Gonna get a huge boner if my Styles/Joe suggestion from months ago actually comes to fruition.

SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR A 2-TIME WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION WHO NEEDED EDGE TO HELP HIM WIN HIS FIRST ONE AND HAD LAUGHABLY SHORT RUNS BOTH TIMES!!!!!!

Top matches have been locked for months

Or Vince legit doesn't know what he wants to do for Mania outside of wanting select guys locked into spots for the multiple main event matches.

People who have worked with him before stated he changes plans all the time because he can't commit to plans or long term booking. Also him suffering from paranoia about people knowing stuff before it gets officially announced. For example Jericho was meant to win the 2012 Rumble before it got changed at the last minute to Sheamus and wrecking some of the plans in place for Mania at the time.

Most the matches that have been locked up for a while involve part timers. Shaq/Show, Lesnar/Goldberg, and HHH/Rollins. Cena and Taker are locked into spots on the card maybe the same spot but both are part timers.

This isn't Bound for Glory

They have about 6.5 hours to work with given how long last year went

I think the cruiserweights are getting the multi-man ladder match this year

Even when considering the part-timers, only Lesnar/Goldberg and Shaq/Show are really locked in. Lesnar/Goldberg is the only one that fits as a top match candidate and Shaq/Show only got locked because it was announced right after the last Mania.

Everything else is just assumed to be happening either because of the status of those wrestlers or delays that occurred. HHH/Rollins was something originally planned for Summerslam but kept getting pushed back to now being a Mania or bust match.

According to CyNick they are to weak and small to handle the ladders.

Meltzer talking about WM on Wrestling Observer Radio r/n. Meltzer re-iterated Strowman vs Taker is not happening at WM. Plans for Cena are undecided for WM but Cena vs Taker is not happening. Sounds like Taker vs Roman or Taker vs Balor tbh from what he is saying.

I've got no interest in Taker vs. Reigns.

Taker vs. Reigns would be nothing short of dreadful

Finn vs Taker would be interesting. Battle of the 20 minute over produced entrances.

Finn can cost Taker the Rumble without having to get too physical and it can be an appearance/promo build until he's ready to come back.

Makes sense if Taker is facing a Raw gut but not any of the big nsmes

I really don't think that will be going ahead. There's more to Reigns/Goldberg at this point. Cena/Taker is the choice. I think Vince is still set on it, or if he has changed his mind, will quickly change it back.

And I don't see a way Taker doesn't win this Royal Rumble, to be honest. Unless they have Braun Strowman eliminate him illegally to set up a feud between the two, but that would be dreadful too.

A complete miss-match on paper. Balor could work as a cocky prick heel trying to bury Taker, I guess, but there is lower fruit hanging with more pay-off.

Thinking outside the box here - I could actually see a triple threat between Reigns, Taker, and Strowman for the Universal Title. Taker could pick up his second WrestleMania loss without actually being pinned, and it could set up a Reigns/Taker showdown at WM34 in New Orleans, home to Undertaker's greatest defeat. Vince has such a raging hard-on for Reigns, I'm thinking Taker/Reigns does wind up happening somehow and I could see Vince intentionally building to it for a long period of time as opposed to 2 months.

So if that happens and Cena/Taker is off the table, I've warmed up to the idea of The Miz winning Elimination Chamber (and fulfilling Daniel Bryan's greatest nightmare) to become #1 contender for the WWE Championship and facing John Cena at WrestleMania. He's been the most effective heel in the company for quite some time and I feel that warrants a high profile Mania match. It'd have to be better than their WM27 match because Miz got concussed and people spent the entire match waiting for The Rock to show up. That match didn't do either man in it justice.

Neither Taker/Strowman/Reigns nor Cena/Miz feel like show closing bouts, but I guess that doesn't matter as much if Goldberg/Lesnar is going to be the main event as Dave suggests. Bleh.

Where did you get that info from?

Most of the key matches at Mania involve part timers. So like I said, most of the card has been in place for months.

By the nature of the division they are small. They are too small too handle ladders without looking weak and inferior. If they could pretend Kane was a CW and he could do all the set up work, the little guys could jump off the ladders and entertain.

They set the ladders up before ladder matches now anyway. Half the work is done already those little guys should be able to do the rest.

Why didn't Meltzer just reveal the card?

Imagine his conversations if we are to believe his "reporting" is accurate:

*Text messages received from an anonymous former MI6 agent*

Meltzer: hey it's Big Dave

Random WWE Writing Staff Coffee Getter: oh hey Dave, great to hear from you. How's the movie business treating you?

Meltzer: No no it's BIG Dave!

RWWSCG: from the escort service?

Meltzer: WTF, it's Dave from The Sheets

RWWSCG: huh? Oh, shit...Joke. lolz.

Meltzer: so what's the word on Mania? Ya know? Haha.

RWWSCG: I dunno, I keep telling you, that stuff is kept air tight with Vince's inner circle, I just get coffee for the writers assistants. And other...tasks.

