Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Road to Wrestlemania - The Main Events


Welcome back to Two Spot Monkeys, and The Road to Wrestlemania!  Today we’re going to take a look at the five main events of Wrestlemania 27!  Let’s get right to it!

RANDY ORTON VS. CM PUNK

They have built this match up really well, with Orton taking out Husky Harris, David Otunga, Michael McGuillicutty and Mason Ryan along the way to ensure that at Wrestlemania, he gets a one on one match with Punk.  Punk meanwhile has been reinvented in some ways as the leader of the “New Nexus” now that the Straight Edge Society has run it’s course.  Punk is just awesome as the leader of a group, as he’s easily one of the top promos in the business right now (and in my eyes, he’s the best…before the Rock leaves, can we please have Punk and Rock have a promo together, it would be GREAT!)  If this match is given time, it could certainly be a good to great match.  Punk is awesome in the ring, and Orton has shown that he can go as well.  I don’t think there’s a huge question here as far as who wins this match, as it’s set up for Orton to win and finish his run through the “New Nexus”.  The question for me is where do both Orton and Punk end up going after ‘Mania, if their feud really is done.  If John Cena beats The Miz, I hope Punk is his first contender, as we never got a real end to that issue.  Or, maybe Punk will be missing for a while, as I wouldn’t be shocked to see Orton punt him to end the match.

MICHAEL COLE (w/ JACK SWAGGER) VS. JERRY LAWLER – SPECIAL REF: STEVE AUSTIN

This match has been coming, seemingly forever.  It’s perhaps the best built of the matches on the card.  This is of course the Wrestlemania debut for both Cole and Lawler in an in ring capacity.  Lawler has deserved this moment for a long time, and it’s cool to see him get a match at Wrestlemania, and to have a match that is so well built up.  By having Swagger out there, he’ll likely get involved a few times (perhaps if Austin is distracted by something else…Brian Christopher maybe?) before Austin catches him in the act and hits him with a stunner.  I’d expect a little bit of offense from Cole, but after that, it’s going to be Lawler beating the hell out of him for however long they are given.  This shouldn’t go over 10 minutes, and there’s no way on God’s green earth that Lawler loses this match.  The question for me is, does Cole lose to the fist drop off the second rope, or does Lawler break out the piledriver?  I personally hope they allow Lawler to use the piledriver for this one, as it would be the fitting end.  I also expect Cole to eat a stunner as well at some point, either leading to the pin (hope not) or after the match. 

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
EDGE (w/ CHRISTIAN) VS. ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/ BRODUS CLAY)

Christian really deserved a spot in a match on Wrestlemania, but at least he’ll be appearing it seems on the show.  When Del Rio won the Royal Rumble, I fully expected him to win the World Heavyweight Title at Wrestlemania, in his Wrestlemania debut, but now with the way they’ve booked him recently, I am not nearly as sure.  Part of me thinks that if he does win it, then Christian is right in line for shots since he’s beaten him twice lately.  The other part of me wonders if Christian will turn on Edge (no real reason I wonder this…just that it wouldn’t make much sense, so I could see WWE doing it).  At this point, I think Del Rio is likely to be the one to dethrone Edge, but I just don’t see it happening here.  Maybe at Extreme Rules next month, or somewhere down the line, but unless Christian turns on Edge, I don’t see Edge losing this match right now.  I could change my mind three or four more times before Sunday though.  This is the biggest toss up to me on the card.

WWE TITLE MATCH
THE MIZ © VS. JOHN CENA

When Cena won the Elimination Chamber, I would have laid any amount of money that he was going to walk through The Miz and win the WWE Title.  I’m not so sure anymore.  Though Cena has never lost a singles match at Wrestlemania (and The Miz has never had a singles match at Wrestlemania), I think this is the year he could lose one.  The Miz was booked very strongly the last few weeks, laying out Cena multiple times.  He comes in as a much more believable threat, and a much more believable champion than he did after beating Lawler at the Elimination Chamber.  Of course one of the main stories of this match will be how The Rock gets involved, and we all know he will.  After Cena hit Rock with an Attitude Adjustment last night, you have to think Rock will be looking for retribution at Mania.  Could he cost Cena the match?  And if he does, how will the crowd react to that?  The crowd in Chicago last night booed Cena when he hit the AA on Rock…but the minute his music hit afterwards, there was a rather audible cheer.  So, it’s a fickle audience.  Cena was GREAT in his promo last night, and really laid things out in an almost CM Punk like way, where you didn’t necessarily want to believe him, but nothing he said was wrong, he was totally right.  So, will he be cheered?  Booed?  What about The Rock?  And where does this all leave The Miz?  They need to book this strong so that Rock/Cena doesn’t overshadow The Miz.  If it’s me, I have The Miz win clean.  (Have Rock interfere, but don’t let it lead directly to the pin), and then do whatever you want to do with Rock/Cena…perhaps with The Miz coming back in and laying out whoever is standing tall.  This will be the most interesting match to me, as they can go a lot of different ways with it.

NO HOLDS BARRED
TRIPLE H VS. THE UNDERTAKER

This is the first time I can think of when there has been no physical contact between guys, yet the match is very well built, and anticipated.  This match will live or die (no pun intended) based on how much The Undertaker can do.  They’ve obviously added the “No Holds Barred” piece so that they can use any sort of extra gaga to work around ‘Takers limitations, which seems like a really good plan.  While I understand those who think Triple H could be the one to end the streak, I just don’t see it.  The only reason you should ever end the streak is to strap a rocket to someone on the rise.  To end it with Triple H would be a huge mistake in my eyes, and would only fuel the fire of those who see Triple H as a backstage mastermind who only looks out for himself.  Honestly, I think Triple H has enough respect for Undertaker to not even consider ending the streak himself.  I could be wrong on that, but it’s my belief none the less.  One factor to this is if Shawn Michaels gets involved, but I hope he doesn’t.  Let him have his Hall of Fame moment, and let that be it.  I think this will be a good brawl, but in the end, it’s chokeslam, tombstone, 1-2-3, the streak lives on.

All in all, I am looking forward to this Wrestlemania more than the previous three I have attended (with the possible exception of Wrestlemania 23, but that was only because it was my first Mania experience).  I think there are some matches that could be really good matches, and seeing The Rock live again will be a lot of fun.  I can only imagine the reaction from 75,000 people when his music hits on Sunday night!  As Tom has mentioned, he and I are both headed to Atlanta this week, so we will check in with reviews over the weekend as we are able!  Thanks for visiting Two Spot Monkeys!

No comments:

Post a Comment