We are only 17 days away from WrestleMania 33 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida and there are plenty of high-profile matches scheduled to take place. However, knowing Vince and this company, there is only one match that will be the actual main event of the show: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title.
Although that match is most likely to main event ‘Mania, there are other matches, and especially Superstars, that deserve and have earned that accolade based on the year they’ve had with the company. Let’s take a look at who we believe to be the most deserving Superstars on the roster to main event WWE’s biggest show of the year!
#5 The Miz
Since WWE decided to bring back the brand split in July of 2016, there hasn’t been a single Superstar that has benefited more than The Miz. His current run actually started the night after Wrestlemania last year, when he won the Intercontinental Title from Zack Ryder thanks to a distraction from his returning wife, Maryse.
However, it wasn’t until the brand split where Miz began to shine. After being drafted to SmackDown, he defended his title at Summerslam against Apollo Crews, bringing his reign to a respectable four months, yet he still felt disrespected by the company and the blue brand’s General Manager, Daniel Bryan.
Two nights after Summerslam, The Miz cut the promo of his career on Smackdown’s post-show, Talking Smack, calling Daniel Bryan out for being a “coward” and a “disappointment”, among many other things. The GM and “The A-Lister” continued their war of words for weeks on Smackdown and Talking Smack, which led to Bryan setting up a feud between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler.
Miz defended his title several times over the next few months against Ziggler, getting plenty of help from Maryse along the way, leading to their “Title vs. Career Match” at No Mercy. During the match, Maryse and the newly returned Spirit Squad were ejected from ringside, leading to Miz losing his Intercontinental Title after an impressive reign of over six months.
Miz would eventually win back the title from Ziggler and moved on to defend his title against the likes of Sami Zayn and Kalisto until he and Dolph met one last time at TLC in a ladder match for Miz’s IC title. In one of WWE’s “Match of the Year” candidates, Ziggler and Miz put on one hell of a ladder match that saw Miz retain his title.
Miz eventually lost the title to Dean Ambrose a month later, had an impressive run in the Royal Rumble, and was involved in the Elimination Chamber Match at SmackDown’s last PPV before Wrestlemania. Now feuding with John Cena, The Miz has done more than enough this year to earn a spot in the main event at Wrestlemania.
The renaissance of “The Most Must-See Superstar in WWE” has been fantastic and Miz has shown the ability, on the mic and in the ring, to justify having a spot in the main event if he was to get that opportunity.
#4 Dean Ambrose
“The Lunatic Fringe” has been WWE’s workhorse for years now, and if anyone in the company deserves a spot in the limelight due to their workload, it’s definitely Ambrose. After having the most matches in the company for the last two years, Ambrose has more than proven his durability and remains as popular as ever with the WWE Universe.
Also, after the debacle that was his last Wrestlemania match, a “Street Fight” against Brock Lesnar, Ambrose is owed a shot at having a Wrestlemania moment after the embarrassment he was caused last year.
Given the fact that he’s the current Intercontinental Champion, Ambrose will not be main eventing Wrestlemania this year. However, his potential match with Baron Corbin could absolutely steal the show and give fans a proper street fight at Wrestlemania.
#3 Kevin Owens
The longest reigning Universal Champion in the history of WWE is being left out of the main event scene at Wrestlemania, and what’s worse is that he had to drop his title to Goldberg a month before the biggest show in the history of the company.
After Finn Balor initially won the Universal Title at Summerslam, he was forced to relinquish that title the next night on Raw after suffering a devastating shoulder injury during the match. A Fatal Four Way match was made for later that night involving Owens, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Big Cass, which saw Triple H return and help Owens win his first World title since debuting on the main roster.
KO spent the next six months running roughshod over WWE with his now former best friend, Chris Jericho. The two were arguably the most entertaining act in WWE until their recent split.
Also, having wrestled the second most matches in the year of 2016, Owens has proved to be a work-horse for the company and shouldn’t have his top spot taken away a month before the company’s biggest show of the year.
#2 AJ Styles
Since his debut at Royal Rumble in 2016, nobody has had more impact in WWE than AJ Styles. After an impressive debut at the Rumble, Styles went on to have a match with Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania last year.
Although Styles lost, the next night he won a Fatal Four Way matchup to become the number one contender to the WWE Champion at the time, Roman Reigns. After a contest, which was laden with interference at Payback, the two had a “Match of the Year” candidate at Extreme Rules that saw Roman retain his title after a brutal match.
While a babyface at the time, Styles teased turning heel several times throught his feud with Reigns, but it wasn’t until his next feud with John Cena where AJ Styles solidified his spot among the top talents in WWE.
After turning heel by attacking John Cena, AJ Styles went on a run that few in this company have ever seen. He beat John Cena at Money in the Bank with help from The Club, then did it again at Summerslam, clean as a whistle.
After defeating John Cena at Summerslam, Styles proclaimed to be the “new face of WWE” and demanded to be announced as “The Face That Runs The Place”, which had been Cena’s nickname for years.
After taking Cena down twice, Styles injected himself back in the WWE Title picture and quickly earned his shot at the title and Smackdown Champion at the time, Dean Ambrose. In Smackdown Live’s first branded PPV, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles won the WWE Championship, becoming the first person in sports-entertainment history to win World Championships in TNA, New Japan, and WWE.
For the next few months, Styles would defend and retain his title in a rematch with Ambrose and in a Triple Threat match against Ambrose and Cena, his two biggest WWE rivals to date. After over a four-month reign, Styles finally lost the title to John Cena at Royal Rumble, in a match that will be extremely difficult to beat out for 2017 “Match of the Year”.
Now feuding with Shane McMahon, Styles has had arguably the greatest year ever for a WWE rookie and deserves almost more than anyone to main event WWE’s biggest show.
#1 Bray Wyatt
There is not another Superstar in the company that deserves to main event a Wrestlemania more than “The Eater of Worlds”. Aside from the fact he’s arguably the greatest character in the company, Bray Wyatt is also the current WWE Champion heading into ‘Mania.
His current feud with Randy Orton is one of the better feuds WWE has given us in years and Wyatt’s promo and in-ring ability have been on full display.
From being one of the two lone survivors in the Raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series match for SmackDown (along with Orton), being in the final three in the Royal Rumble, and finally winning the first World Title in his brief but already storied career, Bray Wyatt has done everything he can to prove to the company that he’s ready to have a rocket strapped to his back and pushed to the moon.
The feud that he and Orton are currently involved in is very worthy of being the main event at Wrestlemania given the history between the two over the past few months. Orton feuded with Bray in the fall of 2016, falling to “The Eater of Worlds” several times and causing Orton to join the Wyatt Family.
After months of infiltrating and tearing apart Wyatt and his brother, Luke Harper, Orton finally turned on Bray a few weeks ago on Smackdown, burning the grave of Sister Abigail. This is the type of blood feud the WWE Universe wants to main event a show like Wrestlemania, not a match that’s destined to last less than 5 minutes between two part-timers that are both over the age of forty.
His character, his promo skills, his in-ring ability, his cult-like following, but especially his desire to be great in this business make Bray Wyatt more than deserving of main eventing WWE’s biggest show of the year.
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