»Reported by Jon Minners of WrestleView.com

On Sunday, April 3, 2005 at 3:02 PM EST

Badseed’s Bottomline:
Wrestlemania Hype

Hey yo! This is the Badseed coming at you with only a few hours until Wrestlemania and for once, I am pumped about wrestling again. I cannot wait to see this show. Some people were down on this PPV for some reason, but I am excited for reasons I will state through this column. I know, I try to get the columns out to you on time and I have been failing lately. Just so much has gone on in my life and it has been harder than I thought, but I am trying. I will try to get more out this week, just to make up for the lack of posts. Well, here are my Wrestlemania predictions for today:

The 30-man Battle Royal: I think this should begin Wrestlemania. Battle Royals are always fun. I enjoy them and why waste it on Heat when there are only nine matches on the Wrestlemania card. Plus, we haven’t had a real battle royal at Wrestlemania since Wrestlemania 4 and that was awesome. They could even copy that battle royal and have two guys turn on each other at the end and create a new feud. Who will win the battle royal? Who cares? Just make it fun and hopefully allow someone to get the rub from winning a battle royal, as they should when you have 30-men in the ring at once.

Piper’s Pit with Steve Austin: This is going to be fun. If you go way back into the archives, you will read a column where I once said that the WWE needs to bring in Rowdy Roddy Piper just so he could have a war of words with Steve Austin and now it is finally going to happen. Let them trade barbs at the beginning, only to have it interrupted by Hassan. Then we could see the Stone Cold Stunner and everyone is happy. In all honesty, I would rather have Hassan come out and attack all the Hall of Fame winners, only to get hit with each and every one of their finishers, but a Stone Cold Stunner would satisfy me all the same. This is the one segment I am really, really looking forward to. It will make my Wrestlemania if the matches don’t live up to their hype.

Trish Stratus vs. Christy Hemme: You know, I do not want this girl to win the world title at all and I have this horrible feeling the WWE will give her the belt with her pictorial in Playboy. That scares the hell out of me. She is not a wrestler and she may deserve the belt somewhere down the line if she works her tail off, because she looks like she is athletic and could learn the trade, but not yet. I would rather see Lita turn heel and surprise everyone by aligning with Trish Stratus. It would be a shock and it would be cool, because fans want to boo her after what she did to Matt Hardy. Fans who think it may be a work should really stop making those claims, because her angle is with Kane right now and it would make no sense to start a feud with Edge and Matt Hardy when they haven’t even settled things from a storyline point of view between Matt Hardy and Kane. So, if Lita turns heel, she could say how Trish was right about her and how she has seen the light, angering the fans even more. I would love to see some competitive matches between Lita and Victoria. Also, to really piss fans off, Lita could turn on Kane and side with Edge, bringing some true life drama into the mix and giving fans a reason to explode with hatred at the couple every time they come out together. Anyways, Hemme will probably win, but she really shouldn’t. Hopefully they listen to me.

Big Show vs. Akebono: Who cares? They better allow Big Show to win this nonsense that should have been a regular wrestling match and not a sumo match. Big Show needs to continue to be some sort of dominant force on Smackdown and Akebono is not a WWE star, so he should lose. Why do I have a feeling that the WWE needs to appease someone and the match will go to a no-contest with Luther Reigns or someone else getting involved only to get a beatdown from both men? That is a strong possibility.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio: You know this match is going to be hot. This could steal the show if there weren’t so many other matches that could steal the show. They are going to put on a clinic, but I think Chavo Guerrero gets involved here and I think Eddie Guerrero turns heel in this match. It makes more sense to do that. Eddie is still way over with the crowd, but he needs some fresh battles, the kind he could get as a heel. With the tag-team titles split, Eddie could reunite with Chavo and battle Rey Mysterio and a returning Psychosis. The tag-team war would heat up Smackdown’s tag-team division again and the singles battles between all four men would heat up the heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, too. This is a win-win opportunity for the WWE if they realize it. The writing team has to get something right.

