A feature story about Naomi.
For the first time since WrestleMania 22 in 2006, there is going to be a non-title women’s singles match at a WrestleMania. The participants in that match are Jade Cargill and Naomi.
Their bout came to fruition when Cargill returned to WWE at Elimination Chamber and it was soon revealed that Naomi was the individual who put Cargill on the shelf in late 2024.
There’s a feature that David Dennis Jr. of Andscape published about Naomi’s heel turn. There was a comment from Natalya in the piece and she praised Naomi’s promo in which she admitted to being Cargill’s attacker. Natalya said it was everything that is great about the wrestling business.
Natalya: That promo was everything that is great about our business. She was emotional, she was thought-provoking, she was captivating with the audience. She made you feel something when you were watching it. I felt her passion. I saw her tears, and I actually kind of felt like she had a lot of valid points. And I felt like I kind of could relate to why she did what she did. She was pushed to the edge. There’s so many people in the world today that can relate to being pushed to their limits, and not knowing when they’re going to crack or when they’re going to break, and not knowing if they can continue to be strong.
Speaking about the change in character, Naomi said there were nerves about it because she’d built up years of equity with the fan base as a babyface.
Naomi: There was definitely a lot of nerves about it. Just about the unsureness, because I have such great equity as a babyface. So, definitely, there is a fear of going heel with my fan base that I’ve built over a decade.
Here’s the updated lineup for nights one and two of WrestleMania 41:
Night One (April 19th)
- Triple Threat Match: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk (w/ Paul Heyman)
- WWE Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship: GUNTHER (c) vs. Jey Uso
- WWE World Tag Team Championships: The War Raiders (Ivar & Erik) (c) vs. The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)
- Rey Mysterio vs. El Grande Americano
- Naomi vs. Jade Cargill
- WWE United States Championship: L.A. Knight (c) vs. Jacob Fatu
Night Two (April 20th)
- Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. John Cena
- WWE Women’s World Championship — Triple Threat Match: IYO SKY (c) vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Bianca Belair
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Lyra Valkyria & Bayley
- A.J. Styles vs. Logan Paul
- WWE Intercontinental Championship — Fatal 4-Way Match: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Finn Bálor vs. Penta vs. Dominik Mysterio
- Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest
- Randy Orton vs. TBA
