It’s WrestleMania weekend! Sadly, I am not in the New York/New Jersey area attending the event and hanging out with friends, as I originally planned. However, that won’t stop me from enjoying the biggest pro-wrestling event of the year. Hopefully we’ll be chatting it up on the RPad.TV Google+ Messenger group as the show is happening. For now, let’s go through each match, sharing and comparing predictions. Here’s the lineup with some random thoughts on the matches and my predictions. Please share yours in the comments section!
Wade Barrett vs. The Miz: Here’s a match between two guys that went from ultra-hot to mostly forgettable. It wasn’t that long ago that The Miz was headlining PPVs and Barrett was part of the sizzling Nexus angle. The Miz is infinitely more marketable due to his reality TV background, but I’ve heard lots of stories about management being unhappy with his lack of in-ring improvement. Barrett has much more potential as a wrestler, but hasn’t shown the mic skills or media savvy that The Miz has.
Prediction: In what will probably be a forgettable match, I think I’ll go with Mike the Miz, simply because he has twice as many Twitter followers and I expect WWE to go with marketing over ability.
Tons of Funk and the Funkadactyls vs. The Rhodes Scholars and The Bella Twins: This is the jamming-as-many-people-into-the-ring-to-get-them-on-WrestleMania match. It’s a shame, because I think these guys deserve better. While a lot of smarks are tired of Brodus Clay’s act, I still dig it and am amazed by the mileage he’s gotten out of it. Damien Sandow should get an award for Most Improved WWE Superstar; does anyone else remember his inept run as Idol Stevens? If Sandow continues to progress, the jump from Idol Stevens to Damien Sandow could rival the jump from The Ringmaster to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. As for Cody Rhodes, his daddy was one of my favorites growing up and I’ll always be rooting for him.
Prediction: If this match is second, then The Rhodes Scholars and Bella Twins win. If it’s moved to the opening match then the Funky Bunch will win, simply to warm up the crowd with some goofy dancing.
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango: Jericho’s current run has been curious. He’s had some wonderful matches, but his angles haven’t been all that memorable. As one of the Teflon guys in WWE (losses don’t stick to him), he can usually be counted on to do the job in order to elevate younger talent. However, Fandango has been making him look silly for the last few weeks and Y2J is due for some revenge. Also, the Fandango character is stupid and should be buried soon. Johnny Curtis is going nowhere with this character.
Prediction: Chris Jericho wins and hopefully moves onto some main event work before departing on the next Fozzy tour.
Ryback vs. Mark Henry: Speaking of Teflon guys, Henry has surprisingly attained that status. Before his last major injury, The World’s Strongest Man put together the best run of his career and cemented himself as monster. Ryback has been one of the hottest characters in the WWE for the last, despite his limited ability.
Prediction: It kind of bugs me that Ryback’s rise will continue, but the crowd loves him and the WWE writers are listening. Big man matches are often duds, so I don’t expect a great one here, but I do expect a hot crowd after the Ryback win.
Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Big Show vs. The Shield: This is another throw-them-all-together match. The faces are established main event guys and a victory here does nothing for any of them. The Shield need the rub and hopefully one of its members has a breakout moment.
Prediction: The Big Show squabbles with his teammates, leading to a victory by The Shield.
Daniel Bryan and Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston: This match irks me. In my mind, Team Hell No should have been finished months ago. Of course I’m saying this as a Bryan Danielson mark that believes The American Dragon should be competing for one of the major titles. Ziggler should also be competing for one of the majors and, objectively, is in the better position to do so. While Langston would benefit from winning the tag team straps, it would only slow Ziggler down.
Prediction: Team Hell No wins, tragically relegating Danielson to mid-card status for several more months.
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar: This match has the potential to steal the show. Lesnar’s ability is ridiculous and Hunter always saves his best stuff for WrestleMania. The no-holds-barred and retirement angles add some sizzle to this rematch. As an HBK fan, I’m excited to see how he gets involved. The reality is that both guys are part-timers these days, but Hunter has lots of office duties at WWE HQ in Stamford.
Prediction: At this stage of his career, I expect Triple H to do the job in that selfishly unselfish way (Kobe Bryant TM). Lesnar looks like a beast and is available for all kinds of opportunities (part time, of course), while Hunter goes back to the office.
