WWE News: Original Plans For ‘WrestleMania 32’ Before Injuries Looked Amazing, After Might Be Better
WWE has been plagued with a ton of injuries this past year, and it appears as if those injuries will only drift into the following year. That makes many believe that WWE will be without some of its biggest stars for WrestleMania 32. However, this might be overdoing it as the injuries of many are healing up, and most will be back by WrestleMania time. So to say that the entire show will be without major stars is a bit overboard.
The major injuries are to Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins. Two of them could be back by WrestleMania, but one will not be back until at least next summer at the earliest. Seth Rollins was set to be in major stories for the rest of the year, and leading into WrestleMania. This was a big deal for WWE as they were set to make Rollins into an even bigger heel. Yet, Seth Rollins was not supposed to be apart of the main event, yet again.
According to The Wrestling Observer, WWE had plans to do a John Cena vs Roman Reigns match during the main event. Fans would most likely see John Cena passing the torch with it and go in as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. That might still be the plan in place, but that would mean one person would need to heel at the end of the day.
The match that Cena has been rumored for that fans are actually okay with is his match with The Undertaker. WWE is also considering throwing Reigns back in against Brock Lesnar, which would allow him to win the WWE World Title this time. WWE hinted at the idea of this match on RAW when telling Reigns that he will never know if he could have beaten The Beast due to Seth Rollins interfering.
The issue with a Reigns/Cena match is that many believe one would have to be heel going in, and that would most likely be Reigns. WWE wants to pass the torch to Reigns, and if he were a heel against Cena it wouldn’t really help in becoming the next big babyface.
However, WWE knows that they have to turn someone soon. While most want to see a John Cena heel turn, and it would be the best time for it, that is unlikely with WWE wanting Cena to remain a top babyface whenever he’s around. That means WWE will either turn Roman Reigns or Dean Ambrose soon. The only other person who is even considered a top heel right now is Kevin Owens and WWE does not see him as a top guy as either a heel or face right now. Meanwhile the overall consensus when it comes to Ambrose is that he’ll never be the top face with WWE, but could easily be the company’s top heel.
WWE might go ahead and start him on this run as soon as WWE Survivor Series and slowly build him into becoming a major heel in the company. It could benefit WWE now more than ever due to Seth Rollins going down for a while. Many feel though that Reigns would benefit from the turn more. Fans aren’t the only one’s believing this. As WWE realizes that Reigns is not landing as well as they would like, the thought is that WWE could do a passing-of-the-torch match with John Cena at WrestleMania 33 and allow Reigns to be a heel for now and gain respect from the fans.
The thought is that by doing this, fans would be eager to see him beat Cena. WWE was able to first make John Cena when he was a heel and by the time he turned babyface, people loved him. That eventually faded a bit but by that time, he had enough of a following. So a similar strategy might work well for Reigns. Meanwhile, people like Ambrose are overlooked, so the company will surely use him in another way, but still in a major role worth seeing.
While John Cena and Randy Orton are going to be back for WrestleMania, The Rock may not be in a match there due to a movie he is part of during the time. He will most certainly appear on the program but not in a match if the movie company does not want him to. This only hurts the program as the plan was for The Rock to take on Triple H, with the back-up for The Game being Seth Rollins. Both are unlikely. While WWE could try to get Rollins in the ring by then, it would be impossible for him to perform well just five months into his recovery. The average time for a surgery recovery like this is at least eight good months.
This is both a good, and bad thing for WWE. It is bad because, clearly, Rollins and The Rock being out does hurt WWE for WrestleMania season alone. However, it does allow some like Cesaro and Dean Ambrose to move up the card more due to simple need. There is now a chance that Triple H will end up facing Randy Orton, simply due to the need for Triple H and Orton both to have a match, but on top of it, the storyline is there to go with.
People like Bray Wyatt may also move up the card with his Wyatt Family. Do not be surprised if some really interesting things happen with WWE and the superstars by the end of the year. If anything, it is to set up a major plan in the future. So give what you see some time, as it will surely be needed. In the end, plans may have shifted but possibly for the better. A big heel turn will happen with one of the three top faces, many stars fans love will get a better role, and stars will still be used well. On top of this, part-time stars may be less active barring Brock Lesnar at the event. Something we have not seen in quite some time.
[Photo via WWE]
