John Cena Losing And 5 Smart Booking Decisions For Saturday

WrestleMania 39 is shaping up to be one of the most successful events in WWE history, and it all starts tonight with a loaded show headlined by The Usos vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as well as the in-ring return of John Cena.

Projected to have a near-sellout crowd of more than close to 70,000 fans, Night One of WrestleMania 39 has already sets an all-time live gate record and should break viewership records, too. On paper, the show looks nothing short of incredible and should feature a handful of epic matches involving some of the biggest stars in the business.

WrestleMania Night One also is set to feature some career-defining moments for stars like Austin Theory, Seth Rollins and Rhea Ripley while potentially crafting new storyline developments for Night Two and beyond. Of course, as good as this card appears to be—see below—the booking of it will ultimately determine its success.

Here are five smart booking decisions WWE must make on Night One of WrestleMania 39.

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Dominik Mysterio Beats Rey Mysterio

The father-son feud between Rey and Dominik has been a surprising success, both in terms of its overall quality and the amount of interest it’s generated among fans.

The tremendously booked long-term storyline has really elevated Dominik and entrenched him as an easy-to-hate upper midcard heel, which seemed virtually unfathomable a year ago. While the trajectory of this story suggests that Rey will get his vengeance by defeating his disrespectful son while also getting a marquee WrestleMania moment, this feud is not on its last legs—not by a long shot. In fact, this match reportedly is not “a one and done.”

Especially with Rey unlikely to retire despite rumors to the contrary, the Rey vs. Dominik feud should extend beyond WrestleMania in order to further solidify Dominik as a top-level heel. That necessitates a dirty win by Dominik at Mania that will get him nuclear levels of heat moving forward.

Charlotte Flair Loses, Paving The Way For A Heel Turn

On last week’s episode of SmackDown, Charlotte Flair gave a very heel-ish promo that could be a sign of things to come. In fact, it should be.

The Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley feud has felt off from the get-go, in large part because Flair simply isn’t a believable fan favorite. She’s 100 times better as a heel, and though she thinks her match with Ripley should main event WrestleMania, their storyline hasn’t been nearly good enough to earn that distinction.

The fix is relatively easy, though. With Ripley garnering strong babyface reactions and Flair much more comfortable in the heel role, Ripley needs to defeat Flair at WrestleMania. That way, a frustrated Flair can turn heel either at Mania or the next night on Raw and return to her more natural roots.

Seth Rollins Slays Logan Paul In A Competitive Match

Expectations for Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul should be sky high, especially given how impressive Paul has been despite very limited in-ring experience. This may very well end up being the best match all weekend, and it’s important that both stars come out of the match looking like world title contenders.

Rollins is red hot as a babyface, and with Roman Reigns potentially taking a lengthy hiatus after WrestleMania 39, he’s going to be one of WWE’s top two or three stars after the show, if he isn’t already. Similarly, Paul has been linked to a potential future feud with John Cena and has established himself as a major part-time attraction for WWE.

With Paul losing his last match to Reigns, failing to win the Royal Rumble and likely set to lose to Rollins, it’s important that he looks strong even in defeat so that he’s still viewed as a main event talent moving forward in a potentially Reigns-less WWE. Because Paul says his contract expires at Mania, he should lose, but he should be kept strong in the seemingly inevitable event that he returns to wrestle again.

Austin Theory Defeats John Cena

With John Cena continuing to prove his drawing prower, it’s clear what his WrestleMania 39 role should be: He must elevate Austin Theory.

At 25 years old, Theory is arguably the brightest young star in the entire company, and he’s perhaps the lone talent on Raw or SmackDown who could legitimately be a top WWE star for the next two decades, a la Cena or Randy Orton before him. Just being in the ring with Cena at WrestleMania will do wonders for fan perception of Theory as a top star, but he should beat Cena, too.

Theory is yet to have that true career-defining win, and he’s spent much of his career losing to the top babyfaces on Raw. If he were to beat Cena on the biggest stage in pro wrestling, he’d be instantly catapulted to uber-heel status, and given the way Cena has buried him on the microphone, it’s a necessity to prove that Theory is here to stay.

The Bloodline Begins To Crumble

The storyline involving Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns and The Bloodline is arguably the greatest long-term angle in WWE history, and despite any doubts about whether Zayn is viewed as a top star after his meteoric rise over the past year, those doubts have been put to rest as he’s reportedly viewed as a main eventer in the company.

The Bloodline has helped transform Zayn into a big draw, turned Kevin Owens into a massive babyface and elevated Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa to new heights. But all good things must come to an end, and the beginning of the end for The Bloodline should start at WrestleMania 39 when Zayn and Owens defeat the Usos for the Undisputed tag team titles.

There is no more fitting climax for this amazing storyline than Zayn and Owens reuniting to put the first major crack into The Bloodline’s foundation, resulting in a number of intriguing post-WrestleMania feuds to carry WWE into the summer—whether Reigns is around or not.