Time to take a breath after seven hours of wrestling. I love it, but I’m glad it’s only once a year. God damn. Before I have too much time to sit and ruminate and overthink all of it, here’s my instant reactions to this year’s matches:

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
My prediction: Matt Hardy
Actual winner: Matt Hardy

This was a fun match. I was a bit surprised not to see any NXT wrestlers in it, but that didn’t take away from a good opener. I was pleasantly surprised with Bray Wyatt’s appearance and his alliance with Woken Matt, I’m really looking forward to seeing how that storyline develops. That’s my main take away from this one: give us more Matt and Bray.

Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Finals: Cedric Alexander vs Mustafa Ali
My prediction: Cedric Alexander
Actual winner: Cedric Alexander

This was a good match that I thought would be much better. I thought on the grand stage they would have a Cruiserweight Classic-type match, but this one seemed a bit toned down from that style. I still enjoyed it, but was disappointed that it wasn’t better. It could be a missed opportunity to bring more viewers to 205 Live.

Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal
My prediction: Sasha Banks
Actual winner: Naomi

This was another really fun match. I especially like the NXT contingent of women getting their Wrestlemania moments. Except Peyton Royce. I hate her. I love Bianca Belair, I expected her to just be there, not to hit a 450 splash. That was bitchin. The finish seemed very odd. Naomi isn’t a heel, and she doesn’t have a feud with Bayley, why did they do a “wait this person was never eliminated” finish? Naomi also seems like a very strange choice as a winner. Other than to reward her for her time and her work, it doesn’t seem like it advances any feud or storyline. I like her, but this one could have ended better. Oh well, now she and Jimmy can put the uterus trophy on their mantle.

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
My prediction: Finn Balor
Actual Winner: Seth Rollins

Really good match. Miz was on fire in this one. There was great action from all three guys and you could feel how badly each one of them wanted the belt. The ending sequences were fantastic. I am not totally surprised Seth got the belt, but I had expected Finn to win. It makes sense though, Seth has been stagnating a bit, not being with The Shield or in the main event picture. I’m thinking he’ll get fresh challengers in KO and Sami Zayn after the post-mania shakeup.

Smackdown Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte vs. Asuka
My prediction: Asuka
Actual winner: Charlotte

This match was everything I wanted it to be, except for the ending. And that doesn’t mean it was a bad ending, I was just shocked, as I’m sure many were. Once again, New Orleans is where streaks go to die (except Curt Hawkins’). I wanted to see Asuka win, but honestly, it’s almost a relief to not hear, “IS THE STREAK OVER?!” “THE STREAK IS IN JEOPARDY!” “OH NO, THE STREAK!” out of Michael Cole’s mouth every 15 seconds in her matches. I know he’s probably being fed that stuff, but god damn, shut up. We know. I digress. This is probably the best women’s match Wrestlemania has ever seen. These woman BROUGHT IT. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed it. I wrote about when WWE should end the streak, and this was not something that I’d really considered. I’m also surprised there was no Carmella cash-in, but thinking about it, it makes sense to let these two have their moment after an incredible match and let them cherish the moment. Maybe we see a cash-in this week on Smackdown. Tremendous job by both ladies here.

United States Championship Fatal Four Way Match: Randy Orton vs Bobby Roode vs Jinder Mahal vs Rusev
My prediction: Rusev
Actual winner: Jinder Mahal

Take the opposite of everything I said about the previous match and apply it to this match. My god, what a shitfest. How does a match like this even happen on this show with four veterans? Adorable Adrian Adonis wrote this recently about multi-man matches, and it was dead on what happened in this match. There was NO action. Nothing happened. In a match with four veteran wrestlers competing, two more capable wrestlers on the outside, no rules, and a championship on the line on at god damn Wrestlemania, they couldn’t even put together a mildly entertaining match. Two wrestlers at a time exchanging a few blows in the ring while the other two lay outside hurt, probably from an open-handed slap. Aiden English took one RKO. Sunil Singh got knocked off the apron once. Randy hit a few RKOs, the one on Jinder looking especially shitty. Bobby Roode did nothing. Rusev hit a few moves. Jinder did nothing until the weak-ass win. And maybe, MAYBE, all of that could have been forgiven somewhat if they’d capitalized on Rusev Day and given him the rub. But no, they can’t even do that right. Maybe Jinder works as champion, I don’t know. All I know is that this match was complete and utter horse shit. A fatal four-way match is supposed to be chaotic and unpredictable, and this one didn’t even have any action outside the ring nor any semblance of enjoyability. I was not very excited for this one to begin with, and I hate that they were able to shatter the glass floor of my low expectations.

