With Survivor series over the next WWE PLE isn’t until the Royal Rumble so we are officially on the “road to WrestleMania” as WWE would brand it. Fantasy booking WrestleMania, another Austin match, unlikely return of CM Punk already took over another thread so I thought it would be worth discussing separately.
Royal Rumble:
Who do you want to win and who do you think wins the Men’s Royal Rumble?
Who do you want to win and who do you think does win the women’s RR match?
Who is in the match with Roman Reigns? Does he lose the championship?
WrestleMania:
Do you want to see a Roman Reigns vs Rock match? Who wins?
Does Austin return for another match? Against who?
Does Cena return for another match? Against who?
Does Sasha Banks return for another match? Against who?
Does Cody come back prior to WM? What’s his match?
Who is Brock Lesnar’s opponent?
Who is Edge’s opponent?
Who is Ronda Rousey’s opponent?
Is CM Punk at WrestleMania?
Maybe somebody has brilliant ideas for the WrestleMania card 5 months away. Or some crazy ideas that will be fun to discuss anyway.
Tried to do the Mania stuff but I felt like I was just making shit up (even more than intended). But here are my up-to-the-minute Rumble thoughts and guesses.
Royal Rumble:
Who do you want to win and who do you think wins the Men’s Royal Rumble?
Assuming we’re talking about the winner getting a title shot vs. Reigns, then I want to see Sami Zayn win, last eliminating Solo Sikoa. But I think that gets blown off beforehand. So as I sit here on Nov. 28, I think the only guys with any sorts of “good odds” to win the Rumble would be Cody Rhodes or The Rock.
Who do you want to win and who do you think does win the women’s RR match?
Rhea Ripley, because the answer is always Rhea Ripley. But I think Charlotte or Sasha return and win.
Who is in the match with Roman Reigns? Does he lose the championship?
at Mania, I’m assuming Roman faces The Rock but then that doesn’t fit with my assumption for the rumble … but what’s the deal with the elimination chamber this year?
WrestleMania:
Do you want to see a Roman Reigns vs Rock match? Who wins?
I do and Roman will win
Does Austin return for another match? Against who?
Yes, maybe against Baron Corbin. I’m not joking, I can really see this happening.
Does Cena return for another match? Against who?
No
Does Sasha Banks return for another match? Against who?
Yes Belair
Does Cody come back prior to WM? What’s his match?
I assume he returns at the rumble and he may win but if not I could see him facing a heel Brock Lesnar.
Who is Brock Lesnar’s opponent?
Cody
Who is Edge’s opponent?
Seth Rollins
Who is Ronda Rousey’s opponent?
Liv
Is CM Punk at WrestleMania?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…No. If he isn’t going to return to AEW it would be awesome for him to turn up on the Raw after Mania but I can’t see it happening.
Roman Reigns winning the rumble is one idea. If you want to get to Rock vs Reigns there are a few ways to get there.
Rock wins the Rumble. Challenges Reigns. I hate this idea.
Reigns loses the championship before WM. RR winner faces new champion and Reigns challenges the Rock.
Somebody wins the Rumble. Reigns wants to face the rock. So reigns has two matches. Night one against the RR winner & night two against Rock.
Somebody wins the Rumble. They challenge Reigns early (like Cena in 2008) or get storyline injured. Rock comes in as the new challenger.
Somebody from the bloodline wins the Rumble and refuses to face Reigns. Rock comes in to challenge Reigns instead.
@MJfromNJ prediction. Roman Reigns enters the Rumble as champion for some reason and wins. Reigns claims he doesn’t have a challenger for WM so Rock challenges him.
@MJfromNJ suggestion. A triple threat match with the RR winner and the Rock.
My favorite scenario is number 3 with Reigns having two matches. That’s never really been done before at WM and would add to Reigns legacy as the dominant icon of this generation.
See, I think Roman winning the Rumble and choosing his own challenger is the last glory on the Roman Empire. It gives him another Rumble Win. Doing it as Champ. Head and shoulders above everyone in the business…enter Rock coming in to cut him down.
The problem I see with it being somebody other than Rock winning the Rumble, if in fact the Rock is the challenger at Mania (fantasy booking of course) is that the other challenger is a total sitting duck.
