Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly subjectively lists his Top Five Things to Watch in the WrestleMania 41 match between Roman Reigns, CM Punk and Seth Rollins after significant happenings at SmackDown and Monday Night Raw on Netflix.
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THE SETUP
All that is needed to be known about this main event-caliber match set for WrestleMania 41 is this: Roman Reigns has beef with Seth Rollins and CM Punk; Rollins has beef with Punk and Reigns; Punk has beef with Rollins and Reigns; and those issues have been brewing for a decade. Regardless of the buildup to the showdown that took significant steps forward on SmackDown and Raw this week, WWE will have three of its most prominent players under one roof and in one ring with a lot at stake, even though there’s no title involved. This matchup is unique because all three Superstars have a true connection with the crowd. There is no old-school “good guy vs. bad guy” here. We certainly will learn more about this Triple Threat Match during the official Contract Signing on SmackDown on Friday, which will do nothing more than add intrigue to the relationship between the three.
FIVE STORYLINES / THINGS TO WATCH FOR
1
THE FAVOR: We have been hearing about this favor that Paul Heyman owes CM Punk ever since Survivor Series: WarGames in November, when Punk bailed out The Tribal Chief against his fractured family. Punk has brought that favor up the last couple of times he’s been on television, which has left The OTC flummoxed. With Punk thanking Heyman on SmackDown for delivering Reigns on a “silver platter” to him – mind you two weeks after Heyman consoled a beaten and battered Punk in the middle of the Madison Square Garden ring – and used the distraction to jump Reigns, it has become more than a subtle suggestion of something in the works. What the favor ends up being is anybody’s guess right now, but it likely will reveal itself during WrestleMania, which will have a profound effect on the outcome of the match and potentially how the company moves forward.
2
HEYMAN HUSTLE: Heyman labels himself an advocate and The Wiseman, but he’s much more than an innocent bystander. Considering the decades the WWE Hall of Famer has been a part of this business, we tend to forget that the best Heyman has, and always will be, “bad guy” Heyman. As the great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper once said, “Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.” Just when you think Heyman is zigging, he’s zagging. Even when the “favor” that he owes Punk is revealed, you cannot trust Heyman for going down his own path. With Punk being one of the, if not the first “Paul Heyman Guy” (and made that known on Raw with, “His Wiseman isn’t just his Wiseman”) and Reigns being the current protagonist of Heyman, you can’t dismiss The Wiseman of shifting off course and with the closest “bad guy” the Triple Threat has, who incidentally, he doesn’t have a tie with, and it makes your mind wander. Regardless, this form of paul Heyman could reemerge.
3
THE STIPULATION: Many have speculated that Punk would have Main-Evented WrestleMania last year before a torn triceps at the Royal Rumble put a hold on that. Even though Punk has put together a spectacular eight months since returning from said injury, losing only two televised singles matches over that span, he has come up short of his ultimate goal of regaining the Undisputed WWE Championship and Main-Eventing WrestleMania (or has he?). The contract signing schedule for Raw in London on Monday will bring things into focus a little more for Punk. With him wanting to read the fine points of the contract to make sure it gets him any closer to what he wants, as well as suggesting that the match has yet to be agreed on, at least by Punk, makes your mind race. It might be as simple as a title opportunity being attached to it, but that seems trite. It could be more elaborate. What he wants, he’s not getting.
4
REAL HEAT: It has become public knowledge that Punk, Reigns and Rollins aren’t best friends outside the ring. Now, that’s not to say all three aren’t completely professional when it comes to their craft, but there is also that outside-the-ring dislike (or distrust) that will most definitely bleed over inside the ring at WrestleMania. Rollins has arguably blurred the lines the most, which could play out inside the ring at WrestleMania. Rollins has acknowledged deep animosity between him and Punk and “distrust” with Reigns. The Shield was Punk’s idea, and it’s been said that he didn’t want Reigns to be a part of it, which surely The OTC is still sore at him for that. Rollins and Punk have traded barbs during and after Punk’s decade-long disappearance from the company. The intertwining storyline of outside and inside the ring has blurred the lines to the point where you watch this anything-goes Triple Threat Match and ask yourself if that’s part of the story or not. That makes for an entertaining match because everything is on the table.
5
TWO FOR ONE: I have to admit that I am not entirely sold on this one, but what if the WWE pulls from its past and does a two-for-one like they did with Daniel Bryan a decade ago, two matches during one WrestleMania. You’d have to imagine that a No. 1 Contender’s status to the winner between the company’s top stars wouldn’t move the needle, nor would what corner Heyman will be in. Now, if we are talking about the main event on Saturday can bleed into Sunday, either between just two of the three or even, gasp, the winner of Gunther and Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight Title, then we would be cooking with gas. Unlikely, yes. But it is definitely something to keep at least one eye on as we enter the final few weeks before WrestleMania and everything reveals itself.
THE PREDICTION: I might be going off the rails, but I’m thinking Seth Rollins wins and Heyman then becomes Rollins’ newest “Paul Heyman Guy.” Reigns and Punk don’t “need” Heyman anymore. They are at the pinnacle of their professions. Rollins would benefit the most from having an advocate alongside him.
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