The Smackdown tag team champion match should be incredible. The New Day and The Usos have put on some classics in recent months, and adding in the destructive force of the Bludgeon Brothers can only enhance the entertainment. This one is going to get painful. Look for some huge spots to take out the big guys. I hope they have a lot of extra tables on standby. With no DQ, this should give the New Day an advantage since they basically have an extra man…at least at the start. I’m sure the other teams will take care of that edge very quickly. Very excited for this one.

Prediction: Still your Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Jimmy and Jey, The Usos

We still don’t know who Braun Strowman’s tag team partner is going to be. I’d love for it to be Elias. I’ve also heard Bray Wyatt, Rey Mysterio, and Samoa Joe, with Rey being Vince’s top choice if his bicep is healthy and a deal can get done. Big Show wouldn’t surprise me either. In lieu of Strowman getting any IC or Universal title matches in the very near future, it would be a good idea to put the tag belts on him and whoever the hell he chooses. I could be his partner and we’d go undefeated. Hell, bring back Ellsworth. Braun’s matches are just fun. He’s one of if not the most entertaining wrestler on either roster right now, and hopefully he’ll be rewarded with this Wrestlemania Moment™.

I really never thought I would be writing about Daniel Bryan’s WWE in-ring return. Maybe for another company, but this is just incredible. And at Wrestlemania. A lot of people seem to think this one has been spoiled with the stipulation that if Kevin and Sami win they get their jobs back. I’m not in that camp. Shane and DB are going to come out on top here. It’ll give us some extra intrigue and more weeks or months of Sami and Kevin invading. Or begging Kurt Angle/Stephanie for a job.

I’m actually a little upset to be wrong here in assuming that Shane would miss this match. I knew it was a long shot, but I really wanted Vince to get involved. Shane is better in matches with high spots. I’m not sure what the quality of this match will be like with DB having been out for two years and Shane only rarely stepping into the ring. I’m more intrigued about where the story goes if I’m correct and Sami and Kevin lose. Also, looking forward to 80,000 YES chants.

Excited for Ronda Rousey, but god damn, most excited about my all-time hero back in the ring at Wrestlemania. I love the background here as well. Two Olympic medalist in combat sports, two of the greatest legitimate fighting athletes in history, vs. the two people who eat, live, sleep, breathe, and make their own rules in WWE. Obviously Kurt has been a sports entertainer for much of his life at this point, so that aspect affects Ronda much more. We know Kurt and HHH can go and we’ll get a terrific showing of them. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to see a lot of crappy offense from Stephanie. I’m not sure what to expect from Ronda in regards to her selling or her offense. It’s gotta be tough to debut on the big show. Expect this match to end with Stephanie tapping to an arm bar. Which I believe is hold #782.

How am I doing with my predictions? Are you guys less or more excited than I am for these matches? What are you most looking forward to? Speak.

Okay, so this is my first time writing a blog. I truly believe this wrestlemania is going to be GLORIOUS!

Star

Admittedly I should have put the IC title post with the US title post, but, I forgot. Shit happens, and here we are. Deal with it. And now that I think about it, in terms of probably match quality and how interested I am in the match itself, I think these IC title match and Cruiserweight title match fit together nicely.

Pardon the pun, but this IC match is going to be:
AWWWWWWWWWWESOOOOOMMMMMMMMME!
Miz isn’t a high-flying technical wizard, but he’s perfected the WWE-style of wrestling. His matches, especially the high-profile ones, have logic, intrigue, terrific build to crescendos, false finishes, and usually have the audiences on the edge of their seat by the end, chanting this is awesome. See his feud with Dolph Ziggler for reference. He could have a tremendous wrestlemania match with Finn Balor. He could have a fantastic match with Seth Rollins. Balor has had a five-star match with Rollins for a championship before. And now, we’re getting all three of them, at wrestlemania, for the intercontinental championship. Sign me the hell up.

Triple threat = NO DQ. We know Miztourage will be involved, that’s a given. I expect both of them to take at least one horrendous bump (see: Randy Orton nearly killing a Singh brother at last year’s Backlash). Aside from that, I can’t even begin to imagine the action that these three have in store for us. I expect the “holy shit” and “this is awesome” chants to be plentiful.

Prediction: Your winner, and NEWWWWWW WWE intercontinental champion: Finn Balor!

Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander should be the highlight of the kickoff show. If you don’t watch 205 live, these guys can GO. High-flyers, technically sound, and styles that gel perfectly, these two should pull out all the stops for this match. Look up Cedric’s Spanish Fly move if you haven’t seen it. Mustafa Ali’s finisher is the 054, an imploding 540 splash. I’m picking out two of the more impressive moves in their arsenals, but top to bottom their movesets are top notch and thrilling from start to finish. I have a feeling we are going to be talking about this match for a long time.

