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Since the return of the roster split and the placement of the Raw-brand special event Fastlane, as well as the Smackdown-brand Elimination Chamber, makes reading this year’s WrestleMania tea leaves a little more difficult. In fact, one could write a treatise on the possible lineup permutations for the 33rd WrestleMania, set to take place just over two months from today.

As usual, the Royal Rumble seemed to clarify a few directions, muddying others. Let’s look at the stone-cold locks at this point. We have Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg. Lesnar is still looking for revenge after his brief defeat at the hands of Goldberg at Survivor Series in November.

That, and Goldberg’s manhandling and elimination of Lesnar in the Royal Rumble match, no doubt adds to Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s consternation. That’s not to say there aren’t questions surrounding this match; like, will the WWE Universal Title be on the line? Goldberg mentioned wanting a run at the title in one of his interviews on Raw. He’s scheduled to wrestle at Fastlane – will be against Universal Champ Kevin Owens for the title.
riple H cost his former charge Rollins the Universal Title some time ago, and has hardly been heard from since. Rollins has ramped up his dogged pursuit of Triple H, even storming an NXT Takeover event this past Saturday to attempt to get a piece of the man in charge. It was somewhat shocking, given how Triple H’s NXT persona has been kept separate from his main roster persona as they are so antithetical.

Rollins winning the title from Papa Trips after Hunter cost him the Universal Championship would seem like just desserts, but it doesn’t seem like Hunter will be carrying the title into WrestleMania. A stipulation match, perhaps, would suffice instead.

In a match that has yet to gain any traction on television, the long-awaited Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal encounter is expected to take place at WrestleMania. Show had gotten himself into terrific shape in preparation for a match in which he’s likely to get a lot of mainstream (sports) media attention.

Show has been the celebrity opponent before, most notably for Floyd Mayweather, Jr, and Akebono. Shaq has appeared on both WCW and WWE television before, so he’s no stranger to the game. It’ll be interesting to see what story WWE concocts for this.

Those seem to be the top two options for Orton. A challenge of the Universal Champion on Raw seems unlikely. It feels like the Wyatt vs. Orton storyline should come to a head at WrestleMania (and then, you know, get beaten into the ground with rematches, as is tradition).

The Undertaker is back for another round, and his long-awaited Mania match with Cena looks like it’ll be put on hold again. Based on what happened in the Royal Rumble match, Taker vs. Roman Reigns seems likely. Reigns appeared to some to show more heelish tendencies than usual in the Rumble and after his loss to Kevin Owens earlier in the night. The announcers even picked up on this, which they wouldn’t do unless they were instructed.

Would WWE turn Reigns heel heading into Mania to face Taker? Taker is likely to be heavily cheered over Reigns anyway. Or will WWE shade Reigns a little more heelish, but keep him as a babyface in the long run? Goldberg was eliminated from the Rumble by Undertaker, so something could be brewing there. But WWE won’t go away from Goldberg vs. Lesnar at this point.

Halfway through this and I’ve yet to mention anything in the plans for Universal Champion Kevin Owens. Like Wyatt and Orton on Smackdown, best friends Owens and Chris Jericho could be headed for a split, with most predicting that too will lead into a one-on-one match at WrestleMania.

But will Owens still be champion at that point? Or will he drop the title to someone at Fastlane? Unlike Lesnar vs. Goldberg, I think Owens vs. Jericho would be enhanced with the Universal Title being on the line. Maybe Jericho will drop the United States Title between now and then, perhaps a miscommunication with Owens causing further distress between the two parties.

Other options for Owens include Finn Balor, rumored to be returning in time for a WrestleMania payday. Owens reaped the rewards of Balor’s injury, and Balor would look to regain the title he had to give up when he went on the shelf. The lead-up to an Owens vs. Undertaker match would be a hoot. But Jericho vs. Owens seems the most likely scenario.

The next biggest star in the company we haven’t mentioned yet for a WrestleMania match is Shane McMahon. I kid, but I don’t think WWE would necessarily disagree. A.J. Styles has had a number of minor disagreements with the Smackdown authority figure, making Styles vs. Shane a possibility.

It would be a criminal waste of Styles, however, to put him in a match with someone who, after Survivor Series last year, shouldn’t even be wrestling. Styles doesn’t have any other obvious directions, though. He could regain the WWE Title at Elimination Chamber and end up facing Orton, a match-up that would be unique.

The wild cards are Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura. Joe was rumored to be a Rumble participant, and some even picked him to win despite not being officially announced. WWE teased him being in town, showing him in the crowd at NXT: Takeover. But he didn’t appear and his status for WrestleMania is TBD. Joe could fit in against a number of opponents, including Owens, Cena, and Styles. A lot of it would depend on which brand he was placed on, and what kind of push he’d get out of the gate.

Nakamura is a less likely candidate for a pre-WrestleMania call-up. He did drop the NXT Title at Takeover to Bobby Roode, theoretically freeing him up for a promotion. But he’d have a rematch clause against Roode at some point, and his more likely to be a post-Mania surprise, perhaps even on the night-after episode of Raw.

Braun Strowman went from legitimate possible Royal Rumble winner to afterthought pretty quickly. In 24 hours, speculation went from Strowman being in a top WrestleMania title match to perhaps a win in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. With everybody else’s dance cards filling up, Strowman may have to settle for that spot this year.

Neither tag team division seems like it’ll warrant a match on the WrestleMania show proper. The idea of doing one inter-brand match here intrigues me; in that case, I’d argue for a champion vs. champion American Alpha vs. The Club match with neither title on the line.

Neville is Cruiserweight Champion, and it’s hard to predict an opponent for him given the landscape of the division. Tozawa and Gran Metallik could emerge from the shadows as worthy title contenders. Maybe a multi-man match here.

For the Smackdown women, they’ve got three feuds heating up right now. Alexa Bliss, as champion, could face any of the babyfaces in Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Nikki Bella. She’s already feuded with Lynch and is feuding with Naomi now, so it might be Nikki’s turn by April.

Raw is rumored to feature Charlotte vs. Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks for the title, but I think you could really put Bayley over big by having her win the title in a singles match against Charlotte. Her chase for the title would pay off here, and would also end Charlotte’s PPV win streak. Jax seems like a throw-in, but she dominated Banks in her Rumble pre-show win Sunday.

The secondary titles on each brand could be defended. Miz has earned a spot on Mania with his work this year. Is this where we get Miz and Maryse vs. Dean Ambrose and Renee Young? Jericho, if he’s still U.S. Champion, will be otherwise occupied.