Braun Strowman will likely miss a showpiece match at WrestleMania 39. (Credit: Marc … [+]
WWE is streamlining its card for WrestleMania 39, with fewer total matches and fewer Superstars in those fights.
According WrestlingNews.co, WWE creative chief Triple H “wants a small card this year” for WWE’s flagship show, leading to “some dissatisfaction about some of the show’s slots being used by legends and celebrities”. Despite WrestleMania 39 spanning two nights and WWE bringing back a number of stars last year to improve depth roster, spots on this year’s WrestleMania match slate will be harder to come by than in previous years.
With eight matches already announced, several more – like Edge vs. Finn Balor or Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. The Usos – are all confirmed, and no sign of an Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, a number of full-time stars who have aired WWE programming for the past year are going to be left out.
Which ultra-popular stars are seriously at risk of missing the cut? Here are the five most likely WWE snubs from the WrestleMania 39 card.
The benefits of the street
Despite a stunning performance at Elimination Chamber last month, Montez Ford – widely considered a future world champion – and Street Profits’ Angelo Dawkins are victims of the unification of the two sets of WWE Tag Team Titles.
The Usos are provided for a highly anticipated match against the duo of Zayn and Owens, which means The Street Profits, despite their obvious popularity, are going to be left behind. It’s a shame too, as WWE had the opportunity to strike gold with Ford after Elimination Chamber, but instead the Street Profits were frozen as the tag team division remained focused on Jey and Jimmy Uso.
There have long been rumblings of a fat singles grow for Ford, who is set to be featured with his real-life wife Bianca Belair in a next reality series on Hulu. But alas, WWE isn’t capitalizing on Ford’s growing popularity by booking him into a major WrestleMania feud, which is undoubtedly a whim.
Liv Morgan
Booking the entire WWE Women’s Division was a mess on the road to WrestleMania 39, with the tag team title image always up and several late edits to the title scene by completely halting any momentum the division might have had.
Most of WWE’s top female stars, including Belair, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, are slated or confirmed for marquee matches, but one star who was left out is Morgan, who was only the SmackDown Women’s Champion in October. Morgan, however, had the unfortunate task of working with socialite Ronda Rousey and having to relinquish her title to the former UFC star.
Since then, Morgan has adopted a more daredevil persona and remains one of the most popular stars in all of WWE. Yet even with two singles title matches, a six-woman tag and one tag title match everything planned for WrestleMania 39, there’s no indication the beloved Morgan will even sniff the card.
But that’s what happens when Lita and Trish Stratus are brought back to be included in a monotonous feud that’s way beyond her welcome, isn’t it?
the new day
With Kofi Kingston currently injured and the possibility of Big E never wrestling again, The New Day finds himself in an unknown place: Out of the WrestleMania loop.
This continues what has been a bizarre run for The New Day, which recently found itself in NXT in what felt like a demotion, but was also a way to potentially put more eyes on the struggling NXT TV product. It’s so strange to see The New Day, even without Big E, stuck in no man’s land, especially since the trio was once The Best WrestleMania Merchandise Vendors and was generally featured heavily at WrestleMania, with Kingston even winning the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35.
Much like The Street Profits, however, WWE’s laser focus on The Bloodline’s dominance of the tag team division has – despite the grandeur of this storyline – resulted in virtually every other team being overlooked.
Braun Strowman
When Braun Strowman came out in 2021, it surprised many WWE fans, but then it became clear that Strowman’s massive salary played a significant role in the gargantuan star’s participation in WWE’s annual “spring cleaning” budget cuts.
It wasn’t much of a surprise, however, when Strowman returned after Triple H took over WWE’s creative team, because WWE really needed a bit more star power at the top of the card and “The Monster of All Monsters” has provided SmackDown with exactly that since their return. Still, Strowman wasn’t exactly pushed to the same level he was during his first stint in WWE, when he feuded with stars like Roman Reigns and won a world title by beating Goldberg. to a fanless WrestleMania.
Strowman has actually settled nicely into a senior micard role as a fan favorite, and it’s refreshing to see him featured, but not Also strongly. But the colossal star can’t even get on the WrestleMania card? Although he gets what is likely his last chance on SmackDown this week when he takes part in a No. 1 contender match for Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship, he probably doesn’t win that fight.
That means the star who won the greatest Royal Rumble-style fight of all time and took on hit boxing attraction Tyson Fury in Fury’s only WWE match suddenly isn’t pushed enough to appear on the Mania card. Odd.
Alexa Bliss
Over a month ago, PWInsider (h/t Cage side seats) reported that “Alexa Bliss is taking a hiatus from WWE television…but it has been noted that it is not injury related.” Happiness, however, seemed to indicate It was not true. So, in just a few short weeks, Bliss went from challenging Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship at the Royal Rumble to disappearing altogether.
What’s even weirder is that Bliss had clearly been slated for an on-screen reunion with Bray Wyatt, with several teasing that the two stars would somehow work together again. Instead, Wyatt heads into a big, albeit disappointing, WrestleMania matchup with Bobby Lashley while Bliss is nowhere to be found as she doesn’t really fit into this feud.
It’s not even a year since Bliss expressed his frustration with its creative direction, and we approach WrestleMania 39 with more of the same. Bliss’ talent, particularly as a talker, is undeniable, but WWE just can’t find a consistent role for him.
Then, with Stratus and Lita taking two big spots at WrestleMania, it leaves Bliss and several other female stars with nothing significant to sink their teeth into.