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Post by theironyuppie on Mar 11, 2024 5:17:54 GMT -5
Now, that's it's official, I can post these facts: It will be the 2nd year in a row that people wrestled on both nights at WrestleMania. Rhodes & Reigns will become the only men to main event both Nights of WrestleMania & Reigns will then beat Hulk Hogan's record of the most Mania Main Events with 9. It will be the 2nd year in a row a Tag Match will be the main event of WrestleMania & the 1st time a World Champion will be in a Tag Team Match at WrestleMania since Hulk Hogan at WM 1. It will be The Rock's 1st match since he defeated Erick Rowan at WM 32 on 4/3/16. It'll also be the fourth consecutive Mania with someone wrestling two matches. (WM 37 had Taminamania, WM 38 had Pat McAfee wrestle Austin Theory and then Vince.)
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BRV
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Post by BRV on Mar 11, 2024 9:20:44 GMT -5
We have four episodes of Raw and four (honestly, three) episodes of SmackDown until WrestleMania XL and there are only five matches scheduled at this moment.
Granted, we'll know by the end of Raw tonight who'll be fighting Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship, and matches like Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso, AJ Styles vs. LA Knight, the United States Championship triple threat, and Santos Escobar vs. Rey Mysterio feel like foregone conclusions that are just awaiting the official announcement, but that leaves a LOT of key players still up in the air with less than a month until WrestleMania.
It's time for WWE to stop being Sunday Drivers on the Road to WrestleMania and start accelerating.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 11, 2024 9:28:41 GMT -5
We have four episodes of Raw and four (honestly, three) episodes of SmackDown until WrestleMania XL and there are only five matches scheduled at this moment. Granted, we'll know by the end of Raw tonight who'll be fighting Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship, and matches like Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso, AJ Styles vs. LA Knight, the United States Championship triple threat, and Santos Escobar vs. Rey Mysterio feel like foregone conclusions that are just awaiting the official announcement, but that leaves a LOT of key players still up in the air with less than a month until WrestleMania. It's time for WWE to stop being Sunday Drivers on the Road to WrestleMania and start accelerating. I think pretty much everyone that will have a match at Mania (outside of showcase matches or battle royals) is already involved in their feuds. Who is really directionless at this point? Iβm assuming guys like Lashley, Kross, the losers of the IC gauntlet are going to end up in a battle royal. Same with Jade, Nia, Liv (unless they do a Liv-Nia one on one match). Naomi and Bianca are being pitted against Damage CTRL. Awesome Truth are likely the tag title contenders.
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mj0mn0m
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Post by mj0mn0m on Mar 11, 2024 9:39:16 GMT -5
WrestleMania w/o Liv (especially after being the featured/runner-up/main_focus in past big shows) would be a let down for sure.
If the 4-Way doesn't happen...
Book a showcase match involving her at least. Just a body in a f***ing Battle Royal? Yainks.
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Wants him some Taco Flavored Kisses.
Posts: 17,012
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Post by BRV on Mar 11, 2024 11:25:30 GMT -5
We have four episodes of Raw and four (honestly, three) episodes of SmackDown until WrestleMania XL and there are only five matches scheduled at this moment. Granted, we'll know by the end of Raw tonight who'll be fighting Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship, and matches like Jimmy Uso vs. Jey Uso, AJ Styles vs. LA Knight, the United States Championship triple threat, and Santos Escobar vs. Rey Mysterio feel like foregone conclusions that are just awaiting the official announcement, but that leaves a LOT of key players still up in the air with less than a month until WrestleMania. It's time for WWE to stop being Sunday Drivers on the Road to WrestleMania and start accelerating. I think pretty much everyone that will have a match at Mania (outside of showcase matches or battle royals) is already involved in their feuds. Who is really directionless at this point? Iβm assuming guys like Lashley, Kross, the losers of the IC gauntlet are going to end up in a battle royal. Same with Jade, Nia, Liv (unless they do a Liv-Nia one on one match). Naomi and Bianca are being pitted against Damage CTRL. Awesome Truth are likely the tag title contenders. I would argue that being stuffed into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which hasn't been on the WrestleMania main card since WrestleMania 32, would qualify as "directionless." Guys like Bobby Lashley in particular deserve a main card match, especially after Lashley had a WrestleMania feud curtailed at the eleventh hour last year and he was relegated to walking onto the stage to stand with the trophy.
