We officially have 7 weeks before WWE’s biggest show of the year. So far, things seem to be a bit of a clustered mess. The WWE championship match was supposed to be determined by the winner of the Royal Rumble. WWE has moved off of that concept for the 2nd consecutive year now and we have a #1 contender’s match at Fast Lane. It’s almost a guarantee that we’ll see Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton. Bray Wyatt called out The Undertaker in a random promo this past week without actually calling him by name. And we know all signs point to Sting vs HHH. If this is the best WWE has to offer this year, are we headed toward the worst WrestleMania ever?
When we talk about what’s the best and the worst, opinions vary. Many say Wrestlemania 27 was one of, if not the, worst, and for good reason. The main event was The Miz vs Cena, which didn’t quite live up to expectations. Undertaker fought HHH, where the final ten minutes was HHH throwing everything at Taker, and Taker won with Hell’s Gate in melo-dramatic fashion. Even CM Punk vs Jericho, which should’ve been the show stealer, was underwhelming and certainly wasn’t Jericho’s best performance. Other bad WrestleMania events, at least in my opinion, include Wrestlemania 15, which pains me since I was there, and the next year’s Wrestlemania 2000, which consisted of just one singles match between The Kat and Terri. And if not for the Hardys vs Dudleys vs Edge & Christian, and Angle vs Benoit vs Jericho saving things, this might have been the worst PPV in history.
There are other earlier WrestleMania events that rank pretty low on the order but rather than dwell on the past, let’s look at what’s in front of us, here and now. There’s a lot of what-ifs and questions around what’s going to happen with many of the top players this year. For instance, what if WWE decides that Daniel Bryan wins at Fast Lane? What is Roman Reigns supposed to do for WrestleMania? This is exactly why I think Roman Reigns HAS to absolutely win at Fast Lane. At least Bryan will have something to do if they decide to go with the Bryan/Ziggler match. What about Dean Ambrose? Will he be facing Barrett at WrestleMania? They’re already facing off at Fast Lane. And how about Cena? Is he fighting Rusev again, even though they’re fighting at Fast Lane? What’s with the Tag Title picture? Are they going to push The Ascension into the title picture already? Who else is there if they decide not to go that route?
Even though there are 7 weeks to go, there’s not a lot of time to build any of these stories successfully for March 29th. Everything seems to be random, on the fly, and just a jumbled up mess with no direction. Could this be the worst WrestleMania ever? Let’s look at what we have in front of us and how things are looking as of today, Saturday, February 7th.
Sting’s not around enough to bring intrigue into the HHH feud. Especially since HHH focuses a lot on the WWE Title picture the majority of the time. If the report is true and Sting is only set up for 6 appearances, they should just put him in a match with The Undertaker now, and use whatever time they have to build it up. We already know we shouldn’t expect the greatest match from Taker and Sting but the story telling alone can overshadow that quite easily. Think Undertaker vs Kane, WrestleMania XX. As for the Sting feud with HHH? He needs to be around more and do more to give this a much needed jolt of energy.
Speaking of Taker, this concept could actually work for his match with Bray Wyatt. Undertaker can have minimal appearances and build it up enough to at least make the match up intriguing. His best performing days are behind him and Bray isn’t exactly a “carry a decent match” type of talent, so this match will be all story and build up and probably underwhelming in the ring. But it didn’t take away from Taker vs Kane at WrestleMania XX, when the dead man returned. So, perhaps that could be the case here.
Seth Rollins and Randy Orton could be a very good match. And the fact that this is the only match where a story with some history will actually carry through, this could be the highlight of WrestleMania. Imagine an RKO out of nowhere, while Seth is attempting his Phoenix Splash. Risky but what a spot that would make. This is more the exception as I think this will be the best match WrestleMania 31 delivers.
Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler, from a performance standpoint, would be entertaining to watch but, again, there’s no story, no build up, no rivalry to carry this through. What’s the story going to be? Ziggler randomly called him out? Or does Ziggler screw him at Fast Lane, which I feel would probably rile the already disturbed bees nest over the WWE Title situation. And what kind of time would WWE give them at WrestleMania? That remains to be seen. It would be a decent performance but unfulfilling in every other aspect of a decent feud.
John Cena, though mostly hated for his stale character that is going for about 9 years strong now, is really being relegated very low here if he’s to battle Rusev for the US Title again. But what else is he going to do? There’s not much time to build something for him at this point that would be somewhat relevant. And the US Title? Really? Even the most adament of Cena haters has to admit he deserves much better than this. Can’t they bring Jericho in for a match with Cena or something? Cena has been involved in very good matches throughout his career. Hell, even some 5 star battles. I think Jericho could bring out a top performance from Cena. But I fear we’ll get Rusev vs Cena, with yet another result that underwhelms.
Honestly, what else is there? Goldust vs Cody? Miz vs Mizdow? Ambrose vs Barrett? I think they should all be in the Andre The Giant battle royal so it has some star power in it, rather than a bunch of mid-card nothings with Big Show, Kane, Luke Harper and Sheamus scattered in there. This is, of course, if the battle royal takes place. We expect it to but, who knows?
Do I think this WrestleMania will be the worst ever? I’m not sure. I have to think that it will out-perform some of the other not-so-great WrestleMania events we’ve seen over the years. What do you think about how the landscape of this year’s WrestleMania looks. Could it be the worst ever? What do you think can make it better?
Thanks for reading everyone. Be Safe!
