We’re six months away from WrestleMania, which means WWE needs to start moving the pieces around to set up the storylines that’ll pay off at the biggest event of the year. That doesn’t necessarily involve jumping into the actual endgame feuds yet, but it does mean figuring out what steps need to be taken in order to get to those feuds in a way that feels organic. It also means figuring out whether any pre-WrestleMania title changes are needed, and that question in particular feels especially important this time around thanks to Gunther, Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
Barring an injury or unexpected backstage politics, it seems almost certain that we’re going to get CM Punk and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. We were probably going to get it last year before Punk tore his triceps, and the writers heavily teased it a few weeks ago with a Monday Night Raw staredown between the two likely combatants. The bigger question probably isn’t even if it’s going to happen, it’s when it does happen, will it main event the first night of ‘Mania? Punk losing his shot to main event WrestleMania 40 was a prominent talking point during his recent feud with Drew McIntyre, and it’s no secret that the influential wrestler would love to add the honor to his resume, especially given he arguably should have main evented at least one during his prime.
But with every major championship expected to be on the line, plus a possible Head Of The Table match between The Rock and Roman Reigns that's been slowly building for months, it’s going to be really stiff competition to land either of the two main event slots. In fact, Punk recently found out how difficult it can be to main event even a secondary WWE PPV when his Hell In A Cell match against Drew McIntyre wound up opening and not closing Bad Blood. It didn’t matter that it paid off what had been the best feud in all of wrestling. The Rock, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes were involved in another match, and WWE decided that was enough for it to close the show.
So, WWE has a decision to make. Rollins and CM Punk haven’t officially started feuding yet, but given their personal history and how hot both of their characters are, many fans expect this to be one of the biggest matches of WrestleMania. It won’t need a title to draw eyeballs or interest, but if WWE wants it to be in contention to main event the first night, it probably needs a little something extra. It needs one of the big two titles to give it an extra bit of punch, and the most likely candidate is The World Heavyweight Championship, which currently belongs to Gunther.
CM Punk already called out Gunther in a promo earlier this year and said he was coming for the championship. For storyline purposes, it was just taken as a sign that he wanted to move on, while Drew McIntyre wanted to continue their feud, but it may have also been a tease for a storyline to come. There’s a path here in which Gunther keeps destroying people and extends his current reign all the way into WrestleMania. It’s certainly appealing to think about him running up another long undefeated streak. But there’s also a path in which CM Punk takes the title off Gunther sometime in the next few months and that sets up a chance for Seth Rollins to win the Rumble and take a shot at CM Punk.
Unless something weird happens, Gunther, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre are all going to be featured prominently at WrestleMania. As much as I love Gunther, there’s almost no chance he’s going to main event either night of the show. He just doesn’t have quite the crossover appeal yet among casual wrestling fans, but depending on how the other matches shake out, Seth Rollins and CM Punk is one of a handful that could. It just needs a little something extra. That could be The World Heavyweight Championship.
So, WWE has a decision to make. It can keep Gunther as hot as possible and give him a really solid championship match at WrestleMania with someone like Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles or Brock Lesnar or it can take the title off him and use it to try and elevate Rollins and CM Punk to possible main event status. I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong answer, but I am fascinated to see what WWE decides to do.
