WWE News: Updated WWE WrestleMania 36 Lineup, Mysterio and Brooke Missing WrestleMania Due to Illness
There were more matches announced on last night’s edition of WWE Monday Night Raw. Before I get to that, there’s some news on two WWE superstars that are no longer going to be a part of WrestleMania 36 (which is expected to be taped on Wednesday and Thursday this week) due to illness, according to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer. Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke are both in quarantine, which is the term the world has become familiar with to mean that they are at home “social distancing” and avoiding other people.
Rey Mysterio was likely going to be featured in a US Title match at WrestleMania since he beat US Champion Andrade last week on Raw in a non-title match. However, Mysterio was not at Raw this week because he was feeling ill and stayed home. That also means no Mysterio at WrestleMania. The concerning thing about that is that Mysterio was on Raw last week, so if he felt sick then maybe he interacted with others at Raw last week that felt sick. We don’t know right now if Mysterio has Coronavirus or anything like that. Perhaps he is just being cautious and didn’t want to fly from California to Orlando to be at Raw and WrestleMania. It’s better to safe than sorry.
Dana Brooke was announced for the Smackdown Women’s Title match at WrestleMania last week on Smackdown. However, Brooke is now out of the match because she has been feeling ill. Brooke was apparently not at Smackdown for the last two weeks. I follow Brooke on Instagram and I know enough to know she lives in Miami. Brooke posts a lot about spending time with her boyfriend, a boxer named Ulysses Diaz, and I don’t know if they were with somebody that got sick, but apparently she is sick enough to miss WrestleMania.
TJR Thoughts: I hope Mysterio and Brooke both feel better soon. The Coronavirus pandemic is scary and people shouldn’t risk their health for anything right now. No matter your age or status in life, be smart about it. I’m sure Rey and Dana are upset about missing WrestleMania, but it’s also not like a regular WrestleMania anyway. Rest up, get healthy and take care of yourselves. That’s what is important.
Some of the WrestleMania notes coming out of Raw:
– Randy Orton accepted Edge’s challenge for a Last Man Standing match as expected. I highly recommend the Orton promo that I posted above because it was great.
– The AJ Styles match against The Undertaker is now a Boneyard Match. I don’t know if that means they will film at a graveyard type setting, but that’s what it seems like.
– The Street Profits defending the Raw Tag Team Titles against Andrade and Angel Garza was announced earlier on Monday.
– Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley was announced earlier on Monday.
That’s pretty much it because everything else was already set.
It was noted by Wrestlevotes today that there might be 16 matches total.
Talked with a source who said don’t be surprised to see a women’s match (Becky v Baszler) as the “main event” on the Saturday portion of WrestleMania. Lineup is being worked on now, upwards of 16 total matches. Likely 8 per show.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) March 24, 2020
This year’s WrestleMania will be taped this Wednesday and Thursday with most of it taking place at the WWE Performance Center. It will air on WWE Network on Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 on WWE Network. Here’s the announced lineup so far.
* WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre
* Universal Championship: Goldberg (c) vs. Roman Reigns
* Last Man Standing Match: Edge vs. Randy Orton
* John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
* Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Shayna Baszler
* Boneyard Match: The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles
* NXT Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
* Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
* Smackdown Women’s Title Elimination Match: Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi
* Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits – Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins (c) vs. Angel Garza and Andrade (w/Zelina Vega)
* Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley (w/Lana)
* Elias vs. King Corbin
There will also be matches for the Intercontinental Title and Smackdown Tag Team Titles that will be official on this week’s Smackdown. There may be a Women’s Tag Team Title match too.
TJR Thoughts: That’s 12 matches that are official and there may be 15 or 16 in total. We should know more by the end of Smackdown this week, plus the next week of Raw and Smackdown.