General WrestleMania Discussion

[Dave]

So there you have it, the final Raw brand PPV before Mania is on the books. All that remains on the road to WrestleMania now is Fastlane in 2 weeks time. Rather suspiciously the card for the event is pretty bare right now. What we do know, however, is that Roman Reigns will take on Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship and Shinsuke Nakamura will challenge the WWE Champion.

There's a good chance that Raw will really kick in to high gear now that Elimination Chamber is out of the way and the worst kept secret of Roman Reigns main eventing, for the third time in a row, is out.

Raw tonight ought to be a big one in terms of WrestleMania progression on the red brand. Cena ought to play the 'I don't have a WrestleMania match' card that will, likely, end with him being interrupted by his WrestleMania opponent. Whether that is The Undertaker or not remains to be seen. Either way, I'd imagine a couple of matches will be made on Raw over the course of tonight and next week. The card will definitely start to take shape very soon.

[DNA 2.0]

Let's see whether or not Undertaker returns tonight. I guess that's the big question. Another big question is who will challenge The Miz. Balor, Braun or Rollins? I really love it that we don't really know the card. WWE did a good job to keep the undercard a secret. Excited for RAW's side of things. Can't really say the same for Smackdown though... Nakamura should have had a big match at Fast Lane, in order to give him more momentum and also keep the fire burning. He's been doing nothing since winning the Rumble and it doesn't feel special nor he does feel special anymore... I really hope Asuka does challenge Charlotte. The SD women's division is dead. I'm sad for Becky not having anything special planned though for Wrestlemania. I think she's the most underutilized. I would also welcome a Sasha vs Bayley match at Mania, but let's see if there's space for that.

[noahconstrictor]

Honestly, Reigns vs Lesnar kills some of the hype for me, but I'm still very excited to see how the build to the rest of the card shakes up. This is just a rough idea of what I think the card will look like for the Raw side:


Cena vs Taker
Alexa vs Asuka (maybe Nia if Asuka goes for Charlotte)
Miz vs Strowman
The Bar vs who knows
Elias vs Finn
Rousey/Angle vs Steph/HHH


The last one is just a way to get them on the card, I think Elias could use a Mania match, especially against someone like Finn.

As for Smackdown, who fucking knows at this point? Besides Nakamura vs Styles, I couldn't tell you a single match, and that isn't a good thing, because there's nothing there for them to make happen at the moment. For RAW, you have hints of feuds here and there that they've been building for a while, but Smackdown just reeks of being written the day of the show half the time.

[Dave]

I agree with your points about Smackdown. It seems as though the only angle getting the light of day over there is the power struggle between Bryan and Shane. That's obviously great for Owens and Zayn but not too good for everyone else on the roster. Roode has something going on with Orton and Jinder Mahal. But even then, it's not engrossing by any means. The women's division is shockingly bad right now and desperately needs a challenger worthy of Charlotte. At this point, I'd happily welcome Nikki Bella back to Smackdown to challenge her. At least that's something. Honestly though, Smackdown is in dire straits when you consider it's Mania options. Right now anyway.

[Dark Grin]

Honestly, Reigns vs Lesnar kills some of the hype for me, but I'm still very excited to see how the build to the rest of the card shakes up. This is just a rough idea of what I think the card will look like for the Raw side:


Cena vs Taker
Alexa vs Asuka (maybe Nia if Asuka goes for Charlotte)
Miz vs Strowman
The Bar vs who knows
Elias vs Finn
Rousey/Angle vs Steph/HHH


The last one is just a way to get them on the card, I think Elias could use a Mania match, especially against someone like Finn.

As for Smackdown, who fucking knows at this point? Besides Nakamura vs Styles, I couldn't tell you a single match, and that isn't a good thing, because there's nothing there for them to make happen at the moment. For RAW, you have hints of feuds here and there that they've been building for a while, but Smackdown just reeks of being written the day of the show half the time.

I have no idea how they can build Miz vs Strowman. Strowman eliminated 5 of 6 people last night... we're supposed to buy him in a competitive singles match w the Miz? Miz is great on the mic... maybe he can create interest. But I'm just not seeing it.

[Барбоса]

As #ReignswinsLOL as Elimination Chamber was, at least there some other potential matches presented for Wrestlemania.

