the WWE Championship for the first time.
Technically, the former Shield member main-evented WrestleMania that year. After all, the Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match restarted as a Triple Threat, with Rollins being added to it, and all three men competed in a short match at the end of the show.
Despite that memorable 'Mania moment, Rollins said at an ACE Comic-Con in October 2018 that it is still his aim to headline the event one day in a match that has already been advertised.
“The one thing that I haven’t done is been on the marquee in the main event at WrestleMania, So, I don’t know man… 2018 has been a really good year for me, so we’ll see what WrestleMania brings next year in New York.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Six months after making that comment, Rollins kicked off WrestleMania 35 with a Universal Championship victory over Brock Lesnar.
One year later, The Monday Night Messiah was defeated by Kevin Owens in a No Disqualification match on the first night of WrestleMania 36, which means he has still not headlined WWE's annual extravaganza in a match that has been promoted in advance by WWE.
#4 Keith Lee (WWE NXT)
Keith Lee made a huge impact at WWE Survivor Series 2019 when he made it to the final two in the five-on-five-on-five elimination match between Team RAW, Team SmackDown and Team NXT.
The WWE NXT Superstar received a lot of praise after his Survivor Series showing, with CM Punk even saying on WWE Backstage that it is a “no-brainer” that he should win the 2020 Royal Rumble to earn a World Championship opportunity at WrestleMania 36.
As it turned out, Lee made a three-minute appearance in the Royal Rumble and he did not feature in a match at WrestleMania, but the future still looks bright for one of WWE NXT’s most talented Superstars.
In July 2020, Lee predicted on Twitter that he will headline WrestleMania one day, with long-term rival Dominik Dijakovic being his dream opponent.
“We beat the c*** out of each other. Our bond strengthens through combat every time. Because of that, this is forever my dude. One day we will main event #Wrestlemania. And we’ll beat the c*** out of each other again. Big shoutout to @dijakovicwwe. I love that guy. #FeastYourEyes”
The two men have competed against each other on six occasions on NXT programming, with Lee winning three times and Dijakovic winning once. The other two matches ended without a clear winner.
#3 Bayley (WWE SmackDown)
Speaking in an October 2016 interview with Bleacher Report, Bayley predicted that WWE’s female Superstars would headline PPVs by the end of 2017 and headline WrestleMania by 2021.
“One year from now, I see us main-eventing pay-per-views. Five years from now, I see us main-eventing WrestleMania. Not as one of the main events. The main event.”
The interest around WWE women’s division progressed more rapidly than Bayley imagined. In fact, just two weeks after that interview, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks made history by main-eventing the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in a RAW Women’s Championship match.
In 2019, the first women’s main event in WrestleMania history took place when Becky Lynch defeated Ronda Rousey and Flair to win the RAW Women’s Championship and SmackDown Women’s Championship, and it has now become common for women to headline WWE’s shows.
Speaking to talkSPORT's Alex McCarthy in January 2020, Bayley also set her sights on main-eventing WrestleMania 36 in a long-awaited match against Sasha Banks. However, rumors of a split between the two long-term allies proved to be wide of the mark.
“I would love to see her [Sasha Banks] win the Royal Rumble match. Then I could go on and beat Lacey [Evans] and maybe we could have that big old main event that we deserve [at WrestleMania].”
Bayley ended up retaining her SmackDown Women’s Championship in a Fatal 5-Way elimination match at WrestleMania 36, with Banks helping her friend to eliminate Lacey Evans and pick up the win.
#2 The Miz (WWE SmackDown)
Unlike the other WWE Superstars in this list, The Miz has already headlined WrestleMania in an advertised match.
In 2011, The A-Lister successfully defended the WWE Championship against John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27, with special guest host The Rock interfering to cost Cena the match.
The Miz, who suffered a concussion during the 19-minute encounter, has not been involved in any WrestleMania main events since that match against Cena, but he hopes that will change in 2021 when WrestleMania is due to take place in California.
“This is a goal that I’ve set out to do. It’s a goal that I said, ‘I’m going to main event WrestleMania 37. That’s exactly where I need to be.’ And that’s what I plan on doing. There is no other options for me. That’s the option.” [H/T Comic Book]
As you can see in the tweet above, The Miz is so focused on his WrestleMania goal that he has tried to motivate himself by claiming he will have to quit WWE if he does not compete in the last match of the night at next year’s ‘Mania.
#1 Alexa Bliss (WWE SmackDown)
Alexa Bliss has been involved in matches and/or segments at every WrestleMania event since she joined WWE’s main roster in 2016.
In 2017, she lost the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Naomi in a six-pack challenge match at WrestleMania 33, while she lost the RAW Women’s Championship one year later against Nia Jax at WrestleMania 34.
The Goddess of WWE hosted WrestleMania 35 in 2019 before joining forces with Nikki Cross to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles from The Kabuki Warriors at WrestleMania 36.
Speaking to The Mirror in August 2018, Bliss made it clear that her biggest ambition as a WWE Superstar is to headline WrestleMania one day.
“The ultimate goal is to main event WrestleMania. That is the big one and is on all of the women's bucket lists. It really is and would be the epitome of what this evolution is. I am also just happy to help continuing to elevate the women’s evolution.”
As one of the most prominent Superstars in WWE’s women’s division, there is every chance that Bliss will achieve that goal before her WWE career comes to an end.
