Support NeoGAF

[Sblargh]

This living vicariously thing sounds cool. I'll start to live vicariously through Sunflower.

Look at his muscles! He's just like me! He's one of us!

 

[Christberg]

FANTASY BOOKING: Haitch vs. Bryan. HHH has done everything but he cannot put Bryan away. He's even put Bryan in the Yes Lock and Bryan still would not quit. HHH has had enough. He goes under the ring and grabs his sledgehammer. The ref gets into his face. HHH calls for a mic and tells the ref, "You disqualify me and you're fired." The ref moves out of the way and HHH lays a beating into Bryan, all the while screaming stuff like, "I'M THE BOSS. I RUN THIS COMPANY. I AM WHAT'S BEST FOR BUSINESS." He finally hits the pedigree and pins Bryan for the 3-count. Crowd's pissed. Out comes Hogan. Hogan says something like, "You've forgotten, Hunter, that as long as you're in that ring wrestling, you're under a talent contract. The board has been disgusted by your actions in the ring and has thus suspended you as a wrestler for the time being, meaning you cannot compete in the main event. Bryan will be competing in your stead."

That way, Haitch gets the Wrestlemania victory he has wanted, and Bryan gets the Wrestlemania victory he deserves. Either that or Batista wins, iunno.

If it were me, I'd book Bryan on the receiving end of a massive battle where HHH is physically dominant for most of the match, makes it a no DQ and goes for the sledge when he thinks he has it won... but gets suckered in and is forced to tap to a sledgehammer enhanced LaBelle lock to the teeth.

The main event basically books itself with an injured Bryan pulling one out yet again due to them underestimating him.

If you aren't booking WM ending with the world's biggest YES chant you're pretty much booking a riot at this point.

 

[polyh3dron]

WWE Network is reshowing that DBry run-in from Raw.. Yeah Trips sold that so goddam well. Seriously right now Triple H is the best sports entertainer in the company.

 

[strobogo]

It's a shame they must have commissioned these country versions of Randy Orton's and Batista's themes months ago when they were the main event because they should make more of them and Triple H's theme is a great candidate.

Why are people getting country and acoustic confused? Since that first promo spot, people have been saying country covers. I don't get it. They are the same songs, but acoustic. There is nothing country about them. Do people call anything acoustic country now?

 

[Sokantish]

WWE Network is reshowing that DBry run-in from Raw.. Yeah Trips sold that so goddam well. Seriously right now Triple H is the best sports entertainer in the company.

I think it was good selling, some people think he was overplaying it just to make a joke of D BRY. I think those people are crazy, he did nothing that was Shawn Michaels-like

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Why are people getting country and acoustic confused? Since that first promo spot, people have been saying country covers. I don't get it. They are the same songs, but acoustic. There is nothing country about them. Do people call anything acoustic country now?

"If it ain't Rock 'N' Roll then it's Country." Axl Rose, Yesterday.

 

[strobogo]

"If it ain't Rock 'N' Roll then it's Country." Axl Rose, Yesterday.

Not enough wheezing in that quote if he said it yesterday.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Character Limit meant they had to be omitted.

 

[toddhunter]

There's not much worthwhile gained from Cena winning, so the optimist in me says Bray Wyatt will get the win.

He is Cena. That is reason enough.

 

[Hasney]

There's not much worthwhile gained from Cena winning, so the optimist in me says Bray Wyatt will get the win.

There usually isn't

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Bryan needs to be made to look like he can hang with Triple H. Let Triple H get his "revenge" after the match and not have Bryan come out right away for the main event as I think someone suggested.

 

[Aiii]

Another year is gone and here we are, at the 30th WrestleMania. WrestleMania Triple H Triple X. Sasha Grey ain’t got nothing on this show. Contrary to some believe on the GAF forums, this card is actually quite strong and looks like fun to me. We haven’t had a good WrestleMania in years, at least going back to 26. So yeah, I’m getting hyped. Though I’m still more hyped for the first time I can watch the Hall of Fame live. Let’s hope the Network holds up through the weekend and keeps buffering to a minimum. Let’s just say I’m skeptical, but ready to be proven wrong. If rumors are correct there are far more subscribers to the channel than WWE first anticipated, I’d imagine it’s going to be somewhere between 750k to 1 million subscribers trying to live stream WrestleMania. It’ll be very interesting to see if they can pull it off. Problem is, you can’t really test this accurately without doing it. They’ve tested live streams, but they simply haven’t had even close to this number of simultaneous live streams. The one that came closes crapped out on them though, granted that was the first live stream they tried, but it still doesn’t bode well.

