Post by Barrett on Mar 31, 2011 15:30:43 GMT -5
Alright, peeps, here's my traditional fantasy booking of how I would handle the show if hypothetically given the opportunity.
Intro Note: why have they never kicked off a WM with a video package set to "Right Now" by Van Halen (a song they did actually used to use for a video during live events back in '03 or '04) or "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls? Either one would be perfect.
United States Championship: Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
I know some people expect The Rock to open the show and while that does make sense, since he is the host, I really don't want the biggest show of the year to start with an in-ring promo. Now, an idea I just had was that they could cut to the back after the rendition of the America The Beautiful and have a quick shot of The Rock welcoming everyone before going with the regular intro/pyro/whatnot. Anyway, I think that after the pyro flies, the best choice to open the show is the United States Championship match. How many PPVs has Daniel Bryan stolen since his debut? You gotta know that he's going to pull out all the stops in his first WM match. And last year Sheamus proved in his matches with Morrison that he can go with the right opponent. So I expect a solid-at-worst contest here. The only thing that can hurt them is if WWE sticks with their habit of keeping the opening match five minutes or less. Give these guys at least ten minutes and this show will be off to a great start.
In-Ring Segment: The Rock welcomes the WWE Universe to Wrestlemania. Chances are, The Rock will be given more time to speak throughout the PPV than any one match, aside from maybe HHH/'Taker, will get all night. I'd like it if they found ways for him to interact with as many superstars as possible, as up until now we've only seen him address Cena, Miz, and Riley. One thing that I think would be cool would be to have The Corre interrupt him and surround the ring, early-Nexus style. Perhaps Barrett cuts a promo on The Rock and how they're going to make a statement tonight. I don't know how well it would work, though, to have them start to beat him down. Does Rock lay the Smackdown on all four guys? Does The Corre deliver a decent beatdown, and if so how would that effect the rest of his hosting gig? Given how long the entrance aisles are for WMs, even if Show/Kane/Santino/Kozlov ran down to save him, The Corre would still have 30-60 seconds to do some damage if they so chose. Anyway, I'm throwing it out there, but I don't expect anything to come of it.
8 Man Tag Team Match: The Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Corre
So after their interaction with The Rock, The Corre's match gets underway. I think they have a much better chance of winning with the addition of Santino and Kozlov. Barrett or Gabriel gets the pin on one of those guys and they win in a quick fashion a'la the six man tag from WMX7.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
This match has potential, and I'm glad that Cody Rhodes is getting a shot to be on the card, but since I'm not much of a Mysterio fan, I don't have high hopes for it. I wish he was as consistantly entertaining as he always is at the Elimination Chamber PPVs. Of all shows to bring your A+ game. I'd like to see Rhodes get the win, but honestly I'm predicting far more heels to win on the show than I am faces. So I could see them giving Rey the win here, with Rhodes putting him out of action in a much more aggressive match at Extreme Rules. Here, Rey can win by some mere mistake on Rhodes's part. Maybe he worries about his face after a move for just a second too long, giving Rey the chance to pick up the win.
John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool
Not gonna lie, wouldn't bother me at all if the WWE decided to pull Snooki from the actual match at the last minute and just have a handicap match featuring a Snooki appearance. Unfortunately, I doubt she'll pull a Jeff Hardy and show up unable to perform so hopefully Snooki's involvement is kept to a minimum. They can save her for the end of the match, when she pins Layla and then beats down Vickie Guerrero. Before that, hopefully we get a lot of Morrison/Ziggler goodness with a decent bit of Stratusfaction.
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
Unlike a lot of people, I don't think Punk needs the win here. He's got the momentum going into the match, and traditionally WM is the show where the heels get what's coming to them. Given Orton's leg in the storyline though, I don't have too much faith in the match. I'd love to be proved wrong, but matches where one man has to sell an injury don't tend to play out well (see: Jericho/Triple H from WMX8). Chances are, that no matter what happens, just when it appears that Punk is on the verge of winning, Orotn will hit a goddamn-RKO-out-of-nowhere and win it.