Meltzer: you're useless, and to think I got you out of that whole DDP Yoga ponzi scheme. You gotta give me something. Ya know? Haha.

RWWSCG: okay well I did see a piece of paper with some matches jotted down.

Meltzer: perfect. So what is listed?

RWWSCG: Can't tell ya, I think they have our phones tapped.

Meltzer: what if I guess?

RWWSCG: this again? And why is your font so small?

Meltzer: Yes, this again! Ya ungrateful shit

RWWSCG: sorry...

Meltzer: Okay, Taker vs Cena?

RWWSCG: I didn't see that written

Meltzer: good enough for me. Now let me tell the Mexican kid to post this on our site and do a breaking news audio spot. Ya know? Haha.

RWWSCG: okay, I gotta go, someone just made a mess of the bathroom.

*End of transcript

That works outside the ring. Inside they still gotta be set up. Then that look like midgets trying to carry a ladder to the check out counter at a home Depot.

From interviews and stories of people who worked in Creative and/or management after they left the WWE.

One of the former main writers of Creative spilled the beans a while ago about what the original plans were for the 2012 Rumble and Mania prior to its last minute changes.

Names? I know lots of people who worked at various companies, doesn't mean they were in on the top level planning meetings.

For the record, Vince is THE MAIN writer. He decides when to bring everyone in in his plans.

Legit thought about searching online for the names and stories/reports you want but in the end would just be a huge waste of time since you'd just brush it off or cling on to the same stance you always have in regards to stuff like this.

Rather spend that time watching the rest of this week's episode Lucha Underground and the upcoming Nintendo Switch event.

If you want, Google can be very helpful in finding the stuff you want.

I'm not the one trying to prove a point. I KNOW what these ex writers say is generally BS. They take a small nugget and turn it into something bigger because they want to extend their five minutes of fame. Guys like you will eat it up and continue to keep them relevant.

I've heard enough interviews and talked with people who were actually in the inner circle to know 99% of the stories you hear from these ex writers is BS. You my friend are the one who should do research and not just jump on any fake news you read and take it as fact.

I can't even imagine the live crowd if Roman goes against Taker of all people. At a WrestleMania. If would make the oh-so-warm reception he received against HHH and Lesnar seem joyous.

All I have gathered from the latest game of "try reasoning with cynick" is that he obviously listens to a lot of Meltzer to have his alleged speech patterns down and that he believes people inside the company have less reason to work people than people outside it. People that Vince McMahon apparently paid to do nothing. What a philanthropist.

I'm still not buying Undertaker not winning the Rumble. Even if he goes against Reigns, why wouldn't you have him win the Rumble to get a Universal Title shot against him? I'd rather see AJ/Taker, as I think they could have some sort of Taker/HBK quality to their match. Cena can face Samoa Joe.

Because if he wins the Rumble only to lose at Mania it kinda kills the aura a bit? Unless he's gonna retire this year, he should prob win.

Meltzer sheep,,,,,,,,,,

Anyone who's been a loyal follower of mine would know I was a subscriber of the Observer for years. Hell I've met Dave a few times. I think he's a nice guy. I think aspects of his work are great. I just don't believe he has CREDIBLE inside sources to report backstage news. So yeah, my incredible wit comes from a place of experience.

To me it's very simple. If he has a guy or guys on the inside, why not post the ENTIRE card as it stands today, and then post it again next week with all the changes. He'll if he's got someone on the inside they should be able to produce material like proofs for upcoming ads that will promote individual matches. Instead is always these vague one offs. Cena v Taker is OFF the card. Okay cool story bro, but what's the new card? You think Vince is like "well we'll either do Taker vs Cena or we will scrap that and we'll give them programs two weeks before Mania!"?

He either has access to this info or he doesn't. The way he"breaks" his news like this, and he does it almost every year when he doesn't get the card, is he'll start with some matches, then say they were changed, but may change again, and then if they go in the direction he guessed (based on watching the TV) he goes well they went back and forth for weeks. Or if he was wrong, he says Mania has been rewritten so many times, and this is where they landed. So it justifies why he couldn't get the card ahead of time.

Where did you get that info from?

I know the process. I've heard it from credible sources with first hand experience. I've seen proof.

Must be why the moved the Undertaker from Smackdown to Raw... was written in stone months ago..........................................................

When did they move him to RAW?

Maybe you missed the part about the National Championship being played against RAW. It behooved WWE to promote something special for RAW to minimize lost viewership. Seemed to work fairly well.

Plus he was never drafted to either brand. So no change was made.

Major Major Major news about Undertaker incoming...

How major is it?????

Big Cass is one of the people being considered for Undertaker's opponent at WM33, which would mean Cass would have to eliminate Taker at the Rumble, turn heel on Enzo and then squash Enzo at Fastlane.

Don't like it. Enzo and Cass still have a lot they could do as a tag team. Still don't think they should split them though. If they want Cass as a singles guy keep Enzo with him as his manager.

