Wrestlemania 42 Scandal: WWE's Star-Studded Promo With Reigns and Lesnar Slammed for Being AI

The buildup to WrestleMania 42 promised something huge as teasers by WWE were constantly being shared, but the reaction to the official promo from WWE has been anything but celebratory. After several cryptic teaser videos that prompted massive rumors and expectations among fans, the full reveal, one featuring top stars like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns seated around a poker table left many viewers disappointed and fans started lashing out about the promo looking like AI, not having any women and even the high ticket prices. The backlash is loud, and WWE is in hot water.

WWE WrestleMania 42 Promo Fails

Before getting into the heated reactions, here is what happened. In the week leading up to the main reveal, WWE dropped a series of short teaser videos containing close up shots of feet walking, hands hovering over a chair, and other stylistic cues that strongly suggested a major storyline return or maybe even a faction debut.

These rumours flooded social media and some fans believed a legendary performer was about to make a comeback like Chris Jericho or maybe it was a reveal for John Cena's final opponent. Instead, however, the final video unveiled on 26 October 2025 showed Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk and surprisingly Brock Lesnar seated at a poker table with Paul Heyman and Triple H observing them play. Hence, the promo was revealed as a marketing piece for WrestleMania 42's two day event on 18–19 April 2026 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. To many fans, the payoff simply did not match the build up.

Fan Call WWE's WrestleMania Promo AI

The disappointed reaction quickly turned to frustration online as it often does with WWE fans. Many fans took to X to complain that the elaborate mystery teasers were ultimately meaningless. One user wrote: 'all them cryptic teases with some damn feet for a WrestleMania package... y'all have lost it.'

Another one said, 'I understand business is business, but with the product stale as of late, doing all these teasers just for this was a massive botch creatively.'

Some even accused WWE of producing an AI generated or artificial feel to the promo, suggesting that the four top stars appeared more like stock images than live engagement. Especially Brock Lesnar with one user commenting on how Brock looked in the video, 'did they AI Brock Lesnar cause he didn't want to show up?'

Some fans even pointed out that they might not even attend Wrestlemania 42 because of the rising ticket prices as one fan wrote,

'Considering the price of tickets and the fact that these teasers could have been ANYTHING else, I'm not watching.'

A whole other section of fans criticised that a legend like Randy Orton was allegedly snubbed and not included in the promo.

Fans Point Out WWE Women Missing From Promo

In an even more shocking development, other than the let down of it being a marketing campaign, many fans criticised that no women from WWE were in the promo at all. WWE promotes its women to be on an equal standing with men yet none were featured in their biggest event promo.

This comes a day after WWE Raw saw one of the best main events of the year led by women when Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair faced Bayley and Lyra Valkyria in a phenomenal match.

Naturally fans were pissed that no women were featured in the WrestleMania 42 promo as one fan wrote:

'I am going to say it. Names such as Rhea Ripley should be heavily featured in marketing campaigns like this. Ripley is as over as any name on the active roster. Promote the women. They're a big deal too.'

And many such reactions followed:

While WWE has not given any response yet and no WWE superstar has reacted to the massive negative reactions by fans, it is important the company take stock of the resentment growing amongst its loyal fanbase.