Can you feel it? 2016 is almost over, which means the Road to WrestleMania is almost here. And it seriously cannot happen soon enough. It’s every wrestling fan’s favorite time of the year, and before the Royal Rumble goes down, everyone from you and I to Hall of Famers get to speculate on what will be the marquee matchups.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there are three matches that the company considers “locked in” for Mania, and they shouldn’t be too surprising for anyone who has been following along for the past few months. The matches are:
- Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
- Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal
- Triple H vs. Seth Rollins
The Observer claims WWE has narrowed Undertaker’s potential WrestleMania opponent down to two major choices: John Cena or Roman Reigns. The Cena “dream match” is pretty obviously one the fans want, to the point where they were chanting for Cena to challenge Taker on this week’s Smackdown Live.
The scuttlebutt, as Dave Meltzer sees it, is that Undertaker’s opponent and the challengers for the world titles all boil down to who wins at the Royal Rumble next month. If Reigns captures the Universal Championship, Undertaker could be his challenger at Mania. Cena is in a similar spot, as he’ll be facing AJ Styles for the WWE Championship (which would be his 16th world title reign, and would finally tie him with Ric Flair in the “official” record book).
Meanwhile, if Kevin Owens were to retain the Universal Championship at the Rumble, his almost certain opponent for the belt at Mania will be Chris Jericho, to finally bring an end to the tumultuous relationship of everyone’s favorite best friends. The Observer sees Braun Strowman and Undertaker as the current favorites to win the Rumble match itself, as Strowman could challenge Reigns (if he wins the Universal title), and Undertaker could challenge either Reigns or Cena with a victory.
As usual, everything comes down to the Royal Rumble. Funny how that happens! Of course, there’s still an entire month for plans to change, and for Tye Dillinger or Shinsuke Nakamura to win the Royal Rumble, which is what we all want anyway, right? Wait, never mind; we want the Revival to be the first co-winners of the Rumble and opt to challenge American Alpha in the main event of WrestleMania. Yeah, that’s the one.
