52-year-old legend to retire at WrestleMania 40 after wrestling in AEW? Exploring potential retirement

Modified Aug 10, 2023 15:19 GMT

WrestleMania 40 could be the perfect event for this legend to retire.

WrestleMania 40, or WrestleMania XL, will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania next year. Fans are already speculating what matches we may see at the Grandest Stage of Them All. A broken Bloodline Triple Threat between three brothers? Gunther vs. Brock Lesnar? Cody Rhodes finally finishing his story and defeating Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship?

While nothing's confirmed, there's a lot of potential for the next installment in the iconic PLE series. Considering the location, though, could we see an icon from Philly wrestle his last match in April? On AEW Dynamite, we saw Rob Van Dam make his first appearance for the promotion. The Whole F'n Show attempted to take the FTW Championship away from Jack Perry and looked fantastic in a losing effort.

It's obvious that RVD still has it, and can still deliver a great performance for fans. Putting him in front of a white-hot Philly fanbase, one of the most loyal crowds in all of pro wrestling, could make for an exciting and fitting end to a legendary career.

Even though Rob Van Dam entered the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021, he wouldn't be the first to do so and wrestle for the promotion after the fact. Ric Flair and Edge both come to mind, as well as Rey Mysterio who's been on TV on a weekly basis. So Van Dam could join an elite group of WWE Hall of Famers who have wrestled WrestleMania matches after their HOF inductions.

Would you like to see Rob Van Dam leave his boots in the ring in Philly at WrestleMania 40?

What could the WrestleMania 40 card look like in eight months?

We've got a lot of time between now and April 6th for night one of 'Mania 40. At this moment, no matches have been announced for the show, and it's highly unlikely that happens until February at the earliest.

Still, we can take a look at the roster and stories going on in WWE now to get a decent guess at what the card could look like. More than likely, Cody Rhodes will be challenging Roman Reigns once again for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.

There are a handful of superstars that WWE seem to be fully backing now, Gunther, Judgment Day, and most recently LA Knight. If Rob Van Dam does retire in Philly, we could see him step up for his ECW alumni Rey Mysterio by taking on Dirty Dom.

Here's a guesstimate of what WrestleMania 40 might look like by the time April rolls around.