Major Title Change On WWE SmackDown, Change To WrestleMania 42 Main Event

Published: Mar 7, 2026 by Liam | Last Updated: Mar 7, 2026 by Liam

Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news for over eight years, and is currently the Managing Editor at WrestleTalk.com. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles in addition to leading and overseeing WrestleTalk.com's coverage.

WWE

A major title change has taken place on WWE SmackDown making a big change to one of the top matches at WrestleMania 42.

At Elimination Chamber last weekend, Randy Orton won the men’s Elimination Chamber match which meant he would be challenging for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

At the time, that meant he’d be challenging Drew McIntyre, who won the WWE Title from Cody Rhodes in January.

However, a title change on SmackDown tonight means Cody Rhodes is now a three-time WWE Champion and will head into Mania with the title, so it will now be him defending against Orton.

Due to McIntyre getting involved in the Chamber finish, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced immediately after the Chamber he would have to defend against Rhodes on SmackDown – a match that took place tonight.

The match had the stipulation that it could only be won by pinfall or submission – no disqualifications or countouts.

The finish of the match saw McIntyre pull referee Charles Robinson in the way of a Disaster Kick from Rhodes, taking Robinson out of the equation so he wasn’t there to count the pin after Rhodes landed a Cross Rhodes on McIntyre.

After new referee Dan Engler ran out, McIntyre struck with a Claymore to Rhodes but Rhodes kicked out. McIntyre then decided to straight up headbutt Engler, so he was taken out as well.

With both referees now down, Jacob Fatu came out to ringside and prevented McIntyre from using a steel chair.

Shortly after that, McIntyre attempted another Claymore but this time Rhodes dodged it and followed up with a Super Cody Cutter and a Cross Rhodes to score the win with Robinson getting back in the ring to count the fall.

WWE flashed a graphic up on the screen confirming Rhodes vs Orton is now the Mania match.

Orton had said earlier in the night that the match would be one of the main events of WrestleMania – his third out of 21 Mania matches in total.

His previous main events were in consecutive years at WrestleMania 24 and 25 in 2008 and 2009, when he defended the WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena at 24, and challenged Triple H for the WWE Championship at 25.