I haven't fleshed out this idea too much in my head, but instead of doing Money in the Bank as its own PPV in this split-branded era, I'd rather see them bring it back for WrestleMania to knight a guy on their biggest show. At least trial it as a once off.

It does seem that Jericho vs. Owens one-on-one is the way they are going, but it still leaves quite a few guys without programs, and there are just so many singles matches on this card. Sami Zayn, Cesaro and Sheamus from RAW; Dolph Ziggler, Kane and Dean Ambrose from SmackDown. Four former winners; four former World Champions; two hungry young competitors. I dunno. Fuck.

As for the SmackDown Women's Title, Lance Storm had an interesting suspicion that the double contract signing will lead to shenanigans that prevent a title change at Elimination Chamber (Naomi signed the wrong contract which means her title win isn't valid). This could be used to vacate the SmackDown Women's Title and do a tournament heading into WrestleMania, where the final two girls will compete in the finals to crown the SmackDown Women's Champion. Tournaments a thing again these days, and it narrows the stories down so you don't have two clusterfuck women's matches.

The girls invited to participate:

* Alexa Bliss
* Becky Lynch
* Beth Phoenix
* Eva Marie
* Mickie James
* Naomi
* Natalya
* Nikki Bella

In the first round, Becky makes Alexa submit to the Dis-Arm-Her. Eva Marie doesn't show up for her first match, selling that she is scared of Beth Phoenix, and Beth advances via forfeit. Mickie James beats Naomi and then Nikki pins Nattie. This leads to the semi-finals on the Kickoff show. Becky manages to roll-up Beth out of a Glam Slam and advances to the finals. Nattie helps Mickie best Nikki to keep their heat and Mickie, who beats Becky at Elimination Chamber, is now the favorite to walk away with the SmackDown Women's Title.

Of course, Becky wins and gets to hold the belt high. Mickie James swallows her pride and shakes Mickie's hand. Alexa starts mocking Mickie and Mickie turns babyface by starting a brawl with her. Nattie attacks Becky from behind claiming she wants the belt, but Nikki makes her way out, and things turn into a crazy brawl to give all the girls some spots on the main show. Finally, Asuka comes in and kicks the crap out of all of them and she and Becky stand tall and face-to-face to end the segment.

While I do think Kota Ibushi would still be the bigger deal, they have a good thing with Akira Tozawa right now. I think he'd make a great challenger for Neville at WrestleMania.

Rumor going around the net involves Neville vs Austin Aires as a possible match for the Cruiser title at Mania. Aires recently got medically cleared from the eye injury suffered months ago.

Oh god, heel vs. heel? Babyface Aries? I'll skip on both, thanks.

I'd be fine with Ibushi challenging Neville in the "big match" and Aries facing Akira Tozawa on the Kickoff show or something. Or some sort of giant tag with Aries leading a heel team against some babyfaces. I haven't really cared about Aries since he showed up in WWE though.

They're not gonna put Ibushi on the Mania card.

The 'net really starts to catch up once WWE starts shooting angles on TV.

:|

You do realize the WWE hasn't done anything in regards to Aires besides him just being an announcer and commentator for 205 Live.

This only got rumored as a possible idea because Aires recently got cleared to return to the ring and he spilled the beans months ago about wrestling in the Cruiser division.

Hahaha

Guess you missed TV this week

It's a little unlikely, especially with Tozawa impressing out the gate and Metalik coming in. I doubt they'd let Ibushi jump ahead of them. That being said, he is the best choice and if Tozawa and Metalik cool like everything else, I can see Vince saying "fuck it."

More chance of it happening than Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.

Saw both shows involving the Cruisers and the only thing Aires did of note was announce a Fatal 5-way match. Then quickly failed at the rest of the interview because a bunch of other guys decided they wanted their own talkie segment.

Even just rewatched the stuff from RAW to give you the benefit of the doubt and once again, no the WWE didn't set or tease anything in place in regards to a potential Aires-Neville match at Mania.

He's been interviewing the cruisers post match to set up an interview with Neville getting physical and leading to a match so it doesn't look completely set up.

I think they have the match at WM but its "unsanctioned" by WWE like WCW used to do. And the Miz will kick him or something that will force the match to stop and it'll force him to leave his post as GM (conveniently in time for his kid to be born) and then he'll eventually come back around the Royal Rumble next year and toss the Miz out setting up Miz vs Bryan in a final match for him at WM34 in the Superdome. That could literally be the Main Event due to the nearly 18 month build plus Bryans history in the dome plus it being his final match plus the Mizs great heel work. Wouldn't even need to be for a title..even pull a Flair have him go in the HOF the night before.

That or Neville boasts too much about beating all the bests in the division and Aires reveals himself as a surprise great Neville hasn't beaten yet.

Thing is, those are only assumptions on what might happen and not what Cynick implied the WWE already made it obvious those two are wrestling next for the title. He'd argue that was always the plan with the interviews when in reality the WWE did them to give Aires more screen time while he recovered.

To be really specific on what the rumor was, its just Aires is getting a future shot at the Cruiser title since he finally got cleared to return. The stuff about Mania and Neville is just speculation since Mania is the next big event after Fastlane and Neville because he's the current champ. WWE could end up doing neither and save Aires for the next Cruiser champ or as the first big post-Mania feud for the belt.

I love Aries, but have zero interest in seeing him as a face. So much better as a heel. Unfortunately, he has to stay away front he championship until Neville loses it, which I don;t see or want to see happen for quite a while....

Let's give this another go. Trying for a "realistic" card, listing matches one brand at a time:


WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg (C)

Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

Triple H vs. Seth Rollins

WWE United States Championship
Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho (C)

Raw Women's Championship
Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (C)

Raw Tag Team Championships
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (C)

Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal

For the most part, the Raw stuff all seems likely except for maybe the Tag Title match, the only thing stopping me from making this a fatal four way with New Day included is the fact that I already have a four way on a card loaded with multi-man matches.


WWE World Championship
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt (C)

John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

SmackDown Women's Championship - Lumberjill Match
Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss (C)

WWE Intercontinental AND SmackDown Tag Team Championships
Baron Corbin and The Usos vs. Dean Ambrose and American Alpha (C)

Seems a bit sloppy to have two titles contested in a six man tag but I think they'll actually try to get every belt on the show and it's already a 14 match show.


WWE Cruiserweight Championship Ladder Match
Akira Tozawa vs. Austin Aries vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. Gran Metalik vs. Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins vs. Neville (C)

205 Live gets the token clusterfuck ladder match. It features the four men who have held the title, plus Tozawa, Metalik, and Aries as the "wild card" entrants. It also frees up SmackDown guys for the battle royal.


42-Man Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal - Winner Gets a World Title Shot
Big E, Bo Dallas, Braun Strowman, Curtis Axel, Epico, Finn Balor, Goldust, Jinder Mahal, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Primo, R-Truth, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, Xavier Woods, Aiden English, Apollo Crews, Curt Hawkins, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, James Ellsworth, Kalisto, Konnor, Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley, Rhyno, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Viktor, Ariya Daivari, Cedric Alexander, Drew Gulak, Jack Gallagher, Lince Dorado, Mustafa Ali, Noam Dar, and Tony Nese

The title shot is added to raise intrigue. This is promoted as the biggest battle royal in WWE history, hence it ends up with 42 participants breaking the record they set in that 2011 SmackDown battle royal.

