WWE 5 Burning Questions: Will Seth Rollins’s WrestleMania Plans Change?

What were the biggest questions the superstars of WWE Raw and SmackDown left in the ring this week?

WWE Raw and SmackDown Live continued to build towards their respective upcoming PPVs while on the road to WrestleMania. On Monday, the card continued to stack qualifying matches for the Men’s Elimination Chamber match. As we saw this week, Roman Reigns and The Miz would advance to earn their spot in the match. Moreover, as the main event came to a conclusion, Elias picked up the biggest win of his career to secure the opportunity to enter last during the match.

More matches and rivalries are being added to the card as creative weaves their storylines. Tuesday night though, the main event composed of two familiar foes, who have become best friends recently competing for a shot at AJ Styles’s WWE title. Sami Zayn’s over-confident and obnoxious nature got the best of him as he taunted Styles once too often. This resulted in Styles interfering in the match and the title match at Fastlane becoming a triple threat match. This severely affects the odds of either Styles or Sami walking out with the title, compared to a one-on-one match.

Monday night offered more storylines and logical promos, like the one from Alexa Bliss. However, on Tuesday things just seemed to move along as if the brand is in no hurry. This has been a trend recently as Raw continues to outshine SmackDown Live week after week. While it’s sad to see the once wrestling-centric show struggle this way, one also has to be excited about the WWE’s flagship show being so good recently. Here are the top five questions that came about from the events in and out of the ring this week.

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Does Elias have any realistic chance at Elimination Chamber?

This week on Raw, Elias faced off against John Cena and Braun Strowman in the main event of the night. The winner of the match would earn the right to be the sixth person to be released in the chamber match. As such, the one who picks up the win would come away with some major advantage. Both Cena and Strowman were heavy favorites going into the match.

However, an unlikely winner, in the form of Elias came out as the match concluded. The Drifter took advantage of Strowman hitting Cena with a power slam to steal the winning pin. This might have been The Drifter’s biggest moment since making his main roster debut. Seeing as how uneventful his NXT stint was, this might very well be the biggest moment of his young career.

But now, the question has to be asked. Does Elias have any realistic chance at the match itself? Roman Reigns is almost poised to win the whole thing and complete his long time conquest of defeating Brock Lesnar. From where I stand, Elias entering the Chamber last would be a means to ensure Reigns picks up the win, despite a game and fresh Drifter having the advantage. Reigns might indeed be one of the first two participants of the match itself.

So is Elias being built up with wins over Cena just to be fed to Roman Reigns on his road to WrestleMania?

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4. Will Sasha Banks turn on Bayley ahead of WrestleMania?

This week, a throwaway segment from Raw caught us out of the blue with some convincing character work. Sasha Banks was seen re-watching her loss to Asuka and then Bayley would attempt to console the Boss. There was a nice exchange which ended with the slightest tease of a WrestleMania clash between these two long time friends.

Sasha is obsessed with beating Asuka at this point. One fan even went as far as to compare her to Shawn Michaels being obsessed with the Undertaker. You can’t put it more aptly than that.

So will her obsession with Asuka eventually get in the way of her friendship with Bayley? Bayley clashed with Asuka this week and honest to God it was one of her best matches on the main roster. However, if either Bayley or Sasha were to turn heel, they could do so much more on the main roster. The shock factor of Bayley turning heel would be huge. However, the Boss turning on her friend seems more than likely at the moment.

It’s also sad to know that this has been some of the best babyface work she has done in a long while. Sasha’s story of self-doubt and disbelief is something the fans can really get behind. Whether that leads to a heel turn at some point needs to be seen. However, it will be safe to assume at the moment that there are some plans in the works for her.

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3. Is Daniel Bryan actually plotting against AJ Styles?

We have discussed in great lengths about how Daniel Bryan could have been working alongside Owens or Zayn or both of them. The WWE universe expected a major revelation at the end of the Royal Rumble title match. However, nothing came out of it, with Styles retaining the title. That win however, came under questionable circumstances and lead to Owens and Zayn fighting one-on-one for the opportunity to face Styles for the WWE title at Fastlane.

This came after General Manager Daniel Bryan made the decision at the end of SmackDown Live last week. This week, the match ended in no-contest after Styles interfered in the same. This brought out Bryan, who then booked a triple threat match for the WWE title at Fastlane. That does seem harsh to be honest.

Styles just defended his title in a handicap match and now he has to do that all over again. Moreover, this time around, he could very well lose the title without even getting the pin. WWE seems to be stretching the narrative of Bryan potentially being on the same page with the heels. However, they also trying to be telling a story where he clearly isn’t teaming with them.

However, that does not necessarily mean Bryan couldn’t have been plotting against Styles the whole time. Owens and Zayn could be mere pawns in his master plan. When one looks  back, over the past few months, when was the last time the GM made a decision that was favorable to the  WWE champion in the slightest? Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

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2. Can Finn Balor still make it to Elimination Chamber?

As WWE announced on Twitter earlier in the day, the four men who failed to qualify for the Elimination Chamber will be given one more shot. Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt, Matt Hardy and Apollo Crews will face each other next week on Raw to determine the final superstar to enter the Elimination Chamber match.

It seems very likely that Balor would go on to make the cut for the Chamber match. If things go well for him, he might even be the one to eliminate John Cena, thereby righting the wrong creative did a week ago. However, even if Balor does make it to the match itself and eliminate Cena, much like Elias, does he have a genuine shot at winning it?

Or is Roman Reigns’s win a foregone conclusion? It seems more than likely he will go on to face Lesnar for the Universal title. But the more the WWE pushes towards that storyline, the more the fans clamor for Braun Strowman to defeat Lesnar and win the title. Will this affect the plans for Reigns once more? Moreover, a sudden development from last night seems to affect Seth Rollins too. Will that affect Roman Reigns as well on the road to WrestleMania? That question leads the charge for this week’s burning questions.

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1. Will Jason Jordan’s neck surgery affect Rollins’s WrestleMania plans?

As announced by the WWE, Jason Jordan underwent successful surgery for a neck injury that has been nagging him. Bleacher Report noted that according to Dave Meltzer, Jordan was having trouble gripping things with his hands. WWE has not provided a tentative return date for the storyline son of Kurt Angle.

It seemed more than likely that Rollins and Jordan were on a collision course, setting them up for a match at WrestleMania. With the Universal title clearly out of sight for the Architect, this seemed like a good way to utilize him. However, now that Jordan is out indefinitely, what will Rollins’s road to WrestleMania look like?

It is always possible that Jordan could be back just in time to go through with this feud. But in case that this doesn’t happen, what does creative have in store for the King Slayer? One of the possibilities could be him teaming up with Roman Reigns to seek tag team glory once more. However, Reigns as we know is well on his way to a date with Brock Lesnar.

As I noted before, the WWE universe wants Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar. Will the pressure from the fans eventually force creative to give way to the Monster Among Men? If that happens, it frees up Reigns and he could potentially team up with Rollins. Seeing as a move like this affects all plans in place for the Universal title match at WrestleMania, the odds are slim, but well worth exploring.

Next: WWE Raw 5 Biggest Stars: Elias Picks Up The Biggest Win Of His Career

However, for the time being, one has to be worried for Rollins and Jordan. The Architect may very well have to be content with competing in the Andre the Giant battle royale for all we know. Jordan on the other hand, has been finally finding his stride as a singles performer and has been really getting into character.