Wrestlemannia 2016 Rumours Thread

Undertaker vs Owens is probably the highest profile match they could do without disturbing other storylines.

The WWE title seems like it'll be Triple H defending against Reigns but I could also see Reigns winning the title back at Fast Lane and then either fighting Lesnar in a rematch from last year or a triple threat also involving Wyatt.

I'd also love to see any combination of Paige, Becky, Charlotte and Sasha get 30 mins in a one on one for the title.

Although if Bullet Club really do come in who knows what the card will end up looking like.

There continues to be a lot of speculation as to whether the discussed Undertaker vs. Braun Stroman match will take place at WrestleMania 32.

Vince McMahon is said to be high on the Wyatt Family big man and he's been making major progress with his in-ring training. Stroman is said to be capable of much more than we are currently seeing on WWE television and he has been specifically directed to "hold back" on what he's capable of for the time being.

Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live today that the Undertaker-Stroman match is far from confirmed and there's a few people that believe the Undertaker would veto the match if it was formally pitched to him.

Man, that'd be a shit match. And if Stroman is capable of a lot more than he currently shows, why not let him show it? He'd get over more and people might see him as a threat.

Keep hearing about taker vs cena because somehow cena is gonna be fully healed 6 months early I don't see it happening but if it does it'll make a much better main event than reigns/HHH

-- There are currently plans to have two Divas matches at this year's WrestleMania. The first match would be for the Divas title and the second would be a multi-woman match to get several of the other ladies onto the card.

-- Undertaker will reportedly be wrestling at WrestleMania for sure, but it apparently will not be against any of: Braun Strowman, John Cena, Brock Lesnar or Kevin Owens. The word is that his opponent will be someone who is not currently on the active roster. Of course, this will trigger rumors of a Sting-Undertaker match, possibly with a loser retires stipulation as it would undoubtedly be the 57-year old Sting's final wrestling match.

-- Another proposed match for WrestleMania is Stardust vs. Stephen Amell and angle potentially setting this up took place on 2/13 at the Comic Con in Dallas. Amell was there doing a Q&A when Stardust showed up and threw a glass of water in his face.

Well I guess the rumours of Lesnar vs Bray or the whole family can stop now. If they were going with that feud, there'd surely have been some interaction last night... and the Wyatt Family wouldn't have been booked to look like a bunch of chumps. Seen a few people saying this morning that they reckon it'll be Lesnar vs Ambrose. Would be good, even if Ambrose would really have no chance of beating Lesnar.

I still think we may see Bray attack Lesnar tonight on RAW. What else can Lesnar do for Mania? No-one wants to see Lesnar vs Taker again... maybe vs Ambrose?

Seem a few people talking about how Lesnar vs Ambrose is likely on the cards now. I'd prefer that over a match with Bray to be honest - WWE don't do anything on PPV's to build up Brays stock and there's only so far good promo's on Raw can take you as far as being believable with the fans.

The current plan for the Divas Championship match at WrestleMania 32 is for Charlotte to defend the title in a triple threat match.

Charlotte is expected to face Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, according to Dave Meltzer.

The finish of the Divas tag match at Fastlane with the double submission was done to set up the 3-way Divas title match at Mania.

Probably the best thing they can do with the Diva's title at Mania.

The Triple Threat divas match would be the most exciting Divas match at Mania in years and probably the best. I love the thought of Ambrose vs. Lesnar, seems like they have been leaning that way anyways. The two just seem to have a chemistry together and would be a good match at the big one.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Shane O Mac vs Taker, Hell in a Cell, at Mania, for control of WWE.

Could be good, could be bad. Honestly I'm just happy WWE did something unpredictable.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Shane O Mac vs Taker, Hell in a Cell, at Mania, for control of WWE.

Could be good, could be bad. Honestly I'm just happy WWE did something unpredictable.

I am ecstatic for the same reason. Didn't see it coming! Almost forgot they are all old, but Shane has always been a crazy mofo, I think it'll be fun

I don't understand this at all.... so what is the Undertaker the new lackey or something?

Well that was completely out of the blue.

Was definitely unexpected and actually made me look forward to next week and wonder if Shane O will have a proxy that will fight for him etc or if he will actually go in the HIAC... hope he has a proxy and he actually wins, or the whole 'Power Play' story will be over in just 4 weeks

On WWE website they have a quick 1 min video on Shane O Mac, basically saying he is 2-0 at Wrestlemania and says that he wont be going into WM without a backup plan, as he is a McMahon afterall....

So now it begs the question of who could the backup plan be?

Sting? Goldberg? Austin? Shawn Michaels?

I think they may be waiting to see if Cena can get healthy in time for Mania, and bring him in if so (it was rumoured he was Taker's original opponent). Otherwise, could be anyone I guess... after seeing Shane, I'm not ruling out anything.

I think i need a wwe break. 🙁 it's a crappy thing to say just before Wrestlemania. we'll see though... right now i'm just very discouraged with the whole product.

