Thoughts From The Top Rope 10.01.08: Exploring Possibilities

Thoughts From The Comments Section
As one would expect, there was a ton of feedback on last week’s column looking at Triple H, so let’s get through that lot.

This man ruined wrestling for us all. He deserves every bit of criticism he receives.
Posted By: Joe Mastronardo (Guest)

Well hang on a minute; what about the millions of fans that don’t feel wrestling is ruined? Y’know, the fans that still like the product and don’t spend all their time bitching about it. Regardless of how he got there, he is still one of the most popular guys in the business right now, and I imagine his numerous fans would disagree with you.

While I know Triple H was a main eventer become he married into the family, most people agree that he wouldn’t have had the stayed in the main event with occasionally putting in any effort for so long.
Posted By: Jaime (Guest)

I don’t understand this argument at all. Why wouldn’t he still be on top? If Rock or Austin had have been willing and able to carry on, they’d still be on top (and Austin hardly put in a shit load of effort, did he?). To say he hasn’t put any effort in is ridiculous and unfounded. The guy frequently has great matches.

I fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes for Triple H (as I do for most wrestlers). I will never deny his talent or his ability. He is one of the true ring generals, and if need be, can have a *** basically by himself (see: Kevin Nash, Bad Blood ’03). I also don’t care about his marriage to Stephanie. Triple H deserves his spot. But I don’t like is how he will get dominated for an entire match and then make his comeback and win easily.
Posted By: Aaron Hubbard (Registered)

Yeah, I very much understand what you’re saying here Aaron, but don’t all major faces do that? Cena… Hardy… Taker… the same applies to all of them.

Nobody seems to remember when Austin came back from his injury and took out the WHOLE ROSTER on a weekly basis. But that never buried anyone. Nope!
Posted By: M:-X (Guest)

Great point. People simply let the fact that the guy is married to a McMahon obscure their perception of reality. No one else would get this much criticism, as your Austin-evidence supports.

Wilcox loves HHH far too much. i still can’t believe you put him as number 1 of all time.
Posted By: blackman (Guest)

Why post a comment on an article you clearly haven’t read?

Do any of the wrestlers HHH has put over in their eyes have belt ? NOPE… Who’s got it? You guessed it… HHH does!
nuff said
Posted By: HHH Hater (Guest)

So it’s Triple H’s fault Benoit died and Cena got injured?

Urgh. The comments section makes my head hurt.

Now, onto today.

A few weeks back, Andy Clark of The Shimmy presented his third annual WrestleMania predictions, this time with a little help from yours truly. You can check that out here if you so wish. I had a lot of fun working with Clark on that project, but it got me to thinking about what I’d love to see at WrestleMania next year.

And while I know we’re a long way off, I don’t think it’s ever too soon to start thinking about next year’s “big one”, particularly this year, as the next WrestleMania marks a quarter-century of Mania, and as such I think we can all expect a truly historic event.

If everything goes to plan and there are no major injuries between now and Mania, this may be the most star-studded Mania of all time. Undertaker, Cena, Triple H, Jericho, Orton, Michaels, Edge, Batista, Mysterio, Punk, Hardy; when was the last time so many top names were available for Mania? And let’s not forget all the major support players like JBL, Kane, Show et al.

And let’s not forget the possibility of Steve Austin making an appearance for one final match in his hometown.

One match that I would love to see go down at Mania is Chris Jericho vs. John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship. Jericho has been fantastic since his comeback and I feel that he deserves a long run with the championship, culminating in a major match at WrestleMania, and they don’t come much more major than facing John Cena.

How would this go down? Well, let’s say Jericho beats Shawn Michaels at No Mercy, putting an end to that feud, and Batista beats JBL to become number one contender. Jericho goes over Batista on two separate occasions at Cyber Sunday and then Survivor Series. Jericho’s next obstacle is Rey Mysterio, who he defeats at Armageddon. Jericho moves on to the Royal Rumble where he beats CM Punk to retain the title. That same night, he cuts a promo saying he has beaten everyone there is to beat on Raw. The interviewer asks about potentially taking on the returning John Cena, to which Jericho responds with silence.

John Cena’s return is heavily promoted for the Rumble. The Champ returns at the Rumble for the second year in a row and dominates, only for Chris Jericho to interfere and toss Cena. Jeff Hardy goes on to win the Rumble. Batista is Raw’s last entrance and as such is awarded with a title shot against Jericho at No Way Out.