The Undertaker vs. CM Punk: Was anyone offended by Punk throwing Paul Bearer’s (angle) ashes on ‘Taker? It’s been a long time since WWE programming has shown anything that questionable. Whether you were offended or not, the move reeked of desperation. Few people think that Punk has a chance at beating the Dead Man (who isn’t actually dead, as Chris Jericho once pointed out), so it looks like the WWE writers have resorted to shock tactics to keep people interested in this match. It’s working for some people (those that want to see ‘Taker crucify Punk), while others see this as an automatic notch on The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.
Prediction: It would be awesome for Punk to be “the guy” that ended The Streak and his longtime fans believe he deserves it. It would put him over for the rest of his career. However, I think it would be a mistake to tarnish ‘Taker’s perfect WrestleMania record, especially if it’s because his character is so angry that he gets himself disqualified. I expect The Undertaker goes over with a clean win, but I would be pleasantly surprised by Punk getting put over in one of the biggest ways possible.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger: This is a pick ’em match for me. I really don’t enjoy Del Rio as a face; it seems forced and disingenuous to me (similar to face Randy Orton). In a perfect world, he loses the strap to Swagger so that he can go back to being an awesome heel. Swagger would then serve as a transitional champion that would make way for Ziggler, Danielson, etc. However, you don’t crown transitional champions at WrestleMania and I don’t think that Swagger’s current character is worthy of main events.
Prediction: Del Rio wins and moves onto…you know, I’m not really sure where he goes from here. Swagger loses and moves onto picking on other minority wrestlers.
The Rock vs. John Cena: In my head, this was the easiest match to pick on paper, but the toughest in terms of sending the crowd home happy. It just makes sense for The Rock to lose the belt and set up a rubber match at next year’s WrestleMania. The Rock will go back to making movies before another part-time run and Cena will serve as the full-time WWE Champion. The kicker is the whole “sending ’em home happy” thing. Under normal circumstances, half the crowd hates Cena. While the WrestleMania 29 audience will be much broader than the typical NY/NJ show, I still expect more than half the crowd to hate Cena. Can you really end the show with him winning?
Prediction: John Cena wins and at least 60 percent of the live audience will hate it.
The Punk/Taker thing is tricky. Where I (and many others) think Taker should retire with the streak intact, passing his torch to the future I think is what he might want to do. He’s also had a lot of respect for Punk before anyone else did. Punk also doesn’t want to be in movies or run off to do anything else, he’s right where he wants to be. He won’t get caught up in a steroid scandal. He has the respect of the hardcore fans. All that said, if Taker is going to pass the proverbial torch to someone and retire, Punk is the guy… right now. The only fly in the ointment is if later Punk decides that he hates the WWE and goes to a competitor.
I’m certain Cena is gonna beat the Rock. As for the fans going home happy, that’s easy. The Rock gets on the mic and gives him the endorsement. I can’t be the only hardcore fan that noticed that Cena has really improved as a performer this past year. His mic work has significantly improved and the way he plays the 50-50 crowd is brilliant. In the last year, Cena won me over by just taking what he had and running with it. His sell jobs don’t exactly suck either.
Totally with you on deciding the Punk/Taker winner. I suppose it’s a case of what I want vs. what I expect…which is actually the case with a few WrestleMania 29 matches.
I agree that Cena has improved, but I’m not sure that ending with The Rock on the mic is enough to keep the fans happy. That said, it doesn’t make sense to leave with WWE Championship on a part-time wrestler. Cena works hard and does an insane amount of outreach for the company. He’s really the best “company guy” and has been for years, despite the reactions he gets from smarks. Still, I think he’s at the point where he doesn’t really need a belt. As an RoH fan, of course I want to see Danielson and Claudio get the top spots. As a fan of wrestling, I’d love to see Ziggler get a championship run. I believe the longterm future of the company is healthier if Cena’s next (inevitable) run is a short one…but I don’t see that happening.
Damn, I forgot to mention Ziggler. He’s totally poised to cash in MITB after the Del Rio, Swagger match, right? First ever to cash in at WM?
When Cena wins the strap. I don’t expect him to have it for long. Not sure who he’ll lose it too, but I see a long Cena/Punk feud on the horizon.