If they wanna turn him heel though, he's kinda gotta turn on Enzo. Enzo as a heel manager wouldn't work at the moment.

I agree. Don't think they should turn him heel just get though. When they do split him turning on Enzo will be big but it needs to wait.

I like Big Cass and think he's better than this jobber team with Enzo. You don't necessarily need to turn him heel. Fans won't boo Taker, but it would make sense for him to lead the program.

Seems rushed if Cass is going to turn heel, beat Enzo and then lose to Taker. Would be probably better to be a babyface, challenge Taker, be competitive with Taker but lose, then turn heel on Enzo the night after Mania.

What do you think Sami Zayn does at WrestleMania this year? It's hard to be excited about his current position on the card, but I do feel that he is valued as a guy that helps others look great. He was in quite a few MOTY candidates last year. I can't see him being left off the Mania card, but he doesn't feel like the sort of guy you just throw into the Battle Royal.

If they do go with Cena/Taker, AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn makes sense as a random Mania match with guys on the opposite disposition on the opposite brand looking to prove themselves. You're pretty much guaranteed to get a good match out of them.

There's always the possibility they just delayed his trade to SmackDown in order to get more out of his work with Strowman and that he ends up challenging for the IC Title there. I think we're heading towards Ambrose & Renee vs. Miz & Maryse for Mania now, but Miz could easily cost Ambrose the IC Title to someone like Ziggler who can put it on the line against Sami or do that Ladder Match they like to do.

Another possibility is to start something up with Rusev. There's another guy that should be featured in something, but he's more a natural fit for the Battle Royal than a Zayn would be. But Lana is also someone with some star qualities that they might like to tie into a story told between them.

Truth be told, while I like the idea of finally giving Dolph a singles match at WrestleMania, there are likely to be so many singles matches at Mania. A Ladder Match pitting Ziggler against Zayn, Kalisto, Kane, Crews, Corbin and someone like Harper or even Swagger would give the show more variety. You can build the singles feud between Ziggler and Zayn coming out of Mania.

Don't really see the need to turn Cass on Enzo. He's got something likable about him and is inexperienced enough that you can buy him finding his feet in a sympathetic way. I'd rather see Enzo turn on Cass, to be honest, with Cass being loyal until the end with Enzo, but it being Enzo's jealousy and little man syndrome that causes him to go out on his own before Cass realizes he has outgrown him.

I'm willing to bet that Enzo could fucking talk as a heel. The catchphrases are over, but they are limiting and he's already been stomped into the ground as a babyface. Enzo would be a good choice to get into a war of words with The Rock at WrestleMania too. Obviously Rocky's not wrestling, but he'll be doing something talky, and the best thing Enzo does is talking, so if you want to emphasize him, that might be the best way.

Drew Galloway and The Hardys' contracts are coming up with TNA. That The Hardys could be at WrestleMania is something that hasn't really been considered. Most of the boys seem to a mark for the bullshit they are doing, so it wouldn't be too strange to see them show up and start something with The New Day (if they do Owens vs. Jericho) or Owens & Jericho (if they don't), or possibly even both teams. We haven't seen TLC at WrestleMania in some time...

It's a shame that Jeff's contract isn't up in time for the Rumble, because I could genuinely see the WWE giving him a Royal Rumble victory and putting the Universal Title on him at Mania if he were there.

No chance of this happening, but I'd absolutely love it if Triple H declined the invitation to face Seth Rollins and instead appointed a new sponsored opponent for Rollins. My mind immediately goes to Bobby Roode, since he basically channels Triple H. Drew McIntyre would work if they brought him back as "The Chosen One." But, if the plan is still to do Cena/Taker then this could be a roll they bring Samoa Joe up into.

It really feels like there is nothing for him left to do in NXT, and it's hard to fit him into something meaningful on the main show that isn't Cena. But if Triple H were ready to swallow his ego a bit, realize that WrestleMania doesn't need that Triple H match and instead sponsor some of his new wave NXT guys, then Joe vs. Rollins has got potential to be something. Or, if you do Joe/Cena, you can have Roode vs. Rollins. If they do what I hope they do and have Owens & Jericho win the RAW Tag Titles, Rollins could win the US Title from one of them and then defend it against Roode at Mania. This might be squishing things together too much, but if Ambrose & Miz are still fighting, you could do Rollins & Ambrose teaming up as champions to face Miz & Roode.

Just spit-balling some ideas there.

Another idea:

* The Undertaker wins the Royal Rumble and challenges Roman Reigns for the Universal Title.

* Samoa Joe crashes the John Cena vs. AJ Styles match at the Royal Rumble and leaves both men lying.

* Goldberg eliminates Brock Lesnar from the Royal Rumble, who in turn throws a tantrum and destroys the ringside area. Shane McMahon and officials come out to try and smooth things over, but it ends with Brock spitting on Shane or something, planting the seeds for an Unsanctioned Street Fight at WrestleMania with Daniel Bryan training up Shane for it.

