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| Dan Wahlers previews Wrestlemania and predicts outcomes |
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Wrestlemania 25 Preview and Predictions This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it As the late Gorilla Monsoon used to say, the time for the talking has ended. After weeks of build up and anticipation, Wrestlemania 25 is this Sunday from Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. This will be the second time for Houston hosting a Wrestlemania. The previous one in 2001, Wrestlemania 17, is considered by many to be one of the greatest Wrestlemania’s of all-time. Don’t be placing any bets on this year’s show reaching that level. The card for the show is disappointing and underwhelming, and the build up for the show has been mediocre at best, weak in most cases. I have seen every Wrestlemania, and I’ve watched most of them live on PPV. I can honestly say that there haven’t been many that I have cared about less going into the show than this year’s show. And that’s a real shame, because Wrestlemania is supposed to be the big time, it’s the biggest show in wrestling every year. It’s the culmination of WWE’s year. It’s supposed to be where you see the best matches, and the biggest moments. Unfortunately, I just don’t have that feeling going into this Sunday’s show. It doesn’t have that Wrestlemania feeling. It feels like any other PPV you might see on the WWE schedule throughout the year. And this might have worked for any other PPV, but Wrestlemania has never been any other PPV. I’ve been waiting for weeks, during the build up for the show, for everything to finally kick into high gear. And they got there at certain points over the past six weeks, like the first angle between Triple H and Randy Orton, where Orton gave Stephanie McMahon the RKO and most of the build for the Undertaker/HBK match, which has been by far the most well promoted match on the show. But those moments were few and far between. The issue about lack of long-term planning that has been plaguing the company for a number of years really became the main issue this year. And the blame for most of that belongs at the feet of the boss, Vince McMahon. I can’t even fathom what it must be like for the members of the WWE creative team to work for a man like Vince. You spend so many hours and days working on a show, putting all the storylines, promos, matches and vignettes together, only to have Vince wake up one morning, and decide he wants to scrap all the ideas, and start from scratch. That has to be incredibly frustrating. You can’t plan anything long-term when you fly by the seat of your pants like that. That’s why there were so many changes to the Wrestlemania card in the weeks leading up to the show, and why the card wasn’t really finalized until a week or two ago. It really makes me nostalgic for the days of my youth, when you would know the entire Wrestlemania card not weeks but months in advance. When you conduct business in that manner, the entire product suffers, and it has suffered this year. It has also suffered from perhaps the biggest problem of all, which is the lack of new stars being created. That problem runs deep from the top of the company all the way through the flawed developmental system they have in place. That’s why you get the same wrestlers on top year after year, and the same stale, recycled matches. They tried with a guy like CM Punk. He was given a big push over the summer, winning the World Heavyweight Championship. But because the ratings and PPV buys didn’t instantly shoot through the roof and the fans didn’t necessarily react right away as strongly as the company felt they should, the push for Punk was abandoned, and he’s right back in the same position he was in at last year’s Wrestlemania. Talk about spinning your wheels. The company has no patience, and they have no long-term vision. And all of that adds up to a subpar Wrestlemania lineup that they are having the temerity to ask people to pay $54.95 for standard def, and $64.95 for high def. The economy is in the toilet, the lineup for the PPV is underwhelming, and yet they still expect to get 1 million buys for this show. If you think this show is going to do 1 million buys then you’re living in one hell of a fantasy world. My prediction, as I stated here several weeks ago, would be somewhere between 750,000 and 800,000 buys worldwide. That’s a pretty optimistic estimate, in my view. I think they should consider themselves lucky if they get that many buys. I’m taking into account the idea that the name “Wrestlemania” is still a big enough selling point. I’ve heard estimates as low as 600,000 buys, which would be the lowest number of buys for a Wrestlemania since 2003. Before I get into today’s preview, one quick plug for myself. I will be a guest on Fight Network Radio with Mauro Ranallo this Friday afternoon at around 3:10 PM ET. The topic of discussion will be Wrestlemania, and you can check out the show live at http://www.hardcoresportsradio.com. They archive the show on the site, if you don’t happen to catch it live. I hope you’ll check it out. With all of that out of the way, it’s time to get down to business, with the most in-depth, comprehensive Wrestlemania preview that you will find anywhere else. WWE Championship Match: ©Triple H (13th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. Randy Orton (6th Wrestlemania appearance) This is a hard match to call. I could really see it going either