World Heavyweight Championship: Edge w/ Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Brodus Clay
A lot of people are predicting a Christian heel turn. I still don't think that makes any sense. He's gone to war with Del Rio and no matter what his feelings may or not be for his brother/pal Edge, he's got to be the lesser of two evils here. I'd still like to see Christian inadvertantly cost Edge the match. Let's say Brodus becomes a major factor, throwing shots at Edge every time he gets the slightest chance when the ref isn't looking. Christian takes him out about halfway through the match. With Del Rio's ace in the hole out of commission temporarily, Edge gains momentum for a while. Clay slides the championship to Del Rio but Christian sees it and intercepts. He figures if they want to play dirty, so can he. He runs to hit Del Rio but he dodges and Christian winds up hitting Edge. Clay slides into the ring and takes out Christian. (SSSHHEEEEEE!!!) Del Rio puts the finishing touches on Edge, then covers him for the three count. Del Rio, Clay, and Ricardo Rodriguez scurry to the car that Del Rio had driven to the ring and speed off. Clay drives, Del Rio poses with the belt, and Ricardo nearly orgasms as he announces the new champion. In the ring, there's some tension between Edge and Christian but nothing more at this point. They can slow build from here to a match at Summerslam.
No Holds Barred: Triple H vs. The Undertaker
Both men have hella-impressive entrances that will probably eat up at least ten minutes on their own. With the stipulation, there's no excuse for the match to suck. At some point, HBK runs down and interferes. I can't decide who I'd rather see him superkick, so I'll just let them surprise me. An argument could be made for either man: 'Taker so that he can help in finally ending the streak, or HHH because if he couldn't end the streak, no one else should be able to. The latter option would seem like it'd lead to at least one more match for HBK, so I'm not sure how likely that is. Regardless, Undertaker's winning so I just hope the it's a fun ride to the destination.
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs. Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger - special guest referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin
So much could happen in this match. Does JR get payback on Cole? Do the Divas (or just Eve) retalliate for his treatment toward them? Will Stone Cold even try to call this match down the middle, or even keep it organized like a match or will he let all hell break loose? Lawler's definitely winning no matter what happens and I expect this to just be 10-15 minutes of pure fun. This match could go anywhere on the card, but you're about to see why I put it here.
In-Ring Segment: Stone Cold celebrates with Lawler. The Rock joins in on the beer bash, has a brief moment with Stone Cold, and then announces he's not going anywhere. He's staying at ringside for the main event.
WWE Championship: The Miz vs. John Cena
My biggest fear is that the match will be rushed, or that no one will care about it, due to the inevitable Rock involvement at the end. (Remember those first two PPVs after the Nexus debuted where we all just wanted them to show up and make an impact and didn't give a crapabout the main events? Yeah. That's what I don't want here.) Perhaps The Rock can be taken out early on. Maybe Cena/Miz take it outside of the ring and Rock gets taken out in the process. Toward the end of the match, the ref gets knocked out and the crowd starts chanting for The Rock. Cena's about to hit the five knuckle shuffle when The Rock slides into the ring and gives him a Rock Bottom. He stands over him and trash talks for a moment before Miz delivers the Skull Crushing Finale. He kicks The Rock out of the ring. The ref starts to stur just as Cena begins to move and Miz delivers a SCF to him too, pins him, and picks up the victory. He gets on the mic and starts boasting, but The Rock delivers a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow to him (and maybe Riley too) to send the crowd home happy. If they want to take it a step further and develop The Rock/Cena feud on this night, they can have them stand toe-to-toe and end the show with them brawling and having to be separated by officials. But I could see them saving something like that for the night after. Still, would be a neat, new way to end WM.
