Coffee Table Thoughts {7} –
Prediction and the debut of Tea Time Trash Talk
Wrestlemania Card
Wikipedia
lists 8 matches on the card for Wrestlemania 27. However, the event probably
managed to hold the least number of relevant matches. If you throw out the
match involving divas, the blonde and the brunette guys and a hot
horny.....girl; the match involving 8 superstars and their finishers totalling
upto 2 minutes of action; and the announcers guild; there were only 5 relevant
matches in the entire card. Following is the list of the matches on the card
last year:
1. Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus.....ooops,
sorry
1. Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes
2. CM Punk vs Randy Orton
3. Edge vs Alberto I-hate-Miz Rio
4. John Cena vs The Miz and
5. Triple H vs Undertaker (Don’t tell
anyone - II)
Which
brings me to this year’s Wrestlemania. This year’s Wrestlemania card is yet to
be shaped up clearly. One match had been set in stone already – John Cena vs
The Rock. Triple H vs Undertaker III seems locked in too with perhaps an added
factor of Shawn Michales as Special Guest Referee.
Apart
from those two matches, we are expected to see two other matches involving the
World and the WWE Championships. WWE Championship scene seems quite clear right
now. CM Punk and Chris Jericho are the most likely candidates for the
championship match and Dolph Ziggler is a distant third. I would love to see Dolph
Ziggler added to the mix but I think it would be better if we get a one on one
match because CM Punk deserves his Wrestlemania moment.
World
Heavyweight Championship scene, on the other hand is wide open, or at least it
seems so. Daniel Bryan is the current champion and even if he loses the title
at Elimination Chamber event, there is a possibility that he will get his
rematch at Wrestlemania. There are plethora of guys who are eligible to be
involved in the World Championship match at Wrestlemania based on past year’s
performance. You have Big Show, Randy Orton, Mark Henry (if heeled) and
Christian (One More Match). Add in the Royal Rumble winner Sheamus to the mix
and even two upper mid-carders in Cody Rhodes and Wade Barret.
Since the Smackdown main event scene is very cluttered up right now, let me throw in some thoughts to clear up the mess.
I will
say Cody Rhodes and Wade Barret will have to wait a little longer for the big
gold belt because adding any other name to the mix is going to make this title
picture quite a train-wreck. And as much as I love Christian, he has a very
long shot of being involved in this match. He has lost a lot of momentum by
losing to Sheamus left, right and centre.
Based on
the latest episode of Smackdown, I have a feeling that may be Big Show and
Daniel Bryan will put the World Championship on the back burner and concentrate
on their personal fight, assuming Shaq is not going to be a part of
Wrestlemania. I will put Mark Henry in the Money in the Bank Ladder match instead
of being interjected in the title picture itself because he seems to be out for
a few weeks and may not be available for Wrestlemania build up after
Elimination Chamber. Apart from that, It is safe to assume that Teddy Long
won’t be too pleased to put Mark Henry in the Championship match right away.
Hence, I
am predicting that Randy Orton will be defending the World Heavyweight
Championship against Sheamus at Wrestlemania.
But...............
news coming out from even more latest Smackdown tapings is that Randy Orton is
injured and has been removed from the Smackdown Elimination Chamber. If he is
not going to be in the Elimination Chamber match, the he is not going to win
the World Heavyweight Championship and. And if he is not going to win the World
Heavyweight Championship, he is surely not going to defend it at Wrestlemania. In
that scenario, Daniel Bryan retaining the championship and going on to
Wrestlemania to defend it is the best option.
Then who
should Daniel Bryan defend his title against? I would personally like to see
him defend the title against Big Show and continue their feud. But even Sheamus
vs Daniel Bryan seems to be a good choice too. And knowing that their US
Championship match was removed from the Wrestlemania 27 card, it is more of a
Cinderella story.
This is
what the card looks like –
1. John Cena vs The Rock
2. Triple H vs Undertaker
3. CM Punk vs Chris Jericho
4. Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus
5. Money in the Bank match involving
Dolph
Ziggler, Christian, Mark Henry(if healed) , Wade Barret, Cody Rhodes, Jack
Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, Big Show, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth
This is
exactly the same number of matches as the last year. But I don’t see them
continuing with this trend this year and expect them to add up the card with a
match or two (relevant ones).
The first
choice for additional match is Zack Ryder vs TheMaskedKane. They have a good
story going on right now which has been given fair amount of television time
already. It would all be lost if it didn’t come to some kind of conclusion. And
it has to happen this year only and WWE’s year ends at Wrestlemania. Besides, Zack
Ryder has been one of the most influential stars of the WWE in the past year.
He is a guy who has a ton of charisma and is a decent in-ring worker. He worked
out a way to salvage his career on his own. And hence, I would like to see Zack
Ryder get the chance to shine at the biggest dance.
And there
is a major difference between him and all the other guys I mentioned above. All
of the stars mentioned above are either top tier talent or upper mid-card
talent. Whereas for Zack Ryder, even if he does get a huge Mania moment by
avenging Kane for all the bullying, for using him to achieve some weird
objective of forcing Cena to embrace the hate, and for making Eve turn on Cena
(get it?), his status won’t come even close to Upper Mid-card. That’s the
beauty about him. More on that later......