* Rusev goes on to eliminate Goldberg setting up a match between them at Mania.

* Triple H keeps ducking Seth Rollins and calls in Bobby Roode to be his surrogate and fight Rollins at Mania.

* The Hardys return and challenge Owens & Jericho and The New Day to a TLC Match at WrestleMania.

* Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt decide that Luke Harper is the weak link of The Wyatt Family and turn on him, but Harper strikes up an alliance with Kane to fight against The Apex Predators.

* Charlotte is forced to defend her Women's Championship in a Fatal 4-Way against Sasha Banks, Bayley and Nia Jax. How ever will the champ keep her streak alive with the odds stacked against her?

* Becky Lynch wins back the SmackDown Women's Title and defends against Nikki Bella. Who really is the most popular Diva on SmackDown?

* The women also get involved in Dean Ambrose & The Miz's rivalry when they confirm a Mixed Tag Team Match, with Renee Young making her in-ring debut with the WWE. Will she be completely outclassed by the former Divas Champion?

* The Miz and Ambrose's rivalry costs them the Intercontinental Championship to Dolph Ziggler, who finds himself staring down the barrel at a hungry challenger just traded to SmackDown in Sami Zayn. Will the two have an Intercontinental Championship match for the ages?

* Neville goes on a tear through the Cruiserweight Division as its new champion and worries that there is no challenger in the world that can reach his level. Cue Kota Ibushi's golden return to the WWE.

* The Andre the Giant Battle Royal is announced, and Big Show declares he wants to win it again. Shaq confirms that he will be entering to get his hands on Big Show. Cesaro & Sheamus enter as partners that will fight through the crowd to make sure it is them at the end. The World's Strongest Man announces that it will be his last shot at glory in the WWE. Braun Strowman was the runner-up in the Royal Rumble and that lost still haunts him, so he looks for Battle Royal redemption. Baron Corbin looks to take back-to-back Battle Royals.

* Finally announced is an NXT classic. After American Alpha retain the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against recent rivals in The Usos at Elimination Chamber, they find themselves attacked at every point by The Revival, who want to make their main roster presence felt. Will they be able to wrest the SmackDown Tag Titles away from Alpha like they did the NXT Tag Team Championship?

That's only 14 matches. I think you could get that done in about 6 hours. Keep in mind that Goldberg vs. Rusev is likely to be a squash. Actually, Becky vs. Nikki can probably main event the pre-show, which they will make out to be a big deal. So that's really only 12 main card matches.

From a recent episode of the Observer Radio show and them being vague about it since they know Vince will likely change it if it gets leaked out. Supposedly the match is something both Dave Metlzer and Brian Alvarez really like on paper which is why they don't want to risk it getting changed.

Recent update regarding the card itself was a lot of the current plans got shelved in favor of more "fresh" and non-leaked matchups instead. Only Goldberg-Lesnar and Shaq-Show survived the recent purge of the plans.

I'm thinking Zayn/Nakamura and Neville/Ibushi are real possibilities for Mania this year. They clearly won't give a fuck if the show goes 6 hours, so I think they'll just jam everything on there.

I can see the undercard looking like a series of IWC dream matches, followed by your heavier hitting heavyweight main events.

My best guesses from that are:

Taker vs Balor (RAW guy)
Taker vs Roman (RAW guy, though I think it's safe to say the internet, as a whole, would not love that or welcome it)

Cena vs Samoa Joe (could he debut on SD?)
Cena vs Kurt Angle (ditto)

Assuming the rumors about Joe getting a massive push for his call-up is true, Cena vs Joe makes the most sense. Anything involving Taker is probably going to be a one-off match while Cena-Joe can continue as a big focal point of Smackdown after Mania.

Also plays into the clarification of the Observer Radio's surprise involving either Taker or Cena.

I could see Joe attacking Cena and Styles at the Rumble and the WWE Title match being a Triple Threat. I have no clue how they spin their wheels through the next few months though.

These guys are too much. So now they are telling their paying customers they can't reveal inside info because if they do, then good matches will get changed. Honestly, how do they have any subscribers at this point? I bow to the depths of their carny.

Supposedly Beth Phoenix is HOF bound.

I definitely loved Beth Phoenix. She, Victoria, and Mickie felt like the lone bright spots in the women's division between 2006-12, at a time when they had separate women's divisions on each show and she's the only one of the group to have retired. But yeah, it's kinda hard to think of her as a Hall of Famer. Especially with Chyna not being in when Beth was sorta presented as being Chyna 2.0, a powerhouse who can (and did) kick guys' asses in addition to the women.

You have Edge's babies, you get in the HoF

Dave Meltzer is cyber-bullying me. SMH.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Michale Cole performing a strip tease <a href="https://t.co/AFpJNfXAxf">https://t.co/AFpJNfXAxf</a></p>&mdash; Dave Meltzer (@DaveMeItzer) <a href="https://twitter.com/DaveMeItzer/status/821753165020209153">January 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

damn...it's a parody account...I was 100% ok with that answer

More FAKE NEWS from slik.

