The More Things Change, They Change A Lot

Man oh man it’s that time of year again. We’re less than two weeks away from Wrestlemania XXXV and you can see most of the card from here. It’s certainly going to be a long show (as is the case every year anymore), but there are some rather intriguing matches out there. While you can probably guess the results of most of them, some of the matches aren’t quite as predictable as others, even though that might have seemed to be the case at one point.

The match that has changed my mind several times now is Seth Rollins challenging Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title. At first this seemed like another successful title defense for Lesnar as we continue on the eternal search for the right person to take the title from him (read as we wait to build Roman Reigns back up again) but then things started to change and it got a little more fuzzy.

Over time, Rollins was getting back to the point where he was before his horrible knee injury: one of the most exciting and consistently successful performers in WWE. Couple that with Lesnar having trouble facing smaller wrestlers (certainly compared to his matches against power guys, which tended to be short, dominant performances) and you had all the makings of the final boss battle for Lesnar as Rollins could be the one that finally stops him once and for all, giving us a regular Universal Champion instead of a part time attraction.

Then we got to the big part: Reigns returned a little earlier than expected and has Rollins’ back going into Wrestlemania. That would be the same Reigns who took the title from Lesnar after chasing it for over a year. Having him back and healthy is the kind of thing that can turn everything on its head in the blink of an eye as it opens up several possibilities.

Think about all the places this could go. Does Reigns turn on Rolls? Does he help put Lesnar down to counteract Paul Heyman interference? Is it a repeat of Wrestlemania IX where Lesnar wins and then issues an open challenge, setting up a spear to give Reigns the title back for the big surprise celebration? There are actual options here, and that has changed a lot about the match, including the odds.

According to Graham Mirmina from SBD, odds of Seth Rollins winning the title of Universal Championship at this year’s WrestleMania is much better than Brock Lesnar. Sportsbooks have Rollins’ odds listed as -250 while Brock Lesnar’ are +170. However, Lesnar has been the keeper of the belt for a better part of the past two years so don’t be surprised if the odds shift in favor of Lesnar as April 7th gets closer.

It really has changed a lot in just a few weeks’ time and that’s what makes this time of year so exciting. What should have been a layup result just a few months ago is now one of the more intriguing matches on the show. These two could have a heck of a performance against each other, even if you knew what the end result was going to be. Now that there is a monkey wrench thrown in there, it isn’t as simple as it once seemed.

Wrestlemania offers so many possibilities and it’s often a lot more fun when you don’t know what you’re going to get. Fans often come up with what they think is going to happen in the first place but now, there are some different questions to be answered as we head into the show. That makes things a lot more fun and I’ll take that over “can we just get to the F5 already so we can move on”? It’s what makes Wrestlemania so great and hopefully that’s the case again this year.