10 Potential WrestleMania 37 Matches After The Royal Rumble

With the Royal Rumble now behind us, the wrestling world turns its attention towards WrestleMania 37, a re-hash of the pirate-themed event from last April. Prior to the Rumble, little was known about WWE’s plans for the ‘Mania card this year, but typically the seeds for the majority of the show’s matches are planted in the Rumble matches. With that in mind, let’s run down 10 potential matches we might see at WrestleMania this year.

None of the following is confirmed to be taking place, so please take it with a pinch of salt as the road to WrestleMania unfolds. Make sure you leave your own predictions down in the comments below.

 

1. Drew McIntyre vs Edge | WWE Championship

As per Monday night’s episode of RAW, the 2021 Men’s Royal Rumble winner, Edge, will be setting his sights on the WWE Championship heading into WrestleMania. It’s the ideal set-up for Edge, as he continues to write the final chapters of his wrestling career, getting to challenge one of today’s greats for the WWE Championship at the biggest show of the year is a fantastic bookend for his heart-warming story.

Although several other names have been thrown in the hat – Sheamus and Randy Orton to name a couple – it seems that a singles encounter between ‘The Scottish Warrior’ and ‘The Rated R Superstar’ will be one of the marquee attractions for this year’s big show.

This could be a huge win-win for both men involved, giving Drew yet another legend to knock off during his successful tenure, and allowing Edge one final main event to sink his teeth into. It should be a fantastic match, one for all Edgeheads to get excited about.

 

2. Roman Reigns vs Shinsuke Nakamura and/or Daniel Bryan | WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns is hitting his stride as Universal Champion on SmackDown Live. Having come away victorious in his feud with Kevin Owens, there’s room for a new challenger to step up to the plate. Many have speculated that Reigns’ challenger will either be Daniel Bryan or Shinsuke Nakamura, both deserving of a pop at ‘The Tribal Chief’ come WrestleMania.

With Daniel Bryan looking for one last hurrah before transitioning to a part-time career and Nakamura slowly rebuilding his credibility, both would be a suitable WrestleMania opponent for Reigns come April. I personally would love to see all three men put on an instant classic, hard-hitting affair with both Bryan & Shinsuke getting the chance to wrestle for the championship, and each other, in one of the marquee main events.

Seeing as Drew and Edge seem to be building towards a singles championship match, it’d be good to see the other brand’s title defended in a multi-man affair. Providing that Roman wins and Bryan walks away into the sunset of part-time work, this could lead into a continued feud with ‘The King of Strong Style’ after WrestleMania, allowing for Nakamura to not get lost in the shuffle so soon after his big comeback.

 

3. Sasha Banks vs Bianca Belair | SmackDown Women’s Championship

What a weekend it has been for ‘The EST of WWE’, Bianca Belair. A huge win in the Women’s Royal Rumble sets Belair up for a championship opportunity at WrestleMania, less than a year from her main roster debut. Most wrestling fans are penning her for a match with ‘The Boss’ Sasha Banks, which, considering their similar wrestling styles and gimmicks, would be the perfect women’s match to potentially steal the show.

Belair and Banks are undoubtedly the alpha females of the women’s division on SmackDown Live, and to quote the Highlander films, there can only be one. WrestleMania is the best platform for both Banks and Belair to show the world how talented they are in the ring in a match that’s already giving me Bret/Owen vibes. Hopefully WWE allow Bianca to stick around on SmackDown to vie for the top title of their division, but if not, I’m sure Asuka/Bianca wouldn’t be the worst match to put on the WrestleMania card.

 

4. Asuka vs Charlotte Flair vs Rhea Ripley

Depending on if the aforementioned SmackDown Women’s title match goes ahead as suspected, this leaves a big field of RAW superstars to choose from for their champion’s challenger. Asuka and Charlotte Flair have recently held Women’s Tag gold, but lost those to Shayna and Nia Jax at the Royal Rumble, begging the question of when will ‘The Queen’ come for her former partner’s RAW Women’s title?

Charlotte is currently embroiled in an odd feud with Lacey Evans and her Father, Ric Flair. Once that wraps up, which will hopefully be prior to WrestleMania, unless WWE do another terrible Father/Daughter wrestling match, I imagine Flair will set her sights on Asuka in a rematch from WrestleMania 34. However, also in the mix is the debuting Rhea Ripley, who came oh-so-close to winning the Rumble on Sunday.

Ripley, also with a history against Charlotte Flair, should definitely find herself in the mix for a title shot following the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. I can certainly see WWE wanting to throw all their eggs into one basket and feature all three, dominant female performers in one huge marquee championship match.

 

5. ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton

In another callback to a previous WrestleMania encounter, ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt and ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton will be looking to conclude their rivalry on the Grandest Stage of them All. Having already competed in an Inferno match, there’s not many other stipulations to really amp up the intensity of their feud, but nevertheless, I’m sure they’ll try.

Last year, ‘The Fiend’ took John Cena on a trip to the Firefly Funhouse, leading to a very unique WrestleMania match that drew upon many references and in-jokes that may go over the casual audiences’ heads. For us smarky wrestling fans though, it was a lot of fun, and I’m sure nobody would turn down a sequel at this year’s show between Wyatt and Orton.