More CYBER BULLY behavior from Big Vic, man responsible for attacking tpww ICON and mega-face, owenbrown!

For the 100th time, I never "mocked" owenbrown (would never do that) but simply showed him "groveling" when he totally changed a 6 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!

Beth Phoenix going in doesn't surprise me. That it's this year seems a bit early. I'd have guessed that Molly Holly or Victoria would have gotten the nod, with Sable going in next year. Something about Sable just seems tonally wrong this year, given that they aren't even a year into having "Women's Championships" back. I can see her going in once they are comfortable referencing, ironically, how they sexed up the women in the Attitude era. One more year adds to her "classique" value.

Haku and Rick Martel are good names to go in for guys that are still alive, kicking and aren't exclusively from the last 20 years.

Absolutely loved Martel. I feel like he is one of the most undervalued guys in WWE history.

He looked great, could go in the ring and played his eventual character perfectly. Absolutely agree on him going in.

Haku too when you consider his longevity in the business, but Martel was just awesome.

add those two names along with Angle and it'll damn near make the HOF watchable this year

If/when Sable goes in it's gonna be hilarious watching the video for her induction where they try to hype her up as something other than a pair of tits.

Her tits should be inducted into the celebrity wing of the hof on their own merits outside of wwe.

I would find it hilarious if they called her "The Greatest Female Wrestler of All Time"

They will say things about her being "revolutionary at a time when content in the WWE was heading in a risque direction." They will show her Powerbombing Mero and emphasize how popular she was. They'll throw in something about her bringing back the WWF Women's Championship and planting seeds for women like Trish Stratus to follow in her footsteps.

This year I'd put in:

* Kurt Angle
* Bull Nakano
* Haku
* Kevin Sullivan (this year due to his Florida connections)
* Sean Waltman
* Teddy Long
* Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather, Jon Stewart, etc.
* DDP as a second big name.

Pocket Martel for next year. You can't have all your older guys go in one year.

Ray Stevens should go into their Legacy section given that he should have been inducted prior to Mania 31.

While I would avoid this, just because I'm not a big fan of the style of match, I can see the WWE putting forward two Fatal 4-Way matches for the Women's Titles at Mania. Charlotte, Sasha, Bayley and Nia would make up the RAW one; Alexa, Becky, Mickie and Nikki would make up the SmackDown one.

Also possible is some sort of SmackDown Women's Scramble: Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Natalya vs. Nikki Bella.

Let's say the plan is to keep Kevin Owens Universal Champion until WrestleMania, but the plan isn't to have him face Chris Jericho. Is there someone that you would like to see Jericho face? The show is already going long enough, but assuming that the plan is for Jericho to have a match where he puts over a younger guy -- who would you choose?

Cesaro?

So this year and next years wrestlemania still really hinges on "whatever the undertaker wants..."

I've watched maybe the last 4 or 5 wrestlemanias...isn't anyone concerned about this guy dying? You can't bank on this guy being able to stand 14 months from now? Right? Right?

Yeup that's been the case with Taker ever since the Triple H series of matches where parts of Mania's plans are entire dependent on Taker's status. They had to start his Mania feuds later than usual just because he needed more time to recover and had to tone down his matches for his own health's sake.

Observer had a report about Taker needing major hip surgery but has been postponing it for a while since he knows his career is over when it happens. Like Foley's medical problems, this is something that should have been done earlier but he doesn't want to do it yet.

That would be a good match.

If they're not doing Cena/Taker, let Taker sit this one out. I did a write-up in another thread about now being fairly keen on Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins, with Brock working as Triple H's surrogate in order to receive a title shot for eradicating Rollins. I feel that has more sizzle to it than a straight-up Triple H vs. Rollins match.

There's no chance Triple H is sitting out Mania, but doing some thinking, would a six-man tag pitting Triple H, Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho against a babyface team led by Seth Rollins be a better overall direction? It's Triple H, his new chosen one and his best friend against the former chosen one. It makes sense and will probably "energize" people a lot more than Triple H vs. Rollins one-on-one will.

Sami Zayn seems like a logical choice for Rollins' first partner. He's fiery and has personal issues with Owens. The third man is trickier. I was actually thinking that this could be where Shinsuke Nakamura shows up. The idea would basically be that he respects Rollins & Zayn and when they need someone to fight against villainy, he steps forward because he's Shinsuke fuckin' Nakamura.