Intro Note: why have they never kicked off a WM with a video package set to "Right Now" by Van Halen (a song they did actually used to use for a video during live events back in '03 or '04) or "Better Days" by Goo Goo Dolls? Either one would be perfect.
United States Championship: Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan
I know some people expect The Rock to open the show and while that does make sense, since he is the host, I really don't want the biggest show of the year to start with an in-ring promo. Now, an idea I just had was that they could cut to the back after the rendition of the America The Beautiful and have a quick shot of The Rock welcoming everyone before going with the regular intro/pyro/whatnot. Anyway, I think that after the pyro flies, the best choice to open the show is the United States Championship match. How many PPVs has Daniel Bryan stolen since his debut? You gotta know that he's going to pull out all the stops in his first WM match. And last year Sheamus proved in his matches with Morrison that he can go with the right opponent. So I expect a solid-at-worst contest here. The only thing that can hurt them is if WWE sticks with their habit of keeping the opening match five minutes or less. Give these guys at least ten minutes and this show will be off to a great start.
In-Ring Segment: The Rock welcomes the WWE Universe to Wrestlemania. Chances are, The Rock will be given more time to speak throughout the PPV than any one match, aside from maybe HHH/'Taker, will get all night. I'd like it if they found ways for him to interact with as many superstars as possible, as up until now we've only seen him address Cena, Miz, and Riley. One thing that I think would be cool would be to have The Corre interrupt him and surround the ring, early-Nexus style. Perhaps Barrett cuts a promo on The Rock and how they're going to make a statement tonight. I don't know how well it would work, though, to have them start to beat him down. Does Rock lay the Smackdown on all four guys? Does The Corre deliver a decent beatdown, and if so how would that effect the rest of his hosting gig? Given how long the entrance aisles are for WMs, even if Show/Kane/Santino/Kozlov ran down to save him, The Corre would still have 30-60 seconds to do some damage if they so chose. Anyway, I'm throwing it out there, but I don't expect anything to come of it.
8 Man Tag Team Match: The Big Show, Kane, Santino Marella, and Vladimir Kozlov vs. The Corre
So after their interaction with The Rock, The Corre's match gets underway. I think they have a much better chance of winning with the addition of Santino and Kozlov. Barrett or Gabriel gets the pin on one of those guys and they win in a quick fashion a'la the six man tag from WMX7.
Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
This match has potential, and I'm glad that Cody Rhodes is getting a shot to be on the card, but since I'm not much of a Mysterio fan, I don't have high hopes for it. I wish he was as consistantly entertaining as he always is at the Elimination Chamber PPVs. Of all shows to bring your A+ game. I'd like to see Rhodes get the win, but honestly I'm predicting far more heels to win on the show than I am faces. So I could see them giving Rey the win here, with Rhodes putting him out of action in a much more aggressive match at Extreme Rules. Here, Rey can win by some mere mistake on Rhodes's part. Maybe he worries about his face after a move for just a second too long, giving Rey the chance to pick up the win.
John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki vs. Dolph Ziggler and LayCool
Not gonna lie, wouldn't bother me at all if the WWE decided to pull Snooki from the actual match at the last minute and just have a handicap match featuring a Snooki appearance. Unfortunately, I doubt she'll pull a Jeff Hardy and show up unable to perform so hopefully Snooki's involvement is kept to a minimum. They can save her for the end of the match, when she pins Layla and then beats down Vickie Guerrero. Before that, hopefully we get a lot of Morrison/Ziggler goodness with a decent bit of Stratusfaction.
Randy Orton vs. CM Punk
Unlike a lot of people, I don't think Punk needs the win here. He's got the momentum going into the match, and traditionally WM is the show where the heels get what's coming to them. Given Orton's leg in the storyline though, I don't have too much faith in the match. I'd love to be proved wrong, but matches where one man has to sell an injury don't tend to play out well (see: Jericho/Triple H from WMX8). Chances are, that no matter what happens, just when it appears that Punk is on the verge of winning, Orotn will hit a goddamn-RKO-out-of-nowhere and win it.
