The Road to WrestleMania 36 is paved with burning questions.
Those questions involve top stars in professional wrestling, including Roman Reigns, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. They center around a returning icon returning to The Grandest Stage of Them All for the first time in a decade and a roster that may be too large for its own good.
Dive into each of those topics, among others, with this preview of what should be an eventful and noteworthy march to wrestling's most prestigious night.
Drew McIntyre may have won the 2020 Royal Rumble, and appears to be riding a wave of momentum ahead of WrestleMania 36, but history dictates it is no guarantee he will win the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar when those two titans clash on April 5.
Over the last decade, Rumble winners are a mere 4-5 on wrestling's grandest stage, leaving an air of uncertainty hovering over the main event of WrestleMania. Add to that the fact that Lesnar wins more than he loses at the Showcase of the Immortals (4-3) and you have reason to be skeptical that WWE will actually pull the proverbial trigger on McIntyre.
The idea that the 'Mania win would be used to elevate McIntyre's star and firmly establish him as the face of the Raw brand is not enough to support a win, either.
In 2011, Alberto Del Rio won the Rumble with the idea that he would go on to WrestleMania and dethrone Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship, thus becoming the next big star in WWE. That did not happen for him, nor did it happen for Shinsuke Nakamura, whose loss to AJ Styles at The Granddaddy of Them All instigated his heel turn.
Even with all of that said, McIntyre's case feels different.
The Scottish Psychopath has steadily built momentum for himself over the last two months, connecting with audiences merely by being himself. He has showcased a charisma few knew he had when he was playing the role of silent assassin for Dolph Ziggler and Shane McMahon, and the fans have bought into it.
The countdown gimmick before the Claymore kick has hit with audiences and his imposing look means he can stand across from Lesnar and appear to be The Beast's equal. Unlike Seth Rollins a year ago, he does not need an underdog story or a fluke win to establish his championship win.
He simply needs one sudden, explosive kick to end The Beast's reign.
He looks like he can do it, he has the fans on his side and is enjoying the most steady run of his main roster career, but will management pull the proverbial trigger on him when it matters most?
Two years ago, Charlotte Flair entered WrestleMania as the reigning, defending SmackDown women's champion. Her opponent? The undefeated Asuka, who appeared poised to dethrone The Queen and take her place at the top of the blue brand's women's division.
Instead, Flair needlessly submitted The Empress of Tomorrow, ending her unbeaten streak.
Asuka has never fully recovered from the defeat, wallowing in mediocrity ever since.
Early storyline indications are that Flair will battle NXT women's champion Rhea Ripley on wrestling's grandest stage. Like Asuka, the Aussie enters 'Mania season with momentum on her side, seemingly poised to topple the 2020 Royal Rumble winner and establish herself as the future of the women's revolution in WWE.
That is if WWE officials can resist the urge to remind us all that Flair is the measuring stick for women's wrestling.
We get it; Flair is a generational talent the likes of which we may never see again. She has an uncanny knack for rising to the occasion and performing at her highest level when the lights are brightest. She is every bit the athlete her father was, if not better, and can work around the limitations of any opponent she encounters.
For all of those reasons, she should be respected and treated like a big deal on WWE television.
But that does not excuse constantly putting her over at the expense of those who could use the boost that beating someone of her stature brings.
Ripley is the type of performer the company can build around years from now. There is no need to sacrifice the then for the now, particularly when Flair loses absolutely nothing by dropping a match to the NXT women's champion.
We have watched as Roman Reigns was booed out of stadiums at WrestleManias past.
His WWE Championship win over Triple H was greeted with jeers, his win over The Undertaker earned him sustained boos that bled over onto Raw. The Big Dog, the hand-picked successor to John Cena, had been rejected by an audience that no longer wanted to be dictated to by management.
Things have simmered over the last year or so, with mostly positive reactions to Reigns as he battled the likes of Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, Dolph Ziggler and King Corbin, but a return to the main event and Universal Championship picture could undo all of the goodwill he has built up in that time.
Reigns appears poised to challenge "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt for the title in Tampa, Florida and if that is the case, the likelihood that he is greeted with defiant jeers by fans who want the masked maniac of WWE to remain champion is high.
The WWE Universe hates having the product telegraphed. To them, Reigns fighting for the title is as close to a sure-thing as there is, despite the fact that he has now competed for the WWE or Universal Championship at three WrestleManias and has only walked away from one of them with gold.
The idea that he may be the one to end the somewhat magical, wholly unexpected run Wyatt finds himself in the midst of is one that is unappealing to the die-hard fan base and will more-than-likely result in his first largely negative reaction of the last 12 months.
The unsettled issues between Becky Lynch and Shayna Baszler date back to Survivor Series and if the events of Monday's Raw are any indication, The Man and Submission Magician are on a collision course for a showdown at WrestleMania.
But will the match be the predictable coronation of The Queen of Spades?
Not necessarily.
Vince McMahon and WWE officials see Lynch as one of, if not the top star in the company. She is a woman around whom entire shows have been built around. We have seen WWE's top babyfaces enter 'Mania before and vanquish the latest baddie set up for them.
Do not be surprised to see Baszler built into a seemingly unstoppable force of nature, only for Lynch to overcome the odds and tap her out on the grand stage.
It is one thing to return to action in a Royal Rumble match that demands only a brief explosion of physicality here and there. It is another to appear at WrestleMania, in front of 70,000+ fans, and wrestle a full match for the first time in nearly a decade.
That is the uphill battle facing Edge at this year's event.
The Rated R Superstar appears to be on his way to a showdown with Randy Orton in one of the marquee bouts of this year's show. Given the intensity of their first major angle together on the Raw following the Rumble, anticipation will be high and pressure on the Hall of Famer to perform up to the moment will be incredible.
But can he, physically?
For all of the excitement surrounding his return and the upcoming match, no one really knows how Edge will hold up or what his first real match back will look like.
The overall quality of that bout against The Viper, and the immediate feedback from the fans, will dictate whether it was worth it for one of the most celebrated stars of his generation to come out of retirement and set foot back inside the squared circle.
A year ago, Kevin Owens was one of the higher-profile names left off the WrestleMania card.
Despite a comeback that saw him emerge as a top contender to Daniel Bryan's WWE Championship, he was viewed as expendable when it came to putting together the final card for that event.
Unfortunately, with a roster as enormous as the one WWE touts right now, there will be those immensely talented individuals who miss out on a spot on the biggest show of the year.
And if not, they will be thrown in the annual Battle Royal or Afterthoughts that WWE shrouds as a memorial to Andre the Giant.
It is one of the curses that come with accumulating the amount of talent Vince McMahon and Co. have over the last five years. Unless WrestleMania becomes a multi-day event (please, NO!), there is no way to properly highlight every one that deserves it.
When it does try, such as WrestleMania 2000, where there was not a singles match on the entire card, it becomes a bogged down cluster of a show and the quality hurts as a result. Last year's event featured 16 matches and wrapped up well after midnight, an ungodly runtime for a show that has to maintain the interest of a live audience for that long.
WWE cannot afford either of those scenarios this year and as a result, will have to make a few tough decisions when it comes to which Superstars are and are not present in significant matches on the show.
