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I think the same thing. Edge/Orton could be done without breaking up the tag team. Have them fight in a contender's match and it makes sense. They would both want the winner of the wwe title match for a feud post Mania. Their characters fit this storyline. One goes for the title, while the other waits to see if he wins the title to challenge him. Just do that until Hunter comes back.

If UT winning the Rumble, putting his undefeated streak on the line, and Batista turning heel can't get people interested in the MAIN EVENT of Mania the wwe would have lost all hope I just hope it is a heel turn and not just payback for the raw incident because Batista has no chance in hell of getting a 50/50 split going up against Taker and if the plan is still for him to go over he better do it as a heel. Anyways it sounds on the post smackdown Mania " I beat Taker and ended his winning streak and I'm still champion" is not a face thing to say. He's not exactly Steve Austin or The Rock here. They better turn him into a heel monster and just run with it. If Warrior got boos for being the first guy to pin Hogan clean in the wwf since 1984 until 1990 in post house show events Batista will cause riots because he's not even on Warrior's heat level at this point at all. He's primed to destroy a record that's been made at WrestleMania itself at WrestleMania. Cena/Michaels will heat up. I mean it is RAW first of all and we know they have that brand as the A-brand. And Cena is tons ahead of Batista in the charisma department to say the least and he'll be working with tweener/heel HBK on the mic which is gold. The set up is already there for heat when they drop the titles alone. Then throw in HHH which if they are smart they would since Cena beat him just last year at the event. This match would have the more likely split crowd.

The WWE tends to get criticized a lot these days for changing their minds a million times leading up to an event, but things really weren't much different back then. I just always assumed that the plan was Warrior/Hogan at Mania, but looking over the dirtsheets from that period, at different times in the months leading up to the show they considered Hogan/Zeus, Hogan/Perfect, Warrior/Perfect, Hogan Savage II, Hogan/Beefcake (heel), Warrior/Savage and Warrior (heel)/Hogan. In retrospect they should have saved Hogan/Warrior for WM VII in Los Angeles. That was the only match that had any chance of attracting 100,000 fans. They should have just kept building to it. Savage/Warrior would have done good as the main event of Mania VI where Warrior gets the belt. Savage could have simply got the belt in Detroit on Main Event in February by accident by Buster Douglas and would save Hogan face because you know that it had to be that way for him to agree to job. Warrior vs. Savage at Mania VI would have worked. Savage was still massively over at the time. Now to really screw with changing minds a million times. Suppose the wwe went with Dibiase winning the title at WM IV instead of Savage and did the year build of Hogan/Dibiase? That was another reason they had booked Trump Plaza to play of Million Dollar Man. Hogan/Savage would be pushed back to WM VI and then Hogan/Warrior at VII. There a few things if done differently that might have prolonged wrestling's heat with the masses in my opinion, but they burned everything until they had to bring in Flair and Sid in 1991(even then if they used an NWA invasion angle it would have been great). Suppose Hogan/Flair happened at WM VIII instead? I'm saying this because you brought up a very good point. Did the wwf's always changing mind cause it to go downhill post Mania VI more than the Warrior reign causing it? I think it was the bad booking post SummerSlam '89 that caused the downfall.

Yeah, you;re right. Hey, maybe you did mean 12. After all, we did get to see thirty-or-so seconds of Shawn locked in the sharpshooter. Forget about Survivor Series 97 this is the beginning of the screw job call it the prologue if you will. In Bret's mind for sure. That interview he did on RAW from Germnay I think Bret said he always felt betrayed by the company when he lost that belt. The signs were there no doubt. Does anyone remember the stipulation by Piper for the ironman match? The wwe has done revisionist history with the stipulation as I've seen the Piper/Bret/HBK in-ring interview promoing the match and Piper said THERE MUST BE A WINNER. NO COUNTOUTS. NO DQ'S. ETC. THERE MUST BE A WINNER. I wonder why this is never brought up because Bret's biggest complaint was that there shouldn't have been overtime to decide a winner. Am I remembering wrong(I actually have the original tape of that raw and then saw the dvd version of the interview on HBK's dvd and it was slightly edited). Mark or smark something is strange with Bret's comments and then the wwe actually ignoring what President Piper set forth for the match which would make Bret look even more like a crybaby. However, I'm not sure if I'm looking at this wrong because I never saw this brought up anywhere and there are some serious student of the game on the net who would pick up on this. HBK actually tried to give Bret props for being a good champion the night after the match, but Bret still kept ragging on HBK representing the wwf as champion. I really think this match started the whole beef with these guys and Bret started it somehow. Bret even said Vince set him up in Calgary papers a few weeks later by having HBK rest at home until the Rumble in '97, while he fought day and night from Africa to England and against giants like UT and Diesel. That he went into Mania looking like a beatdown champion against the "new generation" leader HBK. Seriously, this whole story leading up to the Montreal screwjob does not all belong to the creative team at the time. You couldn't write some of this stuff. Bret knocking HBK by saying Austin was the best in the world upon his comeback. Bret quitting the night after The Rumble. Bret shoving down Vince and saying he screwed him after losing the wwf title match in a cage against Sid and on and on. There was real good reason for Vince to think something big might have happened that night in Montreal. Just too much backstage heat had boiled up and it all started from that ironman match.

