WrestleMania 40: Which celebrities will appear as The Rock and Logan Paul compete?

Alex Pattle

WrestleMania 40 takes place at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia this weekend, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Logan Paul competing in marquee matches.

On Saturday (6 April), The Rock partnered his ‘cousin’ Roman Reigns in a tag-team match against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, while Paul is due to defend his US title against Randy Orton and Kevin Owens on Sunday (7 April).

But WWE champion-turned-actor The Rock and YouTube star Paul are not the only celebrities involved at WWE’s biggest show of the year.

Rapper Lil Wayne performed during Jey Uso’s entrance on Saturday, and fellow rapper Meek Mill is reportedly opening this weekend’s event.

There had also been rumours that NFL stars Travis Kelce and brother Jason could appear, given their connection to the city as Philadelphia Eagles players, and Jason – who retired in March, following the Eagles’ Super Bowl win – did in fact appear. He and ex-teammate Lane Johnson aided Rey Mysterio in his tag-team victory.

Some wrestling fans have even speculated that pop star Taylor Swift, who is Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, may appear at WrestleMania.

Furthermore, WrestleMania 30 saw WWE pull out all the stops, with Hulk Hogan, The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin appearing together in one segment. While there have been controversies surrounding Hogan in recent years, some fans have speculated that the wrestling legend could feature at WrestleMania 40.

Meanwhile, John Cena has expressed a desire to be involved in some way. As recently as WrestleMania 38 in 2022, Austin competed against Kevin Owens – in the icon’s first match since 2003 – so the “Rattlesnake” could yet appear in Philadelphia, whether in a match or simply on the microphone.

When is WrestleMania 40?

WrestleMania 40 is scheduled for Saturday 6 April and Sunday 7 April. The event will take place at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia – the stadium that is home to the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.

In the US, WrestleMania 40 is set to start at 4pm PT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET on both nights. In the UK, that works out to 12am BST the following day in both cases (i.e. In the UK, Night 1 will air in the early hours of Sunday morning, and Night 2 will air in the early hours of Monday morning).

How can I watch it?

In the US, WrestleMania 40 will air live on Peacock. In the UK, it will air live on TNT Sports Box Office. WrestleMania 40 will also stream live on the WWE Network in most countries globally.

All announced matches

Night one

The Bloodline (The Rock and Roman Reigns) vs Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins

Rhea Ripley (C) vs Becky Lynch - WWE Women’s World Championship

Gunther (C) vs Sami Zayn - WWE Intercontinental Championship

Jey Uso vs Jimmy Uso

The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) (C) vs #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) vs The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs A-Town Down Under (Austin Theory and Grayson Waller) vs New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate) – Undisputed WWE Tag-Team Championship ladder match

Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Naomi vs Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane) - Six-woman tag-team match

Rey Mysterio and Andrade vs Santos Escobar and “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio - Tag-team match

Night two

Roman Reigns (C) vs Cody Rhodes - WWE Undisputed Universal Championship

Seth Rollins (C) vs Drew McIntyre - WWE World Heavyweight Championship [CM Punk on guest commentary]

Iyo Sky (C) vs Bayley - WWE Women’s Championship

Logan Paul (C) vs Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens - United States Championship

LA Knight vs AJ Styles

The Pride (Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins, and Montez Ford) vs The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam, and Rezar) - Six-man Philadelphia Street Fight

What is WrestleMania?

WrestleMania is an annual event that is put on by the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). It is the biggest show of the year for the company, which in turn is the biggest in professional wrestling. Since 2020, WrestleMania has played out as a two-night event. The WWE tends to reserve its highest-profile match-ups – and in some cases, its highest-profile stars – for WrestleMania.

For example, WWE star-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will feature on Night 1 this year, in his first WWE match for eight years. His last match was a six-second win over Erick Rowan, as Johnson set a record for the shortest match in WrestleMania history. In the run-up to WrestleMania 40, The Rock has been heavily involved in the WWE’s weekly episodic television, for the first time since his rivalry with John Cena concluded at WrestleMania 29 in 2013.

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