One month from today, the WWE will put on its largest pay per view of the year… WrestleMania! Miami, Florida hosts this year’s event and once again my basement will host the building of The Beeramid. And while the full card for the even isn’t set yet, there are quite a few matches that have been announced (or are highly rumored).
WWE Championship
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho – This match may very well be the best on the card, but honestly the lead up to it (thus far at least) has been complete crap in my opinion. When Chris Jericho returned to the WWE just before the Royal Rumble, we were greeted with all kinds of promos that talked about the “end of the world as we knew it”. Jericho managed to have a pretty good showing at the Rumble (he was the runner up) but nothing really changed. It wasn’t until the night after on RAW that he came out and attacked Punk. Personally I thought he should have gone after the Undertaker and his streak, but the WWE booking team decided to go this way. Promos and sloppy booking aside, this one has all the makings of an instant classic. However, just like the classic Savage/Steamboat matchup from WrestleMania III it’s going to be far overshadowed by other “main events”. Championships typically change hands at Mania, but I honestly think Jericho’s better days are behind him. I’m looking for Punk to retain and propel him into super-stardom.
World Heavyweight Championship
Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan – This match was actually on the card last year (for the U.S. Championship) but was bumped off the broadcast and made a dark match. There’s very little pressure on these guys to perform cause of the 4 main-ish events, this is by far the least exciting of the bunch. That said, both of these guys are really good workers and they very well put on an outstanding match. Daniel Bryan is REALLY pissing me off these days which is to say he’s playing his heel role to perfection. Sheamus is a stud in the making and is definitely in line for a big push so I’m guessing he’s going to walk out with the strap. Looking back on this post, it’s amazing just how far he’s come since January of 2010. Well done sir!
Hell In A Cell & The Streak
The Undertaker vs. Triple H – I’ll preface this by saying I’m a huge Undertaker fan, but this is far and away the “main event” in my book… and that was before they decided to put it in the cage. I don’t necessarily think we needed this match for a third time at WrestleMania, but I have to say they really have done a great job at hyping the match and really making it “matter”. Count me as one of the folks that NEVER wants to see the streak end but I could have understood it if Taker was going to put over a younger guy or a guy that they really wanted to push to the next level. Quite frankly though HHH just isn’t that guy. There is absolutely no reason that Taker should lose this match. It will do nothing for HHH’s career if he were to be the one to end the streak. He’s already a hall of famer, already an umteen time champion, already banging the bosses daughter. I can’t for the life of me think that 20 years from now the WWE will want to look back and say, “Remember that Undertaker guy… yeah, his 19-1 record at WrestleMania was pretty damned impressive.” It would be a colossal mistake to end the streak in my opinion. Looking for Taker to run it to 20-0 and then retire.
John Cena vs. The Rock – We’ve been building to this match since the day after last year’s WrestleMania. Quite frankly, I don’t care. I’m not one of those folks that hates John Cena, but I’m also not one of those that loves The Rock. Dwayne was absolutely BRILLIANT when he was at the top of his game. One of the best of all time. But that was 10 years ago. Now he’s a movie star who moonlights as a wrestler. I don’t blame the guy at all mind you, but at this point, to this fan, he’s irrelevant. Sure, he can still pop a crowd and I’m sure come Mania he’ll “bring it” big time but I simply cannot see him putting over John Cena with the event being in his home town and with a big summer blockbuster (G.I. Joe Retaliation) coming out. Now… if the WWE wants to really show some balls in the booking department, and they have Cena go over? Now we’re talking… that would be epic.
Other stuff that’s on the horizon include a “match” between Johnny Ace and Teddy Long, a Diva’s match, Big Show vs. Cody Rhodes and a couple of others. I have to say that WrestleMania 28 is shaping up to be the best in recent memory. Bring it on!