If ‘The Fiend’ is looking to write all of the wrongs from Bray’s career, then defeating Randy Orton at WrestleMania could be a huge staple of that story. Either way, it’s going down and it’s going to get very weird.

 

6. Bad Bunny & Booker T vs The Miz & John Morrison

We all love a good celebrity cameo in pro wrestling. WrestleMania has seen its fair share of celebrities stepping between the ropes to a varied success, I believe the next in line is the biggest Latin star in music today, Bad Bunny. Having performed his hit single Booker T at the Royal Rumble show, and seemingly getting off on the wrong foot with WWE’s A-listers, Miz & John Morrison, it makes for the perfect WrestleMania tag match.

Of course, Booker T himself hasn’t wrestled in a WWE ring for quite some time, but still manages to get in the ring on occasion against one of his students at the Hard Knocks wrestling school. Whether Booker could pull the weight off the match before hitting the hot tag on Bad Bunny is another thing entirely, but in the capable hands of Miz and Morrison, I’m sure both would be made to look amazing.

This is one of the less likely to be featured at WrestleMania, but someone needs to get some revenge for that destroyed DJ set.

 

7. Lana & ??? vs Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler | Women’s Tag Team Championships

Surprisingly, WWE have managed to book an intriguing storyline between Nia Jax and Lana, one that has spanned across half a year. What first seemed like vengeance for Miro’s defection to AEW, Lana was continually smashed through the announce table by Nia for weeks on end, slowly building a ‘bullying’ storyline between the two.

Lana has been given several chances to get her own back on the team of Nia & Shayna, but injury has often held her back from doing so, until the Royal Rumble match this past weekend. In a shocking turn of events, the dominant Nia Jax was eliminated by Lana, leading to both Jax & Baszler – the newly crowned Women’s Tag Champions – looking both befuddled and royally pissed off.

To finally bring this angle to an end, a WrestleMania collision between Lana and a partner of her choosing against the team of Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax for the Tag titles is an absolute must. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little intrigued by the potential of Lana bringing in someone of the stature of Nia and Shayna, perhaps an unexpected NXT call-up or even a blast from the past. Either way, this could be a bit of fun for WrestleMania, giving all involved a platform to bring this shoddy story to a close.

 

8. The New Day & Christian vs Retribution | Interpromotional Match

One of WWE’s back-burner storylines is the tension between Retribution and New Day’s Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Admittedly, my interest in this feud has grown and grown after the spectacular promo work by both Xavier and Ali, with the latter replacing Kofi in this year’s Rumble match following an injury. So what’s the pay off here? Retribution have missed the mark entirely since their debut and need something to pull them back from obscurity, a big multi-man match at WrestleMania is surely on the cards.

Big E is currently killing it as Intercontinental Champion on SmackDown Live but has shown that his ties to the New Day are as strong as ever. I’m sure nobody would mind if he put his title defences on ice for a little bit to reunite with his pals and take down the masked invaders. Meanwhile, there’s Christian, who made a huge comeback in the Rumble match. Depending on whether ‘Captain Charisma’ is sticking around full-time, he could easily work his way into a match like this and act as the big hot tag towards the end.

Whether you care about the faction or not, you can’t deny there’s potential in this feud in time for WrestleMania.

 

9. Riddle vs Keith Lee | United States Championship

Probably a little bit of wishful thinking here, but it’s only a matter of time before Riddle captures the United States Championship from The Hurt Business (something which will hopefully not be stretched all the way to WrestleMania). Once Riddle is free from MVP’s lackies, it’s time for him to move onto bigger opponents in time for his WrestleMania debut, and what better former NXT alumni to defend against than ‘Limitless’ Keith Lee.

Lee and Riddle have fought many times before across many different promotions, bringing their hard-hitting style to WWE, on their biggest stage would do both men huge favours going forward, making them look like the star attractions that WWE want them to become. It would be a great match for the US title to be featured in too, which has always stood as the stepping stone for mid-carders like these with bigger aspirations.

Again, I doubt WWE will run with a babyface/babyface championship match outside of Drew/Edge, but this would definitely sell me WrestleMania even more than usual.

 

10. Seth Rollins vs Damian Priest

‘The Archer of Infamy’ has yet to decide which brand of WWE he’ll be exclusive to, despite making his main roster debut on RAW last night. Should the most recent NXT call-up be setting up shop on Friday nights, then what better WrestleMania opponent for him than ‘The Messiah’, Seth Rollins.

Rollins, who also made his return in the Men’s Royal Rumble, hasn’t really got much in the way of direction as he continues his plight for ‘the greater good’ on SmackDown Live. Unless he pairs up with whoever doesn’t make it to challenge Roman at WrestleMania (Bryan, Nakamura, Cesaro etc.), then it’d be a safe bet for him to guide Priest through his first dance at WrestleMania.

It looks like WWE are pretty high on Damian Priest as a future star, putting him over Rollins would be a huge first move to make towards achieving that goal.

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