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Mar 11, 2024 12:32:31 GMT -5
I think pretty much everyone that will have a match at Mania (outside of showcase matches or battle royals) is already involved in their feuds. Who is really directionless at this point? Iβm assuming guys like Lashley, Kross, the losers of the IC gauntlet are going to end up in a battle royal. Same with Jade, Nia, Liv (unless they do a Liv-Nia one on one match). Naomi and Bianca are being pitted against Damage CTRL. Awesome Truth are likely the tag title contenders. I would argue that being stuffed into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which hasn't been on the WrestleMania main card since WrestleMania 32, would qualify as "directionless." Guys like Bobby Lashley in particular deserve a main card match, especially after Lashley had a WrestleMania feud curtailed at the eleventh hour last year and he was relegated to walking onto the stage to stand with the trophy. I think this feud with Lashley and Street Profits vs. Kross and Friends can get extended to WM and be some sort of Philly Street Fight that's long but not too long.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 11, 2024 12:39:19 GMT -5
I think pretty much everyone that will have a match at Mania (outside of showcase matches or battle royals) is already involved in their feuds. Who is really directionless at this point? Iβm assuming guys like Lashley, Kross, the losers of the IC gauntlet are going to end up in a battle royal. Same with Jade, Nia, Liv (unless they do a Liv-Nia one on one match). Naomi and Bianca are being pitted against Damage CTRL. Awesome Truth are likely the tag title contenders. I would argue that being stuffed into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which hasn't been on the WrestleMania main card since WrestleMania 32, would qualify as "directionless." Guys like Bobby Lashley in particular deserve a main card match, especially after Lashley had a WrestleMania feud curtailed at the eleventh hour last year and he was relegated to walking onto the stage to stand with the trophy. I agree I meant who is directionless that you think will end up with a Mania match (which seemed to be what your initial post was about).I think those with Mania matches are pretty much all in feuds pointing to what theyβll be doing.
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BRV
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by BRV on Mar 11, 2024 13:02:34 GMT -5
I would argue that being stuffed into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which hasn't been on the WrestleMania main card since WrestleMania 32, would qualify as "directionless." Guys like Bobby Lashley in particular deserve a main card match, especially after Lashley had a WrestleMania feud curtailed at the eleventh hour last year and he was relegated to walking onto the stage to stand with the trophy. I agree I meant who is directionless that you think will end up with a Mania match (which seemed to be what your initial post was about).I think those with Mania matches are pretty much all in feuds pointing to what theyβll be doing. If Chad Gable wins tonight, for example, I genuinely don't know what Sami Zayn's going to do for WrestleMania XL, which is a hell of a fall for a guy who was the centerpiece of a main event feud a year ago. Others who appear pretty regularly on WWE programming who don't have anything lined up for WrestleMania XL, or, quite frankly, haven't even had anything even hinted in their direction for WrestleMania: Bronson Reed Dominik Mysterio - although he'll be part of whatever the Judgment Day is up to and possibly in Rhea Ripley's corner for her title match The New Day Liv Morgan Nia Jax Austin Theory and Grayson Waller - much like Dominik, I expect them to be a part of Logan Paul's United States Championship defense Tiffany Stratton
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Mar 11, 2024 13:23:09 GMT -5
This card is lacking something in the midcard.
The main event/world title matches in Roman/Cody, Rhea/Becky, IYO/Bayley, Seth/Drew and the night 1 tag should all be great and/or huge but there's nothing below that on the level of Rey v Dom from last year. Or that IC triple threat. Even Edge/Finn had a long build and got a big gimmick match. Jey v Jimmy needs to deliver and Gunther v Gable could fill that void if it happens and Gable wins but I'm not sure Gunther/Sami could if that's what they go with.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 11, 2024 13:37:40 GMT -5
I agree I meant who is directionless that you think will end up with a Mania match (which seemed to be what your initial post was about).I think those with Mania matches are pretty much all in feuds pointing to what theyβll be doing. If Chad Gable wins tonight, for example, I genuinely don't know what Sami Zayn's going to do for WrestleMania XL, which is a hell of a fall for a guy who was the centerpiece of a main event feud a year ago. Others who appear pretty regularly on WWE programming who don't have anything lined up for WrestleMania XL, or, quite frankly, haven't even had anything even hinted in their direction for WrestleMania: Bronson Reed Dominik Mysterio - although he'll be part of whatever the Judgment Day is up to and possibly in Rhea Ripley's corner for her title match The New Day Liv Morgan Nia Jax Austin Theory and Grayson Waller - much like Dominik, I expect them to be a part of Logan Paul's United States Championship defense Tiffany Stratton If Zayn loses then youβre right on him because he would seemingly get a Mania match and have no hints as to where that could be. I think he wins though for that reason. The rest I donβt see getting featured Mania matches, except for an outside chance at Liv-Nia and something involving Dom.
