Promoter

This all depends really. If HHH is really serious about saying he made Batista, I can see him putting him over in a fashion to make him a gigantic babyface. He will throw that in the face of all his detractors and will proclaim he makes stars. Having Flair by his side I'm sure naitch has spoken to him about how he made stars out of Luger and Sting. Another thing to consider is the traditional wwf booking of a superface. Go back in 1987-1990 and see how Hogan was pushed along with Savage and Ultimate Warrior heading into Mania. Batista is getting that push. HHH is also selling for him like this because they are friends or at least hung out every week due to the Evolution affiliation. We know how HHH puts on his working boots when in the ring with his friends. Then we got to take into account that Batista is homegrown and not like Goldberg who was made in wcw, so Vince won't have a hidden agenda not to put him over like gangbusters. They also probably want Batista to take the spot they wanted Brock Lesnar in. Remember the rumours last year that they wanted Brock/HHH to main event this year's event in a champ vs. champ scenario? With that said it would be funny to see HHH win. Sure he wants to break Flair's record and all, but going over Batista will no doubt make him seem like the old Triple H of 1999-2000 who went over babyface monsters like Austin and Rock. However, that's counterproductive, but it hasn't stopped them before.

Another thing to consider is the shifting gears element to this whole event. I think these matches are much better than the crap I saw rumoured such as the brothers of destruction against Snitsky/Heidenreich. The latter have no business being on a Mania card. Akebono/Big Show has more of a mass appeal than that tag crapfest which would have added to Taker's streak. Well, how would have Angle/Taker fared with some people? Taker heading in as champion and defending against Angle? Angle/HBK is more appealing to me than that. At least Vince saw the light and wanted to elevate Cena instead of stroke Taker's ego with another horrible title reign. Orton/HHH was going to flop the main event with the way they were going. I think they should have kept Benoit/Jericho in some kind of specialty match though and have Benjamin defend his title against either Edge or Hassan. I suppose they felt they couldn't go wrong with putting the strong workers all in the same match, but as someone noted that could go either way.

Which was my point. It's the same as a casual fan not caring about the net's beloved Chris Benoit having a Triple H-like reign, but liking John Cena. The net will come down on the masses for liking Hulk Hogan and not giving the same praise to Chris Benoit. Or it's like someone here mentioning that Chris Benoit modelled himself after Dynamite Kid and people ripping the thread maker because they didn't know or didn't care.

I think WM 21 has potential to be surprising. There are elements there to make it special. The reason last year's event feels like it was more hyped is that there was a shorter time period in the build. Batista/HHH has been building really since New Year's Resolution. Benoit's silly jump last year had a disjointed feel to it for the build, but the timeframe was shorter. The same with other matches like UT/Kane. I think WM XX was disappointing and that the net is overlooking things like the wwe having Benoit and Eddie as champions on the show. I mean sure there are less matches this year, but the majority of the card is much less predictable because of it. We don't have useless matches like the tag title matches and rushed cruiserweight title match. It seems this year they are putting more effort into having quality over quantity. The lack of title matches really is a problem, but I think it's down to who the champions are with exception to Benjamin. Who wants to watch tag title match 2,994 again between the same teams or Orlando Jordan defending against perhaps Booker T where Booker jobs to the inferior wrestler? The problem is that there isn't marquee match such as Goldberg/Lesnar although HHH/Batista can be arguable. Like it or not Goldberg is a big show draw subconsciously.

This depends on Vince obviously. He seems to only have made this business decision for Hogan to legitimize the HOF. That is why I think they have given the promotion of matches to the current roster instead of pushing another Hogan comeback match which would steal the thunder. Sometimes Vince is ridiculous, but sometimes he does make good business moves. However, I can see Vince trying to squeeze Hogan/Austin out of this with Hogan talking about that match outselling WM 3.

Oh, I thought Vince pulled another coup and got Michael Jackson to sing at the event in LA. Now that would be too funny.

MJ?

I think Hogan/Hassan will happen. I mean we should take everything into account here. Vince must have promised Hogan something to get him to come in for the HOF. I mean seriously, the HOF needs Hogan more than HE needs it. I can see Vince promising Hogan a retirement win over the Arab-American to end his career. The televised HOF is also a red flag. Another thing to consider is Vince promising Hogan his daughter the opening spot of WM with singing America the Beautiful. Now, tell me you guys can't see the hotshot angle with that scenario.

