Mania XXII Predictions?

[Guest wildpegasus]

So Wrestlemania XXII won't be here for awhile yet but I thought it'd be fun to do a prediction thread and look back at it in 11 months time and see how close we were to predicting the card. Right now, nothing obvious is happening and we're right before possable trades or a draft so everything's really up in the air but that only makes this topic all the more fun. Of course on top of all that you have the unpredictablity of the WWE booking team.

 

 

Wants:

 

 

Face Benoit vs Heel or Tweener Taker -- Battle of the Locker Room Respect match. The streak on the line with a big match feel. Battle of submissions and two guys who will be intent on bringing the physcology.

 

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Lesnar for the Smackdown title.

 

 

 

A few Predictions.

 

Benoit vs Taker

 

Batista vs ?????. This is tough. Batista has nobody at this moment who I can think of that you'd put in against him at Mania. You'd alsmost think it was Benoit the way that Benoit and Batista have become best buddiess. I think I'm going to say Benjamin here.

 

So Batista vs Benjamin it is.

 

Eddie Guerrero vs Shawn Michaels

[JJ Johnson 0]

For the third year in a row, the theme song will suck.

[bob_barron 0]

This thread was done right before WM

[reign 0]

It's in Chicago.

[Guest MikeSC]

People will bitch about something and discuss how much they'll never watch the WWE ever again.

 

Then they'll comment in another "What about next WM" thread and the vicious cycle will continue, unabated.

-=Mike

[Vyce 0]

I won't even try and predict, because looking at WM XX, there was no way in hell I would have ever thought that co-main-event to this year's Mania would have been John Cena vs. BRADSHAW for the WWE Title.

[iggymcfly 0]

Here's the card right here, if you were wondering:

 

World Heavyweight Title:

Batista © vs. Brock Lesnar

 

WWE Title:

Kurt Angle © vs. Triple H

 

Steve Austin vs. John Cena

 

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit

 

Undertaker vs. Edge

 

Intercontinental Title:

Shelton Benjamin © vs. Rey Mysterio

 

United States Championship:

Eddie Guerrero © vs. Chris Jericho vs. Orlando Jordan vs. Chavo Guerrero

 

Smackdown Tag Titles:

Dudley Boyz © vs. America's Most Wanted

 

Christian vs. William Regal

[tominator89 0]

Bret Hart and/or Randy Savage in the Hall of Fame. Other than that, I wouldn't be surprised to see Hogan vs. Austin.

[tekcop 0]

Face Benoit vs Heel or Tweener Taker -- Battle of the Locker Room Respect match. The streak on the line with a big match feel. Battle of submissions and two guys who will be intent on bringing the physcology.

I think I would have an orgasm if this would happen. No joke.

[Guest news_gimmick]

I concur with this statement, Benoit vs. Taker would be fitting.

[Secret Agent 0]

Whats with the Brock Lesnar predictions? I thought WWE and Lesnar were suing each other. Have the sides come to an agreement to bring Brock back in yet?

[Taker666 0]

Chris Benoit Vs The Undertaker. now theres a unique match I would love to see. have these two ever fought in the ring before?

 

or how bout Chris Jericho Vs Undertaker. don't remember that match ever happening either.

[iggymcfly 0]

Whats with the Brock Lesnar predictions? I thought WWE and Lesnar were suing each other. Have the sides come to an agreement to bring Brock back in yet?

No, but they will by Survivor Series, or WM XXII at the latest. Business-wise, it just makes too much sense for them not to.

[Guest Phoenix]

I usually wait until August 1st every year to make this predection, but why not make it now since there is a thread for it.

 

 

14-0

[Jobber of the Week 0]

14-0

My prediction: Retired. May not be the grand going-out, though, and it may not be permanent, but I don't think they can find enough feuds to keep him actively doing something for the rest of the year and he may get frustrated.

 

Because they've really done just about everything they can with him now.

[SuperJerk 0]

I predict Triple H will be in the main event.

[Guest Askewniverse]

Chris Benoit Vs The Undertaker. now theres a unique match I would love to see. have these two ever fought in the ring before?

Yes. They faced each other on Raw in August 2000, but the match lasted all of three minutes before Shane McMahon ran-in.

 

Taker and Benoit also faced each other at Rebellion 2000.

 

 

Face Benoit vs Heel or Tweener Taker -- Battle of the Locker Room Respect match. The streak on the line with a big match feel. Battle of submissions and two guys who will be intent on bringing the physcology.

Did you mean physicality or psychology?

[Carnival 0]

I predict i will be there.

 

Anyone know how much the tavel packages cost? Or how or when i could buy them?

[Vyce 0]

I predict Triple H will be in the main event.

Whoa! Let's not go too far out on a limb here.

[Jingus 0]

Chris Benoit Vs The Undertaker. now theres a unique match I would love to see. have these two ever fought in the ring before?

The only other one I can think of (other than those already mentioned) would be the main event to one of the little ppvs in 2000. It was a four-way dance, Rock vs Benoit vs Taker vs Kane, where the storyline was that Benoit kept "unofficially" winning the championship off the Rock, but Commissioner Mick Foley kept meddling (because heel Shane McMahon helped heel Benoit win the match) and the night always ended with Rock pinning Benoit at the end.

 

Furthermore, count me in as one who would absolutely love to see Taker vs. Benoit done right. That would be one hell of a match. 7

 

Come to think of it, that was a brilliant bit of writing there. Mick Foley was the only guy the smart marks liked more than Benoit at that point, so having him be the rule-enforcer that kept Benoit from finally winning the belt was dextrous move indeed.

