Photo Source: WWE.com
We’re getting closer and closer to WWE WrestleMania 34. What kind of surprises might be in store on this week’s television episodes?
One of my favorite pastimes as a WWE fan is to try and guess what’s going to happen in the future. I don’t go out of my way to spoil myself. But trying to get into the heads of the creative department is a good way to kill some time.
Last week on Raw, the “face to face” confrontation advertised didn’t pan out. Instead of going up against Brock Lesnar – who no-showed again – Roman Reigns got up in Vince McMahon’s face. For his troubles, Reigns was saddled with an indefinite suspension. Good thing it’s not WrestleMania season!
Meanwhile, on SmackDown Live, World’s Worst Boss Shane McMahon got what was coming to him. After announcing a singles match at WrestleMania between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, the duo appeared to utterly annihilate the commissioner. GM Daniel Bryan was nowhere to be found, so Shane ended up in a heap of trouble. What kind of repercussions await the Yep Movement after their brutal attack?
And 205 Live continued to heat up last week, with Cedric Alexander and Roderick Strong getting much praise for their stellar contest. Still in the midst of a tournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion, the home of the under-205 crowd has one more semifinal match remaining. Old rivals Mustafa Ali and Drew Gulak square off for the right to face Alexander at WrestleMania. Could an upset be brewing?
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Let’s see what the crystal ball has in store for us this week, as we deliver our bold predictions for WWE for the week of March 19.
Upset City
By all indications, the finals of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament will see Cedric Alexander facing Mustafa Ali for the title. Alexander is a clear choice for who the division should be built around – he’s exciting to watch, he can pop a crowd, and he has the charisma to lead the other cruiserweights to the promised land.
Of course, Ali is all of those things as well. If you’ve been paying attention to social media over the last few weeks, you know that Ali has cut a few terrific promos via his Twitter feed. He’s parlayed being a last-minute replacement in the Cruiserweight Classic two years ago into being one of the faces of the division.
So Alexander and Ali seem to be a lock for the finals, right? I don’t think so. There’s a guy who can wrap you up six ways to Sunday standing across the ring from Ali this week – Drew Gulak. And the Philadelphia native might have something to say about the perceived certainty about the match.
Gulak is a stud, and while he doesn’t always get the accolades of his high-flying brethren, he can wow a crowd in a completely different way. In addition, he’s continued to flourish on 205 Live even with the loss of his “For a Better 205 Live” political-based gimmick. And what about traditional heel vs. face alignments for the Grandest Stage of Them All?
My gut tells me Gulak defeats Ali, even if he bends the rules a bit to do so. WWE even may have previewed this match at Madison Square Garden last week, as Gulak faced Alexandewr at a live event.
With a Gulak vs. Alexander final, we can save Alexander/Ali for a later date, and give it the attention it deserves.
Daniel Bryan Gets Cleared, Is Added to WrestleMania Match
I really really really REALLY don’t want to get my hopes up. It’s been two years since Daniel Bryan was forced to retire due to health issues, and I’ve made peace with that. Health and well-being is way more important than risking it all to entertain people, so I’d rather see Bryan live to old age and never wrestle again than get back in the ring for a meaningless match and potentially shorten his life expectancy.
But then came reports from literally everywhere that Bryan stated in an interview that competing at WrestleMania this year was a possibility. Oh, boy, here we go. It’s the same story we’ve heard a billion times – Bryan says he’s fine, WWE disagrees, Bryan has seen every doctor under the sun for clearance, but WWE’s doctor is the sole holdout.
This time, though, there’s a twist. Bryan – while maintaining the stance that he’s not yet cleared to compete – stated that the chance of him competing were “a little higher.” Since he’s said in the past that he didn’t believe he would ever be cleared, any movement of the needle is potentially huge news.
So here’s my tin-foil hat conspiracy theory – Bryan went off script in an effort to force WWE’s hand. If he’s stating that there’s a chance, he’s officially putting the onus on WWE. If he doesn’t compete, the fans will have no doubt that it’s a WWE decision. Bryan isn’t shy about voicing his opinion on this matter, so only time will tell.
But with three weeks remaining until Mania, it’s time to kick things into high gear. Despite acknowledging plans for including him and plans for excluding him, Bryan should be a factor in the Shane/Sami/Owens story. Logically, it has to happen.The real end game should be a tag match – Sami and Kevin vs. Shane and Bryan.
Even if he just gets cleared to deliver a running knee to Shane’s face when he turns on him, let it happen. D-Bry kinda has some history at WrestleMania in New Orleans, you know?
Roman Reigns Takes A Night Off
After a pair of “no-shows” by the WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns went off the deep end. Last week on Raw, the Big Dog went off on both Brock and the man he believes is behind the whole thing – Vince McMahon. Well, Roman learned you don’t cross the boss, and now he’s in the Big Doghouse.
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With a “temporary” suspension being issued to Reigns, most of the WWE Universe is expecting Reigns to disregard the ruling and show up on Raw to confront Lesnar – remember, Vince “guaranteed” Brock would be in attendance this week. It makes sense – the whole story to this point is that Reigns feels disrespected by Lesnar’s refusal to show up. If Roman isn’t there, and that’s when Brock makes his appearance, that’s cold.
But why should Reigns go against the suspension order? Literally the one man who has the power to pull him out of his WrestleMania match just told him to sit the next few plays out. If Reigns ignores the order, why wouldn’t Vince pull him from the match at Mania? Again, no one crosses the boss.
I would think everyone expects Reigns to show up, but he’ll actually stay at home. There really isn’t a reason at this point to put Brock and Roman in the ring together just yet. It’s three weeks to Mania – hold off so their physical confrontation actually means something.
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Do you think Reigns will show up this week? What else could be in store for the week in WWE?