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With WrestleMania 35 just a few days away, 14 matches have been announced for WWE’s biggest show of the year, including Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair, Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston.
As ever with WWE pay-per-views, it would not be a surprise if another match were to be added to the card at the last minute, especially if it involves The Revival and the Raw Tag Team Championship.
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder defeated Aleister Black and Ricochet via countout on Monday’s episode of Raw to retain their titles. It looked as though the tag champions might be added to the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. However, they were then involved in an unexpected altercation with another team after their match, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.
In a WWE.com exclusive video, the recently reunited duo surprisingly challenged the champs to a title match at WrestleMania 35. The Revival did not completely dismiss the challenge, with Wilder saying that their request to a match will be “taken under consideration”.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at four theories why the match will not only happen, but why Hawkins, with Ryder by his side, will finally pick up a victory to end his 269-match losing streak.
#4 Home advantage
It looked as though WWE would give Sonya Deville a WrestleMania moment in her home state of New Jersey by having her face Asuka in a SmackDown Women’s Championship match at MetLife Stadium. However, the title will now be part of the main event between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair instead, while Deville will compete in the Battle Royal.
If WWE is looking to give a different local Superstar a moment that fans will remember forever, then perhaps Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins – both born close to New Jersey in New York, where WrestleMania events are taking place all week – could tick that box by winning the Raw Tag Team titles from The Revival.
Short-term, fans would inevitably question why the former Edgeheads were given a title match in the first place. Long-term, a title victory for the perennial losers would live a lot longer in the memory than a throwaway multi-team tag match.
#3 What more can be achieved from the losing streak?
Curt Hawkins returned to WWE in 2016 after a two-year absence. He surprisingly picked up a victory during his first few weeks as a member of the SmackDown Live roster, defeating Apollo Crews in November 2016, but it has all gone downhill since then.
The former Tag Team champion lost the following night in a rematch against Crews at a live event, kick-starting an incredible run of 269 matches in a row without a victory. There have been times when he came close to ending the streak, notably in June 2018 against James Harden, but he has ultimately fallen short every time.
Throughout WWE history, only Barry Harowitz has had a losing streak as legendary (or the opposite of legendary, however you decide to look at it), and he finally ended his unwanted record when he defeated Skip in 1995.
In Hawkins’ case, his legacy as one of the biggest WWE losers of all time is already solidified, so what better stage than WrestleMania to turn his fortunes around?
#2 WrestleMania shock factor
WrestleMania is the one WWE pay-per-view of the year where a few shocks are guaranteed.
Last year, for example, Charlotte Flair and Brock Lesnar surprisingly retained their titles against Asuka and Roman Reigns, respectively, while Shinsuke Nakamura turned heel on AJ Styles and a 10-year-old child teamed with Braun Strowman to win the Raw Tag Team titles.
The previous year, one of the biggest shocks came when The Undertaker appeared to retire (of course, now we know that he didn’t) following his defeat against Roman Reigns in the main event, while The Hardy Boyz also produced a huge WrestleMania moment when they made their WWE returns.
Looking ahead to the WrestleMania 35 card, there are several high-profile matches on the show but many of them seem very predictable (e.g. wins for Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins and Triple H), so perhaps WWE will throw in a shocking victory for Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder to mix things up a bit.
#1 The Zack Ryder title treatment
In 2016, Zack Ryder enjoyed the greatest moment of his WWE career when he won the Intercontinental Championship in the opening match of WrestleMania 32. The following night, the fairytale story came to an abrupt end when he was defeated by The Miz, courtesy of interference from Maryse, on Raw.
WWE has been known to change titles at WrestleMania, as well as the following day, on other occasions in recent years, too, notably in 2013 when The Miz won the IC title from Wade Barrett at WrestleMania 29, only to lose it back to him 24 hours later on Raw.
Perhaps WWE could go down a similar route at WrestleMania 35, with Curt Hawkins finally ending his losing streak on the grand ‘Mania stage before The Revival can further establish themselves as the top heels in the tag division by winning the Raw Tag Team titles back the next day.
It would also be typical of Ryder to experience another huge ‘Mania moment, only to have it ruined again just one day later.
