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In a few days, The MetLife stadium will be packed with more than 75,000 fans from all over the world for WrestleMania 35.
The card this year looks strong and will be a long affair. There are 13 confirmed matches plus the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the Women's Battle Royal as well.
With John Cena not scheduled for a match nor the Raw Tag team belts being defended, the likelihood of an additional bout being added later this week remains anticipated.
While the front of the card is going to be highly entertaining and may deliver the best bouts of the night, this article focuses on the back end.
The RAW Women’s Championship, Universal Championship, and WWE Championship matches are going to close out the show, with a possible lower-card fight thrown in between to give the audience a breather.
These three matches have similar setups; a heel champion(s) and an over babyface who is the presumed favorite, and who the fans want to see win.
The WWE Universe has vocalized their desire to see Kofi Kingston get his long deserved Mania’ moment.
Chants of “Becky” have taken over arena’s for months now, with the hope that she will be standing tall in the first ever Showcase of Immortals headlined by women.
And Raw is begging for Seth Rollins to slay the beast and relinquish the crippling stranglehold Lesnar has had of the Red Brand's most prestigious prize.
Sadly, the probability of WWE having all three babyface challengers crowned as new champions is unlikely. It could happen, and most people want to see it transpire as well.
Which one of the babyfaces will leave WrestleMania with their dreams dashed? Now that’s a question where we can dive in.
All of Lynch, Kingston, and Rollins have legitimate reasons for why they should and could become the new faces of their divisions, and also why they can lose their respective matches. Let’s tackle them one by one.
#1 Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan (c) for The WWE Championship
It’s no secret that Kofi’s ascension to the title scene came out of nowhere. Kofi’s opportunity is as purely organic as it gets and sparked from the WWE Universe's willingness to get behind the New Day member for the last few months.
If Ali did not get hurt before the Elimination Chamber PPV, then we would not be talking about Kofi at Mania’ unless it was a tag team match as part of New Day.
Ali was originally booked to have that strong gauntlet performance and pull off a herculean effort at Elimination Chamber as well.
And because of his relatively quick ascension from 205 Live to the WWE main event scene, he was not taking the title from Daniel Bryan.
Like Becky, Kofi saw an opening and took off running. He received a chance to replace Ali in that gauntlet match and from there, has been arguably the most over Superstar on the planet.
It is great to see Kofi getting his moment and with the amount of attention this storyline has been getting it seems inevitable that he will be standing tall for his first ever WWE Championship reign.
But again, taking into account that Kofi’s featured spot was never planned for, there is a reason to believe that Daniel Bryan could leave MetLife stadium still as the champion.
After all, the plan for Bryan was to be a long term champion, and his heel work has been phenomenal up to this point.
We’ve seen Vince McMahon pull a fast one on the fans before, and go against the Wishes of the WWE Universe, and that’s always an ever glaring truth.
With everything said, Kofi still seems like the favorite to become your new WWE champion. He has too much momentum going for him right now and seems like the safest bet amongst the three top babyfaces. Still, it is no lock.
Who We Want To Win: Kofi Kingston. Though admittedly, if anyone were to beat Kofi, Daniel Bryan is the only guy we'd want to do it.
Who We Think Will Win: Kofi Kingston.
Verdict: The WWE Universe has spoken. If there was any truth to the McMahon promo a few months back about the WWE Universe as the new authority, then this is the ultimate showcase for that.
#2 Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey (c) for The RAW Women's Championship and Smackdown Women's Championship
Becky Lynch was on absolute fire for months and months, grabbing the bull by the horns, and forcing herself into this prominent position.
Even though the storyline has been losing some luster lately, The Man has arguably more momentum than any Superstar in the company right now.
When looking beneath the surface though, it is easy to see that Lynch was never meant to be in this position. If the WWE Universe didn’t gravitate towards Lynch in an overwhelming manner, this match was surely set to be Rousey vs. Charlotte.
Rousey has proven her star status for over a year. She has been put in a prominent position and has generally carried RAW with all the dysfunction going on with the men’s side of things.
She is the most mainstream name in the entire company, and whether we admit it or not, Rousey is the biggest star on any wrestling roster.
For all the publicity Lynch has received, and all the strides women have made in WWE over the years, Rousey’s global superstar status is the reason that this match is headlining Mania’. There’s no other way around it.
