Wrestlemania 29 Predictions: The Undercard

 [ The Undercard ]

Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan & Kane) <Champions> vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston (Tag Team Title Match)

                The most interesting factor in this match is perhaps how much gold WWE wants on Dolph Ziggler.  A scenario involving Dolph and Big E winning the tag team titles and then Ziggler cashing in to hold two belts at the same time would be nice.   It’d also be very reminiscent of when Shawn Michaels and Diesel were 2 Dudes with Attitudes. 

                So, really, the biggest question here is how much stock is WWE willing to put into the Big E. Langston character.    If Dolph Ziggler should cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase at Wrestlemania, odds are we’ll see a lot of heel Ziggler matches with Big E. Langston and AJ Lee helping him keep his belt.   This will obviously lead to the eventual face turn by Big E. Langston who not only wants to break out on his own but would like to become World Heavyweight Champion.  Would it be a somewhat long term feud worth investing in?   Not for my money because I’m still not completely sold on the Big E. Langston character.   (He is a far cry from Diesel)   But WWE might be willing to put their money into it because Big E. Langston is a big powerhouse of a man who has helped WWE forget that Ezekiel Jackson still is on their roster.

                Another interesting factor would be if WWE decided that they want to reset the tag team division again.    Having the World Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, we could see Dolph Ziggler unable to defend the tag titles properly and become stripped of them, which could also plant the seeds for a Big E face turn.    This could result in a much more hyped tag team tournament to declare new tag team champions involving, you know, actual tag teams (The Usos come to mind, but certainly WWE could also call up some wrestlers and bring them in as tag teams… Oh, and there’s Primo and Epico too)

My Winners:  Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston capture the gold leaving Daniel Bryan and Kane to go their separate ways.

Ryback vs. Mark Henry

                Does this match even matter?  I mean, is Ryback still as popular as he once was?  Especially with all of his recent losses.    This could be the Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg match of the card only afterwards both men have to stay and face what they did. 

                Ryback needs a win to get his career back on track, but Mark Henry just returned and probably didn’t do so to lose at Wrestlemania.  My guess is these two men trade muscle blows with one another until eventually they both just learn neither is stronger and can be beaten.   This results in a brawl that comes down to either Mark Henry being disqualified or just your good old fashioned count out/no contest.   Because realistically Mark Henry does not need the win to continue to generate heat (or cheers) and look like a bad ass.

My Winner: Ryback by DQ or nobody, but probably nobody.

The Shield vs. Big Show, Sheamus and Randy Orton

                The only reason why this match really interests me is because it’ll be nice to see Dean Ambrose (fka Jon Moxley) at Wrestlemania.    I’d say this match could end with a feel good moment and someone picking up the victory, like say Sheamus picks up the pinfall over Seth Rollins and then when Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose attack Sheamus and Orton, Big Show walks out on them, but that’s just the problem with a feel good moment for the face side.   Big Show isn’t a face, so will the crowd cheer him after all of the bad things he’s done recently like… I don’t remember what. 

                No one ever really thinks The Shield will win clean but they somehow always do, so I know if I predict that this will be the time it changes.  But why not, it’s Wrestlemania, so I’ll just go with it.   The Shield needs to look strong as a faction, the other guys are all seemingly unaffected by losses and can have some dispute which leads to them losing.  

                Also, if you read my scenario where Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston win the tag team titles only to be stripped of them and a tournament set into place, I vote for The Shield to carry the tag team division into 2014 Fabulous Freebirds style.

My Winners: The Shield

Brodus Clay and Tensai w/ women vs. Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes w/ Bella Twins

                This seems to be a filler match.   Well, it really just seems to be an unannounced match only WWE is actually announcing it for Wrestlemania to brag about a stacked card.    It doesn’t really matter who wins, especially since Rhodes Scholars were disbanded as a tag team months ago.    It’s also nice to see Matt Bloom back in WWE to partake in this nonsense.   Imagine what a tag team Brodus Clay and Tensai could be if they were booked more like 2 Cold Scorpio and less like Flash Funk.   They could just be huge monsters; dominating a division WWE sometimes seems interested in reigniting. 

                If WWE wanted to really sell my interest in this pay-per-view, I would hope for Clay and Tensai to lose the match for some reason, then turn heel afterwards and just lay out their opponents with injuries.    But I don’t think WWE sees this as anything more than a throwaway match to distract us from the actual main event level matches on the card.   This will probably come between something like Cena vs. Rock and ‘Taker vs. Punk, you know, to keep the crowd happy but also to help them focus more on the entertainment rather than the wrestling.

