WrestleMania 34 is set to take place in just a couple of weeks, on Sunday, April 8, 2018. So, you’d think that all of WWE‘s biggest names would have something to do by now, right? Well, not all of them have, and here are the top 10 WWE stars who haven’t got a big ‘Mania match. Please bear in mind, that opinions are my own, and not necessarily representative of everyone here at WrestleTalk.com.
Just a couple of quick notes before we start, I’m excluding guys like Cena, the Usos, and Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, because although their matches haven’t been officially confirmed yet, they’re a certainty to take place. Also, I’m not counting the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, or the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal as ‘big matches’, because, let’s face it, they aren’t. Furthermore, wrestlers who are unlikely to perform due to injuries, will not be on this list.
Honorable mentions:
- Apollo & Titus O’Neil
- Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
- The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)
- Goldust
- Mike Kanellis
- Tye Dillinger
- Zack Ryder
10. Mojo Rawley
Mojo Rawley might not seem like a top star in WWE, but given where his career could, and arguably should, be by now, I feel he is deserving of being a part of this list. This is largely down to his outing at WrestleMania 33, in which he won the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, albeit with the help of the ‘Gronk’, whatever the heck a ‘Gronk’ is. He seemed destined for at least a semi-push after his ‘Mania moment, but shortly after, his fellow Hype Bro Zack Ryder returned from injury and the two went back to being, for all intents and purposes, a jobber tag team.
Never fear though, because in late 2017, Mojo grew tired of his position on the card and attacked Ryder, thus breaking up the team.
Again, this seemed like the moment where Mojo would begin to climb up the card. Unless you count being on the pre-shows of three pay-per-views in a row as climbing up the card, that hasn’t happened. He has, therefore, landed himself in the André Battle Royal again this time around, which means Mojo is probably going to make it four pay-per-view pre-shows in a row. Pretty impressive stuff.
9. Becky Lynch
Becky Lynch is quite possibly the most popular female in the entirety of WWE, which is very surprising given her awful booking in recent times. Lynch debuted along with the other members of WWE‘s ‘Four Horsewomen’, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, and later, Bayley, and out of the four is arguably the one who has been treated with the least amount of care.
Let me ask you this: Since her run with the WWE SmackDown Live Women’s Championship, what has Lynch actually done of note? Answer: Absolutely nothing. Becky has just been a body in the women’s division and has competed in countless multi-woman matches purely to get on the card.
This is a massive shame given her huge popularity and talent, and a reset in the imminent Superstar Shake-Up could do her a world of good. As a result of her unfortunate booking, she finds herself in yet another multi-woman match in the form of the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
8. Bray Wyatt
Who remembers when Bray Wyatt was actually interesting? Well, this time last year, he was WWE Champion heading into a defense against Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33, and it was all looking up. He’d eliminated both John Cena and AJ Styles in the Elimination Chamber prior to his crowning and his feud with Orton was one of the hottest in the company. Then Orton won, and it was downhill from there.
Bray was shifted to Raw in the 2017 Superstar Shake-Up and almost sapped the life out of everyone he feuded with, in particular, Finn Bálor, a feud that was so bad, it led to Bálor being dropped out of WWE‘s Universal Championship match plans for Royal Rumble 2018.
Bray went on to feud with the equally confusing ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy, wherein on Monday, he was thrown in the ‘Lake of Reincarnation’, possibly leading to a character revamp. You can check out Cody Brooks’ ’10 Ways Bray Wyatt Could Return From Deletion’ here.
Nonetheless, Bray is seemingly going to be left off WrestleMania 34 completely. Perhaps, a blessing in disguise for the ‘Eater of Worlds’. I wonder what worlds actually taste like…
7. Bayley
Bayley is in a very similar position to Becky Lynch, having been the recipient of unfortunate booking for most of the last year. More recently, though, she seems to have been growing a rivalry with ‘best friend’ Sasha Banks, which started when Banks eliminated the ‘Hugger’ from the Royal Rumble.
