Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Smackdown Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina vs. Naomi vs. Lacey Evans

IMG Credit: WWE

No, it won’t be Tamina.

This is another instance where the champ has cleaned out the division but in this case I could buy most of the challengers taking the title. WWE would be crazy to not try and push Evans at some point, Naomi has been pushed before, Banks and Bayley are joined at the hip forever and then there’s that other person in the match who seems to have video of Vince tickling a judge with a rubber duck. I’m not sure where this goes and that’s a nice feeling.

For some reason I want to say Evans wins here, but this seems like a setup for another Bayley vs. Banks feud so I’ll take Bayley retaining. Maybe she stabs Banks in the back to win it or maybe it’s the opposite, but for the sake of this I’ll say Bayley keeps the belt. It won’t be for much longer though as she needs something else to do, but she has gotten something out of this reign and that’s a good thing.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: King Corbin vs. Elias

IMG Credit: WWE

Hang on a second though.

Yeah let’s just get this one out of the way early. It’s one of those matches that you have nightmares about but at the same time, I’m almost curious to see how bad this can actually be. This is your nightmare show of the year and my goodness it could be incredible in one way or….well ok there isn’t another on there because this isn’t going to work, but that might be the case for another reason.

I don’t think Elias is working this match. They did the big injury angle last week and I think you know where this is going: Rob Gronkowski takes his place and gets his win over Corbin. As much as I could go for seeing Corbin lose, I think Gronkowski might be even more annoying. This is something that we’re just going to have to get through because Gronkowski has personality, which is code for he’s one of those people you want to see get tasered and throw off a bridge in Louisiana. Somehow this might be worse, but at least this should be short.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley

IMG Credit: WWE

Your random match of the year.

Now we have one of the most confusing matches on the whole thing. On one hand, I can go with the idea of showcasing the two of them on the biggest show of the year. On the other hand though, I’m not big on adding more matches to the already crazy bloated card for the sake of putting them on the card. That doesn’t often work well, but a good performance here would be a big deal for both.

Black winning here is really the only thing that makes sense as Lashley has nothing going on at the moment. I’d go with Black winning here because he seems to have more potential, though I’m not sure I could see Lashley losing after everything he has done in recent months. You could go either way here, but the logical pick seems to be Black.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler

IMG Credit: WWE

This one changed a bit.

This is a match I didn’t think I would actually see but it is the kind of thing that has been built up well. Otis has gone from what should be a goofy character to a goofy character with a purpose. The fans are into him and while I don’t think he’s going to be able to last long term at the top of the card, but you would think this is where Mandy Rose sides with Otis and dumps Ziggler. If nothing else there were certainly hints at Ziggler having some kind of a plan with Sonya Deville last week.

In the other prediction I’m sure I’ll get wrong, I’ll take Otis here, though for the life of me I can’t picture Ziggler losing to him. It seems like a situation where no matter how much sense something makes, Vince McMahon would wind up saying that no one would believe Otis wins the match and Rose chooses him. I hope I’m wrong because it would be so annoying, but it isn’t out of the question. Otis wins and mixed tag rematches abound, but I wouldn’t bet on it.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Raw Women’s Title: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler

IMG Credit: WWE

A year to be a champion, that’s a long time.

I’m not used to this. One of the longest running statements that I would make in these things would be “Baszler has to lose this time” and then be horribly wrong more often than not. This time around she’s challenging though and I’m not sure how to take that. Somehow it has been a year since Lynch won the title in the first place but the problem is she has run out of serious challengers. That’s where Baszler comes in.

I’ll go with Baszler winning because otherwise, what is she supposed to do? She dominated NXT at a level that rivaled Asuka and losing would just make her look like she choked (different than when she chokes people out of course). At the same time, Lynch needs ANYTHING else to do at the moment. She’s still over and on fire but at some point you have to reset things a bit. Lynch may be the biggest female star ever and a loss after a year as champion isn’t going to do any career ending damage.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Edge vs. Randy Orton

IMG Credit: WWE

They just can’t get away from each other.

Now we’ll get to something interesting for a chance with a rather intense feud. These two have the potential to beat the living heck out of each other and that could make for a very good brawl. It’s a personal rivalry and that’s one of the best things that you can get. I’m curious to see if Beth Phoenix is going to interfere here, as it would certainly fit in the story they have at the moment.

I think I’ll take Edge here, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m wrong on this one. Orton winning in the end with an RKO or two would make a lot of sense, but Edge winning and getting his revenge feels like the right idea. Edge has a much better story to tell at the moment and having Orton win doesn’t make a ton of sense. I’ll go with Edge, but I’m not convinced.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

IMG Credit: WWE

These still matter, right?

Can we just go ahead and call this the worst title in recent memory? They haven’t actually been defended on TV since December and I don’t think many people really care. There is nowhere near enough depth for something like this and it shows worse and worse every single week. The Warriors are the third champions and I’m not sure they even have three challengers right now.

Bliss and Cross win the titles here and they’re not going to be able to do much with them anyway. At the end of the day, there is just nothing going on with the titles and there is no need for them. Having the titles defended on all three brands helps a bit, but when you’re not defending them on any brand, what difference does it make? Just go with the title change as the titles die a little more each day.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Raw Tag Team Titles: Street Profits vs. Austin Theory/Angel Garza

IMG Credit: WWE

E Pluribus Theory.

Here’s your match that might have been changed as much as anything else. At the end of the day, there is no reason for these teams to be fighting, mainly because Garza and Theory weren’t even a team until four days ago. If nothing else, that shows you just how bad the tag division is at this point. You would think that the solution might be to bring over another team from Smackdown or NXT, but this is what we’re getting instead. Points to Theory for getting here though, as that’s quite the nice nod.

In what might be the easiest pick of the night, I’ll take the Street Profits to win here. There is no reason to suggest that they are going to drop the titles to a literally thrown together team and I can’t imagine the match being anything more than what should be a cool down match or Kickoff Show match. Just go with what makes sense here and don’t do anything stupid, which I don’t think they will.




Wrestlemania XXXVI Preview: Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

IMG Credit: WWE

 

What happened to this feud?

This is something that seemed to be a much bigger match than it wound up being. The biggest problem here is how the story has kind of fallen apart due to so many people involved being out of the show for various reasons. That makes things all the more complicated, but at the end of the day it just isn’t all that interesting on its own. Rollins has cooled a bit, but who hasn’t at this point?

I’ll take Rollins here and I don’t know why he would lose in this situation. I know that they’re setting up the idea that Owens has never won anything at WrestleMania (incorrect but whatever) but Rollins seems to have a lot more potential moving forward than he does. Hopefully the match is good, but this should be Rollins the entire way, albeit after some good near falls.




Wrestlemania Has Changed. Again. And Again.

I mean, it had been a full day with no changes.

And then, it all changes again. As you might have heard, Wrestlemania is kind of insane this year, just like everything else going on in the world. The big news on Monday was that the show would take place at the Performance Center, but since nothing can actually last these days, we already have two more big changes.

First of all, the show will be taking place over two nights. Usually I can’t stand this idea, but in this situation it’s something that makes sense. There are only so many ways you can go with the show at this point given the amount of people that are allowed to be at the show. It’s annoying, but as long as it isn’t back to back 5+ hour shows, they’ll be fine.

Then there’s the possibility of having matches taking place in multiple locations. Really, if there aren’t going to be any fans in the building in the first place, it doesn’t make much of a difference. I’ll take what I can get here and having any form of Wrestlemania is better than nothing, especially in the current environment. It’s going to be weird, but what isn’t at the moment?