We are still over 5 months away from WrestleMania 33 on April 2, 2017, but some matches are already rumoured, and others just need to happen to make this another memorable Florida WrestleMania.
The show is probably going to be 6 hours long (WrestleMania 32 was 6 and ½ hours including the kickoff show, so we have precedent here), so at least 12 matches can fit on the card. That’s how many last year’s show had.
It will be a pick ‘em for the ones that would go on the kickoff, so I won’t specify which would show up on the pre-show.
#12 John Cena vs. The Undertaker
It has been rumoured for years, and this may be the last year it can happen. That is what everybody said last year and the year before, though, yet Undertaker ended up wrestling 4 (!!) matches overall in 2015. He also wrestled 3 times on the European tour between his third and fourth televised matches.
So maybe this isn’t the last time this match has the chance to happen, but it’s the right year. WWE is going to likely keep John Cena out of the WWE World Title picture, at least for a while (hopefully). The Undertaker barely ever shows up, and this is the epitome of dream matches. Their only other big match was a PPV match all the way back in 2003.
This match is immense – both as a spectacle and a send-off – and if The Undertaker retires before we can see him wrestle John Cena at WrestleMania, then a great travesty would have occurred.
#11 Sami Zayn vs. Dean Ambrose
This can be a cross-branded match or Zayn can get traded to SmackDown Live. It doesn’t make a difference. It appears that WWE is preparing to bring Ambrose back to the dark side, and what better man to put in the way of a conniving, crafty and cunning heel than the ultimate underdog from the underground?
Dean Ambrose has been cutting some of the most intense and scathing heelish promos of his career over the past few months, starting specifically with his feud with Dolph Ziggler at the beginning of the brand split.
Sami Zayn is the guy to be positioned in that role, with Ambrose calling out his weaknesses. He beat Kevin Owens in what may be their last match (we obviously know that isn’t true), but then Owens went on to become the Universal Champion and Zayn floundered.
This is the kind of match that can make both men look like a million bucks and could steal the show on almost any card.
#10 Nikki Bella (Challenger) vs. Becky Lynch (Champion) - SmackDown Women’s Championship
It doesn’t really matter if this is a face vs. face or heel vs. face match (Nikki would have to go heel, though, at least for a short period of time). Becky Lynch is an amazing babyface and should stay that way until the fans somehow get tired of her “STRAIGHT FIYAH!” and start to root against her. I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.
Nikki Bella, whether you want to admit it or not, is the top star of the SmackDown Women’s Division. Becky Lynch is easily number two.
It’s a super match just waiting to be made, and could be set up with the two women teaming up against a pair of heels, followed by either a friendly rivalry or a heel turn by Nikki after a loss that could have been avoided with better team communication.
#9 Finn Balor (Challenger) vs. Seth Rollins (Champion) - WWE Universal Championship
By the time WrestleMania comes around, Finn Balor should be ready to get back in the ring. He could make his surprise return in the Royal Rumble match if he is medically cleared by then. Whether or not that is when he makes his return, obviously the first man Balor is going to target will be Seth Rollins.
It will be difficult to make this happen with Rollins being a babyface, but all you need to do is align Balor with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson.
Balor is upset by having his moment ruined by Rollins and comes back with a vengeance. He’s mean, he’s cold, calculating and remorseless. He and The Club can destroy Rollins and anybody else who steps up, leading to the match at WrestleMania.
Once all is said and done, Balor beats Rollins and Seth plays the part of the bigger man. He extends his hand to shake Finn’s, and The Demon King accepts and they embrace in the ring.
Balor gets his revenge on Rollins and goes back to being a good guy, and then you have a built-in match for the next couple of pay-per-view events with Balor & Rollins vs. Gallows & Anderson. This stuff almost writes itself.
#8 Brock Lesnar vs. Kevin Owens
I toyed around with the idea of going with Lesnar vs. Cesaro, but I have other plans for him. Kevin Owens has made it a point, on a number of occasions, to say that he wants to take on Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. It would be a career-defining match for Owens win or lose, but a win would be amazing for his career.
Owens is a tweener, as they say. He’s a bad guy, but the crowd loves him. They love to boo him, but they take every opportunity to cheer him that they can. With that in mind, all that needs to happen is that he needs to lay out the challenge, Paul Heyman has to decline and call him fat and undeserving, so Owens has to make a statement.
He goes on to impressively destroy enhancement talent for a few weeks and calls out Braun Strowman for Fastlane. He beats Strowman and then challenges Lesnar again, this time with Heyman accepting.
I don’t think anything more needs to be said. This match HAS to happen.
#7 Gran Metalik (Challenger) vs. Cedrick Alexander (Challenger) vs. Neville (Champion) WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Neville and Sami Zayn aren’t likely to become a long-term (or even short-term, after Zayn answered the open challenge from Braun Strowman) tag team.
As such, Zayn has a different match on the card, and Neville can become the Cruiserweight Champion. Hold some kind of tournament to determine the number one contender and maybe run a non-finish or something. I don’t know, I just love the idea of this match.
This would be an amazing moment for Alexander, but I could see Metalik getting the gold as the first masked wrestler to hold the new title. I could also see Neville holding onto the belt. Again, it’s all about how cool this match would probably be. It should also be the main card opener, if possible.
