For the second year in a row, WWE takes over Allegiant Stadium and Las Vegas, Nevada, as they host the “Showcase of the Immortals” WWE WrestleMania 42. The “Grandaddy of them All” doesn’t need an introduction, considering it’s the spectacle to end all spectacles as far as professional wrestling and sports entertainment is concerned, and you know it will deliver in more ways than one. So with all the pleasantries out of the way, here is the WWE WrestleMania 42 preview and match card for night 1 on April 18, 2026.
Without further ado, let’s run it down.
Read More: WWE WrestleMania 42 Preview & Match Card (4/19/26) – Night 2
Women’s Intercontinental Championship Match
AJ Lee came back at the tail-end of 2025, much to the adulation of the WWE Universe. A woman who practically carried a dying division in the 2010s, Lee’s comeback brought even more life to the now thriving WWE Women’s Division. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way; as a matter of fact, they detest the notion that AJ Lee spearheaded a division that they wanted to kill for so long, and that woman is Becky Lynch.
To her credit, Lynch is undoubtedly the face of the Women’s Revolution, producing some of the highest of highs this period of the Women’s Division has ever seen. “The Man” took it upon herself, by hook or by crook, to thrust the women’s professional wrestling industry into unimaginable heights, and she succeeded in doing that and more.
The problem is, Becky Lynch feels like she’s not getting her due diligence, with stars coming back, like AJ Lee, claiming they were trailblazers when she feels like she was the one who saved and led the way for women’s professional wrestling in WWE to thrive.
On the other hand, AJ Lee sees it as every era contributing to the big picture, and she’s not here to take anyone’s spot, but if Lynch views it that way, she just might have to. The match at Wrestlepalooza, Lee winning the Women’s Intercontinental Title at Elimination Chamber, among many other disputes, has led to this.
For the Women’s Intercontinental Championship, two generational wrestlers collide as AJ Lee defends the gold, in her first WrestleMania match since 2015, against Becky Lynch. Two of the best of any era finally settle the score, and they do it for all the marbles on the “Showcase of the Immortals.”
Undisputed WWE Championship Match
Once the best of friends, they have a student-mentor relationship that mirrors brothers. Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and the “Apex Predator” Randy Orton duke it out in the main event of night 1 at WrestleMania 42. It was all supposed to be easy, as Randy Orton pointed out: win the Chamber and face Drew McIntyre and claim his legacy-defining 15th world title.
Unfortunately, Cody Rhodes also had revenge on his mind and wanted to reclaim the title that had always been precious to him since he won his first at WrestleMania 41 against Roman Reigns. All these events led to Orton unleashing his darker side, prompting Randy to violently torture Rhodes on the way to their championship match at ‘Mania 42.
Of course, Cody Rhodes would not let this go and proceeded to fire back both verbally and physically, especially when Pat McAfee entered the picture. The mind behind the transformation of Orton back to his old vicious self, McAfee reminded the master of the RKO that he’s an icon of the business, and he needs to “save it” from the likes of Rhodes and the fresh batch of talent that will inherit the business.
Undeterred, Rhodes launched a barrage unlike any other, proving to everyone that he also has a darker side similar to Orton, maybe even darker.
Now, on the first night of a two-night extravaganza, a legacy-defining match is afoot as Cody Rhodes defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton, a deranged individual hellbent on capturing gold after half a decade away from his grasp, who will stop at nothing to cement his legend further.
Who will walk out of WrestleMania 42 night 1 as Undisputed WWE Champion? Will Cody Rhodes be able to finish another, albeit a nightmare scenario, of a story? Or will Randy Orton, as well as Pat McAfee, usher in the old era into the next generation spotlight?
WWE WrestleMania 42 Preview & Match Card (4/18/26) – Night 1:
- Undisputed WWE Championship Match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton (w/ Pat McAfee)
- Women’s World Championship Match: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan
- Women’s Intercontinental Championship Match: AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch
- Seth Rollins vs. Gunther
- Unsanctioned Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match – Fatal 4-Way: Irresistible Forces (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. The Bella Twins
- 6-Man Tag Team Match: LA Knight & The Usos vs. Logan Paul, Austin Theory & iShowSpeed
*Card subject to change
