Kickoff:
- Andre battle royal: This is likely Mark Henry's final Wrestlemania in his home state. I think he's earned the right to win here unless he's feeling really generous. If he wants to give the rub to a younger talent, Braun Strowman is my pick. Being big and dominant is his whole gimmick, and they need a monster for when Henry, Kane, and Big Show retire. I wouldn't be against Henry getting a title feud as part of his "farewell tour." Maybe he puts over the U.S. Champion at Payback and Extreme Rules before having a last hurrah for the WWE Title at MITB? He could snap after Extreme Rules and go on a tear to set that last one up. Make it a Title vs. Career match if the stakes aren't high enough.
- Andre battle royal: This is likely Mark Henry's final Wrestlemania in his home state. I think he's earned the right to win here unless he's feeling really generous. If he wants to give the rub to a younger talent, Braun Strowman is my pick. Being big and dominant is his whole gimmick, and they need a monster for when Henry, Kane, and Big Show retire. I wouldn't be against Henry getting a title feud as part of his "farewell tour." Maybe he puts over the U.S. Champion at Payback and Extreme Rules before having a last hurrah for the WWE Title at MITB? He could snap after Extreme Rules and go on a tear to set that last one up. Make it a Title vs. Career match if the stakes aren't high enough.
- 10-Divas tag: Team Brie wins. Brie thanks her team and the fans on Raw. Naturally Lana interrupts this heartfelt speech to lead to them facing off in Brie's last match.
- Usos vs. Dudleys: Usos win, but the Dudleys escape the tables. This time... rematches await.
WM32:
- Jericho vs. Styles: AJ gets his Wrestlemania moment in a great match. AJ wants to move forward to the IC Title, and Y2J sets his sights on the belt as well.
- IC Title ladder match: Zayn vs. Owens at Extreme Rules could be amazing. To build to that and get his heat back from losing at Takeover, Zayn wins here. Zayn, Owens, Styles, and Y2J tango their way to a four-way at Payback.
- New Day vs. LoN: This one builds to an all-out four-on-three brawl. The ref loses control as everyone's in the ring at once, and he eats an accidental Brogue Kick or Bull Hammer when someone else moves. It looks like LoN will win due to the numbers game until a certain someone comes down to electrify the audience and even the odds. Turns out The Rock's been cooking Booty-O's. With his help, New Day retains. I know it's a little silly to think the ref wouldn't hear Rock's music and all that, but I think the crowd will be fine with it. On Raw, New Day celebrate yet another successful title defense. They're cut off by the debuting Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, and Carmella, because those promo exchanges should be GOLD.
As for Rock, after he has some fun with New Day, he turns serious and addresses the crowd about Roman Reigns, reminding everyone of when HE was getting booed out of the building, and how that put him on the road to becoming The Great One, etc. He says win, lose, or draw, he'll have Roman's back after the match.
- Charlotte vs. Sasha vs. Becky: Ric Flair saves Charlotte from losing, leading to Snoop Dogg coming out and putting Naitch in his place. Sasha gets the win to celebrate with the new Hall of Famer.
- Ambrose vs. Lesnar: These two beat the holy hell out of each other all over the place. Ambrose wins in some insane fashion. Personally, I think they could do a callback to Halftime Heat and have Dean pin him via forklift. They need to put Dean over while keeping Lesnar looking pretty invincible.
- Shane vs. Taker: I hope you liked the booking to HHH vs. Sting. Shane does a big dive that sends both men through one wall of the cell. Or Taker chokeslams him through it or whatever. Cue the Mean Street Posse. Taker eventually fights them off and kicks out of Shane's Van Terminator or whatever his "finisher" is. Then, here comes HBK. He tunes up the band and hits Sweet Chin Music on his Wrestlemania rival. No dice. Vince comes down and has Michaels taken from ringside. Then the Texas Rattlesnake himself makes an appearance. The Stunner can't finish Taker either, and he's ejected, too. Vince decides he's going to get in on the action himself, making it a handicap match. He goes in for the kill on Shane, but Sting appears and hits the Chairman with a bat before disappearing again. Taker breaks up Shane's pin. Taker, Vince, and Shane all get up at the same time, and Vince gets in Taker's face for not getting the job done. Vince slaps Taker, then eats a Tombstone. Taker walks out, and Shane gets the pin. Shane hires Taker back on Raw. Crazy booking? You bet. But it got the Texas legends involved, kept Taker strong, made him reject being Vince's bitch, AND let Shane win without pinning Taker.
