The WWE superstar shake up took place on April 10th and April 11th. (WWE.com)
Now that the WWE superstar shake up has concluded, fans are beginning to look ahead to the rest of 2017, trying to guess where major storylines may be headed on Raw and SmackDown Live.
Thanks to reports published at the Wrestling Observer over the past few months, we can now start piecing together what 2017 in the WWE may look like. These reports come largely from Dave Meltzer, a veteran wrestling journalist who is pretty well-connected and often has information about upcoming WWE plot points months in advance.
Particularly fascinating to look at is the company’s plans with the Universal Championship, which seem to extend all the way until WrestleMania 34 in April 2018.
Of course, the WWE’s plans are changing all the time, and so there’s no guarantee that any of these spoilers will end up happening on screen. But for now, here’s a look at some of what the WWE is reportedly planning for the remainder of 2017.
1. Randy Orton Will Defeat Bray Wyatt at ‘Payback’
Randy Orton faces Bray Wyatt at Payback 2017. (WWE.com)
Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are currently scheduled to have their WrestleMania rematch at Payback, and Randy Orton is expected to win, as reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
This means that the WWE World Championship title will stay on SmackDown Live. Bray Wyatt was recently traded to Monday Night Raw, and so had he won the Payback match, both the World Championship and the Universal Championship would have been on Raw.
The Payback match will be the end of the feud between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt, at least for now. Afterwards, they will both be moving on to new storylines, with Bray Wyatt looking to start a fight with Finn Balor.
Wyatt and Orton’s upcoming rematch will be something called a “House of Horrors” match. What is that? Well, nobody really knows, and the Wrestling Observer reports that the WWE hasn’t even figured it out themselves. They did, however, recently send out a survey to fans asking what they want to see in the House of Horrors match. The options were:
- Cage
- Darkness
- Fire
- Pitch Forks
- “Sheeple”
- Mirrors
- Projected images
- Fog
- A match set outside the arena
- Creepy/scary
- Music
- Other
- Nothing different
Fans were also asked what weapons they would like used in the match. The options were:
- Chainsaws
- Bugs
- Masks
- Snakes
- Costumes
- Axes
- Tables
- Chairs
- Chains
- Fire
- Kendo sticks
- Would prefer no weapons or objects
- Other
2. Randy Orton Will Go on to Feud With Baron Corbin
Baron Corbin is expected to soon feud with Randy Orton. (WWE.com)
After Payback, Randy Orton will still be the World Champion, and he is expected to then feud with Baron Corbin.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Corbin was chosen to feud with Orton because it is considered to be too early for Shinsuke Nakamura to enter the main title picture. Instead, Nakamura’s first feud is with Dolph Ziggler, as established on SmackDown Live this past week.
Baron Corbin recently participated in the SmackDown Live main event match to determine the number one contender for the United States Championship, but he lost to AJ Styles. Still, the fact that he got to participate in that match at all shows that the WWE is very much interested in pushing Corbin this year.
This fits with a report from Cageside Seats back in December; they reported at the time that Baron Corbin would be pushed into the title picture sometime in the first half of 2017. This is now beginning to take shape.
Baron Corbin made his debut on the main WWE roster in 2016, winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32.
3. Kevin Owens Will Defeat Chris Jericho at ‘Payback’
Kevin Owens will face Chris Jericho at Payback 2017. (WWE.com)
At Payback, Chris Jericho will be having his rematch against Kevin Owens for the United States Championship, and Kevin Owens is expected to win.
This match for Payback has already been announced, and it seems pretty clear that Owens will win based on a variety of evidence. For example, Chris Jericho is about to take a hiatus from the WWE, and his band Fozzy has a bunch of tour dates scheduled for May, according to Sportskeeda.
Dave Meltzer has been reporting on Wrestling Observer Radio that the Owens and Jericho match may not actually take place at Payback, although the likelihood of this match has increased in recent days, especially after Chris Jericho came out on Raw this week and attacked Kevin Owens.
Another piece of evidence to suggest that Kevin Owens will hang on to the United States Championship is that Dean Ambrose was recently traded to Monday Night Raw. He is the Intercontinental Champion, and so the whole idea of having Kevin Owens go to SmackDown Live would be to balance things out and not have both the United States Championship and the Intercontinental Championship on the same show.
4. Kevin Owens Will Defend His United States Championship Against AJ Styles at ‘Backlash’
Kevin Owens makes his debut on ‘SmackDown Live.’ (WWE.com)
With Kevin Owens expected to defeat Chris Jericho at Payback next month, this means he will be staying on SmackDown Live, as Daniel Bryan said this past week that the winner of this match would be the one to remain on the blue brand.