Indeed. J Yep!!!! Yet, when Vince Mcmahon is out of touch with pop culture people rag on him. No wonder some people don't understand why John Cena is over with the audience. Hell, even Hulk Hogan got in tune with the nWo character in the 90's during the east coast/west coast rap feud of the time(4 Life from Tupac). That market makes boatloads of money. Vince is actually in touch by pushing Cena. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cena stealing Chain Gang either. I won't even bother go into where he stole the idea for that, but he is at least staying in touch. They just need to keep him the way he was last week on smackdown imo.

I think the wwe should really keep the interpromo matches at Mania, BUT they should build to the matches much better. Survivor Series should be the seeds of setting up feuds with a format similar to the 1990 version. Have RAW and Smackdown exclusive survivor matches and then one big final where the raw surivivors team up against the smackdown survivors. From there it plants seeds for interaction at the Royal Rumble and it sets up the interpromotional matches for Mania.

I don't know about anyone else, but the wwe has finally made a WrestleMania where the majority of the card is not easy to predict. Batista/HHH Should happen: Batista should win in a fashion similar to Goldberg going over Hogan in 1998. It should also be similar to Brock/Rock in 2002. What will happen: HHH will force the match to go longer than it should. Batista will win, but there is that doubt where Trips winning IS possible with all the build Batista has received. Cena/JBL Should happen: Cena should go over clean imo. Will happen: Cena will win, but again it is possible for him to to not get the title due to not being at the top of the card. Angle/HBK Should happen: Angle should win to continue this feud Will happen: HBK will win since it seems like a one time only match Taker/Orton Should happen: Orton should win, but I wouldn't be surprised with Taker. Will happen: Taker will win, but I wouldn't be surprised with Orton. *I think one smackdown and one raw guy will split the interpromo matches* Ladder Match I thought I was the only one who would predict Benjamin Big Show/Akebono who cares, but Show will lose the match, but probably slam Akebono. It at least has the freak show element to it. Eddie/Rey I think Rey is winning either way. It will slowly create tension for the champs down the line. Christy/Trish This match I can see going either way, but I'm leaning towards Trish. Christy most likely will win though in the likely department.

I was thinking the same thing. If they are getting mainstream press for the HOF they should treat it seriously. Pulling an angle will only re-inforce the HOF as a sham.

The wwe got what they wanted in terms of press because I saw scrollers on CNN for crying out loud about Stallone inducting Hogan.

I suspect he's rolling over in his grave for far bigger reasons than that. Okay, we gotta have Clubber Lang and Apollo

Maybe it has to do with Trips being the son in-law of his boss Maybe it has to do with Trips telling him he was too old and he should retire a few years ago on radio

Orton basically is Rocky Maivia 2005, but the difference is he did not capitalize on the uber push given to him last summer. Maybe he will pick up steam returning to heeldom. His mic work is atrocious though. Maybe Triple H and Flair really are that good and people didn't notice how weak he is on the mic. Hopefully, his dreaded long headlocks don't return either. I don't hate him really. I'm more apathetic as some have stated here. He has his moments though.

1) What is your favorite WM, top to bottom, of all time? WrestleMania III followed by WrestleMania X-7 2) What is your least favorite WM of all time? WrestleMania 15 3) What is your favorite WM match? Hogan vs. Andre *Rock/Austin 2 (These two matches represent how big a Mania match should be) 4) What is your least favorite WM match? Undertaker/Sid title match *represent what a match shouldn't be for main event* 5) Name some honorable mentions for favorite match: Hart/Austin, Steamboat/Savage, Hogan/Rock 6) What is your favorite WM venue? SilverDome 7) What is your least favorite WM venue? WrestleMania 11's 8) Going in, which WM card do you think looked the best on paper? WrestleMania X-7 9) Going in, which WM card do you think looked worst on paper? WrestleMania 13 and 15 10) What do you think is the most underrated WM of all time? WrestleMania 7 in hindsight 11) What do you think is the most overrated WM of all time? WrestleMania 8 12) What is your favorite WM moment? Hogan slamming Andre 13) What is your least favorite WM moment? Hogan beating Slaughter 14) Who would you pick as the top three Wrestlemania performers of all time? Savage, Bret, Austin 15) How many of the previous 20 Wrestlemanias have you seen? all 16) What was the most surprising WM moment to you? Warrior return at WM 8 17) Who was your favorite "special guest" at a WM? Mike Tyson 18) Which WM have you seen the most times? 3 19) Which WM commentary team was your favorite? Monsoon and Body 20) Above all, what do you want to see at WM this year? Hogan's real retirement match for mark out value and just good top to bottom stuff Are you going to put the results up? It would be nice to see the graph of this.