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 11, 2024 22:04:36 GMT -5
I'm starting to think there aren't going to be many big babyface wins at Mania this year. Gunther is almost certainly retaining. I would be shocked if Drew doesn't win. Judgment Day are likely gonna retain all of their titles.
I think the only two babyface wins we might get at Mania are Cody winning, and Bayley possibly winning. But even then I'm split on Bayley as she's already had a major Wrestlemania moment of her own, and it's been a very long time since an Asian talent has had one. Let alone a woman. I also feel like Bayley is going to not be selfish and put Iyo over if she has the choice.
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froggyfrog
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Post by froggyfrog on Mar 11, 2024 22:09:08 GMT -5
I agree I meant who is directionless that you think will end up with a Mania match (which seemed to be what your initial post was about).I think those with Mania matches are pretty much all in feuds pointing to what theyβll be doing. If Chad Gable wins tonight, for example, I genuinely don't know what Sami Zayn's going to do for WrestleMania XL, which is a hell of a fall for a guy who was the centerpiece of a main event feud a year ago. Others who appear pretty regularly on WWE programming who don't have anything lined up for WrestleMania XL, or, quite frankly, haven't even had anything even hinted in their direction for WrestleMania: Bronson Reed Dominik Mysterio - although he'll be part of whatever the Judgment Day is up to and possibly in Rhea Ripley's corner for her title match The New Day Liv Morgan Nia Jax Austin Theory and Grayson Waller - much like Dominik, I expect them to be a part of Logan Paul's United States Championship defense Tiffany Stratton Man was hoping Gable would win and then that Bronson Reed attack on Sami would set up a little mania program. No clue where Gable or Bronson go from here
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Mar 11, 2024 22:13:15 GMT -5
I think the only matches so far where I can really see the face winning are Iyo / Bayley, Seth / Drew, and maybe Jey / Jimmy. Everything else feels like a heel sweep.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 11, 2024 22:14:49 GMT -5
I think the only matches so far where I can really see the face winning are Iyo / Bayley, Seth / Drew, and maybe Jey / Jimmy. Everything else feels like a heel sweep. Cody . LA Knight. The tag titles
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Mar 11, 2024 22:15:54 GMT -5
I think the only matches so far where I can really see the face winning are Iyo / Bayley, Seth / Drew, and maybe Jey / Jimmy. Everything else feels like a heel sweep. Cody . LA Knight. The tag titles Fully expecting the heel to win all of those. Especially the Knight / Styles match, that just feels like the textbook, "The slot's big enough and AJ's lost too much lately, Knight can get his revenge at Backlash," sort of match. Like in my mind Knight doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning that.
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mistery
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Post by mistery on Mar 11, 2024 22:18:23 GMT -5
I think the only matches so far where I can really see the face winning are Iyo / Bayley, Seth / Drew, and maybe Jey / Jimmy. Everything else feels like a heel sweep. I wouldn't even be convinced of Bayley winning the title at this point. The heel side of Smackdown is absolutely dire outside of Damage CTRL, and they've been calling up pretty much all of the NXT women to that brand. So unless Bayley spends months clowning on Damage CTRL, which would be absolutely terrible booking and pretty much destroy Bayley's reputation (and the credibility of everyone in Damage CTRL) of being one of the most unselfish women in the company (because lets be honest, she absolutely has the pull backstage to decide if she goes over or not at the end of the day), she has nowhere to go. Where Tiffany is probably going to end up turning face before too long with how audiences are latching onto her, and then you have the return of Naomi, and also Jade showing up as well. With Bianca waiting in the wings on top of that. That's a big reason why I'm not convinced Bayley is winning at Mania. Maybe she'll win the title again down the line, but I have a REALLY bad feeling (which is right more often than not) that once Iyo loses the title, she's gonna fall down the card incredibly hard, despite never being given a real chance to succeed, likely due to WWE's aversion to pushing certain ethnicities (or ESL speakers) as top of the card draws. And outside of the Dakota Kai betrayal, Bayley has gotten the better of Damage CTRL every time they've crossed paths so far.