The rumour going around is that the wwe has seen UFC ppv eclipse their records and are now following their blueprint in promoting ONE match to sell the ppv and just throw together stuff for the undercard since the focus won't be on that. I can't even bother right now how comparing UFC and WWE in this instance even makes sense, but the powers that be think otherwise. It started with the December ecw ppv.

Good to see Bret/Owen getting love. The greatest "curtain jerker" match of all time. Favourite matches Bret/Austin Steamboat/Savage Bret/Owen Hogan/Warrior Hogan/Savage Austin/Rock WM 17 Savage/Warrior HBK/Razor HBK/HHH/Benoit HBK/Angle Favourite Moments Hogan slamming Andre Austin passing out at WM 13 Austin turning heel HHH first heel to retain title at Mania Elizabeth to the rescue at WM 7 Macho winning 4th match in tourney Hogan losing to Warrior Flair post Mania match interview after losing title Hogan/Rock at Mania Top Manias III-seriously this made Mania the legend it is and this event was all over the media from Entertainment Tonight to George Michael Sports Machine etc. Hogan and Andre is still the most known Mania match and arguably still has the greatest Mania match in Steamboat/Savage. I also liked how they mixed up the card with midget/big man match, battle of the full nelson(masterlock the 80's called and wants its gimmick back), birth of the Barber, opening tag match etc. IMO, this is the GREATEST MANIA Card ever that got even the media worked up(Hogan slamming Andre was on front page news here). The event made more money since then, but I don't think it ever reached the level of heat as Mania III with stuff like Piper's "farewell match" Just look at the crowd when Piper put him in that sleeper hold and Beefcake becoming the Barber(I guess the hair vs. hair with Trump/Vince is taking a cue from this). X-7 So far this is the closest event to WM 3 in terms of the height of heat heading into the event with all the wcw signing and Austin/Rock peaking around this time. Good overall card as well. Austin turning heel is awesome to see as well. It comes off as a farewell show to the Attitude Era. The company hasn't been the same since. Very similar to what happened after WM 6. VIII There was a time when I wouldn't have ranked this so high, but in retrospect this event is Mania at its finest in terms of big Manias. Piper/Hart, Sid/Hogan, UT/Jake although that ending was lame, and of course Flair/Savage along with HBK/Santana. Like X-7 this event felt like a farewell show to the old guard and the company wasn't the same after this event for years until perhaps WM 14. X 2 5 star matches alone ranks it up there, but the angle of two title matches is classic. As well going back to MSG for the first time. XX This show is classic. Last time we saw Rock in a wwe ring doing actual wrestling. Benoit winning the title and seeing the crowd explode was nuts. Lesnar/Goldberg I loved for the trainwreck. VII At the time I HATED this event and I think it all had to do with Slaughter. Looking back on it now this was a really good Mania though. I would show non-wrestling fans these Mania shows to really showcase the best of Mania.

The Hogan/Perfect feud had some great promos and angles. Hogan/Perfect was also a rumour for WM 6 to replace the other rumour of Hogan/Zeus happening. Vince quickly gave up on Zeus after that double pair ppv or some crappy ppv name where Hogan/Beefcake faced Macho/Zeus in a cage followed by the No Holds Barred Movie(this is so underground I wonder if it even happened sometimes the way it got swept under the rug:huh: The politics with Perfect's size came in play for his Mania main event push on both ends either against Warrior or Hogan.

