As we reported on Thursday, Vince McMahon and other WWE officials have only locked-in three matches for WrestleMania 33 to this point. That’s a bit unusual considering there are less than 100 days until the big event in Orlando, and the majority of the card is traditionally set by now behind the scenes. WrestleMania 32 threw everyone for a loop, however, with the amount of injuries that piled up.
The three matches that are in place for next April’s WrestleMania as of this moment are bouts between Triple H and Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, and The Big Show vs Shaquille O’Neal. In our report on Thursday, we noted how Vince had yet to sign off on a match between the Undertaker and John Cena.
Cena is certainly still the front-runner to face the Deadman in what could be the Undertaker’s final WrestleMania and final match altogether, but Vince is also heavily considering using Roman Reigns in that spot instead of John Cena. McMahon is torn because a WrestleMania showdown between Cena and The Phenom wouldn’t benefit the future of the business like it would if Reigns were in the match.
Regardless, there is a strong possibility that both Reigns and Cena will walk out of the Royal Rumble as champions, and if the Undertaker wins the Rumble match as has been suggested, he would then challenge either one for a title shot at WrestleMania .
With the Undertaker assured a spot in what would be his 25th WrestleMania appearance, that takes up four marquee spots on the card. According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (via sescoops ), WWE officials have two other matches in mind as of now, a little more than four months out from the event.
There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks surrounding plans for the women’s division, particularly on the RAW brand. Charlotte and Sasha Banks have recently concluded their memorable rivalry, which spanned nearly the entire year. Charlotte has transitioned into a program with Bayley, while Sasha appears to be moving on with Nia Jax. There has been discussion to build Charlotte and Bayley up bigger, and their feud would culminate at WrestleMania .
As noted, however, there are only three matches set in stone as of this moment. The original idea would have seen Charlotte successfully defend her RAW Women’s Championship against Bayley at both the Royal Rumble and Fastlane , only to lose it on the grand stage of WrestleMania . Charlotte would have built up her undefeated singles streak of pay-per-views to 16 (tying her father’s record of world title reigns) in an effort to put Bayley over as the division’s top babyface.
There have also been rumors about Ronda Rousey showing back up at WrestleMania , two years after her last appearance during her memorable segment with The Rock, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H at WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara. Original plans for Rousey included working with Charlotte in Orlando, but it appears those talks have cooled off a bit.
So with Rousey’s uncertain status and the lack of a clear plan for Sasha, WWE officials are now considering a multi-woman match for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania . It’s recently been reported that the Money In The Bank pay-per-view would be a SmackDown -exclusive show, so a woman’s ladder match at WrestleMania for the RAW women wouldn’t be out of the question, considering the superstars have been pushing for it, but that’s purely speculation at this point.
The other match being discussed for WrestleMania right now is one that would see the implosion between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. It’s a storyline that has been building for months, and thanks to Jericho’s flexibility, it may culminate at WrestleMania . Originally, Jericho was going to depart from the WWE again after WrestleMania 32 to resume working with his band, Fozzy.
But he kept signing month-to-month extensions because he was happy with the creative and direction of his character. Because of his impending departure this fall, the WWE was planning for a break-up between Jeri-KO and a title match, but Jericho agreed to stay to let the whole thing play out more. There’s a good chance Owens will lose his Universal Championship at either the Royal Rumble or Fastlane , which will allow the story between Chris & Kevin to reach its climax at WrestleMania .
[Featured Image by WWE]