Are you in the WrestleMania mood yet? If not that may be because of the lack of big WrestleMania feuds.
Well built-up emotional storylines that suit the grandest stage of them all. This year not many matches come with that epic feeling.
WWE did drop the ball this year with many possible storylines leading up to the show of shows, and today we look at seven of them, so let’s get into it.
But save your tears for another day, because, who knows, they might just happen next year.
7. The Miz vs. John Morrison
Of course, The Miz is taking on rapper Bad Bunny on night one of the WrestleMania festivities.
But what would have been the plan if Bad Bunny did not turn out the raging success that he is now for WWE?
As Miz teased in an interview with the HMW Podcast in February, his WrestleMania 37 dream opponent was John Morrison. His best friend.
Miz and Morrison began teaming in 2007 and celebrated their reunion with Morrison’s return in 2020, so the emotional base for a great storyline is there as well.
And that is not all – when Miz first cashed in his Money In The Bank contract is was actually revealed that John Morrison did it for him. Hence why Adam Pearce gave it back to him.
The perfect way to tell the storyline that WWE loves so much: tag team dissension.
Instead of a meaningless run with the WWE Championship and a celebrity feud in which Morrison only plays a minor role, both could have done something of substance at this year’s Mania.
6. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai
For the first time in quite a while, maybe ever, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship felt important when Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez won the first ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic earlier this year.
Champions Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler came back to NXT to take on the victorious team of Kai & Gonzalez on NXT TV. However, the match did not end clean and instead of announcing a rematch, NXT introduced its own Women’s Tag Team belts.
The rematch would have had everything you need to reach that Mania-caliber potential. First, there is the ascending next big thing of WWE women’s wrestling in Raquel Gonzalez.
Her insane strength and raging fire would have stopped the irresistible force Nia Jax in her tracks. And then there is Dakota Kai, the woman that was brutally attacked by Shayna Baszler back in Baszler’s NXT days.
Kai has shown everyone that she changed and is now a worthy challenger for the ‘Queen of Spades’.
The story basically writes itself. However, WWE decided against it which can only be explained as deciding quantity over quality.
5. Asuka vs. Io Shirai
The NXT Women’s Champion taking on the Raw Women’s Champion – now that is a WrestleMania feud.
But wait! There is more to it. Surely the rumored animosity between these two women could also be used to fuel this story. But simply having two of the best women’s wrestlers in WWE wrestling each other is something everyone wants to see.
In the summer of 2020 Asuka and Io Shirai first made contact in WWE, while they have previously been kept apart. During NXT’s Great American Bash, Io Shirai took on the Women’s Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks with Asuka in Io’s corner.
After the match, the two embraced a hug. The perfect place to set the seeds for a WrestleMania program. Yet another opportunity that slipped through WWE’s hands.
4. The Hurt Business vs. RETRIBUTION
Well, this is impossible now right? The problem is we have eight insanely talented gentlemen in the prime of their careers. And for a few months, they have been part of stables with great potential.
At the time of this writing, only Bobby Lashley and MVP can claim to be used well as both are walking into a WrestleMania main event match with Drew McIntyre.
The others? Broken up, forgotten. Not used. Unfortunately very typical stuff from WWE. Why build eight stars if you can have one, right?
When the Hurt Business approached Adam Pearce to get rid of the problem that is RETRIBUTION, the two factions engaged in a feud. Their match from October 19, 2020 generated more than one million clicks on YouTube. WWE had something here.
In another world, you could have built both factions up, while the Hurt Business collects all the gold that Raw has to offer. A winner takes all eight-man tag team match at WrestleMania would have greatly benefited all members.
3. Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso
We all knew that The Rock would not return without a full arena cheering him on, but we also know The Rock vs Roman Reigns must be the end goal for the entire ‘Head of The Table’ storyline currently happening around Reigns.
But what to do in between? In the second half of 2020, Jey Uso vs Roman Reigns was the hottest storyline in all of wrestling. The family bond, the emotional struggle of Jey Uso. The incredible depth this story had and still has.
These days Jey Uso seemingly gave in as he could not beat his cousin Roman Reigns and is now his henchman. But was he really not able to beat the Head Of The Table? It does not feel like this is over.
Jey Uso has shown what an incredible talent he is in recent months. ‘Main Event Jey Uso’ is way more than a nickname.
The Jey Uso main event matches of SmackDown have been beloved by fans around the world and Uso is now a celebrated singles performer in the world of wrestling. Nobody will be mistaking him again for his twin brother Jimmy.
Maybe it’s not The Rock who should take the Universal Title of Roman Reigns. Maybe it is someone else. If Edge and Daniel Bryan were not in the position they are currently in, who knows where WWE would have taken this.
Sooner or later, Jey Uso vs Roman Reigns must happen again.
2. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
This is a no-brainer, right?
With the draft, Sheamus came to Raw and slowly turned into a supporting babyface for Drew McIntyre and everyone knew where this was heading.
But in the end, we got some Raw matches and a Fastlane collision out of it. Everyone knows there would have been potential for more. This WrestleMania feud was right there but plans changed and now it’s Bobby Lashley defending against Drew McIntyre.
Sheamus and Drew McIntyre go way back. They started out together in the British wrestling scene many moons ago. Both have won world titles in WWE and have been there for over a decade – although Drew was forced to take a break for a while.
With Sheamus outperforming everyone on a weekly basis on Raw and Drew McIntyre shouldering the company through the pandemic, this clash was destined to happen on a bigger stage. Quite frankly, this sucks for both of them.
1. Christian vs. Big E
For this match, the stars aligned. It had to happen. Christian was cleared for competition after seven years and returned at this year’s Royal Rumble.
At the same time, Big E was holding the Intercontinental Championship high above his head.
Just like he did seven years ago when Christian earned himself an Intercontinental Championship title shot, an opportunity Christian was not able to take advantage of anymore, as his injuries forced him into retirement.
Now this was a WrestleMania feud if there ever was one. The perfect comeback storyline. Almost like this was the plan all along. So naturally, Christian was not signed by WWE and went to AEW instead.
Big E will now be wrestling Apollo Crews at the show of shows. Although this is a very unfortunate situation for the WWE fans, Christian will for sure give us a lot of big matches in AEW anyway.
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