Why WWE Scrapped The Undertaker Vs. John Cena At WrestleMania 33

As things stand, Triple H vs. Seth Rollins, The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal, and Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar are the only matches currently tabled for Mania. This immediately takes four of Raw’s biggest players out of the equation, and with Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens expected to fight for the United States Title, Taker is woefully short of credible opponents.

Excluding the SmackDown roster also removes AJ Styles from the picture. There was talk of a potential WrestleMania match between the current WWE Champion and The Undertaker a few months ago, but those were soon shot down, and these latest reports appear to completely remove it as a possibility. As one of the consensus best wrestlers in the world, Styles would surely go all-out to produce a memorable match with Taker, but it's impossible to tell whether The Deadman would be able to keep up with his fast, fluid style or not.

On Raw, Roman Reigns is the first name that stands out, but the former Shield member is widely expected to become Universal Champion at the Royal Rumble. Given that Taker isn’t scheduled to fight for a belt anymore, Roman would need to lose the title in the run-up to ‘Mania, which isn’t unprecedented, but seems unlikely in this case. The Universal Championship has taken enough damage throughout Kevin Owens’ reign as it is, and the last thing WWE need to do is hotshot it around the roster.

Braun Strowman is another option, and WWE teased future interaction between him and The Undertaker on this week’s Raw. This match was heavily speculated in the run-up to WrestleMania 32 as well, so it has clearly been in Vince McMahon’s mind for a while, but Meltzer has also mentioned that Taker vs. Braun isn’t in the company’s plans at the moment. This week’s tease will likely be paid-off through interactions in the Royal Rumble match, and Taker and Braun go their separate ways.

Finally, there’s Finn Balor, who has been on the shelf since relinquishing the Universal Title in August. Nobody knows exactly when he’s set to return, and while the Irishman has said himself that he won’t be ready until Mania, there’s heavy speculation that he’ll be involved in this year’s Rumble. At this point, however, it seems more likely that Balor will chase the Universal Title he never truly “lost” in the first place, as exciting as him vs. The Undertaker could be.

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