I think Batista of 2 years ago had a stronger chance of being the guy to end the streak. It's still to early to predict for me. I think Cena's going over HBK. It will only make Cena/HHH bigger for SummerSlam or Survivor Series. That was the match they wanted to pimp anyways. The huge rematch with one DX guy down for the count in the feud makes a better story instead of HBK/HHH AGAIN!!

I think initially Bret was the main guy and that was the reason why Vince signed him to that multi 20 year contract. However, I think some truth was in Flair's book when he said Vince didn't feel he was worth the money around RR 97. I say this because they went with UT as champion at WM 13. Then the re-negotiating of HBK's contract in 1997 probably made Vince re-think his position on Bret. HBK was actually making more money than Bret with his 20 year contract when broken down. Business wise I could see Vince saying he needed to make his money back on his biggest paid star in HBK and that's where all this heat escalated between the two. I don't know that timeframe around WM 13 is a bit strange. Would Hart win the title in a rematch at WM 13 and then feud with Austin? However, what in the world would HBK do? I think Vince just had a big issue to handle of who he wanted to be the top dog and it took months to figure out and it all topped out at Survivor Series with going with HBK. I think when Vince gave HBK the bigger contract it sealed the deal and caused even more tension. Luckily for Vince Austin took off and made it easy. As you said, HBK probably did not like how Bret was running him down as champion and maybe his way of getting back at Bret was to pull out of the title match at Mania 13. That has always been in the back of my mind. IMO, I don't think Bret's dissaproval of HBK as champion was an angle. HBK gave Bret props the night after he won the title, but Bret kept egging on how he was robbed of the title. It wasn't exactly how Hogan acted as a babyface hero after losing the title to Warrior 6 years earlier.

Nah, I agree Batista is not the one who should end the streak. I've said it before that the only people currently who should even be considered is Edge and Cena. However, I'm not too thrilled with UT world champion either, but he's more deserving than Batista. I mean he did go to the event 10 years ago as challenger and won. I want something more historic like seeing the end of the streak in Michigan. I still believe that is their only hope of getting anything close to Hogan/Andre.

That's what I'm starting to believe too.

That's what I'm starting to believe too.

UT announcing it on RAW still makes me think it could be Cena. They would have just announced it last week on smackdown. Plus, you got that NWO main event there. Raw vs. Smackdown, but it could just be another non-issue like the December R vs. S main event for smackdown. Shawn could go to smackdown to face Batista and you got the whole Evolution/DX story to work off too. There is a storyline loophole that they haven't used. What if the challenger loses to the other brand's champion at Mania? Wouldn't he still be under the brand he was apart of before the championship? Far fetched for wwe writers yeah, but they've surprised me with this current storyline. Maybe HHH is feeding Steph some proper ideas for Mania and the championship for once. I mean it does include Batista(whom he put over), UT(locker room leader who was one of the few who didn't come down hard on him for dating the boss' daughter), HBK(If the DX link wasn't enough his real best friend), and John Cena(obviously the wwe's poster boy).

UT losing is the historic moment for Mania imo too. Cena makes much more sense than Batista though.

Vince proposed it to Bret as part of the series of matches presented to Bret supposedly to try to get him to stay but obviously designed to get him to leave. The series was Bret losing three straight to Shawn, beating Shawn for the belt and then dropping it to Steve. Yeah, I know that is why I said if Vince just didn't tell Bret that story and had the real plan of Austin/HBK. Bret would just be transitional. HBK getting those wins and then giving Austin his win back from Hart at Mania as well as giving him the belt sets up HBK/Austin in a strong feud. Where does that leave Hart afterwards? Vince was moving HBK in Bret's position since One Night Stand when Bret wasn't even on the cover of the dvd/tape and his match got taken out in the States release. Vince saw HBK/Austin as the money feud and Bret was just an obstacle to getting to that feud in his mind. Bret being smart went to wcw with having won his feud with Austin and knew Austin would be the premiere star of the wwf at the time instead of opting for what Vince proposed to him. It's another reason why Bret wanted to choose WHO he lost to.

