We have the top matches for WMXIX set (well, barring more injuries)....
* Austin vs. Rock * HHH vs. Booker T * Brock vs.....um....probably Benoit. * Hogan vs. McMahon * Rey Mysterio vs. Matt Hardy * Jericho vs. Michaels * Kane vs. RVD (probably) * Trish vs. Victoria vs. Jazz (probably)
That's eight bouts, 4 from RAW and 4 from Smackdown. Ergo, we need a few ideas to balance out the card. The ideal solution is an old-fashioned WrestleMania battle royal, but in lieu of that....
RAW * Test/Jeff Hardy vs. Christian/mystery parter...O'Haire? * Steiner/Hurricane/Maven/Dudley Boys (all three) vs. Regal/Storm/Morley/Nowinski/Three Minute Warning-- Ah, cluserfucks. * Goldust vs. Ric Flair-- Goldie needs revenge for his electrocution, and with Orton and Batista out, Flair is the next best thing.
SmackDown * The "uneasy alliance" (tm Michael Cole) of the Guerreros, Tajiri and Rikishi vs. The FBI/John Cena * Undertaker vs. A-Train-- Some predictions have been made of a UT/Nathan Jones vs. Train/Big Show tag match, but I like this scenario better. UT tells Jones that he always wrestles singles matches at WrestleMania, but if he wants a piece of the Big Show, there is a slot open in another tag match. * Nathan Jones/Rhyno/Kidman vs. Big Show/Team Angle-- Jones is dominating Haas or Benjamin in the ring, when he loses focus and gets pinned on a roll-up or something. Furious at being outwrestled, Jones goes nuts after the match before 'Taker shows up to calm him down. This can set up a feud between Jones and Kidman and/or Rhyno.
That's 14 matches in four hours....should work.
Well Mr. Burns had done it. The power plant had won it. With Rogers Clemens clucking all the while. Mike Scioscia's tragic illness made us smile. While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile. We're talkin'... Softball. From Maine to San Diego. Talkin'... Softball. Mattingly and Canseco. Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw. Steve Sax and his run-in with the law. We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie and the Straw.
Storm/Regal v Kane/RVD -Save the turn of Kane or RVD for WrestleMania instead of rushing it on RAW.
Dudleys v Morley & Christian -They were running this on the house shows I think.
Team Angle v Los Guerreros -Rhyno & Benoit seemed like the challengers but bumping Benoit up to face Lesnar seems like the logical backup plan with Kurt out.
Rhyno v John Cena -They had a verbal spat on the house shows which was apparently pretty good so no reason why they can't do that on TV.
Big Show & A-Train v Undertaker & Nathan Jones -Thank god, get all these guys out of the way in one match.
Scott Steiner v Ric Flair -Just to show HHH that at 52 or whatever Flair is, he can still out work the champ.
Toss everybody else in an Interpromotional Battle Royal or some shit on Heat where to winner gets to jump ship if he wants.
Steve Austin v. The Rock Vince McMahon v. Hulk Hogan Brock Lesnar v. Chris Benoit Triple H v. Booker T Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho Matt Hardy v. Rey Misterio Team Angle v. Rhyno & ??? v. Los Guerreros (VIVA LOS GUERREROS!!!) Kane & Rob Van Dam v. William Regal & Lance Storm (seems like they've dropped the split angle for the "most unlikely team ever") Dudley Boyz v. Three Minute Warning (sounds fucking exciting) Trish v. Victoria v. Jazz Underatker & Nathan Jones v. A-Train & Big Show (sure ***** match) And something involving Scott Steiner.
That's 12 matches. The last two years had 11, but considering everything from the Kane/RVD/Regal/Storm match down should be kept fairly short, it sould keep within the four hour mark.
You thought watching Thunder was bad? Raw is like watching Thunder in re-runs.
That's 12 matches. The last two years had 11, but considering everything from the Kane/RVD/Regal/Storm match down should be kept fairly short, it sould keep within the four hour mark.
Also, keep in mind that the women's title match (presuming there is one), and Hogan/McMahon (I pray to God) will both be relatively short to cover up the faults of the competitors.
As long as Austin/Rock, Brock/Benoit, Booker/HHH, Jericho/Michaels and Rey/Matt all get a good chunk of time, I'm a happy camper.
The problem with constructing this card is that RAW seems to have a few too many faces, while Smackdown has too many heels.
(edited by Big Bad on 9.3.03 2359) Well Mr. Burns had done it. The power plant had won it. With Rogers Clemens clucking all the while. Mike Scioscia's tragic illness made us smile. While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile. We're talkin'... Softball. From Maine to San Diego. Talkin'... Softball. Mattingly and Canseco. Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw. Steve Sax and his run-in with the law. We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie and the Straw.
I'm quickly becoming of the opinion that Wrestle Mania XIX would be a LOT better with fewer matches.
As it stands now with: Booker/HHH Brock/???? Hogan/Vinnie Mac Rock/Austin Jericho/HBK Trish/Victoria/Jazz Rey Mysterio/Matt Hardy
this setup would suit the crowds at home and in the arena a lot better simply because they'd be able to stay "hot" for most of the show.
