With the injury Seth Rollins just suffered on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, it seems as though all the plans for his big match against Triple H at WrestleMania 33 are out the window. This has yet to be confirmed, as some reports are stating he may just be able to get cleared to compete in time, but if it’s that much down to the wire, WWE needs to play it safe and have a backup option in place rather than pulling a big match at the last minute and then leaving a 30 minute gap in time on the card.
The problem with the way WWE tends to book WrestleMania matches, though, is if you’re a big enough priority on the card, you’re probably considered a lock and the creative team doesn’t want to waste time figuring out alternative ways to get things done. Hell, we’ve seen issues in the past where they’ve had plans that were screwed up 6 months prior and it still felt as though there wasn’t enough time to find a suitable replacement, so imagine how much they must be scrambling now that they are just two months away from the biggest show of the year.
That being said, it’s not the end of the world, and there are some people on the roster who might have something to offer when it comes to being an opponent for Triple H at this year’s WrestleMania, so I wanted to present five potential options I can see being viable candidates.
Note: Keep in mind that I’m working under the assumption that several rumored matches are guarantees at this point, such as Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker, Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt, Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar and Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho.
1. Shane McMahon
One of the matches being spoken about for WrestleMania this year is Shane McMahon against AJ Styles, which sounds just awful to me. Styles deserves someone much, much better in the ring and he’s not even had much animosity toward Shane to justify that feud happening. If anything, Shane McMahon should be wrestling The Miz on behalf of Daniel Bryan since that program isn’t going to end with Bryan stepping back into the ring and somebody needs to act as his surrogate. A match against Styles just wouldn’t feel right, but a match against Triple H does have its merits.
For one, there’s the obvious animosity built in between Shane and Stephanie that can be a factor into the feud because of course, Shane isn’t going to fight his sister. Her husband can pick the fight in her stead, though, wanting to kick Shane’s ass for her honor. For extra bonus points, Daniel Bryan can accompany Shane to the ring while Stephanie accompanies Triple H, whom she appoints as the new General Manager of Monday Night Raw when she fires Mick Foley, who can get involved in the match at some point to help Shane out.
Raw vs. SmackDown doesn’t have to be a Survivor Series event, as we’ve had Bragging Rights in the past and even Team Teddy vs. Team Johnny at WrestleMania, so with the brand split being reintroduced this year, it would be strange to not feel any kind of presence at this pay-per-view. This would satisfy that necessity and it would open itself up to a different style match from what we’re going to see with some of the other bouts, as this would undoubtedly be some kind of No Disqualification scenario as that is what Shane is best at.
To cap it all off, who does Vince McMahon side with in this storyline? Does he opt to support his real son or his son-in-law?
2. AJ Styles
As mentioned above, AJ Styles deserves to have a good opponent this year at WrestleMania. The only rumblings have been about Shane McMahon being who he’d go up against and I’d much rather see him face The Miz, which would leave both AJ Styles and Triple H without an opponent.
Maybe this all starts when Triple H cuts a promo about how indie guys aren’t built to last and that’s why Seth Rollins got injured, which AJ Styles takes offense to and wants to prove Triple H wrong. When it comes to a storyline, I honestly think it doesn’t matter a great deal. Fans probably just wouldn’t care all that much if WWE simply said “screw it, you guys would be interested in this never-before-seen match, right?” I’d imagine most people would be intrigued and would just go along for the ride.
Triple H can perform well with a variety of different wrestlers, but something I’ve always found quite interesting is when he’s a heel and up against someone who is physically smaller than him like Shawn Michaels. In those situations, he can play up his size and strength to really dominate and set up his opponent for a big victory. Styles fits that bill and I think the two of them could put on a fantastic match.
3. Samoa Joe
I don’t know how they would pull this off, considering the only exposure to the main roster Samoa Joe has had right now has been being the exact person who injured Seth Rollins under Triple H’s orders, but if they can figure out a way to explain why they’d go from allies to enemies over the next few weeks, I’m down to see them scrap.
If the plans hadn’t gone awry, it looks as though Fastlane would have seen Samoa Joe defeating Seth Rollins with some help from Triple H, then Rollins and Triple H would have fought at WrestleMania and Joe would have…well…what? Does he get thrown in the battle royal? Does he jump ship to SmackDown to fight John Cena after he loses the WWE Championship in the Elimination Chamber match? (If so, why?) Does he just go back down to NXT disappointingly?