I'd imagine New Day get some mic time before it starts, and I'd envision Finn Balor as a mystery entrant. Balor and Joe wind up taking each other out of the match to set up an eventual feud. Either Braun or Zayn win it, depending on who they want facing Brock next.

Okay...

In your mind, have they shot any angles in TV to turn Sasha Banks heel? I'll let you know they have.

An astute observer doesn't need to be hit over the head with an angle to see where things are going. But that's why guys like you read my stuff, to learn.

Of all the potential challengers for Neville at WrestleMania, I think Aries is really quite far down the list. More likely he ends up in a Kickoff match with a lot of the guys not involved in the main show title match. Aries, Kendrick, Nese, Gulak, Dar & Daivari vs. Tozawa, Tajiri, Metalik, Swann, Alexander & Ali or something. Neville in the title match seems like a safe bet, and I imagine that it'll be a babyface challenging him and Neville will just beat them if they aren't over by that point in time.

As for how they get rid of Daniel Bryan, I imagine they'll just have him announce he is taking time off to be with Brie and his new child. Or Shane will start getting booed once he is interacting with AJ Styles, and Shane will go on a power trip, turning heel and firing Bryan.

I think your card is very close to what it will be, Vito, except I think the SmackDown Women's Title ends up on the Kickoff, as does the RAW Tag Team Title match (and I think it involves New Day who do double-duty in the Battle Royal) and that Neville defends the belt one-on-one versus someone. My guess is that it might be Tozawa. I think the Kickoff will also have a WWE UK Championship match. Change the SmackDown Tag Title match to Alpha challenging The Revival and Ambrose defends the IC Title in the Ladder Match. Ambrose, Corbin, Kalisto, Crews, Ziggler, Kane and Harper. Aries leads a heel team against some babyfaces on the Kickoff to pimp 205 Live and the division as being "crazy" and add Emmalina into the RAW Women's Title match to make it a Fatal 5-Way. I'm also not entirely convinced Goldberg wins at Fastlane. I can see Brock costing Goldie to further their "personal" issues, while Owens heads into the title vs. title scenario with Jericho to give it some extra "oomph" and make sure both "World Titles" are firmly planted in the mid-card.

I'm also going to go against rumors and predict that Goldberg vs. Brock isn't the main event. I think Reigns/Taker headlines just to piss people off and send the point loud and clear.

Oh, and I think it is Miz & Natalya vs. Cena & Nikki. The heat between Nikki and Nattie is good, well established and provides a really good throughline to WrestleMania. They've been feuding since November. Maryse can be at ringside.

While the WWE is very careful to not have women get beat up by the men, they are not opposed to having the women beat up the men. Do not be surprised if there is a segment of the match where Natalya does some cool shit to John Cena (rolling Germans and a Sharpshooter or something). At this point in his career, Cena is bulletproof, so "selling for a girl" won't hurt him. It'll get a big pop and will be a WrestleMania moment in and of itself. I also expect The Miz to go into overdrive with his promo work for the match, talking about how he beat Cena in the main event of WrestleMania 27 and it is now his kingdom. While this seems low for Cena, and it is, they will do their best to make it "heavyweight."

It wouldn't be the strangest thing WWE has ever done to get it to headline either. I'm not going to go as far as predict that will happen, but given that nothing really jumps out as a true main event (Goldberg vs. Brock will be shorter than people are expecting, and they might not want to end with Reigns vs. Taker), Cena proposing to Nikki to close the show is a "fairy tale" ending. The WWE will also be able to tick off the box of having women main event a Mania.

I mean, there's no reason for it to headline in kayfabe terms, but kayfabe is dead and sodomized at this point.

Kind of think that WrestleMania is eventually going to become an all-day thing. They seem to have this mentality that "more is better" which makes me wonder if they are going to break off even all of the "let's amalgamate these issues into one match" matches into separate bouts.

For example, I would not be flabbergasted to see Sasha Banks turn on Bayley heading into WrestleMania and for them to have a singles match away from the Women's Title. They can still do the Charlotte/Emmalina/Dana Brooke stuff I have been predicting for ages, with Charlotte turning face and challenging. She is the star of the division at this point -- I wouldn't put it past the WWE to book Emmalina to get the belt off Charlotte just to give Charlotte a WrestleMania moment where she wins it back.

Ambrose vs. Corbin might not be exciting enough to appeal to most of us, but does it find its way onto a 7-hour WrestleMania? Possibly. It'll probably be forgotten about by Monday, but people need a place other than intermission to piss.

I'm also not entirely convinced that they're going to do Jericho vs. Owens either. Occam's razor would suggest that is the plan, but I can see Vince just changing his mind on that. Given that both men are such heels, I can see their teases of the match just being heels grabbing each other's ass in the locker-room. Given that he's taken out Seth Rollins, it doesn't really make sense for Joe to be not be rewarded, and what would his price be? A shot at the Universal Title at WrestleMania makes logical sense. Sometimes logical writing gets in the way of natural booking, but that's the era we live in. If Balor is healthy for WrestleMania, and that seems to be the plan, then having him crash whatever party is going on around Owens and the Universal Title is the most obvious outcome.

Coming out of Fastlane, I imagine that Strowman will still be a focus too. He seems like an obvious choice for the Battle Royal winner, but he's been "hot" lately so I can see them doing something more featured with him. Strowman vs. Joe makes sense in a "who is going to break through to the main event first?" sort of deal, but Strowman being in that Universal Title/US Title scene makes sense too. Ultimately, I can see five men floating around that Owens/Jericho stuff -- Balor, Joe and Strowman all being in the conversation. If they split the RAW women's programs up, they could throw them into a multi-man, or do a WrestleMania X deal where Balor vs. Joe vs. Strowman happens with the winner taking on the winner of Owens vs. Jericho later in the night. Owens makes it past Jericho but then loses the belt to Balor? I dunno, I just feel that WrestleMania could be a different kind of beast. More likely that it's just going to be what Vito posted though.

At this point, given that there doesn't feel like a "true" main event, Orton vs. Bray might very well close the show. :-\

These will not be accurate predictions, but look at the potential length of this card from RAW matches alone. You can almost do two WrestleManias:

Triple Threat Match for the Universal Championship
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho vs. Finn Balor

Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar III

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

Triple H vs. Seth Rollins

Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal

Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe

RAW Women's Championship
Emmalina (c) vs. Charlotte

Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

RAW Tag Team Championship
The Hardys (c) vs. The New Day

Sasha Banks vs. Bayley

United States Championship
Sami Zayn (c) vs. Rusev

Cesaro vs. Sheamus

Gallows & Anderson vs. Enzo & Cass

12-Man Cruiserweight Kickoff
Austin Aries, The Brian Kendrick, TJ Perkins, Noam Dar, Drew Gulak & Ariya Daivari vs. Akira Tozawa, Tajiri, Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Gran Metalik & Mustafa Ali

SmackDown's counterpoint could be:

WWE Championship
Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

Mixed Tag Team Match
John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Natalya

SmackDown Women's Championship
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Becky Lynch

