WWE WrestleMania 36 won’t take place until April, but it’s never too early to get excited about Roman Reigns’ next big match at the Showcase of the Immortals.
Predictions are one of the simplest joys of being a wrestling fan. We love trying to look in our crystal ball to see what Pay-Per-View matches and feuds will go down in the coming months. Since WrestleMania is the biggest PPV of them all, it’s never too early to take a look at which big matches could be on the WWE WrestleMania 36 card.
And since Roman Reigns is “The Big Dog” of the World Wrestling Federation (to pay homage to David Bixenspan, whose work I miss reading on Deadspin), why not take a crack at predicting who Reigns could face on Apr. 5 in Tampa?
Reigns and Seth Rollins were quick to tease a possible WrestleMania confrontation after ‘Mania 35, in which Roman roundly defeated Drew McIntyre and Rollins conquered Brock Lesnar to kick off the memorable show.
However, Reigns may have a WrestleMania match against a Superstar who is very familiar with facing Rollins in a major title match.
As the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history, Reigns will surely have a big match in 2020 after taking it lighter this year in his recovery from defeating leukemia.
So here are five possible marquee matchups for Reigns at ‘Mania 36.
The Fiend, Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt has taken WWE by storm ever since debuting his fiendish character, which he used to devastating effect in a rivalry with Roman Reigns’ brother, Seth Rollins. While Wyatt couldn’t defeat Rollins inside of Hell in a Cell, he took the Universal Championship off The Architect at Crown Jewel, moved over to SmackDown, and turned that thing blue.
We’ve seen Wyatt and Reigns butt heads in the past, as The Shield vs. The Wyatt Family stands the test of time as one of the best faction wars of the modern era. But there’s something extra special about the prospect of “The Fiend” facing off against Reigns at The Show of Shows. This matchup would have even more hype around it than John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt, which admittedly ended in a dud. (Though not quite as big of a dud as Wyatt vs. Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33.)
The builds to Wyatt’s WrestleMania matches are usually incredible, and Reigns can play his role perfectly here. He is the exact kind of guy The Fiend would love to face, since it seems like it’s impossible to get inside the stoic Big Dog’s head. But Wyatt rattled Rollins as The Fiend and will certainly find a way to push the right buttons in a rivalry with Reigns, which should bring out another side of the Reigns character.
Reigns would have to win this match, but, by the end, Wyatt will be so built up as a champion that fans will doubt if The Big Dog can pull this one off.
Finn Balor
Although less exciting than a Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt matchup, Finn Balor and his fellow former Universal Champion have quite the history together. Balor defeated Reigns in a tournament en route to vanquishing Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2016 to become WWE’s first Universal Champion.
Then, two years later, Balor and Reigns went face to face for the Universal Champion in Reigns’ first title defense as a fighting champion. He had just beaten Brock Lesnar in a grueling match the night before, but that didn’t stop him from putting on a barnburner with Balor.
In terms of sheer match quality, Balor vs. Reigns would be incredible. Both of these men have fantastic chemistry together, but they mostly saw each other in the ring as babyfaces. Now that Balor is a heel in NXT, a future Reigns vs. Balor battle on a stage as big as WWE WrestleMania 36 would qualify as a dream match; it would feel completely different to what we’ve seen before.
It may be a pipe dream to expect Balor to compete at WrestleMania in a world title match after moving to NXT months ago, as Balor’s return to the Black and Yellow brand is about improving the show’s prestige in its rating’s war with All Elite Wrestling. Yet Balor will improve his own stock as a heel on the more free-flowing NXT, which could eventually make him a perfect heel challenger for the former WrestleMania 32 hero.
Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have faced each other so many times, but fans will never get tired of watching these two go at it. Their chemistry is on another level, and it’s essentially men’s wrestling’s version of Sasha Banks vs. Bayley. It doesn’t carry the same mystique as Sasha vs. Bayley, but you get the point; Reigns and Rollins were meant to wrestle each other.
If Rollins and Reigns do get to face off at WWE WrestleMania 36, then it’s unclear if they would do so as enemies or as brothers. And for most fans, the difference wouldn’t matter. Rollins fans would align with their guy, Reigns fans would align with The Guy, and fans of The Shield would feel happy and angry at WWE for giving us this match while making us pick a side.
Brock Lesnar is the interesting wrinkle here. Reigns never defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania in two attempts, with Rollins cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase on The Big Dog’s first try. Meanwhile, Rollins defeated Lesnar in his only one-on-one attempt at WrestleMania 35. And then Rollins beat him again at SummerSlam 2019, whereas Reigns technically needed an assist from Braun Strowman to take down Lesnar the previous year.
Rollins also bested Reigns in a legendary Gauntlet Match performance prior to the 2018 Elimination Chamber match. He even pinned Reigns at Money in the Bank 2016.
Basically, for as accomplished as Reigns is, he’s had a little bit of trouble defeating Rollins in the biggest matches or proving that he’s the best member of The Shield. And that will be a huge storyline to watch among the many story threads in a potential WrestleMania 36 feud between these two living legends of the wrestling business.
John Cena
John Cena and Roman Reigns only clashed once, and they did so at No Mercy 2017 when Cena started a mini-storyline about being a washed-up veteran. He acted kind of weird before the match went under way, playing to the crowd and showing frustration. Cena gave Reigns every big move he had, but Reigns resiliently kicked out of them all before ending the 16-time champion with a Spear for the win. In that sense, Reigns ripped the torch away from Cena.
The build to Cena vs. Reigns was much better than the match itself, which was a solid enough spectacle, to be fair. But the promos before the fight were some of the best of the year, with Cena bringing out the best of Reigns on the mic at a time when many fans were still far too critical of The Shield star’s promo work.
We’ve been long overdue for a second match between Cena and Reigns. With all due respect to No Mercy, which once gave us a ridiculously good retirement match between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, Cena vs. Reigns is a venue deserving of WrestleMania and not a “B” Pay-Per-View.
It’s unclear what Cena’s schedule heading into WWE WrestleMania 36 will look like, since he wasn’t on the card last year, aside from an awesome “Doctor of Thuganomics” appearance. WWE doesn’t need Cena to be at every ‘Mania going forward, but it would be special to see an all-out battle between Reigns and Cena in Tampa next year.
Daniel Bryan
WWE fans saw Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns team up during the storyline in which Rowan emancipated himself from Bryan and tried to murder Reigns. It was awesome watching Reigns and Bryan on the same side as babyfaces, since they are two of WWE’s biggest babyface stars of the past decade.
But wouldn’t it be awesome to see Bryan turn over to the dark side again after his elite heel run in 2018-2019? And wouldn’t it be even more awesome to watch Reigns and Bryan duke it out for a world title at WWE WrestleMania 36?
In 2016, Reigns helped boost AJ Styles’ newly minted stock in WWE with a stellar Pay-Per-View match, and wrestling fans have been raving about that match as a “hidden gem” since. Well, Bryan vs. Reigns would be an even better and more highly-anticipated match, and it sure as hell wouldn’t be a “hidden gem” at WrestleMania.
Bryan vs. Reigns is a dream match in every sense, and it would be one of the most WrestleMania-worthy matches possible. The logistics of setting up this match, including the heel-face dynamic now that Bryan has seemingly switched over to the “good” side, would be worth considering.
But regardless of the journey to get there, this is a match that so many wrestling fans have been itching to see. Reigns and Bryan are two of the best in the world, and their opposite styles and fan bases would only add to the in-stadium environment on Apr. 5.