Close to locked in: John Cena vs. Miz Edge vs. Alberto del Rio Randy Orton vs. CM Punk Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes (Rey was given the option of picking his WM program and chose Cody because he likes him)
New news: Today's Observer says Undertaker vs. Wade Barrett has been dropped and there's a new direction for Undertaker that has nothing to do with Sting or Brock Lesnar but will involve Shawn Michaels and is being counted on to carry the show.
With Sheamus being de-emphasized and not protected at all, it would make sense that that would be -- as has been suggested here a few times -- Triple H going for revenge for Michaels against Undertaker, and Michaels being the referee and being conflicted. It's as good an idea as any, I guess, and seems more worthy of the streak legacy than Barrett would've, even if I was into the idea of HHH fucking off in a midcard match at Mania for two years in a row.
If you wanted to tie everything together, HHH could be the GM of Raw (and name Michaels as the referee) and/or the mastermind of Nexus (who buried Undertaker). Where this leaves Barrett and Sheamus I guess we'll find out. I don't know how HHH can come back without at least addressing that Sheamus put him out. Maybe Sheamus is turning face.
Other matches: Jerry Lawler vs. someone (Riley? Sheamus?) with the opportunity for Lawler to beat up Cole Mason/Otunga/McGillicutty vs. Zeke/Gabriel/Slater (no thank you) MITB (they're going back and forth on whether to have one)
Well, they are going to have to overlook Kane's dominance of Taker in the fall to explain why Taker isn't looking to gain revenge for all Kane had done to him. Perhaps they go Kane/Sheamus in a 'Hey, we destroyed the 2 guys in the featured match' confrontation.
If they wrote Sheamus out via Elimination Chamber beating, they don't have to touch on it. I will say that I think its unlikely that HHH is going to be revealed as the GM even though that would make some sense. Its mainly due to my belief that Cole will be revealed as the GM and Vince will fire him after going too far interfering at the Elimination Chamber. I do think between now and the Chamber, the GM will revealed whoever it is.
HHH/Taker has some intriguing aspects. I am just not a fan of someone going into the HOF then having a match or be part of a match the next night. I am curious to see if Rey can get a good match out of Cody. If Wade is out of the Taker match then I can see him inserting himself in the Nexus vs. Corre match or as part of a three way in any of the title matches or even Punk/Orton. Mitb is played out even though its a nice match to get a ton of people on the PPV. I hope to God its Rock as the guest host, but I am not getting my hopes up. It still looks like a rather weak card, but last year everyone was saying how it was so strong nothing could go wrong and saw how well that went.
My memory of HHH/Taker matches says they've been lackluster, and I wonder how well a beat-up Taker can work with an office-job Hunter. Sucks to be Barrett though.
And have we given up on a WCW legends match?
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by JustinShapiroWith Sheamus being de-emphasized and not protected at all, it would make sense that that would be -- as has been suggested here a few times -- Triple H going for revenge for Michaels against Undertaker, and Michaels being the referee and being conflicted.
Nobody wants to see me toot my own horn, but this was the only scenario that made any sense to me since Wrestlemania ended last year. Triple H's prominence during HBK's retirement speech had me convinced that Triple H trying to avenge Michaels' loss could go over huge. And I realize it was a long time ago, but that HHH/UT match at Wrestlemania X-7 was quietly one of UT's best Streak matches. I'm fully convinced this could work. Of course, the only problem is, as mentioned, forgoing both the Sheamus feud and the Undertaker Revenge Tour against Kane and Nexus/Corre, but if those guys are thrown into the MitB match, everyone will forget all about them, anyway.
Considering he has nothing else to do and he made a run-in last Monday, I could see Daniel Bryan getting tossed into the Lawler/Cole feud. Putting Bryan and Lawler on a team against Riley and Cole could be a lot of fun and Cole acting like a coward the whole match should be entertaining as hell. The payoff of Bryan putting Cole in the LeBell Lock, to finally tie up the Cole heel turn in a neat little bow, should blow the roof off the place. Of course, the only question is...who calls the show? Matthews and Striker? Yeesh!