I think they may be waiting to see if Cena can get healthy in time for Mania, and bring him in if so (it was rumoured he was Taker's original opponent). Otherwise, could be anyone I guess... after seeing Shane, I'm not ruling out anything.

If Cena makes it to Mania healthy, then he needs to take a drug test. That'd be ridiculous even for him.

I do expect someone to help Shane though. No way he's beating Taker clean, or would even attempt to. It's going to be odd though. He got one of the biggest reactions I've heard in recent memory, and going against Vince and Steph you'd have to assume that he's taken the face role. Going against Taker though would make people boo him, unless Taker turns. If they don't turn Taker, people will boo the crap out of Shane at Mania and the Raw after because he'd have cheated to win. So it all seems a bit odd to me... unless they eventually go for the whole "everyone is unhappy working under Shane and Vince plays up that things are always better under his and Stephs management storyline" - which would suck as a story.

Cena's returned months earlier than expected before do its not unheard of.

I'm assuming they will turn Taker heel. He's basically been tweener since the Brock feud anyway.

He's come back a few months early before yeah, but returning for Mania would be less than half the recovery time if it's taken low end. It's an injury that usually takes between 6-9 months. Not 3 months. Not possible to return this early from that without being on something.

The original plan for HHH/Reigns was to have a special guest referee in the match, someone who would have had close ties to Triple H as a way to further stack the odds against Reigns and establish him as a babyface. Dave Bautista was asked and turned down that role at least once and it doesn't appear as if he will be a part of the show - more so as he's been extremely critical of the company after the incident involving his good friend, Titus O'Neil.

Anyone else think that this would just turn the fans on Reigns even more?

WWE are always determined to fight the fans and tell them who to cheer and boo etc... and to a degree it works, until you get to the main event scene and then the fans like who they like...

They cheer Reigns when he makes a save on someone, not because its Reigns, but because he is saving Ambrose etc... The fans love to find any opportunity to turn on Reigns, even cheering a vicious beat down from HHH they still cheered, and yet the WWE refuses to listen and is detemrined that if they stick to the tried and tested (allegedly) formula of stack the odds against the good guy and the fans will love him more... That may be true in 90% of the scenarios... but certain people, the fans dont like... WWe used to blame this on so called smart fans and say that the casual fans dont feel the same etc, but nowadays, everyone is a so called smart fan, it is the casual fan whom is in the minority.

The fans wont cheer for Reigns because they dont like him... just like the fans will cheer for Ziggler.. the fans turned WWE on their head when they cheered for D-Bry during that Title presentation 2 years ago... There are certain people that whether they are billed as a face or a heel, the fans just want to boo them.. or cheer them...

So the answer to your question in my opnion Benji, is that no matter what they do, the fans will not cheer for Reigns the way WWE want them too... even stacking the odds like that will just make them more pissed off when he pulls a Cena and beats up the whole roster and somehow is declared President of the USa and given a Noble Peace Prize for single handedly taking out ISIS and stoping every War in the whole worl........ he will still be booed!!!!!

I just look forward to the Post WM edition of Raw and to hear the real reaction to Super Reigns...

It's the whole Super Reigns part I don't get. They had it happen with Cena, and now they're doing the same thing with Reigns. It's a shame, as he could be their top face if they booked him right - little time on the mic (like Lesnar level, all he has to say is "I'll kick you ass" and people will be happy), not making him tell shitty jokes, not having to seemingly always "beat the odds" and make him take a step back once in a while. Best thing they did with Cena was a year or two ago when they dropped him from being anywhere near the WWE title, as it gave other people the chance to shine and the whole "super" thing died down a bit. Reigns would be easy to book, but they're intent on doing it their way which just isn't going to work. He's become so shoved down our throats as someone that WWE want to be the face of the company that it's no wonder people are booing.

There's only one way a "beat all the odds" character works - and that's when the wrestler has the fans firmly on side as he has a report with them. Look at Daniel, he connected with the fans and the "beat all the odds" worked. His size helped, but he had something that Reigns didn't have. Cena had it, and that's why it worked for him for a while, but then he became the guy to feed people to and it all just went way too far.

Reigns should be going into this being cheered. He has almost everything for it, and he's better than a lot of main eventers over the years. The whole reason that he's not going into Mania being cheered is because of how he's been booked. Fans would cheer him with smarter booking, instead of being told that you should cheer him because he's being the main event face whatever and we'll book him against all odds to do so.

Right now, the best thing they could do with Reigns is make him take a step back. That's why I'd have liked Ambrose to win at Fastlane, even though I'm not overly a fan of the guy. Stop forcing on fans that you want him to be the main event, he's been part of the title chase for what feels like forever - it's practically been since the 2015 Rumble, maybe even before then. Step back, get out of the title picture for a while, get booked more like some of the other main event level guys and people might start cheering for him again.

Owens looks like his feud with Zayn is back on. I'm disappointed as I really wanted to see Owens vs AJ Styles. But I'm also cool with it as Owens and Zayn know each other very well and so would put on a great match. Let's hope the match get's made - the sooner Owens is booked for Mania the better.