Analyzing WWE’s List of Potential WrestleMania 33 Matches
By Adam O'Brien
WWE.com
Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker
With an unexpected entrance into the Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns attempted to redeem his controversial loss to Kevin Owens on Sunday night by guaranteeing himself a spot in the main event at WrestleMania – much to the chagrin of the fans.
Unfortunately for “The Big Dog”, Roman’s attempts to win the match were to no avail when Randy Orton eliminated him after a spine-tingling RKO in the center of the ring.
He didn’t walk out of San Antonio, Texas without making an impact, however, as it was Roman Reigns who would be the man to eliminate The Undertaker from the match, especially when “The Deadman” was considered a firm favorite to win.
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The elimination itself wasn’t exactly Maven-levels of shocking when you consider the fact that Roman has been booked as a top star for almost two years now, but there was some serious electricity in the post-elimination staredown between the two.
You might even be able to make out the incredibly bold and mocking statement of “this is my yard” from Roman Reigns. In that moment, a WrestleMania rivalry between Roman Reigns and The Undertaker looked more than plausible.
Given that this match was on the list of proposed ‘Mania bouts prior to the Royal Rumble, the encounter at the Rumble most certainly indicated it to be one of the card’s top matches. This encounter makes sense from an athletic point of view.
The Undertaker is getting up there in age, so he’s not going to be putting on any five-star technical classics with the likes of AJ Styles.
In the same vein, a match with someone like Braun Strowman wouldn’t necessarily work considering any of the usual offense from Strowman would be far too rough for “The Phenom”. Roman offers a similar hard-hitting albeit evenly paced ring style that would suit Undertaker’s physical capabilities to no fault.
The only real concern here is the story.
Let’s be real, Roman Reigns is not going into WrestleMania as a babyface. WWE can continue to lie to themselves and us for however long they like, but all of the fans should know by now that when he goes toe-to-toe with a hugely popular WWE legend like The Undertaker, Roman Reigns is the villain every single step of the way.
Should WWE incorporate that into the feud and actually turn Roman heel ahead of WrestleMania, this could turn out to be a decent match.