Random card:

* AJ Styles (c) vs. The Undertaker for the WWE World Title
* Roman Reigns (c) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Title
* John Cena vs. Samoa Joe
* Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar III
* Triple H, Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn & Shinsuke Nakamura
* Street Fight: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
* Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Title
* Andre Battle Royal featuring Big Show, Shaq, Baron Corbin, Sheamus, Cesaro, Rusev, The New Day, Luke Harper, Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, Apollo Crews, Gallows & Anderson, Enzo & Cass, Mark Henry, Mojo Rawley, Heath Slater, Rhyno, etc.
* Scramble Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James vs. Nikki Bella vs. Natalya for the SmackDown Women's Championship
* Dean Ambrose & Renee Young vs. The Miz & Maryse
* Neville (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the Cruiserweight Title
* American Alpha (c) vs. The Revival for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles

This gets WrestleMania down to a 12 match main card. Kickoff will probably be a UK Title match, a cruiserweight cluster maybe a RAW Tag Team Championship match with the teams all appearing in the Battle Royal later anyway, which they try to make a big deal. Maybe they add a stipulation that the winner of the Battle Royal, since it is all about dominance and presence, gets a spot on the WWE 2K18 video game cover and SummerSlam poster. Maybe they can get a title shot too.

For those thinking that I have given The New Day little to do, I can see them interacting with The Rock later on in the show and I'd give Big E the Battle Royal with Kofi & Xavier counting themselves as winners too. It'd really be a Big E earmarking moment.

The Triple Threat for the Universal Title seems weird, but if you lock in Brock vs. Goldberg, assuming Vince wants to do it, and if you have Taker challenge Styles for one last Taker classic before he puts over Cena next year, then your remainder is really Strowman. He could be the runner-up in the Rumble (foreshadowed by Strowman watching The Undertaker segment) and after losing just starts attacking Roman Reigns wherever he goes. He takes his destiny into his own hands and inserts himself into the title picture. Finn Balor returns from his injury and injects some color into the proceedings. The Usos jump from SmackDown to RAW and there is the possibility of Bloodline/Balor Club involvement.

Between the Women's Championship matches and mixed tag, you are highlighting 11 different female performers. You could possibly add Lita to the SmackDown Scramble, but I think that's already pretty full and Mickie James is sort of filling the legend role in there.

Neville could easily defend against Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Kalisto or Gran Metalik, but I think the "dream" match is him versus Ibushi. It would turn a lot of heads and get people buzzing about the division. Ibushi could win the belt and be a traveling champion, but if he refuses to sign with the WWE full-time, you can easily just put Neville over and make him look like a world-beater. Politically it might seem uncouth to jam Ibushi into a major singles match at Mania over guys who did sign, but he's a bigger star, frankly, and I think most of the boys would spend more time marking out than complaining.

The Revival getting the SmackDown Tag Team Title match is a bit of fan service. Alpha currently have the belts because Vince wants them to stand out and be something, I imagine. Why not book their greatest rivals as their Mania opponents. Alpha can retain the belts against The Usos at Elimination Chamber and then get attacked by The Revival who kick down the door and set the table for Mania. If there is legitimate heat on them, just let that be pressure for them to live up to their own hype. Plus, you don't have to put the belts on them. Alpha can defeat Dash & Dawson soundly and then get their arms raised by Hulk Hogan or something, who makes sure not to wipe his palm on his pants after raising Jordan's. They can even come out with Hogan at the start to "Real American" as a way to pump the crowd up wearing red and yellow singlets.

I did have an IC Title Ladder Match on the show, with Dolph defending against Kalisto, Crews, Corbin, Kane and Harper (you can always add a seventh guy like Rawley, Slater or even Ellsworth to kill him off), but the show is pretty stacked and by pushing those guys into the Battle Royal you might help its importance. You would probably keep the IC Title on Ambrose until Mania then, and maybe have a stipulation that the title can change hands in the event of a decision involving the women. It does appear that the Renee Young stuff has been dropped, but that might be to just put it on ice until closer to Mania. But if you don't do the Mixed Tag, then Ambrose vs. Miz vs. Ziggler vs. Kalisto vs. Crews vs. Kane vs. Harper would be fine with me. Corbin can try and win the Battle Royal and be the only two-time winner in history and be the last guy eliminated after getting rid of Shaq, Big Show and Cesaro (the celebrity and the two former winners).

Another slight tweak, for continuity reasons, could be to have Sasha Banks out of the RAW Women's Title match because she was supposed to have received her last shot. I doubt that is the plan though. Emmalina could be inserted in Banks' place and Sasha could face either Stephanie McMahon or jump to SmackDown as an ally to Becky Lynch and find herself in the Scramble, which could just become a Six-Pack Challenge or something. Or maybe it's s six-woman tag with Sasha, Becky & Nikki facing Alexa, Mickie & Nattie. I guess it just depends what sort of mood you are in.

The more I think about it, the more I want that card to happen. As for the winners:

* I'd put Styles over Taker. Styles is around full-time and will basically be seen as a babyface by this point. This will be his confirmation as "the guy." He can clutch the WWE Title after defeating The Undertaker like it is one of his children. Taker can give Styles a sign of respect after the match and all can be good in the wrestling world.

* I'd put Finn Balor over Reigns and Strowman. The "faces" can work together to neutralize Strowman and he can take a bump off the stage or something. Reigns and Balor can then tear it up with each other before Strowman returns like a bat out of hell and destroys both guys getting near falls on both. Gallows & Anderson, who have been teasing an alliance with Balor hit the ring and end up taking out Strowman again. This brings out The Usos to fight with them to the back. Reigns Spears Strowman but Balor breaks it up with a Coup de Grace and then hits a new finishing move to pin Roman Reigns and become the two-time Universal Champion.