Charlotte is the daughter of arguably the greatest performer in wrestling history, and not to mention, she has been one of the pioneers in the Women's Revolution.
Charlotte seems to get handed opportunity after opportunity without doing anything lately, and it’s because Mr. McMahon can always count on her to deliver.
Her inclusion to the match showed, among others, that she was the original opponent for Rousey. It showed that the Chairman thought he needed to add a little more spice, star power, a little more flair to make this match main event worthy.
Charlotte snapped Asuka’s undefeated streak and stole her aura at WrestleMania 34. You don’t book that without bigger things in mind.
Lynch’s ascension was through pure willpower and a character change that she took and vaulted into the conversation of the division's elite.
It’s a beautiful sight when a Superstar organically creates an unexpected rise. Lynch earned everything she’s received, and a win over Rousey and Charlotte on 7th, April is the icing on the cake for The Man.
All of this is to say that, while Becky Lynch winning is what we all want to see and has pretty good odds of happening, it is not as bulletproof as it seems.
The Man would seem to have the second-best odds of walking out as a champion, especially since there are now two champions in her match.
Stephanie McMahon announcing that the winner of the match will be crowned as a dual champion is an exciting new wrinkle.
Does Vince McMahon believe that Becky is honorable enough to receive this prestigious distinction, or will he go with the more bankable Charlotte, or the mainstream popularity of Rousey? This new dimension adds even more mystery to this match.
Who We Want To Win: Becky Lynch.
Who We Think Will Win: Ronda Rousey.
Verdict: Having Rousey, the company's biggest Superstar, hold both Women's championships to close out the longest WrestleMania ever has too much mainstream marketability for Vince McMahon to pass on. Giving the fans Kofi earlier in the show will lessen the blow.
#3 Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar (c) for The Universal Championship
Now, this is the most tricky situation of them all. Two months ago, there would have been no way I could have seen Rollins not slaying the Beast and finally bringing normalcy back to Monday Night RAW.
With the payoff being a match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36, when he was able to return. Well, a lot has changed since the Royal Rumble event in January.
We have seen the rise of yet another babyface challenger in Kofi Kingston over on SmackDown.
The return of the true face of the company in Roman Reigns came a lot earlier than almost anyone could have predicted.
And the back injury that stalled Rollins’ momentum and kept him off the television and out of the ring for a large chunk of time.
Rollins is no longer the red-hot Superstar he was when he outlasted thirty other men and stomped out Braun Strowman to earn his way into a championship match. His momentum has stalled by being used as a secondary player for so long.
Every Superstar lately has been finding out that it’s hard to keep a good feud going with Lesnar when he’s never there.
The WWE editing department does a good job in their video packages to make the rivalries look intense, but in reality, they haven’t been.
Brock Lesnar has crippled RAW for two years now. Two full years of the prime time show without it's main championship.
Every few months when the championship is getting defended there’s hope that this will be the time that Lesnar finally gets beat so RAW can move forward.
Rollins is supposed to be the guy to do it. But will he be able to overcome the odds?
When you think about it, would it be shocking to see Lesnar win? The Beast Incarnate is an unstoppable force. He vanquishes everything in his path. In more than three years, only Roman Reigns and Goldberg have been able to pin him.
As much as Rollins needs to reign supreme in this match, there are too many question marks for this match not to be a true toss-up.
Of the three matches, this sadly has the highest likely odds that the heel walks away as the champion. We all witnessed what happened at last year's Mania when it seemed all but certain that Reigns would beat Lesnar.
ho We Want To Win: Seth Rollins.
Who We Think Will Win: Seth Rollins.
Verdict: Brock Lesnar is the favorite to win in our eyes, but as a part of the WWE Universe it is something I would not prefer. So, Seth Rollins will win so we can finally move on from Lesnar and bring the main event scene back to Raw.
When all is said and done, there is a possibility, an alternate universe, where fans everywhere get what they’ve asked for and can rejoice as the babyfaces all raise championship gold over their heads on the Grandest Stage Of Them All. I for one will be ecstatic for the coming months of the product if it happens.
All three Superstars deserve the opportunity to be champion, and the product needs some fresh scenery and innovative storylines to utilize this stacked roster and make 2019 a year to remember.
But we all have to prepare for the probability that at least one of our heel champions will still be holding gold come 8th, April.
