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WrestleMania Rumors: Changes Likely for Some of Smackdown’s Top Matches Involving the Biggest Names

TJR Wrestling

WrestleMania season is here and that means that some big matches are set while others are constantly changing. I always like to write that until it’s officially announced by WWE it’s not official because I’ve been doing this for a long time. These changes happen all the time because Vince McMahon might change or some information that gets released may cause WWE to go in another direction when they see the feedback for it. I don’t know why they change things sometimes, but it happens.

It was two days ago when we posted about John Cena likely going to face Elias at WrestleMania. Apparently that’s off according to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer on his radio show (for subscribers only) last night. In addition to that, the anticipated Universal Title match between champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns appears to be off. Meltzer said that other possible matches have changed, but he hasn’t reported them yet.

They posted an audio clip of Meltzer talking about it with co-host Garrett Gonzalez that you can listen to below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyIgBYwBumU

It’s not known what changes might happen, nor did Meltzer attempt to say what the match changes will be. Wyatt is facing Goldberg at WWE Super Showdown, so perhaps Goldberg will win the Universal Title and then they do Goldberg defending the title vs. Reigns. If “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt retains the Universal Title then maybe it’s John Cena that ends up challenging him for the title at WrestleMania with Cena going for his record-breaking 17th “World” Title in WWE. Maybe they do Cena vs. Goldberg as a dream match? It’s not really known right now.

What’s interesting is that there have been reports saying Goldberg wasn’t likely to be wrestling at WrestleMania, but I have my doubts about that. Goldberg’s appearances on WWE TV have also done really well in terms of ratings, so to me, it makes sense to put Goldberg on the WrestleMania card.

I also wasn’t fond of the Cena vs. Elias idea especially since Elias is a babyface right now, so that didn’t seem like it made sense.

The two confirmed WrestleMania matches look like this:

WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre

NXT Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

That Ripley/Flair match could change if they had Bianca Belair, but I think they’ll keep it as a singles match.

Expected WrestleMania matches from the Raw brand:

Randy Orton vs. Edge

Raw Women’s Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Shayna Baszler

AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker

Plus, there will likely be the two battle royals that will probably be a part of the Kickoff Show

Andre The Giant Memorial Men’s Battle Royal

Women’s Battle Royal

Add in all the other titles that exist in WWE right now. It’s going to be a very long show as always.

TJR Thoughts: The way I see it is if they didn’t announce the matches, it’s just a rumor until it’s official. I figured they would do Wyatt vs. Reigns at WrestleMania since Reigns has been out of the title picture for a full year and I expected him to get the title at WrestleMania. If that doesn’t happen, so be it.

I don’t feel like we, as fans, need to know the WrestleMania card right now anyway. We still have to get through Super Showdown this Thursday, February 27 and then the Elimination pay-per-view is taking place on March 8th. What’s the difference if I know the card now or March 15? WrestleMania is on April 5th. There’s plenty of time.

My feeling, and keep in mind I am not aware of any actual plans, is that WWE has Wyatt beat Goldy at Super Showdown to retain the Universal Title. That would lead to Wyatt vs. Cena for the Universal Title at WrestleMania and then Reigns beats Goldberg at WrestleMania in a “Dream Match” between two guys who use the Spear as a finisher. Wyatt would beat Cena to continue his reign as champion. It would also lead to Reigns/Wyatt as a post-WrestleMania perhaps with Reigns getting the title at SummerSlam if they can wait until that long for it.

I’ll update WrestleMania rumors again when there’s more info.