This year, the card for WrestleMania seems to really live up to the tagline of being the “Showcase of the Immortals.” Showing that the company is certainly not at a deficit of talent, there are 13 scheduled matches for the event. This is not counting another marquee match rumored to take place, which is The Undertaker returning for another WrestleMania payday to compete against John Cena.
So far, every championship is scheduled for the biggest event of the year, minus the sparsely defended United Kingdom Championship currently held by Pete Dunne. Other than that, the Universal, WWE, Intercontinental, United States, Cruiserweight, Raw , and SmackDown Live Tag Team, as well as the Raw and SmackDown Live Women’s Championships, are on the line. This is a different case from last year, as the SmackDown Live Tag Team titles were not defended on the show. Instead, champions The Usos competed on the pre-show Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Not only is every major championship scheduled to be defended at WrestleMania , but some of the matches are multi-person bouts. The United States Championship match will pit Randy Orton defending against Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and Rusev; the Intercontinental Championship will have The Miz defend against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor; and the SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships will have The Usos defending against The New Day and The Bludgeon Brothers.
#TheNewDay is safe… for now. #SDLive #BludgeonBrothers @XavierWoodsPhD @WWEBigE @TrueKofi @LukeHarperWWE @ERICKROWAN pic.twitter.com/vReRHGZgYP
— WWE (@WWE) February 21, 2018
Currently, the only match with a major stipulation or gimmick added to it is the recently scheduled Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn match, which gives Owens and Zayn their spot back on SmackDown Live if they win, but remain fired if they lose. However, there may be another match that has a gimmick added to it.
According to the Wrestling Observer Live , WWE sent out a push notification of the triple threat tag team title match being a TLC match, but quickly deleted it. The belief is that an angle might be aired on the upcoming SmackDown Live where this stipulation will be added to the match, and simply announcing it would not have been as effective, which caused the immediate deletion of the notification.
Despite this notification, it is also being said that WWE could have just changed their minds altogether, and the TLC addition may be scrapped before it had a chance to develop. If the TLC addition does happen, this would be the second straight year of a tag team title match involving a ladder, as the Hardy Boyz made their highly acclaimed return during the Raw Tag Team Championship ladder match at WrestleMania 33 .
