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With a little over two weeks to go for WrestleMania 35, all the fans around the world are excited to witness the 35th edition of the grandest stage of them all. The Show of Shows, as it is well known as, has given numerous moments every year to fans to cherish throughout their life.
Every year there is hype around who will challenge for the different titles at WrestleMania and try to overcome the odds, become the champion, and live his WrestleMania moment. While it's an awesome thing to win a championship at 'Mania, it's equally amazing heading into to the grandest stage of them all with a Championship around your waist.
This year, a total of 10 championships are scheduled to be defended at WrestleMania. All these champions will have the pride of entering the Show of Shows as a Champion and defending it against a worthy opponent.
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A very interesting thing to note is, not all of them were a crucial part of the match card of WrestleMania 34, that is, last year. Call it luck, hard work, patience, or anything, these wrestlers have made an impact throughout the last year and are now the Champions.
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In this article, let's take a look at all the Champions heading into WrestleMania this year and where they were last year. It's always great to go back the memory lane and amaze ourselves by how fast things change!
#10 Cruiserweight Champion: Buddy Murphy
Buddy Murphy, our current Cruiserweight Champion. How many of you remember where he was last year at this time?
Let me remind you all. Murphy wasn't a part of the show last year. Cedric Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali to become the new Cruiserweight champion at WrestleMania 34. On the 205 Live after WrestleMania, Buddy Murphy attacked Cedric during his championship celebration.
He lost weight and wanted to join the cruiserweight division. He was scheduled to face Cedric for the title at the Greatest Royal Rumble PPV at Saudi Arabia, but he failed to make weight, being a few pounds over 205, and hence lost the title match opportunity!
#9 United States Champion: Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe is another example of a champion heading into WrestleMania 35, who was not a part of the match card last year.
With him the case was different. He sustained a foot injury in January 2019, due to which he was not cleared to compete at WrestleMania 34 and was out of action.
We are glad that Joe is heading into WrestleMania this year as the United States Champion, set to defend his title against the master of 619, Rey Mysterio.
#8 Intercontinental Champion: Bobby Lashley
And one more example! Bobby Lashley, our current Intercontinental Champion was not a part of WrestleMania 34. Well, he was not even in WWE actually.
Bobby was in Impact Wrestling, where he famously became a Triple Champion. On the night after WrestleMania, Bobby Lashley made his return to WWE on RAW, and since then has been a crucial part of the red brand's roster.
#7 SD Tag Team Champions: The Usos
Finally, we get to a set of Champions that were at WrestleMania 34, in fact, they were the champions heading into WrestleMania last year as well.
The Usos, the current SmackDown Tag Team Champions, were set to defend their Smackdown Tag Team Titles against the New Day and Bludgeon Brothers in a triple threat tag team match. The match ended with the Bludgeon Brothers becoming the new SD Tag Team Champions.
#6 RAW Tag Team Champions: The Revival
Our current RAW Tag Team Champions, The Revival, as expected weren't a part of the main card of WrestleMania 34. They were hardly treated seriously last year around this time.
Though, they were a part of WrestleMania 34's pre-show card. Both Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder participated in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. They ended up getting eliminated and eventually Matt Hardy won the match.
#5 Women's Tag Team Champions: Sasha Banks and Bayley
Now, to start with, The Women's Tag Team Champions didn't exist last year during this time. Also, Sasha Banks and Bayley had no direction heading into WrestleMania 34. They were just a weird pair of friends who were not sure whether they wanna stick together or not!
Both of them competed in the first ever Women's Battle Royal match at WrestleMania. Being two of the top stars of WWE's Women's division, it was expected that one of them would win the whole thing, maybe betraying the other and finally starting their feud.
Bayley eventually did eliminate Sasha from the match, who was offering her a handshake, but it was Naomi who sneaked in, eliminated Bayley, and won the Battle Royal. Both of them continued fighting and arguing without any real pay-off for the next few months as well.
#4 SmackDown Women's Champion: Asuka
Asuka, the current SmackDown Women's Champion, won the first ever women's Royal Rumble match at last year's Royal Rumble PPV.
She then went on to challenge the Queen, Charlotte Flair for the SD Women's Championship at WrestleMania 34. Just to remind you all, she went into this match still undefeated in WWE, but her streak was broken by Charlotte as she made her tap out to retain the title.
#3 RAW Women's Champion: Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey made her debut in WWE on the same night when Asuka won the Royal Rumble. She immediately went face-to-face with Stephanie McMahon that night as well.
At WrestleMania last year, she teamed up with the Hall of Famer, Kurt Angle to take on the team of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a Mixed Tag Team Match.
This was her debut match in WWE, and she impressed fans with her skills and power on the first night itself. The match overall was entertaining, with Ronda and Kurt picking up the win over the Authority.
#2 WWE Champion: Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan, our current WWE Champion, and one of the top heels on the current roster was a full-blown babyface heading into WrestleMania 34.
He got cleared to compete a few weeks before the event, much to the delight of the whole wrestling industry. This was like a fairy-tale comeback for a man who loves this profession so much.
He teamed up with the SmackDown General Manager Shane McMahon to defeat the notorious duo of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
#1 Universal Champion: Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar, our current (and sadly) Universal Champion, headed into WrestleMania 34 also with the Big Red Belt around his waist.
He went one-on-one with the Big Dog, Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34. Many fans were expecting Roman to defeat Lesnar to become the new champion, but Lesnar retained the title, much to the shock of everyone. The match though is considered one of the worst main events in the history of WrestleMania as fans were not interested in the match at all.
This year Lesnar is scheduled to defend his title against the 2019 Royal Rumble Winner, Seth Rollins. Interesting fact: ever since the title's inception, Brock has been in the Universal Title Match at every year's WrestleMania.
It's amazing how many of these champions weren't a part of the WrestleMania card last year or were competing in a filler match.
Will they dominate the ring and come out still as champions after WrestleMania 35? Sound off in the comments.