My Winners:  Brodus Clay & Tensai (Yes, The Bellas just came back to lose)

Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

                I’d go into a long prediction about this match, but I have a feeling that since Chris Jericho will be going away following Wrestlemania, we’ll see Fandango somehow pull out the win here, probably by cheating.   Then we can all look forward to Fandango bragging for the next however many months it takes Jericho to come back that he beat Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania. 

My Winner:  Fandango because Jericho is going on tour

Wade Barrett <Champion> vs. The Miz (IC Title Match)

                If my memory serves correctly, wasn’t The Miz feuding with Antonio Cesaro for the U.S. Title?   So let’s take a heel that was once the hottest heel in the company but no one seems to care enough about now to boo and put him against another man who was once the hottest heel in the company and, well, for some reason is now a face and nobody seems to care either way.    I’m guessing this match will be mere filler, so it doesn’t matter who wins.    There is really only one positive outcome from this match, unfortunately, and that is to have Wade Barrett win and retain the IC Title.  Why?  Well, because Barrett could be in line for a World Heavyweight Title shot and seeing Champion vs. Champion sounds cool to me.   Now let’s just hope WWE can do something with Wade Barrett to get him over as a heel.   Declaring The Miz the world’s greatest wrestler might be a good place to start to get heavily booed.

My Winner:  Wade Barrett because he’s got the Barrett Barrage and what does Miz really have anymore?

Wrestlemania 29 Prediction: The Undertaker vs. CM Punk

The Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk (Undertaker’s Undefeated Streak at Wrestlemania on the Line)

                I’d like to say that this will be one of the most interesting matches on the card, but it will not.   Will it be one of the most entertaining?  Will it steal the show?  Oh, without a doubt.   But there should never be any doubt in anyone’s mind that anyone other than The Undertaker is going to win this one.

                In the early beginnings of this feud, CM Punk openly mocked the death of Paul Bearer to help further this angle.   Was I the only one who thought “Undertaker will dedicate this match to Bearer, so there’s no way he’s losing now”?    That and the fact that CM Punk can afford to lose and still look good for it.   I just do not see The Undertaker’s Streak being broken by anyone… ever.

                Oh sure, if someone was going to break The Streak it’d have to be CM Punk.   The idea of breaking The Streak is good for some young up and comer, yes, but CM Punk has also paid his dues while still not being seen by some as a fully fledged superstar.   Would it have benefited someone in their later days of their career to defeat The Undertaker, such as Shawn Michaels or HHH?    Definitely not.   Could it benefit someone who has quite possibly some of his best matches ahead of him still, such as CM Punk?  Absolutely.

                This is going to all play out quite simply, especially because of the Paul Bearer involvement.   CM Punk is going to carry The Undertaker’s old body to a near five star match that will be the highlight of the night (Though I expect The Rock vs. Cena to close out the show, but who knows) and then speculation about who could end The Streak next year will begin.

                It’s actually become quite fun wondering who The Undertaker will come out of hiding to face once a year.  He needs someone who can carry him to a great match and, yes, he has had prior ‘Mania matches with A-Train and Nathan Jones, but don’t expect Sweet T to break The Streak.  

                Would it be too soon to start speculating as to who could go after The Undertaker next year?   I’ll throw Dolph Ziggler’s name out there first.   We can discuss it more after this match happens and CM Punk gets his comeuppance. 

My Winner: The Undertaker, for obvious reasons

Wrestlemania 29 Prediction: Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger

Alberto Del Rio <World Heavyweight Champion> (w/ Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Coulter) (World Heavyweight Championship Match)

                Raise your hand right now if you think Zeb Coulter is going to be ejected from ringside during this match.    On one hand, he has been a nice mouthpiece for Jack Swagger, but to make things seem “fair”, I’m going to guess he’s going to the back pretty quickly.  

                Hopefully this will come down to a pure athletic match with a lot of physicality and intensity that it seems like both of these men are capable of but we haven’t seen in WWE for quite some time.   On one hand, Alberto Del Rio isn’t translating that well as a babyface, while Jack Swagger is coming back as seemingly the same old character as before only now he hates Mexicans.    A great match between these two men could really silence a lot of critics and this would be the time to deliver it.