way. History says that they like to put their stamp of approval on the heir apparent at Wrestlemania. They’ve followed the same formula over the years with everyone from Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, to Bret Hart and Steve Austin, Batista, and John Cena just to name a few examples. The heir apparent on Raw is Randy Orton. That much is obvious. The only question is do they want to pull the trigger at Wrestlemania, or put it off to another time in the future. Logic and history would tell you that Orton is going to win this match, and win his fourth World Championship. But then you look at the flip side, and you have Triple H, who hasn’t won a match at Wrestlemania since he defeated Booker T in 2003. For all the flack he’s gotten over the years, some of it well deserved, some of it not, he’s decided in recent years to be the one putting someone else over at Wrestlemania. Some might call it doing what’s right for business; others might call it being a savvy locker room politician. So in that respect, he’s due for a win at Wrestlemania. The other thing you have to look at in this storyline is Triple H is defending the honor of his wife. Orton physically assaulted Stephanie twice, and he kissed her as she was knocked out while Triple H helplessly watched. You could see the logic where Triple H wins to gain revenge for Stephanie. It’s a definite possibility. The odds were further stacked against him with the added stipulation that he loses the title if he’s disqualified or counted out, or if he brings a sledgehammer to the ring. Prediction: I’ve gone back and forth about this one in my mind quite a bit, and at times I’ve had Orton winning, and other times I’ve had Triple H winning. For a match that we’ve already seen a bunch of times on PPV in recent years, I have to hand it to them for leaving the finish in doubt for this one. It might not be in doubt for a lot of the Wrestlemania matches, but for this one it is. In the end, I had to make a decision, and I went with Triple H winning and retaining his title. The reason why is you know this feud is not going to end at Wrestlemania, and it makes more sense for it to continue with Orton chasing the title then it does for the roles to be reversed, especially if they do a scenario where Orton gets screwed in the match. I could see a scenario where Vince, Shane, and even maybe Stephanie all make appearances during the match. We get a ref bump, which is something we haven’t seen a lot of recently, and then one of the McMahon’s hit Orton with a chair, or a belt, or even a sledgehammer, which would have gotten HHH disqualified if the referee were awake, but he’s not, and we get a Pedigree, referee wakes up to make the count, and HHH retains the title. And Wrestlemania can go off the air with the usual big pyro and confetti display that they like to end the show with every year. Hopefully no one will get hurt in the stadium when they do that this year. Then Orton will have a legitimate gripe after having been screwed, and the feud will continue in some form or fashion. Orton may win the title at Backlash, or maybe even further on down the road. But I don’t think it’s happening at Wrestlemania. I think Wrestlemania will end with all The McMahon’s including HHH in the ring celebrating, triumphant and proud, with the pyro going off in the background. Given the history of the company, couldn’t you just see that being the way the “25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania” ends? It would be fitting for The McMahon Family to end the biggest show of the year with the focus on them. World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: ©Edge (8th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. John Cena (6th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. The Big Show (9th Wrestlemania appearance) A love triangle, adultery, blackmail, crying, lies, deceit, a “Who’s the baby’s daddy storyline.” No wait, the last thing was an April Fool’s joke. Or maybe it was their way of testing a new storyline idea they have for the future. That’s the next episode of General Hospital or The Young and Restless, right? Nah, it’s just Monday Night Raw. In a storyline that should be covered in Soap Opera Digest rather than the Wrestling Observer, we have the World Heavyweight Championship being contested in a match not to see who the better man is, or who wants to be champion more, but who is going to get the love of Vickie Guerrero. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. This is the storyline they chose to use to get people interested in their biggest PPV of the year. As I mentioned earlier, something like this may have been tolerable for a secondary PPV. But for Wrestlemania, they can, and they should have done a lot better. You have John Cena, the top star in the company, stuck in the middle of this, playing fourth banana to a love triangle between Edge, Vickie Guerrero, and Big Show. Cena deserved a lot better, Edge deserved a lot better, and Big Show deserved to be involved in an undercard feud on this show, not in one of the main angles. The match was stale before, then they booked the three against each other in various combinations of singles matches in the weeks leading up to the show, which made you care about the match even less, if that was possible. Big Show was added to the match, because it was thought that Cena/Edge was already played out, which it was. But he does nothing but drag the match down. Big Show has two speeds in the ring, slow and