WrestleMania 37 is right around the corner, and thanks to this week’s episodes of Raw and SmackDown we finally have a set match card for the biggest show of the year. The card is looking pretty impressive, and while paying off storylines is one aspect of what makes WrestleMania so compelling every year, it’s also the allure of the unknown. Despite it being more challenging than ever to keep a surprise secret these days, especially when it comes to WWE, the company still manages to pull a rabbit out of their hat at times for WrestleMania and deliver at least one major shock by show’s end. With that in mind, we’ve got a few ideas on what surprises would qualify as truly shocking, and you can check out those ideas starting on the next slide.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Whether it’s the appearance of a returning superstar, a booking decision that goes against all of our booking expectations (like that Brock Lesnar Undertaker match), or something completely out of left field like that John Cena Firefly Funhouse match, there are a few things WWE can do to really knock our socks off.
Whether you find those surprises good or bad is completely subjective of course, but we’re up for a good surprise most of the time regardless. First though here’s the full card so far for WrestleMania 37.
Night 1:
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs Drew McIntyre
SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks vs Bianca Belair
Bad Bunny vs The Miz
Seith Rollins vs Cesaro
Braun Strowman vs Shane McMahon
Tag Team Champions The New Day vs AJ Styles and Omos
Night 2:
Intercontinental Champion Big E vs Apollo Crews
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs Edge vs Daniel Bryan
Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs Rhea Ripley
The Fiend Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton
What do you think of the lineup so far for WrestleMania 37 so far and our picks for the big show? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things WWE with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
Becky Lynch Returns
Well, to be honest, this entry kicked off the entire article, and personally, this is one I’m pulling for in a massive way. Now, Becky Lynch recently had a child and so she should take as much time away from the ring as she wants. That said, if she is itching to get back into the ring, it would be amazing to have her back, and she would instantly energize the Raw women’s division (which now has Rhea Ripley) or provide another huge star to bolster the SmackDown Women’s roster and shake things up.
Lynch will return to WWE at some point, but doing so at WrestleMania would be the kind of huge splash that would leave fans talking.
Apollo Crews Defeats Big E
Moving to matches actually happening on the card, Big E vs Apollo Crews should be a great one, and with the decision to make Crews look strong in all of their previous matchups, it would seem that WWE is leaning towards keeping the title on Big E, who is riding a lot of momentum since he started this new solo run.
Thing is, there are many who would love to see E enter the Universal Championship picture, and whoever leaves WrestleMania 37 as the Champion will need a new challenger, especially if it’s Reigns. A way to deliver both a shock and a new challenger to that Championship is to defy what many expect and have Crews continue his recent momentum and beat Big E, letting him run with the IC title and then having E enter the Universal Championship picture. The loss would shock, but ultimately it would be beneficial for both competitors.
Alexa Bliss Debuts New Fiend Style Character
Ever since Alexa Bliss transformed into this new horror-styled character in her storyline with The Fiend, many have wondered when she will get her own Fiend-style transformation. We’ve seen her shoot fireballs and make black goo come out of people’s lungs, but we haven’t seen her fully transform into another being, and that would definitely be a way to deliver a shock to fans during the show, as she’ll be on hand for Fiend’s match with Randy Orton.
It would also reveal the next chapter of Bliss’ storyline, and then you could bring in Nikki Cross, who has been off of television for a bit, to slowly bring Bliss back to normalcy if you wanted to. Either way, fans want to see what Bliss comes up with for this transformation, and why not debut it on the biggest stage of all?
Tessa Blanchard Shows Up
This one is a bit of a reach, but it would definitely shock. There have been rumors galore regarding Tessa Blanchard coming to WWE, and those rumors only increased thanks to a recent photo of Blanchard with Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Kalisto. Now, if Blanchard were to debut, it might be better to do it at something like the Royal Rumble, like WWE did with AJ Styles, but if you were looking to make a splash and instantly energize whatever brand’s women’s division she becomes a part of, this would be a stage to do it on.
If Blanchard were to debut in WWE, you could have her being a friend to Bayley and helping her form a new tag team or perhaps even a faction, which would instantly get both into the main event picture. Speaking of Bayley…
Bayley Doesn’t Have a Match at WrestleMania
Bayley has been one of the best things about WWE television in 2020 and 2021, so it is quite odd that the superstar does not yet have a match set up for WrestleMania 37. Bayley was last battling Bianca Belair and then briefly found herself as part of matches against Belair and Sasha Banks. Since then we haven’t had a proper feud set up for the big show, and that simply should not be the case.
Bayley can make pretty much any feud work, especially as a heel, but more importantly she’s done way too much in the past year to just miss out on WrestleMania 37 completely or just garner an appearance in a preshow royal rumble. There are plenty of stars, both current and legends, that seem like perfect picks for a match against Bayley (Trish Stratus or Beth Phoenix anyone?) and hopefully that happens.
Io Shirai Debuts
NXT isn’t slated to have any matches or crossover with WrestleMania this time around, mostly because TakeOver: Stand & Deliver occurs the two nights before the event and has its own two-night show to put on. That said, there might be just a bit of crossover in the form of an NXT star heading to either Raw or SmackDown, and the way to make a big splash for them would be to have them get involved in a match throughout the night.
We’re talking about Io Shirai, who is the current NXT Women’s Champion. She is set to take on Raquel Gonzalez at the event, and while conventional wisdom says they will battle at least one more time before Gonzalez possibly wins the Championship, you could very well floor everyone with her beating Shirai after just one matchup.
That would deliver a shock to NXT fans and kick off a new era in NXT, but what about Shirai? Well, since it happens the night before, you could have Shirai get involved in a match during WrestleMania to shock everyone again and instantly insert her into a program. The most logical one might be to have her attack Bianca Belair if she ends up winning the title, thus guaranteeing their match will happen after Banks gets her rematch. It again bolsters the women’s division and makes it even better, and there are several stars on that roster who would be great to feature in Shirai feuds until Belair (or Banks) is ready for the next challenger.
Edge Wins Universal Championship
It would be difficult to bet against Roman Reigns right now, and even going into a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania I find it hard to say that Edge or Daniel Bryan will take the title from him at WrestleMania. Both will look strong and it will be one amazing match, but when all is said and done I feel like the time to take the title off of Reigns has not yet come.
That said, that’s why it would be shocking if they did, and while Bryan seems more unlikely,ย Edge seems like a possibility. Whether you like the idea of a title being on someone who is not on every show (or in Edge’s case, not even officially part of SmackDown), it would give Reigns some new territory to mine until he gets the title back (which he likely would), and because Bryan is in the match he could eat the pin from Edge, thus keeping Reigns strong.
It could leave everyone talking and give you some interesting episodes of SmackDown in the direct aftermath and would be one interesting way to end WrestleMania.
