WWE Hot Take: WrestleMania 36 Already Shaping Up to Be One of the Best Ever

There seems to be a certain measure of positive hype for WrestleMania 36 that other events simply haven't had lately. 

Call it a testament to WWE's incredible 24-hour span between Sunday's Royal Rumble and the episode of Raw the following night. 

Where to even start? A hypothetical 'Mania card just hasn't looked this great in a long time. The Rumble matches themselves set up incredible storylines spanning months with surefire great payoffs at the biggest event of them all on April 5. 

Think to the men's Rumble match, where Brock Lesnar went on a historic run out of the No. 1 spot, only for him to receive a measure of revenge by Ricochet and then get eliminated by eventual winner Drew McIntyre. 

Rest assured, Lesnar is likely headed for a mini-feud with Ricochet, which is great for all involved. But what should be the show-closing match at WrestleMania features a part-timer of a champ potentially passing the torch to McIntyre.

Besides what is sure to be an amazing feud looping in plenty of Paul Heyman as the event looms closer (Lesnar already beat up McIntyre on Monday), the big match at The Show of Shows might well represent WWE finally starting to build new stars who aren't part-timers. 

And that's just focusing on what surely seems like WrestleMania 36's main event. 

Think to the women's Rumble match, too. On a first pass, Charlotte Flair winning isn't all that exciting. Been there, done that—as great as they both are, does anybody really want another Flair-Becky Lynch match? Or even Asuka?

While any match involving The Queen is probably going to be worth one of the main event slots, consider something else: WWE could always run with Flair against NXT's Shayna Baszler. 

Why not? Besides blurring brand splits, it certainly matches the newfound willingness to seemingly push potential company-leading stars like McIntyre. 

Otherwise, the possible 'Mania match card outside of those two seems incredibly deep. Hate it or love it, the Rusev-Bobby Lashley-Lana-Liv Morgan shindig is bound to keep going. It's a ratings-driver and loops in some of the stuff older fans really loved from the 90s.

We'll see what they come up with as the big event nears, but odds are it'll be some fun, silly bite-sized action in a card otherwise loaded with incredible wrestling talent and storylines. 

Speaking of wrestling talent, Bray Wyatt's The Fiend still needs a foe for a title match. That's probably Roman Reigns, which given how long the former Shield member has been kept out of title scenes, isn't a bad thing by any measure.

And if Lynch isn't getting Flair, she's looking at a big-time match with somebody, ranging from a surprise return like Ronda Rousey to any number of up-and-coming talents she could help put over. 

Speaking of storylines, let's chat about Edge and Randy Orton. 

The two had a fun interaction after The Rated-R Superstar's big return in the Rumble match over the weekend, with Edge getting the better of his old friend by eliminating him.

By Orton's very nature, it was hard to feel like Edge was safe in the same ring as The Viper the very next night, which led to the betrayal: 

Excellently done and, boy, does WWE have something special on its hands here as it surges toward WrestleMania. This is the sort of blood feud that doesn't need a belt, yet it could probably close The Show of Shows itself if WWE wanted it to do so. 

It probably won't, but this wouldn't be the first time a midcard match with an amazing storyline is potentially more anticipated than any other bout. And given what's at stake and the talent of both, it wouldn't be the first time a midcard match stole the show outright. 

Now consider this hasn't mentioned tag teams, nor powerhouses like Seth Rollins, Aleister Black, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, a drove of NXT talent and more. There's an abundance of riches on what is probably the best roster in wrestling history here, which even makes the to-be-decided stuff thrilling to consider.

Typically, it feels like there is some sense of apprehension as a WrestleMania approaches lately. Whether it's a goofy Royal Rumble result or the weird involvement of part-timers, it has seemed like it was worth getting hyped about one or two potential matches on a card and little else. 

Not here. While there's plenty of time for WWE to mess this up—and the company has grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory before—WrestleMania 36 looks like it has all-timer potential.