Following Elimination Chamber 2018, the next time the Raw brand will be on pay-per-view will be the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 34, scheduled for April 8, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be seeing the build to set up the matches which will make up the card for the show, and last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw kicked things off with the first true solid indication of what we might get for that event.
What is the current state of the feuds on the red brand and what directions could these storylines end up for WrestleMania 34? That’s up to us to speculate about, so feel free to join me in this extended projections breakdown for the Raw programs heading into WrestleMania 34.
Let’s take a look at what we’re working with here with what we know, what we think we know, and what we’re just flat out going to guess at.
Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns
This is confirmed, no other twist and turns in this storyline were given to us to make us think anything is going to be changed, and you all know my opinions about how I’m not into this whatsoever as I’ve talked about it for a solid year.
Rinse and repeat what you had for WrestleMania 31 and you’ll be getting the same thing this time around, with the only difference being that the belt has a red strap and Roman Reigns has won every other belt in the meantime and can’t possibly lose to the Money in the Bank winner.
Look out for lots of promos where Paul Heyman talks about how Reigns is great, but he’ll come up short, because he’s never beaten Lesnar. Meanwhile, Reigns will continue to say he isn’t intimidated and he’ll be victorious. Put that track on a loop and there you go.
Either you’re into this or you’ll be one of the many people booing, but there’s nothing you can change at this point.
Intercontinental States Championship Triple Threat Match: The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
Nothing was made official, partially because the wording here was deliberately ambiguous by saying The Miz “might” find out who is opponent “possibly could be” for WrestleMania, but we can make an educated guess on where this is heading.
Seth Rollins made his intentions clear by telling Renee Young that he’s gunning for both The Miz and the Intercontinental Championship for WrestleMania, so it’s doubtful he’ll be set up with a different feud in the next few weeks to give him something else to do.
Meanwhile, there’s no way Finn Balor was brought into the mix just to have a couple of laughs and go off in a different direction, meaning this is going to be a Triple Threat barring one possible change: The Miz could possibly be taken out of the match.
That would only happen if there were something involving Maryse’s pregnancy that would get in the way of him performing at WrestleMania, in which case, I’d have to assume Rollins vs. Balor would still be for the Intercontinental Championship and The Miz would come back to say he had a rightful rematch for his title that he wanted to cash in on, sometime around Backlash.
I don’t think we’ll see a fourth person added into this feud, nor do I think we’ll see any kind of gimmick attached to this other than the Triple Threat stipulation, but I do think this could be the sleeper match of the night.
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Asuka???
This is an odd scenario, where WWE seems to be simultaneously telling us one thing and then immediately undercutting it with “but maybe not.”
Asuka is perpetually referred to as challenging Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship, yet they then are quick to mention that she hasn’t officially picked that as her Royal Rumble title opportunity.
Meanwhile, Nia Jax is hovering this feud with Asuka, which implies that she’ll somehow be involved in the title hunt with Asuka no matter what, which is also intrinsically tied to Alexa Bliss, who also is butting heads with Bayley and Sasha Banks, who are in the midst of their own feud off on the side while being tag team partners.
Also, Mickie James is apparently a full-blown heel now, but that won’t factor in.
Basically, this is either going to be Alexa Bliss defending against Asuka while the other women do something else (or nothing), or Asuka is going to randomly head over to SmackDown to challenge Charlotte Flair, dumping her current feud and rushing something over on the blue brand, while we have some kind of multi-woman match for Raw.
If that happens, look out for Bliss to be in a Fatal 4-Way at WrestleMania including Nia Jax, Bayley and Sasha Banks, but don’t hold your breath that Mickie James will be included in the mix. If so, it will just be a Fatal 5-Way, and that’s almost a full-on repeat of the Elimination Chamber.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Bar (c) vs. ???
Since Titus Worldwide came up short at Elimination Chamber and weren’t even able to get a single pin in the 2-out-of-3 Falls Match, they can effectively be taken out of the running to fight for the Raw Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania.
Following the match, The Bar questioned if there were any tag teams that could step up to the challenge, but nobody answered the call.
At the very least, The Good Brothers and The Revival should be hovering this title hunt, if not The Miztourage as well, and there’s always a chance we get a call-up from NXT from SAnitY or The Authors of Pain, but I wouldn’t bank on that.
I hate the idea that so many multi-men/team matches are being set up right now, but I’m still thinking this will be The Bar against Gallows and Anderson against The Revival (against The Miztourage) because if those teams don’t make it into this championship match, they’ll assuredly be relegated to the battle royal.
Cruiserweight Championship Match: TBD
Zero content from the 205 Live side of things happened on Raw or Elimination Chamber, likely because the tournament doesn’t have enough matches left to be able to focus on that without running out of content for the next month.
Round 2 will be starting on this week’s episode, so that will be the true next step in finding out who could end up in this title match at WrestleMania.
Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt
After a quick squash of Heath Slater and Rhyno, Bray Wyatt grabbed a microphone to let it be known that The Great War between he and Matt Hardy was far from over, and that they would indeed be facing each other again.
That could be a direct reference to an upcoming WrestleMania match, or it could be a general way to write this feud off for a while, but want the fans to know that there are still plans to continue it somewhere down the line.
I’m not sure which to believe at the moment. The card is starting to get pretty stacked with just the titles and the feuds we know are going to be prioritized, so I can’t foresee there being enough room for another match between these two at WrestleMania, but the implication here is that that is the case.
If this continues next week and they keep teasing a confrontation at Mania, then we’ll know more about what to believe. For now, I wouldn’t be shocked if this was the last we hear about it for a little while.
The John Cena Situation
This is more of a SmackDown thing at this point, but John Cena did throw out the suggestion of a match against The Undertaker on this episode.
Since both are free agents, it isn’t Raw-specific, nor will there be any confirmation of anything until probably Fastlane is finished, but it’s something to ponder about.
Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon
Raw was nothing more than an extension of the Elimination Chamber segment. This is obviously the path they’re going, and they’re just stalling to announce it. Nothing new on this front except this time, it was the babyfaces who were left with someone looking up at the lights.
Braun Strowman vs. Elias
….this can’t possibly be what Braun Strowman is being set up for at WrestleMania, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of Elias, and I want to see him succeed far in WWE, but right now, he’s nowhere near the level Strowman has been built up to be, and a match between the two would be incredibly underwhelming for The Monster Among Men.
Either this is a throwaway match that everybody scratches their head at and doesn’t last long at all on the card and exists just to give both guys something to do, or this isn’t the end result, and there’s going to be something more to this we’re not being filled in on yet.
5th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
This is still not confirmed, nor has any information been given out about it whatsoever. Nothing has changed yet, and nobody has put their name in the hat for it.
CARD PREDICTION SUMMARY
Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match: The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Asuka or Nia Jax, Bayley and Sasha Banks
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Bar (c) vs. The Revival vs. The Balor Club [vs. The Miztourage]
Cruiserweight Championship Match: TBD
John Cena vs. The Undertaker
Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle vs. Stephanie McMahon and Triple H
5th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Braun Strowman does something
Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt
+ the SmackDown Live side of things
Those are my predictions, but what matches do YOU think will be on the card? Drop your guesses in the comments below!