#6 Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin & Drew Gulak vs. Jack Swagger & American Alpha
There were rumours shortly after Shelton Benjamin got injured that WWE was considering putting together a “shooter” stable together featuring former amateur wrestlers Dolph Ziggler, Shelton Benjamin, and Jack Swagger.
I think Drew Gulak would fit better as the third member of that team, and likely will fare better there than in the Cruiserweight Division. The idea was that they would be a heel group, but I think that’s unnecessary, especially if Dolph Ziggler is going to be at the helm.
He’s such a great babyface and now that he has been granted a new life, he shouldn’t leave that role for a while. Swagger, Chad Gable, and Jason Jordan don’t have to be heels, in fact, they can be friends and can even sometimes partner with the other men.
Alternatively, they could be the new version of the SmackDown Six.
Of course, that phrase has been thrown around a million times and is yet to happen, but it’s a thought. Add the Usos and you have an insanely solid base with 8 men (I would put Gulack & Swagger together) who could wrestle in singles, tag and other types of matches for months on end.
The Usos could earn a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match for the event, which would explain their exclusion from this match.
Gulak and Swagger would agree to split up for this match as well, because it’s part of a friendly rivalry, and because Gulak is an actual member of the “Shooter’s Club” (or whatever they would call the group) while Swagger is only associated with them because of Gulak’s membership.
#5 Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass (RAW Tag Team Champions) - Non-Title
We would feature a SmackDown Live vs. RAW match here, with the SmackDown Tag Champs in the Six Man Tag (American Alpha). It would be a non-title affair, started just because Bray Wyatt wanted somebody to toy with and chose Enzo & Cass. These two teams are more different than even New Day and The Wyatts, so it’s a great mix to try out.
The winner doesn’t matter, but if the Wyatts win you would have to expect them to get a shot at the SmackDown Tag Titles later on down the road.
#4 Bayley (Challenger) vs. Sasha Banks (Champion) - RAW Women’s Championship
It was possibly the best feud in the history of NXT. Not the Women’s Division, but NXT as a whole. They had a classic match at the first Takeover: Brooklyn event and took the main event slot at the next Takeover where they tore the house down in a 30-minute Iron Woman match.
Banks is a babyface now, but come WrestleMania she will have grown back the huge ego that she possessed during her time as NXT Women’s Champion. She will beat Charlotte inside Hell in a Cell, and become only the fourth woman to enter the Royal Rumble match (after Chyna, Beth Phoenix and Kharma).
Not only that, but she will eliminate two men, which will give her the record for most eliminations in a single Rumble match by a female. Sasha acts like she is the most important person in the world and begins to distance herself from Bayley.
She ignores her and unintentionally belittles her for a little while before it slowly devolves into intentional verbal abuse and finally, after a time, physical attacks.
Bayley takes the title from Sasha at WrestleMania, of course.
#3 Randy Orton (Challenger) vs. Baron Corbin (Champion) - Intercontinental Championship
This would be a great test for Corbin. Orton isn’t the kind of guy that everybody can have a great match with, but when motivated he usually puts on a fantastic performance.
Put these two in the ring together and see if magic (or at least something decent) happens. Corbin is the kind of guy who can’t be on the undercard for too long. It will ruin him, because his character projects that he is a star, so he has to reach at least upper-mid card level fairly soon.
A renewal of the feud with Ziggler could work as well, as they had some good matches together, the storyline itself was just very poor. Give Corbin a shot against Randy Orton. See if he’s ready to move up higher on the card.
#2 Shinsuke Nakamura (Challenger) vs. Samoa Joe (Challenger) vs. Apollo Crews (Challenger) vs. AJ Styles (Champion) – WWE World Championship
Make this an elimination match. Styles going up against any of these three guys would be absolutely great as well (I would prefer to see Crews get a push and take on Styles at the event, but this show could use a little bit more variety when it comes to match types.
Styles can take the win in the end, and I would set up Crews as the last man eliminated, setting up a great back-and-forth affair with AJ that sees Crews come very close to the upset but ultimately falling short against Styles.
#1 Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro
Please, please turn Roman Reigns into the bad guy that everybody needs him to be. There are a few guys he could attack that could make the crowd continue booing him instead of cheering the heel turn.
One, obviously, would be Sami Zayn. Cesaro is another one, as are Enzo Amore & Big Cass, and if Goldberg sticks around past the match with Lesnar, a showdown at the Royal Rumble PPV would certainly pit the fans against Reigns and solidly in the corner of Goldberg.
Cesaro is a once-in-a-lifetime talent. The fact that he has been in WWE for as long as he has been (it will be just a few weeks shy of 5 years when WrestleMania 33 comes along) and hasn’t won a World Title or at least been a legitimate contender is mind boggling. Elevate him toward that level. Have him as one of the final four in the Royal Rumble along with Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, and eventual winner Finn Balor (or Samoa Joe if Balor isn’t ready quite yet).
He shouldn’t win the match, but have Reigns eliminate Styles (boy, will the crowd ever hate that!) and make it look like Reigns is going to be going after Rollins and the Universal Title. Eventually Cesaro ends up eliminating Reigns to a huge ovation before getting eliminated last by the winner.
Pipe dreams? Maybe. Awesome? Definitely.
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