Didn't smackdown magazine spoil Angle's heel turn last year too? Mentioning a match isn't so bad if it's not a title match(something like the Rock/Brock thing). I remember Flair/Savage was announced in WWF magazine when Hogan/Flair was announced on television. However, there was no storyline to it and it simply said it was a true wrestling fan dream match. I agree they do need to organize this stuff better and they wonder why when stuff like Orton asking Taker for a match doesn't surprise most of the audience with the reaction not being that much of a shock.

Damn, I forgot Vince has people like Heyman and Cornette under his wings. Hell, call me crazy, but they are also missing a chance with Bischoff on the creative team. All he probably needed was guidance like Russo did(who was also brought back and sent home).

You guys should all send the stuff posted in here to the wwe website. Seriously! They can ignore it, but deep down they will know there is truth in what you guys are saying. Maybe, if it is written intelligently as it is here instead of having fans write in this sucks and that sucks they will be more responsive that maybe the fans want them to improve. Just too add to this here is my two cents about what the Mcmahons have been saying to the media. You know why they have Batista in the main event of WrestleMania? Because he will likely make them much more money than Randy Orton would have against Triple H. That's not simply listening to the fans, it's putting money in their pockets. They will use that and turn around to say they listen to the fans when in reality they aren't. I've been seeing and reading what the Mcmahons have been saying in the media along with their new son in-law. I find it to be spin control with Triple H's position in the company. I've seen Triple H's comments on TSN, The Score, and other stuff like that Big Donny show or whatever it's called. Pat Patterson supposedly told Vince Mcmahon a major reason why business has been dropping is that HHH is too powerful and just maybe fans think he is using politics. They are even alluding to it in HHH's promos. By stating the fans decide who is a superstar they can validate who they keep at the top. It can't be denied that Triple IS a major star, thus they will justify his position by saying the fans want it. A general fan from the masses will buy it because Triple H was there during the hey day. They can use the Austin study that the fans forced the wwe to make him a star, but in truth the guy had the tools to be a star and stuck through all the crap they had him in with Savio Vega. Austin was also the job boy for Bret Hart's return in 1996 and 1997. They had to push him once HBK was injured and Bret Hart got bounced out the company. It's some revisionist history. They push who they want. Personally, I think Jericho is over-rated on the net, but that doesn't take away the fact the guy does have some tools. If Jericho was given the chance that JBL was given he might have actually turned face, but why couldn't that happen? Because the wwe planned on Triple H carrying the company as a face. They calculate things the best they could. Chris Benoit by the numbers actually did the best numbers ratings wise as champion in the last couple of years and he wasn't even pushed as the top guy. There is a reason why they do this. There are some guys who are real threats to people's position, while others aren't. JBL is not a real threat in terms of becoming a popular heel or face champion that would detriment who they really want as the top guy. The way they have done things over the years actually disproves what Vince said in that interview. Now, with that said, they do listen as well. I mean, doing things like bringing back the nWo and getting people like Eric Bischoff was probably in response to fans complaining that the Invasion should have had those guys. The problem comes when they book them how they want them to be booked instead of how the fans wanted them booked. I mean just look at the Hogan/Rock match to see the evidence. There was proof before that match that Hogan may have got bigger face pops than Rock simply from the tv shows leading up to the event. Hogan was cheered for pinning The Rock in Chicago before Mania. The crowd was singing along Hogan's catchphrase as well at times. They didn't want it that way though which says they don't actually really listen. There are other examples such as Austin's heel turn which flopped at the box office.

Is is possible Triple H "re-unites" with his wife as Evolution ends at Mania 21?

Hopefully, Vince will probably get it in his head that Triple H is not the guy to build the company around. He's been the centrepiece since the move to Spike in 2000 pretty much. Maybe that's why Linda stated to look out for John Cena and the rumours about him jumping to RAW. They should build around a face. A little off topic, but I was wondering if RAW and Smackdown went to one hour each if it would help boost the ratings. This would have to depend upon utilizing all the talent fairly in spreading the airtime. It would cut out a lot of filler and also cause less repeat matches.

Linda has already stated that there would be news about the tv shows during her press conference. It's likely the wwe gave Spike the news and thus this release(if true). A Massacre might not be that bad for the wwe. I mean look how well it's done for 50 Cent with getting him over a million records sold within days The wwe would love to have a million extra fans added.

I guess this Orton "mega-push" knows no bounds

I like the way we hate HHH so much that our problems with him get classified into multiple categories. This guy probably is the best heel going today As for Hogan headlining all those Manias I think we have to remember one thing. HULKAMANIA was before WrestleMania. Make the connection!