Road to Wrestlemania: First Stop

In WWE the Road to Wrestlemania ends at Jet-Life Stadium on April 7, but began on Sunday at the Royal Rumble. The Wrestlemania main event is pretty much set now, with a rematch between The Rock and John Cena. The internet wrestling community is up in arms over Cena's Rumble win and The Rock ending CM Punk's 435 day run as WWE Champion. I'm a Punk fan, but understand that Rocky winning is the right move for business in what could be the highest grossing Wrestlemania of all-time. Rock being champion is just going to add awareness into the product as he promotes his current crop of movies while wearing the spinner-belt. You had to be gullible to think last year's main even was really going to be Once in a Lifetime, and  I'm sure that WWE has a good plan set to make this year's Rock-Cena build different than last year's.

The seeds to another main match were planted the following night on Raw when Brock Lesnar returned to attack Vince McMahon, who was about to fire his agent, Paul Heyman. (By the way, Heyman has been gold on the mic since returning to WWE last year.) The next logical step is to have Vince's son-in-law, Triple H step-in to seek revenge for the chairman and avenge his Summerslam loss by challenging Brock to a match at 'Mania. Rumors have it that Lesnar has signed a new 2-year deal to keep him in the WWE in a part-time role through Wrestlemania 31, so it wouldn't make sense for him to lose, but marrying the boss' daughter has it's perks and I doubt HHH goes 0-2 against Lesnar. Another possibility is for Triple H to step aside and book Lesnar against an unstoppable monster like Ryback.

It's disappointing as someone attending this year's Mania, to hear that Undertaker may not be able to defend his undefeated streak this year because of ongoing injuries. Reports are that 'Taker may sit out after having 4-straight match of the year candidates at the Grandaddy of 'Em All , instead of going through the motions and having a match that won't live up to his expectations.

CM Punk who was rumored to be 'Taker's opponent might be looking for a Wrestlemania match after being champion for all of 2012. You can throw him in with Cena and Rock, making it a triple threat, or possibly part of a big 8-man fight with the Shield against 4 good guys. 

Finally, at this point it looks like Alberto Del Rio will keep the World Heavyweight strap into Wrestlemania. There have been a couple of opponents rumored for him,but I would go with Dolph Ziggler cashing in his briefcase for a title shot at WWE's showcase event.