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Let's face it, guys. While we can all commend WWE for putting on the empty arena shows that they have with WWE RAW and SmackDown over the past week, the truth remains that they're not the best shows we've seen.
While the company genuinely tried to make SmackDown a decent episode, RAW failed to deliver and was weighed down by a massive recap of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. What can essentially get us all excited for WrestleMania again are a few surprises.
Yes, telling stories has always been WWE's greatest strength and without the crowd to spur the performers on, what we'll need are genuine twists and turns to keep the viewer engaged. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts about the same.
So, with that said, I have listed down 5 surprises that could change the landscape of WWE, were they to happen over the course of the following weeks leading to WrestleMania. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts, ladies, and gentlemen.
#5 Ricochet turns heel following his losses
So, Ricochet suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Brock Lesnar and he also lost to Riddick Moss on RAW subsequently. One wonders if this is a storyline where he's on a losing streak and hence, seeking help from someone to come save him. And the only Messiah available at that time is the Monday Night Messiah - Seth Rollins, inviting Ricochet into his fold as a proud member.
Ricochet's move set may be impaired as a heel but as we've seen from performers like Murphy, one can still be a heel and put on great matches.
And then, maybe The Undisputed ERA can take on this faction after WrestleMania.
#4 John Cena puts his career on the line in the match against The Fiend
Many believe that The Fiend should have vanquished Goldberg in Saudi Arabia. And then, the Universal Championship should have been on the line at WrestleMania, with John Cena going for his 17th World Championship against the man who has menaced WWE.
And yet, because there is no title on the line, I wonder if John Cena could put his career on the line in this contest against The Fiend. It is very clear that John Cena has embarked on yet another career at the moment and that he is pretty much winding down his role in WWE, so for him to have his final hurrah at WrestleMania is definitely quite possible.
We all know how much John Cena loves, respects, and admires The Nature Boy Ric Flair and he may not necessarily want to break the 16-World Championship record, because it's one of those things that's sacred in the whole sports entertainment fraternity. So maybe he loses at WrestleMania, putting The Fiend over in a big way, and bows out, having tied Ric Flair's record.
#3 Tucker is revealed as the man who sent the text
Sometimes when a teammate turns on another, they are able to create magic in the ring. We saw it with Ciampa and Gargano, two men who were thick as thieves during #DIY, and two men who put on the best matches in the history of NXT when they decided to go their separate ways and work against each other.
Otis and Tucker have the ability to do the same, and it all hinges on the text that was sent telling Mandy Rose that Otis would be late. Now ideally, one would assume that Dolph Ziggler would send such a text to make his move, but what if WWE decides to swerve us all?
In due course of time, we could find out that it was Tucker who sent the text because he could be angry at the fact that Otis was focused on Mandy Rose and not their team. This would effectively lead to the dissolution of Heavy Machinery and lead to a very exciting WrestleMania match.
#2 Paige announces that she's returning to face Bayley
Paige was supposed to confront Bayley on last week's episode of SmackDown and one had assumed that it would be one of two things. She could either be returning as a manager, bringing someone like Nia Jax back into the fold. But the most exciting possibility, by far, involved her returning to the ring again.
And since this is an article that talks about surprises, let's assume that Paige is indeed coming back as an in-ring competitor to compete at WrestleMania 36. Even without the roar of the crowd to accompany such a moment, it would be a very big deal indeed.
People from all across the world would tune in to see this marvelous comeback match, especially if you consider the fact that Paige is a much more mainstream name now, considering that a movie was recently made on her life and her story.
Even if Paige was to lose at WrestleMania 36, it would be a great moment and would give Bayley all the heel heat she needs for the upcoming episodes.
#1 Aleister Black steps into the US Championship picture
Sportskeeda's own Gary Cassidy caught up with Andrade some time ago and you can catch some of the conversation here and the rest on Sportskeeda's YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to it because we're constantly putting up great sports entertainment audiovisual content that you won't find anywhere else on the internet.
While I do know that Rey Mysterio deserves a shot at the United States Championship because he pinned Andrade clean, I just think that we've seen way too many Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio matches. All of them are great, but we need something out of the box to make WWE exciting again while the pandemic recedes.
Aleister Black could take on Andrade for the United States Championship and this would be a great feud indeed because the two men know each other very well and also work very well against one another as we saw during their titanic battles back in NXT. Moreover, Zelina Vega is married to Aleister Black which would lead to an interesting dynamic.
What makes Sting special? His first AEW opponent opens up RIGHT HERE.