Should the Undertaker return be all smoke (God, I hope it is), Cena was positioned as being an opponent for either Rollins or Strowman. As I would much rather seem Braun in the Universal title match, a showcase match between Rollins and Cena would be welcome. Perhaps even in one of the best openers in Wrestlemania history.

Balor vs Miz or Balor Club vs Miz/Miztourage would make sense too, if it can be stretched out that far.

Elias then becomes something of the odd man out; however his drifting guitar skit would work perfectly fine for backstage segments with some D list musical celebrity, walking down the aisle as the last entrant in the ATGBR or as cannon fodder for Goldberg during the HoF segment. Him getting speared and jack-hammered would be no problem.

[Slyfox696]

Miz vs. Strowman would be a gigantic waste of Braun Strowman. The man is very over right now and he's very unique. Throwing him in a random midcard feud with the Miz would just slow his momentum. I hope the WWE has better things planned than the Miz.

[DNA 2.0]

So it looks like we're getting:
Brock vs Reigns
Miz vs Rollins vs Balor
Sasha vs Bayley

Cena isn't facing Braun and Angle will be Ronda's partner for Wrestlemania.

My gut tells me that both Big Show and Kane will return to challenge Braun Strowman in a handicap match and Braun will end up squashing them both at Wrestlemania. I'm fine with that. It keeps Strowman looking special.

[Dave]

So it looks like we're getting:
Brock vs Reigns
Miz vs Rollins vs Balor
Sasha vs Bayley

Cena isn't facing Braun and Angle will be Ronda's partner for Wrestlemania.

My gut tells me that both Big Show and Kane will return to challenge Braun Strowman in a handicap match and Braun will end up squashing them both at Wrestlemania. I'm fine with that. It keeps Strowman looking special.

WrestleMania ought to be a big moment for Braun Strowman and facing those two is definitely not what I have in mind. I'd much rather a big moment for the Monster Amongst Men than beating two wrestlers who have had their best days. With that in mind, I'd much rather he go against The Miz than do the handicap match - and I'm not wild on that either.

For me, a match against a big time player would be the best result for Strowman. Someone like Seth Rollins or John Cena would represent a significant challenge for Strowman and does nothing to the person he inevitably beats. No one is expecting either of those two names to win against Strowman but people would like to see the match if the build was good enough.

I can think of nothing worse than the handicap match you've suggested.

[DNA 2.0]

WrestleMania ought to be a big moment for Braun Strowman and facing those two is definitely not what I have in mind. I'd much rather a big moment for the Monster Amongst Men than beating two wrestlers who have had their best days. With that in mind, I'd much rather he go against The Miz than do the handicap match - and I'm not wild on that either.

For me, a match against a big time player would be the best result for Strowman. Someone like Seth Rollins or John Cena would represent a significant challenge for Strowman and does nothing to the person he inevitably beats. No one is expecting either of those two names to win against Strowman but people would like to see the match if the build was good enough.

I can think of nothing worse than the handicap match you've suggested.

Hey, I hate it, too. But it's classic Vince move. What else will he do? They have already started building Rollins-Balor-Miz, and this should stay as a triple threat match. Unless this angle sets up Rollins vs Balor and leaves The Miz open for Braun, I don't see what else they have for him.

Trust me, Rollins vs Balor and Braun vs Miz is what I hope for. What I'll get though... Different story.

[DNA 2.0]

I'd like to ask, how do you view this idea?

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Shane McMahon - Triple Threat match; winner stays on SD and losers leave

[Leobeast]

I'd like to ask, how do you view this idea?

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Shane McMahon - Triple Threat match; winner stays on SD and losers leave

Knowing them they'd put Shane over.

[klunderbunker]

The more I look at the potential matches on this card, the more I shake my head. With the rumored multi-man match for the Intercontinental Title (because we can't possibly write stories for these people) and the annual Reigns worship session on top, I'm looking around for matches to care about. AJ vs. Nakamura should have filled that spot, but now we need to set up Fastlane, leaving four weeks to build up AJ vs. Nakamura, assuming Shane and Bryan can give up that much of their precious time. The women's matches could be good, but this feels like another case of WWE deciding that the right way to go is away from what could be interesting and more towards getting people on the show in whatever capacity, knowing that the fans will buy tickets and watch the show anyway.