Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialPreviewing The Rumored WrestleMania 33 Card

Previewing The Rumored WrestleMania 33 Card

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Off of the latest WrestleMania 33 rumors, there was a lot that immediately came to mind. Ten matches are already being rumored for the main card, but I can’t help but see that there is a lot missing. Allow me to review this potential card match by match.

RAW Matches:

Bill Goldberg (C) vs. Brock Lesnar – WWE Universal Championship

Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
Great, whoever wins the title won’t matter. We’re right back in the part-time champions era again. Dammit.

I think it’s obvious Brock is going over here, but that’s what makes the booking of this so confusing. Goldberg has done away with Brock within a COMBINED 2 minutes in their encounters at Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. If I were to tell this to a WWE fan who doesn’t look at WWE booking tendencies, why should they believe Goldberg has any chance of losing? It’s a serious question. A part of me believes that this match will be a quick squash in favor of Lesnar. Maybe Lesnar dodges the spear and catches him in consecutive F-5’s. I also don’t think that the match will be very long, just because it’s been seen that Goldberg hasn’t been in any extended action upon his return (he does look visibly winded after doing minimal work), and I don’t see him going very long here. Now this title match is on the assumption that he beats Kevin Owens for the Universal Title, and while Goldberg/Lesnar certainly doesn’t need the title, it does seem likely. However, I would absolutely loathe Lesnar holding another title just for him to come on RAW periodically and only fight for big matches. Back when Lesnar won the WWE Title about two and a half years ago, (he won it at Summerslam), he didn’t defend the title at Hell In A Cell, TLC, Survivor Series or Fastlane. I’m afraid we’d be in for a similar fate with Lesnar holding the Universal Title. I hear WWE doesn’t want KO walking into WrestleMania as Universal Champion, but Bray Wyatt is rumored to be walking into WrestleMania as WWE Champion. Like, come on.

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H

Sadly, it looks like Seth Rollins’ quest for revenge will have to wait with his recent injury.

Now, of course, this match is up in the air due to Seth Rollins’ knee injury I am certainly hoping that he can return in time for WrestleMania, because it’d be a shame if someone with his talents would have to sit back to watch the past two WrestleMania matches. This match has been pretty much one and a half years in the making because their rumored dissension has been going on since right before Rollins went down with his first knee injury. Usually, feuds culminate at WrestleMania, and Seth Rollins vs. Triple H not happening at WrestleMania would really put WWE in an awkward position, because Rollins facing Joe to get to Triple H would the most logical way to go, and it would then make Triple H’s new WrestleMania opponent even more awkward. It’s been rumored that if Seth isn’t cleared to go, Samoa Joe could move on to Smackdown to face John Cena. The other alternative is somehow within 10 weeks, Samoa Joe finds a reason to turn on Triple H and the two have that match. Either way, the outcome isn’t what a Seth Rollins match would bring. Seth would probably go over here to finally get his revenge, but if history has shown us anything, Triple H can always book himself to win a match he has no business winning, like his WrestleMania match with Sting two years ago.

Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho

This feud has been a long time in the making. But it would mean much more with a title at stake.

This is another match that has been in the making for quite some time now. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens formed a bond in the summer of last year, and have been practically inseparable for the majority of their time together. They have teased tension between the two and went as far as to temporarily ending their friendship. However, the two have rekindled their flame of friendship, and since then, Owens has since successfully defended his Universal Title against Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho won the only title that has eluded him, being the United States Championship. Now, the only question that remains is whether or not this will be a match for the US Title or if Jericho will drop the title to someone else (if anyone, it’s probably Sami Zayn) beforehand. Putting the two of these men in a Universal Title match was what would make the most sense between the two in the context of their friendship, but what we got is what we got. I can see why WWE doesn’t want KO to hold the Universal Title going into WrestleMania, but is Brock Lesnar really a better alternative? Anyways, Jericho’s tenure in WWE is set to end at around May, so it may only make sense to give the younger KO the rub in this match, but I believe it would have much more incentive if a title was on the line.

 

RAW Women’s Championship: Charlotte (C) vs. Nia Jax vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

raw-women
What do you do when you don’t know what to do with people but want them all together? Jam them all into a match.

Here we have the four primary attractions for the women’s division on RAW combined into one match. I think it’s clear here that Bayley will get her WrestleMania moment, and while Nia Jax isn’t Becky Lynch, I certainly think this match can produce the goods if given enough time. I think this would also be a great way to facilitate a heel turn for Sasha Banks if she were to be the one to take the pinfall at WrestleMania. Since the two have a history with each other from their NXT days, I think the rest can fall into place. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s work as top dog for the RAW Women’s division ought to be commended because nobody has been able to touch her in terms of the consistency of her ring work and how she’s able to carry the roster. Nia Jax has also served her role well as a monster heel, and while I believe there are certain things that she can work on, I’m sure she will get her shine sometime down the line. I don’t really have any complaints here.

