The Rock's Teasing Ronda Rousey For Mania (I Think) And More

There does seem to be more suggestions out there to strengthen my belief that a WrestleMania match involving The Rock and Ronda Rousey against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon is back on after all.

I speculated that this is where things are headed in a post published on Wednesday evening. I purposely put this out there before this week's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter was released as I had a feeling this would have been one of the scenarios mentioned in the article covering Dwayne Johnson's announcement that he will be at this year's WrestleMania.

Numerous possibilities were put forward in the article. However, something that Dave Meltzer noted about Stephanie McMahon was off my radar and - in hindsight - it does make a whole lot of sense.

Meltzer mentioned the fact that Stephanie getting physical of late by slapping Roman Reigns and Tom Philips could be a set-up to her getting a comeuppance from Ronda Rousey.

As mentioned on Wednesday, I have been following Dwayne Johnson's interaction with people on Twitter. One tweet sent out early this morning may have been another tease:

Notice the hashtag about a 'LilSurprise' and then the 'AwwShit' to imply that he's given too much away?

Further to the above, the International Judo Federation tweeted him yesterday asking:

'Let us know if you need a judoka as your tag team partner at WrestleMania'.

To which he replied:

'Thx U fam! I may need a judoka! I had the honor of a course in judo last year. All love and respect to you.'

It was reported that this year's WrestleMania card had to be altered numerous times due to Johnson having insurance issues and Seth Rollins' knee injury. It appeared as if Triple H, who was tied to both wrestlers, was then moving toward a WrestleMania showdown with Roman Reigns. Now that Johnson appears to be back in play, the Reigns versus Triple H match could now be a fixture on the Royal Rumble card.

Which leads the attention to the battle royal winner. 

Before The Rock and Seth Rollins' roles in the Mania card were up in the air, one bout that was penciled in for April was Roman Reigns versus John Cena. The match didn't look like it was going ahead when Rock and Rollins were off the table. Now - however - I think it's a strong possibility that the original plan will play out.

With Roman Reigns the current WWE World Champion, the obvious way to get to the match is to have John Cena win the Royal Rumble in three weeks.

From a betting perspective, the value in a John Cena Royal Rumble victory can currently be found over at Sportingbet.com where he's 8/1. (SportingBet's WWE odds are found under 'Specials' on the sports menu.)

He had been available at 9/1 with WilliamHill.com yesterday, but the market is temporarily closed. Another one to look out for was 10/1 with Bwin.com, but that too is down for the time being.

In contrast, Cena is 4/1 on Sky Bet's WWE Betting Page.

If you aren't a SportingBet customer, you can follow this link and get free bet bonuses to load up on Cena if you believe he'll walk out of Florida with the WrestleMania title shot sewn up.

There are still many ways this can go between now and WrestleMania, but as of the time of posting, I think backing either John Cena or Triple H to win the Royal Rumble is the best route. The lean on Triple H is weakening by the day, though.