HHH and Stephanie McMahon vs. Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey
My prediction: Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey
Actual winner: Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey

I marked the hell out when Ronda came out in a kilt. I LOVED this match. They dragged out the sequence of Kurt getting beat down and Steph getting one-up on Ronda before she could be tagged in, it was a long and frustrating sequence but it was perfect, it built up the heat so much that when Ronda finally got the tag the crowd went nuts. That was the best hot tag I can remember in a long time. She went nuts and looked terrific. I really loved everything about this match. Even Stephanie looked good with her moves. Her DDT was solid. Kurt putting her in the ankle lock was my favorite part of the whole night, even if it was only for a few seconds. The ending went the way I expected, with a hell of a lot of fun leading up to it. Solid debut for Ronda, and man, I almost cried seeing my Olympic hero in a Wrestlemania match again.

Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos vs The New Day vs The Bludgeon Brothers
My prediction: The Bludgeon Brothers
Actual winner: The Bludgeon Brothers

This was brutally beautiful, short and sweet, almost a squash match. It was what it needed to be. Let these guys just decimate their way through the tag team division. I have a feeling they’ll have some new competition soon, and a new chapter will be written…

John Cena vs…Elias?
John Cena vs. The Undertaker
My prediction: The Undertaker
Actual winner: The Undertaker

Elias is WWE’s king troll, and I love it. His moment was absolutely perfect. We knew we had to Walk With Elias at some point. Once that was over, we finally got the moment we knew was coming: the return of The Undertaker. They pulled this one off very well. They learned after last year that if he’s going to wrestle, it’s not going to look pretty for very long. This was short and to the point, and Cena got squashed. Props to him for doing that job and giving the fans what they wanted. We never know when we’ve seen the last of the dead man. This was special.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan
My prediction: Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan
Actual winner: Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan

It was really incredible and emotional to see Daniel Bryan wrestling again, and to do it at Wrestlemania in the same building where he triumphed at WM30 was a hell of a scene. He looked terrific out there. That was a brutal beatdown to start the match, and it only built up the anticipation for him to finally get into the action. All four guys in this match looked great. I hope they sell the firing storyline even more, let these guys even take an indie booking or two. My gut says they’ll just go to Raw, but it’s yet to be seen where it goes from here. They have to look for new ways to utilize kayfabe in the “reality era”. We’d still know what’s up but it would be much easier to bring people into the storyline and ignore reality. Also, will DB still be GM? I’m sure we’ll get some answers this week.

Raw Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax
My prediction: Nia Jax
Actual winner: Nia Jax

Has anyone scraped Mickie James’ carcass up yet? That was a brutal and perfect start to get her neutralized right away. It was going to be really hard to follow the Asuka-Charlotte championship match, but god damn they did it. I had a lot of faith in Alexa and Nia’s ability to put on a really good and believable match despite the obvious size difference, and they did not disappoint. The build to the match was perfect as well. This was an emotional win for Nia and I’m sure could be felt by anyone who has dealt with body shaming. It seemed early on that Alexa’s only job was to not die. Nia’s offense is vicious, and it needs to be. The finish looked awesome, with Alexa’s body bouncing off the mat after the super Samoan drop. Well done, ladies. Now the next issue: who is a legitimate challenger to Nia?

WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
My prediction: Shinsuke Nakamura
Actual winner: AJ Styles

Man, what a match. These two tore the house down as everybody knew they would. What can I really say about the match itself other than PHENOMENAL? As we all know, the story isn’t the match, the story is what happened after. First, I was really surprised to see AJ retain. But I started getting a feeling that hmm… if Shinsuke turns attacks here, it may make sense that he didn’t win. That was a second thought. My initial thought would be Finn attacking with Gallows and Anderson. This may have been better. Through no fault of their own, it is hard to have a foreign face who doesn’t have the best English language skills. Shinsuke can cut a promo just fine, but in the wrestling world, it just doesn’t come off right. In a discussion for another time, maybe that will change someday soon, but for now, it’s a tough spot to put him in. Now there’s a world of possibilities: will Shinsuke get a heel manager? Will there be a heel faction? Why did he attack AJ? He seemed more happy with his attack than upset about losing, like this was his plan all along. Is that really the case? I can’t wait to see where this goes, and it can only further develop his character.

Raw Tag Team Title Match: The Bar vs Brawn Strowman and… Nicholas?
My prediction: Braun Strowman and Rey Mysterio
Actual winner: Braun Strowman and a lost child

I don’t care if the kid was a plant, or Vince’s nephew, or Trump’s barber’s kid, or whatever, this was amazing. This kid goes down as not only being a part of Wrestlemania, and not only being a Tag Team Champion, but the Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania. The only thing better would have been if he’d taken a Brogue Kick. I look forward to him turning heel on Strowman at Raw.

Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
My prediction: Roman Reigns
Actual winner: Brock Lesnar

As I’ve written before, I get extremely annoyed with all of the Roman Reigns hate. Generally it’s baseless “WWE backs you so I’m going to boo you” bullshit no matter how good the match is, and even when he rocks the house the crowd dumps all over it. Not tonight. This was not baseless. This match sucked. How is THIS a Wrestlemania main event? Everything about this was terrible from start to finish. The only thing this did for Roman is show how many F-5’s he can take before he can’t kick out anymore. How many times are you going to just stand in the middle of the ring and do the same move over and over and over? And now, that guy who can only do two moves gets to keep the belt, keep it off TV even longer, and be in more shitty main events whenever he feels like it. This was a huge downer ending for a really great show. Any progress Reigns had been making in winning over anybody was pretty much destroyed here, and that’s really upsetting. Maybe WWE is moving on from him, who knows. Maybe there’s a bigger plan. I just don’t see the logic in this at all.

Overall, just a couple of shitty matches on a huge card is pretty good, unfortunately those shitty matches were championship matches, including the main event. As for my predictions, 8 out of 14 is much worse than I usually do. They swerved me good.

What were your thoughts on the show, and what storylines and feuds do you want to see come out of this?

On the heels of my (mostly) successful NXT predictions, here are my final picks for the big show, some of which may be different from what I’ve written throughout the week:

Cruiserweight championship: Cedric Alexander

Smackdown Tag Team championship: Bludgeon Brothers

Raw Tag Team championship: Braun Strowman and ?

Women’s Battle Royal winner: Sasha Banks

Andre Battle Royal winner: Woken Matt Hardy

Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon beat KO & Sami Zayn

Undertaker beats John Cena

Kurt Angle & Ronda Rousey beat HHH & Stephanie McMahon

United States Championship: Rusev

Intercontinental Championship: Finn Balor

Smackdown Women’s Championship: Asuka wins, Carmella cashes in, Asuka retains

Raw Women’s Championship: Nia Jax

WWE Championship: Nakamura

Universal Championship: Roman Reigns. Believe that.

That’s all I got guys, enjoy the show, and lets hear your predictions.

With it being Wrestlemania week, most of the posts here have been dedicated to the main roster and the big show. However, in case you haven’t been paying attention, there is a tremendous card for tonight’s NXT Takeover. Let’s delve into the matches:

Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon for the NXT Women’s Championship
Shayna has gotten into Ember’s head and continues to get her to put her title on the line. Ember got the win last time with a quick pin while she was obviously losing the match. I think it’s about time for Ember to come up to the main roster, as NXT has been grooming a few of the new women for pushes. I fully expect Shayna to become the new champ here, with Kairi Sane emerging as the new challenger afterwards. Shayna can be tough to watch in the ring. Their last match was kind of a mess, as she was so green and didn’t sell well. I think this one will be much better quality as Shayna has seemed to quickly improve. Ember is as solid of a worker as they come. I love her as champion but I’m excited if I’m correct to see her coming up to the main roster soon. I expect this to be given a lot of time and be a quality match.

Prediction: New NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler

Triple Threat match for the NXT Tag Team Titles and Dusty Rhodes Trophy: Undisputed Era vs. The Authors of Pain vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne
i’m not sure if this is going to be a tornado tag/no DQ match or how it’s going to work, but all of these guys can go. AOP has developed into solid wrestlers, evolving from the squash-match brawlers they were when they first arrived. Roddy and Pete Dunne are tremendous wrestlers and I expect some incredible-looking moves. The one thing that may make this match suffer is that Adam Cole has to pull double duty. At least in both of his matches there will be five other guys that they can focus the action on, I just hope that they don’t use the plot where they knock him out early and have him crawl back for the end of the match. The thing I look most forward to in this match is Dunne & Strong matching up against AOP. Their match on NXT this past week was awesome, and adding in the Undisputed Era can only enhance things. This is going to be a bitchin match.

Prediction: Still NXT Tag Team Champions, The Undisputed Era

Unsanctioned Match: Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
If Johnny wins, he returns to NXT. This is the match everyone wants to see. Ciampa’s heel work has been an absolute masterpiece, which I’ve recently written about. The slow build each week up to Gargano finally appearing in the crowd was terrific. For the most part (even though some people insist on cheering heels only), the crowd detests Ciampa and loves Johnny. It is one of the most perfect builds and set ups to a match that I can remember, and an unsanctioned match is a perfect way for these two to take out everything they have on each other. It’s PERSONAL. Everyone is emotionally invested in this one. Their Cruiserweight Classic match was amazing, and now with those rules and restrictions removed, all bets are off. I’m calling it a Match of the Year candidate before it even happens.

