The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania Thread

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's Miz and Morrison versus The Colons with both tag titles at stake and a Bella twin in each corner.

[RedJed 0]

So it looks like the lineup is pretty much complete now after last night, and with the exception of maybe a question mark on a possible ECW title match of Swagger v. either Dreamer or Bourne that appears yet to take shape, I have to say this is an extremely underwhelming lineup on paper for a card, perhaps one of the bigger overall Mania card letdowns of all time. I only really have an interest in Michaels/Taker and thats it. I expected to be totally stacked, considering its the 25th Mania and everything.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Jed: Not quite, new match as of ECW.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

It's Miz and Morrison versus The Colons with both tag titles at stake and a Bella twin in each corner.

 

Ugh. Well, I'm glad to see Miz/Morrison with a tag title match at Mania, but there is no reason Cryme Tyme (and possibly Legacy) shouldn't be in this match as well. We've already seen Miz/Morrison vs. The Colons three or four times.

[Enigma 0]

Today's F4W update says Gail Kim is in the battle royal.

 

That's some top-notch reporting, considering she was in the graphic shown on Raw.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Today's F4W update says Gail Kim is in the battle royal.

 

That's some top-notch reporting, considering she was in the graphic shown on Raw.

For clarification, the mention of Kim being added specifically says:

 

-- Ashley on her website said she wouldn’t be competing in the 25-woman battle royal at WrestleMania. Gail Kim has quietly been added to it.

 

It's not like they were presenting it as breaking news, just pointing out, correctly, that Kim being added to the battle royal was done without fanfare.

[JRE 0]

Considering The Colons and Miz/Morrison have been feuding for a month- I think there's pretty good reason for a tag match between the teams. It's pretty refreshing to see a tag title match with two real teams. The last time the tag titles were defended at Wrestlemania was WM22- Kane/Big Show vs. Carlito/Masters....two short-lived, thrown together tag teams. Before that they just threw Fatal 4 Way tag matches onto the card from Raw and Smackdown at WMXX. So, I think it's good to see a match that's been built up too for the tag titles as opposed to throwing in the other two tag teams in the WWE just to have them there.

 

My biggest complaints with WMXX and WM2000- were that they tried to throw as many wrestlers on the card as they could. At WMXX we ended up with two fatal four way tag matches and a Cruiserweight Title open. WM2000 didn't have a singles match outside of TERRI VS. THE KAT (and they even threw Val Venis, Moolah, and Mae Young into that one). It was overbooked to feature irrelevant matches with teams like Head Cheese, Bossman/Buchanan, Godfather/D'lo, and Rikishi/Kane....throw in the Hardcore Invitational and was there anyone that didn't wrestle at that show? Maybe it's a nice little thing for the talent to get two minutes of ring time at Wrestlemania, but it's all forgettable.

 

What I like at the WMXXV card so far is that it seems pretty well balanced- grudge matches, championship matches, and just a couple novelty matches. Nothing is really throw-away. The Jericho match won't be a classic wrestling match- but it will be fun to see and it'll have the celebrity thing. The diva battle royal is a lot better than the embarrassing Playboy matches we've seen over the last several years. Everything is being built pretty well, outside of the IC championship match- but it's just good to see the IC title there and the simple challenge has a pretty cool old school vibe. I'd rather see a simple challenge than them spark up a stupid storyline for it.

 

My biggest gripe is the World Championship triple-threat....there isn't really anyone I want to see win. My biggest hope is that Edge will spear Vickie and end things with her. Cena lost the Chamber match fairly and got outsmarted in the rematch. And why didn't he just save his rematch for WM if he really wanted to wrestle at WM for the title?

 

The Jeff/Matt buildup is lackluster too, but they can always just have a really good match and we won't look back on the buildup (just how we never think about the Rock/Stone Cold/Debra angle).

 

And I do hope the ECW Title is there- that will complete the card for me.

[cabbageboy 0]

That Matt/Jeff match will end up having little heat I fear for a variety of reasons: 1. Matt Hardy is a mediocre heel, incapable of putting this act over on the mic. 2. The match needs a gimmick and currently doesn't have one. 3. Right now Jeff is on a different level than Matt in the eyes of the fans. Seriously, Matt was just losing to Jack Swagger in ECW and recently lost his MITB qualifier to MVP clean in the center.

 

As far as Miz/Morrison vs. the Colons goes, I'll take Carlito and Primo in that one. I wonder if WWE is about to pull the trigger on a Miz/Morrison breakup angle, but can anyone imagine those two guys feuding with each other? It would almost be better for them to lose and if they are going to split just have them drafted to different shows.

[JRE 0]

I agree about Matt/Jeff- they'll have to pull out a lot of tricks to keep it from just being the throw-away beginning of a series of ladder and cage matches we'll end up seeing in the next months PPVs.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Today's F4W update says Gail Kim is in the battle royal.

 

That's some top-notch reporting, considering she was in the graphic shown on Raw.

For clarification, the mention of Kim being added specifically says:

 

-- Ashley on her website said she wouldn't be competing in the 25-woman battle royal at WrestleMania. Gail Kim has quietly been added to it.

 

It's not like they were presenting it as breaking news, just pointing out, correctly, that Kim being added to the battle royal was done without fanfare.

 

My apologies to his majesty that I didn't properly analyze the picture shown on screen for 3 seconds or partake in the conversation we had here with the blurry picture that caused people to identify Mickie James as Lillian Garcia.

[Enigma 0]

Damn man, I was talking about F4W, not you!

[pochorenella 0]

It's Miz and Morrison versus The Colons with both tag titles at stake and a Bella twin in each corner.

