Finally… Wrestlemania has come back…..to Arizona. Although the term ‘come back’ is a misconception considering that the event has never actually been held in the state. Regardless, Wrestlemania weekend is upon us ladies and gentlemen and it is set to be one of the biggest events in the history of Wrestlemania, literally. Whether you like the idea of some matches or not, you cannot deny that this year’s event is packed from head to toe with matches that will live on in memory of WWE fans and I truly believe that this could be the event worthy of challenging Wrestlemania 17 for the title of ‘Best Wrestlemania of All-Time’.
This is an exceedingly big call to make but considering the matches this weekend, it may be a reasonable expectation in that every match (bar the recently added Diva Tag Match) has had a great build up to this point and considering how the Diva’s have been interacting as of late, even that has had a small build to an extent. If anything, the only match not to receive a moderate build up to this weekend is The Money in The Bank match which luckily has the advantage of not requiring much of a build that revolves around particular stars as it benefits from singular stars and how their push will benefit from the win, much like the Royal Rumble.
Onto the event and my predications. First out of the gate is likely to be the tag match pitting ShoMiz against the duo of Truth and Morrison. Firstly, I’ve enjoyed how this feud has been handled. Show and Miz have generally came off as the weaker of the two teams but the partnership is strong enough to take the odd comeuppance. I expect the champions to retain on the night after Show delivers a Knockout Blow whilst not the legal man. Many are expecting to see Morrison to turn to the dark side after the loss but I don’t see it coming suddenly as I expect the turn to be drawn out over the next month whilst the two still chase the gold. Before I move on, I have to admit that I’m not an overly huge Truth fan and I’m not overly keen on the gimmick but I expect him to open the show with a monstrous rendition of ‘What’s Up?’ to pump the Wrestlemania crowd up, immediately following the national anthem of course.
Miz and Morrison are two of the better performers in the WWE today and Truth is also capable in between in ropes. Add the consistent Big Show to the mixture and I believe this match could be a sleeper and pleasantly surprise all of us.
WWE have still not officially announced the 10 Diva Tag Match yet, but the release of the Wrestlemania program at the recent Axxess event has revealed that a team comprising of Beth, Mickie, Gail, Kelly Kelly and Eve will take on the opposing team of Maryse, McCool, Layla, Alicia Fox and Vickie Guerrero. I have no issue with this match because I believe it will be given a reasonable amount of time. I doubt the match will be thrown out quickly due to Vickie’s involvement and luckily this will allow some of the more capable competitors (i.e. Beth, Mickie, Gail and Fox) to carry it through and make it worthy filler material. Along with Maryse and McCool who have proven they can perform well when in the company of better performers, I believe this filler won’t be as bad as the usual Wrestlemania Diva outing and I expect the widow to pick up the pin for her team.
Talking of Diva’s, Straight-Edge Diva Serena will accompany her man CM Punk to the ring as he battles Rey Mysterio. As many of you know, this is one of three matches that could be the highlight of the entire show. It’s particularly hard to pick a winner here because whilst I see Punk winning, I can’t see Rey joining the society as it’ll do nothing that will help him progress further. If however, Rey had a more party boy gimmick (even similar to say, Edge) then I would expect him to lose and the messiah to berate him for his ways in the coming months.
In my opinion, Punk and Rey have had the better feud leading into the event. This has primarily been due to Punk and his new character and the manner in which he has abused Rey and his family. I understand that Edge and Jericho and Taker and HBK have had solid build leading into Sunday but Punk and Rey have a personal element to their feud which has made it the more interesting. As previously mentioned, it helps that Punk has arguably been the best performer in the company for the past few months.
Randy Orton and Legacy have had a fairly personal feud leading into the event but sadly, WWE has given us too much already with the handicap match a couple of weeks back and the tag match this past week. I don’t see Randy walking away with the win here but picking a winner between Ted and Cody is difficult. Ted seems the logical choice as he seems bound for a bright future in the very near future but Cody could benefit from this win more so then the Super Sweet 16 candidate as his future seems a little less clear then his soon to be former partner.
Like the tag match, I foresee this match being a sleeper of the evening. Randy has been exceptionally good as of late and Ted and Cody have proven that they can have great matches. With three top performers and the imminent implosion of Legacy, I feel this match could exceed expectations.
Sunday will also see the WWE newcomer Sheamus (in his Wrestlemania debut) taking on the experienced Triple H, who is like Orton has also moved out of the title picture for this years event. Firstly, I’m quite pleased to see The Game outside of the title picture and truthfully, I’ve found this feud quite enjoyable and it’s somewhat refreshing as I don’t know what to expect from the two on Sunday. I do however worry that this match could be too similar to the Cena and Batista encounter but I expect Triple H to make it a little more exciting and assist his gym buddy in creating an impressive Wrestlemania moment that Sheamus can add to his resume, further assisting in his push and cementing him as a top star. I expect this match to be used as an ego booster with Sheamus walking away from the event, reminding people how he has beat the biggest stars Raw has to offer – John Cena, Randy Orton and come this Sunday, Triple H.
