Five Potential WrestleMania Opponents For Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor to WWE? It might happen. McGregor, who is currently the biggest star in the UFC as their Lightweight Champion and a guy that lost to Floyd Mayweather in a huge boxing match in August, may find his way to a WWE ring for next year’s WrestleMania. That’s according to the UK Sun, who claimed that McGregor is “in talks to make a one off special appearance for WWE.” The story claims that McGregor is talking to WWE about having a “wrestling match against one of WWE’s biggest stars.”

In the new Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that WWE claims the story is completely inaccurate and there have been no talks with McGregor. Meltzer adds that the obvious reason it may not happen is because Ronda Rousey is expected to have some role at WrestleMania, so it’s unlikely WWE would be able to get two UFC stars. Meltzer adds that it’s still a possibility because if McGregor wants to do it then it could happen. It’s not like WWE would say no!

If McGregor did work a match at WrestleMania 34 next April in New Orleans it would cost WWE a lot of money to bring him in. They would also have to figure out who to match him up against. Cue the New Day yelling “who? who? who?” repeatedly.

It would likely be a situation similar to Floyd Mayweather against Big Show at WrestleMania 24 in 2008, where they had a 12-minute match that Mayweather won. The build to that match was awkward since Mayweather wasn’t sure if he was a face or a heel, so hopefully if McGregor does have a match, WWE will make sure he’s aware of his role.

Here are some names that could be WrestleMania opponents for McGregor, who at 155 pounds (his fight weight) would be a lot smaller than nearly everybody WWE would put him in the ring with. Perhaps he would go into a WWE match at 170 pounds or more, which is better, but obviously he’s smaller than nearly everybody in WWE.

Keep in mind I’m not picking Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar because they are locked into a WrestleMania match already, so it would be a surprise if it would be one of them.

John Cena

The fact that Cena has been WWE’s biggest name makes him a no-brainer choice. We all know that Cena is a part-timer in present day WWE because of his movie commitments. Think about what a match with McGregor would do for Cena’s profile as a mainstream sports star. What may hurt Cena is that WWE could want a younger wrestler in this spot, since Cena is 40 years old and a part-timer.

An important reason why Cena is a viable choice is because Cena is one of the best talkers in WWE. Cena’s promos against guys like The Miz and Roman Reigns this year were amazing. His promo battles with the likes of The Rock were memorable as well. When somebody gets up in Cena’s face to talk trash, he usually fires back and “wins” the promo battle. Also, he’s John Cena. The fact that Cena weighs over 100 pounds more than McGregor would make the pairing look like a mismatch, but they could definitely get people hyped up for it.

Kevin Owens

Owens is the best heel in WWE right now, and is one of the best talkers as well. He’s not holding a title, but that doesn’t matter. Owens is great at cutting a meaningful promo, he puts on great matches no matter the opponent and is experienced enough that he can work with a guy like McGregor in terms of making him look like a credible opponent.

The promos between them would be amazing. McGregor isn’t shy about ripping people, so he could cut into KO’s physique while making fat jokes to rile up Owens. That can lead to Owens talking about how small McGregor is compared to him. It would feel like the kind of promo exchange similar to a McGregor press conference where he isn’t shy about letting loose. Just watch those swear words, Conor. Not allowed in WWE!

If WWE wants McGregor to get over as a face, then Owens is the perfect opponent.

Braun Strowman

This is the present-day opponent for McGregor that would be most similar to what we saw when Mayweather faced Big Show nearly a decade ago. Strowman is a few inches shorter than Show, but he’s the current “giant” in WWE. The reason why a match like this is so appealing is because having a physical mismatch like that helps tell a story right away where fans are going to want to root for the smaller guy to beat the big man, who weighs over 200 pounds more than McGregor.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/910584871155900421

Considering Strowman was only booked as a participant in a battle royal at this year’s WrestleMania, a match against a high-profile name like McGregor would really boost his profile.

The Miz

I’m going the trash-talking route again here, because The Miz is one of the best talkers in WWE. I said Owens is the best heel in WWE, but some people may go with Miz because of how good he has been over the last year. The Miz has been featured in major programs this year with the likes of John Cena and is at the forefront as the main heel against the returning Shield. As a former WrestleMania main eventer, he also has a lot of credibility.

What’s appealing about The Miz vs. McGregor is that Miz isn’t that much bigger than him. If they stood side by side then Miz might have a few more inches and has a bigger build, but it would be more of an even matchup since Miz wouldn’t tower over McGregor by any means.

Considering how good The Miz is during interviews on wrestling shows and in the media (he appears on ESPN’s Sportsnation nearly every week), he would have no problem promoting this match heavily. That’s a strength of his that WWE values a lot.

Enzo Amore

Don’t laugh at this idea, because WWE would probably consider it due to the promo skills of Enzo. Sure, his in-ring work is below average and so many others on the roster could get a better match out of McGregor, but again this is a case of using promos to build up a match. Enzo could deliver the kind of promos that get people interested in a McGregor because fans would want to see McGregor knock him out while others would root for Enzo.

The negative with picking Enzo is he’s not as big of a name as some of the others, although his profile is growing due to main eventing Raw for the last three weeks, and being the central figure on 205 Live

Plus, as you can see in the tweet above, Enzo isn’t afraid of participating in the social media trash talk game either.

There are plenty of other WWE names that would match up well with McGregor, but those are the five guys that I feel would present the best choices.