Analyzing the Undertaker's Potential WrestleMania 32 Opponents

With John Cena out of the picture due to injury, WWE has a real tough task on its hands to produce a compelling and entertaining feud for The Undertaker at this year's WrestleMania.

If this is to be the final stand at Mania for The Deadman, his final rivalry needs to be one that is completely unforgettable.

But where does the company turn? Do they go after a fresher face to take on Taker, or roll the dice more conservatively and opt for a household name, like they were planning to with Cena?

Let's take a look at some outsiders before really weighing up the heavy favorites.

Some Outsiders

As mentioned, WWE could be completely brave at WrestleMania and try and pull something seriously unpredictable out of the hat to make a compelling WrestleMania feud.

For example, why not Luke Harper? It's a name that has been floated around by other people recently as a potential foe for Taker, and it's one that could really give Harper a big break.

It could lead anywhere, even toward Harper threatening Bray Wyatt as the head of The Wyatt Family and causing a huge rivalry post-WrestleMania between those guys.

Another wild-card option would be bringing someone up from NXT and handing them the chance of a lifetime.

Is Baron Corbin ready for the step up? Maybe not, and you can see from Tyler Breeze's booking that if there's nothing concrete in place, or something that could be a negative for a wrestler, it can be a bit of a disaster.

Maybe Finn Balor is worthy of a shot? Demon vs. Demon, anyone?

More Realistic Options

Those guys are very much wild-card options, which means that there are two or three men who would fit the bill slightly better.

One that leaps off the page straight away is The Rock. Whether he is turning up at WrestleMania 32 to wrestle or not is still up in the air, but those plans could become clearer as soon as the upcoming Royal Rumble.

That would fit the bill of WWE's vision to have two icons of the business square off against each other, although it would be admittedly very hard to book either man as a heel. WWE tried it with Taker by having him score a cheap win against Brock Lesnar, but ultimately, the crowd was not for turning.

So perhaps a heel is WWE's best bet. Dare they revisit the Brock Lesnar rivalry one last time? It again fits in with having huge stars square off against each other, which is almost the entire point of WrestleMania. They could also go back down the Bray Wyatt route, but that would surely have to end this time with a Wyatt victory, which is unlikely in a potential final match for Taker.

However, one guy who could be beaten by Taker and still get a huge shot in the arm for his career in the process is Kevin Owens.

2016 is set to be a big year for the former NXT Champion, and a rivalry with a megastar at WrestleMania would kick things off nicely.

It could be Brock Lesnar he ends up fighting, but if WWE are short of options for Taker, this would be a brilliant choice.

It would be the brash, arrogant Owens almost adopting Randy Orton's old 'Legend Killer' persona. He'd tell Taker he's going to retire him, put him in an old folks' home and end him once and for all.

Owens' heel swagger on the mic would bounce off Taker's iconic promos to perfection. It almost feels like WWE is holding Owens back for something big. Perhaps this is what it's going to be.