TLC Match for a SmackDown Tag Team Championship shot
The Usos vs. The Fashion Police vs. The Ascension vs. The Vaudevillains

Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin vs. Luke Harper

Hair vs. Mask Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kalisto

WWE UK Championship
Tyler Bate (c) vs. Jack Gallagher

Kane vs. James Ellsworth

Hardcore Match for the honorary ECW Championship
Rhyno (c) vs. Heath Slater

Mickie James vs. Naomi

Apollo Crews vs. Mojo Rawley

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Revival (c) vs. American Alpha

Kickoff Match
Pete Dunne vs. Trent Seven

Admittedly that's not the most heavyweight card, but if you throw in things like Alpha being accompanied by Hulk Hogan and you really let AJ Styles, it could deliver and help some of those undercard guys who are struggling find places. Kane vs. Ellsworth would just be a squash. Rawley has got heel potential. The TLC match seems like it has odd placement and is a generally weird addition, but I think it would call back to that time they first gave Edge & Christian and The Hardys a ladder and gave them the chance to try and get over. It also allows you to place The Revival in the actual title match without politically stepping over everybody else's spot. I suppose you could not do Slater vs. Rhyno and have them in there if you want a babyface team people care about, but you could also call up The Dudleys and just trim The Ascension and Vaudevillains from the match, but I think it would be kind to give them a shot here. Overall, that means you'd be getting 26 main show matches across a weekend.

I doubt they'd put him in there because of his age, but I would mark the fuck out for a Johnny Saint appearance in the Battle Royal to interact with Jack Gallagher.

I also want Dean Malenko to be in under the Ciclope mask.

Road Dogg, D'Lo Brown, X-Pac and Too Cool add some more Attitude era flavor.

Wrestlemania should be a 2 night thing now with the brand split

I'm in agreement there.

I just fantasy booked a more succinct card. There's no way it happens, obviously, but I managed to get it down to 11 matches, with basically everybody important getting a spot. I purposely left off guys that would be pushing a return because they'll be back from injury. Hold them off. I also passed on a Triple H match, which is completely unrealistic.

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship
John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles

Universal Championship
Roman Reigns (c) vs. The Undertaker

Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar III

Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal

The Rock's Segment
The Miz comes out and complains about now having a WrestleMania match. Rusev comes out and he and Miz bicker about who are the best power couple in WWE. James Ellsworth and Carmella join the fray. The Rock and Ronda Rousey come out and beat everyone up.

Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

Snake Bight Street Fight
Bray Wyatt vs. Luke Harper

Fatal 4-Way for the Unified Women's Championship
Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley

Unified WWE Tag Team Championship
Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens vs. American Alpha

United States Championship
Sami Zayn (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Six-Man Tag Team Match
Braun Strowman, Sheamus & Cesaro vs. The New Day

Intercontinental Championship
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Samoa Joe

* Joe wins the IC Title after forcing Ambrose into the Coquina Clutch.

* The New Day pick up the win when Cesaro is clocked by the trombone while he has a New Day member in the Sharpshooter. Strowman Chokeslams Sheamus and Cesaro after the match.

* Nakamura successfully completes his journey to the United States by capturing its championship in his main roster debut.

* American Alpha, backed by Hulk Hogan, unify the RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Jericho & Owens beat Hogan down at ringside at one point, but this allows Gable to tag out and Jordan to clean house and force Jericho to submit to the Ankle Lock.

* Becky Lynch unifies the Women's Championship in a Clash of the Four Horsewomen. Sasha Banks taps out away Charlotte's PPV streak for her.

* Luke Harper wins a wild brawl against Bray Wyatt when he finally connects with Sister Abigail to his former mentor.

* Kota Ibushi and Neville tear it up and deliver what is surely to be a MOTY candidate. Ibushi wins the CW Title, making it a great night for Japanese stars in the WWE. Prior to the match, we are shown many cruiserweight legends in the crowd, including Dean Malenko who pulls off a Ciclope mask. I want that spot, dammit.

* The Miz complains right after such a great match about how he is too good a wrestler to be left off WrestleMania. Rusev comes out, Ellsworth comes out, The Rock cleans it all up and introduces the special attraction match.

* Shaq beats Big Show in a carefully put together match.

* Goldberg beats Brock Lesnar defying the odds once again.

* Roman Reigns successfully defends his custom-made belt against The Undertaker, getting huge heat in the process. This is his yard now.

* AJ Styles wins the WWE Title in the true main event when he forces Cena to submit to the Calf-Crusher.

Good lord these cards are way too goddamn long. Not every team gets to play in the Superbowl.

Unfortunately these days everybody does get on the WrestleMania card. You also have a whole bunch of legends that come out of the woodwork to get the spotlight, even if their scheduled opponent has to pull out due to injury.

I was thinking the same. I remember when Wrestlemania really seemed like a show for the best of the best... now everyone's booking matches to cater to everyone on the roster.

Kalisto, Apollo Crews, Jack Gallagher, Mojo Rawley, the Ascension, the Vaudevillains etc should be nowhere near Wrestlemania at this point unless it's the clusterfuck battle royal match.

Also, unless it's a surprise entrant in said battle royal, no NXT matches or superstars should be on the show.

Most of the filler guys are used in the battle royal.

Ex writer who has been leaking shit:

https://mobile.twitter.com/kirisatha...93839053381633
if Mania's got you down, the night AFTER Mania will lift your spirits. I might have to extend my trip a day

This isnt working

https://twitter.com/kirisatha96/stat...93839053381633

Its the same stuff Hasney wrote below the link.

I'd assume some combo between Revival, DIY, Asuka, Dillinger, and Nakamura are getting called up that night.

IMO aside from the obvious there are several guys who have EARNED a spot at Mania this year that aren't likely to get a big spot. Mostly notable The New Day. They are stale as week old bread and that is on WWE. The biggest black performers they have had and there is no obvious spot on the card this year, in addition to that, one of the most over acts by far of the whole year. They need to be positioned well. Enzo and Cass have earned at least an opening match spot, they are absolutely worth it. The women deserve and have earned at least two spots on the card. I'd make one a singles championship match and it must include Charlotte, and the other I'd make a brand vs brand multiwoman tag. If they are going with Cena/Niki vs Miz/Maryse, those are absolutely the wrong choices they haven't done shit all year. Caesaro and Sheamus also deserve a spot being long time solid hands and capable of a great match. Perhaps a three team tag team title match with New Day vs Caesaro and Sheamus vs Enzo and Cass would be a fantastic opener to WM this year.

I have no issue with Legends taking spots at WM, they are Legends and I enjoy seeing them, they earned their spot years ago, that doesn't evaporate with time.

I DO NOT care to see Shane McMahon wrestle on this card, that is absolutely a waste of talent. Last year he wanted to jump off a 40 foot Cell and you could argue that was a worth while moment, however did it mean anything? Did it come close to the bump Foley took? Absolutely not, lesson learned, keep him off!

Styles should wrestle Cena, it's been done and done but then again so was Tanahashi and Okada and each time it just got better and better.

Bray has not EARNED a title push but he does have the potential to make that work and Bray vs Orton is fresh and interesting, not my first choice but I'll take it.

Goldberg and Brock is going to be the shortest WM main event of all time but who cares, it's gonna be charged and fucking awesome.

