Booking Your WrestleMania Card
by , 11-23-2012 at 07:57 PM (5617 Views)
OK. After seeing a few fantasy match cards, allow me to remind or educate you on WWE WrestleMania logic. Now, every year, WWE puts on the "Biggest show of the year", "The Grandest stage of them all," "The Pinnacle of Sports Entertainment"....WrestleMania, and we watch in anticipation of what's gonna happen, and every year, they give us something to cheer about, and talk abut the next day and weeks and even months. And it never fails to give us something memorable to call it a WrestleMania. And here's some reasons why:
1st, WWE has been on top for a long time, and ever since the first Mania, they have bet their bottom dollar on it every year, that's why it's so huge! (Probably not literally all their money but you know) And they have to go big, every year it's March to April, and they have to make huge decisions before the big show(not Paul Wight) that means they must push young guys, in the middle of the year. to get them ready so they can be show cased. To get all the big names ready and young talent to get over, sometimes I think WWE forgets about this due to WretleMania 27. But This is why WWE does pre-planning from the end of one Mania through the entire year, and mainly the plans start in the fall, to establish stars for the big match they will have, the payoff to the planning. preparations start back, but not too obvious, like where Santino Marella's Intercontinental Title reign was gonna beat Honky Tonk Man's, which was 64 weeks. and I wondered what they were gonna do with this build and calculated,(and I'm sure many others did too) how many weeks was it till Mania, and it was 32 weeks, halfway. So I assumed they were gonna have Honky return by Mania and have him face Santino. Now if WWE actually planned this or not, because a Legend can't beat a young guy and bury him and win a title on the biggest night of the year, so Santino would have to beat Honky Tonk Man as a stepping stone or something. This didn't happen due to Honky returning on Cyber Sunday, and Santina winning oh so retarded Miss WrestleMania battle royal(which took the spot of the Tag Title unification match because of Kid Rock's concert). So I guess what I am saying is, WWE has a possible plan with what's gonna happen at WrestleMania by NOW, and immediately assuming the matches or rivalries happening NOW are gonna be on the card of WrestleMania would be pretty predictable and disappointing.
2nd, The show's all about Getting your biggest names out there on that stage and making a match that could give off electricity the fans can feel, so that's what WWE does every year, that's why Undertaker was facing off against HBK & HHH for the past 4 years at Mania, because no one else as big can make the Undertaker's final matches meaningful, it is arguable that WWE could've built up Sheamus and Wade Barrett to face him, but the HBK thing ran a little too well for anyone else to face him in 2010, and the whole End of an Era Hell in a Cell needed building, so they fought at WM27. You gotta go with the right choices. I'm not saying create a multi-year WrestleMania story for it to go hell, I am saying, make it the biggest show every year, be all to end all, put the big names together, in a way that they haven't fought before or in a long time. And you can't waste matches by putting ALL your big names in one basket, it would've sucked if Vince put Austin & Rock against HHH at a WrestleMania match, or Undertaker, just like how putting HHH, Taker, & Lesnar in a triple threat match at WrestleMania would be a stupid idea, when those guys deserve to have one on one matches, and you could have one of them face off against an up and comer on the stage.
3rd, Sometimes WWE puts matches together with a story, and it sometimes kills the match potential, the prime example is the WWE Championship Match this year, we were all excited to see who was the "Best in the World" but the last minute change by Johnny Ace, adding if Punk was DQ'd, he'd lose his title, and that really brought my expectations down and set the mood that the long anticipated match wasn't gonna be the match was wanted to see. Sure it had it's moments, but it wasn't the show stealer we thought it was gonna be. And sometimes, the story works out, like the WM27 main event, the story was predictable that Miz was gonna face Cena, we knew Rock was the host to only set up for "Once in a Life Time" so why did the match happen? but then, the promo came on, Miz's career being well documented and really catching many by surprise, me anyway, and then the entrance happened...This is a WrestleMania main event, but then the match started and ended crudely on double count out. Rocky saves the night by doing what he was there to do, screw Cena out of the title. The story helps, and sometimes it doesn't, but one thing to remember, UFC puts matches that look good on paper, to see who could win the fight, why not that be the case in WWE? Batista & Taker had a kinda poor build, but the match was still bad ass on paper, because it was their 1st meeting, undefeated champion vs the streak, just that alone made WrestleMania 23 huge. Some matches are best left just one on one, a good story could be the rich topping to it. But if you gotta dig deep in a story to make it something that you want to be seen in high regard, then don't kill yourself over it. If I HAVE to emotionally invest in the match, then don't bother.
4th, see what's happening right now, look past what's gonna happen at the PPV, look past the hype and look what's happening now. See what WWE's really planning, CM Punk HAS to retain no matter what till Rumble to face Rock, and now, during the match, John Cena is gonna screw Rock out of the title, because Rock screwed him back in '11 to set up for the match. The clues are all there, John Cena's gonna face Rock at WrestleMania for the second time, because of the hype the DVD made, Cena's never lost in a rivalry as big as one with Rock, and how Rock is returning right before WrestleMania?....now, Rock vs Cena II's gonna happen, and the "Once in a Life Time" isn't a guarantee, you can argue all you want, it's only to sell the 1st match, and now it's gonna happen again, because Cena needs to beat Rock, no matter what. The plan's already in motion. How do I know Rock's gonna lose? because he can't be WWE champion again, Cena needs a reason to face him again. I may be sticking my foot in my mouth by doing this, but it's the truth. If Rock does beat Punk, then that means Cena's gonna be the WWE champion again...and it'll only make us hate him more. As you noticed recently, Cena's been losing in title matches, he's had the title too many damn times already, that it is CM Punk's time. This is why I think Punk's gonna retain till Mania, because they need the title on the line to make another main event, which would be the better thing to do.
Or, although, the rematch can happen at WrestleMania 30, because if they don't, I can't see Cena facing anyone worthy enough if he beat Rock, and if Punk faces Austin at Mania 29, and with Lesnar only having a one year deal, Taker will be getting inducted, HHH might have one more match, but that's it. What other main event can they make? Wow, WrestleMania 30 is not looking good.
So, in short, 1) Build up talent or stories to climax at Mania, 2)Don't put in matches because they are happening now, 3)Put your best matches together, 4) Don't put all you big names in one match, 5) Don't make ideas too obvious and think reasonably. 6) Spread your card out evenly so the guys people wanna see are in different, but good, matches.
That is all. Book your WrestleMania card not too damn obvious. Unless WWE does, then do what the hell you want.
P.S.: Just because WWE allows you to hear that Rock's returning by Rumble and or any other WrestleMania plans, doesn't mean you are smarter than WWE and that they are "predictable" it only means you took the bait, hook, line and sinker.






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