Regardless, we are on our way to another pay-per-view and as per tradition, THAT MEANS PREDICTION TIME FOR WRESTLEMANIA XXX! Let’s get to it.

Fatal Four-Way Tag-Team Match: The Uso’s (c) vs. Los Matadores vs. The Real Americans vs. Rybaxel (Pre-Show)
It’s a shame the jobbers were added to this match, The Uso’s versus Real Americans would be a great match. Alas, we have this. Things will happen, none of it will matter. They’ve dropped the storyline of Swagger and Cesaro breaking up and I’m hoping they’re going to pick up this story after Mania. Cesaro really needs that big face push, put him with Heyman and have him out there destroying people when Brock isn’t around. I’m hoping the crowd at Monday Night Raw will champion him this year, they should. Anyways, I digress, The Uso’s will retain, the little bull will get Giant Swung a ton of times.

The André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Jesus Christ, just look at the line-up for this Battle Royal. It’s beyond sad just how many jobbers are in this thing. When’s the last time you’ve seen Justin Gabriel on Raw? Zack Ryder? Brodus Clay? Even Titus? 3MB are in this, that’s all I’m saying. It’s beyond sad that André, who in WWE mythology is just about the biggest thing in wrestling ever (pun intended), is remembered in a Battle Royal with so many jobbers. That said, it’s a Battle Royal and those are always awesome. Expect the top 10 contenders to clean house of the 20 jobbiest of the jobbers quickly and then have at it. Those 10 will be: Surprise entrant Rusev, Sheamus, Goldust, Sin Cara, Cody, Miz, Big Show, Del Rio, Big E and Christian. The win will go to either Big Show or Rusev, I’d give the edge to Big Show on this one.

The Shield vs. Korporate Kane and The Corporate Outlaws
The young guys against the Ancient Ones (straight out of Arkham). I’m sure this match will be fine, but it’s not the best showcase for The Shield. They should’ve done Shield vs. Wyatts here instead of Extreme Rules. Bray vs. Cena put a stop to that and that’s a big starmaking match for Bray, but damn the crowd would have made that match. But as it is we get three of the more boring old people against The Shield. Rollins and Ambrose in particular are going to carry this match above of what it should be and that will be fun. There’s really no other choice here than The Shield winning.

Clusterfuck Divas Title Match: AJ Lee (c) vs. The World
I wonder what could have been if Naomi and AJ had actually had a feud to build up a title match on Mania. If WWE would have actually cared to give them a storyline. It certainly seems that Naomi and AJ had something in the works backstage leading off of her promo on the Total Divas. But alas, Aksana murdered Naomi’s eye and now we have a clusterfuck single fall match. At least that will make the match something worthwhile to see. You have people like Cameron, Eva Marie, Rosa and Aksana out there that are perfectly capable of ending actual lives by putting them in a ring with 12 others doing moves at the same time. You have talent like Brie and Nikki Bella, who will surely botch at least half of the 3 moves they get to do. (yep, that’s 1 botch each and a double team botch for those counting) and there’s girls like Summer who maybe never even been in the ring with more than 4 people at a time. Exciting stuff. Either way, this story can only end one way in my opinion and that is with AJ retaining. When you stack the deck against a champion this much there is only one end result and that is the champ retaining. I’m gonna go with the final three standing being Naomi, Tamina and obviously AJ. Naomi will be taken out by Tamina, AJ will somehow steal the pin from Tamina and there you go. I think Naomi will actually win the title, but on Monday’s Raw thanks to Tamina taking out AJ, setting up a three-way feud going into Extreme Rules.

