Wrestling Rumblings #1
By: Jose Marrero of WrestleView.com
Hello everyone and welcome to the WrestleView.com premiere installment of “Wrestling Rumblings” my name, of course, is Jose Marrero and for those of you who are not overly familiar with my work you are about to get acquainted very quickly. So without further ado let’s get into it.
This has got to be the best time of the year to be a wrestling fan. I mean is there any better time to watch wrestling than between the Royal Rumble and of course Wrestlemania? Of course this is also the time where everyone wants to predict and armchair quarterback Wrestlemania and of course yours truly is no different. ESPN has it’s own ‘bracket-ology’ which ranges from the outrageous to the totally logical, but its an ever evolving bracket of what the NCAA tournament brackets may be. Think of this as a living, breathing booking of Wrestlemania.
I’d would like to start from the main events and work my way down. Of course we can go ahead and get rid of the obvious match and of course that’s HHH vs. Edge. The match doesn’t need to take place, and may not be beneficial to either guy, but its likely to happen. I am not going to jump on the HHH likes to run everything bandwagon because I can understand why WWE is going to book this match. Whether you like it or not, Fact is HHH is a hard person to book for Wrestlemania, large in part due to the fact that with the Undertaker, he’s the ‘top draw’ on the Smackdown card but really doesn’t have anyone that’d be very ‘fresh’ to feud with so to speak of that’s really going to get people interested in the card as as whole the way he has in the past. I also sort of feel that if anyone has earned the right to headline Wrestlemania 25 over the years, he IS a top draw and while they’ve done the ‘match’ they’ve yet to do the ‘feud’ yet. So we’ll see where it heads.. As the time! comes of course I will probably commit to a prediction but if you asked for one right now. I am putting my money on Edge retaining.
Now for Raw. As recent events have shown us, I think its a safe bet that JBL-HBK will not be rolling through to Wrestlemania. Of course, thanks to injuries, we’re also not getting the much anticipated rematch between John Cena and Batista either. Despite what many are predicting I can see Randy Orton out of the title picture for Wrestlemania simply because he did wrestle Cena last year at No Way Out and of course at Wrestlemania in the three way match and again at Backlash in the four way match. Basically the match, in my opinion, has been done to death and while it may very well happen, I am going to say it won?t and here is my prediction. Shawn Micheals vs. JBL vs. John Cena for the title. Shawn and JBL both have Texas roots so as much as the main audience probably wouldn?t like this I can see the fans in attendance getting into it since it is a homecoming for both men. I know many of you are predicting Shawn vs. Undertaker and that may very well be the match, but! for the sake of this column, I am going with this match instead and if I had to pick a winner right now Shawn would go over and have a big Wrestlemania moment type celebration in this match.
Since I took Randy Orton out of the main event I have to put him somewhere and I can?t think of a better place to do so than in this match. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s last match vs. Randy Orton. By now we have heard many rumors regarding Austin from him wrestling Jericho, to Hogan, to him not even having a match at all. I’ve got a feeling it’d likely be Orton. Why Orton? Well with all the McMahon mess you figure Steve Austin can fit into it somehow and have a good, fresh match with a very hot Randy Orton. Randy Orton of course being the Legend Killer would want one more legend to cement that legacy and who else can be considered a bigger legend than Austin? If I had to predict on this match I would choose Orton with the long awaited Stephanie McMahon heel turn or maybe some other McMahon joining up with Orton’s crew of baddies. Out of all the matches I am forecasting here though this one probably has the least likelihood of taking place but hey?dare to dream.
I guess this is as good a spot as any for the Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy match. Its almost a shame when you think about it. The last time a Wrestlemania was in Texas was of course Wrestlemania 17 and that of course was TLC II I think it would have been very appropriate if somehow one of these men could have held onto their championships or maybe this match up could have even been a TLC match. Then again, with Money in the Bank on this show you might want to stay away from that. I have to say I think this is going to be a stinker of a match but I hope I am wrong. Maybe its still just hot flashes from their last feud. I am going to give the victory to Matt just because I think he needs it more. (Be sure to read next weeks installment as I go into why Matt is pretty much done from there on out)
Of course we need an Undertaker match and this has been very interesting to predict. Of course many people are saying he is going to take on Shawn Micheals. I’ve got Shawn Michaels in my Raw title match, so No Taker this year. I am saying he is going to take on Chris Jericho or Vladmir Koslov. Jericho’s the only other wrestler on the roster with the kind of momentum and heat that’d be needed to have a strong program with Taker. Kozlov makes sense as he fits the ‘monster’ Taker usually gets. Again, safer bet is Kozlov. Put his undefeated streak up against Taker’s undefeated ‘Mania streak. Makes enough sense and you can use Jericho for something else.
I don?t care what’s going around. I am convinced that Mickey Rourke will be in fact involved in a Wrestlemania match, likely with Chris Jericho. I think they’re putting things on ice until the award voting is done. It’s not like he’s going to win anyways, but that’s the way it goes. I’d pick Rourke to go over Jericho.
While I can flip flop where I put the main events the one thing I cannot flip flop on is where I put the women’s match and of course that’s smack dab in the middle of the main events. Right now one strong rumor going around is that Trish Stratus wants to get back in the mix of things for Wrestlemania and take on Beth Phoenix. As cool as it’d be to see happen, I just don’t see actually, well.. happening.
Instead, I am going to predict a tag team match up. The thing to keep in mind about the Divas division is that its got more ‘long term’ booking than there is short term booking. The primary focus will likely be placed on Beth Phoenix and this new intern of hers, Rosa Mendez. Melina will be an obvious foil and instead of doing a title match, they’ll most likely make it more of an ‘attraction’ match where they can progress the story line. So i’ll go Rosa Mendez and Beth Phoenix vs. Melina and her mystery partner whom I think will end up being Gail Kim. For obvious reasons I think the faces have to go over here so I will predict a Kim and Melina victory.
I thought last years idea to have a pre show battle royal for the ECW title shot was a good idea. I think this year they should do it again with the winner being Mr. Kennedy who will win but by disqualification against Jack Swagger. I just think that this would be a good match up and keep the good vibe of the show going forward.
Of course I can think of no better opener for Wrestlemania than the Money in the Bank ladder match. Picking the participants it going to be difficult but if I was pressed right now I would say it is going to be a 8 man match up this year with R Truth, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, John Morrison, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston and Rey Misterio taking part this year. OF course that line up is very interchangeable when you look at some of the people I left out of the match like Umaga and Finlay but this is the line up I am going with, as I think this would be a very exciting match up and the rest can compete on the pre show battle royal for the ECW Title match. I would give the win to Shelton Benjamin just because I think someone has to win MITB and lose the title shot this year. I don’t know if Shelton’s really ready for the big time, but he’s shown some signs of coming around as a heel, and what the heck, its worth a shot over on Smackdown. If you’re going to go with someone to! lose the title shot, it might as well be someone who’ll BENEFIT from the loss and not be hurt by it.
So there you have it 9 matches (the battle royal in the pre show makes 10). Of course let me just state that I am not saying all of these matches would take place but it is very possible that at least 75% of them will. If you think about it there is really no good reason to not have these matches on the show. Granted some of them will not be blockbusters (Koslov vs. Undertaker springs immediately to mind) but they all have a place and would fit in with the evening. With that being said in the next few weeks we will know how it all turns out and maybe revisit this again.
So that about wraps it up this week Of course your feedback means a lot to me and if you like the column, hate the column or just have something to say give me a shout wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com or you can check out the older editions of “Wrestling Rumblings” on my myspace at http://www.myspace.com/wrestlingrumbling . See you all next week.