WWE WrestleMania 32 Matches: Best Finishes for Each Match on the Card

WrestleMania week is upon us.

WWE set the table for the biggest show of the year on Monday, filling in the remaining gaps and sending fans off to Arlington, Texas, with an understanding that come Sunday night, things will change in the WWE Universe. 

From Shane McMahon's quest to wrest control of the company's flagship program, Raw, from father Vince through Roman Reigns' quest to finally defeat The Authority to the unofficial start of the Divas Revolution, WrestleMania 32 is sure to make waves. 

Depending on how you view things, any number of scenarios can and should play out in Dallas. That's why we're looking at how things should finish for each of the matches on the WrestleMania card and how those finishes would impact WWE moving forward. 

This isn't about predictions or who deserves to win. It's about what's best for business, as Triple H would say. 

So let's look at the best possible finish for each match on the card for WrestleMania 32. 

The Usos vs. The Dudley Boyz

How the mighty have fallen. 

It seems like yesterday that both The Usos, fresh off receiving a Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year, and The Dudley Boyz, returning saviors of the division following SummerSlam, were challenging for the tag team belts. 

Now neither team is anywhere near the top of the heap, stuck in neutral in a feud that no one seems to be paying attention to, including WWE Creative. 

The Dudleys have been more involved with Roman Reigns and Triple H than their WrestleMania 32 opponents, who have seemed to leave their cousin Reigns high and dry throughout the build. That leaves a gaping hole where a plot should be, leaving this match as nothing more than filler in an already crowded WrestleMania lineup. 

So where does WWE go? It doesn't seem likely WWE will reinsert either team into a championship feud, as The New Day and The League of Nations are likely to continue their battle through the summer. After all, the WrestleMania match between those two factions isn't even for the tag team titles. 

It also doesn't appear that any of the main roster's other teams—The Ascension, Golden Truth, The Social Outcasts—are competing for tag team relevance, nor will WWE call up an NXT team (Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, American Alpha or The Revival). 

So how can WWE get fans invested in this feud? The best possible outcome is a dirty finish, with The Dudley Boyz screwing The Usos out of a win somehow. It would give the tag teams a reason to continue their feud while also providing some semblance of a storyline. 

Continuity would have WWE continue the trend through subsequent matches, each time with the Dudleys ending on top. That should be the case until WWE decides just where to proceed with these teams. 

3rd Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Monday night gave fans a glimpse at some of the competitors entering the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, as many lesser-used Superstars entered the fray during Big Show and Kane's match against The Social Outcasts. 

Not like any of this matters, though. The likes of Damien Sandow, Darren Young, Konnor, Vicktor and others who rushed the ring aren't coming out on top, nor should they. 

Winning this match hasn't meant a whole lot for the last-standing Superstar. Cesaro (2014) and Big Show (2015) were never featured performers following their wins. It is merely a footnote in a career, a true injustice considering the match's namesake.

The winner needs to be someone for whom the win will mean something, a defining moment instead of a stepping stone to greater things. Having someone like Bray Wyatt or Braun Strowman win wouldn't mean much, considering their places in the WWE hierarchy as main event-level acts. 

Having Sandow or Tyler Breeze win makes no sense, as WWE hasn't paid any attention to them for months. 

The focus of this build has been on Big Show and Kane, and to a lesser extent The Social Outcasts. Even if The Wyatt Family are to enter the match, the aforementioned Superstars need to remain in the spotlight.

If WWE decides to turn this match into a legacy award, Kane should take home the trophy. Otherwise, having either Health Slater, the self-described leader of The Social Outcasts, or Curtis Axel, the group's strongman, would make more sense. 

Those four, along with Adam Rose and Bo Dallas, could get a lot of comedic mileage out of a signature win. 

Kalisto vs. Ryback (United States Championship)

Consider the place that the United States Championship held in WWE exactly one year ago.

Heading into WrestleMania 31, The Bulgarian Brute Rusev was decimating all challengers. He steamrolled the main roster en route to his first title and stared down The Face That Runs The Place, John Cena. 

Of course #CenaWinsLOL, but it showed the importance WWE placed on making its midcard titles relevant again. Cena went on to have what may be considered his greatest matches as part of his U.S. open challenges on Raw, which made the belt a coveted prize. 

Now, a year later, WWE has Kalisto vs. Ryback for that same belt. It might only be 365 days later, but it sure seems like a lifetime ago. 

