By Rick Morris
As always, these picks are
within the realm of what is politically possible in the company. For example, if reports are to be believed,
the Lesnar-HHH rematch from SummerSlam is happening regardless of whether anyone
truly wants to see it or not, so we’ve got a decent scenario laid out here
about how to get there. Despite that,
the title unification called for in the first match goes against 11 years of
company policy, but with the ongoing “soft merger” between the Raw and Smackdown
brands and the hopefully-growing realization that matches other than a “brand
world championship contest” can headline house shows, we’re going to swing for
the fences on that one.
THE ROCK (WWE CHAMPION) VS.
JOHN CENA (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) – UNIFICATION MATCH
How we get there: The first
part is fairly straightforward as The Rock defeats CM Punk for the WWE Title at
the Royal Rumble. In the second part,
John Cena wins the Royal Rumble, but comes out on Raw the next night and
announces that he is challenging The Rock at WrestleMania, but that he would
like Booker T to enter him into the Elimination Chamber match for the World
Title at the February PPV. Cena’s
reasoning is that Champion Vs. Champion is the only way to top the “Once in a
Lifetime” billing of WrestleMania 28.
Booker T agrees and Cena takes the championship from Dolph Ziggler in
the chamber, setting up the unification match where Cena gets his win back one
year later.
CM PUNK VS. THE UNDERTAKER
Feeding Punk to Undertaker
after his incredible 2012 push may seem counterproductive, but it’s generally
accepted by fans that ‘Taker at WrestleMania is “unbeatable by anyone.” Punk should get the overwhelming majority of
offense in the match, however, to come out as strong as he can and to hopefully
get “the rub” going forward.
HHH VS. BROCK LESNAR
The previous match would be
keyed by Punk, locked out of the ‘Mania main event, calling out Undertaker as
the ultimate means of gaining respect.
On the Raw after the Elimination Chamber PPV, as Undertaker responds to
Punk’s challenge at the end of the show, he would be jumped not only by Punk,
but by Lesnar coming out of the crowd.
HHH would come down to make the save for his fellow legend with his
sledgehammer, setting up the SummerSlam rematch that he would (inevitably) win.
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. SHEAMUS VS.
RANDY ORTON VS. ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. THE MIZ VS. WADE BARRETT (INTERCONTINENTAL
CHAMPION) VS. DAMIEN SANDOW VS. CODY RHODES – MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH
In the return of the MITB
match to ‘Mania, the focus of the storyline would be that the match would be
the first of its kind to offer a shot at the new Unified World Title. Rumor has it that Barrett was to have won the
match at ‘Mania 28 before his injury, so it makes sense to give him the
turbo-push starting here. Also, this
match would be in the midst of a Sheamus-Orton feud, with Sheamus having
re-captured the World Title at Royal Rumble with a jealous Orton coming out to
give him the RKO after the match and turning heel, setting him up for the Ziggler
cash-in.
REY MYSTERIO VS. SIN CARA
Again, this match was rumored
for ‘Mania 28 before Rey-Rey’s injury rehab was pushed back further. Assuming that the company not irreversibly
down on Cara at this point, it makes sense for him to get the win in something
of a “passing of the torch match,” which under ideal circumstances could allow
Rey to slide into the kind of special attraction role that would certainly
prolong his career.
RYBACK VS. BIG SHOW –
LUMBERJACK MATCH
Hindsight is 20-20, but even
at the time, it seemed as though WWE was booking itself into a corner by
hot-shotting Ryback into the main event against Punk in the injury-caused
absence of Cena. Of course, Cena would have
looked even weaker by coming up short against Punk at Hell in a Cell, but such
are the breaks when you have determined that Punk cannot drop the title until
January. Ryback needs some renewed
luster and who better to provide it than Big Show, who has been fairly
well-protected since turning heel midway through 2012? The visual of Ryback delivering the Shell
Shocked finisher would be one of the defining moments of this show and these
two could provide one of the greatest Big Man Vs. Big Man Slobberknockers in
WrestleMania history. The sight of the
lumberjacks trying to handle these behemoths when they fall out of the ring
would be entertaining as well and it’s a way to get everyone on the roster a ‘Mania
payday without watering down the match quality.
TEAM HELL NO (WWE TAG TEAM
CHAMPIONS) VS. THE SHIELD
The Shield would win the
first-ever tag team Elimination Chamber match at the February PPV to become #1
contenders and would not be required to name the specific challengers until the
day of the show (for workrate purposes, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins would be
the challengers, but with “Freebird rules” allowing any Shield members to
defend the belts subsequently). The
Bryan-Kane storyline and chemistry, one of the big successes of the company in
2012, is going so well that the tag team title reign should continue until ‘Mania. The Shield’s win should cause Kane to turn
heel on Bryan, officially triggering the mega-face run for Bryan that could
place him in the next year’s main event.
Meanwhile, the Shield would certainly be hot enough to main event some
house shows, keeping the tag team titles at the level of esteem where Bryan and
Kane have placed them.
ANTONIO CESARO (US CHAMPION)
VS. JACK SWAGGER
The pre-‘Mania period would
be a good time for Swagger to re-emerge, this time as a face playing up his
American pride against Cesaro. Swagger
should get his win at a later PPV, maybe even the next one, but Cesaro needs
and deserves the win at WrestleMania to continue to cement him as an upper-card
heel and future franchise player.
EVE (DIVAS CHAMPION) VS.
NATALYA
These two haven’t crossed
paths to any significant degree, so it’s a match as fresh as any for
WrestleMania and you can always involve the Hart family if you’re looking for
some extra gusto. Honestly, there aren’t
any potentially huge matches among the current crew of Divas and at least Eve
is a credible heel champion, so she should retain here. Natalya’s the best Diva worker on the roster
and Eve is above-average by the company’s low standards, so the match has the
chance to exceed the bar of women’s matches at ‘Mania. Which says very little.
