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Welcome to our daily WWE Rumor Roundup where we give a rundown of all the biggest speculation coming in from the WWE.
While WWE added the final touches to the Super ShowDown card on the most recent episode of RAW, a majority of the rumors revolve around WrestleMania.
A top champion could lose his title at the Show of Shows as Vince McMahon may have found his next big babyface Superstar.
A talented Superstar may have also been added to the dreaded injury-prone list. Brock Lesnar could be in line to face a popular Superstar in a first-time-ever dream match after WrestleMania.
There was also a report about John Cena being a fan of a talented Superstar backstage. There was also some speculation with regards to the outcome of the Undertaker and AJ Styles match. We have picked out five of the newsworthy stories and on that note, let's take a look at each one of them in a little more detail:
#5. Vince McMahon is firmly behind Drew McIntyre to defeat Brock Lesnar
While Brock Lesnar may see it as bad news, Vince McMahon is backing the Drew McIntyre project and that should please the fans.
As reported by WrestlingNews.co's Paul Davis, Vince McMahon wants to push McIntyre as the next big face of the company.
The current plan is for the Scottish Psychopath to defeat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and to have a solid reign with the WWE Championship after the show. WWE has also reportedly lined up Seth Rollins as one of the title contenders for McIntyre after 'Mania.
McMahon feels McIntyre is a perfect company representative as he conducts himself like a top talent during interviews and media interactions. It was also revealed that McMahon and McIntyre share a very good relationship backstage.
A source had the following to say to Davis:
"Vince likes everything about him and thinks he represents the company well when he does media appearances. He looks good and talks well and that is what Vince is looking for. Drew has already established a relationship with Vince like most top guys do.”
It was also added that Vince McMahon is highly unlikely to change his mind when it comes to making McIntyre the new WWE Champion.
#4. Samoa Joe may be on WWE's injury-prone list
As reported extensively in the past week, Samoa Joe suffered his second concussion within four weeks after a table break spot went wrong during a WWE commercial shoot.
As things stand, Joe is not expected to be back anytime soon as WWE follows a strict protocol when it comes to head injuries and concussions.
This was Joe's third injury in the past few months, as he was first sidelined with a broken thumb before he returned as a part-time commentator on RAW.
Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue told Korey Gunz on the latest edition of the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast that he feels that Joe may have already been added to the company's injury-prone list.
I'm sad to say this but he may already be there. I hope he isn't, I really do. I do think he's an incredibly talented guy. You can have Samoa Joe, and in fact, they have done this, have him lose for months on end and then one promo and all of his heat is back. This is an incredible guy. I really hope he hasn't already been put on that list, unfortunately, I do suspect he already has been.
It's a list that no Superstar would want to get on as the company would refrain from handing out pushes with the fear of the talent suffering an untimely injury.
We sincerely hope Joe is not on the dreaded list and that he returns and has a lengthy injury-free run.
#3. Bobby Lashley to have a dream match
Bobby Lashley is currently involved in a romantic storyline with Lana and he is also expected to complete his feud with Rusev, however, WWE is already planting the seeds for a big dream match for The Dominator.
On the most recent edition of the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, Tom Colohue revealed that Lashley has been made to look strong in his angle with Rusev as the company wants him to face Brock Lesnar in the future, possibly after WrestleMania.
The feud they went back to, was, of course, the one with Lashley. It keeps Lashley looking strong, which, obviously, the intention here is to start building him up for a match against Brock Lesnar soon, so they need to build him and build him. This has done a really good job of that.
Bobby Lashley has always been a vocal proponent for a clash against Lesnar and his wish may finally be fulfilled, hopefully by the end of this year.
Lashley vs. Lesnar has the potential to headline any PPV and WWE would surely not want to miss out on the opportunity to book the showdown between the behemoths.
#2. John Cena believes in Elias
John Cena is being rumored to have a match against Elias at WrestleMania 36, and while we've heard speculation about the plan possibly being changed, the reported match could actually end up happening which makes complete sense.
Tom Colohue revealed on the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast that John Cena is a big fan of Elias backstage. The Cenation Leader believes in Elias and wants to put the talented Superstar over in the strongest way possible if given the opportunity.
Tom said:
I can’t guarantee that it’s Elias at this point. I haven’t been able to confirm that personally but I’m sure it will become apparent fairly soon, probably the week after Elimination Chamber once Cena’s got that out of the way because they don’t want to muddy the storylines.
If it is going to be an interaction between the two, it will probably be a match because they’ve already had a beatdown, they’ve already had a rap up, they’ve done everything else, they really have.
When it comes to Elias, he is one of those who does seem to have endless charisma but they seem to be struggling to find a place for him when it comes it comes to interacting with others.
When it comes to this business, you need memorable matches, memorable feuds, and while Elias is a memorable person, they have struggled to find that one moment that really lifts him up. Cena wants to be that guy to make it happen. Cena believes in Elias. A lot of people believe in Elias, but over time a lot of people have started to believe a little less and that’s a real shame just because he hasn’t had that moment. If Cena can supply that, all power to him.
#1. Speculation on The Undertaker beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36
The Undertaker and AJ Styles are expected to face each other at the Show of Shows this year and the first-time-ever clash should ideally be the best match the Deadman has had in years.
Tom Colohue explained that he doesn't see AJ Styles winning despite The Undertaker's willingness to lose a few matches.
Colohue stated that both The Undertaker and Styles don't gain much with a win, and while the match will be a great spectacle, he would have prefered to have seen them mix it up with younger talents in separate matches at the show.
I think it potentially would be a match in which the Club would be getting involved quite a lot. And I’m not sure AJ Styles would be picking up the win even though at this point, Undertaker would be quite happy to be losing a few matches, big matches particularly.
I think it could be a great spectacle match but it doesn’t do too much for either man to win. The Undertaker doesn’t gain anything. AJ Styles doesn’t really gain anything. It’s AJ Styles. He’s already at that level and I do think it could potentially be better if they would both be working separately with younger talent to develop them. I would love to see, for example, Styles vs. Aleister Black. But I’m not against the match. It would be interesting if it does in fact happen.
From what AJ Styles is saying, he seems to be teasing more that it’s going to be Shawn Michaels with his Mr. WrestleMania comments. But we do know that the Undertaker is fit, we do know that he’s raring to go, and there was the original plan to have him at Super ShowDown but something apparently fell through.
It may actually be that the AJ Styles match was meant to happen then, but it didn’t happen because of the injury he picked up and they wanted to be more careful with him or it may just be that this was always the plan, and whatever was planned for SSD fell through anyway. It’s hard to say exactly but when it comes to the Undertaker, he is the spectacle match machine right now, and when we don’t have a Rousey, we don’t have a Triple H, maybe they are looking for one big draw to come in and have that match.
