Road to Wrestlemania: Winners and Losers

The WWE’s ratings don’t seem to be improving anytime soon and this is perhaps due to one too many months of stale and recycled television, a three hour broadcast, ‘Top 10 Raw’ and ‘Top 10 Smackdown’ moments videos on YouTube, a massive lack of top stars, or even… just maybe… because people can now watch WWE on the internet or even record live television — oh the wonders of technology. Regardless of the reason(s), those in the WWE (and the ratings obsessed IWC) have been looking for solutions, and we’ve already seen the likes of Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho return to active duty. This is all in the name of winning back the audience in time for the company’s biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania (32). As a result, I’ve been coerced into returning to my former glory days as a pro wrestling critic and commentator by a great friend with an excellent blog — the one you’re currently reading — in order to present my thoughts on the state of the WWE as it moves down ‘the road to Wrestlemania’, and specifically the Royal Rumble, one more time. In this article I shall present which WWE ‘superstars’ will be the winners and losers of this Wrestlemania season and may even dabble in a hint of fantasy booking. So, to avoid any Undertaker-length introductions, I’ll just get straight down to business.

The Winners

Heading into the 2016 Royal Rumble — the 29th annual ‘the floor is lava’ spectacular — the likes of Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns and Triple H have already been highlighted as key players for the coming months courtesy of either a lot of TV time and the importance of that TV time. In the case of Triple H his complete lack of TV time has almost signposted an imminent return and feud with Roman Reigns. This makes each of them clear winners heading through to the end of March. Add The Undertaker, who is always a winner during Wrestlemania season (right, Brock?), and you’ve got the full line-up for the WWE’s guaranteed success stories of this year’s Road to Wrestlemania. But, leaving aside the inevitable match between Roman Reigns and Triple H, and the pending dominance of Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker in the coming months, there remains another name whose pre-Rumble run seems to have all but guaranteed a successful Wrestlemania season, and that name is: Chris Jericho.

Much of the Royal Rumble hype has centred quite substantially on the ‘Ayatollah of Rock ’n’ Rollah’ in the past few weeks, with the go-home edition of Raw featuring Jericho throughout the opening 30 minutes and closing 15 minutes of the show, somewhat of a rarity for any WWE performer in the three hour era. What’s more is that he has been kept from all forms of physical altercation and has done zero wrestling since his return, ensuring that his return to the ring at the Rumble is a special attraction. While the WWE, and even Jericho himself, are no strangers to hyperbole, the former WWE Undisputed Champion has been presented as a frontrunner to win the Rumble match itself, marking a return to the top of the card for the first time since his 2012 feud with CM Punk and possibly indicating the size of things to come for this beloved performer. Altercations with the super-over New Day, Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, WWE Champion Roman Reigns, and Stephanie McMahon, have re-established Jericho’s importance and credibility heading into this vital period of time with the roster feeling incredibly bare, and has seemingly set Jericho up for a huge role in Arlington, TX.

It cannot be claimed that the rumour mill has been churning up any form of Jericho goodness in the past few weeks, but ask yourself this: what could bring Jericho (a man who was adamant he wasn’t going to be at this year’s Wrestlemania) back to the WWE in such a pivotal role? The answer to this question lies down the Road to Wrestlemania, and whether it’s a potential Undertaker match or something else substantial, the 6 time World Champion looks set to be one of the roster’s more highlighted stars and a sure-fire winner of the spring period.

The go-home episode of WWE Raw was sent into the Rumble with the Wyatt Family standing atop of the mountain, arms spread, over the motionless bodies of the WWE champion Roman Reigns and The Beast Brock Lesnar. Of course, this could mean any number of things, but the likelihood is that the leader of the group, Bray Wyatt, will be the man to take on the company’s top attraction (Lesnar) at this year’s Wrestlemania. Of course, any feud with Brock Lesnar equates to a huge push for the talent lucky enough to be put into the same echelon, and the Wyatt Family as a whole are therefore likely to come out of Wrestlemania as much bigger attractions than when they went in, whether they win or lose. Just think… Cena, Undertaker and then Brock Lesnar in three consecutive years. That’s the sort of line-up careers are made from, whether Wyatt loses them all or not. In any case, the Wyatt Family look set for a momentous Road to Wrestlemania 32 given their more recent past, and I think it’s about time they went over on one of these huge stars, don’t you?

Others to Consider

Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens may have dropped the Intercontinental Championship to Dean Ambrose at WWE TLC in December, but all that loss has seemed to do is push the now two-time champion to a new level in recent weeks. His presence as a heel across both Raw and Smackdown has increased exponentially, with some even calling it the beginning of a push into a Brock Lesnar feud; something that seems more and more reasonable with each passing week. His work on Raw has largely been verbal, with his physical work on Smackdown being comparable to anyone on the roster at the moment. This all seems to point in the right direction for one of 2015’s breakout stars, at least in most people’s minds. However, there remains a lingering thought in the back of my head that the WWE simply don’t know what to do with him, so with the Intercontinental Championship having so many names associated with it in recent months, and the main roster re-emergence of Sami Zayn (long-time friend and on-screen foe of Owens) to come, it seems like Owens could be lost to this year’s equivalent of last year’s 8-Man Ladder match. This would be okay, yes, and would certainly equate to a great opening Wrestlemania for any performer, but it would also mean that Owens would likely be lost in the shuffle of the week to week goings on throughout Wrestlemania season and wouldn’t get highlighted in a way that his performances and hard work have surely deserved.

The New Day

The New Day are undoubtedly one of the more over tag teams in the WWE’s recent history. In fact, they’re so over right now that they’re being written about as boundary-breaking and era defining; and rightfully so. Their work on everything from the gimmick, to the costume, to the microphone, to the ring, has made them a must-see part of each week’s Raw and definitely puts them in an excellent position heading into the hottest period in the WWE’s calendar. With a number of other teams getting over alongside them, there seems to be a real possibility of a show-stealing match occurring at Wrestlemania 32 between the New Day and any number of opponents, not least the ones we haven’t even thought of (such as a returning team, for example). What leaves this potential in doubt is the fact that the WWE don’t seem to like ordinary tag matches taking place at their show of shows, as has been evident from the almost incredible lack of tag team championship matches at Wrestlemania in the past 15 or so years. The New Day could perhaps become subject to the restrictions of their division in the most frustrating of ways. While I do see the potential of a TLC rematch occurring at ‘mania, or a four-way TLC match occurring with the Usos, Lucha Dragons and the Dudleyz, the way the game is set doesn’t make good reading for the New Day and they’re going to have to do more boundary breaking in order to get over on the Road to Wrestlemania.