Owens and Jericho is a great story and that absolutely must happen.

Rollins and Triple H is a a must happen, the story is years in the making. Even though it's dried like old paint by now, I know when that video package rolls and Rollins hits the ring and turns it on like never before, and Triple H starts locking in his moveset from 1999, we will see again why he is a league above about anybody in the company right now.

Shaq and Show... agh... I could care less, I mean Meltzer says it's a lock but I just don't care and I don't think the mainstream will either. I'd put them in the battle royal but whatever, just keep it short and for fucks sake give Show the win.

Reigns and Undertaker does nothing for me, I'd rather that Taker causes a schmoz at Fastlane and that match ends up a Triple Threat. Undertaker looked horrible at the Rumble and I don't expect much at Mania, throw another guy in there and make it interesting. Strowman wins over Taker, after the match Roman turns legit heel on Taker.

Sami Zayn has totally earned a spot, I'd throw him against Ambrose for the IC after leaving Raw for whatever creative reason they could come up with.

If Nakamura is to be on the card I'd put him against Styles, Joe, or Cena. But I don't think he will be.

Oh just had a thought about Nakamura. If he were to come up to a main roster this season it should really be Smackdown. Joe went to Raw, Raw has a lot of talent and Smackdown is skim right now. Put Nakamaura on Smackdown and have him challenge Ambrose for the IC Title and win, turn Ambrose heel after losing or during the build up and have them feud for a few more months to acclimate Nakamura to the main stream audience. Have Nakamaura win as punishment to Ambrose being a sucker in his interviews and lazy in the ring.

My ideal card since I was so critical of everyone else.

Universal Championship
Goldberg (c) vs Lesnar

WWE Championship
Wyatt (c) vs Orton

Reigns vs Undertaker vs Strowman

Cena vs Styles

Triple H vs Seth Rollins

United States Championship
Jericho (c) vs Owens

Intercontinental Championship
Ambrose (c) vs Nakamaura

Raw Womens Championship
Charlotte (c) vs Becky Lynch (challenges from Smackdown Live!)

Smackdown! Womens Championship
Alexa Bliss vs Sasha Banks (challenges from Raw)

Raw Tag Team Championship
The New Day vs Caesaro & Sheamus vs Enzo and Cass

KICK OFF SHOW

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Featuring ... The Big Show, Shaq, Baron Corbin, Luke Harper, The Miz, American Alpha, Andreson & Gallows, The Uso's, Samoa Joe, James Elsworth other cruiserweights etc...

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs Austin Aries

I dunno, I could go for Asuka straight murdering a bitch during or after the SD! LIVE Women's Championship match. :-\

Noid has some especially terrible ideas in this thread.

^Agreed

Hombre, most of them are in response to what the WWE is actually building.

Yeah, Noid. You need more genius ideas like rivals wishing death on each other and then making up off camera and randomly being BFFs again without any explanation. Ideas like that really show how much thought WWE puts into their ideas and how willing they are to adapt to the situation to please the audience. Get on their level, please.

I've been thinking about what AJ Styles could do at WrestleMania besides working with Shane, because that seems to have a lot of people down. I'd be fine with the match, in the sense that the company considers it a big deal and it'll probably babyface Styles, but I like thinking of others possibilities because Shane isn't needed at all for Mania this year.

Cena & Nikki vs. Miz & Maryse is the big rumor, and that is being set up by a powder spill. What if they actually went with Cena & Nikki vs. AJ & Natalya for Mania? It would be the culmination to actually established rivalries. The crowd goes nuts whenever Cena and Styles are together in the ring. Nattie is a great worker and Nikki is going to be there, so deal with it. You can have Cena and Styles tear it up and then the girls can roll around and do their thing.

Ambrose, Corbin, Miz, Crews, Kalisto, Ziggler and either Kane or Harper can be in that Ladder Match they look to do. It'd have more energy than Corbin vs. Ambrose one-on-one. I feel like that is a worthy spot for The Miz, since he was the most notable IC Champion of 2016.

When it comes to the other women, I'm still a big fan of putting the Four Horsewomen in the ring together. I think Orlando will respond a lot better to that than a Fatal 4-Way with Becky swapped out for Nia Jax. It just doesn't have the same charisma to it. People will get into the story of the Four Horsewomen they got behind in NXT making it to a title match on the big stage. Bayley was missing last year.

To get Becky over to RAW, you don't need much by way of creative wriggling. Have Bayley, now the champion, request the match. She's a fangirl gimmick, she can always say it was her "dream match" or whatever. Stephanie doesn't like the idea of giving a RAW girl a title shot (obviously) and says that Becky can only join the match if she leaves SmackDown. Becky is torn, because SmackDown is her home and Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon showed such faith in her. Daniel Bryan does a segment with her where he says that Becky has the opportunity to stand in the ring and give the fans a dream match they have wanted to see since they started following these women's careers. She doesn't disgrace SmackDown by going over there -- she makes it proud and these people will always be behind her. Becky jumps over and wears a torn piece of a SmackDown shirt around her arm to remind the fans that she hasn't forgotten where her "brand split era" home is.

That leaves the SmackDown Women's Title slot free. Alexa Bliss is the former champion, but I'm not particularly interested in seeing her chase. I'd rather see her blame Mickie James for being an albatross around her neck and wrestle her on the Kickoff. I know it's similar to Jericho/Owens, but I don't think people will confuse the two. It gives the team a chance to segue into discussion about that match too. Bliss would learn a lot by working Mickie, and the fans want to cheer Mickie anyway.

As for the SD Women's Title, I feel that a big problem with all these belts is that you can't have two effectively showcased on a big show like this without them being repeats of the same drama. "Who is the best woman in the world? Answer: It's A AND B! Everybody wins!". But the WWE are in a pickle where if they don't showcase both champions, it looks like they're discarding one, which isn't the best face for a "Revolution." Therefore, I think featuring the champion is a good idea, but having another multi-woman match is a big excessive. This is why I'd run Naomi vs. Carmella. Right now, people see Carmella as the lowest on the totem pole, which might translate to heat at WrestleMania. She can come out, cut a "hottest chick in the ring" promo and hopefully get some good heat, then Naomi can come out, do her dancing shtick and then she kicks Carmella in the head and drops her like a sack of shit. Naomi gets the pin and retains the Women's Title in seconds. James Ellsworth grabs the mic and says that this ain't going down that way and there's no way Naomi is leaving here the Women's Champion. He challenges her for the belt right there and then. Naomi looks at Ellsworth like he is insane, makes her way back to the ring (not an official match, obviously) and kicks Ellsworth in the head too. She then mock covers Ellsworth, grabs the unconscious Carmella's arm and counts the pin on her boyfriend and walks out of her hometown triumphant.

It's simple, it doesn't stretch the talents of either girl, it saves the competitive women's action for later, and it's a fun moment people might remember more vividly than a sloppy match between Naomi and one of the less experienced girls on the roster.

You actually have too many endings in general. WWE likes to build up stories and then drop them suddenly. A lot of the geeks here think it's because they're really bad at hashing things out and probably shouldn't have jobs as professional writers. But really it's just a genius way to keep the audience guessing. Most of the time when you watch a show you're just thinking "How's it gonna end?" WWE takes it a step further and makes you ask "IS it gonna end?" Just shows how ahead of the game WWE is.