stop. I’m sure Cena and Edge will have their working shoes on, and will do their best to make it a good match. But I don’t have high hopes. There’s only so much they can do. Prediction: With Triple H retaining in the other championship match, I would think they’re going to want to have at least one World Title change on the show, and this will be the spot for it. Edge’s latest transitional title reign will come to a quick end, because I can’t really see any result other than John Cena winning his 5th World Championship. If they want to end the show with a title change, and Cena being the one to celebrate with the pyro and confetti, then I could see this match going on last. But I would assume it’s going to be HHH/Orton closing the show. The Streak vs. Mr. Wrestlemania: The Undertaker (17th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. Shawn Michaels (18th Wrestlemania appearance) This is by far the match that has generated the most interest among fans heading into the show, and it’s certainly the one that I’m looking forward to most. It doesn’t get much better than Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. It’s a match worthy of Wrestlemania to be sure. You don’t often get a chance to see two all-time greats like this competing against each other on a huge stage like Wrestlemania, and it has been 11 years since Undertaker and Shawn Michaels last met in a one on one match. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it. Here you have two guys that have been in WWE for almost 20 years respectively, and yet they’ve only faced each other a handful of times over the years. This match seems new and fresh compared to a lot of the other matches on the card, and it has all the makings of a classic. The build up for the match has been all about Michaels getting the upper hand on Undertaker, and getting in his head like no other person ever has. Michaels got the last word in their first verbal exchange on Raw, he gave Undertaker a Superkick on the Raw ramp, he did an Undertaker like vignette from a cemetery, he dressed up like Undertaker on Smackdown, except he was wearing all white, and he got the last word on last Monday’s Raw when he gave Undertaker another Superkick after hiding under a coffin. HBK has gotten everything in the feud leading up to the PPV. A less experienced fan might believe that he has Undertaker’s number, and that means he’s going to beat him at Wrestlemania. That’s what the storyline is supposed to lead you to believe. Prediction: But it’s not happening. Undertaker is going to win, and he’s going to improve his Wrestlemania undefeated streak to 17-0. I personally don’t believe that Undertaker should ever lose his streak. I think that should be one of his signature career accomplishments when he retires. But if he ever were to lose it, he should lose it to a young, up and coming wrestler that could use it as a springboard to make something of himself. A name like Jack Swagger comes to mind, or Ted Dibiase. Of course, with the sloppy way things are run in WWE these days, they’d book someone to end Undertaker’s Wrestlemania streak, and then the guy would be released six months later. HBK has already accomplished all there is to accomplish in the wrestling business, and he doesn’t need the win. I understand some people’s thought process that this show needs a shocking, historic moment, and that Michaels ending Undertaker’s streak could provide that. But think about it. It might be shocking when it initially happened, and people might talk about it for a week or two afterwards. But it wouldn’t take long before it was forgotten about, and when Shawn Michaels finally does retire, ending Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania will be pretty far down on the list of accolades he’s accumulated during his career. Shawn taking the streak seems like an unnecessary waste of something that would be better used on a younger wrestler that could use the boost and credibility some day, if they do decide to go in that direction. I’m sticking with Undertaker to pick up the win, in what on paper looks like it should easily be the best match of the night. Shawn Michaels didn’t get the name “Mr. Wrestlemania” for nothing. He knows how to deliver on the big stage, and if it’s possible, Undertaker has gotten better with age. You have two guys aged 44 and 43 looking to go out and prove that they’ve still got it. It’s going to be a fun one to watch. Handicap Elimination Gauntlet Match: Chris Jericho (8th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (13th Wrestlemania appearance)/”Superfly” Jimmy Snuka (5th Wrestlemania appearance)/Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (5th Wrestlemania appearance) It’s pretty sad to see what we’ve ended with after the storyline that started off with such promise. Chris Jericho was doing the tremendous anti-legend promos, all designed to lead to a match with “The Wrestler” star Mickey Rourke. That was Vince McMahon’s grand plan, after initially hating The Wrestler when it first came out. He did a total 180 when he saw all the publicity Rourke and the movie were getting, and he realized he might be able to make a buck. Conflicting reports had Rourke agreeing to the match, and he even cut a promo on Jericho on the red carpet of an awards show. But once his handlers got involved, all of a sudden Rourke was out of the picture. When that fell through, we got some excellent segments with Jericho and Ric Flair, Piper, Steamboat, and Snuka. They were all supposed to be