This is true. I wonder if Vince Mcmahon is actually working everyone by his whole new schtick too. The letter from Trump and Vince not listening sounds like a rip on the internet and fans saying he has lost his mind. They even mention this in write ups on wwe.com. I really wonder because Vince MUST know stuff like Rosie vs. Trump will get shittted on and then Meltzer saying Vince liked the match regardless of crowd reaction fits right into his persona everyone is saying of him. Remember that is exactly how he built Mr. Mcmahon int he first place after Montreal. The problem with this is that the stuff REALLY is horrible and making people angry enough to stop watchng the crap. This is where this whole ideaology falls apart and if Vince is thinking this way and not realizing he's boring people to tears or turning people off he really is not in touch and his character is not a character, but Vince really being delusional. As for Nash's shoot interview. All I got to say is pot. kettle. black. because at least Flair left something for him to come back to in wcw. He left NO WCW for the future with his booking. I think that whole generation thing was Nash believing his own hype from the wwf's new generation campaign which failed miserably. Nash blaming real champs like Flair and Hogan for his abysmal failure is ridiculous. I'm saying this and I don't think Nash's reign was as bad as everyone says, but he was definitely no Hogan or Flair to be talking about them leaving him nothing. If anything HBK was the one getting screwed in 1995. I wonder what would have been left of the wwe if Austin didn't rise to prominence to take over the stranglehold of the Kliq in the wwf even after Hall and Nash left.

The Hart/Austin match still happens in the alternate reality. It happens at SummerSlam. I know it looks strange to take that match out of WM 13, but that is exactly what would have happened if HBK didn't "lose his smile". I think the wwe should have gone with the idea of giving Bret the title in the cage match on RAW against SID to make Austin/Hart a title match. Austin STILL loses anyways. It's the LOSS and how he loss that made Austin. The crowd was shifting towards Austin, but it didn't really catch fire until after that match and that whole angle on RAW with Bret Hart when Pillman made his return. So, having the match later in the year when Austin was gaining steam anyways might not have changed anything in terms of when the match happened. Austin was gaining real steam in the summer months feuding with Hart. What really screws things up is HHH winning the KOR in 1996 as was the original plan. We would not have got Austin 3:16. I see the problems with Austin/Tyson(Tyson's a nutcase, but let's be honest if Vince could have done it he would have*Austin could outwrestle the guy you know especially if he didn't have that neck injury which he wouldn't have in my alternate reality) but that is exactly what people thought was going to happen when that incident happened on RAW. Look how the media picked that up and ran with it. Remember the timeframe. The wwe was losing the war at that time and paying Tyson for buy-rates and press that they would never have got anyways. It's that angle that made Austin a household name. Austin got over in the prior year with just the wwe fans and some wcw fans(I do remember some wcw fans downplaying his rise saying things like Austin wasn't an "icon" like Hogan, Piper, Flair etc in wcw). Why would Tyson winning the Rumble be ludicrous? Remember it's MIKE TYSON!!!! You wouldn't have to worry about Vince Mcmahon winning the Rumble in 1999 because I believe the real reason they had him win was so that they could not have AUSTIN WIN 3 friggin years in a row! That would not have been good. What are the chances of someone winning 3 RUMBLE MATCHES in a row? That was way too predictable and lame if that had happened. They easily did the swerve with Mcmahon to build the tension for his rivalry with The Rock and with the boss. They gave Austin the title match because Vince gave up the title shot and being a runner up he took the spot of Mcmahon against The Rock. Austin wouldn't have won The Rumble in 1998 in my alternate reality because he would have been the reigning champion heading into Mania 14. In my alternate reality, Austin could have won The Rumble in 1999 when Vince would finally get the strap off Austin in late '98. Austin winning the Rumble in 1997 and then missing 1998 only to come back in 1999 as the winner is easier to swallow than Austin winning 3 years in a row.

