10 Matches WWE Could Have Booked For WrestleMania 38
1. Winner Take All Match: The Bloodline © Vs. The New Day
Amidst WWE’s maelstrom of panic booking and happenstance, Big E has unfairly become chief among casualties.
When health protocols scuttled the Universal Championship rematch with Roman Reigns at WWE Day 1, WWE panicked, throwing Brock Lesnar into the WWE Championship defense instead. Naturally, Lesnar triumphed by pinning Big E himself instead of one of three other viable challengers. Creative sputtered again at the Royal Rumble in a maddening carousel of questionable decisions.
Much like Kofi Kingston before him, Big E’s rematch with Lesnar never came. Instead, WWE detoured a 12-lane superhighway through ‘Suplex City’ on the Road to WrestleMania, beginning by needlessly burning a potential WrestleMania blockbuster between Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. Additionally, the Rumble, the Elimination Chamber and the WWE Championship itself were hand-delivered to ‘The Beast’ to enhance a marquee practically in place since August.
Meanwhile, the former WWE Champion’s trajectory was slightly more harrowing. After a New Day reunion on SmackDown, Big E’s Road to WrestleMania started with a planned feud against Sheamus and the ‘Butch’-Whackers. It ended with an ill-executed suplex and fractured C1 and C6 vertebrae.
Yes, chapter seven of ‘The Beast’ and ‘The Tribal Chief’ will undoubtedly meet or exceed all advertised expectations. However, given Big E’s clear path to redemption following Day 1 and the proven in-ring chemistry of The New Day, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions and the Universal Champion, one question lingers–
Did WWE leave the better overall story, perhaps even the better ‘Winner Take All’ match, on the table?