12 Early Predictions For WWE WrestleMania 35
1. Triple H Vs. Conor McGregor
It's the most WTF prediction on the list, but nobody predicted this year's amazing mixed tag team match this time last year. For all WWE's faults, the company, on a once-per-year basis, delivers something we didn't even know we wanted.
WWE is ludicrously cash-rich - cash-rich enough to draft in Conor McGregor, cashing in on his mainstream notoriety more so than any potential short-term return. And, cynically, nobody else other than 'The Game' is getting first dibs. Less cynically, Trips was a key part of the incredible layout of Ronda's debut, and emerged from New Orleans with a great deal of cachet having portrayed her in the most flattering manner imaginable. He's hardly going to control Conor in a methodical, 25-minute slog. Excellent in his NXT Producer role, he will hold no interest in making such a prospective difference-maker appear foolish.
The pairing carries much storytelling scope. McGregor is too unruly for WWE, a risky reality with potential to thread into the fiction. Conor, arrogantly aping Vince McMahon's arms-out strut in the WWE arena, deviating from scripts with his roguish charm, would mesh superbly with Trips' domineering, all-business facade. A set-up angle mimicking Conor's infamous window-smashing meltdown ahead of UFC 233 is an explosive, writes-itself angle perfectly suited to WWE's blockbuster sports entertainment approach.
With Brock Lesnar a question mark, WWE courting McGregor carries more purpose than it does in itself.
Is the legitimately unstable Conor McGregor worth the risk? Is McGregor himself finished with UFC? Is it too soon for him to accept the inevitable WWE payday?
Doesn't this add to the intrigue of it all?