 

I liked Wild Pegasus's card. But who knows what next year's Mania will be? On average, we've got a pretty bad track record for predicting what will occur a year from now, except for HHH being in the main and Taker winning of course.

[DMann2003 0]

I've been wanting to see Benoit vs Undertaker done for over 3 years now. It's one program that would work real well. 2 guys with the most respect from the lockeroom battling it out with all they have.

 

And even though Benoit doesn't need the rub, 'Taker would probably drop it to him.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Chris Benoit Vs The Undertaker. now theres a unique match I would love to see. have these two ever fought in the ring before?

Yes. They faced each other on Raw in August 2000, but the match lasted all of three minutes before Shane McMahon ran-in.

 

Taker and Benoit also faced each other at Rebellion 2000.

 

 

Face Benoit vs Heel or Tweener Taker -- Battle of the Locker Room Respect match. The streak on the line with a big match feel. Battle of submissions and two guys who will be intent on bringing the physcology.

Did you mean physicality or psychology?

Psychology. Although I actually was thinking of physicality while writing this. That will be brought too. Just thinking about it I can't see how this match would go wrong. Taker will be intent on providing a great match because he seems to be a mark for Pride/UFC submissions and if he has someone like Benoit who he could play around with in that department you know he'll be physced for the match. Both can brawl, both know what they're doing in the ring, Taker if the match goes that way has enough offence in his reportoire to keep the beat face Benoit part of the match interesting, you got the tough guy locker room respect story thing going which will be a nice story for the match and they both have a lot of interesting finishers for the final run which will be necessary in the battle of the tough guys. Throw in some good selling, pacing and interesting transistions and I say we would have ourselves a ring a ding dong dandy.

 

 

Benoit has wrestled Taker but not really. Taker also beat him one time in a triple threat match with Rey Mysterio Jr and Kurt Angle when Taker jumped from Raw to Smackdown in 2002. Nothing of any real signifigance or importance though. The match would actually be different now than it would be back at any other time they wrestled.

 

Benoit has actually pinned Taker in a tag match on Raw in the buildup to the Benoit vs Taker vs Rock vs Kane PPV match.

 

Let's just hope Taker's hip holds out if we ever do want to see this.

[NYU 0]

I think they're going to go with Orton/Undertaker II at WrestleMania XXII.

 

The storyline writes itself. Orton is already going to be out around 6 months with this injury. Once he comes back, he should already be obsessed with the Undertaker. Talking about Taker is responsible for his initial shoulder injury that night and how he knows, if it wasn't for that injury, he would have been the better man. And it's eating himself up now that he hasn't ended that streak yet. The feud will get some proper buildup for the next few months. Bischoff or Long might even offer Orton a chance at the Undertaker at Survivor Series or the Royal Rumble, but he demands to get his chance at WrestleMania, just so he could end the streak once and for all. In between this time, they could even run that feud between Batista/Orton they seemed to have already planted the seeds for.

 

Then finally, they run Orton/Taker at WrestleMania XXII. And this time, Orton actually goes over. His win over the Undertaker will seem ALL the more important, and it will do much more for him than it would have if he got the win this year.

 

As for the other stuff on the card?

 

*shrug*

[ISportsFan 0]

Benoit faced Undertaker on one of those UK-only PPVs, Rebellion on December 2, 2000 in Sheffield, UK.

 

Undertaker won in 12:15. I watched the match on tape, it was ok. I think they could have a better match under more appropriate circumstances.

 

I got the match time from prowrestlinghistory.com.

 

Jason

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, Orton's going to be obsessed with Batista when he comes back. If they write it right, they'll have a solid feud which will include a short title run for Orton. I think the perso who beats Taker should be someone who's never faced him at Mania before, and at this point, that would be Edge.

[Secret Agent 0]

Has UT ever faced the Rock at WM?

[Jingus 0]

No, and you don't want them to either. For some reason Rock vs. Taker always sucks.

[Slickster 0]

I enjoyed their NWO2002 match, myself.

[Guest Ransome]

I've been wanting to see Benoit vs Undertaker done for over 3 years now.  It's one program that would work real well.  2 guys with the most respect from the lockeroom battling it out with all they have.

 

And even though Benoit doesn't need the rub, 'Taker would probably drop it to him.

Would it really be necessary, though? Benoit has already stood victorious at the end of their 'biggest Wrestlemania of all time'; he's already climbed Everest. Save the ending of UT's streak for somebody who actually needs to ascend.

 

I'd like to see an actual one-on-one Benoit vs Guerrero match at Wrestlemania. Their rivalry has taken place all over the world, yet they've never squared off at WM, except for a couple of brief exchanges in the three-way tag at WM 19. It'd at least guarantee a great WM match and give the both of them something worthwhile to do.

 

Also, I'd like to see all titles defended at Wrestlemania next year. Only three titles defended at WM 21 is extremely poor booking (note: granted, I'd prefer no title matches at WM 21 than a meaningless Regal/Tajiri tag match, but if they'd actually booked meaningful tag/Cruiserweight divisions there'd be no excuse not to include championship matches in the first place).

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Actually, Orton's going to be obsessed with Batista when he comes back. If they write it right, they'll have a solid feud which will include a short title run for Orton. I think the perso who beats Taker should be someone who's never faced him at Mania before, and at this point, that would be Edge.

Well, Edge himself is undefeated at Wrestlemania, so at least there is a somewhat interesting concept there that they could run with. I don't know how comfortable I'd be with Edge being the one to end the almighty Undertaker's big winning streak though.