Official WWE/ECW/WCW/TNA talk, or whatever v2

[CaptainCrunch]

Both guys are amazing workers, smart wrestlers. Cole is such a natural heel as well.



I'm also looking forward to Kross and Balor. I've said mean things about Balor in the past in terms of his charisma. But this matchup really suits him.


Though I expect he's going to lose.


I expect that the pressure is on to call up Cole, there's not much more that he can do in NXT.

[Ozy_Flame]

I expect O'Reilly to win otherwise his momentum gets shot and Cole's "come 'uppings" won't give that visceral crowd response we've all been waiting for.

I too expect Kross to win the title. I also expect the main event scene is going to change somewhat now too, with both Gargano (after his loss to Reed tonight I expect) and Ciampa coming back into the main scene, as well as Walter/Balor/Dunne/O'Reilly as potential contenders.

My dream is to see them break up GYV and get Zach Gibson a singles run. That guy is an absolute master on the mic and knows how to get fans really mad. He's a complete wanker and an excellent heel.

[Muta]

When Reed took that pseudo-Death Valley Driver from Swerve off the top of the turnbuckle onto the ring apron, that looked like it could have REALLY hurt. Thankfully Thic Boi Bronson has a layer of padding to protect himself...

[KelVarnsen]

Nobody watched part 2 of NXT last night? I thought it was fantastic. That O’Reilly/Cole match was amazing.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Nobody watched part 2 of NXT last night? I thought it was fantastic. That O’Reilly/Cole match was amazing.

I watched everything but the last 15-20 minutes because my PVR stopped. I'm going to have to watch the rest before Smackdown tonight.

[CaptainCrunch]

Oh yeah I did. I thought the three matches that stood out over the two nights, TC and Walter. Of course Kross and Balor and certainly Cole and O'Reilly were great matches. Cole really needs to go to the gym though.



I thought Io vs RG was a good match. The Tag Team match surprised me with how well booked it was, except for the part where Shotzi pretty much almost broke her fricken neck and looked out on her feet for a bit.



I do like NXT a lot more then the main roster and AEW, its just simpler stuff to me. I will say on the AEW side, Conti has been amazing and that match against the Bunny was very good.


Now my other sense, and I put up my predictions later. Wrestlemania is going to be bad.

[albertGQ]

Don't know how to imbed a tweet but Becky Lynch just tweeted:

Nothing
Is
Guaranteed
Here
Tonight
Only
Now
Eternally

taking the first letters, it spells NIGHT ONE. So will she be making an appearance tomorrow night? Looks like it

[CaptainCrunch]

There's also a rumor that Rousey is in town. It seems kind of sketchy, but the natural feud is Becky and Ronda.


Still kind of pissed that Bayley didn't get a Wrestlemania match this year.



She's the best heel that they have in that division.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

There's also a rumor that Rousey is in town. It seems kind of sketchy, but the natural feud is Becky and Ronda.


Still kind of pissed that Bayley didn't get a Wrestlemania match this year.



She's the best heel that they have in that division.

Rumors that bayley is gonna do her talk show complaining about just that and becky may challenge her

I do think bayley is for sure on the show somehow even if it's not that, the talkshow thing makes a lot of sense

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Nobody watched part 2 of NXT last night? I thought it was fantastic. That O’Reilly/Cole match was amazing.

I thought it could have been 10 minutes shorter, but it was a great match

I was a bit disappointed in Kross, he still feels like he has something holding him back

[d_phaneuf]

I think the two night wrestlemania is gonna be really good, crowd should be hot, both nights have strong cards, and I expect they are gonna go all out with some surprises, I.e becky

Only match that stands out as not interesting is Braun vs shane

Both mens and women's title matches should be great, and I do think the mens ones are wide open

new day vs AJ and omos has 3 great workers and the hook of omos' first match plus it seems like hes AJs project right now so he sees something in him

Cesaro/seth and ko/Sami are potential match of the year type things if given time, which the 2 nights should allow. Riddle v sheamus doesnt make a ton of storyline sense, I'm guessing this was supposed to be Keith lee vs sheamus pre injury, but it has sneaky potential, sheamus has been killing it lately

Very excited for the IC title, apollo is killing it with his new charachter, big e has wale performing his entrance live so apollo is winning for sure

Fiend vs Orton is going to be a cinematic I'm guessing?