 

Ugh. Well, I'm glad to see Miz/Morrison with a tag title match at Mania, but there is no reason Cryme Tyme (and possibly Legacy) shouldn't be in this match as well. We've already seen Miz/Morrison vs. The Colons three or four times.

I thought people were kicking and screaming about a Tag Title Unification match for YEARS around here and now that it's finally going to happen the reaction is "Ugh?" Figures.

 

Yes, we've seen Colons vs Miz/Morrison three times already (wow, is that really too much nowadays?) but I take that as buildup for the Mania match. And those matches ranged from good to great IMO so if they get decent time at Mania we could be up for a terrific match. Hopefully all four guys take it up a notch for the big night.

 

And of course there's reason for Cryme Tyme not to be on that match. The feud has been built between Colons and MNM2.0 (with the Bellas attached) only, no need for other teams. CT have been jobbing left and right lately, Shad is supposedly in the doghouse, and finally, well, they suck really.

[King Cucaracha 0]

The counter arguement would be they're the most popular team in the company.

 

But it should 100% be Miz/Morrison vs. The Colons for all the reasons you said. A properly constructed feud over the tag belts producing good to great matches. Nothing if not a breath of fresh air, especially for a recent WrestleMania. First since WM X7, or WM 19 at a push, although that was really the leftovers of the Smackdown 6 series and lead in to Guerreros/Team Angle feud.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Wasn't the feud between Kane/Big Show and Carlito/Masters kinda constructed back for Mania 22?

[foleyfanforever88 0]

The counter arguement would be they're the most popular team in the company.

 

That was my main reasoning. If they're going to unify the tag belts, it only makes sense to let more than just the current champions get a shot at them. At this point, I guess it should be just M&M vs. The Colons. But all they would've had to do was have Cryme Tyme beat M&M within the past few weeks and bam, we have a 3-way feud for the unified titles. It even works because M&M are supposedly ECW guys, so you get one team from each brand.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Damn man, I was talking about F4W, not you!

There's a lesson to be learned here: you don't have to talk every time someone posts Internet news. Don't respond to this and derail the thread, just keep it on your mind.

 

So on SD,

Jeff Hardy is taking on TBK in an Extreme Rules match. Are they about to turn Hardy/Hardy into a gimmick match?

[Enigma 0]

Or someone could learn to paraphrase better.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

Damn man, I was talking about F4W, not you!

There's a lesson to be learned here: you don't have to talk every time someone posts Internet news. Don't respond to this and derail the thread, just keep it on your mind.

 

So on SD,

Jeff Hardy is taking on TBK in an Extreme Rules match. Are they about to turn Hardy/Hardy into a gimmick match?

 

It should end up being No DQ.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

WWE's own industry news section says various sources have confirmed that Mickey Rourke will appear at WM now. Odd.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

WWE has also been saying that too for quite awhile.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Wait so he is appearing at WM? Is it appearing or 'appearing'?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The official word was 'appearing', as in an audience member, but on Raw Jericho invited him to be in the corner of the Legends Trio.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Hmm still not enough to make me love how the Jericho v Legends thing has turned.

[theone 0]

Hmm still not enough to make me love how the Jericho v Legends thing has turned.

Between the huge build and rather bleh payoff to me it seems like they might have been anticipating another Legend being able to go at WM and then had to throw this hodge podge deal together last minute

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

From a logic standpoint, it makes sense that the three guys Jericho beat up would be his opponents, but you'd have to think this was not the big, awesome, master plan Vince was telling people he had.

[Diamonddust 0]

Part of me still thinks they made the pitch to Austin, and he turned down the match... even with it being overbooked and highly protective.

[The Buzz 0]

It's times like this they could have just called up that self-destructive egomaniac and apologized. I'm sure he rehabbed his knee by now. (Ultimate Warrior)

 

I don't see why they didn't just do the Jerry Lawler thing with the four legends and Mickey Rourke in his corner. Atleast the match would be decent.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I thought they were going to go with Lawler when he kept building up the fact he's never had a Mania match on commentary. But then Piper got attacked and he was all calm about it. They really should of built Lawler/Jericho and have Jerry getting pissed more and more every week. He's really the only guy in this situation who can still go and possibly have a good match.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

From Mike Johnson/Jason Powell via F4W:

 

Vince McMahon lost faith in Swagger after his PPV match with Finlay last month. They still want to push him, but they don't think he's ready for live TV yet.

 

Also, Big Show was supposed to be the winner of Money in the Bank, but was put in the title match instead and was replaced by Mark Henry.

 

And, according to Jason Powell, Vince McMahon didn't want Christian to be in MITB, because he still doesn't like him, and was coerced into it by other members of creative.

 

And, Shelton Benjamin has a shot of winning, because Vince liked his US Title run, and they may want to push him again.

 

I don't mind Swagger being held back a little longer; better he doesn't debut live before he's ready and look bad.

 

Big Show winning MitB would have been a sight to see, and I'd like to have seen how they pulled it off.

 

Christian has been working really hard since his return and, hopefully, another showstealing performance at WM might help him a little with Vince.

 

If Benjamin does win MitB, I don't see it getting over because he's been treated as an afterthought for so long. He needs to be built up for a few months with some big PPV wins/matches.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Jack Swagger at WM will face.....

 

 

Nobody, according to Mike Johnson.

 

Vince McMahon lost faith in Swagger after his PPV match with Finlay last month. They still want to push him, but they don't think he's ready for live TV yet.

 

And, according to Jason Powell, Vince McMahon didn't want Christian to be in MITB, because he still doesn't like him, and was coerced into it by other members of creative.

 

And, SHELTON FUCKING BENJAMIN has a shot of winning, because Vince liked his US Title run, and they may want to push him again