I think I need to try and come up with more ways to get the main belt into the mid-card.

P.S. Sorry for the gimmick infringement.

I like how the story of Cena and Styles being on a different level is going to segue into Cena fighting with his girlfriend against a mid-carder and his non-wrestler wife. But I most admire the symmetry between the two current title programs, with two former allies fighting over the brand's highest ranked title. Well, they might move the Universal Title onto Goldberg in order to move it onto Brock, but at least they'll still have the US Title involved.

I'm just glad someone can recognize it as a gimmick.

Almost forgot. You gotta work in a good fart or shit storyline somewhere if you wanna be on WWE's level. Haven't seen one instance of someone farting mid-match and clearing the ring in anything you've written. Would be cutting edge television.

As I said, I was thinking about AJ Styles and all the other things he could do besides wrestling Shane McMahon and got distracted with all the women's programs. Another idea, as lame as this sounds at first, is to have Styles enter the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

You would do this ONLY if he were going to win it or be the final guy eliminated. My heart wants him to win it, but I can see the rational in a heel tossing him out at the end after the match has been all about him. But the idea behind it is that Styles hasn't been given his one-on-one rematch for the WWE Title and doesn't feel as appreciated as he should be on SmackDown (the logical set-up for the Shane match -- unless one of Shane's kids suddenly develops a soccer mom haircut). He decides he is going to enter the Battle Royal, with the intention of winning it and slamming the trophy down on Shane's desk. He's the best, he can fight the entire roster at once, and he's going to do just that at WrestleMania. He is the true giant in WWE -- it his talent that makes him a giant.

When he enters that Battle Royal, he is going to be cheered like crazy. Ignoring a wrestler's talents is the best way to get them over in this era, as Daniel Bryan proved. The crowd is not going to be into anyone as much as AJ Styles out there. Samoa Joe is likely to be in the Battle Royal at this point too, so you can do a Styles vs. Joe segment in the match. Gallows & Anderson can be in there and have a few cute moments with Styles. But basically you have Styles run the gauntlet and he's the last guy in there with Braun Strowman. Everyone's prediction to win. The crowd would be going nuts for Styles. Braun tosses Styles around a lot, but Styles is the scrappy underdog (in the casual fan's mind, even though he believes in himsef) and manages to pull out some impressive shit on Strowman. Eventually, somehow, someway, AJ Styles wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He goes down and poses with the trophy, proving that he is truly in a class of his own. It wouldn't be the biggest moment they could give Styles, but it would be his moment.

Given that they are doing that documentary with HBO Sports, I imagine they'll want to make the Battle Royal a big deal too. Styles is the guy to put in a match when you want it to be a big deal in 2017.

Natalya should fart on Nikki Bella at some point in this feud. I think it might be why the crowd was zoning out at Elimination Chamber. Not enough farting.

A third AJ Styles idea (this one being my least favorite):

Styles has had enough of Shane and Bryan holding him down on SmackDown, so he jumps to RAW and helps Gallows & Anderson retain the RAW Tag Team Titles and they start a feud with The New Day. So far The New Day don't have anything planned for WrestleMania. They are an over act that can handle the spotlight, and Styles being in there with Gallows & Anderson at least gives the RAW Tag Team Champions a reason for appearing on the main card.

They should do an "I Quit" match between the two at WrestleMania where they just try to get each other to quit via farting. But the referee has trouble getting close to them with the microphone because of the smell. LOL

Of those three AJ Styles ideas, I am taking the Cena/Nikki vs. AJ/Nattie one as not the most likely one, given that I do think they will go with Miz & Maryse, but as the one that works within the paradigm of what they are already planning with the Cena/Nikki proposal. They can do all that with AJ & Nattie and play off established heat.

Universal Championship
Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar III

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. AJ Styles & Natalya

Triple H vs. Seth Rollins

United States Championship
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens

Fatal 4-Way for the RAW Women's Championship
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch

WWE Championship
Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton

Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe, Kane, Mark Henry, the RAW tag teams, etc.

Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

RAW Tag Team Championship
The Hardys (c) vs. The New Day

Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Apollo Crews vs. Kalisto vs. Luke Harper

SmackDown Women's Championship
Naomi (c) vs. Carmella

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Revival (c) vs. American Alpha

Kickoff Women's Match
Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James

Kickoff Match for the WWE UK Championship
Tyler Bate (c) vs. Jack Gallagher

I'm still working under the assumption that the WWE might lure The Hardys over to work New Day at Mania, which is the only way I see the RAW Tag Titles being prominently featured. I almost went with Owens vs. Jericho being for the Universal Title, but something just seems more heavyweight about it going to Goldberg. I'm trying not to overthink things there. More realistically we get Cena & Nikki vs. Miz & Maryse with AJ Styles being in the Ladder Match or something. Or that proposed match with Shane. Nia Jax will also likely be in Becky's place while The Usos are probably facing Alpha on the pre-show. I can see Alexa turning on Mickie and teaming with Natalya to face Becky & Mickie on a Kickoff tag match to get them all on there. But I do think that the Naomi vs. Carmella shit could be a way that they go.

Some people don't seem to think that Kota Ibushi is a possibility for Mania, but I can see Tozawa and Metalik getting burnt out and turned into "just another guys" very quickly. Ibushi gains a lot of value by not being involved in the division. If Vince gets it in his head that Neville vs. Ibushi will make his 205 Live the bestest cruiserweight show that's ever been, I really don't see him feeling too much sensitivity towards the cruiserweights he has already burnt through and given the gimmick of being complete geeks to. It might upset dudes that they aren't going to be in more major matches whilst Ibushi gets a main roster spot, but he's garnish on the side, really. He's there to help the Cruiserweight Division, and it's possible that he puts over Neville and makes the guy they are hanging their purple hat on look as grand as possible. It's really not insane, as I think Ibushi will have a clear schedule WrestleMania weekend and will likely do whatever it is they ask him to for the right money.

Plus, it has actually been rumored and Meltzer has pretty much got the card nailed. He hasn't said anything about it in a long time, but the idea has been floated by at least someone. There was also that "Six Star Match" buzz. Ibushi is the dude who can get to that level. Neville is the only dude in the CW Division who is actually over.

They have to get Handsome Rusev out because he has the face mask, but Lana gets all jealous because he is smelling other girls farts. In her Russian accent she says "You think American girls can fart?" and then farts into the microphone and they play the loudest fart ever over the PA. They even get the cameraman to shake the camera for the viewers at home, because LOL, it was so bad it made like an earthquake or something.

Vince can feed JBL lines like "God damn it, it's supposed to be an I Quit Match; not a Last Man Standing Match." They can then also claim the Guinness World Record for "Loudest Fart Ever" and talk about it on RAW.

And it's smart for business, because they can say that they had all these pyro entrances planned, but don't want to risk setting them off in case the arena explodes. They can call it a "Sgt. Slaughter effect." But Goldberg can still have his at the end of the night when the ass-gas subsides, and they can be special because no one else has had pyro.