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
This feud has done great stuff for Bray, definitely elevating his status even more. In that sense this match has already succeeded. Really though, Bray has to win this. No doubt there will be some shitty ending, maybe even a DQ win for Cena. Regardless, Bray wins, fucks off, Cena theme hits, crowd rallies behind him or whatever. The commentary will tell you how to feel about Cena, don’t worry. I have nothing else to say. Bray’s theme being performed live is what I’m looking forward to most.

The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar
I wish I had many things to say about this match, but the build has been poor. Lesnar should have been dominating Undertaker, beating him up at every appearance of the dead man (except for one, where they made clear Brock wasn’t in the building that day). Just to make us believe Taker had no chance in hell of beating up the monster. But alas, Taker looked strong in the build up and the streak isn’t going to be broken by anyone but John Cena, so there you go. 22 and oh. Match should be a nice semi-shoot MMA fight, Taker will definitely be taken to the limit of his ancient body. Should be tons of fun at least. Sting arrives on Monday to challenge Taker for WM31.

Winner gets added to main event-match: Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H
The true main event of WrestleMania which probably goes on at the top of the first or maybe the second hour, that’s weird but given the stipulation unavoidable. This match has had a great build, even though I’m sure it was unintended. At some point they were convinced they didn’t need to push Bryan to world title level, but the crowd simply wouldn’t have it and has forced their hands. This isn’t a new thing, it happened in the past with other stars, but this is the first time in a long time. You could make a case for Punk, but Punk put himself over with that promo more than the crowd forcing WWE’s hand. That unique in itself. Triple H has been great as a classic heel, I was a huge fan of 1999/2000 Triple H, his initial heel run as Trips was filled with badass behavior and classic heel anthics that involved him turning into a pussy when needed. I see much of H’s from back then in him now, as illustrated by the beating he took on Monday, that was perfect and will lead to a great match. I really hope they give this match a lot of time and by that I mean this should flat-out go at least 45 minutes. Really have Bryan and Trips go to the absolute edge of what they can do and then have Bryan put Trips in the Yes-lock and have Trips not give up, but simply pass out. Classic three-time arm drop for the win of Bryan. Of course setting up a rematch at Extreme Rules for the belt. This will be a five star match, no doubt and has a chance to be the match people will point to ten years from now as the best match of Daniel Bryan’s and Triple H’s carreer. (I’m really setting myself up here for disappointment, aren’t I?)

WWE World Heavyweight Title Match: Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista vs. Daniel Bryan
So a beaten down Bryan will go the extra mile in this match and defeat two of the more boring people in WWE. This match should focus heavily on Bryan and keep the Orton vs. Batista solo stuff to an absolute minimum. We’ve seen a few matches out of Batista since his return and they’ve all been underwhelming. Guy is lucky he’s in a match where he can just lay on the outside for 10-minutes mid match to recoup a little for the end. There should be a match near the end that mimicks WrestleMania 20’s title match, where Benoit got put through the Spanish Announce Table by Michaels and Trips and sold for death until the very end where he scooped in and took the win. It will be glorious when Bryan wins and celebrates with YES-chants with the crowd.

All in all this is the most interesting Mania in years and that’s a good thing. The matches seem predictable, which is why I predicted AJ to retain as a bit of a surprise. Contrary to my predictions maybe we’ll see Cena go over on Bray and we see the Real Americans win the tag belts to mix things up a little. Either way, Mania should be fun, if we get to see it without issues on the network. Likely we’ll spend the entire night crying on the internet as we search for a 240p lamp instead of the HD feed we pay for. But such is life.

https://legitshook.squarespace.com/predictiontime/2014/4/4/wrestlemania-xxx

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

I'm hyped for this WM, but for a grand 30th... it doesn't seem so grand with the card they have. Oh well, it's to be expected with their lack of star power these days.

 

[Dr Duncan Steel]

Which is bullshit in a lot of ways because I think the roster has been the hottest its been in a long time with a ton of fresh blood shining through with Shield, Cesaro, Wyatts, and even a decent mid card with some depth with Ziggler (if salvaged enough), Del Rio, Sheamus, Big E. Sadly they're all working the pre-show/jobber royal circuit this year, in what should've been the passing of the guard PPV. Let's hope Bryan can spearhead that initiative.