I've read that Hart v. Austin was going to be the main event of WM 14, BUT when was this planned? Did Vince just tell Hart that was the plan? I say this because Vince imo had HBK pegged as the champion around September. Look at the booking. Vince changed his mind to HBK even if Hart had stayed. I will throw another monkey wrench into all of this. How about HBK NOT getting his back all screwed up. How would that change things? What if HBK/Hart happened at KOR '97 instead of Survivor Series? The big problem was the heat between HBK and Hart. If these two didn't have heat things would be a lot different. Basically how much more the wwe would have benefitted with Hart and HBK IN the wwf for 1998. I think if you tweak 1997 wwf things would be drastically altered. I'll do a quick rundown: Let's really mess with this in 1997, but try to keep to reality if certain incidents didn't or did happen. Bret returns and faces Austin, yadda yadda. Things stay the same for Survivor Series 1996. Bret Hart hints at Vince being the boss for giving him the opportunity to get a title shot with the Royal Rumble. Keep the booking the same, but have HBK/Hart happen in the dome. HBK jobs in the match and goes off on Vince Mcmahon instead of Bret Hart. This eliminates HBK trying to avoid the title rematch because it's in his hometown(then again...). Anyways, let's stick with this alternate history. We get the San Antonio screwjob and get Mr. Mcmahon months ahead of time. Now would HBK have lost his smile? Maybe, maybe not. The Hart family reconcile post Rumble RAW. WrestleMania 13? You see sometimes rumours just seem strange. One rumour had it being HBK/Hart from the start to main event the show. Then somewhere else it was UT being in the main event winning the title for the 13th show. So, what side do I choose for this alternate world? UT. Move up the SummerSlam main event to WM 13 and have the same finish with Bret Hart winning. Same stipulation and HBK is the ref since "he lost his smile" anyways. Have Austin face Ken Shamrock at this event and have Austin do something similar to what really happened. Fans would still latch onto to it since Shamrock had his UFC aura at its height during this time. Austin surviving a bloodbath and anklelock with a UFC guy "might" have the same effect. The Mcmahon/Austin feud begins the night after Mania by refusing him a title shot after such a great showing the night before. SummerSlam '97 Have Austin/Hart submission match for the title in New Jersey. This also changes Austin getting injured. Survivor Series in Montreal Austin wins the title dethroning Bret in his home country and turns face with help from Austin shaking his hand or something. A year long storyline comes to a close before wcw can capitalize on the wcw/nwo sting/hogan 1 year build for Starrcade. WrestleMania 14 WWF TITLE MATCH AUSTIN VS. MIKE TYSON I know, but the wwe would have made A LOT MORE MONEY with this match. Tyson wins the Rumble at #30 and is Vince's golden boy. If Vince never caused the heat between Tyson and King it would have been some goldmine promos with Vince/King/Tyson against Austin. MEDIA ATTENTION GALORE!! Okay, Tyson might have been a trainwreck, but have Patterson work with the guy. The unpredictability of it all is fun for smarks everywhere and for marks a dream match. I guess DX could be his trainers and be at his side to cause antics and so on. So, it's still D-X Raided. In terms of Bret and HBK remaining in the company I think it would have pushed a few things back which might have helped the wwf not get stale by the year 2001-2002. HBK/Austin's feud for example might have climaxed at SummerSlam '98. Austin/Taker might have gone to WM 15(which was a rumour around September '98). Austin/Rock might have happened at SummerSlam '99 who knows. HHH would have still got his push somewhat. HBK/Taker would be just under Austin. Austin would have reigned because he was the cash cow any way you sliced it. Austin may have stayed on without that Owen injury thing. They might have built to Austin/Big Show at WM 16 because I read Big Show was guaranteed a title shot in his contract and was one of the reasons he jumped ship. Just only if Vince didn't turn the guy so much times in that year and used him correctly they might have had another Hogan/Andre. You see how things would have been different if Bret and HBK were still active in 1998? ----------------------- Another thing I always wondered was suppose the DX angle was started in 1996 around the time of the nWo roots? Like say HBK ran Ultimate Warrior out of the wwe on raw instead of that match he had with Owen Hart(Warrior's last match). It was around the same time(KOR time) the nwo was starting with Hall and Nash on nitro. I think the following night Hogan turned heel he did not show up on nitro. What if the wwf had HBK proclaim HE was the one behind the takeover down south? The Kliq just expanded and not disbanded using the curtain call footage like he did the night after the first hell in a cell? Suppose HHH had won the KOR and now HBK and HHH were the kings of the wwf, while Hall, Nash, Hogan ran down south? Would that have helped the wwf have better ratings and attendance in the summer and fall of 1996? Remember these were the days of kayfabe before the net really took off. I think it might have worked to a point, but the roster was still kind of thin. Just something to ponder.

someone else, I think it was Dr. V mentioned this: Summerslam 92-Warrior/Savage, Bret/Bulldog, HBK/Martel = face/face, face/face, heel/heel = top notch PPV, one of the best Wrestlemania 23-HBK/Cena, Batista/UT, Edge/Orton - face/face, face/face, heel/heel = ya feel me? Not to mention that show was the biggest house they ever had bar the WM 3 stuff(whatever the number really is).