Talking of which, the WWE poster boy will finally get his revenge this Sunday against the animal Batista. For me, this is the odd outing of the evening as I have no idea how the match will transpire. Firstly, both competitors are capable of producing great matches and have done so throughout their careers. Batista has an excellent bout against the dead man at Wrestlemania a few years back and Cena has proven that he is capable of producing high quality matches with against the likes of Edge and HBK. However, both stars have benefited from being paired with a superior performer, but when opposed with a star that is equally limited; both stars have performed to a much lower standard. The match between the two stars at Summerslam 2008 is a great example of this. Whilst the match wasn’t a complete train wreck, it wasn’t of a standard we’ve come to expect from two of the top stars.
Hopefully the two stars won’t go much further then the twenty minute mark, much longer then this could risk the quality of the match. I do believe the two can put on a good power encounter and keep the match exciting but this may also be difficult considering it’s hard to predict how the crowd is going to react to the two. As it is Wrestlemania, I think the two will put on a reasonable display which will top their Summerslam encounter and I expect Cena to walk away with the belt. I would prefer Batista to pick up the win as I’m enjoying his heel run at the moment but considering how dominating animal has been during this feud, I highly doubt he will walk away from Wrestlemania as WWE Champion.
On the SmackDown side of things, champion Jericho will finally have to face the chasing Edge and his spear. Like Punk and Rey, this is one of three matches that is likely to steal the show and with two stars who are at the top of their game and more then capable of putting on a solid match, this could come out on top as the best match of the night. I expect WWE to give the two a fair amount of time to work the match and I believe that both stars will try their best to top the more anticipated match of the evening.
Jericho seems like he may walk in and out of Wrestlemania as the champion. Edge has been very dominant since returning from injury and a championship win against his former tag partner would only serve as evidence that Jericho isn’t the best in the world at what he does because Edge is better. Chris has been on a roll as of late and I’m expecting he’ll be given a lengthy reign as champion.
Rumours are suggesting that the Money in The Bank winner will cash in his chance on the night, making way for the PPV later this year. The news of the new PPV is quite disheartening in that the match has finally established itself as a marquee match of Wrestlemania and it seems likely that it may be the last Money in The Bank outing on the grandest stage of them all which in turn, will decrease the chances of lower stars to build their careers as it is likely top tier stars will be involved in the event at the eponymous PPV.
I usually look forward to this match each year as it provides plenty of highlights but my original concern was how WWE are going to pull off a believable match when 10 men are involved. As predecessors have proven, having a large number of men in the match can come off particularly messy as it is highly unlikely that a large number of the men would be taken out of the match for a prolonged period due to one large move from a select star. This year however, I can see a few men being taken out by a single star at one point and the same happening again moments later, with most of these spots coming from Shelton, Kofi and Evan, who could be a worthy opponent of Shelton for the title of ‘Insane Spot of Match’. Add Christian and Hardy who could take out a few stars at once and I think we could be in for a more believable ladder match this year. Regardless if the match is believable or not, it is still a highly enjoyable match which always proves to be a spot fest.
I’m expecting McIntyre to win here as Christian still doesn’t seem to have the backstage backing needed to be pushed into the main event scene. I’m still unsure whether or not McIntyre will cash it in that night but if he does, I see him doing so against John Cena giving Cena his second title reign in the matter of a month which only lasted a matter of minutes.
Finally, the match that long term WWE fans have been waiting a little over 12 years to see. Whether or not this match is a classic encounter like that of Vince and HBK at Wrestlemania 22 doesn’t matter, in fact I highly doubt it will be as great as the aforementioned match. In fact, I highly doubt this will be a typical match either as I expect it to be a prolonged Vince beat down that Hart will dominant from the word go, assuming that Hart awaits for the word that is as I can see Bret jumping the chairman before he gets to the ring or before the bell starts. I can also see Vince taking some major bumps for the Hall of Famer.
Considering the health and age factors, I don’t expect this to go on too long but Vince has shown in the past that he can help create something quite memorable. I can’t see Hart taking any ladder dives or dives onto Vince and a table so it’ll be interesting to see how this pans out. I doubt Vince will allow this match to go down as a complete disaster, especially considering the historical importance of the match so I’m excited to see how they make it interesting. The winner of course will be Bret Hart after he locks Vince in a Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring.
From a match that people never expected to see to a match that people have seen, a match that was so nice, that had to do it twice. I’m talking of course of the real main event of Wrestlemania 26, Undertaker vs. The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. Last year, this match blew everyone away and it’s highly expected to do the same the second time round, possibly even succeeding the previous Wrestlemania encounter because now no DQ’s and Count Outs are in place. Considering the performers, it’s unlikely this match will not live up to expectation and considering the stipulations, it is likely to be even more exciting.
Picking a winner for this event is harder then other event on the card but I’m going to go with Taker, keeping his streak in tack. I won’t go into to much detail regarding this match but I will say, I expect it to be the highlight of the show and a reasonable contender for the title of Best Wrestlemania Match of All-Time and possibly, Best Match of All-Time.
I stated earlier that this event could challenge number 17 as the best Wrestlemania in history. With a match that could possibly be considered as one of the best of all time and two matches that should also be great, this year should explode. Add two or three possible sleepers, a main event that needs to live up to the hype and a match that should be an all round exciting spot fest and this Wrestlemania does have the potential to live up to and succeed the hype.
Hopefully it does not disappoint. Until NXT time…..
