Two of the WWE’s biggest stars in history will make the trip to Dallas, Texas for WrestleMania 32. The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are confirmed for the event. Rocky announced it on his Instagram page and Austin just confirmed it for a second time in a recent interview.
That doesn’t include the third person in this title, Shawn Michaels. He’s not guaranteed for the event, but it is in his hometown and the rumors about his involvement in the main event have run rampant recently.
Despite the alliteration, these three men need to have a plan if they’ll be there. WrestleMania is the biggest show of the year and WWE fans aren’t keen on the main event. At this very second, Roman Reigns is set to take on Triple H for the WWE World Heavyweight championship.
There’s nobody in their corners and a special guest referee hasn’t been announced. Less than six weeks still remains between now and April 3. WWE fans are so enraged, that “#CancelWWENetwork” was trending after WWE Fastlane.
In a recent column, I talked about how Shane McMahon, the Undertaker and Vince McMahon saved WrestleMania 32. There match will build suspense, drama, and it already has a great story to go along with it.
While many disagreed, more might need to be done before WrestleMania is “saved.” These three men could do just that, but it’s going to take a creative angle and originality. In this writer’s opinion, here’s what the Rock, Stone Cold and HBK should do for WrestleMania:
- The Rock – He has to protect Roman Reigns as much a possible. Sure, they tried that at the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia in 2015, but Reigns was despised then. There are more fans that support Reigns, that didn’t use to support him. Most WWE fans know that Reigns will beat Triple H to win the title. If that’s the case, then he needs to be over-booked. Put the Rock in Reigns’ corner against the Authority. When Stephanie or even someone in HHH’s corner tried to do something, have the Rock perform one of his finishers on HHH while the referee is distracted. That allows for a big pop from the Mania crowd, by giving the WWE fans a chance to cheer indirectly for Reigns. It’s worth a shot.
- Shawn Michaels – This one is a big difficult to figure out. If he is involved in WrestleMania, then he must be backing up his friend, Triple H. Then again, why not throw the entire kitchen sink at the Authority and have the Heartbreak Kid back up Reigns instead? Vince doesn’t want AT&T Stadium booing Reigns out of the building. He’s supposed to be the next face of the company. It won’t be as a heel, even though Reigns’ inevitable heel turn will succeed. Triple H is still the heel in this feud. HBK will be a babyface no matter what he does. HHH needs to reach for a sledgehammer and the Sweet Chin Music must connect with Paul Levesque’s face.
- Stone Cold Steve Austin – WWE officials have some thinking to do before deciding what Stone Cold is doing at WrestleMania 32. Frankly, where does Austin fit? It wouldn’t make sense for him to get involved in the main event. For Austin, it’s probably best to put over a young guy in a big match. In that vein, a promo war between the New Day and Stone Cold would put “butts in the seats.” It doesn’t make much sense by looking at it, but Edge and Christian already helped put over the New Day even more. Giving Austin the platform to go back-and-forth with Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods isn’t a bad idea.
None of those ideas are guaranteed to happen. Reigns will surely be over-booked in fear of him getting booed out of the building at AT&T Stadium.
WWE put themselves in a precarious position with the booking of Reigns. Monday Night Raw was a great example of that. Triple H was beating him to a pulp and feeding off the crowd. HHH was the babyface in that exchange. The show ended with HHH standing over Reigns with the strap as the crowd cheered.
Something needs to get amended if they want Reigns to go above and beyond with the WWE Universe.
At one point, the Rock wasn’t well-liked by the fans. He was Rocky Maivia. When he turned heel, the rest is history.
Perhaps Roman Reigns should follow that path. WrestleMania would be a great place to do that.
