WrestleMania 37 Preview: Who wins the big four title matches?

Author Sports Hub Podcasts

April 9th, 2021 8:10 PM

By Mike “Sarge” Riley, co-host of Wrestling: Inside the Ropes

WrestleMania take TWO, Tampa!

A year ago, WrestleMania 36 was supposed to take place in front of a sold out Raymond James Stadium. But then, March 11, 2020 hit and the world stopped. However, WWE still went on with the show and WrestleMania was held inside their performance center in Orlando – which on television essentially looks like your local high school gym. A big milestone on Saturday night when WWE welcomes back a LIVE crowd for the first of two-nights and a live audience for the first time since Monday Night Raw on March 9, 2020.

There are 14 matches TOTAL spread out between the two night affair but let’s focus on the big-four Championship bouts where there is a good chance we could see a NEW champion from each match.

• Smackdown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks vs Bianca Bel Air (Night 1)

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  Bianca Belair began 2021 winning the Royal Rumble earning the opportunity at a championship match at WrestleMania. She’s been groomed to be a star on Smackdown since she was called up from NXT.
  
  The build up to the match has felt anticlimactic. At WWE Fastlane in March, Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair were unsuccessful challenging Shayna Baslzer and Nia Jax for the Women’s tag team championships. WWE decided to go with the easy way out by having Sasha turn on Belair after the match which makes Sasha as your heel and Belair as the baby face going into this match.
  
  Since the Smackdown Women’s title was formed in August 2016, and it’s changed hands two times out of the four WrestleManias it has been a part of. I think it would be a great moment for Belair to win The Smackdown Women’s Championship, but I think the plan is for Belair to have more of a long term “chase” and feud with Sasha Banks.
  
  Sasha Banks is 0-5 all time at WrestleMania. With that stat right there, it seems like a slam dunk that Sasha will retain and get her WrestleMania moment.

• WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre (Night 1)

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  One of the best things WWE did this year was put the Championship on Bobby Lashley. In a surprising move on Raw in early March, Lashley won the title ending the Miz’ 8-day reign. One of the worst things they did was breakup the Hurt Business, a faction Lashley was part of. After this happened, the writing was on the wall that the title is coming off Lashley at WrestleMania.
  
  Sure, Lashley is a victim of the pandemic not having his moment in front of a live crowd when he won the title on Raw back on March 1. And I truly believe he should win the match to continue this storyline further.
  
  However, Drew McIntyre has done everything right for the company over the last year. He had an amazing Royal Rumble win. He won his first WWE Championship last year at WrestleMania 36. And he has been the “flag bearer” of the pandemic for WWE. When Drew does become WWE Champion at WrestleMania this will be his third title reign, and he will finally have his WrestleMania “moment” in front of an audience.

• WWE Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley (Night 2)

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  It was 139 days ago that the Raw Women’s championship was last defended. NO, that is not a typo! Asuka defended her title against Lana in a disqualification win on Monday Night Raw November 23, 2020.
  
  Sure, Asuka was tag team champions with Charlotte Flair for a month before losing them at the Royal Rumble and then the team with Charlotte was split. Since the Raw Women’s title was introduced and won by Charlotte at WrestleMania 32, the Queen is 4-1 at WrestleManias. But Charlotte won’t have a chance to get a fifth win at WrestleMania because she’s not on the card (card subject to change). So we turn to Rhea Ripley.
  
  Ripley and Charlotte, in my opinion, was the best match of WrestleMania weekend last year. Ripley, lost her NXT title to Charlotte during night 2 in 2020, and she went off the radar for quite some time. WWE dropped the ball on a chance for Ripley to have retained and beat the Queen, Charlotte Flair last year, and they are now realizing the mistake of giving her the push she needs.
  
  It’s been an express build to this match with Ripley coming out on Raw March 22 to challenge Asuka for the Raw Women’s title. WWE is ready to get behind Asuka’s challenger and make their programming “Monday Night Ripley” as the new Women’s champion.
• WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan (Night 2)

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More Notes…

— This is the first WrestleMania since 28 (2012) without Brock Lesnar on the card. Don’t rule out a return especially during the Bobby Lashley – Drew McIntyre match or the Universal title match on Sunday night.

— Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch headlined WrestleMania 35 just two years ago. Lynch has been off TV since 2020 after giving birth to her first child, and Rousey has not been on WWE TV since April 2019. These two names were mentioned by WWE President and chief revenue officer Nick Khan on “The Colin Cowherd Podcast”. Khan said “Ronda is gonna be coming back at a certain point in time,”and “Becky Lynch just had her first baby; she’s gonna be coming back at a certain point in time in the not too distant future. So we’re as bullish on that group of folks as on anything else at this company.”

— John Cena told Sports Illustrated in February he would not be at WrestleMania due to filming obligations in February. He was last seen at WrestleMania 36 and it would make sense for him to make a brief appearance here one year later….Stay tuned!

Listen to James Stewart and Mike “Sarge” Riley on the Wrestling Inside The Ropes podcast at 985TheSportsHub.com.

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Author Sports Hub Podcasts

Category:

• WWE

Tags:

mike sarge riley,wrestlemania,wrestling inside the ropes,wwe