Ali deserves to be a champion… someday. But it’s Cedric Alexander’s time. He was being built up to be Enzo before the latter’s unfortunate “incident”, and now is the time for him to bring holme the gold. Or purple and silver. Whatever. These two could have a tremendous feud for months to come over this belt, even without one of them turning heel. For this match, just strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.

Who’s got Miz retaining? Who’s got Rollins winning? Ali? Let’s hear your thoughts.

 

 

We don’t know all of the entrants in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal yet. Confirmed entrants are Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze Fandango, Tye Dillinger, Dash Wilder, Scott Dawson, Matt Hardy, Goldust, Heath Slater, and Rhyno. It’s likely that most if not all wrestlers who aren’t otherwise booked will be in this match, plus some NXT guys. My predicted winner comes from that group of not-yet announced wrestlers, as I believe that we will all WWE: Walk With Elias!

Elias is one of the hottest acts WWE has right now, and an battle royal victory would be something he could add into his songs every week. He is going to be a champion in 2018. Most likely a midcard champion or possibly even a tag team champion (I’m hoping Braun chooses him as his parter). I think this would be a perfect way to kickstart a big year for one of their more talented performers. He is brilliant on the mic and I laugh my ass off at how he plays the crowd.

As far as the match itself, it’s never held a whole lot of intrigue for me. The thing I look most forward to is seeing which NXT guys they use. I’ve never found it to be a great match though. Hopefully this year we get to see more action and WOW moments than previous year, but with this being on the pre-show, I don’t have a lot of hope for it.

So far on the women’s side, we know Bayley, Sasha, Natalya, Lana, Ruby, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Mickie James. Just like on the men’s side, my choice is someone who is not on that. It’s someone who I think will kick off a big night for herself: Carmella.

Although I think she will challenge and lose to Asuka by cashing in her money in the bank (a lot of hypotheticals there), I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins the battle royal then caps off her night with a successful MITB cash-in. Even an unsuccessful cash-in following a battle royal win would still make for some awesome Wrestlemania moments for the Fabulous Princess of Staten Island. I enjoy Carmella. I think she does really good heel work and is a good in-ring competitor. I also think that WWE is very high on her and want to push her hard in 2018. I could certainly be way off base here, but I guess we’ll see.

I’m looking much more forward to this match that the men’s match. I feel like maybe, even if just on a subconscious level, most of the men wish they had bigger roles on the show, while the women may be more thrilled for the opportunity to try to make their mark and tear the house down. I’m really psyched for this one.

Like my predictions? Hate them? Got some of your own? Just bring it.

I’ve really enjoyed Nia’s improved ring work. She’ll never be the most solid technical wrestler, but I think she’s put on some really good matches. Alexa has been a really good champion. I loved the real emotion after the elimination chamber win and how it turned on a dime into ripping the crowd and going right back to her heel persona. She’s a master at playing the “mean girls” character. We’ve seen this type of title run many times before. The heel always manages to keep the belt for a long period of time through any means necessary. But I think it’s time for that run to end.

Nia should be the new Raw Women’s Champion. I’m wondering if some kind of stipulation gets added to this match. I could see a no DQ, no countout stip being added, since that’s how Alexa has retained her title multiple times. Will Mickie James be banned from ringside? I think they may stack up all the odds against Alexa here to take away any possibility of a heelish win.

Nia is tough to book. It’s hard to find any woman who could give her a clean loss aside from Asuka. Bayley did beat her in NXT with a guillotine. She’s not totally unstoppable, but if she wins, and she should, I’m really not sure how to book her going forward from there. I would think a full Sasha Banks heel turn would see Sasha lose to Bayley at Mania (no match has been scheduled yet, and from what I hear it may not be), and Sasha go off either then or the next night on Raw to put Bayley out of action and set her sights on Nia and the championship. No matter what direction they go after Mania, Nia should definitely be your NEW women’s champion.

I am so excited for the Charlotte vs. Asuka match. This should be a technical masterpiece. Rarely does Charlotte get to work with someone who can carry a match as well as she can. That’s not a knock to the rest of the women’s division. Charlotte, like her father before her, is just such a gifted wrestler and such a cut above of her peers that it’s almost always her making her opponent look terrific. Not here. These women will should put on a masterpiece. There’s a reason everyone has wanted this match, because it’s obvious how tremendous they can be in the ring together. I hope this match gets a ton of time. I want to see 20-30 minutes.

