Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
In 2017, for example, one of the hottest acts in the company, Braun Strowman, was relegated to a completely forgettable appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. One year after facing Brock Lesnar in one of the show's biggest matches, Dean Ambrose was stuck on the pre-show against Baron Corbin. Likewise, The New Day, arguably WWE's best tag team this decade, served as the show's hosts and didn't actually wrestle while other notable names that were stuck in the pre-show battle royal include Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and the Usos.
While virtually every WWE superstar gets on the WrestleMania card nowadays, there is a major difference between working the Kickoff show and the main one. Last year's WrestleMania 33 Kickoff show was watched by 728,000 fans on the USA Network while there were 1.95 million subscribers to the WWE Network as of WrestleMania 33, and with multiple viewers watching per subscriber, the audience was significantly bigger than that.
There is a certain sense of pride among WWE's superstars who are featured on the main card rather than the pre-show as the goal of all superstars is to participate in marquee matches on the main card for WrestleMania. Unfortunately, even though WrestleMania 33 lasted more than five hours and 10 minutes last year, not even including the pre-show, there will continue to be a number of deserving superstars who are either left off the main card altogether or stuck in a lesser match on the show.
That won't change at WrestleMania 34, which is shaping up to be a star-studded show that is likely to feature Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns and John Cena vs. The Undertaker. What's that mean? Well, for these five major stars, they ultimately may end up getting the shaft at WrestleMania 34 by being relegated to a minor main card match or even the pre-show.
Samoa Joe
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Samoa Joe could miss as much as 12 weeks after recently suffering a foot injury, one that has already caused him to be replaced in the Mixed Match Challenge and be removed both from upcoming live events (where he was scheduled for a program with Cena) and the Royal Rumble match.
Although it's likely that Joe will be back in time for WrestleMania 34, WWE now has to scrap his live event feud with Cena and may be without him for much of the build to the biggest pay-per-view of the year. That could lead to a repeat of what we saw at WrestleMania 33, when Joe was left off the card entirely despite making a thunderous debut just two months before the PPV and appearing to be a big part of the equation for the show.
The injury could not have come at a worse time for Joe, who appeared to develop into a big draw last year when he generated strong YouTube viewership and TV ratings and was, much like Lesnar and Strowman, someone who the fans reacted to as one of the company's top monsters. But with Joe out of the running for a WrestleMania 34 match with Cena, Reigns and Lesnar, there is a very limited number of possible opponents left for him, and that's if and only if he's healthy enough to be back for the build to the show.
That could mean that Joe, one of WWE's best pure heels, may be stuck in a meaningless match, or even worse, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, unless WWE somehow finds a major singles match for him against someone like Strowman.
Seth Rollins
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Dean Ambrose's injury apparently threw a major wrench into WWE's plans for all three members of The Shield, and Seth Rollins could really suffer because of it.
There had been rumors that Ambrose would turn heel on Rollins, which would lead to a WrestleMania 33 match between the two. However, that appears to be off the table for now, and with Reigns apparently slated for a match with Lesnar, there isn't a clear-cut match left for Rollins. Still, it would be difficult to imagine WWE not finding a major role role for Rollins, who spent his last two WrestleManias defeating Triple H and becoming the first person to ever (successfully) cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania.
Rollins is clearly one of WWE's top five full-time stars as he was chosen to be the face of WWE 2K18, was a top merchandise seller in 2015, likely was again in 2016 and is currently positioned as the No. 2 seller on WWEShop.com along with The Shield. Thus, it would certainly be a shocker if WWE couldn't find a suitable backup plan for Rollins, assuming he was indeed originally rumored to take on Ambrose at the PPV.
Although Rollins is currently holding the Raw Tag Team Championship, that is expected to be a temporary thing, so if he indeed drops the tag titles, where would that leave him? Your guess is as good as anybody's.
">WWE typically forgets about some of its biggest stars come WrestleMania season.