But if you want to know my legit predictions, without optimism, here it is:

* Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship
* Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
* The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns
* Triple H vs. Seth Rollins
* John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse
* AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon
* Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kevin Owens for the United States Championship
* Big Show vs. Shaq
* Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Championship
* Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
* Naomi (c) vs. Alexa Bliss in a Lumberjill Match for the SmackDown Women's Championship
* Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kalisto vs. Apollo Crews vs. Luke Harper vs. Heath Slater in a Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship

That's ONLY a 12 match card and very realistically what you are looking at for Mania. Kickoff will probably feature a UK Championship match, a cruiserweight clusterfuck (probably a tag match) and maybe both sets of Tag Titles on the line. I can see American Alpha vs. The Usos and maybe Gallows & Anderson vs. Enzo & Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The New Day, with those teams also doing double-duty in the Battle Royal. I can see The Usos being in the Battle Royal too, but I don't know why you'd include Alpha just to throw them out, so I think they are conspicuously absent. Maybe they do an interview segment later in the show where they talk about how wonderful it felt to keep their belts at Mania, only to be attacked by two Top Guys? Neville vs. Akira Tozawa can be bumped to the Kickoff too.

The Ladder Match gets about 15 minutes. The Lumberjill Match will be stretching things at 10. The Andre Battle Royal can have 15. The real Women's Title match won't quite need 20. Big Show vs. Shaq will be kept short and sweet. Let's go with 5. Jericho vs. Owens can be the first really long one-on-one match, and I think they'd be good with 20. Styles and Shane will probably go around 20 too. The mixed tag won't be much longer than 10. Triple H vs. Rollins will get at least 20 because Triple H is in it. Taker and Reigns won't need that long to do what they need to do -- 15. Wyatt vs. Orton will be the longer title match, and they'll probably try to stretch themselves out to at least 20, but maybe 25. I can see Owens vs. Jericho or Styles vs. Shane being the longest match. Goldberg vs. Brock shouldn't go longer than 10.

That's three hours of actual wrestling at the most, which is a lot, but this will probably be their longest WrestleMania ever -- given that this will likely be about 40% of the show's content, that means you can get this done and only have a 7.5 show at most. You can probably trim the matches down and have a card that is only 7 hours long. If you take out a few commercials for the Network that people already have, you can move the SmackDown Women's Title to the Kickoff and save another 10 and raise the wrestling content to 50%, which means you can get this done in less than 6 hours without even postponing the Shane match and putting Styles into the Battle Royal or Ladder Match. But if you trim matches at 50% wrestling content and move the blue branded girls to the Kickoff, I think you can get it done in 5.5, or 5 without Styles vs. Shane.

I can keep going too Noid!

WWE Championship
Wyatt (c) vs Orton

WWE Universal Championship & United States Championship
Owens (c) vs Jericho (c)

Reigns vs Taker vs Strowman

Goldberg vs Lesnar

Triple H vs Rollins

No Holds Barred
Shane McMahon vs AJ Styles

John Cena & Niki vs Miz & Maryse

Zayn vs Joe

WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
Ambrose vs Corbin vs Harper vs Ziggler vs Crews vs Kallisto

RAW Womens Championship Fatal Four Way
Bailey (c) vs Charlotte vs Jax vs Banks

Raw vs Smackdown!
Alpha Males vs The New Day

KICKOFF

Andre The Giant Battle Royal
Featuring: Big Show, Shaq, Mark Henry, Mojo Rawley and Curt Hawkins. lol.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs Aries

Smackdown! Live Women's Match
I have no idea right now but I don't think it's going to be a title fight

.................................................................................................... .......

Admittedly I have no idea where they are going with Smackdown! women at WM, I could see a muliwoman match or perhaps just Lynch vs Bliss. I don't see Naomi holding the title for a one on one at Mania.

I feel like since American Alpha has cleaned out the Smackdown! tag division they may do a cross brand to make a cool match with New Day, whom I think may take the tag belts soon enough. I also thing a cross brand match is likely somewhere on the card. The opposition to that theory is that The Uso's are continuing a program with AA, but maybe it's just to fill these seven weeks before Mania.

Obvious about Joe and Zayn after Raw I think.

I still think WWE should put Shaq and Show into the Battle Royal to give it some hype and save space on the card.

With the heat of Strowman right now they really need to push him big, I just have a gut feeling he's going to be added to Reigns and Taker.

I also think Goldberg is going to be screwed by Lesnar at Fastlane and Owen's will retain.

Even my card it too big, I could see them not having New Day on the main card and throwing them in the battle royal but that would be lame. Same for AA.

If they don't add Strowman to Reign's and Taker then he's gonna win the Battle Royal and eliminate Show and Shaq at the end. And then probably kill Lesnar or Goldberg, whomever wins that match when it concludes.

With a two hour kick off and a 4 hour main card, keep the Rock's appearance short and sweet, maybe the guest ref for Oldberg and Lesnar.

I have a feeling Zayn vs. Joe will be a Fastlane match.

I could see both being in the battle royal....which doesn't necessarily mean they're being lost in the shuffle, they can actually make the battle royal seem important if they put a title opportunity at stake.

Ah you're probably right, I forgot about Fastlane for them.

I could see Joe in the Battle Royal too, hopefully he would win as I want them to keep his main event push going strong. I could also see him cornering Triple H and Seth having Balor in his corner.

New rumor going around the net teases at a potential multi-women match with the twist being a New Gen vs Old Gen for teams. Would likely involve Mickie James, Kelly Kelly, and whoever else the WWE can get to show at Mania for the Old Gen team.

Would fit with a recent rumor about the WWE contacting several former WWE women wrestlers for an appearance at Mania.

The problem with old gen vs. new gen is that the face/heel dynamic is thrown out. Is anyone really clamoring for heel Kelly Kelly? At least with the "Lumberjill" (I hate that name) stipulation, you can have good girls and bad girls from years past out there and interacting with each other.

I think Strowman is a good bet for the Andre Battle Royal winner. I'd love it to go to Big E, but Strowman winning makes a lot of sense and I can see Vince wanting to put a lot of spotlight on it this year given the new documentary. Samoa Joe will likely have a good showing, but I can see him being shock eliminated by someone like Cesaro (just to throw a name out) and he re-enters and destroys them before leaving and setting up a feud and someone for him to beat at the next PPV.

Fuck it, I'll guess again after this week's events.


Raw Matches:

WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman vs. Goldberg (C)

The Big Dog vs. The Deadman
Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker

Six Man Tag Team Match
Chris Jericho, Finn Balor, and Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Triple H

Raw Women's Championship - Fatal Four Way
Bayley vs. Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (C) w/ Dana Brooke

Raw Tag Team Championship - Fatal Four Way
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. The New Day vs. Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (C)

Celebrity Attraction Match
Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal

The big change to most projected cards is Owens/Jericho and HHH/Rollins not happening, instead being merged into one with Triple H having alliances with Joe and Owens. If Seth is good to go, he could be in this match and not have the burden of working a full match on a balky knee. If not, this could be a spot to have Finn Balor return given his NXT history with Joe and the fact that Owens was gifted a Universal Title reign thanks to his injury.

I don't like the idea of running two four-way matches but I can easily see it happening. Charlotte wins the belt back at Fastlane to keep her PPV title match streak alive because of course she does. I bet the combined intros of Enzo/Cass and The New Day will last longer than the match itself.