Things have hit a bit of a roadblock though, as it seems their rumored one-on-one match for WrestleMania 34 has been axed in favor of putting them both in the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
6. Matt Hardy
When Matt Hardy became ‘Woken’ in November, it seemed as if everyone’s dreams had come true. Matt made the ‘Broken’ gimmick one of the most over in the world during his time in Impact Wrestling, and we were all curious to see what a WWE version would look like. Well basically, he laughs. A lot. In fact, here are 10 hours of it:
I shouldn’t be too harsh though, as the Ultimate Deletion against Bray Wyatt a few days ago on Raw was superbly put together and a very refreshing change to what we’re used to seeing week in, week out.
Still, Matt hasn’t currently got anything set for WrestleMania 34, but with the return of Jeff Hardy, or the debut of Brother Nero during the aforementioned Ultimate Deletion, something could be confirmed in the near future.
5. Sasha Banks
Sasha’s story is essentially the same as Bayley’s, so I won’t dwell on it too long. The only reason the former ranks higher on this list is that her list of accolades is significantly longer that Bayley’s; Sasha having four Raw Women’s Championships compared to Bayley’s sole title win.
4. Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin might seem like a bit of a loser, but his list of accolades is pretty impressive considering he only made his WWE debut under three years ago. He won the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal in his main roster debut at WrestleMania 31, he won the 2017 Money in the Bank contract and he’s a former WWE United States Champion. Yet, he still isn’t deemed worthy of a showing on the main card of WrestleMania 34.
This is doubly surprising given that he was, for some reason or another, shoved into the main event of Fastlane a few weeks ago, wherein he competed for the WWE Championship.
And now he’s back to having pointless matches with Tye Dillinger in preparation for the André Battle Royal once again.
3. Elias
Elias is fantastic. The man has got himself over by playing the guitar and calling whatever city he happens to be in a dump. The thing is though, he’s damn entertaining doing it, and his dry humor resonates with a large portion of the audience, myself included.
He competed in the 2018 men’s Elimination Chamber match for a shot at Brock Lesnar’s WWE Universal Championship, which was, of course, won by Roman Reigns, and since then, has been embroiled in a rivalry with Braun Strowman. A rivalry which resulted in us witnessing this masterpiece:
The negative of this for Elias though, is that Braun, of course, came out on top, meaning Elias is somewhat shot of momentum heading into ‘Mania.
There are rumors of Elias being revealed as Braun Strowman’s tag team partner against the Bar which, whilst it would be entertaining, wouldn’t make much sense given that Braun smashed a double bass over the back of Elias a few weeks ago.
2. Dolph Ziggler
Dolph Ziggler’s situation is a weird one. He recently signed a new deal with WWE, which apparently includes perks such as being allowed to leave arenas early, when everyone else has to wait for the shows to end. Perhaps more baffling is, despite this new contract, Ziggler doesn’t have a match for WrestleMania 34.
Like Baron Corbin, Ziggler was chucked into the Fastlane main event, despite doing nothing prior to be deemed deserving of it. He vacated the WWE United States Championship in late 2017 and returned in January at the Royal Rumble in what was possibly the most underwhelming return in Rumble history.
Don’t worry though, because Ziggler seems to have his own plans for ‘Mania.
Thanks but no thanks, Dolph, I think we’ll pass on this one.
1. Rusev
Everyone loves Rusev. Along with Aiden English, the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ has stumbled upon one of the most popular gimmicks of recent times with his proclamation that “every day is Rusev Day”. Unfortunately for Rusev, and everyone else, WWE don’t seem to be too hot on the idea of him getting over as a babyface, so are intent on preventing him from doing so.
As it stands, Rusev doesn’t have anything set for WrestleMania, and it looks likely that he will be a participant in the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. If he wins that, however, all might be forgiven. Might.
Did I miss anyone off this list? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter here, and as always, have a spiffing Rusev Day.
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