12 Early Predictions For WWE WrestleMania 35
HHH Vs. N-N-Notorious.
WWE faces a not inconsiderable struggle ahead of WrestleMania 35.
Following the events of WrestleMania 34, we know now not to expect anything approaching a 'Mania-level performance from The Undertaker. Where we once bargained, we now accept that the Dead Man finds himself in the epilogue of his career, capable only of a cameo or, as was the case at Greatest Royal Rumble, a deeply average and static match. John Cena seems as finished as a big match performer as he is a full-time performer, having not "stolen the freakin' show!" since Royal Rumble 2017. Triple H cannot go back to his usual 25-minute epic - for the sake of his ego, if nothing else. If sequenced poorly, very good matches stand no chance of generating a reaction on the bloated Grandest Stage. Boring matches...
WWE is in danger of making mortal its part-time attractions as, all the while, it mismanages the full-time roster with an even more drastic incompetence than usual.
All of which, converged with the tiring slog of a duration, may conspire to f*ck up up the un-f*ck-up-able: we may, depending on the complexion of the card, dread WrestleMania. In a world in which Vince McMahon didn't coronate Roman Reigns in New Orleans, nothing is sacred.
So with a pragmatic and yet optimistic eye - it's 'Mania - dispensing with the usual token Battle Royal rubbish...
12. KICKOFF: SmackDown Tag Team Title Fatal Four-Way Match
After the aberration that was 2017, in which both brands boasted blinding tag team action, normal service has resumed.
On RAW, tag team wrestling is either played for laughs (The B Team) or otherwise treated as a complete joke. It's not the Revival WWE is burying on RAW - never think this week's lucky victory wasn't purely an excuse to hand promo material to Bobby Lashley next week - it is the very lost art their entire act is based on. The Authors of Pain are back, but the fact that they were away for so long hardly inspires hope.
On SmackDown, the formula is as predictable as it is draining. The Bludgeon Brothers reign with the straps, necessitating a half-hearted pre-PPV push for their next opponents. In June, it was The Club. In July, who knows? Only the result is known.
All of which renders the possibility of a featured 'Mania match - for any team - utterly remote, especially given what the high-profile role excelled within by The Usos amounted to at WrestleMania 34. When all else fails - and everything is failing - just throw together a multi-man match as a means of placating the outer reaches of a roster deemed not important enough for a role on a five hour-plus main card. The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The New Day vs. The Usos vs. SAnitY seems about right - with The Bar not appearing as a result of the Cesaro* singles push.
*Sheamus.