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
In 2017, for example, one of the hottest acts in the company, Braun Strowman, was relegated to a completely forgettable appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. One year after facing Brock Lesnar in one of the show's biggest matches, Dean Ambrose was stuck on the pre-show against Baron Corbin. Likewise, The New Day, arguably WWE's best tag team this decade, served as the show's hosts and didn't actually wrestle while other notable names that were stuck in the pre-show battle royal include Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and the Usos.
While virtually every WWE superstar gets on the WrestleMania card nowadays, there is a major difference between working the Kickoff show and the main one. Last year's WrestleMania 33 Kickoff show was watched by 728,000 fans on the USA Network while there were 1.95 million subscribers to the WWE Network as of WrestleMania 33, and with multiple viewers watching per subscriber, the audience was significantly bigger than that.
There is a certain sense of pride among WWE's superstars who are featured on the main card rather than the pre-show as the goal of all superstars is to participate in marquee matches on the main card for WrestleMania. Unfortunately, even though WrestleMania 33 lasted more than five hours and 10 minutes last year, not even including the pre-show, there will continue to be a number of deserving superstars who are either left off the main card altogether or stuck in a lesser match on the show.
That won't change at WrestleMania 34, which is shaping up to be a star-studded show that is likely to feature Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns and John Cena vs. The Undertaker. What's that mean? Well, for these five major stars, they ultimately may end up getting the shaft at WrestleMania 34 by being relegated to a minor main card match or even the pre-show.
Samoa Joe
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Samoa Joe could miss as much as 12 weeks after recently suffering a foot injury, one that has already caused him to be replaced in the Mixed Match Challenge and be removed both from upcoming live events (where he was scheduled for a program with Cena) and the Royal Rumble match.
Although it's likely that Joe will be back in time for WrestleMania 34, WWE now has to scrap his live event feud with Cena and may be without him for much of the build to the biggest pay-per-view of the year. That could lead to a repeat of what we saw at WrestleMania 33, when Joe was left off the card entirely despite making a thunderous debut just two months before the PPV and appearing to be a big part of the equation for the show.
The injury could not have come at a worse time for Joe, who appeared to develop into a big draw last year when he generated strong YouTube viewership and TV ratings and was, much like Lesnar and Strowman, someone who the fans reacted to as one of the company's top monsters. But with Joe out of the running for a WrestleMania 34 match with Cena, Reigns and Lesnar, there is a very limited number of possible opponents left for him, and that's if and only if he's healthy enough to be back for the build to the show.
That could mean that Joe, one of WWE's best pure heels, may be stuck in a meaningless match, or even worse, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, unless WWE somehow finds a major singles match for him against someone like Strowman.
Seth Rollins
Credit: WWE.comCredit: WWE.com
Dean Ambrose's injury apparently threw a major wrench into WWE's plans for all three members of The Shield, and Seth Rollins could really suffer because of it.
There had been rumors that Ambrose would turn heel on Rollins, which would lead to a WrestleMania 33 match between the two. However, that appears to be off the table for now, and with Reigns apparently slated for a match with Lesnar, there isn't a clear-cut match left for Rollins. Still, it would be difficult to imagine WWE not finding a major role role for Rollins, who spent his last two WrestleManias defeating Triple H and becoming the first person to ever (successfully) cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania.
Rollins is clearly one of WWE's top five full-time stars as he was chosen to be the face of WWE 2K18, was a top merchandise seller in 2015, likely was again in 2016 and is currently positioned as the No. 2 seller on WWEShop.com along with The Shield. Thus, it would certainly be a shocker if WWE couldn't find a suitable backup plan for Rollins, assuming he was indeed originally rumored to take on Ambrose at the PPV.
Although Rollins is currently holding the Raw Tag Team Championship, that is expected to be a temporary thing, so if he indeed drops the tag titles, where would that leave him? Your guess is as good as anybody's.
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