WWE is often at its most memorable – and debatably at its best, depending on which type of wrestling fan you ask – when it embraces the truly bizarre, and the mystery crate on the most recent episode of WWE Raw is certainly in that category.
It all started with Adam Pearce gazing at a large, unsightly-looking crate sitting upright backstage, interrogating a poor, gawky intern about the whereabouts of this crate, surmising that the best course of action would be, as is customary in this great country, to simply dump the problem on somebody else.
That somebody else would be Nick Aldis, the General Manager of SmackDown. Now, it’s unlikely Aldis is going to be able to do much of anything of consequence with this large box, given the clear instructions to NOT open this crate until February 28 – coincidentally, of course, the date of the WWE Elimination Chamber 2026 Pay Per View in Chicago.
Well, naturally, Aldis can accept whichever wrestler (presumably) jumps out of the crate at the end of the month as his next big signing on Friday nights. Here are five wrestlers who could emerge, Gobbledy Gooker style, out of this crate and become Aldis’s next big thing on the Blue Brand.
Chris Jericho
By far, the most popular vote for the individual inside the box is Chris Jericho, whose rumored return to WWE has pretty much become viewed by wrestling fans as a mere formality at this stage with how much smoke is emanating out of AEW. Many fans are even speculating that AJ Styles, after being retired by Gunther at the Rumble, could be effectively “traded” as a superior veteran hand for WWE’s main rival promotion.
Y2J is known for his theatrical entrances, and if it were befitting for any wrestling icon to emerge out of a crusty old crate, then it would be Jericho. We haven’t seen Jericho in a WWE ring since his WrestleMania 33 United States Championship match against Kevin Owens.
After spreading his wings creatively in NJPW and becoming the legitimizing veteran fixture for a nascent AEW and dominating their main event scene for years, Jericho is ready to transition back to WWE – a place that more naturally fits his style as a wrestler – before riding off into the sunset of his career.
For the most part, Jericho’s antics outside of wrestling, including his involvement at Sturgis during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent doubling down of his transgression, have rubbed many fans the wrong way, but, alas, absence doth make the heart grow fonder.
Jericho will undoubtedly be received with raucous cheers if he emerges from that crate in Chicago at Elimination Chamber, though we all know his best work and most logical conclusion will be a heel run in which he, hopefully, gives the next generation of greats in WWE a strong rub to start their careers.
Seth Rollins
Most of the logical options to emerge from the crate are new signings for WWE, but if there is one current injured star who could make his return via crate, then it is, almost by default, Seth Rollins.
It would make far more sense for Rollins to return and cost Bron Breakker a pivotal match – of which he will not be competing in at the Elimination Chamber with Bronson Reed representing The Vision inside the structure – and their already established feud probably isn’t going to benefit from a wacky crate.
Still, the Rollins angle doesn’t necessarily have to involve him jumping out of that crate at Elimination Chamber in order for him to be involved. The Architect of the Ruse of the Century on CM Punk, Rollins has numerous ways to utilize the crate for his own means. After all, he may either be the masked man or be involved in recruiting Austin Theory’s old tag team partner Grayson Waller in these bizarre intrusions on The Vision.
As with Jericho, it’s a matter of when, not if, Rollins is returning to WWE programming with WrestleMania 42 on the horizon, and if anyone can add a unique twist to a silly old crate, then it’s Rollins.
EVIL
EVIL emerging from a crate shipped out of Japan is possibly the most outright strange and hilarious proposition, and it probably would be within WWE’s scope to have one of the most in-demand pro wrestlers on the planet – and a guy literally named EVIL – emerge out of a freaking crate on Pay Per View as his debut.
Hopefully, WWE don’t end up Shockmastering EVIL, because he deserves far better than to be the next NJPW icon simply miscast – or even cast aside – by a company that often doesn’t understand how to book talent from other countries, no matter how good they are.
EVIL has built up quite the resume worldwide in pro wrestling. He is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Intercontinental Champion, as well as a two-time tag team champion with the equally gifted Sanada.
How EVIL’s character and skill set translate to WWE is anyone’s guess, but WWE have, at times, shown that they can book a dark, brooding character who likes to sadistically torture opponents physically and psychologically.
Danhausen
When it comes to embracing the wackiness of professional wrestling, there’s really nobody doing it better than Danhausen, and there hasn’t been anyone doing it better than him over the past five years.
A natural fit to add something unique to a WWE roster that has felt a little bit on the bland side in terms of silliness during the new Triple H era, Danhausen has to be one of the most in-demand names potentially on the open waters in pro wrestling.
He has spent the last handful of years in AEW and has been a regular fixture in Ring of Honor over the years, becoming a modern icon for ROH. Danhausen actually requested his release from AEW in August of last year but had his contract extended by the company in a WWE-esque move to make him recover lost time from a torn pectoral years prior to that.
But Danhausen’s contract should be up soon, and Fightful actually reported back in late December that his contract with AEW is set to expire at some point in February.
That timeline then matches perfectly with the crate instructions stating that it cannot be opened until the end of February, and, in Danhausen fashion, WWE are making the most of the contractual situation by leaning into absurdity.
Because of the rumored contract expiry date, the crate matching up perfectly with Danhausen’s endearing eccentricities, and the lack of the same fit with the other candidates to be in the box, Danhausen is my personal pick for the wrestler inside the crate.
David Finlay
Finally, the most ridiculous of the legitimate options to be in the crate is David Finlay, who is also one of the most in-demand free agents in professional wrestling and perhaps the best fit for WWE as a potential future star and world champion in the company.
Finlay has the look WWE like, the in-ring skills, and now the experience of competing against the best of the best over the years. As much as WWE like to suppress the actual mention of the Bullet Club on their programming, they have a thing for former Bullet Club leaders.
The son of the legendary Fit Finlay, David led the Bullet Club from 2023 to 2026 before dissolving it and forming the Unbound Company. A two-time IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion and the winner of the last New Japan Cup in 2025, Finlay has already been earmarked by NJPW as the next big global star in the company, and it would be a huge coup for WWE to pick him up after his reported contract expiry with NJPW.
Finlay joining WWE makes an abundance of sense, but having such a serious character with world title potential in the company make his debut out of a crate would be a huge misstep.
It’s one thing for an already established star like Chris Jericho to have an outlandish entrance or someone like Danhausen with a comedic gimmick to do it, but doing this with former Bullet Club leader Finlay at this tenuous stage would be a bit off, which, I guess, means you can’t rule out WWE doing it.
Joe helped manage the pro wrestling site Daily DDT from 2017 to 2019. He has appeared in many wrestling podcasts and has had his work featured by mainstream media sites and professional wrestlers themselves. Joe also covers soccer, writing about Tottenham for Hotspur HQ, Real Madrid for A Trip to Cibeles, and general world football for The Trivela Effect.