Now come the jaded smarks to tell me otherwise.

Spoiler

In which they aren't entirely blameless

 

[Aiii]

Actually I was about to post the same thing.

The lack of parttimers coming back actually makes me more interested in this card than ever. The Shield and Bray Wyatt are on the track to become main eventers, this is just a stop on the way and esp. in Bray's case is helping them get there. Bryan's win and subsequent epic Mania moment will make him a main eventer in everyone's eyes for years and years.

 

[Hasney]

I agree with both of you. The lack of star power is the fault of WWE not actually doing anything with a lot of these guys while they've been in the mid-card. Without any real storylines or booking, how are they supposed to reach the next level? I'm hoping that this kind of card is the roster we have next year, but with more of these guys having star power.

 

[Dr Duncan Steel]

It's a realistic opportunity for all this Mania to have a new era of dudes transitioning to the main event. So here's hoping they don't fuck it up. Not this time.

 

[Kaladin]

Anyone here watch Evolve last night? I determined that I was going to watch all of the indie stuff next week. Just not enough time for it all now.

 

[Ithil]

The last WM that was based around making new top stars was WM 21, 9 years ago. Since then it's been a rotation of Cena, HHH, Batista, Orton as the focus, often in combinations with each other. There's been some others like Rock, Undertaker, Edge and....Miz, in there, but otherwise those four guys have dominated since 2005 (and HHH long before that).

 

[jmdajr]

Yay at the airport!

 

[Entropia]

Yay at the airport!

Are you handing out religious pamphlets?!?!

Have fun bro!!

 

[British Monsoon]

Anyone here watch Evolve last night? I determined that I was going to watch all of the indie stuff next week. Just not enough time for it all now.

Yeah, I watched it up to Gargano vs Swann - pretty good show, great opener with Gulak vs Busick and Ricochet vs Nese was just awesome. AR Fox's match was ridiculous, but what else is new?

 

[jmdajr]

Are you handing out religious pamphlets?!?!

Have fun bro!!

#best4Business pamphlets

 

[Jamie OD]

Stolen from the F4W Board, I hope this pops up on TV:

DID YOU KNOW?
"On Wrestlemania weekend, the last time there were more Europeans in New Orleans was before the Louisiana Purchase. Breaking a 215 year old record."

 

[jmdajr]

Stolen from the F4W Board, I hope this pops up on TV:

DID YOU KNOW?
"On Wrestlemania weekend, the last time there were more Europeans in New Orleans was before the Louisiana Purchase. Breaking a 215 year old record."

Woah

 

[HeisenbergLannister]

If we don't get a WHAT/YES segment Sunday night, you're doing it wrong, WWE.

 

[okayfrog]

I was looking for JTG in this picture when I thought I saw Ezekial Jackson. Turns out it was just R-Truth's shoulder.

 

[Anth0ny]

Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. The Real Americans vs. Ryback & Curtis Axel (Pre-Show match)
Usos because all the other tag teams are jobbers. Why the fuck is rybaxel and los matadores in this match and not rhodes brothers.

Jobber Battle Royale
Big shoe. He cries at the end.

The Shield vs. Kane & The New Age Outlaws
Shield. Kane and New Age Outlaws is the dumbest pairing ever and drags the Shield down. Should have been facing the Wyatts at Mania.

Daniel Bryan vs. Triple H
Bryan is winning because the crowd would shit on the entire show if he's not in the main event. Should be the best match on the card, really looking forward to it. The real main event and hottest feud/best build on the card.

Piss Break Invitational
AJ because no one cares about the other women or the Bella that is getting married to Bryan because why not.

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
Pretty good build for this match, surprisingly. 100% certain Cena wins clean. Bray will look awesome in the match, though, and be over with the crowd. The feud will continue.

The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar
God what a shit build for this match. We all know Taker is winning, but the whole point of a build towards the streak match is making me believe even for a SECOND that Taker might lose. They've failed with this one.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. Bryan
Batista wins as originally planned. WWE thinks all the money in Bryan is the chase towards the title, and not actually winning the title. Batista and Bryan will have a couple months feud after this, with Bryan possibly winning at the end on some B PPV. Crowd is hot as fuck at the end of the show, and that's exactly what they want for Batista.

