Although Fastlane could change things considerably, it seems as though most of the card for WrestleMania 33 has been finalized already, with many of the rumored matches clearly being set up.
It seems obvious Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho will face each other in some fashion while Goldberg and Lesnar is already announced, Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker looks likely, Baron Corbin will face Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship and so on.
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In the midst of all this, though, Samoa Joe is one of the few big names who doesn't seem to be heading in any particular direction based off how WWE has booked him since bringing him up to the main roster.
Is this a sign that his role at the biggest show of the year is actually not all that impressive, or does this mean WWE has a plan we're just not privy to at this time?
When you factor in everyone who has matches already in the works, it's starting to look like there may only be five potential options for him at this year's WrestleMania.
#1 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal participant
The absolute simplest thing to do at this point would be to place him in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal match. It requires little to no effort whatsoever, as he can simply announce that he's a participant in a random promo where he talks about asserting his dominance over the roster.
No feuds need to be set up prior to the event, since it's every man for himself and the vast majority of the people involved will be jobbers and midcarders who nobody cares to see eat up precious time on the Road to WrestleMania. It's doubtful anyone will be upset that there's no personal animosity between Joe and Epico when he tosses him over the top rope.
Although this isn't the most high-profile match possible, it's still something to give him a noteworthy victory. After all, he would be winning the biggest battle royal of the year second only to the Royal Rumble itself. Cesaro, Big Show and Baron Corbin weren't pushed to the moon after winning, but it still helps their credibility to say that they've accomplished this feat.
Still, it leaves much to be imagined, doesn't it? One minute he's standing next to Triple H and taking out a top main event talent like Seth Rollins and the next minute, he's busying himself with The Golden Truth and Mojo Rawley? That's quite a fall from grace.
The two biggest signs of whether or not this is the case will be 1) if a handful of established stars throw their names in the hat for the match and seem to be good candidates to win it, and 2) if anybody big enough steps up to the plate to start a feud with Joe that would otherwise tie him up and prevent him from being in the battle royal. If those two things start formulating, Joe will do something else, but if WWE doesn't have a better idea in mind, there's always this as a backup option.
#2 Sami Zayn
If anybody out there is going to be challenging Samoa Joe, the best bet right now is Sami Zayn.
Since the match against Seth Rollins at Fastlane is no longer going to happen, it looks as though Joe is being positioned to beat up Zayn instead, but while that might come off as just a replacement filler match to take up his time at the event, there may be more implications to it than on the surface.
It's a much bigger deal for Joe to miss out on the WrestleMania card than it is for him to skip out on Fastlane, so if WWE doesn't have an idea of what to do with him for both shows and has to pick, Fastlane needs to be sacrificed, meaning a match between Joe and Zayn would be put off.
They've teased that Zayn will receive a title shot for the United States Championship against Chris Jericho, and with Jeri-KO broken up, there's a chance Kevin Owens comes out to cost Jericho the match. If that happens, Zayn would become the new United States champion, which then boosts his star power for WrestleMania.
While Jericho is off facing Owens either for the Universal Championship or just in a standard grudge match, Zayn could have a bone to pick with Joe for the way he attacked him, leading to a United States Championship match between the two at WrestleMania where Joe most likely would take the title from Zayn.
This would give Joe a prominent spot on the Raw roster without encroaching into the Universal Championship picture, as that would either consist of a heel in Kevin Owens, a part-time heel in Brock Lesnar or a part-time babyface in Goldberg—none of which seem like the next obvious feud to invest in for Samoa Joe. In comparison, Zayn is beloved by the crowd and someone who can be served up to lose to Joe so he can look strong while being booed.
#3 Finn Balor
Even more so than Sami Zayn, Finn Balor has a prior connection to Samoa Joe having gone through NXT with him. Their history together with Joe defeating Balor for the NXT Championship is reason enough to have The Demon pick a fight with him if he's cleared to compete and ready to go.
One of the downsides to having this match take place is that it would no doubt be swallowed up by the other, bigger matches of the more established roster members, seeing as how Joe is fresh to the main roster and Balor only had a short stint wrestling on Raw before he went down with his injury.
Also, it's unfortunately something the fans have already seen before, and somewhat recently, at that. Would they really be clamoring to see a retread of familiar territory?
The positive with it, though, is that their matches together were very good, so it's not as though it would be a repeat of something nobody wants to ever see again at all. It's also not as recent as the feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, who will otherwise be busy with Bobby Roode the night before at NXT TakeOver: Orlando.
