John Cena

WWE decided to move forward with WrestleMania 36 this weekend despite numerous changes to the year's biggest wrestling event because of the coronavirus pandemic.

WrestleMania switched locations in Florida, moving from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, and fans weren't permitted to attend the Showcase of the Immortals.

Several Superstars were removed from the card. Most notably, Roman Reigns was taken out of the Universal Championship match against Goldberg after he announced his decision to limit his potential exposure to COVID-19 as a leukemia survivor. He was replaced by Braun Strowman.

The Miz, one half of the SmackDown tag team champions alongside John Morrison, also sat out the Mania tapings last week, per Mike Johnson of PWInsider. WWE hasn't updated the card to reflect the absence, but no prediction for that title match is made below because of the uncertainty.

Thankfully, WWE has done a tremendous job of making sure spoilers about this year's Show of Shows didn't leak, which allowed the event to maintain its usual intrigue.

WrestleMania 36 will begin with the pre-show at 6 p.m. ET on both Saturday and Sunday. The main action begins at 7 p.m. ET. WWE hasn't announce which matches are going to occur each night.

Let's check out the complete card along with picks for who will pick up the high-profile victories. That's followed by a closer look at some of the most interesting matchups on the Mania slate.

             

WrestleMania 36 Card and Predictions

WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre defeats Brock Lesnar

Universal Championship: Goldberg defeats Braun Strowman

Raw Women's Championship: Shayna Baszler defeats Becky Lynch

SmackDown Women's Championship: Sasha Banks defeats Bayley, Lacey Evans, Naomi and Tamina

NXT Women's Championship: Rhea Ripley defeats Charlotte Flair

Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn defeats Daniel Bryan

Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits defeat Austin Theory and Angel Garza

Women's Tag Team Championships: The Kabuki Warriors defeat Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross

Last Man Standing Match: Edge defeats Randy Orton

Firefly Fun House Match: Bray Wyatt defeats John Cena

Boneyard Match: The Undertaker defeats AJ Styles

Singles Match: Kevin Owens defeats Seth Rollins

Singles Match: Aleister Black defeats Bobby Lashley

Singles Match: Otis defeats Dolph Ziggler

Singles Match: Elias defeats King Corbin

Singles Match: Liv Morgan defeats Natalya

Singles Match: Cesaro defeats Drew Gulak

              

Matches That Will Thrive Under Unique Circumstances

Edge vs. Randy Orton

This feud kicked off at the Royal Rumble when Edge made his WWE return after a nearly nine-year absence, and it has generated a terrific old-school feel.

Orton has been at a level not witnessed in years as the creative team struggled to find him meaningful storylines amid a crowded roster. 

Edge looks physically prepared for another meaningful WWE run at the age of 46. He was a fan favorite before his sudden retirement and he's instantly regained that status. His wife, Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, also deserves credit for her work to further the storyline.

Orton and Edge are two of the business' best in-ring storytellers, and that's exactly what it's going to take to shine on a WrestleMania stage without fans. It'll be a slow, methodical match that should get the closest to an Attitude Era feel fans have witnessed in a while.

The outcome shouldn't be taken for granted either. Edge is the rightful favorite as WWE looks to vault him right back into the championship conversation, but a swerve can't be ruled out.

A victory by the Viper would also provide a massive boost for his short-term outlook, and it would allow Edge to head toward a storyline centered around questioning whether he still has what it takes to compete against elite WWE opponents.

The latter would potentially set the stage for a year-long journey by the seven-time world heavyweight champion to reach ultimate glory at WrestleMania 37 next year with fans to celebrate the achievement.

         

Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan

Matches between two technical wizards like Zayn and Bryan tend to get overshadowed at a typical WrestleMania because the spectacle takes precedence over the in-ring work.

That shouldn't be the case this weekend. Instead of the dead air that usually emanates during a 'Mania match featuring technical skill rather than high-flying moves or various stipulations, the lack of crowd pops for any match should allow the intercontinental title match to shine through.

In particular, it will be fascinating to see how Bryan's partnership with Drew Gulak evolves. It's unlikely he'll ever reached the heights he did at the end of WrestleMania XXX or in the immediate aftermath of his return 2018, but there's no doubt he could emerge from the recent lull and return to the top of the card.