Spoilers: Crowd fucking RUINS the show on Raw After Mania. Will be glorious.

 

[Razorskin]

I was looking for JTG in this picture when I thought I saw Ezekial Jackson. Turns out it was just R-Truth's shoulder.

I hope Ezekiel shows up and wins it.

THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING

 

[Vylash]

I hope Ezekiel shows up and wins it.

THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING

The only thing I miss about him is his awesome theme, THIS HERE IS WHAT YOU CALL DOMINATION, IT'S A COMBINATION OF SKILL AND CONCENTRATION

 

[Jamie OD]

I hope Ezekiel shows up and wins it.

THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING

Doubtful. Poor guy is injury prone which is why he is gone for so long. Every time he recovered some other part of his body tears apart weeks later. I think his latest problem is constant hernias.

 

[Ithil]

The only thing I miss about him is his awesome theme, THIS HERE IS WHAT YOU CALL DOMINATION, IT'S A COMBINATION OF SKILL AND CONCENTRATION

Ezekiel? Skill?
What nonsense.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Ezekiel? Skill?
What nonsense.

If repeated body slams don't require skill and concentration then I don't know what does.
Well it requires concentration to not doze off at any rate.

 

[abstract alien]

Kinda hope Trips wins the title, then loses it on some crazy on the spot shenanigans during the following Raw. They've manufactured this enough to the point of it not really interesting, but Trips winning after his stellar burial and mic stuff would be fun. Daniel should have been carrying this belt a long time ago, so one more night won't hurt. Hold it through WM31 since he can actually wrestle with different types of people and not look like shit.

*shrugs*

 

[daemissary]

Predictions time?

-Real Americans. I think they'll want to start the night with a title change to get the crowd hot and they know the Wrestlemania smarks will go bonkers for Cesaro.

-Rusev in the battle royal. Only because Big Show was standing tall on the go home Raw so him winning would be too obvious.

-Naomi in divas match. Total Divas storyline fodder.

-The Shield because there is literally no reason for Kane/Outlaws to win.

-Cena. Because status quo.

-Taker. Duh.

-Bryan. I think they'll give Bryan the clean win over H but I also wouldn't be shocked if they have a double pinfall scenario where both HHH and Bryan get to be added to the title match.

-Batista. Bryan gets screwed by everyone because they want the Raw after Mania crowd to be the craziest.

 

[Deadstar]

Batista needs to win and and destroy everyone's heroes. I hope that is what happens.

Also, BOOYAKA BOOYAKA. I hope Rey wins.

 

[Host Samurai]

That Battle Royal is going to be absolutely TERRIBLE. What a lazy idea that is to just shoehorn guys into an angle.

 

[Kaladin]

Bryan is winning it all at Mania, yall are fooling yourselves if you think otherwise.

 

[Son Of D]

My predictions:

Tag Team Turmoil - The Usos win this. They're over and I think they deserve a good lengthy reign. Cesaro will do a Cesaro Swing on at least two opponents as well as El Torito. Tease the Real Americans split (but don't do it until the Raw after Mania).

Battle Royale - Rusev I guess. Depends who the other unannounced entrants are. I originally had Cesaro down as winning this but he's now in the tag match. Big Show as an alternate choice. Gotta push that youngster Paul 'Son of Andre' Wight now.

Divas Everywhere - A Bella. Not sure which one, maybe Brie so that they can have her and D.Bry as champions when they get married. Plus Total Divas.

The Shield vs Old Age Authority - Shield. I'm still disappointed that this is how the Shield are used at Mania, better than them splitting up though. Rollins and Ambrose will do their usual awesome spots with some new ones for Mania, but Reigns will deal the final blows. I LOVE THAT SUPERMAN PUNCH MAGGLE.

Taker vs Lesnar - Undertaker. There will be at least 1 F5 from Lesnar with Michael Cole screaming "THE STREAK IS OVER!" though. Should be a good match.