There is also the chance of maybe a three way so neither Rock or Roman have to take a pin. Sami?
Agreed in the sense that I think he’s cooled off and the majority doesn’t want him to return and just beat Roman right out of the gates. I think he needs to be built up again with at least one major program.
I think the only person people want to see right now beat Roman Reigns is Sami Zayn. Anyone other than Sami, with the exception of the Rock obviously, I think would be a disappointment.
Jey Uso wins RR. Roman sucks up completely to him. Talks about him a future champ etc but obviously they won’t be fighting as “brothers”.
An awkward Jey seems to be struggling, Rock turns up and tells him he must take his opportunity to headline WM and fight Roman.
In some convoluted scenario I’ve not worked out Jey gives his opportunity to The Rock, maybe by turning on him, kicking his arse and delivering him to Roman for being disrespectful about Roman.
The Uso’s fight and beat DIY at WM. Roman beats The Rock.
For months Jey seems upset, confused, unhappy but carries on as normal. During a rematch with DIY in May/ June out of nowhere Jey just flips, takes his brother out and leaves the match so they lose the tag titles.
He announces he should have faced Roman, he would have beaten him and he wants his opportunity at Summerslam. He gets it but due to interference from his Brother and Solo he loses. Roman says he’ll never get another chance and they make his life hell for the coming months.
Due to shenanigans Jey enters next years RR at 1 and fights amazingly making it to 20 when Brock Lesnar comes in, he survives. 21, 22, 23 all come in and are thrown out by Brock but he can’t get rid of Jey. Jimmy comes in and Brock assumes he’s gonna help him throw out this dead weight but Jimmy tricks him and helps his brother, impressed with his fight and they embrace. Jey goes on to win and challenges Roman again.
At WM Solo and Jimmy agree to stand back and let them have a fair fight and Jey goes on to win!
I disagree. He’s been injured and off TV. And maybe some of the audience does want to see the current storylines with Reigns, KO & Sami wrapped up before they introduce another contender.
But as soon as Downstrait blasts “adrenaline within my soul” whether it’s at the Royal Rumble or the Raw after WrestleMania the crowd will pop huge. He was on a great run before his injury including the first five star match on the WWE main roster since 2011.
I’m looking forward to Cody being back and restarting his campaign to fulfill his dream of being WWE champion. And it should be against Reigns so that it’s two families with decades of wrestling history between them. It doesn’t have to happen at WrestleMania. But if it does they could do my idea of Cody beating Reigns night 1 for the championship and then Reigns getting his heat back by beating Rock night 2.
Or have Cody win in a “Dusty finish” night 1 in a similar fashion to what happened to his father. But Reigns retains and wins night 2. And then the feud continues for Cody to eventually get the belt later in 2023.
I just think the momentum has shifted. Once the BL and Sami break up that’s the guy people want to beat Roman. Cody will get a nice pop when he comes back but I suspect if he’s challenging Roman the crowd will start to turn on him afterwards. I just don’t sense people want to see Cody beat him at WM
How Cody gets booked at Mania is going to be very interesting. Will Hunter come out of retirement because that’s the match that can headline Night 1 if Rock and Roman got Night 2
Gimme all the entrance pomp and circumstance, a 3 minute stare off, and a quick Pedigree and pinfall.
Excellent shout. I think it’s too soon for a Cody title win after his injury issues and I do also wonder whether WWE would want an ‘AEW Guy’ to be the one to dethrone Roman? I think he could win the belt later but not from Roman. No one seems to like my ramblings but as an outsider Jay looks and feels like a champion and WWE made him so I’d attach a rocket to him…then feed him to Goldberg in Saudi Arabia
At this point, do you take the belt of Reigns before he passes Hogan’s 1,474 days? Granted he would have to retain at TWO more Manias to do that, which seems ridiculous in this era. But I think that the next guy would have to be an absolute, can’t miss star (like 1983 Hogan or at least 2002 Lesnar) to justify beaten Reigns right now.
Getting him past Hogan would also surpass Morales, Backlund, and Bruno’s second reign… and still only halfway to Bruno’s 1963-71 run.
Blessing and a curse, I suppose. You’ve got the opportunity to have the longest major title reign in over 50 years, but how do you keep it rolling with five hours of weekly TV and a dozen PLEs per year?