4. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns - WrestleMania XXXI
What kind of backlash will there be against Roman Reigns when he faces Brock Lesnar for the WWE world title at Wrestlemania XXXI? It's an interesting situation because "smart fans" will have reason to hate both men heading into the match. Much like Wrestlemania XX, rumors are flying that Brock Lesnar is leaving WWE and his final match with the promotion will take place at Wrestlemania. 11 years ago, this caused the Madison Square Garden crowd to completely turn on Brock, serenading him with chants and booing his every move. However, Brock has kind of crossed that imaginary line like Steve Austin or the Rock where he can come and go and he pleases and will always be cheered. Heyman's promo on Raw where he promised that Lesnar would be the first to unify the WWE and UFC titles only cemented Brock as a bigger babyface in the eyes of smart fans. The smart fans, however, feel like they have plenty of reasons to hate Roman Reigns. In their minds, Reigns is simply not ready for the main event slot at Wrestlemania yet and hasn't done enough to justify his push. With backstage information readily available to anyone with internet access, it has been known for a long time that Reigns was Vince McMahon's pet project and he would be receiving a monster push sooner rather than later. The backlash started at the Royal Rumble where Reigns was so hated by the Philadelphia crowd that not even an endorsement from the Rock could turn the crowd back on Roman's side. Since then, crowd reactions have been decidedly mixed depending on how "hardcore" certain cities have been. Traditional wrestling towns like Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and St. Louis boo Roman Reigns while more casual markets are more likely to cheer him. Meanwhile, the hardcore fans love Daniel Bryan for his in-ring ability and connection with the audience. In their minds, Bryan should be in the main event and get his big title run that was taken from his last year due to injury. Instead, WWE rubbed it in their faces by booking Reigns to go over Bryan clean in the middle of the ring at Fastlane and shuffling Bryan down to the Intercontinental title match at Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania and the post-Wrestlemania Raw tend to draw very hardcore fans. Let's all hope that Reigns handles his crowd heat in Santa Clara better than he did in Philadelphia, because he looked like a deer in headlights when the fans turned on him.