Only months ago, Ryback considered a placeholder intercontinental champ. So what makes him a legitimate threat to Kalisto? Make no mistake: Kalisto is no fighting champion like Cena was during his U.S. title reign. He is, however, a better choice than The Big Guy. 

Their story leading up to WrestleMania 32 hasn't exactly helped win over fans, either. It's a vague microcosm of WWE's talent philosophy during the Vince McMahon years: Bigger is better, except when it's not. 

Ryback hasn't even sold himself as a true heel. For every knock he's made against his opponent, he respects him all the same. The only constant angle in this story is that since he's the bigger man, he should be the champion. 

This story should have a happy ending, with Kalisto overcoming the odds and defeating Ryback. If Kalisto is to move on to a new feud following WrestleMania, that should be the end of it. If WWE plans to continue this feud, however, Ryback needs to show more ferocity, attacking Kalisto following the win. 

Team Bad and Blonde vs. Team Total Divas (WWE Divas 5-on-5 Tag Team Match)

For a match that has no business being on the card at WrestleMania, there certainly is a lot of intrigue. 

First, Sunday will be the first time WWE fans get to see Lana compete in the ring. Sure, she's had a couple of quick run-ins, but never a match. What can we expect from The Ravishing Russian? 

Second, if the rumors of Brie Bella's looming retirement, as reported by Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet, are true, then how will WWE treat one of the standard-bearers of this Divas generation?

Third, is WrestleMania the official call-up for Emma, who found her calling as a heel in NXT following an unceremonious cup of coffee on the main roster in 2014?

Finally, which version of Eva Marie will the world see on Sunday: the pre-NXT bombshell who couldn't wrestle or the much-improved wrestler who's been honing her skills in Orlando?

That's a lot of story to fit into one match, let alone a 10-woman tag team match. Given WWE's proclivity of short women's matches, don't assume any of these questions will be answered. Instead, fans should be ready for a quick succession of finishing moves, leaving Lana and Brie as the last two competitors in the ring. 

The best finish? Let Brie Bella ride off into the sunset with Daniel Bryan, allowing her to pin Summer Rae. It protects Lana, Eva Marie and Emma while also following some continuity, as Summer Rae was the woman who earned the victory when Lana started this mini-feud by distracting Brie. 

The New Day vs. The League of Nations

This isn't a match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. This isn't a match between a fierce heel squad and an over babyface crew, as much as WWE would like fans to believe. 

Simply, this is a white flag from WWE Creative, understanding that the current makeup of the tag team division is not working. 

The Usos and The Dudley Boyz, as mentioned earlier, are not as beloved as once believed. The rest of the division is either broken or buried. Even one-half of this matchup, The League of Nations, is reviled by fans. And not in a good way. 

The only act in the division worthy of fans' adulation is The New Day. It is entertaining both in the ring and on the microphone. The heels are antiheroes of sorts, only without the mean streak that usually accompanies the "Stone Cold" Steve Austins and Brock Lesnars of that genre. 

WWE needed to get The New Day into WrestleMania 32, but against whom? It's fought off every group through its title run. There wasn't enough time to introduce another team (say, Enzo and Cass). So The League of Nations it is. 

WWE got this match right by leaving the tag team titles off the table. There isn't a reason for The New Day to drop the titles just for the sake of doing so. That makes the chances of an LON win more likely, meaning we're going to see more matchups between these squads. 

That means WWE needs to have The League of Nations come out on top, and cleanly. Doing so would allow the groups to continue to battle for supremacy, one with head-to-head wins and the other with the titles. 

Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks (WWE Divas Championship)

Sunday night is officially the start of the Divas Revolution that Stephanie McMahon promised in July 2015. 

The Divas Championship Triple Threat match has arguably been the best-booked feud on The Road to WrestleMania. 

Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks have all played their parts to perfection. Charlotte is the quintessential heel champion, Sasha the heir apparent and Becky the underdog. If there is one complaint, it's that there has been too much interference in their matches leading up to WrestleMania 32, but it's understandable. 

WWE has needed to keep all of them looking strong, and too many clean pinfalls makes for weak opponents. 

There's going to be a lot of expectations for these three women for numerous reasons. First, their matches at NXT TakeOver events were sublime, so many fans are expecting the world, especially on The Grandest Stage of Them All. 