After everything he's done the last few months, Morrison DESERVES to have the MitB match centered around him and he deserves to win the damn thing. What harm would there be in a Cena/Morrison main event at Backlash? Or better yet, have Morrison hold onto the briefcase and turn heel later this year. Either option would work.
EDIT: I didn't think I had it pegged THAT FAR BACK, but there you are. :)
Originally posted by odessasteps If Hunter is the one to induct Shawn at the HOF the night before the show, that would be the perfect time for an angle with Hunter, Shawn and Taker.
Vince has been very hesitant to do angles and storylines at the HOF in the past, so I don't know that we'd see anything like that here.
The perfect spot for (KING OF THE RING) Sheamus - if Triple H is indeed busy maineventing WM ... again - would be against Jerry (THE KING) Lawler.
Other than that, all I have to say is that WM doesn't look good so far. I like The Miz as WWE champ and all, but the rest is just boring. If it will indeed go down as is speculated so far, that is.
Looks like a good possible card to me. Maybe not the supermatches of the past, but these guys should be capable of solid wrestling matches.
I'm especially happy to see my hopes of Rey vs Cody coming true. The moment he talked about his face being shattered I figured they were destined for a WM match.
It would make sense if they go with HHH vs UT with HBK. A veteran and big name like HHH would elevate the match level, even if it will lack work rate this year. Though I would have liked Taker vs Barrett.
A shame for Sheamus that he isn't in a top feud right now. But there's always one or two guys that are kicked down to midcard/MitB style matches at Wrestlemania. The same will happen to flirting-with-main-event Dolph Ziggler it seems.
They can ignore the HHH Sheamus thing if Hunter interupts UT's return and acts all heelish. The UT Kane thing will probably be explained away with a simple backstage moment. A nod of mutual respect and they're buddy-buddy again :)
So far we're seeing a lot of rising guys left out of the mix with it shaping up this way. Sheamus, Morrison, Ziggler. I hate to think they'll just throw them in a MITB that sees Kofi, Mark Henry, and Kane in the mix as well right now. Too little, but I guess that's better than a falls-count-anywhere hardcore title match that takes place throughout the show.
I can see HHH and Taker making the most sense storyline-wise for HBK, but it's a match that's been done at Mania before, if 10 years ago, and it's not like either one is anywhere near their physical abilities of even that match. Count me as meh.
"Maybe I'm getting off topic, but this thread already sucks, so I don't feel bad about it. " -LotusMegami
"The only way TV Gangrel could change is if Real Gangrel changed." -Filipino Elvis
Have they shown Cody's ruined face yet? If not, do they have him show up hiding it to set up a mask vs. mask match as the WM stipulation? I guess the other option they could go with is that Cody's face is still OK, but they have a mask vs. mask match where Misterio puts his on the line if he loses, and Cody has to start wearing one to hide his beloved face if he loses.
Either way, Cody has been really fun since his NXT stint and it's cool that Misterio handpicked him to get the spotlight. This might also answer the question of what Rey's WM costume theme will be: he could put togther a Goldust-inspired outfit.
Orton/Punk is the match throwing the whole show off. I appreciate Punk's recent attempt to create some continuity, but the whole thing feels thrown together like they forgot to book Orton at all until the last few months. Like I've said before, Punk/UT felt like the best option to give UT a good match, plenty of flunkies to beat up (why else even bring Fauxtista in?) and tie together the long term Nexus and Kane angles.
HHH/UT has two names going for it, I guess. They're both probably smart enough to put together a good match around their limitations as long as HHH can keep his ego in check and not do one of his really long "important" matches. Sheamus will be the guy who suffers most from this, since they'll HAVE to address Sheamus/HHH, and it'll probably be one of those "You're beneath me" moments that makes the guy on the receiving end look like a chump. Hopefully not, if he's the guy who (rightly, it turned out, even if it was for weird workout buddy reasons) championed Sheamus in the first place.
I guess, since he has no other singles match options that wouldn't be a total afterthought, I'd want to see them have Money in the Bank be the Sheamus and Morrison Experience. Morrison can surely come up with insane ways to run up and fall off ladders, maybe try to pole vault up to the briefcase or something. And Sheamus can be the Kane of the match, assuming they don't shove Kane in there to be the Kane of the match. In fact, just use Kane as a ladder in the match and let Morrison climb up and fall off him.
