WWE WrestleMania 31 preview

Read on for how I'd book tonight's WWE event.

Kickoff:
The Usos win to start the question of "will we end the night with Samoans standing tall?"

As much as I'd love for Itami to win the Andre battle royal, I'm going to go with Mizdow. He deserves the recognition after all the work he's done in this character. Sheamus can return the next night on Raw.

WrestleMania 31:
AJ and Paige win as one Bella is in the Black Widow and another is in the PTO. I'm not against Charlotte "pulling a Paige" and surprising Nikki for the title on Raw.

Barrett surprises to retain the IC Title. He gloats on Raw about his win, leading to Sheamus returning and challenging him for the title. They'll get rough at Extreme Rules.

Orton beats Rollins, even after The Authority interferes. This one's a war.

As great as Rusev has been and as much as this win would mean for him, I don't think there's a better time for him to lose. They can do a rematch at Extreme Rules, and Rusev can eventually move to the WWE Title picture.

Sting beats Triple H, eventually leading to The Authority losing power for real.

Bray gives Taker everything he's got, with some spooky shenanigans from both sides. He gets cocky and tries to win with a Tombstone, which Taker reverses (possibly via some kind of "lights go out" trick) to get the hard-fought win. They need Taker's last match at WM32 to mean something, so he needs to still have an aura after this match. I like the idea of Bray taking The Ascension under his wing going forward as something of his own version of The Ministry (with Konnor and Viktor going back to their NXT personas). They might could add some other names later. As for Taker, I think he should announce WM32 as his last match on Raw to start the build to that show. Sting or Kane could be his opponent, depending on how Sting and Taker hold up health-wise.

As much as I personally think WWE should roll the dice and see what they have with Reigns, I think the WM crowd will turn this into something like Rock vs. Hogan at WMX8. If that happens, Plan B is to have Reigns be close to winning only for The Authority to come out and attack both sides. Heyman reveals he's double-crossed Brock and helps Rollins end the night as champion. Rollins lost to Orton earlier, but he should still be fine for a brief run-in. Rollins now has Orton, Reigns, Ambrose, Bryan, Ziggler, etc. as potential challengers. Heyman reveals he canceled Brock's new contract, so Lesnar is "no longer an employee". Eventually this leads to Rollins vs. Brock one-on-one at Summerslam. At some point this summer, The Authority loses power and the new GM (Brad Maddox?) signs Brock back to set that match up.

More wrestling coming up.