Money in the Bank Match: This is another possible show stealer and it better be. I wish there was a way they could take Kane out of this match. I mean, he doesn’t fit in with these guys at all and he better not win, since he will not bring anything to the battle but power. Shelton Benjamin is a great star, but I don’t want him to win either since he already has the IC title. Christian doesn’t command the respect yet to earn a world title match unless he was going to move over to Smackdown and challenge John Cena for the title. Edge’s gimmick should keep him from the world title, so he is not going to win. Chris Benoit is a favorite, but unless he is going back to Smackdown, I don’t like the chances of a Benoit vs. Batista feud if they are trying to get Batista over as a face. I think Chris Jericho wins the match and moves to Smackdown. Smackdown needs a major star to shake things up on the show and since we haven’t seen Jericho vs. Angle in some time, Jericho vs. Cena since Cena first debuted, Jericho vs. Guerrero, Jericho vs. Mysterio and so many other possible high profile matches, I think Jericho wins the contract and uses it on Smackdown. This way, he doesn’t have to be part of the draft to make the switch. Jericho is in need of a Wrestlemania victory. When was the last time he won at the big show? A company player deserves a break.

Undertaker vs. Randy Orton: I can’t see Orton winning this match. It seems wrong to have Undertaker ever lose at Wrestlemania, but if he ever was going to lose, the way they have been hyping his perfect record, this would be the year to have him lose and make Orton look like a wrestling god. They could even make a storyline out of Undertaker’s loss with people questioning whether he has what it takes anymore. With Orton winning, wrestlers become less scared of the Undertaker and take the battle to the dead man like they never have before. It could culminate with Undertaker winning his final world title after going against the odds and winning the battle no one thought he could. Orton could take his victory and become a main event player again. He could rejoin Evolution again or he could have a loose alliance with them and come out as the man who drove the JBL limo at Batista, setting him up for a world title match with the animal. The feud between the two former Evolution blue chippers could be done very well. It would make a lot of sense, too, because Flair and HHH were around when Batista almost got hit by the car, so who did it. If Orton beat the beast, he could beat the animal, right?

HBK vs. Kurt Angle: Everyone has hyped this match up so much that I am scared it might not live up to expectations. It will be an awesome battle, either way, and I hope it doesn’t end with this show. I really want HBK to move over to Smackdown. I don’t care what HBK wants. The WWE should send him to Smackdown, because there is nothing left for him to do on Raw. He has fought everyone. Additional battles with Angle, followed by a war with Eddie Guerrero would be hot. Now, as for the winner, if Orton wins his battle, I could see Angle winning here, hopefully not with Mart Jannetty attacking HBK. It should be a clean victory. Keep in mind that the WWE would not want to make Smackdown the dominant show by having both inter-promotional matches won by Smackdown, so the winner of one battle will affect the winner of the other. I just think Angle deserves the victory more. He has done far more for the WWE than HBK has done. Angle has not really fought management as much as HBK has in terms of what happens to his character. He fought through neck injuries instead of taking four years off. He has put over stars. He has made wrestling exciting with so many match-of-the-year candidates that rival some of the great matches of HBK’s career. He is by far a better wrestler and entertainer than HHH, cause he can be a face very convincingly, a goof heel very convincingly and a hardcore heel very convincingly. HHH has a hard time doing all three. The top guy should get the duke here and as great as HBK is, Angle has put the fans and the WWE first for so long, he deserves his proper due.

JBL vs. Cena: They can’t have Cena win this match. I know, it kind of sucks, because sometimes the obvious is supposed to happen at Wrestlemania, but Cena’s win would overshadow or be overshadowed by Batista’s victory. Look for Cena to get screwed big time in his title match and be put through the wringer in the weeks ahead until he fights JBL at a Smackdown PPV and takes what he should have won tonight. Teddy Long may actually turn heel to get back at Cena for the FU. Bradshaw never attacked Long. In fact, maybe a Long heel turn would be good, because Carlito could turn face. I like him. When he squirted ketchup on that kid, I laughed so hard. I haven’t done that during wrestling in so long. Of course Angle dancing like HBK was even more hilarious, but Carlito is the man. Anyways, Cena would be put in gauntlet matches against JBL’s cabinet and so-on, but he would overcome the odds like Austin did in the past and win the world title, making the victory that much sweeter than it would have been tonight with everyone talking about Batista.

Batista vs. HHH: If HHH wins, I will never watch wrestling again. It’s as simple as that.

That is all for today. I will try to get a column out tomorrow with my reactions to Wrestlemania. Until then, it might have been some time, but I am still the river from which all others flow and when I am gone, none shall take my place. Later…