Former WWE Star Criticizes Roman Reigns’ WrestleMania 41 Match

Former WWE creative team member Vince Russo has raised concerns about the narrative construction behind the upcoming WrestleMania 41 Triple Threat Match. During a recent episode of his podcast “Writing with Russo,” he questioned the legitimacy of having Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Seth Rollins competing primarily for Paul Heyman’s managerial services.

Russo specifically addressed what he sees as insufficient stakes for a match featuring three of WWE’s top performers.

I can’t believe that these are the stakes. The stakes of this match, you have three of the biggest stars in WWE, and the stakes are for a 65-year-old manager? And again, I’ll go back to the casual fan. Any casual fan watching this would say exactly the same thing: ‘Why do I care about who the manager is going to be with?’

The former WWE writer expanded his critique by suggesting the creative direction should have established a more compelling reason for these three marquee talents to square off at WWE’s premier event. “If the story was that every champion he ever backed never lost under his guidance, that would be one thing. But that’s not the story. So that’s the part that’s really hard for me to digest,” he added.

During the same podcast appearance, Russo also commented on Jey Uso’s push toward facing Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 41. He revealed that merchandise sales never factored into his booking decisions during his time with the company, challenging the current approach to determining which talents receive featured positions on major shows.