Second, just two nights earlier, Bayley andd Asuka will have co-main evented NXT TakeOver: Dallas, another chapter in the volume of great women's championship matches in NXT. Finally, this is the match fans has been clamoring for since all three women were promoted last summer. 

It's just a shame that one of them will have to eat the pin. And that's exactly what needs to happen: no false finishes, no Ric Flair interference, no disqualifications. 

Simply put: Charlotte needs to win, and Becky needs to take the fall. Doing so allows Sasha to remain strong and challenge for the women's title at SummerSlam or sooner. Becky would move to the back of the line, battling Paige and Natalya and others (Emma? Bayley?) to reclaim a seat at the table. 

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match

For the second year in a row, WWE serves up a multi-man ladder match to decide who reigns supreme in its midcard. 

It's lazy booking at its finest, something fans have come to expect from WWE Creative regarding its non-main event Superstars.  

The obvious problem: There are too many men in this match. Were WWE to book a Fatal 4-Way among champion Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, there would be far fewer complaints. 

Adding Zack Ryder, Sin Cara and Stardust to the mix just muddies the waters and provides little relevance to the story being told. 

That leads to another problem: the lack of a cohesive story. Owens attempted to weave some semblance of a story together on the March 21 episode of Raw, mentioning that Ryder, Sin Cara and Stardust were as deserving of a title shot as anyone. Instead, the ensuing ladder match is merely a free-for-all with no storyline. Which is a shame, really, since everyone in this match (save Sin Cara) has a very good angle. 

Four of these men—Ryder, Stardust, Ziggler and The Miz—are former champions seeking to grab the brass ring yet again. That's a build that could easily be sold to fans, if the proper time was given to tell the story. 

Zayn and Owens' rivalry tells itself, but even WWE has screwed that up, offering only a quick video package when Zayn first came onto the scene and before this ladder match was booked. 

Owens even attempted to hijack WrestleMania 32 weeks ago, proclaiming the event "KOMania," but that angle has never taken off, especially when faced with a ladder match against six other Superstars. 

The only way to wrap this saga up properly is to have Owens leave with his belt. WWE Creative has spent far too little time building any individual up to take the belt from Owens and make it a meaningful swap. 

AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho

WrestleMania will be the fourth matchup between AJ Styles and Chris Jericho, which is one too many in this writer's opinion. 

The two Superstars had a great series at the beginning of the year, highlighted by their four-star bout at Fastlane. Jericho was the perfect foil for Styles at that time, someone who still had enough cred with fans and who could take a loss without hurting his reputation. 

Unfortunately, WWE didn't quit while it was ahead, hence the fourth match. This is similar to John Cena vs. Rusev, Wade Barrett vs. Neville or more recently Kalisto vs. Alberto del Rio. After one good match, WWE expects Superstars to do it again and again and again. 

The fans might bite a second time, even a third. Cena and Kevin Owens put on three stellar matches, and fans continually came back for more. The difference between that feud and this one is that the story kept evolving. 

Here, nothing's changed. Jericho is upset that fans like Styles more. It's been the same story for the last three months. WWE just won't let it die. 

WrestleMania is when it needs to die. There's little else these two men can do in the ring that fans haven't seen already, so it's likely to be one of the more disappointing matches of the night. In the end, Styles needs to come out on top and move on from Jericho. 

The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla needs to take some time off following WrestleMania so that when he does come back, fans are happy for his return. 

Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar (No Holds Barred Street Fight)

Let's get one thing straight: Following WrestleMania 32, Brock Lesnar is set to go on his spring vacation. 

Each of the last two years, Lesnar has been gone for months following The Showcase of the Immortals. In 2014, Lesnar defeated the Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 and didn't return to the ring until August, when he defeated John Cena for the WWE title.

Last year, Lesnar was "suspended" after a tirade on Raw following his WrestleMania loss to Seth Rollins. He returned in July for the WWE Network exclusive aptly named "WWE Beast in the East."

So wave goodbye to Lesnar, WWE fans: After Sunday, you likely won't see him wrestle until sometime this summer.

And that's OK, because he and Dean Ambrose should give fans one hell of a going-away present.

A Street Fight is fitting, as it's the only type of match that makes an Ambrose win believable. WWE has done an excellent job setting up this story, giving Ambrose a puncher's chance at defeating The Beast Incarnate.

