Underrated/Overlooked: WrestleMania

WrestleMania is obviously the biggest day of WWE’s (and formerly the WWF’s) calendar year. It started out simply as a showcase for big matches and glitzy celebs, morphed into the “end of the season” for major feuds that would be shuffled and reset the next night, and has now settled into being a sort of hybrid of both. It’s the show the company builds to, that every performer brings their A-game to and that attracts an impressive amount of celebrity participation and media hype.

For the most part, each WrestleMania has had its own distinct identity. It’s hard to pick out every SummerSlam and certainly next to impossible to remember what happened one year to the next at Unforgiven or Extreme Rules, but if you name the Roman numeral (or blasphemous plain old number in at least two cases, not to mention the madness of X-7 and so on—it should ALWAYS be Roman numerals), a true wrestling fan worth their salt can spit back to you which WrestleMania it was.

III was Hulk/Andre. IV was when they did the World title tournament. IX everybody wore togas. Hart/Michaels Iron Man at XII. They called XVI 2000 to drive me nuts. Brock Lesnar nearly killed himself at XIX. Flair retired at XXIV. HBK followed him at XXVI.

To be fair, XXII doesn’t really stand out, but you get the gist.

Thing is, try as they might to stack the show from start to finish with hits—not so much during the V-VIII era, but more or less before or after—and as much as the folks performing go above and beyond to make their moments count, each WrestleMania generally gets remembered for one or two matches tops (X-7 is the exception that proves the rule).

III is the aforementioned Hulk/Andre plus Savage/Steamboat. V is the Megapowers. VI is the Ultimate Challenge. X is the Ladder match. XII is the Iron Man. 13 (bleh) is Austin/Hart. X-8 is Hogan/Rock. XXV and XXVI are the HBK/Undertaker matches.

And so on.

But each year there is at least one (usually more) classics that slip under the radar simply because they’re the third, fourth or fifth best matches on a card where everybody wants to have a classic. Those are the showdowns I want to remember today. In doing so, I’m leaving plenty out myself, but each of these holds a special place in my own heart.

Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis (WrestleMania III)
The third WrestleMania gets a lot of consideration for being among the best ever based on the enormity of the event itself, the epic feel of the main event and the fact that Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat had flat out one of the best matches of all-time; however, despite its pedigree, not much else from this show gets remembered. A lot of it is perfunctory—fine not great—but there’s also some cool miscellany, like Alice Cooper accompanying Jake Roberts to the ring, King Kong Bundy squashing a midget, and this match. It was no technical classic, but as far as cosmically satisfying wrestling finishes, this is right up there with reformed bad guy Piper putting the irritating Adonis to sleep and then Brutus Beefcake shaving his head to officially become “The Barber.” Despite having been the most hated man in the business a year earlier, Piper is tremendous as a babyface here, having the time of his life before heading off to Hollywood for a couple years, and Adonis is equally perfect and totally unselfish as the heel getting humbled; two guys who knew how to light the crowd afire and played their roles to a T made for a great WrestleMania moment.

The Rockers vs. Haku & The Barbarian (WrestleMania VII)
WrestleMania VII was a bit of an off-year, as the Hogan-Sgt. Slaughter main event felt like a bit of a comedown from the Ultimate Challenge a year before, but Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior had one of my favorite matches ever, plus you had this little gem opening the show. After getting squashed by the Twin Towers and 1989 and then screwed by The Orient Express a year later, The Rockers finally got a chance to shine, showing off what they could do in an energetic little guys hitting and running against giants exhibition. It was a glimpse of the future, as Shawn Michaels displayed a mere hint of the skills that would later make him Mr. WrestleMania, while Marty Jannetty kept pace and Bobby Heenan’s team was nicely generous in making the David vs. Goliath battle believable.

Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X)
Shawn Michaels is far and away my favorite wrestler of all-time (sorry, Christopher Daniels, I’ll await your sad text tomorrow) and I have plenty of love for his Ladder match with Razor Ramon on this show, but at the end of the day, ask me to pick and I’ll take the Hart brothers wrestling clinic every time. It kind of bucks the title and intent of this post to include this here, I suppose, since most people would agree it’s a classic, but on a WrestleMania that had said Ladder match, it generally doesn’t get its due as the match of the night I felt it was. The fluidity of Bret and Owen trading holds and counters as only two guys who grew up and learned their craft in the same place under the same tutor if not side-by-side is a cooler deal for me than any gimmick ever could be. On its own, this would still be an amazing match, especially to a fan like me who digs the “purist” aspect, but it also had one of the best ever angles and storyline builds behind, the optimal pro wrestling brother vs. brother feud (and that’s saying something), to boost it into the stratosphere. No disrespect meant to the Ladder match or those two gents, because I could watch that one all day as well, but this is likely in my all-time top five.

Ahmed Johnson & The Legion of Doom vs. The Nation of Domination (WrestleMania 13)
From one end of the spectrum to the other, there was no science to this one whatsoever, but it was an outstanding brawl during a down period for the WWF. WrestleMania 13 (ick) gets labeled as a one match show for the superb Austin-Hart Submission match with the double turn, but I dug this one as well. Johnson was pretty limited by injuries, the LOD were far past their prime and nobody in the Nation was doing career-best work at this point, but they all went out there and just beat the crap out of each other in the very definition of a garbage match, albeit one that actually worked. Ahmed in his own LOD spikes was a nice touch, as was Hawk actually bringing a kitchen sink to the ring to use as a weapon. If they had ended the Johnson-NOD feud here, Ahmed may have still had a shot to get back over as it was a great blow off.

Kurt Angle vs. Kane (WrestleMania X-8)
This show got sold on Hogan-Rock, with Triple H against Chris Jericho and to a lesser extent Undertaker vs. Ric Flair as well as Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall being somewhat in the mix. Kurt Angle, despite being perhaps the best performer in the company at the time, got left out in the cold with no dance partner, so they threw him in there with Kane to more or less kill time. Diminished expectations aside, it ended up being a nice little hidden highlight, as these two had good chemistry—they had a TV match around the same time that may have been even better than this one—and Kane brought his work boots to keep up with Angle. The story of the match wasn’t so much whether or not Angle could win, but if he could make Kane tap to the ankle lock, and both guys played it perfectly, timing their ebb and flow for maximum suspense; Kane’s best WrestleMania match for sure.

Chris Jericho vs. Christian (WrestleMania XX)
Another fondly remembered match by most, but as it wasn’t for a title, didn’t have a streak on the line and didn’t feature a celebrity or Legend, it does still get lost in the shuffle of the last decade’s WrestleMania highlights. The buildup to this wasn’t just well-done, it demonstrated long-term restraint practically unheard of in 2004 WWE, as the issues between the two former best friends had begun over four months prior, with the great storyline that saw them betting on who could bag Trish Stratus or Lita, then Jericho and Trish developing real feelings for one another, pissing Christian off in the process. These two knew each other well by this stage in their careers, so the match itself was predictably great, but it was Trish’s involvement and phenomenal heel turn that put the icing on the cake.

