10 Matches To Draw 100,000 Fans To WrestleMania 32
2. WWE Championship: Roman Reigns (c) versus The Rock
The nearly-year-long title reign of Roman Reigns will be faced with its biggest challenge after the Royal Rumble, when The Rock returns at #30 and eliminates Seth Rollins to grab a ticket to WrestleMania. The entire world will be shocked at the unannounced return of "The People's Champion," but there's no big story -- The Rock simply sees another challenge, and another chance to prove himself. This doesn't sit well with the WWE Champion, though -- The Rock is his cousin, he entered the Rumble without telling Reigns, and he's now gunning for his championship. Reigns handles it in stride, at first... but soon, he can't quite keep it bottled up. "You had your time," he tells The Rock on Raw. "Go back to Hollywood and pretend to beat people up. I run this show now." The bemused Rock retorts that, unlike Reigns, he didn't need any help to win the Royal Rumble -- and people actually cheered when he did it. The tense staredown between the two ends with a smirk from Reigns and a hand extended. The Rock shakes Reigns's hand, but the WWE Champion whips him to the ropes and hits a titanic Spear. Blood ties and honor have gone out the window as WrestleMania looms large.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013