Forgot about the smackdown tag titles, mysterios vs ziggler and roode. This is where I would have put a ladder match in and added a few teams

[CaptainCrunch]

Ok, I'm going to keep my predictions short.

Night 1

Natalya & Tamina vs. Naomi & Lana vs. Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke vs. Riott Squad (Tag Team Turmoil; winners receive title shot on Night 2)

This match was a last second drop in when we started to hear complaints of very low woman's representation at Wrestlemania. I have no doubt that Naomi and Lana will win, though Tamina and Natty have been getting a push lately. This is pretty much a jobbers match, the Riott Squad have been criminally underused and are quite good. But for some reason the WWE is enamored with the bleah team of Naomi and Lana

Raw Tag Team Championship: The New Day (c) vs. AJ Styles & Omos

I love the new day, but I also love AJ. This is a tough one for me, but this feels like a turn of Omos on AJ, and a last face turn for Styles in his last contract. Give the win to New Day

Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro

Rollin's really can't be hurt by losses, he can be used to push people up the card and then get that uber push. But the Savior has been a bit flat lately. I really want Cesaro to get a solid long term push and this could be where it starts.

Bad Bunny & Damian Priest vs. The Miz & John Morrison

This is a bathroom break for me. I've liked Miz and Morrison as a team since the start. I don't know who Bad Bunny is and I don't care about Priest. To give Bunny a solid, he's at least tried really hard to make this work. I hate the idea of celebrities that are non athletes going over trained wrestlers (I see you staring at me David Arquette). But we know Bunny is going to go over.

SmackDown Women's Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Bianca Belair

A really mediocre build up to this match which is surprising. But neither lady is especially great on the mic. But this should be an athletic as hell match as both woman can work. They've been uber pushing Belair and I strongly believe that a loss at this point really hurts her. Sasha has been ok at best as a Champ and maybe its the reason why they keep hot shoting belts off of her. They want to build the woman's division on Belair, so expect her to take the belt.

WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre

Bobby Lashley and MVP have been absolutely awesome for a while now. Drew has been talking more and more like a 40 year old dad then a Scottish Psychopath. By every logical reason Bobby should retain the belt. But Wrestlemania has this bad habit of putting faces over heels in the main event, and I expect that to continue here as Drew takes back the belt.

Night 2

United States Championship: Riddle (c) vs. Sheamus

Sheamus has been outstanding for a while now. His mini feud with drew was great. Riddle, I can't stand the character, it just reeks of stupid. Personally I would rip the belt off of Riddles bloodied corpse and hand it to Sheamus. But WWE's instincts in terms of Riddle are off, expect him to retain

Women's Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Naomi & Lana

The woman's tag team division just hasn't been treated seriously at all, and that the shame. Jax and Basler are functional champions. Baszler is the best woman's wrestler in this fight, Naomi is very good but her years in the ring are starting to show. Jax can't work and Lana tries hard, but she's an actress playing a wrestler. We know without a doubt that Lana and Naomi are going to win this belt. The two things I'm watching for 1) Who does Jax hurt this time. 2) Does Baszler turn on Nia or vice versa, but they need to get serious with Shayna.

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (w/Logan Paul)

This to me could be the match of the night as Zayn and Owen's have always worked well together. For the Zayn character arc with the WWE is out to screw him tag to work he has to lose and Paul has to do the screwing over. This one is pretty predictable, he can't win with his documentary coming out.