Batista vs. Umaga (WrestleMania XXIV)
Similar to Kurt Angle in 2002, six years later Batista found himself as the odd man out, with his chief rivals Edge and The Undertaker preoccupied with one another and John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H and Shawn Michaels all having their WrestleMania dance cards booked. “The Animal” got stuck in an under-promoted Raw vs. SmackDown match with the similarly un-tethered Umaga, and the two preceded to go out and have a sweet power-based match that was hard-hitting, intense, and just the right length. Batista generally seems to rise to the occasion at WrestleMania, as he and Undertaker put on a classic at XXIII in part out of resentment over not getting the main event slot, so the combination of a big time atmosphere and good old fashioned spite made a good motivator for him.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes (WrestleMania XXVII)
This is a pre-emptive strike of sorts, given that this match is only a year old, but WrestleMania XXVII is already looked back at as an underperforming show, which means the more in the rearview it gets, the more Undertaker-Triple H will take on an Austin-Hart at WrestleMania 13 (yick) quality and a decent undercard will get forgotten. Again, a long-ish term feud—Rey put Cody out with a facial injury three months prior that led to his transformation past the Dashing gimmick into his deranged character—and this felt like a big deal despite not being the most anticipated showdown of the night by any means. Rey was a very giving veteran, making Rhodes look good, and Cody seized his opportunity, going over a legend at the biggest show of the year and cementing his place at the top. Also, Rey dressed as Captain America.

Rasslin' Ramblings: WrestleMania XXVIII, Take Two

It’s been a few months now since I first tried my hand at booking next year’s WrestleMania and already, as they tend to do in wrestling, things have changed pretty drastically. Here are just a few factors that have altered the card I proposed just back in August:

-Triple H and C.M. Punk already had their one-on-one match and it seems unlikely that feud will be revisited at the moment

-John Morrison has left WWE

-Mark Henry came out of nowhere to become the monster heel we never knew we needed

-Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara both look to be out with injuries that will extend past WrestleMania

That said, while the dream lineup I imagined four months ago may no longer be probable or in some cases possible, I do not mind going back to the drawing board and giving it one more college try…

JOHN CENA vs THE ROCK
Again, this is the set main event of WrestleMania XXVIII and that’s not going to change between now and March. Last time out, I talked about how this match does not need the WWE title involved, and I maintain that. I also said that I didn’t think John Cena needed to turn heel, and that’s where things have gotten a bit interesting. WWE is not shying away from addressing the issue of many fans booing Cena, swapping out their “most controversial superstar in history” rap at least a bit by having everybody from Miz to Roddy Piper put it right out there. I do think from a creative perspective, a Cena heel turn has a lot of potential to enrich the character. The guy who did everything right but still gets no respect and is bitter about it has possibilities, and the idea of Cena is the unstoppable juggernaut bad guy ala Brock Lesnar is intriguing. On the other hand, I get why from a business standpoint a Cena heel turn is not the best thing; beyond the merchandise issue, he is an incredible ambassador and it would suck for him no longer to be available for Make-a-Wish, etc. Normally I hate when corporate trumps creative, but maybe I’m just growing up—or getting boring—because I get it here. I do like that it’s all on the table, not being ignored, and I’m interested to see where it goes.

WWE Champion C.M. PUNK vs RANDY ORTON
First off, early reports have Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble. Second, if WWE is serious about C.M. Punk—and at this point there’s no reason they shouldn’t be—it would be nice for him to hold onto the title through WrestleMania and give it some much needed stability. Third, there’s a dearth of big time heels to challenge Punk on the grand stage, as Alberto Del Rio seems to have crashed and burned out the main event and Miz doesn’t have that big time feel in this scenario. So how about Orton wins the Rumble then chooses to face Punk because “he’s the future” and/or because he’s beaten him before. Both guys have enough juice with the fans that I don’t think WWE risks turning either heel, but each are also edgy enough that they can go beyond the played out mutual respect angle. Punk can do what everybody loved seeing him do over the summer, blurring the lines between fiction and reality, getting on Orton about being “born into the business” and about his undisciplined early days; Orton can fire back by being his bad old self. We know they have good in-ring chemistry, so it’s a fairly guaranteed solid match between two legit stars worthy of the WrestleMania spotlight.

