WWE roster shifts and WrestleMania 42 planning finalized in March

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 28: Danhausen debuts in WWE during Elimination Chamber at the United Center on February 28, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty Images) | WWE via Getty Images Welcome to the weekly Rumor Look Back, where we look at the rumors from six months ago and see which played out as originally stated. Let’s jump right to it. March 2, 2026 Per Bodyslam.net, Seth Rollins is expected to work a match at WrestleMania 42 and he may have already been cleared. He worked Gooner. (1/1) Danhausen has officially signed with WWE, says PW Insider. The company went out of their way to hide him outside of Chicago so he wouldn’t be seen before the big mystery crate reveal. It’s believed he will be at Monday Night Raw this week. He was at Raw. It was a funny segment. This was probably more up in the air given how rough his debut seemed, but reactions to how that could tank his WWE run were clearly overreaction, especially because the character being full of himself but no one else thinks so kind of fit with that debut. (1/1) Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that there were some within the company who pushed to sign him and some who were opposed to it. “This was not a unanimous decision or anything like that.” He proved his worth. It helps that he was able to take credit for the Knicks winning a championship. Last one on Danhausen: Bodyslam.net claims WWE had been looking to bring him in dating back to July of last year but AEW extended his contract. He fits their mold very well. He’s the “entertainment” in sports entertainment to a T. Meltzer also said on WOR that WWE was originally building to Finn Balor vs. Dominik Mysterio at SummerSlam last year but decided to continue going with The Judgment Day. It appears now they’re turning Balor babyface and they could be going to the Mysterio match next. That was too drawn out. (1/1) Bronson Reed was supposed to get the big spotlight in the Elimination Chamber match that went to Logan Paul, says Cory Hayes. That’s a tough one. Fightful Select notes people within AEW aren’t particularly concerned about Paramount winning the fight for Warner Bros. Discovery, considering the company’s media rights give them stability at present time. We’ll see how they do the next time they have to get a deal, but I don’t think they’re particularly worried. March 3, 2026 According to WrestleVotes, the three candidates for GUNTHER’s opponent at WrestleMania 42 are Rey Mysterio, Oba Femi, and Brock Lesnar. It was Seth Rollins. (0/1) They also say they’ve heard rumblings within the WWE locker room that there is heat on Jade Cargill. These rumors have been around before. Enough smoke to think there’s a fire to it? Speaking of Cargill, Wrestling Observer Live claims original plans had her penciled in to battle Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 42 but Belair simply didn’t recover from her injury in time. That and her pregnancy. But that would have made sense for a larger plan. Per Fightful Select, Danhausen’s AEW contract actually expired on Feb. 28, the same day he debuted for WWE at Elimination Chamber. He tweeted something implying this, though he deleted it on Feb. 27 so… There is no creative currently in place for Royce Keys, though he has been at SmackDown recently, says WrestleVotes. He’s finally got himself a stable, which recently got a name. Unless something changes, Lady Frost will be leaving AEW and become a free agent on April 1, says Fightful. She hasn’t worked for them. (1/1) March 4, 2026 According to SelfMadePro, Cody Rhodes defending the WWE championship against Randy Orton is the plan for WrestleMania 42, and has been for some time. PW Insider Elite has backed this up, saying the belief is Drew McIntyre will lose the title on SmackDown this week but that’s not a reflection of his work but rather how much WWE wants to do the Rhodes vs. Orton singles match. That was the match (featuring Pat McAfee and Jelly Roll). (1/1) WWE’s “seriously considering” a double turn of Trick Williams and Sami Zayn, per SelfMadePro. On that same note, Bodyslam.net is claiming WWE is strongly considering putting the two in a match at WrestleMania 42. That was the way it went. It wasn’t a crisp double turn but more folks were already leaning that way. (1/1) For all the work/shoot talk surrounding Jade Cargill and Rhea Ripley’s exchanges on social media, Fightful Select notes that either way WWE is happy with the buzz they have created. That wasn’t a great build (overall sloppy in my opinion) but it was a good match. Sources told reporter Blake Avignon that ESPN and WWE’s partnership continues to be rocky, with one person calling it a “DNA mismatch”. Avignon’s heard ESPN is specifically unhappy about TKO’s ban on WrestleMania watch parties in Las Vegas as “a self-inflicted deterrent” to night two ticket sales, with that source pointing to “the rising cost of WWE fandom” as evidence of “Mark Shapiro’s growing disconnect from the everyday WWE consumer.“ They have recently reiterated their belief in WWE, but that wasn’t surprising and doesn’t necessarily mean they’re pleased with how it is going. But it’s too early for them to have made any concrete decisions. While discussing the different reactions El Grande Americano gets in WWE and in AAA, Konnan said on his Keepin’ It 100 podcast that what the wrestlers do on WWE television has “nothing” to do with what they do in AAA. That generally makes sense. Tehuti Miles, who wrestled as Ashante Thee Adonis in WWE, “has been under contract for a number of months,” according to Fightful Select. With whom? He’s worked six match with ROH (and no one else) this year so AEW I guess. March 5, 2026 Following up on yesterday’s reports that Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton is WWE’s current plan for WrestleMania 42, Fightful Select added that Rhodes and Orton have been aware of the plan “as far back as January”. That was the route. (1/1) Fightful’s also heard that “one of the reasons the WWE Title was taken off of Cody Rhodes was so that he would be featured in the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches, adding to the draw of those shows”. Makes sense. On Bodyslam’s Patreon however, they WWE didn’t start talking about Orton vs. Rhodes until last month, and that Cody and Drew McIntyre just found out last week. They hear McIntyre will face Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania now, and that he’ll take time off immediately afterwards to go film Highlander. We will have to split the rumor on the timing on the Mania match so this disputes the one a couple prior. (I tend to believe this one more based on how things played out on TV.) That was the McIntyre match at Mania. We haven’t seen him since then. (2/3) WWE offered David Finlay “a lower level contract and not a main roster level contract”, per Cory Hayes from Bodyslam.net. He didn’t want to start on an NXT deal, and decided to sign with AEW within the last week. Lowballing folks will cost you some talent . Fightful also reported that timeframe for when Finlay’s AEW deal came together, and added that he signed a multi-year deal with Tony Khan’s promotion. I think he’s a good AEW fit. Wrestling Observer’s Daily Update reminds us that Saturday’s Vengeance Day will be the last NXT event to stream on Peacock, which will only have four Saturday Night’s Main Event specials each year from here on out. No word where NXT PLE’s will land. There was one on YouTube and then CW/ESPN. A source told PW Insider that Royce Keys’ absence from WWE television is not due to lack of creative, but because he’s getting “acclimated” to the company’s production style. “99% of talents who are hired go through that process”, per the source, who also pointed to WWE’s promotion of the former Powerhouse Hobbs’ interview with Stephanie McMahon as proof they won’t be shelving Keys. The finally found some good stuff for him. Insider’s report on Danhausen mentioned that he’ll be at the Performance Center in Orlando this week, and Friday’s SmackDown in Phoenix. He was on SmackDown. NXT had passed so maybe he was just working out at the PC? (1/1) Bodyslam also says Evolve Women’s champion Kendal Grey will move on from that brand soon. She did not work any Evolve show since February. (1/1) This week: 11/13 – 85% Overall: 6,463/10,963 – 59.0% Have a great week, everyone!