10 Big WWE Predictions For The Road To WrestleMania 35
Plotting a course to MetLife Stadium.
While not without its flaws, Royal Rumble 2019 was a successful pay-per-view that not only delivered the right match winners in the right places, but successfully set WWE's course for the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 35, which takes place in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on 7 April.
There's much ground to cover before we hit the 'Showcase of the Immortals.' WWE have two pay-per-views between now and then in Elimination Chamber (17 February) and Fastlane (10 March), and while a couple of top-level programmes are as good as locked down, others, like the SmackDown Women's and WWE Championship pictures, remain a mystery. Then there's the small matter of The Undertaker's potential retirement, Triple H's injury, the new Women's Tag Titles, and the list goes on.
This is typically one of the most exciting times of year to be a WWE fan, and this week's Raw and SmackDown over-delivered. Optimism is understandably high. WWE's propensity to screw things up means fans would be wise to temper it with more than two months still to go, but the road to WrestleMania 35 promises no shortage of weird, wild, and wonderful happenings...
10. The Betrayal Finally Comes
Maybe this Shane McMahon/The Miz deal isn't leading to betrayal. Maybe there's nothing more to it than the simple, happy-clappy, feel-good story currently being fed to us on SmackDown. Maybe Miz's father finally telling his son he's proud of him on live television was the payoff, and Miz & Mac is a full-time tag team now.
... nah.
The sly look Shane McMahon flashed Miz and Miz Sr. as he raised their hands on this week's SmackDown was foreshadowing. This union isn't built to last. Sooner or later, one will turn on the other, they'll feud, and we'll get a WrestleMania booking out of it.
Keeping them together doesn't make sense, as Shane won't want to work a regular wrestling schedule at 49 years old and Miz isn't half as compelling a babyface as he is a heel. One will stick a knife between the other's shoulder blades. It'll likely come when they lose the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, with whoever takes the fall leading the blame, and we'll get another Miz vs. authority storyline that won't scrape the same heights as the Daniel Bryan programme, but should yield a decent match,