World Champion MARK HENRY vs DANIEL BRYAN vs WADE BARRETT
They’ve done a great job booking Mark Henry as a dominant heel the likes of which WWE hasn’t seen in quite some time, and again, I think it’s imperative he doesn’t get dethroned until WrestleMania (and it would be nice if he could get a decisive win over Big Show at some point). He can busy himself with a returning Kane beginning later this month into 2012 to set the stage for a showdown with Money in the Bank winner Daniel Bryan in March, a match that has foreshadowed nicely with the underdog taking his lumps thus far but getting shots in too. I would spice things up by having Wade Barrett—who is also on a monster roll right now and shouldn’t be an afterthought—win at Elimination Chamber, maybe getting the final fall on Bryan, and earning a spot in the World title match at Mania. This opens up the booking options to Bryan getting the emotional win (my pick), Barrett stealing the title, or even Henry retaining; you could have Bryan pick up a submission on Barrett and thus still needing to prove himself against Henry, providing another month or two of solid feuding.

TRIPLE H w/ SHAWN MICHAELS vs KEVIN NASH w/ SEAN WALTMAN
I would have preferred to see Triple H putting Punk over here, but barring that, they may as well go the distance with this Nash feud and pull out all the stops. If nothing else, it’s a good excuse to bring Shawn Michaels in and to have Sean Waltman back as well (in a perfect world you could involve Scott Hall as well, but likely he’s not up for it and his continuing health is more important). The promos between all parties involved leading up would be dynamite and then you hedge your bets for the match itself by making it a street fight, letting everybody go to town and HHH get the win after an HBK superkick for the big pop.

CHRIS JERICHO vs THE MIZ
This one comes courtesy of Jason Knize, who suggested it after my last post. The scuttlebutt is that while he’s been playing coy on Twitter and whatnot, Jericho could be on his way back to WWE, and he’s said in the past that if he does return, he wants to reinvent himself as much as he did going from Y2J to his serious heel persona in 2008. In interviews, Jericho has taken Miz (and others) to task on occasion for ripping him off as far as wearing suits, talking slow, etc. An angry return for vengeance on those who have taken his revolutionary actions and made them bland and assembly line could work nicely for Jericho, and Miz would certainly be a game opponent to kick off that new direction.

R-TRUTH & ZACK RYDER w/ HUGH JACKMAN vs DOLPH ZIGGLER & JACK SWAGGER w/ VICKIE GUERRERO
It’s not WrestleMania without token celebrity involvement, and personally I thought Hugh Jackman was fantastic during his Raw appearance and it would be awesome if WWE could get him back for an extended program. If he’d be up for it, Jackman actually working a match would be great, but barring that, seconding the wacky duo of Zack Ryder and a once again babyface R-Truth would be gold. I somewhat regret “wasting” Ziggler in another stunt tag match given how money he’s been lately, but you can also count on him to deliver the goods and he and Ryder would be excellent for promotional appearances in the mainstream.

Beyond those, I’d keep Undertaker vs Sheamus from my original card, and then things get a bit murky. It would have been nice to have Mysterio or Sin Cara available for a title vs mask match with Cody Rhodes, but maybe you slot Kane in there. With nothing better for either, perhaps Big Show and Christian wrestle one another? As for Alberto Del Rio, if Rey makes a miracle recovery they could face off, or otherwise maybe team him with Brodus Clay to go after the Tag titles, held by Air Boom or whoever.

What do you guys think?

Rasslin' Ramblings: Favorite Survivor Series Teams

The first wrestling pay-per-view I ever watched was Survivor Series 1990. It was Thanksgiving night and my dad, who alternately supported my love of wrestling having been a fan himself (he still tells me about seeing Pepper Gomez at the Boston Garden) and thought I watched it too much (or maybe my mom thought that, can’t remember) got it as a special treat. He, my sister and I brought some leftovers out to our den and settled in to enjoy three hours of WWF action including the one and only Ultimate Match of Survival where Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior overcame the odds to end the night on an up note.