Elsewhere on Raw, an 8-man tournament is held to crown a number one contender for Mania. In the quarter finals, CM Punk overcomes JBL, Kane beats Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton beats Shawn Michaels (via interference by a Superstar to be named later) and John Cena beats William Regal. In the semis, Cena beats Kane and Orton beats Punk. The finals take place at No Way Out.

At No Way Out, we see Orton and Jericho making a deal. The details of the deal become obvious later in the evening when Jericho interferes on Orton’s behalf, but this backfires and Cena gets the win. Orton blames Jericho and tries to cost him his title match against Batista, but The Animal takes Orton out. The match continues, but Orton recovers and hits Batista with a RKO in retaliation, giving Jericho the win.

As you can imagine, this sets up Batista vs. Randy Orton for WrestleMania as well. Despite their storied history with one another, the two have never faced one-on-one on pay-per-view or even had much of a feud, and I think WrestleMania would be the perfect time to pull the trigger on this one. A simple incident like mentioned above is all that is needed to set this up as they can create an interesting angle based off of their history. Orton is more than capable of having a good match with The Animal and I think that they could really surprise fans and have a great little match.

So Chris Jericho vs. John Cena is the main event on the Raw side of things. Leading up to Mania, I’d like to see Jericho ducking Cena, putting Lance Cade in between the two. Eventually Cena gets his chance at Jericho in a tag match: Cena and Batista vs. Jericho and Orton. Cena gets a hot tag and takes it to Jericho, but interference from Cade allows Jericho to score the win. This would set up a match between Cena and Cade, the week before Mania, in a cage. Cena would batter and bloody Cade, ensuring a one-on-one match at Mania. But Jericho would get the last laugh, jumping Cena after the match and bloodying him.

I mentioned earlier that Shawn Michaels gets cost a match in the number one contender’s tournament. This would all stem from Michaels eliminating John Morrison in the Rumble. Let’s say Miz and Morrison break up, and ever since Morrison has been on a role as a singles star, going as far as to guarantee victory in the Rumble. In the Rumble, Morrison had been tearing it up, lasting a good 45-minutes before Michaels tosses him. This leads to Morrison showing up on Raw and costing Michaels that title shot.

John Morrison has a really bright future, in my opinion, but by all accounts the consensus in the back is that he’s too “goofy” to be taken seriously right now. I think that not only would a rivalry with Michaels be the perfect thing to get him taken seriously, but also to showcase all of his in-ring talents. The term “the next Shawn Michaels” does get thrown around a lot, but I really can see a lot of a young Michaels in this kid. It just has “it”, but for whatever reason those with power don’t see it. Let’s get this match booked, because 2009 could potentially be a break out year for John Morrison.

So WrestleMania on the Raw side of things is looking a little like this;

World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho vs. John Cena
Batista vs. Randy Orton
Shawn Michaels vs. John Morrison
Onto ECW. If the past two Manias are any indication, ECW will only get one match at Mania, and a competitor or two in Money in the Bank. The two ECW guys I think need to be on the card are Finlay and Matt Hardy, so why not put them in the ECW Championship Match? This rivalry again has its roots in the Royal Rumble. Imagine Finlay running wild with a shillelagh in the Rumble, only for Hornswoggle to run into the ring and cause havoc. He finds himself in the clutches of The Great Khali. Finlay has to make the save, and the distraction results in Finlay getting dumped out of the match.

The disintegration between Finlay and Horny continues over the next few weeks, until Hornswoggle accidentally costs Finlay a number one contender’s match for No Way Out. This leads to Finlay beating Hornswoggle viciously, until Matt Hardy makes the save. Of course, going into Mania, Finlay targets Hardy for getting in his business and eventually wins a title shot.

I am so over the Hornswoggle bullshit. I get that Horny appeals to kids but it really has ruined the Finlay character. The guy was a great heel and now he’s a face who I really don’t care about at all.

I can see Hardy and Finlay having some great matches together, much like they did throughout 2006 and 2007. Both are very over and I think an extended feud between the two might help to raise the profile of ECW. If it doesn’t happen around Mania time, I think it needs to happen in the near future anyway.

Onto the SmackDown side of things. Now the problem I have here is that SmackDown has two veterans in Undertaker and Triple H that everyone expects to see in the main event. Then there’s Edge, who’s work in the past two years has been fantastic and I can’t fathom him being left out of SmackDown’s world championship picture come Mania time. And let’s not forget Jeff Hardy, who would be perfect for that “first time Mania title win” role, but we have to wonder if WWE will take a chance on him and go with it.