Would anyone mind Edge vs. Taker for the title and streak? Edge could win the title on a raw and have UT face him.

That triple threat would definitely work, but how do you get Orton or Edge over to smackdown? A trade is the easy way, but how does that make smackdown look if a raw guy just jumps and gets into the Mania main event. With the RR stip you can get away with it.

Whoever said Cena/Taker is the REAL Hogan/Andre comparisons is on the money. Whoever said it could also be a big gamble on damaging Cena if he went over with certain fans is also on the money, but damn if the two supermen wouldn't give us a night of drama in Detroit. With that said they will be conservative and not have Taker on raw. Batista/Benoit would be good. It just makes me think of Benoit/Brock, but we know that aint gonna happpen.

I'm starting to think this with these horrible plans and I'm a guy who usually tries to see "wwe logic". I mean I was the guy backing Cena as champion last year and WINNING against HHH against the logic of everyone wanting Cena to drop due to his mixed reactions. I saw how they could see Cena's heat as a positive. I got heat on here for backing Cena and the wwe's plans. HBK/Booker. Ugh! Not a knock on the workers, but if they are planning this where is the heat? They can't pull HBK/Angle here imo. Then adding the Trump nonsense to this? You know what they could have done for this to be actually a draw? Keep the title on Booker instead of getting him buried by Batista losing all his damn heat he gained last year as champion. He was the damn champion of champions for crying out loud. UT/Batista was a good idea on paper, but change gears. Batista just sucks now. Give Edge the spot somehow. They love to make up convoluted scenarios might as well give UT a good worker and top heel who could actually work. At this rate UT losing his streak will completely backfire unless they turn Batista heel, but then............................ They give us Orton/Edge/Cena. I don't like this idea for numerous reasons. It's a No Way Out main event imo. If Cena wins big deal. If he loses big deal because it's a triple threat. Just give us a good title match for goodness sakes. Edge is going to have to work a miracle here. Rey/Angle/Orton was just decent LAST YEAR and that was with REY AND ANGLE in the match. I might have been more towards the match if they had taken out Shawn Michaels on RAW making them super bad-ass heels ganging up on the champion, but if Shawn can handle the champs Cena sure as hell can. Hogan/Shane? They might as well use the Trump storyline here imo. It would give a little reason for why Shane would want to fight Hogan 4 YEARS AFTER the fact during the post Mania 19 staredown with Hogan. Honestly, even I can't see good reasoning for this card on paper.

I don't get the wwe's logic when they planed Cena/HHH as a face vs. face match UNLESS they planned on turning HHH heel. Do the same program they had planned with HHH with HBK. I think the wwe is just throwing a curve to the net making up this excuse anyways. We'll see. Plus, don't people always complain that the wwe never tries anything new? Well, doing two face vs. face matches for Mania is something new. Remember all the people saying around WM 21 that the wwe would never change both titles and they ended up doing that? It's the same as HHH winning at WM 2000. It's something NEW. I'm not even sure about this Trump guy being all that good as a babyface because there are people out there who hate him too. He's sort of like Vince. Also, I don't think Bats/UT will be face vs. face. I think UT is going to have the majority of people behind him making Batista a tweener. The same with HBK/Cena somewhat. That in itself gives these matches a dynamic for Ford Field.

It's true. Don't forget the whole 10 year anniversary of HBK regaining his title in Texas as a backstory for him wanting to win in Texas to get his last title shot perhaps at a WrestleMania. I know some said HBK would have to win with this angle, but I don't see it. Vince loves Cena as he sees him as the new era Hogan-Austin/Rock-Cena. HBK is the guy who can give him something resembling a classic wrestling match and put him over at a historic event. HBK can then take his time off and come back with HHH as DX against Cena down the line where the established veterans try to take down the new crowned prince of this era. It saves Orton from jobbing in another high profile match at Mania and it prevents repeating Cena/Edge. Then on Smackdown they can run the same veteran against the new crowned prince angle and tie that into all the passing of the torch stuff that Mania 3 folklore has. I would actually have Edge win the Rumble and go to smackdown against champion UT, but Batista has the wwe believing he's the same guy he was during the build to Mania 21.