In the 25 years since Survivor Series got its start, I’ve seen just about every one either live or via the magic of VHS or WWE Classics (I’ve still never seen 1988 and missed 2004 and 2005). I remember watching the Gravest Challenge at 1991 with my elementary school chums, seeing Bret Hart get screwed in 1997 with buddies from the wrestling team, booing Chyna beating Chris Jericho in 1999 with my high school pals, and catching 2006 and onwards on a couple months delay apiece from the privacy of my New Jersey apartment.

While Survivor Series has undergone many a format change since 1987 and the team elimination matches have become a special attraction as opposed to the norm, they’re still the first thing I think of when it comes to the event, so to commemorate tonight’s edition, here are my favorite squads from through the years.

1987: Team Macho Man (Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake)
This is the kind of upper mid card dream team I don’t think you could even assemble today. Every guy on this team was a future World champion at best and a guy who could have been a solid Intercontinental champ at worst. It was a round robin of hot tags between five guys the fans legitimately loved each of whom had a distinct and memorable character. They had pretty crappy opposition in the form of Honky Tonk Man and the likes of Danny Davis and Ron Bass, but they were fun to watch.

1989: The Rude Brood (Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect & The Fabulous Rougeaus)
First of all, you’re not going to find a better string of entrance themes than Rougeaus-Perfect-Rude—just melody to my 80’s music-loving ears. Second, it’s a great collection of skilled technical wrestlers who also happen to mesh well as a group of egomaniacs who run the table as far as variations on narcissism. Third, they had the perfect opponents in the unruly Roddy’s Rowdies (Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka & The Bushwhackers), and since I love rooting for jerks, I had it made.

1990: The Warriors (The Ultimate Warrior, The Texas Tornado & The Legion of Doom)
Going by pure childhood nostalgia, my favorite Survivor Series team ever, I do believe. As mentioned, this was the first PPV I ever watched, and these were the guys I wanted to see. Kerry Von Erich was my favorite wrestler when I was a kid. The Legion of Doom were the crazy WWF newcomers who I was quite intrigued by. I wasn’t the biggest Ultimate Warriors booster, but he was the WWF champion, and that earned a certain cred in my book. I was cheering my little head off as these guys steamrolled Mr. Perfect and Demolition, though I was bummed the Tornado was the first dude knocked out.

1997: Team Shamrock (Ken Shamrock, Ahmed Johnson & The Legion of Doom)
Taking a look at this crew, I had trouble imagining anybody had the stuff to take them down. Shamrock was just hitting his stride as a bad ass, LOD was back as close to top form as they could get and Ahmed, while on the last legs of his brief run in the big time, still came off as a powerhouse who could take anybody’s head off. Not a lot of finesse, but with those grimaces, did they need it?

2003: Team Stone Cold (Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Rob Van Dam & The Dudley Boyz)
This is kind of an all-time greatest hits Survivor Series team, almost. You’ve got Shawn Michaels, my favorite wrestler ever and one of the WWF’s greatest performers. Booker T was the standard bearer of WCW in their final years. Rob Van Dam was the embodiment of ECW and arguably the biggest star they ever produced. The Dudleys also had the ECW legacy, but more than that, you’re not going to name a more decorated tag team. To top it off, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the biggest star of the 90’s, was in their corner. Can you believe they lost to Eric Bischoff’s team? So much for playing the odds…

2006: Team DX (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, C.M. Punk & The Hardy Boyz)
The finest Survivor Series team of recent vintage and likely one of the coolest of all-time when it comes to popularity. With DX leading the charge they were guaranteed major fan support already, but adding the recently reunited Hardys was gasoline on an already raging fire. However, most will agree the coolest aspect of this grouping was hearing newcomer Punk get the loudest reaction and seeing him get at least a momentary rub from his veteran partners. They dismantled the competition—a pretty game squad themselves with Edge, Randy Orton, the future John Morrison, the underrated Gregory Helms and, well, Mike Knox—handily, had a good time doing it with a wealth of fun spots and earned a standing ovation from the crowd after surviving all intact.