Intercontinental Championship: Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews (Nigerian Drum)

Both of these guys have been fantastic. Big E is starting to get the main event push that we've been waiting for, so in theory he needs to drop this belt and put Crews over as a credible upper mid card threat and it won't hurt E at all. This one is tough to call, but I'm giving it to Crews.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

I'm guessing that this match has to be somehow cinematic, because it doesn't work without all of the little tricks that the WWE has gotten used to using. The mistake with the new fiend is it denies us what Bray is good at, and that is story telling and Mic work. Bliss started this journey in a fantastic manner but then the writers lost the narrative a bit, and now she's just a generic evil talking valet. They need to get her into the ring in this character and more on her own. Right now they could put anyone in the ring in the Fiend costume, it doesn't matter. A loss to Orton after all of this utterly crushes the Fiend character, buries it and makes it irrelevant. I expect that Randy who doesn't care about wins and losses anymore doesn't care if he's on the mat on his back puking up geysers of black oil like he Beverly Hillbillies opener as long as his check clears. Give this to the Fiend.

The Captain's hamster


This new fiend character has been all about writing the wrongs done to Bray Wyatt, it always has been. I mentioned before that anyone can be in that burnt Fiend gear as he's a Jason Vorhees. So one of the guys that's most screwed over Bray is the Fiend itself. Could we get a Fiend vs Bray feud with Alexa caught in the middle for a battle for her soul that sets her free?

Raw Women's Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Rhea Ripley

The Woman's division has been running out of gas for a while, through no fault of the competitors. Asuka is an amazing talent but the WWE hasn't really done much in a interesting way as Champion. Rhea gives the division an instant jolt of energy. So I'm picking her to take this belt.

Captain's Hamster Wheel moment

WWE always likes to end the night with a Champions celebration, you know fireworks and all this. But what if during that celebration Io steps out on the Ramp. We know its coming.

Final thoughts

This just feels like one of the weaker possible Wrestlemania cards in a long time. A lot of these angles were either hot shotted in, or not built well. On the other hand Owen's and Zayn, and Cruise vs Big E could be very good matches. The Woman's side of things is very kind of bleah, though I'm excited to see how Rhea does.

[CaptainCrunch]

BTW you'll notice no Shane vs Strowman prediction. This feud has been awful and dumb and a waste of time. However I expect that this match is going to be a fairly quick squash and Shane will take a stupid bump or two. But its designed to bump Strowman up the card s he's been a non entity for a while.

[The Familia]

Sigh....wish I had a time machine back to any Wrestlemania from 1- 20. What I would do to transport back to a random Monday night in 1997-1998 and flip between Nitro and Raw.

[trackercowe]

You forgot the main event to night two Captain! That one is unpredictable, any of the three could conceivably win.

[Derek Sutton]

Too bad they’ve done away with the TLC IC match to kick off Mania. This was always a great start to the event. And the with the crowd this year it would’ve been electric.

[d_phaneuf]

Ya it does seem like a ladder match is missing

Drew vs bobby to open the show is gonna be a hot start though

[CaptainCrunch]

D'oh I had written the main event, but when I cut and pasted it didn't go through


Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan

This one is tough to call, All three are incredibly strong and could be good champions, the build up has been pretty decent.



Out of all three, the ladder match really doesn't favor Reigns. Bryan is build for this kind or match. Edge really understands this kind of match.



Does Uso make his presence felt here?


First of all, Reigns have found his stride as a jerk heel and the teaming with Heyman is brilliant, not only from a back stage production style of role and guided Reigns, but from a front of people role as the evil genius. This could be Bryan's last full time run, and fans would explode if this is the way that he starts his transition to part time with a title run. Edge is awesome, however he seems to be getting injury prone, and I don't know if WWE will trust him to carry the banner.



Look Reigns can lose the belt, and he still remains the head of the table, but an even angrier head of the table. Does Jay screw him over in the match? Does Jimmy come in and stop Jay from doing it creating a Uso family squable? That's what the hamster in my head would do.



I really can't see anything but a Bryan win with a backfired interference, Edge is there because he's stellar at these kind of fight, and they will false tease him winning a lot.

[CaptainCrunch]

I talk about the little details a lot in this space, the story telling that has to happen, the things that make a match go from ok to good to great.



I think sometimes we forget that Paul Heyman besides being a top promo guy, really helps to fill in those little details, and make stories go from ok to good to can't miss. This is one of those times, and he did it in just over a minute

https://twitter.com/user/status/1380963436360794115

[CaptainCrunch]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1380977349701873665