The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal

Just don’t get me started with this.

This match, however, I got an issue with. Not only does it feature a non-wrestler competing in the ring, it sends the message on what WrestleMania is really about. WrestleMania isn’t about great matches so much as its about great moments. Now the supposed beef between these two goes back to 2009 when Shaq once guest hosted Monday Night RAW and the two had a staredown. Following that seven years later, Shaq appeared all of a sudden in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal and had another showdown with The Big Show. The two traded chokeslam holds and were eliminated simultaneously. Then, sometime last year The Big Show called out Shaq for a match on Twitter, and Shaq clapped back. So then, naturally they have a match. My fear is that the crowd will trash this match out of the building. I’m a huge NBA fan, and Shaq was one of my favorite players growing up, so it would be very awkward to see one of my favorite players getting booed for being in a match that he really has no business in being. It also sort of bugs me this match is supposedly on the main card because based on the rumor, both mid-card titles, tag titles and the Smackdown Women’s Title isn’t a part of the main card, which is also sad. There have been rumors going on that this could be The Big Show’s final match, and since this will probably be Shaq’s only match, MAYBE Shaq wins? This wouldn’t be Big Show’s first WrestleMania loss to a non-WWE entity (Floyd Mayweather, Akebono). This match can only be a success if it doesn’t go longer than 5 minutes.

Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

If this is Undertaker’s swan song, I don’t think this is the way to go.

This really started at the Royal Rumble when Roman Reigns entered the Rumble match surprisingly as the final entrant. Upon entering, he eliminated The Undertaker and gave him the stare of death after the match, a mere tease of things likely to come. The Undertaker is probably going to appear on RAW at some point and screw Roman over, perhaps his probable match with Braun Strowman at Fastlane. Whatever the case is, I believe this would be the perfect opportunity to turn Roman heel. The Undertaker has become such a famed, revereed figure in WWE and his time competing in the ring may be coming to an end with hip replacement surgery coming for The Deadman after WrestleMania. Maybe have Roman build up that anger, beat him up bad, perhaps beat him at WrestleMania (though it would kind of suck) and then Roman cna claim he crippled the Deadman and forced him to retire, if that’s the route they want to go. However, I believe WWE is missing a huge opportunity by not having Cena be the one to Face The Undertaker in what may be his final WrestleMania match. People have said that the only dream match left for The Undertaker would be a match with WCW icon, Sting. However, that ship has long since sailed, and the Franchise remains the only big name left on the roster worthy to face The Undertaker one on one at WrestleMania. Roman Reigns has already won the WWE Title three times, he’s main evented WrestleMania two straight times and has effectively become WWE’s next golden boy. But this match with Undertaker wouldn’t propel him any more than where he’s at right now.

Smackdown Matches:

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

If AJ can get a **** match out of Shane in 2017, give him the WWE Title forever.

What a travesty if this were to actually take place. AJ Styles has been far and away the best talent WWE has to offer ever since he signed onto the company one year ago. The consistency of his matches, the way he’s gotten over with the crowd manually after a bit of a rocky start and his place as an established main eventer all correlates to a justified treatment as a top tier superstar. Last year he lost his first match at WrestleMania against Chris jericho. However, Jericho’s a future WWE Hall of Famer who’s proven in his recent run with WWE that he can still produce at a high level. However, a WWE Title run and countless memorable matches later, and what does WWE give The Phenomenal One in his second WrestleMania match? A meeting with a man who has no business in a WWE ring at this juncture and someone who really can’t even be considered a wrestler. Who? Smackdown LIVE’s commissioner, Shane McMahon. Apparently, they have been teasing the tension between the two from Shane’s consistent decisions that seems to be a bias towards the former WWE Champion. Whether it was giving John Cena a WWE Title match that AJ felt like he didn’t deserve to his announcement towards the Elimination Chamber, ti’s starting to become more and more clear that AJ’s opponent will be in fact, Shane. But honestly, really? WWE has a history of not treating talents who deserves better treatment and matches, but AJ’s an extraordinary case. Why should Shane be believed that he poses any threat to AJ? More importantly, why bother waste time to give him a match at WrestleMania? Shane’s return one year ago was great for shock value, and while his match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania was massively underwhelming, it was passable at the very least. But in terms of producing in the ring, whether it was taking Baron Corbin’s spot at Survivor Series to the rumors of him facing guys like Triple H or Brock Lesnar, he’s long since overstayed his welcome. It’s a shame that after losing the WWE Title to John (and he’s likely to drop it to Bray Wyatt at the Elimination Chamber), he’s relegated to this. Guess that’s how the cookie crumbles.

Bray Wyatt (C) vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship

Better booking could have made this better, but what we got is what we got I guess.