Rasslin' Ramblings: Booking WrestleMania XXVII Eight Months Out

Trying to predict the card for WrestleMania months in advance is generally a fool’s game. I tend to start putting one together mentally around Survivor Series and rarely do I get the bulk or even any of my picks right because a promotion with episodic television multiple times a week plus pay-per-view events (at least) once a month changes course abruptly and often; the days of the big four PPVs and syndicated TV where the big Mania matches were evident by Thanksgiving the year prior are long gone (though I still maintain Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels, World title vs career, should have been the main event of WrestleMania XXV, no matter how good that Undertaker-HBK match was).

But while my head knows everything I wrote is true, my heart keeps whispering “Maybe this year is different.”

WWE is on a sustained roll—i.e. of a few weeks rather than months—right now that is drawing some pretty positive reviews from even the most jaded Internet pundits. C.M. Punk is the hottest performer in the business, and whether he came back too soon from his “hiatus” or not, his feud with John Cena keeps my eyes on the TV every week. Christian as World champion is fresh and against all odds his issue with Randy Orton still has heat after over four months. Triple H as the “new Vince McMahon” has all sorts of possibilities (good and bad). The idea of Daniel Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania is intriguing. Faces old and new from Mark Henry to Rey Mysterio to Sheamus to Alex Riley to Cody Rhodes to Alberto Del Rio are all coming into their own nicely. There’s even interest in the Divas division! And of course The Rock still looms as we get closer to his Mania date with Cena.

This kind of momentum can’t help but make you start envisioning what could/should/you’d like to see on the biggest show of the year come April. Of course it’s something of a Catch-22, since if WWE really does their job, they’ll throw us something we never saw coming, but it’s always nice to prognosticate and of course hope there will be some long term logic as we round the corner into winter.

So while I’ve certainly got no idea what the full card of WrestleMania XVIII will look like in eight months, here’s my rough draft of what could be some nice headline matches. Dave Lagana—whose work you should follow at IWantWrestling and tell him I sent you—I’m not, but here goes…

JOHN CENA vs THE ROCK
So barring catastrophe, this is the one match we know is going down, and I would assume will close the show. The only question is how we get from here to there. One detail I’d make sure of: This match should not be for the WWE title. Indeed, John Cena not having the WWE title and Rock making certain of this fact is how I’d focus the next eight months. I don’t think there’s any way you can turn Rock heel going into this, as he’s going to get cheered by a large segment of the fan base even if he runs over an old lady, but you can take advantage of that and push the envelope as far as his actions. The central conceit of the feud is that Cena feels like Rock has abandoned WWE and its fans; Rock counters this by saying he has always cared, but he doesn’t need to earn approval the way he feels Cena is desperate to. Cena feeling like he needs to be WWE Champion to make the match matter and Rock basically saying he doesn’t care about the WWE title because he’s “been there, done that” and has nothing to prove furthers the feud in a logical way. If I have my way, the WWE title gets moved to Alberto Del Rio sooner rather than later—more on that below—and Cena pursues it off and on throughout the fall but gets stopped by The Rock. We know Rock is supposed to be at Survivor Series, so I’d do Cena-Del Rio one-on-one there and have “The Great One” cost his rival the title. Have him screw him out of winning the Royal Rumble too. Let Cena be the wronged party at Rock’s hands, but keep having Rock at the same time push that he doesn’t care about the WWE title and that’s why he’s doing this; you further the value clash of Cena the up and comer who still needs to prove something and requires championships as validation vs Rock the legend who does this because he wants to, not because he has to. Both guys should have their supporters going into the match—I maintain as I did when Rock first came back in February that Cena does not need to turn heel and has more than enough fans to make this work—and it kicks off an Attitude Era vs Today theme I’d keep going through the top of the card…