Prediction: Johnny Gargano wins and returns to NXT

Six Man Ladder Match for the NXT North American Championship: EC3 vs. Adam Cole vs. Ricochet vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Killian Dain vs. Velveteen Dream
I can’t even describe how excited I was when this match was announced. Admittedly I have never seen EC3 or Ricochet wrestle, but there’s obviously a reason most people are so excited to see them in NXT. I have actually checked out some Ricochet highlights, and it would seem he is made for this match. Adam Cole and Killian Dain showed what they can do in this type of match when they competed in the War Games match. I’m especially excited to see the monster Dain have some HOLY SHIT moments, and also to see him square off with Lars Sullivan. This is a make-or-break match for Lars. His push has been slow but steady, but he doesn’t seem to be fully connecting yet. Much of that is character work, but he also is yet to have a defining match. This could be that match. He can make moments or do nothing and be forgotten. I want to like him so I hope he reaches for the stars and brings the crowd to its feet. Velveteen Dream is an interesting character. I feel like he’s already going away from what was a successful direction. I can’t put my finger on it but I’m losing interest in what I thought was a very good character. But, he’s young, he’s athletic, and he can shine in this match. EC3 is the guy I know the least about here, but to me he seems to be the most logical guy to win the match. It’s pretty obvious he’s very good on the mic and already connects with the crowd. Hopefully he has the skills to shine in this match as well. I can’t wait for this one.

Prediction: Inaugural NXT North American Champion, EC3

Aleister Black vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship
I wish the build to this match had been better, because these two are both tremendous wrestlers, but it seems like this was thrown together quickly without much back story. Aside from that, this one could be a show-stealer. Black has become my favorite wrestler, and Cien is an incredible in-ring worker whose heel work has been top-notch and enhanced even further by Zelina Vega. This one should be nearly non-stop action from start to finish. I expect a shorter-than-usual championship match because I think the pace will be pretty frenetic from the start, maybe 15-20 minutes. But within that time, hold on to your butts. I’ve been waiting for Black to get a title shot for a long time, and I fully expect him to take advantage of the opportunity

Prediction: NEW NXT Champion, Aleister Black

I think it’s pretty certain that John Cena vs. The Undertaker is happening. They wouldn’t build the match like this only for Taker to not respond. I’m surprised there was no sign of him on any of the shows leading up to Mania, but it keeps people wondering in the back of their mind: maybe he won’t show. I’m betting not only on the return of the Undertaker, but specifically of the American Badass. He seemed to retire the true Undertaker gimmick last year, and Kid Rock is being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. It fits.

The biggest question here: match quality. John Cena can carry a damn match, there’s no question about that. But after what we’ve seen the past couple years from Undertaker, what kind of action can we expect to see? We know we’re not going to see chain wrestling and moonsaults in this one. What we will see is the spectacle of two of the greatest wrestlers to ever step into the ring, on the grandest stage of them all, in a match that in all likelihood ends the full-time career of John Cena, and the overall career of Undertaker. It’s hard to nitpick on technique and match flow when considering those circumstances. People have been clamoring for this match for years, and we finally get it. I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.

With two Wrestlemania losses under his belt, it’s not like Undertaker HAS to win. However, he will. WE need him to win. Obviously the tradition is to go out on your back. That’s not what we want to see. We want to cheer one more Undertaker victory. We want to see Big Evil stand victorious one more time. This one should be the main event.

Do you want to see Undertaker win, or should he do the job? Any chance he doesn’t show?

The dream match is upon us. I just hope WWE allows them to let loose and wrestle their true styles instead of the WWE styles only, especially Nakamura. This is sure to get a “fight forever” chant. I’m not an indie snob and I don’t always back the “internet darlings”, but it’s impossible to not be over the moon for this one. The only things better would be an iron man match or a two-out-of-three falls match, but I’m not going to complain. Just drink this one in, maaaaaaaaaaan.

Prediction: NEW WWE Champion: Shinsukeeeeeeeeee NAKAMURA!!!!

You jackasses are going to ruin this match for me, aren’t you? It just pisses me off that I’ve been looking forward to Roman taking down Brock and bringing the title back to TV for so long now, yet all the smarks are going to boo and shit all over this match because ROMAN IS BORING ROMAN ISN’T COOL ROMAN SUCKS. This match is NOT going to be Styles-Nakamura. But it is going to be pretty awesome, mark my word. It’s going to be fun to see those same smarks stand up and cheer and freak out for a hot second before they realize OH WAIT CHEERING ROMAN ISN’T COOL. BOOOOOOO!!

So there’s the rant. I have very high hopes for the match itself. Sure Brock blows in the ring anymore, but I have some confidence that he can pull a decent performance out of his ass for this one. And whether you admit it or not, Roman is one of the best quality wrestlers that WWE has. Admittedly, WAAAAAY too many Superman punches. That move sucks. And I’ve never seen him hit a spear that he’s actually set up for in like two-three years. Aside from that, it’s going to rock. Expect a lot of false finishes with a lot of F-5’s and spears before Roman finally goes over. Believe that.

Go ahead, throw around your Roman hate. He’s winning. Let’s hear it anyway.

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.