SmackDown Matches:

WWE Championship - Triple Threat
Luke Harper vs. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt (C)

Mixed Tag Team Match
John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Natalya w/ Maryse

The Face that Runs the Place vs. The Guy Who Actually Runs the Place
AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose (C)

SmackDown Women's Championship - Lumberjill Match
Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi (C)

SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Usos vs. American Alpha (C)

Luke Harper wins the battle royal on SmackDown next week and the WWE Title match becomes a Wyatt Family triple threat. The seeds were planted for AJ/Shane on Talking Smack, with Bryan basically passing the blame to Shane when Styles complained about not getting a one on one title rematch. Cena proposes after he and Nikki take out Miz and Nattie.

It feels weird not having Becky or Mickie wrestling, it's possible one of them goes up against Naomi instead. Would they seriously run yet another fatal four way? I'm not sure. Instead, the rest of the SmackDown women and maybe some special returns serve as lumberjills.


Other Matches:

WWE Cruiserweight Championship - 8-Man Ladder Match
Akira Tozawa vs. Austin Aries vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. Gran Metalik vs. Jack Gallagher vs. Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins vs. Neville (C)

33-Man WrestleMania 33 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Bo Dallas, Braun Strowman, Curtis Axel, Epico, Goldust, Jinder Mahal, Mark Henry, Primo, R-Truth, Rusev, Sin Cara, Titus O'Neil, Aiden English, Apollo Crews, Curt Hawkins, Dolph Ziggler, Fandango, Heath Slater, James Ellsworth, Kalisto, Konnor, Mojo Rawley, Rhyno, Simon Gotch, Tyler Breeze, Viktor, Ariya Daivari, Cedric Alexander, Drew Gulak, Lince Dorado, Mustafa Ali, Noam Dar, and Tony Nese

The ladder match is initially a 7-man affair like in previous WrestleManias with Neville defending against the other three men to hold the title (Perkins, Kendrick, Swann), the most recent #1 contender (Gallagher), and two men who earn wild card spots (Tozawa and Metalik). But I could see Aries being added to the mix last minute as a surprise.

Everyone else goes into the battle royal. Of that list I really can't imagine anybody other than Strowman winning. If they don't go with some of these other multi man matches they could possibly beef this thing up to the largest battle royal in WWE history and add a few more realistic winners.

Wow Vito that's a great card and I really like the idea of a six man tag and could easily see that happening, well maybe not easily, but I would LIKE that to happen. Good job.

Best of The Burfinator 2016! Awesome compilation/highlights video of DBW superstar Burfinator!
 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vNqMmD9Yeu4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

THis young man is the definition of talent!

Enjoy this highlight video.

Weather is getting warmer so new DBW content should be coming!

I really want Harper in the WWE Title Match and sneak out with the title in an upset.

What about his bald spot? Should that prevent him from winning the title?

I mean Cena has a growing bald spot.

Yeah, but Cena can overcome those odds...... but can Luke Harper?!

Luke Harper has enough hair to comb over it.

The Mount rushmore of wrestlers is all bald people.

Hogan, Austin, Cena, Harper.

Haha. Lou Thez.

I predicted a variation of the Six-Man a while ago, because I wasn't really pumping for Triple H vs. Rollins. Kind of dropped the idea when it looked super-obvious they were going for Rollins vs. Triple H. Now that Rollins has been hurt and they might also look to re-integrate Balor without putting too much pressure on him, Jericho leading a team against Triple H would make sense. It also explains why Triple H was talking to Owens before the turn on Jericho.

It also leaves a whole bunch of singles matches still on the table coming out of WrestleMania, which I feel might help the flow of things going forward. Not everything needs to be the final match in a story. It still feels big enough though.

The one thing I'm not feeling is the Ladder Match. I just do not care about that many of the cruiserweights and I don't think throwing them all out there to die is the answer. I'd rather see Neville face ONE babyface that they have built up to be a credible challenger. I'm STILL pulling for Kota Ibushi. I think he'll be working with the WWE come WrestleMania weekend, even if he has not signed a full-time contract. The Cruiserweight Division needs something HUGE. Purple ropes have become a cue to zone out. If Vince wants these guys to get over, he needs a "special attraction" cruiserweight match. That leaves you with Kota Ibushi or begging Rey Mysterio to come back. If they can get Jeff Hardy but not Matt, that would probably be a suitable place for him. I think the other cruiserweights find places in the Battle Royal or flopping around on the pre-show.

I can see them doing Ambrose vs. Corbin one-on-one, but I'm more for that being the Ladder Match. The one knock against it is that Ambrose might still be considered "above" clusterfuck Ladder Matches at WrestleMania. But it seems the most fitting match for a belt to be hanging. Very easy to get Ambrose, Corbin, Ziggler, Crews and Kalisto in there. Kane is a guy they could introduce by just having him Chokeslam everybody (and once Kane is in, you can't really complain about the spot because it's like claiming you have a more important stake than Kane, which seems like poor backstage posturing). James Ellsworth could easily be the seventh guy and this could be where he gets kileld. Or it could be Heath Slater who gets a "Holy shit he touched the belt!" moment. Also possible is that Sami Zayn finally jumps to SmackDown if Seth Rollins is healthy and back, and he enters the match and probably wins it. A Ladder Match also hides Corbin's boring.

Personally I would dump AJ/Shane and have Cena/Nikki vs. AJ/Nattie and have Miz in the Ladder Match and bump Nia for Becky in the RAW Women's Title match, but I think the rest of your card is pretty much correct.

I do think an IC Title ladder match is possible, it'd be three years in a row for it and I can understand the logic of Bryan booking the match given that his last WrestleMania moment came in that very same match two years ago. If Ambrose or Corbin win the thing they can carry on their singles feud into the next PPV.

The one downside though is you'd have virtually nobody from SmackDown in the battle royal since you're taking out Ziggler, Kalisto, Crews etc and replacing them with cruiserweights. The SmackDown contingent would be just a bunch of tag team wrestlers and Curt Hawkins. It'd make it even more obvious Braun is going to kill everybody and it would almost seem pointless for SmackDown to even send anybody into it.

Maybe the battle royal just ends up being a Raw match (since the cruiserweights are technically Raw guys anyway).

Oh and if they did the IC Title ladder match, I'd bet on Mojo Rawley being the 7th man with his build mostly being focused on the fact that his injured tag team partner came out of nowhere to win the thing a year ago.

I dont think Braun will win the Battle Royal. He doesnt need to win the Battle Royal. His thing is that he has not been pinned ( i think ). Getting ganged up on and tossed out doesnt hurt Braun at all.

I think Big Cass will win the Battle Royal.

I don't think Big Cass winning the Battle Royal would be too unusual.