Asuka will win the championship. Mark it dude. The real question is: will she leave New Orleans with the title. I fully expect Carmella to cash in her money in the bank briefcase after a brutal and exhausting match. If I’m a betting man, I say Asuka repels her and keeps the title, but it could just as easily go to Carmella. One thing I’m sure of: Charlotte will not be champion at the end of the night. MARK IT ZERO!

Asuka should hold the title at least until next Wrestlemania. I think a heel turn in the interim would be a great lead up to a WM35 match with whoever is the top face at the time. A lot of people expect Ronda Rousey will eventually end the streak. I’m not ready to go in on that assumption yet, we still haven’t seen her in action. It could be Rousey, it could be Charlotte getting revenge, or Bayley, or Ember Moon. Ember and Asuka’s NXT rivaly is one of the best feuds in recent memory. I’d love to see Ember finally get that elusive win over Asuka on the big stage.

First things first though: Asuka beats Charlotte, then Asuka beats Carmella. Winner, and NEW SmackDown Women’s Champion: ASUKA! Winner, and STILL SmackDown Women’s Champion: ASUKA!

Any other predictions for these matches? What are you looking forward to most from these women? Let’s hear it.

Happy Easter! Now that that’s over, let’s get down to wrestling. We still have a couple of shows that could add something to the card, but I’ve decided to take a look at the already confirmed matches, starting with the fatal four-way for the United States Championship. It’ll be champion Randy Orton defending vs. Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, and recently-added Rusev. With Rusev added, a match that held little-to-no interest from me holds closer to little interest from me. Actually, if done right, I think this could be a big moment for Rusev, and also a big one for Bobby Roode’s character. Let’s face it: Roode’s character SUCKS as a face. It’s not really his fault. For some reason, faces don’t seem to be allowed to show any charisma or do anything but get to their catch phrase. Every Roode segment is just a short boring journey to get him to say “GLORIOUS!” Yes, we all loved to SMELL WHAT THE ROCK WAS COOKING and knew it was the bottom line BECAUSE STONE COLD SAID SO, but leading up to those lines, we were captivated and drawn in by what our wrestling heroes had to say. Roode’s gimmick is not built for a face anyway. He needs to be the cocky, win-at-all-costs, I’m-better-than-all-of-you-peons heel he was in NXT. Or, if you’re going to keep him as a face, let him be more like Orton, let him be a snake who stabs people in the back but can still elicit cheers. But don’t keep giving us this generic character who is supposed to be GLORIOUS but is just like everyone other cookie-cutter babyface right now. WWE has an opportunity to pull off a good and much-needed heel turn here with Roode. How could they do it? Glad you asked:

Rusev is hot. I’m actually surprised he’s been put into this match since Vince seems to like to CRUSH anything that gets over naturally rather than by his design. It’s a pleasant surprise that he’s been added to this match, and just like it’s time for a Roode heel turn, it’s time for a Rusev face turn. I will admit this finish was not my idea but something I read somewhere else, but it makes all the sense in the world to me: have Rusev win the title, and as he’s celebrating, have Roode go nuts with chair shots. Boom. Double turn. Roode then turns his attack to Orton and goes off on another face. It’s logical.

Orton doesn’t need the title. He didn’t need it in the first place, but I don’t have a problem with him winning it because it’s only for a month (hopefully) and it lets WWE bill him as a grand slam champion. They gave another rub to someone who has been one of their top guys for almost 20 years. He should NOT carry the title past Wrestlemania. I don’t think the title will do anything for him, nor will he do anything for the title.

I could see Jinder taking it. A foreign heel whose entire gimmick has been anti-America winning the U.S. title may help his character. It’s not like it’s a totally out of the blue and fresh idea, but what is these days? Simple is better. Think about how thrilled everyone was when someone FINALLY got the WWE championship off of him. It could make for a big moment for a face to eventually beat him for this title. This wouldn’t be my first choice, but it’s not the worst decision.

As Adorable Adrian Adonis pointed out in yesterday’s post, I WANT ACTION. That matters more to me than who actually wins this match. Like he mentioned, give us more than two guys fighting while two guys lay on the ground overselling clotheslines. I’m sure we’ll see the obligatory combination powerbomb-superplex at some point, but that’s lost it’s appeal since it’s done in every multi-person match ever. That’s the move that allows four guys to lay there and rest for a few minutes, I get it. But it’s dumb.

Overall, I don’t have a lot of high hopes for this match. But I’m also hoping that it’s the sleeper that surprises people. Unfortunately, I think we will get a lame match that helps none of these wrestlers with Orton retaining. WWE: Prove Me Wrong.