This should be a Zayn victory, though. WWE hasn't gone all-in on a push for the 35-year-old Canadian since his elevation to the main roster after an impressive run as NXT champion and some awesome feuds with Kevin Owens over the years.

A triumph over an established star like Bryan could help spark the surge he needs to land a major title shot at a marquee show like SummerSlam or Survivor Series later in 2020.

Regardless of the booking decision, there's a strong chance this match ends up being the best pure wrestling showcase of the event.

         

John Cena vs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt

WWE received significant backlash for allowing Wyatt to drop the Universal Championship to Goldberg at Super ShowDown in February. This match should provide fans with some sense of payback.

The Fiend isn't an in-ring worker on the level of Edge, Orton, Zayn or Bryan. He's at his best when he can tell a story with his great character performances, and letting him take on a legend in Cena in his own Firefly Fun House is the perfect opportunity.

Wyatt will be able to use his antics and the environment to highlight what makes him different than any other Superstar on the roster.

Meanwhile, Cena has entered a new phase of his career. As he's become more involved in acting, his WWE schedule has become greatly reduced. But his returns always ensure additional eyeballs on the product, and it's helped build hype for this encounter.

It'd be a shock if Wyatt doesn't pick up the win, but the lack of doubt surrounding the result shouldn't take away from a match that will greatly benefit from taking place outside the ring.

WWE is set to host WrestleMania 36 under the strangest circumstances ever.

Not only will the show be broadcast without any fans present amid the coronavirus pandemic, it will also take place over two nights and feature some new and unconventional stipulations.

With every other sport postponing or canceling the season, WWE could have more attention than it would have otherwise anticipated.

Let's take a look at what you need to know about this year's WrestleMania. 

                                  

Venue: WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida

Start Time: 6 p.m. ET (Kickoff), 7 p.m. ET (main show)

How to Watch: WWE Network and select PPV providers

                            

Betting Odds

OddsChecker.com lists betting odds for some of the top matches set to take place this weekend. Here is a rundown of each bout:

• Aleister Black (1/14) vs. Bobby Lashley (6/1)
• Edge (1/12) vs. Randy Orton (11/2)
• Seth Rollins (9/4) vs. Kevin Owens (2/7)
• The Undertaker (1/5) vs. AJ Styles (3/1)
• Shayna Baszler (3/4) vs. Becky Lynch (19/20)
• Rhea Ripley (1/2) vs. Charlotte Flair (7/5)
• Drew McIntyre (10/29) vs. Brock Lesnar (2/1)

                               

The Rest of the Card

WWE has stacked the weekend's events with 16 matches. Here is a list of the nine remaining bouts:

• Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman (Universal Championship)
• Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena (Firefly Fun House match)
• Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Tamina vs. Lacey Evans vs. Sasha Banks (SmackDown Women's Championship)
• Elias vs. King Corbin
• Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan (Intercontinental Championship)
• Street Profits vs. Austin Theory and Angel Garza (Raw Tag Team Championships)
• The Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (Women's Tag Team Championships)
• Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler
• The Miz and Morrison vs. The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown Tag Team Championship ladder match)

                            

PPV Live Stream

The one-hour Kickoff will be available through most social media platforms, YouTube and WWE Network. 

A select few cable and satellite providers still carry WWE PPVs, but for the most part, people will be watching WrestleMania on WWE Network. Here is a list of the devices that support the streaming service, according to WWE.com:

• Apple TV
• Amazon Fire TV
• PlayStation 4
• Roku
• Xbox One
• Android devices with the WWE app
• iOS devices with the WWE app
• WWE.com
• Select Panasonic, LG, Sony and Samsung Smart TVs
• TiVo
• Supported browsers

                                   

Other Important Information

Most or all of WrestleMania has already been filmed, but WWE has done a good job preventing spoilers from leaking to the media. 

At least two of the matches will likely take place off-site. The Boneyard and Firefly Fun House bouts are the kind of contests WWE has likely built purpose-specific sets for.

What we don't know is which order WWE plans to air the matches. Nothing has been revealed about which matches will take place on either night, so everything will be a surprise.

Having a couple of weeks to prepare and film everything could lead to this being a much better PPV than anyone expects. Let's hope that ends up being the case. 

It's always interesting when WWE or a top Superstar gives an unfiltered look into the behind-the-scenes happenings or thought processes behind the greater product itself.

