Paul 'Triple H' Levesque Reportedly Facing 'Internal Criticism' Over WrestleMania 42

There's still over two months to go before WrestleMania 42 emanates from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, but WWE's Chief Content Officer is reportedly facing some internal criticism over the build to the show.

The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer is reporting that advanced ticket sales for the 'Showcase of the Immortals' is down about 18 percent compared to WrestleMania 41, which was held in the same exact city and venue.

There is apparently a belief from some within the company, according to Meltzer, that Levesque's recent adjustments to the creative direction have contributed to the slump in sales. Meltzer himself noted that the correlation between the two doesn't really add up, and he's not wrong.

Unless you're among the portion of fans who keep up with constant updates over matches that were reportedly planned, but never officially announced, you very likely are out of the loop that Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes were initially supposed to face one another for the third time in four years. Or that Bron Breakker was a heavy favorite to win the Royal Rumble until Roman's plans were changed, and Cody Rhodes pushed to drop the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre.

All of those moves have a natural trickle-down effect, but some in WWE have been critical of the decision-making process. Meltzer even mentioned comparisons to the last minute, and oftentimes chaotic changes that Vince McMahon would make during the latter years of his creative control.

That said, the card for WrestleMania 42 is starting to come together. 2026 Men's Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns will face CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship, while 2026 Women's Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan will challenge either Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer or WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill.

The No. 1 Contenders for the other two world titles will be determined on Saturday, February 28 at WWE Elimination Chamber, with Randy Orton and Tiffany Stratton qualifying for their respective matches Friday night on SmackDown.

Beyond the four big title matches, the rest of the card remains up in the air, according to recent report from Fightful Select

What's really driving the drop in WrestleMania ticket sales?

While it may be unusual not to have more firm plans in place behind the scenes, it's fairly common for only a few matches to be publicly confirmed for WrestleMania at this point in the build. So what else could be contributing to the decline in ticket sales? Dave Meltzer highlighted a few potential factors in his report.

“Number one, ticket prices are really high. Higher than last year. Number two, a lot of foreigners won’t come to the United States right now… tourism in Vegas is down,” Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio. “That’s one of the reasons why WrestleMania is there again, because tourism is down. And it’s down throughout the United States, but Vegas has been hit hard.”

WrestleMania 42 is still expected to be a sellout, or at the very least a near-sellout, for both nights. The build to the show will continue Monday night on WWE Raw, with multiple Elimination Chamber Qualifying Matches expected on the card.

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