WWE WrestleMania 35: 5 people who could interrupt Elias

As well as the 15 matches that have been announced for WrestleMania 35, WWE has confirmed that there will be a special musical performance from Elias.

WWE’s resident guitarist has only competed in one match on Monday Night Raw over the last month, defeating No Way Jose in quick fashion on March 18, and he has spent the last two weeks drifting around New York/New Jersey ahead of his big performance at MetLife Stadium on April 7.

Speaking to Busted Open Radio this week, Elias said: "It's to going sound kind of crazy, but Elias is such a character in a day and age where I feel like we've got a lot of wrestlers, and that's not a good... you know, I'm not saying one thing is better than the other, but for me, I think a big character like a John Cena... like a feud with John Cena would be fantastic. A feud with The Undertaker would be classic."

As ever with Elias, fans are expecting his WrestleMania song to be interrupted by another Superstar, just like how he has been interrupted by a whole host of Raw Superstars during his two years on the brand.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five people who could potentially spoil the biggest performance of his life on Sunday.

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#5 The Undertaker

With the exception of his brief promo on Raw 25 in January 2018, The Undertaker did not appear on WWE programming in the build-up to WrestleMania 34. Instead, John Cena called him out every week leading up to the show, culminating in a short match between the two at ‘Mania.

This year, there has been no mention of “The Deadman” on Raw or SmackDown Live before WrestleMania 35, which has led many people to speculate whether this could be the first year since 2000 that the WWE icon does not compete at WrestleMania.

If he does take part in a match, the smart money would be on him interrupting Elias, presumably after some derogatory comments during a song, before defeating him in a squash match.

#4 John Cena

Every time John Cena returns to WWE, he seems to end up getting involved in a match or promo segment with Elias.

The long-running story between the two men dates back to the Christmas Day 2017 episode of Monday Night Raw, which saw Cena defeat Elias in the opening match of the night. Two months later, Elias surprisingly pinned his rival on Raw to earn the #7 spot in the seven-man Elimination Chamber match.

“Big Match John” and “The Living Truth” have competed in four televised matches against each other in the last 16 months, with the last encounter coming in October 2018 when Cena teamed with Bobby Lashley to defeat Elias and Kevin Owens at the Super Show-Down event in Melbourne, Australia.

Reports this week have suggested that Cena is already in New York ahead of WrestleMania 35, which is interesting considering that he is without an opponent or storyline for the show. Much like The Undertaker, if Cena does make an appearance, it will likely be as part of Elias’ musical performance.

#3 Lars Sullivan

WWE began airing vignettes for Lars Sullivan’s main-roster call-up during the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November 2018. Two months later, he was due to debut on Raw to build towards a match with John Cena, but widespread reports claimed that he suffered an anxiety attack and WWE decided to put his debut on hold.

As WrestleMania 35 gets closer, more and more comments are coming out suggesting that “The Freak” is set to return to WWE television. The Wrestling Observer is reporting that he will be back “imminently”, while Sullivan has even teased a possible rivalry with Elias.

He wrote in a since-deleted tweet: “They don’t know what to do with ya huh? I’ll tell ya what, the ol Sullster knows exactly what to do with ya. All I’m saying is you better be playing a good song at Mania.”

Sullivan is friends with Elias in real life (at least, it appears that way based on their past interactions on social media), so this could simply be a joke… or could it be a hint at a ‘Mania appearance?

#2 Curt Hawkins

The Revival defended the Raw Tag Team Championship against Aleister Black & Ricochet in a controversial match on the latest episode of Monday Night Raw. Following the show, WWE released a backstage interview which featured Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder and Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder.

The former Edgeheads have been perennial losers for a long time, especially Hawkins, but they figured there was no harm in challenging the Raw Tag Team champions to a match at WrestleMania 35. Wilder answered for The Revival, saying their request will be “taken under consideration”.

While the match is not yet official, it seems certain that WWE will set it up at some point before Sunday, especially as Hawkins & Ryder grew up in New York, where WrestleMania 35 events are taking place all week ahead of “The Show of Shows” at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

If the match goes ahead, it seems obvious that the challengers will win, ending Hawkins’ losing streak in the process, but wouldn't it make for a better story if they lost against The Revival and then Hawkins later interrupted Elias and defeated him one-on-one in an impromptu match?

#1 The Rock

Elias has namechecked John Cena and The Undertaker as potential rivals during media interviews this week, but there is another legend who the singing sensation has mentioned regularly in past interviews: The Rock.

To give an example of the kind of derogatory remarks that Elias has made about the wrestler-turned-actor (and specifically his ‘Rock Concerts’), here’s what he told The Monitor in February 2019: "I hear comparisons. He was doing cover songs and I’m doing originals all the time in front of tens of thousands. That’s something The Rock cannot do."

Just like in 2018, when Elias promised “the performance of a lifetime” at WrestleMania 34, we are faced with a similar scenario in 2019 where everybody has been left guessing as to who could potentially interrupt him at WrestleMania 35.

As it turned out, Elias was involved in the build-up to Cena vs. The Undertaker last year, but many people predicted at the time that The Rock could have a sing-off with “The Living Truth”.

Maybe, just maybe, this could be the year instead.