Universal Championship:
Goldberg Vs. Lesnar

WWE Championship:
Bray Wyatt Vs. Luke Harper Vs. Randy Orton

Intercontinental Championship:
Dean Ambrose Vs. Baron Corbin Vs. Dolph Ziggler Vs. Apollo Crews

Sami Zayn and Chris Jericho Vs. Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe (The Samowens)

The Undertaker Vs. Roman Reigns

John Cena and Nicki Bella Vs. Miz and Natalya w/Maryse

Aj Styles Vs. Shane McMahon

Enzo and Cass Vs. New Day Vs. The Club Vs. Cesaro/Sheamus

RAW Womans Championship:
Charlotte Vs. Bayley Vs. Sasha Vs. Nia

SD Womans Championship:
Becky Vs. Mickie Vs. Naomi Vs. Alexa

Big Show Vs. Shaq Vs. Braun Strowman

SD Tag Team Championship:
Usos Vs. American Alpha Vs. Fashion Police Vs. Accension

Cruiserweight Championship:
Neville Vs. Jack Gallagher Vs. TJP Vs. Akira Vs. TBK Vs. Gran Met Vs. Austin Aries Vs. Rich Swann Vs. Mustafa Ali Vs. Cedric Alexander

Andre The Giant Battle Royal:
Everyone else, couple of legends, etc

I am actually really into most of the card. Lesnar/Goldberg is a spectacle, Orton/Wyatt/Harper is a quality feud with depth, and even Taker/Reigns has a big match feel.

I only have two concerns looking at the above cards.

1. Jericho/Owens is the best story in the company and shouldn't be shoved into a tag match. It deserves to stand alone and that match would be the one I would most be looking forward to in the card. Will be so disappointed if it turns out to be a tag.

2. AJ is the best wrestler in the company and I want to see him in the best match on the card. There is no draw to Shane McMahon wrestling, never mind taking a potential 5* performance off the card.

Unfortunately, with recent events, I can see those two things happening, but for me, they are mistakes.

Owens/Jericho deserves to be one of the final matches on the card, with promo packages/interviews, the whole thing. Really ramp it up to 11 and let them bring the house down.

I would like to see Harper win the battle royal and AJ complaining about still not getting his 1 on 1 rematch and when Orton decides to go against Wyatt for whatever reason, Styles/Harper having a one on one match for number one contendership. Think they would have a classic tbh, and would help to elevate Harper.

Man Harper/Styles would be incredible! I don't really see it making the WM card but if it did I would totally be stoked for that!

Looks like the WWE really is planning on doing something with former women wrestlers at Mania since Victoria recently teased she was contacted by the WWE for a return. Would make it three so far with Mickie James and Kelly Kelly agreeing to return to the company.

At this point, I'd be fine with the WWE just throwing John Cena and AJ Styles into a match against each other. Cena can propose to Nikki on a SmackDown heading into it, on the show here, or coming out of it.

The story is just "there," but it could be like Angle/Benoit from WrestleMania X-7. You just throw these guys together and let them have a match. The idea can be that they've been such powerful rivals to each other that they have blocked each other from title contention and now have to fight one last time at WrestleMania in order to move on to different stages of their respective careers.

I'd love for Styles to be the guy that makes Cena submit for the first time since Kurt Angle. Crowds want to cheer him anyway, so it'd be a great credibility nod for Styles. Cena can easily recover by saying that sometimes you've got to admit when you are beat, and Styles just had him beat. A tip of the cap to the young man later and it's all good.

Nikki and Nattie can disappear into whatever that Lumberjill/women from the past match is.

I feel like this could very easily be the WrestleMania 33 card:

Universal Championship
Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship
Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

John Cena vs. AJ Styles

Six-Man Tag Team Match
Triple H, Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe vs. Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn & Seth Rollins

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
Big Show, Shaquille O'Neal, Braun Strowman, Mark Henry, Rusev, Sheamus, Cesaro, Big Cass, Enzo Amore all featured

Fatal 4-Way for the RAW Women's Championship
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax

Cruiserweight Championship
Neville (c) vs. Kota Ibushi

RAW Tag Team Championship
The Hardys (c) vs. The New Day

Lumberjill Match for the SmackDown Women's Championship
Naomi (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Kalisto vs. Apollo Crews vs. Kane

Kickoff Match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship
American Alpha (c) vs. The Usos

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With a few personalized booking tweaks, I'd have Becky Lynch replace Nia Jax in the Fatal 4-Way for the RAW Women's Title. I think having her in there adds to the charisma of the match -- especially in Orlando. Since there aren't technically time constraints on you, and even though the card is long enough, I'd be fine upgrading Alpha to the main card and having them win the belts back from The Revival. There is still time to debut them and have them steal the belts from the cocky Alpha, with the return win being the story for Mania with Hulk Hogan backing Alpha. I think everything else builds nicely to the more important stuff later in the show.

It'd be quite early to put it on, but I'm imagining a deliberate streak of three great matches back-to-back, just as a flexing point to prove that you can do it and start the show off as a drool-fest. Can you imagine opening with Alpha vs. The Revival, moving onto Ibushi and Neville for the Cruiserweight Title, then hammering people with Cena vs. Styles?

Another possibility, although I do feel that the show is definitely long enough, is that Sami Zayn doesn't end up in the six-man. He feels like a natural fit, but you could very easily still do Zayn vs. Nakamura II and hype it as the match that stole the weekend last year. That way you open up a spot in the six-man for the returning Balor. It feels a bit weird to have both guys return in a match, but Jericho could hype it as his dream team being put together or something.

Another possibility, although we might be getting a bit off-course here, is that Triple H leads a 5-man team against Jericho for an Elimination Match -- sort of as a "Flavor of Survivor Series" deal. The heels that join Triple H are Braun Strowman and Rusev, with Jericho having Rollins, Zayn, Balor and the debuting Nakamura. But is that too many "fresh faces" for a big Mania match?

Another possibility is that you do the Sheamus/Cesaro split and insert them into that tag program. Or you can throw them in to balance out the babyface side. I feel like you really have to have Sami Zayn in there though. He might look weak if he doesn't go against Owens and Joe. Maybe you then run an Elimination Tag at the next PPV and then a WWE version of War Games at the next one? You probably just use the Hell in a Cell and have people get eliminated by pinfall or submission.

Triple H, Kevin Owen, Samoa Joe, Rusev & Sheamus vs. Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Sami Zayn & Cesaro. Eh, it feels like "too many" people, honestly. At least for WrestleMania. You can work up to it for other PPVs.

My boy screech made a good point: Andre Battle Royal needs to mean something.

So I propose the winners gets "$3 million". The money angle guarantees follow-up and storyline progression (one would hope lol). Braun Strowman wins.

So this year at Mania I sadly think Goldberg walks in as champ (Sorry Kev), and Brock beats him for the Universal Title. Obviously some huge issues here:

1) No young/new star developed at all
2) RAW left without a champion to hump the road and help gates

With that, the next night on RAW, Braun opens up the show demanding a title match. Heyman comes out on the stage, declines. Saying his "client is a business man" and will only wrestle when he wants to for "the right price."

Braun offers his $3 million from Andre for Lesnar to defend his title tonight. Brock and Heyman accept.

Braun defeats Brock for the Universal Championship to end the show.

I'm inclined to hold off on The Revival until after Mania rather than hotshot them into what would likely be a brief Kickoff match. Sadly though, the more I think about it, the more I'm certain The Revival are going to bomb on the main roster anyway.

Their whole thing is based on having great long-form matches with loads of false finishes and innovative double teams. They're not going to be able to showcase that wrestling six minute televised matches against The Fashion Police or The Hype Bros.