WrestleMania is back in business and the Superstars of WWE will seek to carve their legacies on the sport's grandest stage, in front of a live audience for the first time in over a year. The show, touting championship encounters and intensely personal rivalries up and down its card, figures to plant the seeds for the year to come in WWE.
Just who wins the grudge matches, and leaves with championship gold around their waists, remains to be seen but OddsChecker has set the early betting numbers for the enormous card just days before Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Sasha Banks, Bobby Lashley, and Bianca Belair take to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for the biggest night of the year.
Who are the current favorites and which Superstars should you expect to leave the home of the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers with titles of their own?
Find out with this preview of Saturday and Sunday's monster two-night spectacular.
For the second time in his career, Daniel Bryan enters a WrestleMania event he was not originally scheduled to be part of.
In 2014, he rode a wave of momentum created by the undeniable YES! Movement all the way to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 30. That night was the greatest of his career, the culmination of an arduous journey to stardom in a sport that had previously shunned wrestlers of his size and background.
Fast-forward seven years to a show originally slated to feature Edge completing an improbable comeback and winning the Universal Championship from Roman Reigns. Sensing the show needed a shake-up to keep things fresh and interesting, Vince McMahon and his creative team shuffle the card, adding Bryan to the title match in what has been billed as, potentially, his last WrestleMania.
Bryan won the title back in '14, tapping the returning Batista out. That match felt very much like Bryan's coronation, his moment in the spotlight following a months-long build and growing fan fervor.
That has not been the case this year.
Bryan is, and always will be, a beloved fan-favorite. He is the guy fans genuinely want to see succeed. Unlike his last dance in the main event of wrestling's most prestigious event, he does not have momentum on his side. He is no more or less hot at this point than Edge and the argument can certainly be made that he is not nearly as hot as Reigns, who may be the best overall character in WWE.
At the same time, he feels like the only Superstar in the match with a real chance to win.
The Edge babyface comeback story failed to light the world on fire and he was turned heel. Reigns is already the top bad guy in the promotion. The last thing WWE would want is to end the first pay-per-view in front of fans with a heel going over to close out the show.
Bryan is safe, is loved, and will generate a pop when he taps either of his opponents out to capture the title.
Even if the current oddsmakers have him as the biggest underdog entering the title bout.
A year ago, Rhea Ripley arrived at WrestleMania with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
For the first time ever, the NXT women’s title was on the line, she was the defending champion, and she was sharing the ring with the gold standard in women’s wrestling, Charlotte Flair. Despite the pressure, she turned in a strong performance that proved exactly why WWE officials see her as one of the stars of WWE’s future.
Except, she lost.
That defeat sent her spiraling downward, to the point that she feuded with Robert Stone and Aliyah on NXT rather than competing for the brand’s top prize. She played tackling dummy for Raquel Gonzalez in an attempt to build the second-generation competitor into a genuine championship threat.
Every ounce of momentum she had on her side entering that match evaporated.
A return to the Royal Rumble in January and a second-place finish was good enough to create a buzz about Ripley again. Then, the video packages announcing her Raw debut aired. Suddenly, Ripley was back in the spotlight.
Stepping through the curtain on night one and challenging Asuka for a Raw Women’s Championship match on the sport’s grandest stage did not hurt, nor did the apparent heel turn fans witnessed on the go-home episode of WWE’s flagship show.
Now, Ripley eyes redemption at WrestleMania. She has the opportunity to make up for last year’s disappointment by knocking Asuka off her perch, capturing the title and announcing to the world that her brutality is now Raw’s problem.
Expect her to do just that, igniting a run that probably should have started the moment she tapped to Flair’s Figure Eight. The oddsmakers feel the same as she is a comfortable favorite in her showdown with The Empress of Tomorrow.