World Heavyweight Championship: Edge w/ Christian vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Brodus Clay
A lot of people are predicting a Christian heel turn. I still don't think that makes any sense. He's gone to war with Del Rio and no matter what his feelings may or not be for his brother/pal Edge, he's got to be the lesser of two evils here. I'd still like to see Christian inadvertantly cost Edge the match. Let's say Brodus becomes a major factor, throwing shots at Edge every time he gets the slightest chance when the ref isn't looking. Christian takes him out about halfway through the match. With Del Rio's ace in the hole out of commission temporarily, Edge gains momentum for a while. Clay slides the championship to Del Rio but Christian sees it and intercepts. He figures if they want to play dirty, so can he. He runs to hit Del Rio but he dodges and Christian winds up hitting Edge. Clay slides into the ring and takes out Christian. (SSSHHEEEEEE!!!) Del Rio puts the finishing touches on Edge, then covers him for the three count. Del Rio, Clay, and Ricardo Rodriguez scurry to the car that Del Rio had driven to the ring and speed off. Clay drives, Del Rio poses with the belt, and Ricardo nearly orgasms as he announces the new champion. In the ring, there's some tension between Edge and Christian but nothing more at this point. They can slow build from here to a match at Summerslam.
No Holds Barred: Triple H vs. The Undertaker
Both men have hella-impressive entrances that will probably eat up at least ten minutes on their own. With the stipulation, there's no excuse for the match to suck. At some point, HBK runs down and interferes. I can't decide who I'd rather see him superkick, so I'll just let them surprise me. An argument could be made for either man: 'Taker so that he can help in finally ending the streak, or HHH because if he couldn't end the streak, no one else should be able to. The latter option would seem like it'd lead to at least one more match for HBK, so I'm not sure how likely that is. Regardless, Undertaker's winning so I just hope the it's a fun ride to the destination.
Jerry "The King" Lawler vs. Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger - special guest referee: Stone Cold Steve Austin
So much could happen in this match. Does JR get payback on Cole? Do the Divas (or just Eve) retalliate for his treatment toward them? Will Stone Cold even try to call this match down the middle, or even keep it organized like a match or will he let all hell break loose? Lawler's definitely winning no matter what happens and I expect this to just be 10-15 minutes of pure fun. This match could go anywhere on the card, but you're about to see why I put it here.
In-Ring Segment: Stone Cold celebrates with Lawler. The Rock joins in on the beer bash, has a brief moment with Stone Cold, and then announces he's not going anywhere. He's staying at ringside for the main event.
WWE Championship: The Miz vs. John Cena
My biggest fear is that the match will be rushed, or that no one will care about it, due to the inevitable Rock involvement at the end. (Remember those first two PPVs after the Nexus debuted where we all just wanted them to show up and make an impact and didn't give a crapabout the main events? Yeah. That's what I don't want here.) Perhaps The Rock can be taken out early on. Maybe Cena/Miz take it outside of the ring and Rock gets taken out in the process. Toward the end of the match, the ref gets knocked out and the crowd starts chanting for The Rock. Cena's about to hit the five knuckle shuffle when The Rock slides into the ring and gives him a Rock Bottom. He stands over him and trash talks for a moment before Miz delivers the Skull Crushing Finale. He kicks The Rock out of the ring. The ref starts to stur just as Cena begins to move and Miz delivers a SCF to him too, pins him, and picks up the victory. He gets on the mic and starts boasting, but The Rock delivers a Rock Bottom and People's Elbow to him (and maybe Riley too) to send the crowd home happy. If they want to take it a step further and develop The Rock/Cena feud on this night, they can have them stand toe-to-toe and end the show with them brawling and having to be separated by officials. But I could see them saving something like that for the night after. Still, would be a neat, new way to end WM.
