Predicting the top 8 matches of WrestleMania 35 six months out

We are currently at the halfway point between WrestleManias, six months before the last one and six months before the next one. Every year, WWE carefully plans its top matches for the show in a conscious effort to create an unmissable card worthy of the WrestleMania tagline. The coming year's Supercard will be no different. With a roster as stacked as how it is now, WWE really cannot go wrong.

This year's WrestleMania looked like one of the most stacked 'Mania cards in WWE history, but the execution of it left us with a lot to desire. While some of the highly anticipated matches delivered, the latter portion of the show fell flat, from Styles-Nakamura not meeting its lofty expectations to a 10-year-old winning the Raw Tag Team Championship, to that lacklustre main event between Reigns and Lesnar.

WWE must plan this WrestleMania out to feature as many high-quality matches as possible, with almost none of it being compromised. There must be a perfect mixture of part-timers and full-time guys in the main event spots.

Here are some of the best matches they can present in New Jersey next year, that will make this upcoming WrestleMania one of the best ever. With a show stacked like this, it would be hard to go wrong. These eight matches are all main event level bouts truly worthy of the Grandest Stage Of Them All.

#8 Becky Lynch vs Asuka (Smackdown Women's Championship)

This is the best match the Smackdown women's division could offer beyond Becky vs Charlotte.

Becky Lynch is currently doing the best work of her career. She has taken the ball and is running with it, sitting atop the Smackdown women's division. Charlotte Flair, the alpha female in WWE for years now, will be needed elsewhere on the card, so this frees up a spot for another Smackdown superstar to step up to the Irish Lass Kicker. It should be none other than Asuka, once revered as the most dominant female in WWE history.

The Empress of Tomorrow honestly feels like the Empress of Yesterday, with the way she has been booked since her winning streak ended at the hands of Charlotte at WrestleMania 34. Asuka desperately needs to be rebuilt, as she still is a fantastic wrestler. After Becky is done with 'The Queen', she will need some face challengers. While Naomi and Carmella could pose some threats, we all know who should take her on at WrestleMania 35.

There could be many ways to rebuild Asuka. One way is to make her look great by giving her some credible opponents so she could put on killer matches. Also, a great showing at the Royal Rumble would go a long way in getting her over with the fans again. It is the best possible match they could put on for the Smackdown Women's Championship at 'Mania. Hopefully, this match does reinvigorate Asuka and she does come out top at the end.

#7 AJ Styles vs Randy Orton

This would be a battle between two of Smackdown's best and most reliable superstars.

AJ Styles has been the WWE Champion for close to a year now. He doesn't seem like dropping it soon, but it will happen at some point. After he is finally out of the title picture, the Phenomenal One will require a high profile opponent for WrestleMania.

It doesn't get much more high profile than the living legend, Randy Orton. This is a match that has happened before, yet the two of them have barely scratched the surface in terms of what they can do together.

The 13-time World Champion is currently going on a fantastic heel run, as he is torturing babyfaces left, right and centre. Orton seems to be putting his heart into his work again after years of blandness as a babyface. He would be a terrific opponent for Styles at 'Mania. These are two of the most reliable wrestlers currently on the roster, as they can put on great matches with pretty much anyone.

While this would be an excellent WWE Championship match, there is another match on this list that needs the title more than this. Both Styles and Orton could feasibly carry a brand, or even a company, on their back.

They are two of the biggest full-time stars on the Blue brand and their match would dazzle the world, especially in their current roles. Face Styles vs Heel Orton could steal the show, even with a card as stacked as this one. Also, we need to see the Phenomenal Forearm countered into an RKO. Please.

#6 John Cena vs Samoa Joe

Sticking with Smackdown Live, this time a part-timer comes into the mix. John Cena has not been involved in a really good story since the start of 2017 and we all need a reminder of just how good the Cenation Leader really is.

He has become the part-time superstar that he once despised. Also, Cena has weirdly teased retirement on a couple of occasions so WWE must use his limited time left to build new stars.

