By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
Welcome to WrestleMania weekend! If you’re old like me, the event in and of itself is enough to get you excited, no matter how good or bad the card is. More on that in a few. As an aside, if you haven’t watched the go-home episode of Smackdown yet, seek out the opening montage of past WrestleManias, as the WWE production team did a great job as always.
With all of the nostalgia out of the way, I have a lot to say about the matches on this show -some good and some not so much. I’ll save that for the individual match previews and predictions. All I’ll say here is that no matter how you feel about the matches on this two-night event, try to remember that for this is the pinnacle of achievement, for these guys and for most, this is what they aspire to. So, in that vein, my call out of “enjoy wrestling” takes on a different note this weekend. Now then, let’s run down Night 1.
Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. I’ve listened to a lot of takes on this – here’s mine. It’s similar to others, but I feel like the creative team looked at the struggling ticket sales and the online criticism of the overall show, panicked, and took what was an easy story to tell and overcomplicated it to the point where it became a complete mess. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton. Student vs. Teacher. A veteran trying to have one more title run against someone who may be at a crossroads (no pun intended) and is trying to hold onto the glory of the richest prize in the game. That’s easy, right? Right?!
I’m not going to speculate who is responsible for this. There’s a lot of swirl that this TKO generated. If that’s true, sit down, you’re not wrestling guys. If this is Dwayne Johnson, either be a full-time participant or go back to making movies. If this is Paul Levesque, you’re going to have to explain how this makes any sense because I don’t see it.
I understand that WrestleMania has leveraged a lot of celebrities in the past – Mr. T, Mike Tyson, Lawrence Taylor, Cyndi Lauper, to name a few. But I would argue that those were incorporated in a way that makes sense. In what world does Pat McAfee coming out and acting like a cosplay heel manager and basically telling me that the product TKO wants me to invest time and money in sucks do anything to enhance the basic story I outlined above? How does Jelly Roll factor into this, and why should I care? He’s been fine in what they’ve asked him to do, but I don’t need him or want him here, as he serves no purpose.
Finally, how does any of this have anything to do with the WWE Championship – you know that thing that they’re battling over in the first place? If you go back 26 years, this is WCW 2000 booking at its worst, and I’m weathering the storm, which will likely last at least another month if the Backlash rumors are to be believed. Oh yeah, you wanted a pick. I think they double down on this, and we likely see something else emerge here, possibly Dwayne Johnson’s interference that leads to Orton capturing his 15th World Title. And that should be a big moment for him. It’s just going to be hard to see it in all the silliness of the booking.
Don Predicts: Randy Orton defeats Cody Rhodes to win the WWE Championship.
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship. The build for this was a bit flat, but I have to say that I enjoyed the final segment on Monday. Yes, you can make the argument that literally every build featured a pull-apart brawl, but I particularly liked the way this one was executed. With Morgan seemingly adapting a crazier character with a new song, I think the writing is on the wall that she takes the title. Vaquer is excellent in the ring. She just hasn’t clicked as a character with the fans since joining the main roster.
Don Predicts: Liv Morgan defeats Stephanie Vaquer to win the Women’s World Championship.
AJ Lee vs. Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Title. For my money, Becky Lynch is doing some of the best work of her entire career. The way this has been set up would have us believe that Becky’s going to get her wins back here. I’m going to go out on a limb and say AJ retains and Becky goes on hiatus. I think there’s money in an AJ heel run, either by herself or as a power couple with husband, CM Punk. If Lynch decides to stick around, I wouldn’t be surprised if she moves to a feud with referee Jessika Carr. They’ve teased interactions between them before, and Carr is a trained wrestler. Should she factor into the match tonight, and if she plans to hang up the referee shirt, I can see this being her official transition to an in-ring role.
Don Predicts: AJ Lee defeats Becky Lynch to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Title.
Gunther vs. Seth Rollins. I have to give these guys credit for taking a match that was thrown together quickly because of circumstances beyond their control and trying to make it relevant. We know it will be good in the ring, and I like the hook of Paul Heyman owing Gunther something more than a thank you. Does this lead to Gunther and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam? Time will tell. I think we finally see Bron Breakker return to cost Seth, likely as one of the masked men characters they’ve been using with Seth for the past several months.
Don Predicts: Gunther defeats Seth Rollins.
Nia Jax and Lash Legend vs. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley vs. Brie Bella and Nikki Bella in a four-way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. I can’t say that this match does much for me. But neither do the women’s tag titles. It’s cool that Legend, Bayley, and Valkyria got spots on the card. And I guess you can make an argument that Flair didn’t insert herself into a higher-profile match. The Bellas? I’m not a big fan, but OK. There are reports that Nikki may not be cleared for tonight, with the rumor of a returning wrestler (whose name I won’t mention here for the benefit of those trying to avoid all spoilers) taking her place.
Don Predicts: Nia Jax and Lash Legend retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
(ESPN2 simulcast) Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu in an unsanctioned match. This is going to be a match that we’re talking about at the end of the weekend. McIntyre is an MVP of WWE and has been for the last couple of years. He’s going to pull out all the stops to put Fatu over, as the creative team seems to be very high on him. It’s a curious decision to put this one on ESPN2. The goal of the simulcast is to draw people in to order the PLE by showcasing your product. This does that, but it’s more in the WWE style of a hardcore match, which they do fewer of these days.
Don Predicts: Jacob Fatu defeats Drew McIntyre in an unsanctioned match.
(ESPN2 simulcast) LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso vs. Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed in a six-man tag. This is fine for the ESPN2 portion. Speed has been fun as the reluctant partner of Paul and Theory, and I’m guessing he plays a factor in the babyface win.
Don Predicts: LA Knight, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso defeat Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and IShowSpeed in a six-man tag.
John Cena will host WrestleMania 42. The six-man tag will open tonight’s show. WrestleMania has an early start time of 5CT/6ET for the main cards. The first hour of tonight’s show will be simulcast on ESPN2. Join Jason Powell for his live review as the full card streams on ESPN Unlimited (and on Netflix internationally). Jake Barnett will join Jason for a same-night audio review exclusively for Dot Net Members (including our Patreon patrons).
I’ll be back tomorrow with my picks for WrestleMania Night 2. Until then, enjoy WrestleMania and enjoy wrestling!
Be the first to comment