I’d love Claudio Cesaro to move up the ranks as well. It will happen, he just has to get the backstage respect first from the brass which I think he can do quickly. The only problem with him is he’s not up to par on the mic.
Bryan is another guy I don’t think needs the strap right now. He’s way over and pulling ratings doing what he’s doing.
Another one… is I think Jericho is going to try to get Fandango over. Nobody can sell a rookie like Y2J. Dude reminds me of Disco Inferno, but that aside, the fans hate it. The more they hate, the more we’re gonna see it.
Also, I disagree on your Shield prediction. I think they’re gonna lose and hopefully disband. The angle is tired and the crowd wants to see them get their ass kicked. WM is the place to do that.
The problem with Danielson is that he’s stuck in comedy mode. He definitely gets a good reaction and sells lots of shirts, but his ring skills don’t get the play that they should. Comedy keeps you on the mid-card.
I think Shield needs more time together. Disbanding them too soon will likely cause all three guys to get lost in the shuffle, kind of like how most of the Nexus members are forgettable these days.
Ziggler, I have a feeling they’re going to do something stupid with his MITB challenge expiring or something like that. I hope he gets the first major angle post-WrestleMania.
Less than half of the Nexus members are forgettable and those who are were forgettable to begin with.. Husky Harris, Mason Ryan, Tarver, and McGuillicutty shouldn’t be on prime time TV to begin with. Heath Slater though in an angle… sucks. Gabriel is good in the ring but no good on the mic. Otunga has had his moments. And then you have Bryan, Barrett, Darren Young, and Ryback. So the score is 3 back in development, 1 in the independents, 6 on weekly TV, and Justin Gabriel. So, it’s a fair comparison in terms of who can shine and who can’t. If 2 out of 3 Shield members make the regular roster, then job well done. If they can’t cut it in the big leagues, then they can’t cut it… simple.
Bryan will break the comedy angle, just probably not as soon as you want. He has a bright future, but he haas to earn the spot first or else he’ll just piss people off backstage.
And considering the match for the World Title… having Ziggler cash in at WM makes a lot of sense to me. Especially if he beats his former partner Swagger for it. That adds the kind of drama that can entice the people only watching WM to tune in to Raw the next day. But hey… I don’t really know.
Thank you for pointing out the face turn for ADR. I hate it!!!! I remember when ADR addressed in twitter that it was going to happen when it was in the beginning stages but it did. If anything Swagger should be the face and ADR should be the heel playing towards his aristocrat angle. How he got rich exploiting the US and blah blah. Wwe writing dropped the ball.
i have the same feelings for the taker/punk match. I’d really want punk to win but I really don’t see that the crowd will be happy with that especially with the whole ” punk throwing Paul’s ashes on him.” It’s going to be a good match for sure.
As for cena/rock. Cena is winning and I’m totally meh on it. I hate that wwe decided to go rock vs cena instead of punk vs rock but understand there really isn’t any other wrestler that can put taker over thank punk right now.
Triple h vs lesnar is going to be of course triple h’s last match. I hate to see him go losing three mania’s in a row but it has to happen in order for triple h to conduct his daily duties.
Do you know what Hunter’s record is at WrestleMania? HBK is “Mr. WrestleMania” but he’s something like 6-14 at the show. Ha! I know that win/loss isn’t really the point though. Both guys have put together some of the most memorable ‘Mania matches in history.
Like I mentioned in the article, I think ADR and Orton as just natural heels. There’s just something naturally dickish about both of them and they work so much better as heels. The same goes for The Miz.
Man, all this time I thought that the Undertaker and HHH were going to retire after the match at the last Wrestlemania. The whole “end of an era” thing led me to believe that that was it for those two guys. The Undertaker is too old to be wrestling anymore. The guy is old enough to be a grandfather. Let the young guys break and bruise their bodies. At ‘Takers’ age, he could really end up hurting himself (… more than he already has). I’m going to just flip a coin and say Undertaker wins.
Also, why isn’t Cena a heel yet? Seriously. He needs to turn. Screw the kiddies; they’ll get over it. I’d love for the Rock to kick his fruity pebbles ass again, but I won’t get my hopes up. If Cena beats him and then takes a heel turn, I think that would be better.
-M