C.M. PUNK vs TRIPLE H
If Punk really is back full time, this match is the logical endpoint to his current storyline, and I hope they can hold off on it until WrestleMania. As with Rock-Cena, I don’t think you necessarily need either guy to do a full heel turn here as both work with shades of grey, but as Punk has the hot hand at the moment and since we know HHH relishes playing the villain, morphing the latter into Vince McMahon 2.0 isn’t the worst option, and again, if he still gets cheered by people, that’s really not a problem. I think the key here is to keep working the shoot angle of Punk being legitimately angry at what Triple H represents as far as how he got ahead in the company as well as his dissatisfaction with the establishment and “voice of the voiceless” routine. On the flip side, HHH should at least appear to keep his cool and remain professional on the surface, maintaining that Punk is good for business even if personally he can’t stand him, then when the time is right, flip the switch and go into full Cerebral Assassin mode. I’ve seen some impressive conspiracy theories making compelling cases for Triple H as the Raw General Manager or even the original mastermind behind Nexus, but honestly it can be as easy as he re-signed Punk because he felt like he could control the threat he represented if he had him under contract, but somewhere along the way he got frustrated both with his inability to rein the guy in as well as the personal pot shots and started to work against him behind the scenes. Again, I’d have Punk pursuing WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio and being thwarted by Triple H—overtly or not—and maybe also kill some time feuding with an anointed corporate champ like The Miz. Keep HHH out of the ring and in his COO role full time as long as possible then have a violent sledgehammer attack break months of suit-wearing calm and light the fuse for this match.

THE MIZ vs STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN
This one could be a long shot not only because of Austin’s ever-present health issues, but also because I’m not sure if it’s fair or even sensible to plug in Stone Cold as second fiddle to The Rock and possibly even third or fourth behind Triple H and/or The Undertaker. If Austin does have one more match in him—and Tough Enough as well as interviews seem to indicate he does—maybe it makes sense to hold it for WrestleMania XXIX, but do you take the risk that he’ll still want to go then? If Austin does elect to step in the ring in April, The Miz makes sense as an opponent all around: he’s already gotten in Stone Cold’s face during his last two guest appearances, he’s the most pure heel in WWE so he’s the best antagonist for a guy who is now way no how gonna get booed, he’s competent enough to both put on a good match and protect a guy with major injuries that have sidelined him for nearly a decade. It would be a neat special attraction and if any card should be loaded top to bottom, it’s WrestleMania, but again, Steve Austin’s first match in nine years and probably his farewell just doesn’t feel like it should be anything but the main event.

SHEAMUS vs THE UNDERTAKER
It’s very possible we’ll see the last stand of The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII, given that he has not appeared since WrestleMania XXVII at this point, there haven’t been any indications he’ll make his seasonal return at SummerSlam (though I suppose we’ll know better in a week), and all reports indicate he’s so beat up he can manage one amazing match a year and that’s it. That puts tremendous pressure on WWE to find him a suitable opponent for the year The Streak could hit 20-0, not helped by the fact that he’s stolen the show three years running now with the back-to-back Shawn Michaels classics and then this past April against Triple H. The list of guys who would feel right here is not long; John Cena would be the ideal choice, but he’s booked; a Triple H rematch would work, but I prefer him in the Punk spot; Randy Orton doesn’t feel right; Miz would seem overmatched. Of all the options available, I feel like Sheamus is the guy who could get it done, and as he builds momentum as a babyface, I believe that actually enhances his cause. While I don’t think anybody would buy heel Sheamus being the guy who could dethrone The Undertaker, as a rising good guy, there’s that possibility the torch could be passed from one Phenom to the next generation (I’m not advocating Sheamus end The Streak as I’m in the Taker retires undefeated at WrestleMania camp, but you need at least a bit of intrigue). I also think the idea of Undertaker handpicking Sheamus as a guy worthy of facing him based on respect rather than a straight heel going for it makes for a better story. Sheamus has also become tremendously skilled in the ring and has a steep learning curve, so if he’s got time to work with Taker in advance, they may not touch the HBK or HHH matches, but they could come darn close (or even surprise us). Again, in a perfect world, as with Austin, Undertaker should go out as the main event with the best match possible, but time and the inevitability of Rock-Cena may make that impossible.

