Two Former Minnesota Vikings To Main Event Wrestlemania XXXI

Yes, I know that not everybody is into professional wrestling and all that, but hey. . .I am, a lot of others are, and it's the off-season. Hence, there's this story.

WWE held their Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in Philadelphia on Sunday night and, by virtue of two of the matches that were on that particular card, the main event of Wrestlemania XXXI is set. And it just so happens that the two people that, as of now, are set to do battle in the main event match both have ties to the Minnesota Vikings.

Defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will be former Minnesota Viking (and Minnesota Golden Gopher) Brock Lesnar. Let me give him the proper introduction here.

Lesnar successfully defended the title on Sunday, fending off a challenge from John Cena and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match that our friends over at Cageside Seats were absolutely raving about. As you may or may not remember, Lesnar actually spent training camp in 2004 with the Vikings following his first departure from WWE. Want proof? Here it is.

Lesnar didn't make the team, but he did get some time with the club.

In keeping with WWE tradition, the winner of the 30-man Royal Rumble match gets a shot at the world champion at that year's Wrestlemania. The winner of the Rumble on Sunday was Roman Reigns, a former member of The Shield who outlasted 29 other competitors to earn the title opportunity.

Reigns' real name is Joe Anoa'i, and he played his college football at Georgia Tech as a defensive tackle. After going undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft, Anoa'i was signed by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent. He failed to make the 2007 roster, and spent some time on the practice squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars before playing part of the 2008 season with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

The decision to have Reigns win this year's Royal Rumble was not a terribly well-received one, but that's where we stand right now. I think it has the potential to be quite an interesting contest, depending on how WWE chooses to book things. Of course, everything is subject to change before WWE reaches Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California for Wrestlemania XXXI on 29 March, so we'll have to see what happens.