- NOTE: They could also turn Hell in a Cell into Shane/Cena vs. Vince/Taker if Wolverine is actually ready to compete again. If that's the case, they can have Vince take the pin to save Taker. Taker vs. Cena should still be set up for WM33 on Raw. They could even throw a retirement stip in for Taker at some point. Hell, Vince could decide to overrule his previous idea just so Taker can face Cena next year. If Cena is involved here, I think you can use HBK, Sting, Stone Cold, and Von Erich in an homage to the Rock/Austin/Hogan segment at WM30 in order to tribute Texas wrestling.
- HHH vs. Reigns: Reigns wins an all-out slugfest. Rock comes out to congratulate him, and the show ends with those two getting a standing ovation from the crowd. There isn't a dry eye in the sold-out stadium as they chant "Roman Reigns" in unison. Just kidding. Roman attacks The Rock to turn heel, and more or less "shoots" on the whiners on Raw. HHH vs. Ambrose vs. Reigns at Payback (HHH is something of a tweener. He'll end up being the face authority figure of Smackdown, dumping Stephanie and Vince in the process). Personally, I want Reigns to "replace" Rollins and Ambrose with Bobby Roode and Eric Young as a "new" Shield to further getting heat from the salt mine that is a large chunk of the modern WWE audience. Him leading the former Bullet Clubbers is an interesting idea, too.
More wrestling tomorrow.
Interesting predictions. I think this is the first time I see the ending of the matches to be different for more than half of them.
ReplyDeleteWith the Battle Royal being on such a big stage, I don't think Mark Henry has been booked well enough to justify him walking out winning. He's really been someone that has been in matches to get someone else over. I'll say Strowman wins.
I say Ryback will win. Part of it is the way Ryback has been booked and the other part is that I just don't see much justification in keeping the championship on someone that can't talk in Kalisto (maybe he may retain, but I'm going with Ryback). I was a little miffed when he beat Del Rio three times.
I say Brie's team wins for now. I agree it will be semi-interesting to see what they do with her upcoming retirement and with Lana.
I also say The Usos will win. This match seems a bit disposable, but it's been built up about as well as it could. The Dudleys have cut some solid promos, but may come up short here.
I, unfortunately, will say Styles wins. I like Jericho and feel he deserves a lot of good, but it seems like Styles will get a big victory here. I think Jericho, even at 45, still has more of the "complete package" compared to Styles and want him to win, but I think Styles will win here. This will be three matches out of four that Styles will win against Jericho. Where will Jericho go from here??
I think Owens will retain. It's still a bit early for Zayn to win the title. I think he'll feud with Owens and may win it eventually, but I don't see WWE putting the title on him this early and also with Owens having solid television time and momentum on his side.
I will say League of Nations will win the titles. I think they're way too talented to drop off. If they lose, on my count, this will be five of six matches - singles or tag team - that New Day will have won against them. I think that's a bit unfair with the talent LON has. Sheamus going from WWE World Heavyweight Champion to not being able to win the tag titles is a bit much. I don't think Coachman will make an appearance, but that would be funny if he did.
The Divas Title is a close call. I will say Charlotte will retain. I honestly don't watch much of the divas anymore, but I'm not as big of a fan of Sasha. I know she's a good wrestler, but I just think she lacks a lot with intangibles. Then again, WWE may feel a different way.
The Ambrose/Lesnar match will be a tough/good one. I honestly don't see Brock losing here. If he can beat Taker at 'Mania, I don't think he'll lose to Ambrose here. I think Ambrose is great, but this is too much of an uphill battle. If Ambrose does win, this will be a stepping stone match for him. I just think that much like his other feuds, that he's just got too tough of an opponent.