Balor right now has nothing set up for him, so it's not a scenario where he already seems to be heading in the direction of a different feud. That being said, the main reason why nothing is being established for Balor is that he probably isn't going to be ready to get in the ring in time for WrestleMania, which obviously kills the chances of a match with Joe happening if that's the case.
Assuming Balor does rest up in time and WWE doesn't want to hold off on bringing him back until after WrestleMania, a match with Joe is one of the quickest and easiest routes to take to giving the fans something they would enjoy and not complain about how rushed it was.
#4 Braun Strowman
Earlier, I mentioned the possibility that Joe would be tossed into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as a means to just give him something to do where he can look like the biggest star in the match. Even more so, I think that spot is going to be given to Braun Strowman, who has a much stronger reason to be booked in that scenario as he's been perpetually asking for competition and has even recently taken to wrestling multiple people at the same time.
However, that got me thinking about Strowman's propensity for arguing with authority members. What if, in his struggles to find true competition, he and Samoa Joe cross paths? What if Strowman sees the destruction Joe is putting out there and sees it as a threat to his calling?
The rumor mill has placed Strowman all over the board with WrestleMania for the past few months, going from being The Undertaker's opponent to winning the Royal Rumble in order to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship and everywhere in between. None of that seems to be panning out for him, but maybe the reason was that he is waiting to start a feud with Joe that would have come about after the Joe vs. Rollins match at Fastlane?
WWE knows the situation they're in with Roman Reigns not being as popular as they had hoped, which is why he was the 30th entrant in the Royal Rumble. They knew he would be booed and they wanted Randy Orton to be cheered, so they figured if they put him on last, it would accomplish the goal.
By that rationality, placing him against Braun Strowman at Fastlane means they know a guy like Strowman—big, consistently improving, fun to watch—will probably get a decent amount of cheers against Reigns. This could be a shift in the momentum that makes him start working on more of a tweener side rather than full-on heel.
He's already had some humorously antagonistic exchanges with heels in the past like Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho and those segments went over well and proved that he isn't the same type of cowardly bad guy who only fights babyfaces like many others on the roster.
Perhaps Samoa Joe was brought onto the Raw roster in order to be the heel replacement for a more babyface Braun Strowman with the two big men clashing in an undercard match at WrestleMania, where one of them would have to suffer their first true taste of humility since coming to the red brand.
The match itself doesn't seem incredibly likely, but given how neither man has a set path in front of him at the moment and they're both on the same roster, WWE wouldn't have to bend over backwards for it to take place.
Sure, it's a bit of a stretch, but we're talking about WWE here. Last year, they had The Undertaker fighting Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell match where if Shane lost, he'd be tossed aside and instead, he was rewarded for his efforts and given control of an entire show. It doesn't have to make perfect sense in order to happen.
#5 No match of his own at all
Yes, it could very well be a situation where Samoa Joe turns out to not actually be scheduled to do anything interesting at all.
One would assume WWE has a plan for him, as the creative team wouldn't have brought him up to the main roster at this time of the year without having something in mind, but stranger things have happened.
In particular, there have been times in the past where injuries have changed the game for WrestleMania's card. Just look at Neville's injury last year which not only took him out of commission, but subsequently put Zack Ryder in his spot, resulting in Ryder actually winning the Intercontinental Championship.
If Seth Rollins is able to wrestle, he'll be going up against Triple H, not Samoa Joe, as although those two clearly have beef now, it's The Cerebral Assassin who is the end game. Since Rollins doesn't have a go-to buddy to face Joe as a proxy battle, if the options previously listed don't happen, Joe might be relegated to an enforcer role backing up Triple H.
This could be a means to get Joe on the card without actually having to schedule him in a match with its own separate time. Also, it could lead to Joe scrapping with someone who isn't up for a full fight.
The past few years, WWE has had a section of the show dedicated to legends coming out to get involved in the action. DX and the nWo came to blows in the match between Triple H and Sting at WrestleMania 31. At WrestleMania 32, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin and Mick Foley took the fight to The League of Nations.
What if Joe acts as a side story to the Triple H vs. Seth Rollins match and someone comes to the aid of Rollins like Kurt Angle? He has no kayfabe reason to do so, despite having past dealings with Joe in TNA, but did HBK, Stone Cold and Foley have The New Day's back for any reason other than a random fun segment? Having Angle in the Hall of Fame means he'll be there at the show and if he's not able to wrestle but healthy enough to get his hands dirty, evening up the odds so Rollins can beat Triple H might be the way to do it and if that's the case, it would be Joe who would be taking the lumps.
How do you think Samoa Joe will be factored into WrestleMania? Be sure to leave your comments below with your predictions, theories and suggestions!