The Lunatic Fringe has received encouragement from hardcore legends of yesteryear like Mick Foley and Terry Funk, wielded weapons in recent weeks against a host of opponents and has been prominently featured on WWE programming both in person and via promos. 

The problem is that WWE can't build up Paul Heyman's Beast to lose to just anyone. While Ambrose is the hottest full-time Superstar on the roster at the moment, he's not an attraction on the level of Lesnar. 

A loss to The Beast Incarnate won't hurt Ambrose, especially if Lesnar goes off television for a while. A loss to Ambrose, however, would have Lesnar leaving TV and licking his wounds, a spot that wouldn't look too good for him. 

Of course, The Wyatt Family could interfere in this match, according to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline (h/t Jordan Campbell of Daily DDT). That would not only set up another Wyatt-Ambrose feud through Lesnar's absence but also a Wyatt-Lesnar feud upon The Beast's return. 

That is likely the best course of action for WWE, as it would keep numerous stories alive while saving both Superstars in one of WrestleMania's biggest matches. 

Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon (Hell in a Cell)

Forget about the poor storytelling, the plot holes the size of Texas and the fact that fans are getting a 46-year-old businessman fighting a 51-year-old part-time wrestler. 

Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker in Hell in a Cell should be fun. These two men understand they need to deliver a great match, and history tells us they will do exactly that. 

Before last week, there was no incentive for Undertaker to even take Vince McMahon's side in his family feud with Shane. We still don't know what dirt Shane has on his father.

There's nothing that says this match should work, except for the competitors.

Undertaker has been hit-or-miss in recent years. He's been carried by his opponents in the last two WrestleMania matches (Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt) but rebounded in his SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell rematches with Lesnar. He hasn't wrestled since Survivor Series, so one could say he's fresh and ready for his next challenge. 

Shane is the wild card. Physically, he looks great. His bump on Monday night proved he's willing to put his body on the line. But this isn't a one-bump affair; this is Hell in a Cell with a seasoned veteran, someone who prides himself on just this type of match. 

Shane's limitations could actually help this contest. A slower pace could make for great storytelling if Undertaker methodically dismantles Shane throughout, punishing Vince's son endlessly inside the cage. 

WWE has no right asking Undertaker to eat the pin, thus ending his illustrious WrestleMania career. But Shane shouldn't lose, thus ceding control to Vince and The Authority. WWE, as Bleacher Report's Dan Pecoraro noted, has booked itself into a corner. 

The only way everyone wins is for Undertaker to take the fall on his own, intentionally helping Shane win with Vince watching from ringside. In that scenario, Undertaker writes his own ending, not Vince. It would be the ultimate "Stone Cold" Steve Austin-sized middle finger to Vince. 

Triple H vs. Roman Reigns (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)

This could either be the most anticlimactic main event in WrestleMania history or a bigger swerve than Seth Rollins' cash-in at last year's Showcase of the Immortals. 

Depending on your view, this match's outcome is either completely dependent on the outcome of Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker, or its winner is already set in stone. 

WrestleMania should be the culmination of The Authority vs. Roman Reigns, but the feud doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. For one, there's no heir apparent, no No. 1 Contender to either Roman Reigns or Triple H, whoever should win. 

Dean Ambrose has had multiple chances and lost. Brock Lesnar is likely off television for months. Bray Wyatt isn't even on the WrestleMania card. 

There's only Reigns and Triple H at the top of the mountain. But do fans care anymore?

The general apathy toward WrestleMania 32's main event could be heard Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, as fans booed the babyface challenger and shrugged off the heel champion. 

This is a battle few people wanted to see and fewer still want to see continued. Following WrestleMania, WWE will head into a jam-packed summer schedule that includes two pay-per-view events in May (Payback and Extreme Rules), followed by the lead-in to SummerSlam. 

There's precious little time between events to build new stories, which can only mean one thing: There's going to be more feuding.

WWE's injury bug, well-chronicled by ESPN's David Shoemaker, is to blame. Without guys like John Cena, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Cesaro and others to fill the card, WWE has resorted to shoving the same stories down the funnel to fans. 

The best ending to all would be a miraculous recovery for all those sitting on the sidelines. The best outcome fans have to look forward to at WrestleMania is also the one outcome no one wants to see: Roman Reigns winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. 

It's better to rip the Band-Aid at once than slowly, painfully tearing it off inch by inch. It's time to end this saga and let Reigns sink or swim.