Realistic Expectations for Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 31

Of all the matches on the card at WrestleMania 31, there may not be one that splits opinion quite like Bray Wyatt's showdown against The Undertaker.

On one hand, there's the belief that Wyatt needs this win perhaps more than any other win he's picked up in his career to date. After all, he's struggled for any serious momentum over the last six months.

However, having Taker lose two consecutive WrestleMania matches is something that would have been unthinkable prior to his defeat to Brock Lesnar last year, with some wondering where that leaves his legacy.

What can we realistically expect from this blockbuster match at WrestleMania?

The first thing we can expect is an Undertaker who could look strikingly different from the one we last saw 12 months ago against Lesnar. There has to be a reason why WWE is keeping him off TV throughout the entirety of the build towards the match, just as it did 11 years ago.

Back then, Kane did the whole of the promo work for his match against Taker at WrestleMania XX, with Undertaker off TV throughout the entire buildup. It was only at WrestleMania we got a glimpse of Taker for the first time in months, and he had returned to his Deadman gimmick as a swerve.

Will we see a completely different Taker here against Wyatt? It's possible.

But aside from the spine-tingling entrances and the appearances of either man, what fans will really be concerned about is the result. It's a match that could go either way.

What fans should expect during the bout, though, is a contest that doesn't have too much sparkle and speed. Taker's condition following a beating by Lesnar last year was not good, and at the age of 49 (he will be 50 by the time WrestleMania rolls around), he's obviously not going to be at the peak of his powers.

Wyatt is not a wrestler who is dynamic and eccentric either, so as far as the pace of the match goes, expect it to be slow. Expect plenty of breaks in play for Wyatt and Taker to both taunt each other, but with the buzz hopefully created from both men's entrance to the ring, fans should still be pumped with adrenaline enough for that to be acceptable.

And the 50-50 nature of this contest in terms of predicting the winner means that it should give us plenty of drama at the end.

While John Cena is certain to defeat Rusev and become United States champion, Wyatt-Taker is a match that will hopefully keep us guessing until the very end. And if things play out that way, it means that Wyatt will hopefully emerge with a solid ground to move forward on, even with a defeat.

Competing against The Undertaker at WrestleMania is a significant push from the WWE so long as Wyatt doesn't lose convincingly. Whereas last year's defeat to Cena was a tough one to move on from, a loss here doesn't spell anywhere near as much danger for Wyatt's future.