* Joe chokes out Cena. I'd love for Cena to tap, but they will probably protect the "Never Give Up" thing. Still, a submission victory on the books for Joe against Cena at Mania puts him right in Styles' sight as a challenger for the WWE Title. I'd really love it if he took out Undertaker too, but that is optional.

* I'm still thinking I'd put Goldberg over Brock. Make Goldberg that one dude that Brock just cannot beat, even when he is focused and ready. Heyman can talk Brock out of the loss and it lets you keep Goldberg on your shelf of draws.

* In the six-man, I'd put the babyfaces over. Nakamura is debuting and it'd be good for Rollins to get a Mania win as a babyface. Owens & Jericho are probably heading to the dissolution too. Triple H and Owens can blame Jericho for the loss (and indeed he is pinned by Nakamura) and that heads towards Owens vs. Jericho in the post-Mania season.

* Bray Wyatt could really use a WrestleMania win. It's also building another heel for Styles, and perhaps his immediate challenger. Maybe Orton can re-align with Bray after losing and realizing that he is the ruler he needs? Styles vs. Orton could be a lot of fun too. I'd like to see SAnitY on the main roster after WrestleMania, and having them force The Wyatt Family back together might be a fun little program that makes The Family faces, as crowds clearly want to cheer them. Whatever. This little spat ends with Bray winning and then you can do whatever.

* The Rock's cousin probably walks out of Mania with the RAW Women's Title. She can pin Sasha Banks, who I would move to SmackDown after this. Charlotte's streak can be broken and the frustrating thing is that she wasn't involved in the decision. Bayley also wouldn't have been pinned. Charlotte can be babyfaced by this decision, go on to beat Jax for the belt back, and that's when you can do Dana turning on Charlotte and helping Emmalina secure the belt and call up Asuka to RAW, because they are really going to need to broaden that division. Looking at those plans, you don't really need to move the belt until Emmalina wins the belt on a RAW, and you can keep the streak of Charlotte's alive. Maybe you do go with Charlotte winning at Mania?

* Big E wins the Battle Royal. If you do the IC Title Ladder Match (I would), then you can have Rusev be the last guy in there to give him some focus and shine. It can look like he is about to win, but Kofi & Woods re-enter, Rusev tosses them out again, but then finds himself the victim of some babyface fire from Big E to clotheslines Rusev out and wins the match.

* I'd love for Becky Lynch to win the SmackDown Women's belt back. I think she's the most over babyface they have in that division (well, she was the last time I watched), and there are so many great stories you can tell with her. She can get the last submission on Mickie James here, so Alexa can blame her for the loss and the two can feud moving forward. Sasha jumps over to SmackDown and immediately teases some tension with Becky Lynch. You'll have Nikki Cross coming in with SAnitY. I'd probably move Naomi, Carmella and Nikki Bella over to RAW in exchange for the girls that come over from RAW (Sasha Banks, Summer Rae and Paige...if they smooth things over with her). Natalya probably isn't necessary on SmackDown after this point either. She can go to RAW and work with Bayley and help get her more over. Becky, Sasha, Mickie, Cross are more than capable of carrying the division forward, with Alexa being the earmarked pet project. Asuka can finish things up with Ember Moon and then maybe join them on SmackDown. I think she'd fit the aesthetic of the show and be a lot of fun beating up both Becky and Sasha. I imagine that the Peyton Royce/Billie Kay double act will see the main roster at some point too. I wouldn't mind them joining Emma on RAW, but they could probably be used to "sex" up SmackDown with their more serious looking female wrestlers.

* Dean Ambrose & Renee Young win the mixed tag when Young hits Dirty Deeds on Maryse. I mean, that is what she'd be in there to do, right?

* I'd spin Dolph and Kalisto off into a singles feud after the Ladder Match. It'd be nice to see Kalisto get a run with the IC Title, but I can see them eventually heading towards Hair vs. Mask and you don't really need the title involved with those stakes already there. Kane would not be in there to win. Corbin is a guy they'd probably like to give a run with the belt, but I think it'd be more an anchor for the sort of performer he is. You can give him some shine in here without actually putting him over other acts. It really comes down to either Crews or Harper for me. I'd be fine with Harper winning the belt, but it could really help Crews if he somehow gets his head above water here and pulls down the belt. He's lacking in the personality department, but if he's built to be a champion it's time to start treating him like one. With Big E going over in the Battle Royal and American Alpha winning the opening match, Crews winning could also add to the black excellence of the event.

* Even if he doesn't sign a full-time deal with the WWE, I'd still put Ibushi over in the CW Title match. You can always have Neville win back the belt later.

* American Alpha win the opener.