You see,
back in 2010, when Shawn Michaels retired, Triple H and Undertaker got lost
like ghosts, Batista quit the WWE, and Chris Jericho went on to do Twitter
Trolling, WWE was in a problem. They needed big stars to keep earning the money
that a global organisation listed on a stock exchange needs. Hence they
elevated their talent. They tried to elevate one star. And then they tried to
elevate one more, one more, and then one more. It didn’t matter whether the
said talent was over or not. It didn’t matter whether the said talent was ready
for the World Championship or not. It simply didn’t matter. WWE was on a hot
mission to make 6 billion world champions by the end of this decade or whatever
was going to be the population of the world by then (Except for John Morrison).
They gave the shining chance to Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz,
Alberto Del Rio and to even long time veterans Christian and Mark Henry.
But going
by the fact that they are planning to bring MITB back to Wrestlemania and the
obvious implication that there will be only one MITB winner this year and that
it may involve only the former world champions, I have a gut-feeling that the
thirst of the WWE is finally over. I believe they have created enough main
eventers that can take them through the entire 10’s decade with. I believe they
will now settle down and the becoming World Champion is going to be made a difficult
task again. And that leaves a small opportunity that a small room may be left for
the undercard. Yeah yeah, seems far-fetched but there is a possibility.
And Zack
Ryder is a perfect case of paradox. He is more over with the WWE Universe than
most of the main eventers and yet he is not expected to win the feud against
Kane let alone the World Championship. He can feud with Kane and go back to
fighting for the US Championship and it won’t be questioned. It won’t be odd to
look him in that position as compared to someone like, say Jack Swagger.
So I
think it would be best if we got him squaring off against a veteran like Kane.
Other
matches can be involving any of the participants of MITB. May be we can see
Cosy Rhodes defend his Intercontinental Championship against Ted Dibiase (who
seems to be quietly getting over). May be the tag team champions will defend
their titles against the team of Brodus Clay and Drew McIntyre. May be Santino
will take on Eve Torres for avenging his friend’s heart break– no no, that will
be in the filler part.
Wait,
what do you mean Santino Marrela can be the World Heavyweight Champion by the
night of Elimination Chamber?
Anyways,
I just hope they take their Wrestlemania card seriously and make it more of a
balanced show.
Tea
Time Trash Talk:
Ø
And
then there will be a Divas match which may or may not be compelling. I have
stopped caring. Even if it turns out to be a good match, why does there have to
be only one good match in an entire year? Why not every week? Surely Kharma is
a great talent but it is not like WWE is currently lacking in the actual
wrestler women department. You can have all three of Beth Phoenix, Natalya and
Tamina feuding with each other for a whole year in various permutations and
combinations. But alas, maybe we are set for better things going forward.
Ø
I
don’t think whether counting out Jesse Sorensen was the initial plan of the TNA
Pay Per View ‘Against All Odds’. Seeing that he was not making a move, may be
the referee should have immediately gone on to check him? I am not aware of how
the crisis management system works in the wrestling business but that seems a
more proper move to me then continuing the kayfabe. It’s sad to see him injured
and gone for a year with a full uncertainty on his future in the business. This
incident just reminded me of the dangerous nature of this business that I so
adore. Here’s hoping a speedy (relatively speaking) and full recovery to you
Jesse J
Ø
“All
of this........is going to be mine” – Triple H, dropping the first hints of a
heel turn coming in a few months or years.
Ø
Eve
Torres looked hot and seemed relevant in the Cena/Kane/Ryder storyline for the
first time. I wish you a speedy and full recovery too, Zack Ryder, for a heart
break is the worst. #PoorZack. Well, at least she still wants to be your friend
J
Ø
I
am not at all excited to see Chris Jericho vs CM Punk feud. Surely, the match
between the two can certainly become a classic but the feud itself, I am not
buying it. And it all falls on Chris Jericho. He is making everything boring
with his trolling ways. Hope he gets something better to speak than ‘I am
better than you’ and can say the same in a better way than a cheap imitation of
Miz. Yes, Miz is in a bad place right now, yes he copied it from you but he did
it better than you. The only saving grace in this feud is CM Punk. CM Punk may
say ‘I am the best wrestler in the world’ far too often but at least it is
interesting. And it is always better to look at a smiling face then a sick
face. I am happy that Chris will be going back to his Fozzy shenanigans after
Wrestlemania. Hope it is his last match. #TrollingWays
Ø
The
match between Randy Orton and Big Show was very entertaining. Loved how Big
Show was made to look good, at least in the initial few minutes and that DDT
over the top rope was awesome. Speaking of the DDT from the ropes, it is
heartening to see it being set up the way it is being set up now. I recall how
in the early stages when the move was created, how the opponent would
miraculously end up being on the other side of the ropes to stupidly take the DDT
from Orton. If I remember correctly, it even happened at Wrestlemania 26
against Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase. But for at least past year, Orton himself
throws the opponent outside the ropes and then delivers a DDT. And that is why
when Big Show ended up being on the outer side of the ropes, it was miraculous
but not stupid. And it looked like a coincidence when Big Show just fell on the
ropes and Orton suddenly thought of delivering the DDT. Big props to the ropes
for holding the pressure, btw.
Ø
I
liked the opening Debate segment from Raw. Everyone got a chance to shine
there. Miz might have messed up a sentence or two but he took good advantage of
the opportunity. Kofi, I think, stood out with a simpler and shoot kind of
promo. R-Truth was hilarious as ever and Dolph Ziggler continued to show that
he has got no grooming teaching because he kept interfering in others’ promos
with his snide remarks. Bad boy, you. CM Punk’s promo wasn’t that entertaining
but decent enough. Whereas Chris Jericho’s arguments were solid but
uninteresting.
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