WWE Champion ALBERTO DEL RIO vs JOHN MORRISON
As a guy who has been watching this for awhile, one aspect of WrestleMania from my youth that I miss is the popular young babyface culminating the first part of their career—however long it took—by capturing their first WWE or World title at the big dance. I think we still remember Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin’s wins at XII and XIV because they were examples of this scenario playing out, but we haven’t seen a really great climb to the top culminate at WrestleMania since John Cena and Batista in 2005 at XXI—or technically Rey Mysterio a year later, but that felt somewhat unfortunately abrupt due to the Eddie Guerrero factor—mostly because the same guys keep winning the titles back ala Hulk Hogan in the 80’s and early 90’s. If he can keep his mouth shut between now and April, John Morrison is a prime example of the type of guy fans would go nuts to see win the WWE title for the first time at WrestleMania and who could be a legitimate star of tomorrow. I also think WWE’s got a great heel in Alberto Del Rio who if they get the title on him stat, he can ride out a reign from here until April that folks will be jonesing to see ended the way they did Randy Savage in 1989 or JBL in 2005. I’d have ADR cash in Money in the Bank next week at SummerSlam on either Cena or Punk—preferably Punk so you can reveal HHH was behind it down the line—then hold onto it in a multi-man match at Night of Champions, and then combos of Punk, Cena, Rey Mysterio and maybe Kofi Kingston through the fall and early winter. Let Morrison win either the Royal Rumble or at Elimination Chamber and send him into WrestleMania as the chosen one to finally get take down Del Rio.

World Champion WADE BARRETT vs RANDY ORTON vs DANIEL BRYAN
I dig the idea of Daniel Bryan holding onto his Money in the Bank briefcase through WrestleMania and cashing in there as it’s unlike anything that’s been done before and both his character and skills make him the perfect guy to build fan support for the storyline. At the same time, I don’t think there’s any way WWE gives Daniel Bryan a one-on-one World title match on the biggest show of the year when he’s not yet a proven commodity on that stage; I’m a fan of the guy, but I don’t fault that logic. The solution? Go the WrestleMania XX route and plug in one of your proven commodities to make it a Triple Threat and bank on the crowd still supporting the little guy. You accomplish this by having Randy Orton win either the Royal Rumble or an Elimination Chamber match and thus giving him equal right to a match with Bryan. The trickiest part for me here was figuring out the heel champion. It would be awesome if Christian could hold out another eight months, but I don’t see that happening. If I could clone Miz, I’d move one to SmackDown and have him get the title after Survivor Series as he adds the element of his past with Bryan; if Austin doesn’t come back, I’d say Miz is the optimal choice here. I thought about R-Truth, but as much as the guy entertains me, I don’t buy him as a WrestleMania-level heel World champion. Ditto for Mark Henry. Wade Barrett isn’t perfect, but he’s great on the mic and solid in the ring; I think he could pull it off. He’s also got the issue with Bryan and they could even up the ante by having their current feud culminate with a series of Barrett wins so he can claim one of his challengers can’t beat him. Orton doesn’t really need any sort of personal ties as he’s just the guy trying to win back his title. Sentimentality would book a Bryan win, but you could just as easily have Orton snatch a victory or Barrett sneak out with the title.

CHRISTIAN vs REY MYSTERIO
No real logic here aside from the fact that Rey seems to have settled into a WrestleMania role as the guy blowing off a personal feud not involving championships with a solid match, plus he and Christian have never had a one-on-one PPV encounter before, so giving them 15 minutes or so would be a nice treat for the fans and salute to two great veterans.