They could start by booking a dream match between two superstars who go way back but have never had that one defining match against each other at a big enough stage. This is a match so hotly anticipated, that it should happen at the biggest stage.

Samoa Joe is a massive star. While he is a great wrestler, his promo skills are fantastic. Joe makes you buy into whatever he says to you. He made the entire feud with AJ Styles work, with his creepy delivery and awesome heel work.

While the build-up to this match would be sweet, the action would be pulsating. Cena literally has hardly had a good match since that one with Styles at Royal Rumble 2017. It would be nice to see him have one at long last. Joe would be the one to give that to him.

After failing to win the WWE Championship, the company must not leave Joe laying. His performances are always consistent and his talent warrants huge rewards in the ring.

And there are few rewards better than beating John Cena at WrestleMania

#5 Triple H vs Batista

Batista is set to return at Smackdown 1000.

Evolution is set to reunite next week at Smackdown 1000, in what would be Batista's first appearance in WWE programming since June 2014. Since then he has become a much bigger star in Hollywood and it is quite surprising that WWE hasn't brought him back earlier. Surely he would like to right the wrongs of his previous run with the company, when he was mercilessly booed as a babyface simply for not being Daniel Bryan.

The Animal has stated numerous times that he would like to have a retirement match at WrestleMania with Triple H. It would be a logical end to his pro wrestling story and seems likely to be happening sooner rather than later. The seeds could be planted on the coming episode of Smackdown Live and it would eventually turn into a bitter war between former friends, partners and rivals. It certainly would be a fitting marquee match for both men.

Triple H has been having only big matches at 'Mania since going part-time and has always had a special entrance to match the occasion. Next year would be no different. Although, it could be the year that the Game ends his current losing streak at the Grandest Stage of Them All. He hasn't won a WrestleMania match in three years. It would surely be a fitting way to end the Hall of Fame career that Batista has had in WWE.

#4 Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair (RAW Women's Championship)

WWE could really strike gold with this match.

This match is one that should only happen at a WrestleMania. Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair are two of the biggest female stars in the company and are among the biggest full-time stars in the company today. The magnitude of such a match is, quite honestly, overwhelming.

With the phenomenal signs of greatness shown by Rousey throughout her first six months as a pro wrestler and the exceptional skill possessed by Charlotte Flair, this has the makings of a true 'Mania classic.

The Rowdy One stole the show at last year's WrestleMania, wrestling her first ever match alongside Kurt Angle, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Another one of the show's best matches was Charlotte's Smackdown Women's Championship defence against the then-undefeated Asuka.

This was the night where the Queen ended Asuka's crazy winning streak. She could now set her sights on another undefeated streak at next year's Showcase of the Immortals.

Rousey is the current Raw Women's Champion and will most likely head into MetLife Stadium as the champ, while Charlotte Flair is currently in a bitter feud with Becky Lynch over the Blue brand's belt.

It would take a brand change for Charlotte Flair, for this match to happen and it could very well take place after she wins the 2019 Royal Rumble Match. This is a marquee match that has the potential to be the single greatest women's match at WrestleMania, even beating this year's streak-ending classic and the groundbreaking triple threat between Charlotte, Becky and Sasha Banks in 2016.

#3 Braun Strowman vs The Undertaker

Nowadays whenever The Undertaker performs in the ring, we are reminded that he is really old and needs to retire soon. He left his hat, coat and gloves in the ring at the end of WrestleMania 33, presumably announcing his retirement.

However, it wasn't to be as the Deadman returned to the ring at this year's 'Mania and squashed John Cena. He has since had matches against Rusev and Triple H, both of which failed to live up to his stellar run from 2007 to 2013.

A tag team match with Kane against DX, already confirmed, and another one-on-one with Shawn Michaels are both likely to come in the next month.

However, what the Deadman should do at WrestleMania is put over a current star. WWE doesn't do so nearly enough, it was brilliantly demonstrated at Super Showdown. The Miz vs Daniel Bryan was cut to two minutes so that 'Taker and Triple H could go for half an hour, despite most of their match being pretty slow.