Bray vs Cena - Bray. It's odd to see Cena in a Mania where he's not involved in a title match or the main event. Kind of refreshing to be honest. Anyway, Bray winning this will help his career a lot. Cena doesn't really have much to lose if he puts Bray over (then again, Nexus+WadeBarrett.jpg). Besides, I want to see where Bray goes from here if he defeats Cena.

Bryan vs HHH - Bryan. It's odd to see a Wrestlemania build up where the main story isn't even the championship one or about a returning superstar (although this is HHH's first match in nearly a year). This is likely to be match of the night personally. Shenanigans are likely, but if they do want to give Bryan his Mania moment then they might want to keep interference and ref bumps away from these matches to make it more legitimate.

Orton vs Batista vs Bryan - Bryan. Ending Wrestlemania with Bryan holding the two belts doing the whole "YES!" chant with the crowd would be a perfect conclusion and a great Mania moment. Orton will try and let Bryan and Batista do the fighting but the challengers have other plans. Orton will also be the one to take the pinfall/submission. Possibly leads to a Bryan vs Batista feud where Big Dave will win the title in the summer.

Orton vs Batista vs HHH - Batista. In the event where Bryan loses to HHH then I can see Batista getting the victory here. Although in this case HHH winning may actually be the lesser of the three evils. Besides, if HHH did win it he'd probably vacate it right away since he's not full time these days.

On a side note, I feel that Extreme Rules will have Orton vs Bryan (yet again) for the title whereas Batista and HHH have a match. They've been mentioning the whole "You've never defeated me Hunter" thing a few times now so it might lead to a quick feud where HHH finally gets that win.

 

[Hasney]

Went to watch Wrestlemania Today. Saw Alex Riley... I will watch it at some point, but that will require a lot fast forwarding.

 

[galvatron]

WWE Network is reshowing that DBry run-in from Raw.. Yeah Trips sold that so goddam well. Seriously right now Triple H is the best sports entertainer in the company.

That night he won me over. Not big on his mic work and thought he was B+ in the ring. Sold it amazingly and gave the best promo I've seen from him. Super clutch on his part. He lives up to his hype now.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Hogan will probably be at the brawl and win it.

 

[JustinBB7]

Removing money in the bank from Wrestlemania was still the stupidest thing they ever did. They should remove the PPV and have it back there. Made WM a lot more special, and made sure it always had one awesome (or at least interesting to see who wins) match.

Maybe now that the WWE network is up they will, since they don't really have to sell PPV's as much as before right?

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Bryan is winning it all at Mania, yall are fooling yourselves if you think otherwise.

You're gonna eat ten pounds of shit brother! THAT AVATAR BET!

 

[Shadowlink]

What's the avatar bet this time?

 

[Deleted member 47027]

What's the avatar bet this time?

#YES means you think Daniel Bryan wins it all, #NO means he'll eat shit. Losers have to suffer with an avatar of the winner.

 

[funkystudent]

I think Randy keeps the title. Its the safest, most bring choice and thats kind of how WWE does these things.

No point in giving it to batista yet. No one likes him and his movie isnt out for another 6 months.

If they havent pulled the trigger on Bryan at SS they are not doing it now. WWE just doesnt want to have that guy as champ for longer then 24 hours.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

#YES means you think Daniel Bryan wins it all, #NO means he'll eat shit. Losers have to suffer with an avatar of the winner.

So.. You should vote #No to get a Dbry avatar no matter what? xD

 

[kirblar]

Removing money in the bank from Wrestlemania was still the stupidest thing they ever did. They should remove the PPV and have it back there. Made WM a lot more special, and made sure it always had one awesome (or at least interesting to see who wins) match.

Maybe now that the WWE network is up they will, since they don't really have to sell PPV's as much as before right?

Yeah, it's an issue now due to how bad the timing is.

 

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Bryan is winning it all at Mania, yall are fooling yourselves if you think otherwise.

I think people hashtagging No right now just want this question answered: Are the WWE liable if the Superdome is ashes come Monday morning?

Because creative has to be aware that building won't stand the nuclear level heat if anyone but Bryan leaves with the belt.