Hellooooooooo my lovely IWC friends!
Today, I’d like to talk about this years WrestleMania. I was pondering the top rumoured matches on the card this April which are:
– The Rock v. John Cena
– CM Punk v. Chris Jericho
– Undertaker v. HHH (with HBK as Referee)
– Shaquille O’Neal v. Big Show
– World Title Match with Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan.
Now that’s 5 matches. Let’s look at the facts. The past two years Mania events had between 1 hour 40 minutes and 1 hour 50 minutes of in ring action. These 5 matches could take up 90 minutes easily. While this looks like a fantastic set of main events that would satisfy wrestling fans appetites, it begs the question of what you do with the rest of the roster to fit them on the Pay Per View. Based on the last few years, there is room for 3 or 4 more matches at the most. Lets look at the faces and heels we have that should be able to work the pay per view and have a hope in hell of getting a spot on the show.
Faces: Air Boom, R-Truth, Santino, Sheamus, Zack Ryder
Heels: Alberto Del Rio, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, Kane, Mark Henry, The Miz, Wade Barrett.
The heel side of the roster is far stronger than the face side which poses a problem when filling out the card. There have been rumours of a Money In The Bank match being added to the card. But, with two briefcase bouts in July, we really don’t need a third. My buddy and I sat around today and decided it would be a fun idea to try and book WrestleMania realistically and fit in as much of the roster as we could. Here’s what we came up with, I hope you enjoy!
US Title Match – Zack Ryder v. Christian
Ryder is a great mid card act and would benefit working with a veteran like Captain Charisma. The brand split doesn’t mean much so this match could happen and Christian and Zack could come up with some great promos to build this fun WrestleMania opener.
Career vs. Title IC Championship Match – Goldust v. Cody Rhodes
This match up is more of a hope than anything else. The promo on last weeks SmackDown showed these guys could create a great family rivalry. Dustin’s Career is likely over so why not let him go out with a bang at WrestleMania. I’m sure Dusty Rhodes could get involved to increase the emotion making this a Memorable mid card match that the fans could invest in.
World Championship – Randy Orton v. Daniel Bryan v. The Miz
With the Rumble being in St Louis, my bet is a late entry will be the Viper and he’ll go on to win the match and get a shot at the belt at Mania. They seem to be pushing Bryan into the chickens*** heel mode which should get him some heat from the audience. If he somehow escapes the Elmination Chamber with the belt, then he can go onto Mania with the World Title. The Miz deserves more than a generic mid card throwaway match so somehow Teddy Long can book a Battle Royal to add someone to the World Title Match and Miz could be the guy to win it and challenge two of his former rivals.
Interpromotional Match – Sheamus v. Kane
Once Kane finishes his mini feud with Cena, a rivalry with The Great White could be a fun match at the Sun Life stadium. Two big guys that can work and talk on the mic, should be able to pull it out the bag and work well together.
Team Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal, Air Boom, Santino Marella and R-Truth) v. Team Show (Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett)
With Shaq’s NBA background, a team format would work great for this match. Workers like Air Boom, Ziggler and Barrett can provide the workrate, Santino and Truth can give us the comedy value and Show and Shaq can make their time in the ring effective and entertaining for the fans. This would give young guys a chance to be on the card and not ask too much of Shaq.
CM Punk v. Chris Jericho
Although most fans want this match to be for the WWE title, I don’t think it will be. My bet is that Punk loses the title in the Chamber maybe with help from Y2J. These two claim to be ‘The Best In The World’ Where better to prove it than WrestleMania? These two can tear the house down and I have no doubt they’ll do it. We’re fans, these guys are fans of the business. It could be one for the ages. Title on the line or not, I can’t wait.
Divas Title Match – Beth Phoenix v. Natalya
These two divas are the best on the roster. So I refuse to believe WWE will make me sit through the atrocious Kelly Kelly in a match this year. I say the Divas of Doom have a break up and they explode here just like the Mega Powers did.
Undertaker v. Triple H (Shawn Michaels as The Guest Referee)
Ever since these two veterans had their classic in Atlanta, the seeds have been planted for a re-match. From HHH’s promise the next night to be there when Taker returns to his recent promo dropping the Deadman’s name, it looks a lock that we get the rematch. Would be great to see an appearance from Bret Hart in the build up telling HBK he’s better than screwing Undertaker and have Bret almost be Shawn’s conscience in the match. This promises to be a classic. The final chapter in the Taker/HBK/HHH Mania story.
WWE Championship – The Rock v. John Cena
This is the main event. This match will close the show. It’s the biggest Mania match since Rock and Hogan. I think Vince will put the belt on Cena at the Chamber because he wants the biggest match to be for the belt. Nobody knows the outcome. It’s not obvious. Which makes it all the more exciting. These two will work their a**** off to make sure it’s the match we all want it to be.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think!
-The Rambling Scotsman