WWE WrestleMania 2017: Matches with Biggest Historical Implications

Legacy, records, championships and career trajectories will all be at stake at WWE WrestleMania 33. 

Roman Reigns can impact WWE history by putting The Deadman to rest. Goldberg will be looking to re-sing his swan song at Sunday's marquee pay-per-view. Bray Wyatt will represent the New Era in his WWE Championship battle with Randy Orton.

Many of the card's matches will be fun and feature big moments, but these bouts will carry more weight than that.

Reigns vs. Undertaker is one of the WrestleMania 33 contests that we will look back on for years to come, asking what might have been, analyzing the influence they had on the direction of Superstars' careers and the company as a whole.

Roman Reigns vs. Undertaker

Any time Undertaker steps onto the WrestleMania stage, the match is a historic one.

Against Reigns, he can push his mark at the event to a staggering 24-1. A loss would be only the second of his career at The Show of Shows, making Lesnar's 2014 win over him a touch less special. 

And at his age, every WrestleMania could be The Deadman's last. 

If that's the case this time around, the result is even more important. Either Undertaker rides off victorious or ends his run on his back.

As for Reigns, the narrative of his career could change dramatically. 

Should WWE stubbornly keep him a babyface and try to make him John Cena 2.0, the audience is bound to erupt about him beating Undertaker. It will only worsen the backlash he faces.

The alternative is to turn him heel en route to crushing Undertaker. 

That method would leave The Big Dog teeming with momentum. No longer would the audience reaction not match the storyline, but he would be in line to reach his full potential after finding the ideal role.

Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar

The short history of the Universal Championship will expand come Sunday. This will be the first time this title will be defended at WrestleMania, and there's a great chance the event crowns its fourth champion ever. 

Beyond that, this match is an opportunity to rewrite the final chapter of Goldberg's WWE story. After exiting the company in inglorious fashion the last time around, it looks as if he's ready to take his leave once more.

Tim Fiorvanti of ESPN.com wrote, "I think the odds are tilted toward this being his ride off into the sunset, with the potential of some kind of nostalgia trip down the line."

Goldberg's legacy will change in dramatic fashion after the match, for better or worse. If he and Lesnar garner a more favorable reaction than the booing and disdain fans threw their way in their 2004 battle, his final moments will be remembered more fondly. If he goes just a few seconds in the ring and fans let it known they hate what they see, he will have doubled up on his WrestleMania embarrassment.  

Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

The evolution of women's wrestling has seen WWE embrace its female stars like never before. It seems as if the likes of Bayley and Charlotte Flair are bound to continue to become more prominent and more important in the company's food chain.

A clunker at WrestleMania would derail that progress to a degree.

It's not as if the women's division couldn't recover from a bad match here, but it would hurt the momentum of an ongoing revolution. WWE may be more hesitant to put the women in big spots at The Show of Shows moving forward.

A stunner of a bout, though, would further invigorate the division and its upward journey.

Bayley, Flair, Sasha Banks and Nia Jax can set the bar even higher than the women's title match did last year. Should they steal the show for the second WrestleMania in a row, the women will be that much closer to headlining the PPV.

On an individual level, there's something significant at stake for The Queen, too.

Flair is 1-0 at WrestleMania as of now. Should she outlast Bayley and her other foes, we could see the start of a new undefeated streak. It's unlikely she or anyone gets anywhere close to Undertaker's historic 21-0 mark, but five or six victories in a row at The Showcase of the Immortals would be quite the resume-booster.

Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

Wyatt's career is at a crossroads as WrestleMania approaches.

How he fares against Orton will be a clear statement about how the company views him. A win would be a proclamation that The Eater of Worlds is indeed one of WWE's top stars. A loss would be a damaging blow to his journey, a sign that he was merely a placeholder champion.

Wyatt enters Sunday's PPV with a 0-2 record at the event. Pushing that to 0-3 would sting.

Choosing to crown Orton on this grand stage would hint at a lack of confidence. It would be the latest instance of WWE relying on the established rather than the emerging.

As Tom Thomas wrote for Daily DDT, "If WWE is committed to the New Era they have been preaching about, Bray should be the one left standing."

WrestleMania is either where The New Face of Fear steers away from the top tier or where he is welcomed as a cornerstone.