During last Saturday's Elimination Chamber PLE, Randy Orton pinned Cody Rhodes to earn a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
While we're currently getting Orton vs. Drew McIntyre, the champion will defend his title against the American Nightmare during Friday's SmackDown. Throw Jacob Fatu into the mix, and many fans are convinced that this is leading to a Fatal 4-Way match at the Show of Shows.
Well, according to Fightful Select, the current direction for WrestleMania is Orton vs. Rhodes for the title. A match between the two longtime friends has been teased for years, and it's said the idea was first brought up within the company in January.
As for why Rhodes dropped the title to McIntyre in Berlin, it's described as a strategic move to allow him to compete in the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches (the idea being to make his journey back to the WrestleMania main event feel like a much bigger deal).
Needless to say, we'd imagine one of them will turn heel during the build-up to the upcoming PLE to further increase anticipation for this long-overdue clash.
Where does this leave McIntyre? A report from Bodyslam.net explains that, with the focus shifting to the former Legacy stablemates, the idea now is for McIntyre to take on Jacob Fatu on the Grandest Stage of Them All. McIntyre is scheduled to begin filming the Highlander reboot immediately after WrestleMania, so whatever happens, expect the Scottish Warrior to be written off TV.
WWE's plans are still in flux, and a multi-man match isn't outside the realm of possibility. Ticket sales for WrestleMania haven't been strong, and the card, right now, isn't proving overly exciting to most fans.
Last year, WWE had John Cena chasing a record 17th WWE Championship and CM Punk main eventing his first WrestleMania. This time, it feels like more of a transitional show.
Talking during the Elimination Chamber post-show, The Viper made it clear that he plans to stick around in WWE for as long as possible:
"I’ll be honest, it’s quite fulfilling. Like Je’Von Evans, bless his heart, he looked great out there tonight. He ended up getting eliminated of course but seeing him, seeing Trick, seeing the other young guys, a few guys down in NXT, Myles Bourne’s one of them, there’s a lot of guys that I’m excited to talk to and I can tell they’re excited to listen."
"I feel like there’s a certain lane that I stayed in where I make little things mean something and just last night I was able to talk with a couple of young guys and I could tell that they were really excited to hear what I had to say and their eyes got kind wide open and were like 'Oh wow, this Randy knows his s***.'"
"And I do! I have a lot to give back. And like I said, it’s fulfilling to me and it fills my lungs up with fresh air man, it makes my heart beat faster. I love this business and if I can do it ten more years, I will, God willing."
Stay tuned for the latest WrestleMania updates.