The Deadman needs to retire at the following WrestleMania, putting over a full-time star not named Roman Reigns in the process. That man is Braun Strowman. WWE needs to revisit a match they had planned for WrestleMania 32, back when the Monster was part of the Wyatt Family and green as grass.

Strowman has failed to capture the Universal Championship so far and will likely continue to do so over the next two months. He will need something else to live up to his current value as the best big man in the company.

While he pretty much is one already, retiring The Undertaker would solidify the Monster as a megastar. WWE does not have enough of them and will need to start getting behind the full-time talent as they did with the current part-timers when they were full-time talent.

#2 The Miz vs Daniel Bryan (WWE Championship)

Their feud has slightly disappointed so far.

If you would have been told around three months ago that The Miz vs Daniel Bryan would turn out to be an underwhelming feud, you would have laughed at the thought of it. However, here we are after two and a half months of this feud, without the same feelings we had before it began.

The match at SummerSlam was good and built well towards the future. The inclusion of Miz and Bryan's wives was smart to fill time but took away from the intensity of the feud. The two-minute match, at this very moment, has left us disappointed with what transpired in what many believed would be the feud of the year.

The Miz and Daniel Bryan are still taking shots at each other, as we are approaching Bryan vs AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. The Awesome One is going to insert himself into the title picture sooner or later and is probably going to be the guy who ends Styles' potentially year-long reign.

The Miz has absolutely earned the right to become the WWE Champion and has come a ridiculously long way since he held the title in 2010 and 2011. He should head into WrestleMania with the belt, while Daniel Bryan earns his way to a championship match to renew rivalries with his former NXT pro.

This story needs a feel-good satisfying conclusion. The small package victory in Australia certainly did not offer that. Without a match at WrestleMania, the Bryan vs Miz feud will feel incomplete. We could finally get the moment we all desperately longed for, with the Flying Goat finally winning the Royal Rumble as well.

Either way, this would lead to another special WrestleMania moment in Bryan's collection. He really has had some huge moments happen on the Grandest Stage. From the 18-second match to the all-conquering world title victory, to the IC title victory, to his in-ring return this year. WrestleMania 35 could rank up as one of the finest moments of an already Hall of Fame-worthy career.

#1 Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins (Universal Championship)

This is the perfect time to do the Shield triple threat again.

There are rumours floating around that The Rock is set to return to the ring and challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania. However, it must be noted that the number of part-timers WWE are bringing in is getting more and more unsettling.

They need to focus on the stars they have. To be honest, good storytelling can sell as many tickets as superstar power. And the best story that could be told for the Universal Championship is literally right in front of everyone. The Shield is currently running the yard on Monday Night Raw, but it won't last forever.

Dean Ambrose has teased a heel turn for many weeks now and he even walked out on his brothers at the end of this past Raw. While this is not the time to do it, Ambrose himself should be the one who turns.

He would make for a fantastic heel and add a new layer to his classic story with Seth Rollins. However, they should go for the Universal title. These three superstars are all doing the best work of their career now.

Once they split again, it should be made a big deal. WWE needs to right the wrong of doing the Shield triple threat wrong. These three faced off for the WWE Championship at Battleground 2016 but the build detracted from the main story.

The focus was on the newly-reinstated Brand Split instead of the Shield's history with each other. Also, Reigns was suspended for the entire build. As a result, the quality of the match was hindered. With the three united as one now, there is enough time to tell a great story.

This is the biggest opportunity WWE has to book The Shield triple threat again. Every week, Michael Cole goes on about how these three are the workhorses of the WWE. If they really are, give them the main event of WrestleMania and tell the story. We haven't seen a WrestleMania main event that featured only full-time wrestlers since 2011, even then The Rock ended the show standing tall.

This is WWE's chance to show that they can still make stars. Give the talent the ball, they will run with it. It wouldn't matter who wins. This could be one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all time and along with the other matches on this list, this would make WrestleMania 35 one of the greatest shows of all time. Book it, Vince!