The only two peices of "evidence" i have to support this theory is that last years WrestleMania had a few ordinary or pointless matches which detracted from the whole show. namely the... Kane/Angle match (ordinary & pointless) Billy,Chuck and their 4-way tag title match (ordinary) the womens title match (Ordinary) Jericho/HHH (sadly not as bad as reviewed but not watchable after four hours, Ordinary) and BookerT/Edge(pointless)
contrary to this was Summerslam which is my other piece of evidence. All matches were either of a VERY high quality or had a reasonable point. And the one thing that stood out was that it only had 8 or so matches and each was allowed to reach its total CLEAN conclusion (except the unamerican matches but they were still reasonably good). 90% of people who saw Summerslam i'd say would've enjoyed it last year while maybe 60% even liked WMXVIII
So as much as i LOATHE to see TheHurricane /Christian/ Regal,Storm/ Team Angle or The Guerreros miss out on Wrestlemania, i'll accept it if that means they aren't thrown in against the likes of 3MW/Albert/BigShow/Test (unless of coarse its Hurricane V Christian and Regal,Storm V Team Angle V The Guerreros)
Can you say Quality over Quantity?!
If you're all so smart then answer me this... where the hell are my pants!!!
A few things. 1) For those of you who left out Matt/Rey, remember this isn't just what we think, it's official, Matt and Rey both won last week setting this up. 2) Rhyno vs. Cena? wouldn't that hurt which ever one loses 3) I still see no sing of Kane/RVD breaking up despite what everyone thinks, and the Dudleys are the ones who should get a title shot if the Raw titles are for grabs. 4) miknight, as much as I would like to agree with you I think they should have a tag team match somewhere, prefably near the middle to give the crowd a break from all the singles matches. Best choice would be Team Angle vs. Benoit/Rhyno (if Benoit isn't wrestling Lesnar) or Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros
Brock Lesnar v. Chris Benoit. Babyface respect match - no hot-shotting of a turn for either man. My personal preference is that the title gets held up and this is how it's decided, so Brock still has the honor of getting the Triumph at the big show. You do either one or two things after this: Elevate John Cena to be Brock's next challenger, or bring in either Steve Austin or Chris Jericho from Raw. (My personal choice would be Jericho, to get him out of Hunter's cesspool and give him a real push, but they'd probably go with Austin.)
Triple H v. Booker T. I don't care how you do it - Booker T must win. All I ask is that we don't have a billion run-ins and that Hunter takes his Book-end like a man.
Hulk Hogan v. Vince McMahon.
Steve Austin v. The Rock. And, finally, the Rock gets his long-awaited and very-much-earned win over Austin at Wrestlemania. I seriously think Vince will appease Rocky as much as he possibly can to get him to come back again after the next movie - and that means giving him a win he should have had two years ago. (The Austin heel turn would have worked better if the Rock had initially retained.)
Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels. HBK better job. Or else.
Matt Hardy v. Rey Mysterio.
Victoria v. Jazz v. Trish.
Team Angle v. Los Guerreros.
The Commonwealth Connection v. The Dudley Boyz v. 3-Minute Warning v. The Unlikely Tag Team. The seeds are sown for the Kane/RVD split (with RVD being the one to go heel, which would fit if the WWF does what I suggest and moves Jericho to Smackdown) and the Dudleys *finally* getting their revenge against Eric & Sean and winning the titles.
Undertaker v. A-Train. Another token win for the Dead Man at Wrestlemania, with Big Show and Nathan Jones involved in fun extracurricular stuff.
Ric Flair v. Scott Steiner. Ric dominates the match en route to the easy submission and Scott bids the WWF farewell.
If up to me, I would present (in order of appearance)
Heat (perhaps Hurricane/Nowinski)
Rey Mysterio/Matt Hardy Dudleyz/Regal&Storm/Kane&RVD/3MW (make the turn here, as was already suggested) Tajiri (or Rikishi, or Kidman, or whomever)/Cena Goldust vs Steiner (if Steiner ends up turning, that is) Undertaker/Big Show (some kind of special stip; perhaps have A-Train and Nathan Jones as cornermen?) Jericho/Michaels Victoria/Trish/Jazz Brock/Benoit Hogan/McMahon (come on, you KNOW that's going near the top) Team Angle/Los Guerreros Booker/HHH Rock/Austin
``With Duggan, taking a shower is a high risk maneuver." -- Bobby Heenan
30 days ago x-9 was looking to be super superb. not that it cant be now but still i fgeel the loss of edge and now angle has put a damper on what looked to be a great WM. it still can be but wiht raw title match not having enough build time ( according to some) and now the months of brock -angle buildup wasted it looks liek the two title matches are thorwn together. never a good thing for WM.
and first WM without ic title...sighhhhh (i now it wasnt always defended like at WM 6 but u get tha drift)
It was defended at WM6....it was champion vs. champion. Had Hogan won, he would've won the IC title.
Well Mr. Burns had done it. The power plant had won it. With Rogers Clemens clucking all the while. Mike Scioscia's tragic illness made us smile. While Wade Boggs lay unconscious on the barroom tile. We're talkin'... Softball. From Maine to San Diego. Talkin'... Softball. Mattingly and Canseco. Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw. Steve Sax and his run-in with the law. We're talkin' Homer... Ozzie and the Straw.
I think they'd like to do an overseas Raw or Smackdown, but with time differentials being what they are, it isn't feasible. Especially since they like having Raw air live on the east coast.