10 Feuds That Must Happen Before WWE WrestleMania 33

WWE will tell you that the road to WrestleMania 33 doesn’t officially begin until the Royal Rumble, but it started the moment Roman Reigns pinned Triple H back in April. January is when the stories really start taking shape, but WWE spend their whole calendar year building towards the Super Bowl of sports entertainment, regardless of what happens in the interim.

This year’s ‘Mania sees WWE head to the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, after cramming an alleged 101,763 fans into Arlington, Texas’ AT&T Stadium last year. They won’t shatter the attendance record again (the Camping World Stadium has a 65,000 capacity), but they’ll be out to banish all memories of last year’s disappointing event. Currently, the card’s up in the air.

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H and Brock Lesnar vs. Shane McMahon have been hinted, but it’s too early to tell. Both sets of wrestlers already have a reason to fight, but there’s close to six months of build to go, and a lot can change between now and then.

If WWE are to build intrigue for their biggest show of the year, then there are a number of issues they must address before Orlando. The Raw & SmackDown rosters are full of wrestler who’ll be at a loose end when their current stories expire, and WWE have a number of feuds available to create excitement and build momentum ahead of their showcase event.

Here are 10 feuds that must happen before WrestleMania 33.

Heath Slater and Rhyno are likely reaching the end of their lifespan as a team. Slater’s “free agent” story was an early highlight of SmackDown’s post-Draft shows, and in Rhyno, he found a brutally effective tag partner, and the perfect straight man for his goofy redneck stylings. That said, the redemption arc peaked when they became SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Slater’s got the contract, the above-ground pool, and the gold: it’s time to head elsewhere.

They’re perfectly positioned for a split, and it’ll likely happen sooner or later. Rhyno typically does the heavy lifting during their matches, and when they lose, it’s Slater getting pinned. Whether deliberate or not, WWE have established a team hierarchy in which Slater has subtly become the weak link, and if they lose the belts because of this, it’s a perfect motivation for Rhyno to turn on his partner.

SmackDown are thin on high-level teams, but WWE must pull the trigger on this one before interest levels wane. There’s only so far you can take their team’s underdog story, but they can start another one by positioning Slater as a sympathetic foil to Rhyno’s extreme tendencies. If they play it right, the split and subsequent feud should be the angle that sees Slater escape the lower card forever, and finally find his footing in the singles scene.