So your champion roll call coming out of Mania would hopefully be:

WWE Champion: AJ Styles
Universal Champion: Finn Balor
IC Champion: Apollo Crews
US Champion: Chris Jericho might still have it, or it might have bounced between Jericho, Zayn, Rollins and Owens -- but let's say Jericho
RAW Tag Team: You can probably leave them on Sheamus & Cesaro in this scenario
SmackDown Tag Team: American Alpha
RAW Women's: Charlotte
SmackDown Women's: Becky Lynch
CW: Kota Ibushi

As for which male wrestlers would kind of be done on their brands after Mania, I can kind of see them moving Cena, actually, as Braun Strowman could use a piece of meat to toss around, and Cena seems to be in something of a rebuilding stage. He could align with Enzo & Cass for the stable wars against The Bloodline and The Balor Club. It'd be tempting to put The Shield back together and have SAnitY debut against them -- and that would be sick, but I think Reigns is already going to have a lot to do so I don't think the reunion happens.

But Rollins would be pretty well wrapped on RAW, so he'd be free to head over to SmackDown, where his interactions with Dean Ambrose could get interesting. He'd be a nice babyface to bounce around for Samoa Joe and The Wyatts in the short-term too. Crews wouldn't need a long run with the IC belt, and he could even drop it to Harper at the next SD PPV, and then drop it to Rollins, who is yet to have a run with the belt. The Miz could pull some interesting stuff out of Rollins too. I think it would be a good move.

As soon as they lose the RAW Tag Titles, I think Sheamus could use a change by heading over to SmackDown too. I mean, I'd like to see him get kicked in the head by Nakamura first, but after that he would make another good heel on SmackDown. He would actually have a lot of fresh match-ups over there.

American Alpha and The Revival are going to be the cornerstones of that division. #DIY probably get the nod up very soon after Mania too. I like The Fashion Police staying on SmackDown, but basically all the other teams can fuck off to RAW and be fodder over there.

I don't see much room upwards for Heath Slater or Mojo Rawley on SmackDown, so they'd be good candidates for a change of scenery to do things on RAW. Slater's goofy stuff would probably work better there anyway. With Joe and Harper as monsters, you can keep Kane around to put them over and focus on grooming Harper, but Rawley doesn't have much room to go up.

Curtis Axel can move to SmackDown where he becomes jealous of American Alpha being sponsored by Hulk Hogan. He could partner with Jack Swagger as a new Real Americans tandem? I guess you could put him with Bo Dallas, Curt Hawkins or even Rhyno though. But Axel's a steady hand that could put over Alpha and #DIY. Maybe Sin Cara to put over the likes of Dolph Ziggler and/or Kalisto.

But yeah, that would be my general direction after WrestleMania. The major moves would be John Cena jumping over to RAW with Nikki Bella with Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins and Sheamus coming over to SmackDown.

UPDATE

Former WWE writer Brian Mann has stated that:

Uh....where will the title be? No interest in Shane v Styles. Like, none. I'd rather Styles go in as champ and defend it to legitimize his run against a top face. The only other guy like that is Taker.

Cena is a stud. Confident whatever program he's in will lead to a good match. Maybe he's going against the rumored Samoa Joe.

Lesnar Goldberg closing is meh. But we'll see.

Those plans would pretty much guarantee RAW is getting the Rumble winner and the main focus for the Road to Mania. Wouldn't be surprised outside of whatever Cena is doing, Smackdown feels like an afterthought for Mania till the Chamber ppv. Would also fit with recent rumors of Vince going overboard with total control of Mania plans.

Had they not just abruptly drop the tensions between Ambrose and Shane, that would have been a better Mania feud than whatever half-ass plan they have in store for Shane-Styles.

I wonder if Shane will win the Rumble and face Styles for the title at WM...surely they wouldn't do that...right?

That's not the plan. But plans change.

I thought the plans were in place for months?

Triple H, KO and Y2J vs The Shield but it begs the question where is the Universal title.

around Rusev's waist!

edited post 488 to include:

* Bray vs Randy Orton will be the WWE Title program that will end up middle of the card

I'm for that if Wyatt finally wins the big one.

Makes sense considering everyone else for Smackdown's IC/WWE title scene is either way too early for a possible title reign (Corbin) or likely going to be busy with other stuff (Ziggy, Miz, Ambrose). AJ-Shane makes no sense as a title feud so Styles is more likely losing the belt and if Cena isn't in a title match for Mania, it leaves just Bray and Orton as the top choices left.

Would they blow off the historic Cena title win only to have him drop the belt the next month?

Does Orton turn face again and dethrone Styles, then drop to Bray at Mania?

They are, but I'm not above lying to make it look like I know what I'm talking about. I'm trying to be like the wrestling journalists.

Could see it either way. Cena could get the historic moment, but then get screwed at the Elimination Chamber. Or Styles beats Cena again, only to lose at EC, which fuels his beef with Shane for booking that match in the first place.

That's pretty much how I see it going, Styles' complaining to Shane last week seemed to be planting the seeds for going that route.