We know from SmackDown Live this week that Owens will soon defend his United States Championship title against AJ Styles. The Wrestling Observer reports that this match has been set for Backlash, which will be held on Sunday, May 21st.
It’s not currently known who will win this match between Kevin Owens and AJ Styles for the United States Championship.
5. Brock Lesnar Will Defend His Universal Championship Against Braun Strowman This Summer
Brock Lesnar will make his return to Monday Night Raw on August 1st. (WWE.com)
So when is Brock Lesnar actually going to defend his Universal Championship?
Lesnar is apparently not going to be defending the title at all at Payback, the next Raw-exclusive pay-per-view. The WWE is in some way making up for this by having the World Championship match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt take place at Payback.
However, according to the Wrestling Observer, Lesnar will defend his title either in June or July at Extreme Rules or Bad Blood.
Dave Meltzer has reported that Braun Strowman will be the one to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. Braun Strowman first faces Roman Reigns at Payback, though, having said on Monday Night Raw that he wants to prove himself to Brock Lesnar and get Lesnar’s attention.
Strowman, therefore, is expected to beat Roman Reigns at Payback, though it’s unclear if this will be a clean victory.
6. Kurt Angle Will Wrestle Again, Assuming He Passes the WWE’s Physical
Kurt Angle returns to ‘Monday Night Raw’ as the general manager. (WWE.com)
Finally, one last spoiler is that the WWE is evidently fully planning on Kurt Angle making his return to in-ring action.
The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer recently reported that the WWE is very much expecting Angle to get back into the wrestling ring, although that’s assuming he passes the company’s physical.
Angle himself told The Sporting News in March that he wants to wrestle for the WWE again, although he said that nothing has been set in stone.
“We haven’t talked about it but, I’m sure, in the back of their minds they’re thinking we’re going to release Kurt Angle on some of these talents in the future,” he said. “It’s not guaranteed and I have not talked to them about it at all. Seeing people like Sting and Goldberg come back to do some programs, it’s promising that Kurt Angle will get a shot.”
So who might Angle fight in the ring? There have been no backstage rumors about this, but a natural assumption would be Triple H. Some have also speculated that it could be The Miz. Miz recently was a part of a very popular feud with Daniel Bryan on SmackDown Live, and this seemed to be building towards a match. Unfortunately, Daniel Bryan has not been cleared to compete by WWE doctors, so the company may be trying to repeat the same idea with Kurt Angle, a general manager who actually could get in the ring with The Miz.
7. Roman Reigns Will Challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship
Roman Reigns stares down Brock Lesnar on ‘Monday Night Raw.’ (YouTube)
All of the WWE’s plans currently appear to be leading to the main event of next year’s WrestleMania: a match between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar.
This has already been hinted at on Monday Night Raw, with Paul Heyman saying on a recent episode that the only two people to have defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania must go head to head.
It wasn’t clear from that promo when the Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match will take place, but the Wrestling Observer reports that it will happen in the main event of WrestleMania 34 in 2018.
“A lot of times people talk about how there’s no long-term planning but the WrestleMania 34 main event for April 8, 2018, which obviously could change, is set for Lesnar vs. Reigns for the Universal title,” Meltzer said.
Presumably, this means that Lesnar will be holding onto the Universal Championship belt until April 2018, although Meltzer said in his report that he did not know this for sure.
8. WrestleMania 34 Will Conclude With Roman Reigns Defeating Brock Lesnar & Becoming the Top Babyface in the Company
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar confront one another on ‘Raw.’ (YouTube)
The rumor surrounding WrestleMania 34 is not just that Roman Reigns will fight Brock Lesnar, but that he will defeat Lesnar just as he defeated The Undertaker this year.
In fact, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reports that this has been the plan for Brock Lesnar for years: he was always meant to be a guy who runs through the entire WWE roster dominating everyone, only to be taken out by Roman Reigns.
“The whole big thing for Brock all along is to become a monster, be unbeatable, run through everybody and then lose to Roman Reigns,” Meltzer said on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. “That has been the idea of Brock for years now.”
Meltzer has also reported that WrestleMania 34 will end with the coronation of Roman Reigns, with Reigns by that point having become the top babyface in the WWE and the new John Cena.
“The plan is to once again build for a year and have the big coronation at WrestleMania,” Meltzer said. “The idea between now and then is for Reigns to be the face, not just when he wins the title, but to fully replace John Cena as the lead babyface of the company.”