warm up acts for the big legend coming in to save the day. And to his credit, Vince McMahon did reach out and try to get Steve Austin and later Hulk Hogan for the match. For various reasons, neither one of them could do it. It was reported that he reached out to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and there was even a rumor that The Ultimate Warrior’s name came up more than once. None of those options panned out. They could have gone with Jerry Lawler, which would have been the best of the realistic options available. As he proved in his all too short match with Jericho on Raw, he can still go, and he would have certainly done a better job in the ring than Snuka, Piper, and Steamboat. But for whatever reason, Lawler was never really seriously considered. And then there were three: The former world class wrestler that hasn’t worked a match in 15 years, a 65 year old man that can barely walk, and a guy in a kilt with two plastic hips. Yeah, should be a great match! Chris Jericho is very talented, but he’s not a miracle worker. Not only that, but they booked this match, and then didn’t even have Piper, Snuka, or Steamboat make an appearance to hype the match in the final weeks. Piper is one of the best promo guys of all-time, and they couldn’t even make time for him to do a 30 second promo hyping this match. Instead, they had Jericho demolish and bloody up Ric Flair on Raw last week. And Flair isn’t in the match. No promo or mention of Flair on the final Raw this past Monday, either. The whole thing has been so poorly thrown together, and the build in the last few weeks has been about as weak and non-existent as you can get. Prediction: They did make one good decision about this match, and that was to make it a Gauntlet Elimination Match. That means Jericho can start out with Piper or Snuka, and they can keep it very short and sweet, go on to the next guy, and then possibly have something of a match with Steamboat, who is obviously the best possibility to get anything decent out of the three. Reportedly some other legends were contacted about appearing at the show, so whoever they got that wanted an easy paycheck will come out, Flair will be involved, and I think the final spot will be Mickey Rourke knocking Jericho out with a right hand. Rourke is supposed to be front row for the match. The Legends win, and get their celebratory moment in the sun at the 25th Wrestlemania. It’s not going to be pretty, but if they gimmick it up enough, and keep things simple, it should be an entertaining part of the show. Money In The Bank Ladder Match: Featuring: CM Punk (3rd Wrestlemania appearance), MVP (3rd Wrestlemania appearance), Shelton Benjamin (6th Wrestlemania appearance), Kane (12th Wrestlemania appearance), Christian (6th Wrestlemania appearance), Fit Finlay (4th Wrestlemania appearance), Mark Henry (4th Wrestlemania appearance), Kofi Kingston (1st Wrestlemania appearance) We’ve seen this group of eight guys in just about every match combination possible on Raw, ECW, and Smackdown over the past couple weeks. And as Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez have been accurately pointing out on Wrestling Observer Radio, each time you see them in another match, it makes you care about this match even less. It’s certainly not the most compelling MITB lineup that they’ve ever had. I would have loved to see Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne in there instead of Mark Henry and Kane. That would have made it a hell of a match. But it wasn’t meant to be. As it is, there are enough good workers in the match that it should still be fairly entertaining. You have Shelton Benjamin, who has been in three of the previous four MITB matches, out there to do his usual cool looking acrobatic moves. He wouldn’t be a bad choice to win if they really got behind him again, and decided they wanted to give him a series push. But I think the ship has sailed with Shelton, in terms of where the company sees him. Perhaps not. Kofi Kingston won already just by being included in the match. You can forget Mark Henry or Finlay, despite the fact that they’ve both been pushed as having a chance on TV in the past couple weeks. Henry will be there to catch guys as they fall off the ladders, and Finlay will serve in his usual role of traffic cop. Kane has a remote, outside chance, if they want to give him what would be sort of a lifetime achievement award. It’s not a crazy thought, but I don’t see it happening. I don’t see them giving it to Punk two years in a row. That really leaves MVP or Christian as the two presumptive favorites, it would appear. Prediction: I’d like to see Christian win, and if you’re going based on ring work, he’s been the best in this match lately. But he wasn’t even originally penciled in for this match. Brian Gewirtz reportedly had to fight to get him in the match. Vince McMahon has made it clear that he doesn’t see Christian as a top guy. It’s that type of stubborn, close minded thinking that is why the company is in the downward spiral creatively that it’s currently in. I don’t think Christian wins. I was going to pick MVP to win, because he seemed like the logical choice. But when I look at what’s happened over the past month, you had MVP beating Shelton Benjamin for the US Title. There is a reason they did that title change before Mania. Add that with the fact that Shelton has been getting beaten like a drum lately, and historically the guy that loses right before Mania has a good chance to win. Having said