I’m a huge Randy Orton fan for those of you who don’t know, so him winning the Royal Rumble match was something that I was completely okay with. What I’m not okay with is how the WWE Championship is seemingly going to be passed around like dominos. If in fact Randy Orton comes away with the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33 facing Bray Wyatt as champion, then that means we would have four different WWE Champions within the span of four months. This is what makes John Cena winning the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble kind of frustrating. It’s not the fact that Cena won because he certainly deserves it. I just think it was at the wrong time. If the plan for the WWE Title was a feud between Wyatt and Orton, why bother making Cena win a historic 16th world title when he’s just going to drop it in two weeks in a reign no one would remember? If you’d like to know what my scenario would be, I would have AJ retain the title at the Royal Rumble (maybe by DQ or AJ cheats and wins) and have Orton win the Rumble match. Then, AJ would win the Elimination Chamber, and Orton puts his WrestleMania title match on the line against Bray, and Orton would win that. Then, John Cena chooses to invoke his one on one rematch clause at WrestleMania and we have a Cena/Orton/AJ triple threat WWE Title match at WrestleMania, and Cena could win there. Then, he could perhaps drop it to Bray at, say, Summerslam. I just don’t like how quickly WWE is progressing from the reign of Styles and how great his matches were with Cena, but that’s just me anyways. I also think that fans would be more receptive to having Bray win the rumble and entering WrestleMania as the challenger for his first world title as opposed to Orton challenging for his 13th world title.

John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

This match would be better suited for a SD main event than a WrestleMania pass time.

Didn’t think I’d see the day where Cena wouldn’t have a marquee match at a WrestleMania. The bottom line is that this match would be better suited for the main event of Smackdown as opposed to WrestleMania. John Cena and The Miz do have a history, especially at WrestleMania in which The Miz won due to interference from The Rock. Maybe The Miz brings that up again or something. This is also being rumored to be the final match of Nikki Bella’s career due to nagging neck issues. So I don’t mind the match necessarily for the women, though it’s kind of skeptical why they would bring Maryse back into the ring when they haven’t even bothered to give her a match upon returning with The Miz last year. I’m never a fan of mixed tag matches because the flow is all off, the result is often predictable, and they can become boring sometimes when they transfer from the men to the women. It’s also worth noting that I’ve just went through AJ, Cena, Miz, Orton and Wyatt, and these are the top matches representing the Smackdown brand which, for all intents and purposes have been much better than RAW for the most part since the brand split.

 

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Also known as the match for people we don’t really care that much about, but we’ll give them…..something.

The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal has lost its luster if it had any to begin with. The winner doesn’t receive anything. Not a title shot or anything, just a trophy depicting Andre in all of his giangtic-ness. The first winner in 2014, Cesaro, won by showing an incredible feat of strength, by placing The Big Show over his shoulders and dumping him in short order over the top rope. However, that win didn’t propel his career as he would continue with a failed alliance with Paul Heyman and he quickly went nowhere. In 2015, The Big Show won and obviously he didn’t receive any sort of push for that as it was only meant to give a side by side comparison between him and Andre. Last year’s winner, Baron Corbin, has only recently started to become a more prominent name. After winning, he went into a repetitive feud with Dolph Ziggler and was seldom seen on Smackdown LIVE for weeks on end only up until now. With this rumored card, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn among others are missing from the main card, so this edition may be more star studded than others.  This year, if I’m a betting man, I’d say Braun Strowman wins, and I think he’s the only man that would make sense. After a disappointing showing at the Royal Rumble, perhaps he makes up for it with winning this Battle Royal, and maybe this could lead to him winning the Universal Championship down the line.

 

Just to make some observations, look at RAW’s top matches and look at Smackdown’s top matches. RAW features all of the part-timers WWE continues to rely on during WrestleMania season such as Triple H and The Undertaker. Smackdown’s top title match is Orton and Wyatt, a match that we’ve seen before. RAW’s top title match features Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, and the action between the two have been brief at best. I also look at these 10 predicted, and likely matches for WrestleMania and I also can’t help but notice the lack of title matches for the mid-card. Both the US and Intercontinental Titles are nowhere to be seen here and the women’s championship for the Smackdown brand as well as both tag team titles are missing. Now I’m assuming those may be taken care of on the pre-show, but that shows one of the flaws of the brand split. There may not be enough room to fit in everyone. WrestleMania looks to be in excess of six hours again this year, and I’m not sure how much the fans will be able to take. In all candor, looking at this card, I can’t help but be massively disappointed and underwhelmed. All of these matches are either

WrestleMania looks to be in excess of six hours again this year, and I’m not sure how much the fans will be able to take. In all candor, looking at this card, I can’t help but be massively disappointed and underwhelmed. All of these matches are either matches we haven’t seen, matches that shouldn’t be happening or matches that are unoriginal. WrestleMania will be a success either way just because people go there for the experience, but if WWE maintains this course of booking for the next month and a half, WrestleMania will look to be another missed opportunity this year.

What do you think of this card? Do you like it? Let me know. Until next time.

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