WWE is looking to do things outside the box this year for WrestleMania 38 in hopes of boosting ticket sales to the two-night event in Arlington, Texas.
Vince McMahon is being rumored for a match of some kind with Pat McAfee, and Stone Cold Steve Austin is reportedly considering a return to the ring to face Kevin Owens. This would be Austin’s first match since 2003.
However, don’t expect to see Triple H in the ring this year despite all of the names from the past who are returning. Triple H experienced a scary health issue this past September, characterized at the time as a cardiac event, and a return to the ring this year is not in the cards.
“No, Triple H would be a terrible idea,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “His heart situation is, he can’t. I don’t want to say never because that’s because that’s unfair because maybe he can do something but that would be a horrible idea for him and that’s not gonna happen this year. There’s no way.”
Triple H has remained mostly out of the spotlight since his health situation. He’s reportedly no longer involved in a major way at NXT, with Shawn Michaels now taking over his previous duties with that brand.
Michaels spoke about his new role with NXT during an interview with Denise Salcedo last December.
“I’ve now stepped out of the physical coaching aspect and into the Vice President of Talent Development and focusing more on television, the live show, and creative,” Michaels said. “The talent pool has gotten very big. To me, the biggest advantage of all of that is the freshness, the newness. When I went from a tag team to a single competitor, I wasn’t given a cookie-cutter ‘this is your character, this is what you’re gonna do.’”
WrestleMania 38 Card Update
The matches which have been confirmed so far for WrestleMania 38 are:
- WWE Universal Championship vs. WWE Championship
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Brock Lesnar (c) - WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship (Main Event for Night One)
Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Ronda Rousey - WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Bianca Belair - Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz and Logan Paul
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