all that, I’m going to make a surprise pick, and go out on a limb, and pick Shelton Benjamin to win Money in the Bank. Anyone can pick the favorite; I’m going to think outside the box a little bit. Extreme Rules Match: Jeff Hardy (6th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. Matt Hardy (8th Wrestlemania appearance) Yet another feud that started out with the potential to be good, but has floundered in recent weeks. After the great heel promo by Matt Hardy on Smackdown the week after the Royal Rumble, the build up for the match has fallen flat. Matt hinted that he may have been responsible for all the accidents that had happened to Jeff, he hinted that even may have been responsible for the fire that burned down Jeff’s home, killing his dog. That was enough to motivate Jeff to do the match, after he had initially refused. We never heard much from him though, where a good “I’m going to make you pay, Matt” promo would have been appropriate, since they don’t trust Jeff to talk on the mic for more than 30 seconds, it seems. I thought that part of the storyline was pretty tasteless and unnecessary. It’s one thing to tie Matt to the worked accidents that were all part of the angle, but to bring up the real life fire and the death of Jeff’s dog, that seemed to me like one of those lines that didn’t need to be crossed. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, from a company that crosses that line on a fairly regularly basis. Other than doing some bizarrely entertaining heel promos, Matt’s heel turn has been pretty weak, as well. He still has the same entrance music, he still wears the same outfit in the ring, and he still wrestles the same. There’s been nothing to really differentiate between Matt as a face, and Matt as a heel. Once again, another opportunity lost. They could have done so much more with this feud, but it never really got out of first gear. I don’t think most people are surprised about that. Prediction: They made it an “Extreme Rules” match, which is the current WWE jargon for “Street Fight.” That would seem to indicate that they’re blowing off this feud after the one match, since you usually work up to the gimmick match, you don’t have it right off the bat. The stipulation should hopefully free them to do some cool stuff in the ring, and I’m sure there will be the usual assortment of WWE family friendly weapons from under the ring. Just as long as it’s not stuff found around the house, right Vince? No reason to expect less than a good match from these two, it has the potential to be very good. Hopefully they give them a nice amount of time. Jeff will pick up the win. Tag Team Championship Unification Lumberjack Match: (World Tag Team Champions) John Morrison (2nd Wrestlemania appearance) and The Miz (1st Wrestlemania appearance) vs. (WWE Tag Team Champions) Carlito (4th Wrestlemania appearance) and Primo Colon (1st Wrestlemania appearance) These teams have had one of the best in-ring feuds on Smackdown over the past couple months. Morrison and Miz are one of the most entertaining acts in the company. Primo has looked impressive, and Carlito has seemed more motivated lately. And one of the reasons why they’ve faced each other so many times is there aren’t a whole lot of tag teams in WWE these days, which is why it’s a smart decision to unify both the WWE and World Tag Team Titles. The Bella Twins split up, and joined sides in this one with Brie siding with Carlito and Primo, and Nikki with Miz and Morrison. If you can tell which Bella is which, you’re a better man than me. They added the Lumberjack stipulation to get Wrestlemania payoffs for all the guys in the company that weren’t booked in a match, which I’m sure was a move appreciated throughout the WWE locker room. So you’ll have people like The Great Khali, Vladimir Kozlov, William Regal, Cryme Tyme, Mike Knox, R-Truth, Jamie Noble, Goldust, and so forth around the ring. The type of match that a Lumberjack Match usually is does sort of limit what the guys in the ring will be able to do, but it should still be a fairly good match. You have two tag teams that have meshed really well, and developed a nice chemistry together. Prediction: I think John Morrison and The Miz will go over here, to become the Unified Tag Team Champions. You might see the face Bella turn on Carlito and Primo to help the heels win. You’ll probably see all the Lumberjacks get into a brawl either inside or outside the ring at some point, since I think that spot is a pre-requisite for all Lumberjack Matches. Intercontinental Championship Match: ©John “Bradshaw” Layfield (10th Wrestlemania appearance) vs. Rey Mysterio (3rd Wrestlemania appearance) There’s not really much to say about this match, since it was thrown together at the last minute, with little or no thought put into it. They thought so little of it that they gave away the match on Raw last Monday, which just made absolutely no sense. I realize there are maybe two people in the world buying the PPV because of this match, but still, you don’t give away a PPV match on free television the week before the PPV. That is just lazy, asinine booking. If they wanted to do the Rey/JBL match to build up an issue between the two, they should have done it weeks ago. Then I could have understood it. Not the week before. JBL has said that he’s going to make history at Wrestlemania. Speculation has been running rampant that he’s going to announce his retirement at the show, and go out on top in his home state of Texas. With a new announcing