10 Big WWE Surprises & Plans Rumoured For 2021

Well, 2020 was a bit weird.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected WWE in ways we’ve never seen before.

WrestleMania took place over two nights in a gym in front of zero fans, approximately 17 million people were released from their contracts, Money in the Bank happened inside – and on top of – WWE Headquarters, Vince McMahon decided “independent contractor” means people can’t do things independently, and the Undertaker actually said goodbye… maybe… possibly… probably not.

Anyway, pretty much everyone will be happy to say goodbye to 2020, so it’s time to look ahead to what WWE could have in store for us next year.

Here are nine big WWE surprises and plans rumoured for 2021!

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Roman Reigns vs. Big E At WrestleMania

The Royal Rumble is basically a belated Christmas for wrestling fans. With returns and surprises galore, the event is many fans’ favourite night of the entire year. Despite the usual elements of surprise, there are always a couple of names who stand out as favourites to win the Rumble match ahead of time.

According to current betting odds (SkyBet as of November 28), Big E is the favourite to win the men’s Rumble in 2021, and a match between E and current Universal Champion Roman Reigns is the favourite to be the main event of WrestleMania 37.

When WWE split New Day in the draft this past October – with Big E staying on SmackDown while Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were switched to Raw – it seemed that the intention was to push E as a singles star.

Since the draft happened though, E hasn’t been pushed too far up the card at all. In fact, he’s barely been used.

While we all know that Vince McMahon has a tendency to wake up one morning and decide he doesn’t like someone’s haircut from 17 years ago so he’s not going to push them anymore, the situation does seem different where E is concerned.

It definitely comes across that, rather than forgetting about Big E – which is what has happened to more wrestlers in the past year than I have the time to list without being here until 2024 – WWE is instead working to protect him.

After all, “If we don’t book him at all, we can’t book him badly, pal” would probably be the best advice Vince could give himself right about now.

Big E isn’t the only candidate to challenge Reigns though, because…

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Roman Reigns vs. The Rock At WrestleMania

… Rock “The Dwayne” Johnson is in the conversation too!

Ever since it initially looked like Reigns would be winning the Universal Title at WrestleMania 36, rumours started doing the rounds that he’d be defending the title against his second cousin and the world’s most famous man Big Dwayne a year later.

Even though WrestleMania didn’t go as planned, when Reigns did eventually return in August at SummerSlam and won the title a week later at Payback, those rumours started up again, especially considering Reigns had turned heel and started a familial war with his “cousin” (but actually nephew) Jey Uso.

One of the biggest points to this rumour was that 2021 was going to be “WrestleMania Hollywood” at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and there’s no-one more ‘Hollywood’ than The Rock himself.

However, although WWE has yet to make an official announcement, it’s been reported that Mania 37 will instead be taking place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, which was supposed to play host to Mania 36 before it had to be moved to the Performance Center. This could well have put an end to plans for Rock to be at the event this year.

Because Raymond James Stadium and WWE put so much effort into getting it ready for last year, it seems like a good chance to not let it all go to waste, and Florida’s never-ending stubbornness means fans would be able to be in attendance.

Speaking of which…

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The Return Of Fans!

WrestleVotes – always a reliable source when it comes to backstage WWE news – recently reported that WWE has been working on being able to get fans in attendance for the Royal Rumble event.

Whether it be a surprise return or a big elimination, the euphoric, natural roar of the crowd always adds so much to the Rumble’s biggest moments, and it’s hard to imagine sitting through two Rumble matches in one night without having that.

WWE’s plastic fake crowd noise and piped in chants may be a bit better than complete silence, but it pales in comparison to the sound of a real packed stadium of excited fans going wild. Watch the Undertaker’s farewell at Survivor Series for a prime example. Unless you don’t want to torture yourself, in which case, don’t do that.

Obviously, safety needs to be the top priority, but if WWE can get fans in for the Rumble in a responsible fashion, it would definitely be a welcome change.

And, you know what WWE are like. If they manage to do it once, the likelihood is they won’t be afraid of doing it again and again and again.

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