All things considered, a match between Samoa Joe and Triple H could be a lot of fun and it would give Joe a huge, huge boost to his main roster career if he came out of it victorious. We know he’ll be booked as a credible beast, but so few people have scored wins over Triple H that if he pulled it off, he’d go straight to the top of the division and be in contention for the Universal or WWE Championship almost immediately.
Plus, it’s a match we haven’t seen before, which—as stressed with the AJ Styles option—is almost always more interesting than seeing WWE go back to the well to repeat something that has happened multiple times in the past.
4. Braun Strowman
Why haven’t we heard about any opponents for Braun Strowman being set up? This guy has been steadily improving for months and is now at a fever pitch where he could be a huge deal, yet they’re letting him drop by the wayside. Don’t they want new stars who are big, hulking monstrosities? I really don’t understand how he could be overlooked this year for WrestleMania, so unless there’s a plan we haven’t been privy to yet, I’m getting concerned that he’ll be just thrown in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and that’s it, rather than at least defeating Sami Zayn for the United States Championship. More on that later.
At this point, we’re throwing ideas around just for the hell of it, so why shouldn’t Strowman be in the discussion? A win over Triple H would legitimize him super fast and since he’s been connecting with the crowd more and more over time, why not play with the idea that he could possibly be a babyface somewhere down the line?
The trick is that they would have to avoid making him follow the Big Show strategy where he suddenly starts being a smiling dolt who goes for laughs instead of continuing to just be a dominant monster, but all of that is what follows WrestleMania, not what leads up to it. We’ve seen instances in the past where Strowman has expressed indignation toward other heels, so we know his character is flexible enough to even remain a heel but still want to pick a fight with Triple H just for the thrill of it.
Is it the best idea in the world? Absolutely not. Given the circumstances, though, I’d rather see something like this happen than to just have Triple H sit this event out and for Strowman to be given nothing to do as a reward for all the progress he’s made.
5. Sami Zayn
Remember when I mentioned Zayn above? Well, at the moment, I’m expecting him to win the United States Championship from Chris Jericho at Fastlane so Y2J can be freed up to face Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. This means Zayn would walk into WrestleMania with the red, white and blue title around his waist and he could use an opponent for that if they have the time to book that on the card, which I think is probably going to be Braun Strowman.
However, if this doesn’t happen and those four options above aren’t what WWE wishes to do, then Sami Zayn could pose an interesting challenger for Triple H. I’m sure some of you are scoffing reading this right now because Zayn is just a midcarder and Triple H is far above his pay grade, but there’s some method to the madness.
A while back, Zayn had some issues with Stephanie McMahon and those were never really resolved. Instead, they just sort of disappeared and weren’t mentioned again, although we can assume there’s still an uneasiness between the two characters. In general, Stephanie shouldn’t really like someone like Sami Zayn because he’s just some little dork who represents a different personality base than she does. Behind the scenes, we know Triple H respects Zayn, but in front of the camera and in a kayfabe sense, we haven’t really seen anything to indicate The King of Kings wouldn’t look down upon Sami as being just utterly beneath him.
It’s an extremely scaled down version of the Daniel Bryan story, essentially: little guy is told by big evil boss that he won’t amount to jack shit, but he has the heart to prove him wrong. Or, if you want to double down on the feels, Triple H wins the match despite Zayn putting up a great fight.
Judging by his track record, we can bet that Zayn would be able to pull off a good match with Triple H, so the quality of the performance shouldn’t be in question, and with that simple storyline to go with, I think enough people would be on board to see it happen. It’s a lot better than some of the other options out there, that’s for sure, and while I’d only put it as my fifth favorite scenario, it’s at this point where I cut off everybody else. Zayn is the last choice I can think of that logically would make any sense and wouldn’t disrupt some of the other plans.
What do you think is the best way WWE should handle this situation with Seth Rollins? Should they just cross their fingers and pray things will work out or should they start building towards something else?
Who would you like to see face Triple H at WrestleMania if they need to find a new opponent for him? Drop those thoughts in the comments below!