But it also can provide reason for pause.

John Cena himself did so recently on Corey Graves' After the Bell podcast (h/t Douglas Canavin of Wrestling Inc). While the overarching theme is brilliant and is a surefire excellent listen, which is always the case when Cena gets any sort of microphone, there was a notable hiccup: the topic of new faces of WWE.

Cena seemingly suggested WWE has problems building new faces of the company—which it needs—in part because of fan reaction:

"It needs what I'm not sure it can produce, and that's...just the state of where everything is now, which is weird because it kind of always corrects itself so we're in a day and age where it needs a frontman or woman.

"It needs one, maybe two, definable characters to absolutely be the reason, and that's what will be able to define what the era is because it takes on those personality traits of its top star. Like I said it before I don't know if, all things considered, the crowd is so mixed, that if the company puts its faith behind an individual, the knee-jerk reaction of the audience, even if they liked the guy last week, is to say 'f--k you, you're not going to tell me who I like.'"

Cena or not, it's unfair to pass this buck of responsibility to fans. Maybe that isn't 100 percent what the intent was, but suggesting fans have a "knee-jerk reaction" to dislike guys just isn't right.

And look, Cena deserves every shred of respect a person could possibly give him. He goes above and beyond outside of the ring to the point it borders on absurd. But he was also the Hulk Hogan of his generation who carried the company on his back. And Cena probably took some risks too, which would explain characters like Doctor of Thuganomics. His position didn't just get handed to him.

But it doesn't seem so simple in today's WWE. Cena or otherwise can't just tell Superstars to take risks while seeking out a position as a top guy or woman. Call it a success bias. Just because rolling the dice worked for Cena and CM Punk doesn't mean it should overshadow the likely hundreds of risks Superstars took only to be shot down—or worse.

And the obvious background conversation here is Seth Rollins. His run was doomed to fail from the start given WWE's history. He won the title from Lesnar at 'Mania on a low blow to start the show, got shoved into boring matches with Baron Corbin, had the awkward couple's run with Becky Lynch and collapsed in the largely horrific feud with Bray Wyatt.

That was an awful string of events for Rollins and not based on the fans just up and choosing to dislike him. It wasn't working, and WWE pulled the title off him and went with the organic rise of Wyatt (then fed him to part-timer Bill Goldberg in a sloppy match in Saudi Arabia).

Here's the kicker: Fans haven't turned on Becky Lynch. They didn't turn on Daniel Bryan during his special run. They didn't turn on Bray Wyatt's Fiend. They didn't turn on CM Punk. The didn't turn on Kofi Kingston.

We can go on with this endlessly. Fans aren't going to turn on Drew McIntyre if he takes down Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. They will turn on him if the booking after his big win is terrible. They w'll turn on him if he's not allowed to keep being this guy. If he's in boring feuds or doing something ludicrous like reforming 3MB, yeah, fans will get sick of him.

This can go the other way too. Fans don't make Cena main-event over a champion Punk all the time. Fans don't make Kofi Kingston get brutalized in seconds by Lesnar because SmackDown is going to Fox, rarely mentioning it again. Fans don't force Roman Reigns over other Superstars into repeated 'Mania main events while pretending he's an underdog. Fans don't force Dean Ambrose to get a needle in his butt during a live promo and "pee-yew" the fans.

Glance over at All Elite Wrestling for a moment. The promotion is young. But nobody is going to end up turning on Jon Moxley. Global stars like Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega haven't had fans turning on them. Barring something epically changing, AEW won't run face-first into this issue.

This is a WWE problem; the company might need top stars, but it has to want to build top stars.

Maybe the biggest issue is that, long ago, WWE shifted its goal from big stars to big moments. The big bad heel runs rampant, the babyface has his moment and then there's this terrible gap wherein the company acts like it doesn't know what to do with a top star anymore.

WWE needs a top guy and top woman. But continual issues with pulling the trigger at the right time or going with the right person at all and botching the booking after the big win indeed sours fans.

So once again, WWE has a chance to forever anoint a new top guy with Drew McIntyre. Fans aren't turning on him yet, but the question is simple: Will WWE end up giving them a reason to turn on him?

WrestleMania 36 might be unorthodox, and some of it might be taped, yes.

But those factors won't stop the rumor mill.

