Wrestling in 2017 had some spectacular highs, some heavily criticised lows and whatever
Bray Wyatt’s been up to.
And going by various wrestling news reports and rumors, 2018’s going to be just as strange.
Remember, these are rumors, so get your pinches of salt ready.
Here are the 10 Biggest WWE Rumors for 2018 You Need To Know…
10.
Royal Rumble Winner The wrestling year in WWE properly kicks off
with 30 men playing Don’t Touch The Floor, It’s Made Of Lava with January’s Royal
Rumble - with the winner getting a top title shot at WrestleMania.
Raw’s Universal Championship match for Mania will reportedly be Brock Lesnar defending
against Roman Reigns, but the Big Dawg apparently won’t win the Rumble to get there.
As February’s Elimination Chamber event is a Raw-branded show, the Royal Rumble winner
is expected to be a Smackdown wrestler - potentially Shinsuke Nakamura for the long-teased AJ Styles
WrestleMania match.
9.
Women’s Elimination Chamber Match With Stephanie McMahon announcing the first
ever women’s Royal Rumble match for January, Pro Wrestling Sheet report that WWE have another
female first planned: the first ever Women’s Elimination Chamber match the month after.
James Ellsworth will probably return and win that too.
8.
Hall Of Fame 2018 Inductees The WWE Hall of Fame 2018 class is rumoured
to include Mr American Badass himself…
Kid Rock.
Did you think I was talking about someone else?
The rest of the line-up is said to be Bam Bam Bigelow, Ivory, and The Dudley Boyz, with
the previous year’s WrestleMania main eventer Goldberg headlining the class.
7.
MMA Four Horsewomen Vs. WWE Four Horsewomen Sticking with WrestleMania weekend, WWE’s
biggest show of the year will reportedly include a huge match between the MMA Four Horsewomen
of Ronda Rousey, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler taking on the WWE version
of Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch.
Rousey and Duke have reportedly been training for their in-ring debuts since the Summer,
Baszler is already signed to the company and the feud began back at 2017’s Mae Young
Classic tournament.
6.
Roman Reigns WrestleMania 34 Win WWE is often accused of short-term booking,
but that couldn’t be more wrong about the WrestleMania 34 main event - which was reportedly
decided several weeks before last year’s WrestleMania.
Sadly, it’s a direction many won’t like: Roman Reigns beating Brock Lesnar to become
not just the new Universal Champion, but also to “fully replace John Cena as the lead
babyface of the company.”
But it’s not going to be an easy year for The Shield...
5.
The Shield Break Up Dean Ambrose finally reunited with Seth Rollins
during the build to Summerslam 2017, where they became Raw’s tag team champions.
But did the Lunatic Fringe really forgive and forget?
One rumored plan for 2018 is for Ambrose to turn heel on Rollins - just like how Seth
broke up the Shield all those years ago.
I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING. 4.
Brock Lesnar Will Leave WWE Brock’s planned WrestleMania 34 loss to
Roman Reigns neatly coincides with his WWE contract expiring.
While the Wrestling Observer has reported he’s expected to resign with the company,
that is far from certain.
In July, an MMA insider reported that Lesnar had re-entered the USADA testing pool, implying
he’s considering a UFC return in 2018.
And that’s not the only project tempting Brock away from WWE.
Sylvester Stallone has teased Lesnar could play Ivan Drago’s son in his Rocky spin-off
movie Creed. 3.
Vince McMahon Bringing Back The XFL Because the XFL was such a success the first
time round in 2001 - I’m being sarcastic, it wasn’t.
The alternative national football league was cancelled after its first season and reportedly
lost WWE almost $70 million - Vince McMahon is apparently bringing it back for 2018.
McMahon has reportedly set up a new company called Alpha Entertainment “to explore investment
opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football.”
But you probably won’t be able to call it ‘professional football’.
It’ll be called ‘entertainment sports’. 2.
Daniel Bryan vs Shane McMahon, Summerslam 2018
It’s rumored that Smackdown’s authority figure feud storyline will culminate at Summerslam
2018 where Daniel Bryan will face off against Shane McMahon.
This, of course, depends on WWE Dr Joseph Maroon medically clearing Bryan to return
to the ring, after he retired in early 2016 due to multiple concussions.
Bryan has been cleared by many doctors since his retirement, but WWE might err on the side
of caution to protect their performers.
If so, Bryan could choose someone to fight Shane in his place.
The match could also have a major stipulation: if Bryan loses, he has to leave WWE.
Which takes us onto.
1.
Daniel Bryan Leaving WWE Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract expires in September
2018, and he’s spoken very publicly how he intends to return to the ring if doctors
continue to medically clear him.
Which is why our special counter on the WrestleTalk News has him as currently giving… negative
55 f****.
Wha- If Dr Maroon does not clear Bryan, it’s
expected he’ll leave the promotion to wrestle outside of WWE.
Ring of Honor has said he’s welcome to return, Bryan himself says he wants a Hair vs Mask
match in CMLL and there’s always the planned Bullet Club arena show to headline…
Watch more awesome wrestling videos by clicking the videos to the left - like my Top 10 matches
of 2017!
I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.