Read on for my thoughts on last night's Smackdown.
Ziggler vs. Titus was fun. I think Titus is continuing to improve in the ring.
The Cole and Stephanie segment was pretty solid. I'm ready for the feud to end at Mania. It's gone on quite a while!
The Randy Orton interview was also pretty good.
I was very impressed by that tag match. Good action from everyone. My body is ready for a Cesaro push.
Great Shield promo. I'm ready for them to put NAO out to pasture. Kane's not too far from that day himself, but I still see value in using him for now.
I love heel Batista. He's just a straight-up douchebag. He's not trying to be a "cool heel" or anything, which is great.
Bleh... Hogan. The nostalgia's worn off for me.
More wrestling coming up.
WrestleMania predictions:
ReplyDelete- I see The Usos winning leading to a breakup between Cesaro and Swagger. It's possible those two win and the breakup's delayed, but that'd be a surprise.
- I see Tamina turning face and winning the Divas' Title.
- Rusev is my pick to win the battle royal. We haven't seen him in a while, so I think he'll be a surprise winner. Hopefully he beats up Hogan after it to make his mark.
- The Shield definitely win. I don't think we'll be seeing NAO much longer. They're not advertised for anything past Monday's Raw and haven't wrestled since dropping the titles to the Usos.
- I can see Bray getting the win over Cena. I don't see it hurting Cena to lose.
- Taker beats Lesnar, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
- Bryan beats HHH and goes on to win the WWE Title. Finally a happy ending.
Solid predictions. One thing I've learned in the past few weeks is that even though it can be tough at times, predicting WWE matchups is 20X easier than predicting the NCAA Tournament matchups.
ReplyDeleteI agree The Usos will win. I'm pretty sure on this matchup. I also think Cesaro and Swagger will break apart and it will lead to Cesaro branching off on his own. What will happen to Zeb?
The Divas' Title picture has been cloudy for the past year. I picked A.J. to lose it at least four pay-per-views ago. Even with a prediction, I have little faith it will reign true, especially with every diva in the title match. I will go with either Naomi or Natalya.
I hadn't considered the Rusev pick until I remembered he could enter the show a few days ago. I think that's a solid pick. Him coming in and debuting in this sort of match to win would be logical. Big Show winning seems a bit too predictable.
I don't see much reason to believe Kane and NAO will come out on top. On top of you mentioning NAO not being advertised for post-Mania events, the fact that they lost their titles doesn't bode well for them. It had a bit of a short shelf life to begin with. Where does Kane go from here? Where do The Shield go from here?
The Wyatt/Cena matchup is the toughest one-on-one matchup to call for me. I can see logic in either man winning. I'll personally pick Cena to win. I just find it tough for a guy to be debuting at WrestleMania in one of its main events to right away come out on top over the face of the company for years. I think Wyatt will still be built strong, but a loss at the biggest pay-per-view in a main event against the top guy in the company is a win in itself.
When does Undertaker ever lose at this event? Enough said. I'm not sure where they go from here for Lesnar. Him not being a full-time competitor really hurts his chances of winning any titles or gaining much traction outside of just pay-per-views.
I'm fairly sure Bryan will win against HHH and then also win the WWEWH Title. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if he gets screwed somehow, but it seems that the likelihood is that the title comes full circle for him on the biggest stage the company offers after all of the anguish he's been through. If he does win, I'll be interested to see The Authority's role post-Mania with regards to Bryan. He definitely deserves it.
Any other surprises you're predicting with regards to angles or non-matches?
That's saying something given how erratic WWE booking can be at times.
ReplyDeleteI hope Zeb sticks around. There's a great opportunity to elevate someone by teaming someone new with Swagger. I've seen people online pitch Damien Sandow, who's naturally a great speaker on his own. I'd love to see it.
The battle royal is definitely an opportunity to have a big win for someone from "Total Divas".
Rusev is a popular pick online for sure. WWE loves Big Show, though...
I'm surprised NAO have stuck around as long as they have! I'd love to see Kane team with Rowan and Harper vs. The Shield at Extreme Rules. I wish I could take credit for that idea.
I definitely see The Shield remaining faces for a while. Kane will be an interesting one to follow once the Authority angle ends. He's definitely expanding his life beyond WWE with the political aspirations and (believe it or not) insurance job. As far as I know there are no plans of him retiring any time in the near future, but his career's certainly winding down.
I'd be surprised to see Wyatt get a clean, dominant win, but WWE clearly likes him (as they should!).
Yeah, Brock couldn't care less about titles or anything like a full-time schedule. I think Brock's signed through WM31, but there are no guarantees after that.
It's disappointing Bryan's been screwed so much people expect something similar here. Some are predicting Vince to come down and ensure Bryan gets the win, but that sounds out-of-character for him.
I definitely think there will be some nice cameos - a Legend or two in the battle royal and/or interacting with Hogan. I think they'll save RVD's return for Raw. I don't expect anything on the level of Punk returning.