March is the time of Cinderellas in the NCAA basketball tournament, so why not in the WWE?

If teams come from nowhere to make it to the Final Four (even though this year’s group is mostly big-time teams), then two wrestlers can go from last year’s WrestleMania dark match to a title match this year.

Such is the path of Sheamus and Daniel Bryan, who clashed in last year’s afterthought battle that ended up devolving into a battle royale.

Last year, they weren’t worthy of the televised card, and this year, they’re fighting for the world heavyweight title.

Both have had winding paths to get this far.

In 2009, Sheamus was fast-tracked to the top as a villain and a foe for John Cena, and he quickly won the WWE title twice and scored some legitimate wins over Cena.

Then, after losing the title, he was off to Smackdown, where he was inexplicably a border-line jobber after being a two-time champion.

(See Swagger, Jack or Miz, The for reference.)

After becoming a face and being the leader of the WWE’s “B.A. Star” campaign against bullies, Sheamus started to gain momentum again. He dominated his way to becoming Smackdown’s top face and he won the Royal Rumble by eliminating Chris Jericho, who everyone assumed was going to win.

But Sheamus has been riding a huge push lately, and he is now facing history’s greatest monster – or at least, that’s what the crowd would tell you.

Bryan has been getting booed louder than anyone on WWE programming of late, and he is one of those heels who wasn’t even that likeable as a face.

Bryan almost makes Michael Cole look tolerable, and his only value as a face was an alternative to the endlessly boring feud between Big Show and Mark Henry. With those two, as far as I’m concerned, either roll some pies out here for them to eat or break them apart.

Seeing Bryan hold onto the belt one day after WrestleMania would be disheartening indeed, and I think that is a nearly universal opinion.

I’m going with Sheamus to ride the wave and become a champion for the third
time.