The biggest event on WWE's calendar is not only going to be hosted by Rob Gronkowski but also split into two nights. Despite the oddity of delivery, the card isn't any less epic than a normal year, and the rumor mill isn't any less active.

These are the top-buzzing items before the big event Saturday and Sunday.

                       

Ronda Rousey's Return

It was only a matter of time, right?

Ronda Rousey left WWE the way she entered it: fast and skillfully.

After shocking many fans with her main event-level performances, Rousey called it quits on WWE for a prolonged break after WrestleMania 35. But according to Tom Colohue of Sportskeeda, another deal with the promotion is in the works, and it could have her showing up quite soon.

Which naturally leads to WrestleMania speculation.

It's a little weird to think given global circumstances that WWE is inking anyone to contracts. But this is Rousey we're talking about, and WWE needs to do whatever it can to keep fans engaged during these odd times. Bringing back Rousey and throwing her right at Becky Lynch is one way to get it done.

And rest assured, Lynch has already put this ammunition to work:

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1245806188752711688

                    

WWE Headed for Hiatus?

Given the nature of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact, it wouldn't be too much of a shocker to see WWE close things down.

According to WrestleVotes, the option is on the table in light of Florida's stay-at-home order, and "WWE would reconsider taking a break post Mania. The Raw after is shot. I've been told if they are pausing for a while, some footage shot won't be aired. TBD at this point."

WWE has largely acted immune to outside happenings by adapting and finding ways to shoot weekly broadcasts, never mind going ahead with the biggest show of the year.

But varied state responses to the pandemic have caused All Elite Wrestling to shift around live events already. With WWE's Performance Center affected by Florida's 30-day statewide stay-at-home order, we might see Vince McMahon and Co. call a break instead of trying to move tapings for weekly broadcasts elsewhere.

And if that happens, it might akin to an offseason for WWE, which could interestingly reshape how the promotion thinks about time off over the long term.

                   

John Cena-Bray Wyatt Should Do the Unexpected 

One of 'Mania's must-see matches this year features a returning John Cena confronted by a demon of his past in the form of Bray Wyatt's Fiend.

And according to Colohue, Cena has actively been involved in planning out some of the more creative elements of the match and then taking them to the folks in power to get them in the plans.

Talk about some fun possibilities.

Fans knew going into this one that WWE billed it a Firefly Fun House match. The creative elements of Wyatt's past few feuds have been hit-and-miss. His encounters with Seth Rollins weren't well-received, but his taking down of notable names and spars with others have worked. And if Cena himself is signing off on what's going to happen? It's bound to be great.

Granted, the clash probably needs to slant more into Wyatt's mystique than actual wrestling, especially without a live audience. But Cena can make anything work, and if he's backing whatever the two have planned, especially given their longstanding history, it could go a long way toward keeping Wyatt relevant at the top of WWE despite dropping the universal title to Goldberg in February.

John Cena accepted The Fiend Bray Wyatt's challenge to a Firefly Fun House Match at WrestleMania 36 to cap WWE SmackDown on Friday evening.

.@JohnCena accepts @WWEBrayWyatt's #FireflyFunHouse challenge at #WrestleMania! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/ikvUetmeom

— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020

Cena first acknowledged the oddity that has been performing in front of no fans at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

He then cut a promo on his WrestleMania opponent and let loose with the insults, noting that the wrestler looked like the "guy who dresses up like the overfed sex child of Wiz Khalifa and the WB frog."

After Cena finished talking, a series of dolls from The Fiend's Fun House appeared ringside, each of them taunting him.

👋👋👋👋#SmackDown @JohnCena pic.twitter.com/96DXONtyTQ

— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020

The WWE Performance Center went dark, and then a masked figure that initially appeared to be Wyatt became visible on a raised platform beyond one of the turnbuckles.

Cena gave that person his attention, but The Fiend then appeared in Cena's face and said, "Let me in."

Let him in.#SmackDown @JohnCena @WWEBrayWyatt pic.twitter.com/urEU76AZLZ

— WWE (@WWE) April 4, 2020

Wyatt then disappeared into the darkness. When the lights came back on, a startled Cena stood in the ring while final credits rolled.

It's unclear what a Firefly Fun House match actually entails, but Triple H told Keisha Hatchett of TV Guide that it's "different from anything we've ever done in the WWE."