                There are two implications in this match, based on this poorly made feud, which are neither really win-win for WWE going forward.   Jack Swagger hates ADR because he is not part of white America.   ADR is standing up for la raza.   So one of two things will happen, which is generally the outcome of a wrestling match.   Either Swagger wins and proves that white is truly the superior race (Which doesn’t really seem like a good option) or Swagger loses and ADR has an early Cinco de Mayo.

                The only thing that really bothers me about the outcome of this match is that Jack Swagger was recently arrested, and thus violated the WWE Wellness Policy, yet seemed to receive no punishment by WWE for his actions.   If it was going to be a simple matter of Swagger being fed to Del Rio and losing, then why couldn’t they quickly position another heel into that spot instead and suspend Swagger?   This fuels the speculation that Swagger must be in line to win the World Heavyweight Championship.  

                On the other side of the coin, you have to ask yourself how much of this even matters.   Dolph Ziggler could cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and whoever comes out as champion could be nullified.  

                While I realize that Jack Swagger and Dolph Ziggler have been aligned before, do you think they are still working together somehow?   I doubt it since Dolph is hanging with someone who isn’t white, but it’d be an interesting coupe.     I’ll just lean more toward the typical heels gang up on a face idea instead.

                After a hard fought match won by Alberto Del Rio somehow, Jack Swagger says ADR is the better man and goes to shake his hand.   A reluctant ADR shakes his hand only to eat an Olympic Slam (whatever his version of it is called, I forget) and get beat down mercilessly before Dolph Ziggler comes out to cash in.   Wham-bam-thank-you-m’am.     Dolph Ziggler is your new World Heavyweight Champion.   Or Jack Swagger is simply beaten in less than 18 seconds to make a point.

My Winner: Alberto Del Rio, only to have Dolph Ziggler cash in on him

Wrestlemania 29 Prediction: The Rock vs. John Cena Pt. 2

The Rock (WWE Champion) vs. John Cena Part 2 (WWE Championship Match)

                As we build up to Wrestlemania 29, I will be doing some predictions for the various matches.   This match- being a rematch from last year’s “It only happens once in a lifetime” Wrestlemania- will get its own prediction spot just because it’s that big of a match.

                For the record, we need to start by simply stating that last year The Rock won.   Should John Cena lose again, one would assume that this feud is over.   For The Rock to lose, however, would result in the rubber match, which would basically be the best option for WWE at this point in time.   Even though they billed the first match as “once in a lifetime”, to do a series of three might be their best bet since they’ve come this far already with the second match.

                In the event that John Cena does win, The Rock would probably want a rematch sooner than not since it’s for the WWE Championship.   I doubt that we’re going to see The Rock really go away after Wrestlemania 29, but who knows.   Right now, rumors are running rampant that WWE wants to book The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar soon and for that to happen The Rock has to stick around.   Though, in that scenario, the Rock-Cena 3 doesn’t really fit in very well (Unless Brock Lesnar comes out and destroys The Rock for some reason and costs him the title, but please let’s not have a cheap finish at Wrestlemania)

                The best reason for John Cena to win this match- aside from the obviously predictability of it all- would be for it to set up a heel turn for The Rock, should he not return to Hollywood right away.    One of my biggest problems with Wrestlemania 29 is that you don’t get to see the babyface on the chase for the title and then get to win it for that feel good moment.    John Cena is a face, sure, but so is The Rock for the most part.  

                When The Rock first found popularity in WWE it was because he turned heel.   I’d love to see The Rock turn his back on the fans, tell him he wants to leave them for Hollywood and just do something other than the tired routine he’s done since returning (It’s not 2001 anymore, Dwayne)   How would this effect the cross promotion with his movies and everything?  Well, Wade Barrett and David Otunga don’t seem to be suffering by portraying heel characters.  

                So, as often seems to be the case, it is not a question of what will happen on this one particular night, but more of what the long term planning is (And by “long term” in the case of WWE, I mean within the following months or possibly weeks) John Cena should win this match and the WWE Title for an eventual rubber match.   It’s just a question of how long they can wait to do that third (and presumably final) match.   Can they hold it off until Wrestlemania 30?  Will The Rock still be around then or will his movie career interfere?  

                I also will not get into the logic behind the match of The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar because, I mean, really, for two part timers, who really cares who wins or loses, right?  Right?

Winner: John Cena and the world goes on the same.