The Wrestlemania 25 Thread, This Sunday, April 5th Options

[Wheelimus]

I realize that we have the wonderful Pro Wrestling Thread for news, but I thought that Wrestlemania deserves it's own thread. In case anyone hasn't been following along, here's the card

Edge © vs The Big Show vs John Cena (World Heavyweight Championship)
HHH © vs Randy Orton (WWE Heavyweight Championship)
The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
Chris Jericho vs Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
Money In The Bank Ladder Match (CM Punk, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Mark Henry, Kane, Finley, Christian, Kofi Kingston)
25 Diva Battle Royal
JBL © vs Rey Mysterio (Intercontinental Championship)
MnM (John Morrison and The Miz) vs The Colon Brothers (Primo and Carlito) (Tag Team Championship Unification)
Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy

It's going to be really hard to predict the winners of the Title matches. I want to predict a scenario where a title stays on Raw (meaning that either Cena wins, or if he loses Orton wins) but with the WWE Draft taking place just one week after Wrestlemania, I could see WWE teasing a situation where Raw is left without a title (again) only to solve it via the Draft. Or, again, solve it via Money In The Bank. Heck, they actually haven't even addressed what happens to Randy Orton if he wins the belt. Would he go to Smackdown, leaving the rest of Legacy on Raw?

If I had to guess, I think Cena wins the belt and HHH retains. Which will keep HHH and Orton on seperate brands and put the feud on ice again. So it can conveniently be revived for the Survivor Series or something. Unless you separate the two, you kind of have to continue the feud. And I don't think they'll want to waste the rematch on Backlash.

Undertaker and Shawn Michaels are going to steal the show, no doubt about that. Shawn has had 3 straight ****+ matches at Wrestlemania (his last non great match being vs Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 22) and I don't see that streak being broke here. I also don't see 'Takers streak ending either. Dead man wins after Shawn has gotten the better of him throughout the build up.

I'm very happy with the announcement that Chris Jericho vs The Legends will be an elimination match. Snuka should job in about 30 seconds. Piper can still hold his own brawling with Jericho, but more than 5 minutes and it's going to become unbelievable. Which would bring us down to Chris Jericho vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and that right there is the real match. In a recent interview, Steamboat said he felt he was at 80 to 85% of the wrestler he once was. If that's true, then he and Jericho can have one hell of a match. I'm going to predict that, with Jericho getting the upper hand throughout the build up, Steamboat pins Jericho. Who can then get punched out by Micky Rourke during his post loss tirade.

I think that MVP wins Money In The Bank.

JBL has promised something historic at Wrestlemania. Look for him to retain the title (after jobbing clean on Raw for the final buildup) and then retire as champion immediately after. The word lately has been that his back problems have returned and he won't be around much longer. After this, I really hope they don't immediately put him back in the announce booth. JBL as a heel stable manager could be money.

MnM better win the unified tag belts. Then I'd like to see them become "tweeners" so that they can bounce around all the shows feuding with both the prominent face and heel tag teams. Their characters are already close, they'd just need to start embracing the fans a little bit. Or at least courting "rebels" in the crowd for backing.

The Hardy match, sigh, I almost have trouble caring about. The build up has been so lackluster that, while I know the match should be good, there just isn't much behind it. And I'm a little bit disgusted that they had to go so low (Matt taunting Jeff in regards to his dead dog) in the final weeks just to try to make up. Still, depending on the match they have, it could steal the show.


All in all, it should be a good event that could be a great one depending on a lot of factors. The least of which is the health of Ricky Steamboat. If he turns out to be as broken down as Snuka and Piper, that match could be a disaster. I have to believe he has one good match left in him though, if not the sensible thing would have been to give the match to Jerry Lawler.

Looking forward to it, I'll be going over to a friends house for a big party so it should be a blast. Can't wait! If you're planning to watch, remember that Wrestlemania is a 4 hour event so it'll start an hour earlier than most PPVs.