Rumor round-up for the final Raw and SmackDown before WrestleMania

We are just a little over a week away from the biggest wrestling event of the year, WrestleMania. The show is scheduled to go on for a whopping 7+ hours, including the pre-show, with the card more stacked than ever.

As can be expected, the rumour mill has been extremely busy with the surprise returns, possible spoilers and other fan speculation spreading like wildfire among the WWE Universe. Equally important as WrestleMania, will be the go-home shows of Raw and SmackDown Live as they will set the final card, and give a clear picture of what the fans can expect at 'Mania.

Here are the five most important rumours you need to know for the last Raw and SmackDown before WrestleMania.

---

#5 Shane McMahon returns to SmackDown Live

The Prodigal Son returns?

Almost three weeks ago on SmackDown, Shane McMahon announced that he would be stepping down as the Commissioner and would be taking a temporary leave of absence. Towards the end of the show, however, Shane received a brutal beatdown at the hands of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

The following weeks saw the match being set up for WrestleMania between the duo of Shane O'Mac and Daniel Bryan and the team of Owens and Zayn. For a while, it was doubtful whether Shane would be able to recover from his recent Diverticulitis infection in time for his match. But the rumour mill now indicates that the Prodigal Son would be returning even earlier than expected, perhaps on this week's SD Live. We have to wait and watch.

#4 Braun Strowman's mystery partner

Team Little Big during the MMC tournament

It was a shocking and unprecedented moment when Braun Strowman won the battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania, without a partner! For a while it looked like Strowman would go into the match by himself, but GM Kurt Angle insisted that Braun choose a tag team partner.

Ever since, speculations have been running wild about who Strowman's partner will be at 'Mania, with some speculating surprise Superstars returning from injury, while there have even been talks of him teaming up with his MMC partner Alexa Bliss!

It looks like this question will be answered in the upcoming episode of Raw.

#3 AJ Styles' injury status

Is The Phenomenal One at a 100%?

After it was initially reported that AJ Styles might have sustained an injury at a live event a few weeks ago, with fans reporting the X sign being held up by the referee. However, since then, it has been revealed that this might have been a work by WWE, to give AJ time to recover from an old injury.

Yesterday, we reported that the injury might be an MCL injury. While for now there is no danger of Styles missing WrestleMania, fans are still worried if he will be in 100% health heading into the dream match.

The go-home show of SmackDown Live will, for sure, include a segment with the WWE Champion, and fans will probably be able to gauge how well Styles is holding up.

#2 Bray Wyatt's future

Wyatt might debut a new avatar this week

After losing the Ultimate Deletion match to Matt Hardy a few weeks ago, Bray Wyatt has not been seen on Raw. He has been making appearances during Live Events, though. He reportedly appeared unchanged from his current avatar at one show, while on another one, he was referred to as 'Woken Wyatt' and was seen embracing Matt Hardy, seemingly forming an alliance.

Backstage rumours suggest that a complete overhaul for Wyatt might be in the works, and this week's episode of Raw is sure to shed some light on the same. Disappointingly, Hardy will not have a segment of his own and will be a part of the ATG Memorial Battle Royal at 'Mania.

What the Eater of Worlds will be up to at 'Mania, is not quite clear yet.

#1 The Undertaker finally returns

Do something, Deadman!

In a shocking turn of events, even after repeated insults hurled at The Undertaker by John Cena both on Live TV and social media, The Deadman is nowhere to be seen. While the WWE Universe has been expecting the gong to sound and for the Phenom to appear and accept Cena's challenge, it has not happened yet.

The reason for this is reportedly that Vince McMahon feels that the feud by itself has drawn enough attention as it is, and there was no need for The Undertaker to appear a few weeks in advance to hype the match up even further. However, according to Dave Meltzer, the WWE Universe will be in for a treat on the go-home show of Raw, as the veteran journalist opines that Undertaker will finally make his spine-chilling appearance, and accept John Cena's challenge.

If this is not a good enough reason to tune in to Raw this week, nothing else will ever be!