Hello! This is me putting my cards on the table to speak. This is how I would have booked Wrestlemania- but from quite a realistic perspective with regard to where some people were at certain stages. The only catch is none of the matches I've done can be on this years Wrestlemania Card, but for the record the only one I'd have is Taker/Wyatt; and even in that match I'd have put a Retirement Stip for Taker.
Pre-Show: Bad News Barrett v Luke Harper: IC Championship
For a brief period i.e. 1 RAW we had Bad News Barrett as a Babyface. Harper was Champion before Dolph got it back from him at TLC, and had they not gone down that road- and kept the belt on Harper for another month or so, we could have had Bad News Barrett coming back as a babyface and using his rematch clause to go after Harper. Harper deserved a spot in a singles match on this show in my opinion for the year he's had, but its not the end of the world I suppose. These two guys are the perfect Pre-Show match if that makes sense because they're capable of putting on a great match, and both guys have gotten used to doing so with little build.
Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose v Roman Reigns- MITB Ladder Match
As I've already said this week, Its 10 Years since we had the first MITB Match- as such I think we should have had something acknowledging that this year. So of course that would have involved Rollins; and in case you're unaware these three guys were in a small faction called The Shield not so long ago, then Rollins turned on the two guys; built in storyline- and crucially in my opinion they could have used this match to position Reigns in a place for a future WWE Title match- or they could have had Roman be on the verge of winning it when J&J, Big Show, Kane and the Kitchen Sink stop Roman from winning- which gives Roman and Rollins a built in feud after Mania, which as you'll see in my predictions we'll most likely end up getting anyway- just higher on the card.
Andre the Giant Battle Royal
We pretty much established the Andre Battle Royal pretty much means nothing with Cesaro well and truly falling off the rails which I covered already in this Mania Week Blog-a-thon. As such I wouldn't take it really seriously, but I would to an extent; the fact is however they want to dress it up its a filler battle royal you only have to see the way the guys in it have been built to see it. Obviously I can't have this matches massively different- but the key guy in this match would be my winner; and he could still be, but Curtis Axel somehow staying in the match until the end and then eliminating Big Show last by in some convoluted way would be.. perfect YEEAAH.
AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA, AXELMANIA.
KiddSaro v The Usos v The Ascension- Tag Team Championship
The Ascension could go down as one of the most botched debuts in WWE history, I was never a massive fan of them in their v2.0 form- but I saw enough potential to understand why they were called up. But instead of giving them a proper build they turned them into the Legion of Doom and it ended up with them falling flat on their face- I don't blame Konnor & Viktor for that, I just blame Vince for trying to put his "stamp" on something that was working in the WWE system already. This would have been a good match to have on the card because there's enough of a style mesh, and some interesting dynamics for this match.
Cody Rhodes v Dustin Rhodes- Last Man Standing
In terms of recent build this is the match that was most likely to happen, that hasn't actually happened. This is also one of the feuds that has buckets of potential, which in my opinion WWE've missed the boat on now. After we started to get the Stardust/Cody storyline I thought this match would've been a lock for Mania, with Stardust slowly transitioning back into a Heel Cody Rhodes- and then Goldust wanting to fight for his brother abandons the Goldust character and comes out in traditional trunks/tights and wrestles as Dustin Rhodes.
Dolph Ziggler v Triple H
In my opinion this could be the biggest missed opportunity WWE has had not CM Punk related in the last 5 years. After Survivor Series when Dolph was the sole survivor I thought WWE had finally seen Dolph's potential as a proper Main Eventer, of course that hasn't exactly turned out how I hoped it would. That said- once The Authority came back, in my opinion they should have gone after Dolph a lot more than they did; which would've resulted in one of the Main Events being this match. While they have built the Sting match well- I've got a feeling the actual match won't be all that, and contrast it to pretty much any match with Dolph and you'll know why I wanted this match. If it were entirely up to me I'd have a "Authority Gone for Good/Dolph Fired" Stipulation- and via help from Sting Dolph wins. I realise Sting should perhaps have a match on the card, but if they really want to push the Network they'd have top stars on the supposed "lesser PPVs".
A.J. Lee v Paige v Nikki Bella- Divas Championship
Like it or not, the Bellas have to be featured in the Divas match this year. Instead of the meaningless Tag Match we've ended up with I'd have gone for the Title being defended, I don't even mind if it was against Brie- well I do; but... The "Divas" need all the help they can get, so the fact we're getting a meaningless Tag Match instead of having the Title defended makes no sense whatsoever. That being said this match would be good in the role Womens matches always have at Mania as the divider between Main Events and if I was booking this with my WWE hat on I'd have Brie turning on Nikki with Paige winning the belt.
Daniel Bryan v John Cena
This is an interesting one, when it was clear Bryan wasn't going to Main Event- I started thinking about other ways Bryan could be featured in a really good way; and given how consistently over he is with the crowd now- the best way to have Bryan have an impact on this Mania would be as a heel in my opinion. While some people would see it as holding him back etc. etc. and they turned him because he was too over as a babyface- I'd see it as a near perfect build. Bryan turning at the height of his popularity would make the turn mean so much more, and its something WWE rarely has the guts to do anymore. Having Bryan go over on Cena would've set him up perfectly for a great Post-Mania run as a heel, and beyond- and he would've eventually come up as Champion again around Summerslam time at the latest.
The Undertaker v Brock Lesnar- WWE Championship
I pitched this idea in my "Booking Mania 6 Months in Advance" blog (as I did with Bryan v Cena)- of them running vignettes with the usual Taker black magic stuff, ending with the words "nothing to lose". I'm not sure how many Mania's Taker has left in the bag- as such I would've made this his last appearance in WWE, with him winning the Title from Brock in the match that it should have been last year, and at the end of Mania he symbolically takes off his boots, lays the belt down and is about to leave- when we get Bray Wyatt's magic lightswitch with the scene at the end of Mania being Bray in an empty ring staring at the belt in the ring. This could work two ways, with either Taker having a symbolic last moment, or leaving it open for a Bray/Taker match at 32.
Thanks for reading as ever, I hope y'all enjoyed this Mania card- I think its good- but then again what do I know I'm not paid to write wrestling shows.
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