I say Undertaker will win. I don't see him losing at 'Mania again. I've heard rumblings that Shane's appearance may be temporary. Shane will put up a hell of a fight, but for as much as there is on the line, I think WWE hasn't hinted much/enough at a victory by Shane. Also, if he wins, he will do something that many multi-time champions haven't done, and that's beat Undertaker at 'Mania. I want Shane to win and like him, but I would be surprised if it happened.
I also say Reigns wins. HHH's reign was bound at be short and it's obvious that they want Reigns to carry on from here as champion. They knew all along that him winning the title at 'Mania would help elevate him as much as it could.
Welcome back! This post was actually my ideas for what to do at the show. I posted predictions of what they'll actually do as a comment on Smackdown coverage: http://ramblingsaboutwrestling.blogspot.com/2016/04/roh-and-smackdown-reax-33116.html#comments
ReplyDelete- Mark Henry winning in Texas on the Kickoff show would be a good "feel-good" moment to start things off, and a thank you nod to someone who's been with the company for so long. He's almost certainly retiring in a few months when his contract ends.
I think they really want Kalisto as "their next Rey" because Rey made a LOT of money for the company. That won't happen overnight, but they seem committed to pushing him. I think HHH has a different talent pushing philosophy than Vince, and might be willing to use Kalisto more despite him not being a good promo. I wouldn't be surprised if Del Rio was willing to help put Kalisto over, being an accomplished Latin performer himself.
I'm interested to see what's next for Eva Marie, since she's been in NXT for months. She's still not "good" by any stretch, but she's improved some.
I think Usos vs. Dudleys is setting up something bigger for Payback and possibly Extreme Rules. I'm surprised the Dudleys haven't been used more.
- AJ getting signed was a BIG move for WWE. He was one of the top stars in Japan for a few years, and they want someone who can work really well. He's never been a strong promo, but I'm excited to see him. I fully expect Jericho to go do something with Fozzy again this summer. When he first came back, the talk was he'd be done by the end of May. We'll see. I can see him facing Zayn next. Jericho's a fan of his.
I mainly picked Zayn to win to make up for a loss Friday night to end his run as an NXT performer. It's a perfect time for him to win as far as not having to beat Owens directly. Owens can claim Zayn lucked out by it being a ladder match and the two of them can clash. They've had some WARS pre-WWE, which I saw a taste of in NXT. It should be pretty fun.
It's hard for me to discount the possibility of New Day retaining in order to feud with an upcoming NXT team. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady are similar to New Day as far as being over for big catchphrases. The timing's perfect for those two to come up; they've done pretty much everything in NXT. The idea of them all being on the mic together should be a lot of fun. Enzo reminds me a bit of Santino and Road Dogg on the mic; one of my favorite talkers right now.
As for LoN's future, I think Barrett is considering leaving WWE when his current contract expires. Del Rio's had back problems lately, as well. So WWE might not be willing to have them win.
I know Sasha has a pretty big following for her intangibles, BUT a lot of that is based on her work in NXT. I've definitely seen a good deal of personality from her, but that could be because I've watched her grow in NXT. With her cousin Snoop Dogg in the Hall of Fame, the timing's right for her to beat her rival.
This is certainly a stipulation where Ambrose could win. He's definitely got an uphill battle. I think Ambrose vs. Reigns for the title, leading to Ambrose vs. Reigns vs. Rollins for the title is logical going forward. Or they could do Reigns vs. Lesnar at some point. They definitely want to push Reigns as champion.
I have a feeling we're in for some crazy booking with Taker vs. Shane. It looks like we're in for a new brand extension with Shane running Raw and The Authority running Smackdown, possibly with HHH as a face (he's beloved for what he's done with NXT). I wouldn't be surprised if Shane "appoints" someone else in his place and disappears from the screen again, but this is the perfect opportunity to do a new roster split/call up some more NXT talents.
HHH winning would be a waste. He should primarily be a non-wrestler at this point, although I really want to see him face Rollins when Seth retains.