WrestleMania is the culmination of a year’s hard work for WWE Superstars and it’s the one show on the calendar that every performer is desperate to feature on.
Over the last six months, there have been daily rumours about who could face who at WrestleMania 34, with some of those matches – Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns, for example – recently being confirmed.
Other matches, however, have either been changed due to storyline reasons and/or injury, or they were never due to happen in the first place.
In this article, we take a look at five rumoured ‘Mania matches that will not happen.
#5 Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
As soon as Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns officially reunited as The Shield in October 2017, it didn’t take long for rumours to spread about when the trio would break up again.
Back in June 2014, Rollins turned against his fellow “Hounds of Justice” when he attacked them both with a steel chair on Raw, aligning with Triple H and The Authority in the process.
This time around, many expected Ambrose – a babyface since early 2014 – to be the one to betray his “brothers”, with a long-rumoured match against Rollins set to take place at WrestleMania 34.
However, “The Lunatic Fringe” was forced to undergo surgery on a triceps injury in December 2017, meaning he will certainly miss ‘Mania and possibly even up to nine months of action.
#4 Seth Rollins vs. Jason Jordan
With Dean Ambrose certain to miss WrestleMania 34, it soon became clear that WWE was going to build towards Seth Rollins vs. Jason Jordan for this year’s “Show of Shows”.
Jordan effectively took over the role of Ambrose in the storyline involving The Shield and The Bar, with the former American Alpha member even winning the Raw Tag Team titles with Rollins on the Christmas Day 2017 episode of Raw.
The unlikely champions were never on the same page, though, and many expected their tag partnership to completely derail in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania, with Jordan almost certainly turning heel.
However, JJ had been dealing with a serious neck injury and required surgery in early February, so that ruled him out of ‘Mania and ended the rivalry with Rollins before it could really take off.
#3 Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen
Ever since there was a confrontation between the Four Horsewomen of WWE and the Four Horsewomen of MMA at the Mae Young Classic in 2017, there has been a lot of speculation about when, if at all, the match will happen.
With all four members of the WWE faction (Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch) portraying babyface characters over the last year, it looked as though that might have been done to ensure they were all on the same page ahead of a potential 4-on-4 match.
This speculation was fuelled further when former MMA star Shayna Baszler officially signed a contract with WWE, and then again when she was later joined in the company by recent Raw signing Ronda Rousey, but talk of a match has quietened of late.
In all likelihood, the match will probably happen one day in WWE, but it’s safe to say early suggestions of it taking place at WrestleMania 34 were off the mark.
#2 John Cena vs. Jinder Mahal
It just goes to show how quickly storylines move on in WWE that we totally forgot about the long-rumoured WrestleMania 34 match between John Cena and Jinder Mahal.
In November 2017, WWE was preparing for Survivor Series, which had a Champion vs. Champion theme, and Jinder (before he lost the WWE title to AJ Styles) was scheduled to face Brock Lesnar.
Persistent rumours in October and November suggested that Cena would be the special referee for the match, with the expectation being that he would somehow cost Jinder and eventually face him for the WWE title at WrestleMania 34.
If that ever was the plan, it’s safe to say that those plans changed drastically, as Jinder didn’t even face Lesnar and Cena has been involved in multiple different storylines since then.
#1 Braun Strowman vs. Triple H
Fans were left disappointed when the Survivor Series 2017 five-on-five men’s elimination main event failed to live up to expectations, with the only real highlight being Braun Strowman’s dominant performance in the match.
“The Monster Among Men” handed out a post-match attack to Triple H, the only other surviving Team Raw member, for double-crossing him towards the end of the match, leading fans to think that the two would face off at either the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania 34.
However, Strowman was preoccupied at the Rumble with Brock Lesnar and Kane, while he was involved in the Universal title #1 contender match at the final Raw-exclusive pay-per-view before ‘Mania, Elimination Chamber.
Triple H is now likely to team with Stephanie McMahon against Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey in New Orleans, leaving us scratching our heads wondering what happened to the HHH vs. Strowman storyline!
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