In theory, though it's probably not a good idea for a guy coming off an injury, Money in the Bank would be the place to put a returning Christian, and him holding the briefcase against either a retaining Edge or new champ Alberto Del Rio makes plenty of sense.
Barrett's the other guy totally getting wasted here. The initial Nexus beatdown segment on Cena was such an uncharacteristically great TV moment for WWE that it seems almost criminal that you get to Mania and have nothing for the main guy in that angle to do. If Punk is working with Orton, you're leaving Barrett no one to work with on the other side. Otunga can talk fine as a toady, but nobody buys him for big match purposes. I don't think Ryan has spoken yet. Obviously, they could give McGillicutty the mic to set the Nexus/Corre feud up. Please, please, please let them give McGillicutty the mic to set the Nexus/Corre feud up.
Weirdly, I bet Skip Sheffield could have carried his end of a team feud against Barrett if he'd been around. Looking back on things, what they should have done with Barrett was build to Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan for Wrestlemania. The set-up is all there: the favorite to have won NXT vs. the actual winner/the guy who turned his back on Nexus vs. the original Nexus mastermind. Bryan fighting off Nexus or Corre interference and making a bigger guy like Barrett tap would have been a fine crowd-pleasing WM moment, too.
Originally posted by Michael McGillicutty in some better, alternate world as he prepares to lead THE GENESIS out to battle Wade Barrett's Nexus at Wrestlemania"Right now, history, which is to say the past, that is, all the things...the things in the past that happened...it's, at this moment, it's calling...history, that is, history is beckoning...HISTORY beckons The GENESIS of McGillicutty. Right now. Can, can we do that again?"
Originally posted by odessasteps If Hunter is the one to induct Shawn at the HOF the night before the show, that would be the perfect time for an angle with Hunter, Shawn and Taker.
They're broadcasting to a much smaller audience than RAW on the HOF show, and how many minds can be changed to purchase at that point make running an angle at the HOF ceremonies seem like they wouldn't be the biggest bang for the buck.
HHH clearly hasn't been in a hurry to get back in the ring. He's apparently settling into his management position. I wonder if there's a chance that he's ready to hang up his boots and would go career-vs-streak against Undertaker?
As for the rest of the card, I'm excited about Miz vs Cena and Punk vs Orton simply because that means we'll eventually get a Miz/Punk vs Cena/Orton match with a co-promo between Miz & Punk.
With all of the talk of Morrison and Ziggler getting screwed out of a decent match, why not set up an interpromotional match between the two? Something where the GMs get to pick their competitor. Vickie is obviously going to choose Dolph and there are plenty of reasons for the Raw GM to choose Morrison.
Right now, Lawler's match is getting the best setup for Mania. At this point, Lawler has to make it to Mania, and there is really no need for him to do a job. But also, I'd like to see something more than Lawler Vs. Cole. My idea is thus, Lawler/Byran Vs. Miz/Riley/Cole. Cole costs Lawler the title at EC. Lawler challenges Cole for Mania since it is the only way he can kick Cole's ass without being fired. Cole only will agree if it is a handicap match with Miz and Riley by his side.
Originally posted by InVerseHHH clearly hasn't been in a hurry to get back in the ring. He's apparently settling into his management position. I wonder if there's a chance that he's ready to hang up his boots and would go career-vs-streak against Undertaker?
That's what Pro Wrestling Insider is saying the plan is. Well, according to a buddy of mine's Facebook update, that is. But I don't think he'd lie.
You know, if they really have nothing else for them to do, I'm not so against seeing another round of Sheamus vs. Morrison. They've had some good matches in the past, and I think the audience would buy that there hasn't been a clear, definitive winner in the feud just yet. A gimmick match to allow Morrison to show his stuff would be best - maybe a cage he can bop around in, or a standard ladder match if they're 86'ing MITB this year. The prize could be Sheamus' crown.
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On the show, they were talking about Eddy and his possible mini-turn after the match on SD with Edge. Dave then segued into how SmackDown is going to be pushing tag teams more (remember when Raw was doing this while the tag titles were on SD?