vacancy on Smackdown after the departure of Tazz from the company earlier this week, it definitely would appear that there is a clear path for JBL to return to the job that he did so well before he decided to return as an active competitor at the end of 2007. But that’s assuming that JBL actually is retiring and that if he is that he even has a desire to become an announcer again. He may decide that he wants to walk off into the sunset, and become more involved in his various business interests, including his recent purchase of a huge chunk of former WWE developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling. Prediction: With Rey getting the non-title win over JBL on Raw, I would have to go with JBL to take this match, and retain his title. That’s WWE Even Steven booking 101. And then whether JBL will take to the mic, and announce his retirement is a question mark. Since the idea has gotten out in advance, it wouldn’t shock me in the least to see them scrap the idea. These two have worked together extensively over the years. They’ve had some good “big man/little man” type matches, and then they’ve had some downright awful matches. Let’s hope for the former and not the latter in this case. An interesting note is that this is Rey Mysterio’s first Wrestlemania match since he won the World Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat with Randy Orton and Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 22 in 2006. He’s been out hurt for the past two Wrestlemania’s. Rey has something to prove here, as well. He’s been largely forgotten and underutilized on Raw, and it’s expected that he will be returning to Smackdown in the post-WM draft. 25 Diva Battle Royal (Winner Becomes Miss Wrestlemania). Current Diva’s Announced For Match: Beth Phoenix, Melina, Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Jillian Hall, Rosa Mendes, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Gail Kim, Maria, Eve Torres, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Natalya Neidhart, Katie Lea Burchill, Tiffany, Alicia Fox Former Diva’s Appearing: Tammy “Sunny” Sytch, Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Victoria, Jackie Gayda There are 18 diva’s on the current roster, and five former diva’s appearing, so that leaves two spots open by my count. Bryan Alvarez mentioned earlier in the week that Vickie Guerrero was getting a crash course in wrestling, and was possibly going to be included in the match. If that’s the case, that would leave one spot open for a Trish Stratus possibly, or Mae Young surprise appearance. They mentioned Mae on commentary on Raw, so it would seem like she might be showing up. If she enters, then she’s going to win, because much like The Iron Sheik in the Gimmick Battle Royal in 2001, she can’t take a bump out of the ring. It doesn’t seem like Trish will be there, since I would think they would have announced her ahead of time if she was. But that doesn’t mean that she can’t show up as a surprise. This is going to be one of those “abandon ship” battle royals where everyone is flying out from the opening bell, and that’s probably for the best. There are other matches on the show that need the time. It’s a nice way to get all the women in the company on the show, and with some of the returning stars, it should be a fun spectacle. Prediction: If Trish shows up, she’ll win. If Mae Young shows up, she’ll win. If not, then I think a current diva should get the win, and I’ll go with Melina since she’s the current Woman’s Champion on Raw. Just look at it as my version of a trifecta, if you’re a horse racing fan. And no, that’s not a Lilian Garcia joke. There you have it, my predictions for all nine matches on the card. Just for review, my winners are: Triple H, John Cena, Undertaker, Piper/Snuka/Steamboat, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, JBL, John Morrison/The Miz, and either Trish/Mae/Melina in the battle royal. For the Hall of Fame on Saturday night you have a 2009 induction class of Steve Austin (inducted by Vince McMahon), Ricky Steamboat (Inducted by Ric Flair), Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (Inducted by Dusty Rhodes), The Von Erich Family (Inducted by Michael Hayes), “Cowboy” Bill Watts (Inducted by Jim Ross), Howard Finkel (Inducted by “Mean” Gene Okerlund), and Koko B. Ware (Inducted by The Honky Tonk Man). USA network will broadcast the induction of Austin, and whoever else they decide to air on Saturday night at 10PM ET. You can watch the other inductions starting at 7PM ET on WWE.com. It’s not the most compelling card in the world on paper, but I’m holding out hope for the fact that it’s Wrestlemania, and that Vince McMahon still knows how to deliver a good show when the chips are down. I had a similar feeling going into last year’s Wrestlemania, and it ended up being a great show. At 55 bucks again this year, it damn well better be a good show, otherwise The McMahon’s are going to have some awfully pissed off people on their hands. If you decide to get the show, I hope you enjoy it. I hope my preview has helped you decide one way or the other, if you’re still on the fence. I’ll be back next week with my thoughts on the PPV, and the fall out from everything that happens this weekend. It will be a news making weekend, one way or the other. Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care and be well. You can send feedback to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/danwahlers |
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