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Post by Doo Doo Dickhead on Mar 11, 2024 22:18:33 GMT -5
Rhea's going to win, but me and Becky aren't going down without a fight!!! It's us against the world!!!
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Mar 11, 2024 22:25:50 GMT -5
With Jey-Jimmy almost official there's kind of a trend now of brothers facing each other at Mania every 15 years. 1994 - Bret/Owen 2009 - Jeff/Matt 2024 - Jey/Jimmy 2039 - ? I'm starting to think there aren't going to be many big babyface wins at Mania this year. Gunther is almost certainly retaining. I would be shocked if Drew doesn't win. Judgment Day are likely gonna retain all of their titles. I think the only two babyface wins we might get at Mania are Cody winning, and Bayley possibly winning. But even then I'm split on Bayley as she's already had a major Wrestlemania moment of her own, and it's been a very long time since an Asian talent has had one. Let alone a woman. I also feel like Bayley is going to not be selfish and put Iyo over if she has the choice. Why do you keep trying to frame it like Bayley winning would be some kind of selfish move on her part? She doesn't have creative control. Even Becky didn't have the power to lose to Shayna at Mania when she wanted to. She shouldn't feel guilty if she wins. It's what would make the most fans happy and is the logical conclusion. And I'm saying that as someone who likes them both but IYO slightly more.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Mar 11, 2024 22:27:08 GMT -5
I think the only matches so far where I can really see the face winning are Iyo / Bayley, Seth / Drew, and maybe Jey / Jimmy. Everything else feels like a heel sweep. I wouldn't even be convinced of Bayley winning the title at this point. The heel side of Smackdown is absolutely dire outside of Damage CTRL, and they've been calling up pretty much all of the NXT women to that brand. So unless Bayley spends months clowning on Damage CTRL, which would be absolutely terrible booking and pretty much destroy Bayley's reputation (and the credibility of everyone in Damage CTRL) of being one of the most unselfish women in the company (because lets be honest, she absolutely has the pull backstage to decide if she goes over or not at the end of the day), she has nowhere to go. Where Tiffany is probably going to end up turning face before too long with how audiences are latching onto her, and then you have the return of Naomi, and also Jade showing up as well. With Bianca waiting in the wings on top of that. That's a big reason why I'm not convinced Bayley is winning at Mania. Maybe she'll win the title again down the line, but I have a REALLY bad feeling (which is right more often than not) that once Iyo loses the title, she's gonna fall down the card incredibly hard, despite never being given a real chance to succeed, likely due to WWE's aversion to pushing certain ethnicities (or ESL speakers) as top of the card draws. And outside of the Dakota Kai betrayal, Bayley has gotten the better of Damage CTRL every time they've crossed paths so far. Well, keep in mind the draft will probably happen like two weeks later. That said I do think it makes substantially more sense for Iyo retain, but the way they've been booking her she's being positioned less like a genuine character and more like the obstacle in Bayley's path to her big moment. This storyline isn't really about Iyo at all.
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Post by polarbearpete on Mar 11, 2024 22:42:47 GMT -5
I'm starting to think there aren't going to be many big babyface wins at Mania this year. Gunther is almost certainly retaining. I would be shocked if Drew doesn't win. Judgment Day are likely gonna retain all of their titles. I think the only two babyface wins we might get at Mania are Cody winning, and Bayley possibly winning. But even then I'm split on Bayley as she's already had a major Wrestlemania moment of her own, and it's been a very long time since an Asian talent has had one. Let alone a woman. I also feel like Bayley is going to not be selfish and put Iyo over if she has the choice. Itβs not Bayleyβs choice so why start a selfish narrative at this point.
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