Predicting the Next WWE Feuds for Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk and Rhea Ripley

Following an eventful WrestleMania 41 weekend and an even more exciting episode of Raw on Monday night, WWE has successfully set the stage for its spring season by planting the seeds for several storylines that will be worth following.

Although 'Mania marked the end of multiple rivalries, hitting the reset button presents WWE with the opportunity to start fresh with a majority of the roster. That could include giving fans feuds that they have waited a while to see or never thought were possible until now.

There's also unfinished business between a number of top names coming out of WrestleMania that should be settled in the months ahead, specifically at Backlash with the event happening so soon after The Show of Shows on May 10.

Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk and Rhea Ripley all fell short in their respective matches in Las Vegas, so expectations will be especially high for whatever WWE has planned for them next.

If the four Superstars are slated to stick around for the fallout of WrestleMania 41, it should soon become clear what's in store for them going forward, with these rivalries being the most likely.

These longtime foes have been at odds for many months, but their rivalry remains unresolved.

CM Punk was moments away from winning the WrestleMania Night 1 main event last Saturday when he was betrayed by his best friend, Paul Heyman, who instead aided Seth Rollins to victory.

Rollins and Heyman made their alliance official on Monday's Raw, and Punk wasted no time in attempted to exact revenge.

Their first match against each other since Punk returned to the company occurred on Raw's Netflix premiere where The Best in the World reigned supreme. Rollins won the steel cage rematch on the March 10 edition of Raw thanks to an inadvertent assist from Roman Reigns.

Their Triple Threat match stole the show on Night 1 of WrestleMania 41, yet there's more to explore with Punk and Rollins now that the latter has been established as a heel.

Moreover, neither of them can completely move on until they have their rubber match that determines the superior Superstar once and for all.

Whether it be at Backlash or another upcoming premium live event, Punk should keep his sights set on Rollins for the foreseeable future.

On that same post-WrestleMania Raw, Paul Heyman introduced Bron Breakker as his latest client, leading an attack on CM Punk and Roman Reigns led by the two-time intercontinental champion and Seth Rollins.

The new Dangerous Alliance has arrived, and it has the potential to be something special.

Reigns will want to give Rollins his comeuppance every bit as much as Punk does, but unless WWE goes the tag team route right out of the gate (which seems unlikely), The Tribal Chief should first feud with Breakker before eventually getting back around to The Visionary.

Depending on Reigns' infrequent appearance schedule, this match may not be happening on the sooner side, but that's perfectly acceptable. The first-ever one-on-one encounter between Breakker and The OTC makes more sense for SummerSlam on August 2-3, anyway—possibly as one of the night's blockbuster main events.

Breakker is fresh off his loss of the intercontinental title and was ready to be elevated to the top of the card. Being backed by Heyman will ensure his impending push goes well and gets him closer to world championship contention.

He can benefit big time from working with Reigns and ideally beating him when the time is right, causing his stock to skyrocket in the process.

The best possible direction WWE can go with Rhea Ripley right now is taking her off television briefly to refresh her stagnant character, but her appearance on Monday's Raw indicates that won't be the case.

The booking of her character going into WrestleMania 41 left a lot to be desired. Her latest run as women's world champion was largely forgettable and the follow-up to her losing the title to Iyo Sky made her look incompetent and whiny.

The 'Mania match itself between Ripley, Sky and Bianca Belair was exceptional and arguably the best of the weekend, but with the Australian again failing to regain the gold, there's no clear path for her in the coming weeks other than resuming her chase for the championship.

The Eradicator has yet to beat Sky in any capacity, so while that's a story worth telling, it will inevitably culminate with her taking the title back from The Genius of the Sky and fans growing tired of Ripley's dominance.

The 28-year-old should show more vulnerability and disappear from programming for a bit to rebuild her confidence, but either way, Sky is her most obvious opponent post-WrestleMania.

The execution of the finish to Cody Rhodes' WrestleMania match with John Cena was shockingly subpar and not befitting of his final night as undisputed WWE champion after the outstanding year he had.

Despite that, Cena capturing his record-setting 17th world title was the correct outcome, and now the interest is in how long he'll hold it hostage for.

Rhodes avenging that loss and getting the belt back should be the endgame, but that doesn't need to be until SummerSlam at the earliest.

In the meantime, The American Nightmare should step away for a few months so a majority of the fans are behind him again upon his return to television. At that point, it's only appropriate that he be placed in a program with Drew McIntyre.

The two former WWE champions were once tag team partners and have interacted a fair amount of times in the last year or so.

In fact, the Scot is one of only five men to have defeated Rhodes during his second stint with the company, and they haven't collided inside the squared circle since that match in February 2024.

McIntyre belongs in a prominent position on SmackDown having seemingly finished his feud with Damian Priest at WrestleMania, where he emerged victorious in their hard-fought Sin City Street Fight.

If The Scottish Warrior isn't going to challenge for a top title anytime soon, then a feud with The American Nightmare would be the next best use of him.

Rhodes should suffer another significant setback or two before rekindling his rivalry with Cena, and McIntyre can serve as the ultimate obstacle.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.