Edge/Undertaker probably isn’t an option, considering they have feuded throughout this year and their rivalry is dead and buried. There’s no way I can see WWE resurrecting it so soon after the epic conclusion in Hell in a Cell. So I’d say the most likely SmackDown main event is Edge/Triple H, but that’s a match that was foolishly given away on a more recent pay-per-view; a bad move considering it was their first major one-on-one clash. I think the best way to go is a Triple Threat – I know we just had one last year, and at 22 and 20, but it really is the best option. Add Jeff Hardy to the match and you have a much more unpredictable outcome, and in all likelihood a much better match.

So how do we get there? Well that’s the tricky bit. I’ve already said I think Hardy should be the Rumble winner. Let’s say Triple H goes all tweener, and goads Hardy into putting his title shot on the line by saying stuff like it’s a joke that Hardy will be in the main event of Mania, and that he’ll only blow it a third time. Then I’d imagine Edge looks to take them both out, leading to a No Contest and a Triple Threat being made (Vickie’s ultimate revenge?).

As for Taker, I wouldn’t mind seeing him square off against Vladimir Kozlov. I like Kozlov. He has a great upside and is the perfect foe for Taker. While the winner wouldn’t be in doubt, I imagine that these two could have a fairly decent match with one another.

The only other major match to discuss is of course Money in the Bank V. There’s a plethora of guys who could be in this, and to get as many names on the card as possible, I’d love to see them go with; Shelton Benjamin, THE Brian Kendrick, Kofi Kingston, Kane, The Miz, MVP, Umaga, CM Punk. It’s SmackDown-heavy, but they do have a far better mid-card than Raw.

So our updated card looks like this;

World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho vs. John Cena
WWE Championship: Edge vs. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy
ECW Championship: Matt Hardy vs. Finlay
Money in the Bank V: Shelton Benjamin vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. MVP vs. CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Kane vs. Umaga vs. The Miz
Batista vs. Randy Orton
Undertaker vs. Vladimir Kozlov
Shawn Michaels vs. John Morrison
But this card is lacking an undercard, and there are a fair few big names missing too. Recent developments are suggesting Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne may become a regular team, and I think that that is a great idea. Perhaps they could be the guys to end Rhodes and DiBiase’s long reign over Raw’s tag division, a tag feud culminating at WrestleMania. It’d make for a great opener, that’s for sure.

Another undercard match I’d like to see is Big Show vs. Mr. Kennedy. Think back to Mania 20; Cena got his first really big win against Show for the US title and from there his career sky-rocketed. I think such a win could do the same for Kennedy. Give Show the strap, let him run through the mid-card, only for Kennedy to be his stumbling block.

I’d imagine we’d also get BunnyMania 3. I’d be very happy to see Kelly Kelly in Playboy next year, and I imagine WWE has similar plans (hence moving her to Raw?).

So that gives us a full card of;

World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho vs. John Cena
WWE Championship: Edge vs. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy
ECW Championship: Matt Hardy vs. Finlay
Money in the Bank V: Shelton Benjamin vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. MVP vs. CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Kane vs. Umaga vs. The Miz
Batista vs. Randy Orton
Undertaker vs. Vladimir Kozlov
Shawn Michaels vs. John Morrison
United States Championship: The Big Show vs. Mr. Kennedy
World Tag Team Championship: Rhodes and DiBiase vs. Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne
BunnyMania III: Kelly Kelly and Candice Michelle vs. Beth Phoenix and Layla
Now I don’t know about you, but I think that that is a damn good card. Worthy of the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania? Maybe, maybe not.

Of course, this is just one guy’s opinion. There’s a shit load of people who want to see Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker, and think it will happen. While I’d love to see it, I see it as a similar situation to people wanting Bret Hart to interfere in McMahon/Michaels from a few years back; yes, it’s the perfect opportunity, but I don’t think it will happen. Though that doesn’t mean it won’t either.

And then of course, there is this “Austin’s last match” rumour going around. I’ve heard rumors that Austin would like to put over Kennedy, but then there are a plethora of guys who could potentially face Austin at Mania, if it were to occur. How about, Randy Orton? I can see Orton trying to take out Texas’ legendary Austin in Texas. I imagine those two could work wonders together. Or maybe Edge will get the nod if Taker and Triple H hog that Mania main event limelight. Or maybe it’ll be someone we haven’t considered… Cena? Vince? Hogan?

WrestleMania 25 intrigues me, because there is such a wide range of possibilities. It may well be the swansong for some Texas natives like Michaels and Undertaker, and it may be the very last time we see Steve Austin in the ring. It may be the crowning moment in the career of Jeff Hardy, or it may just remind him of what could’ve been. Then again, it may just be another year, another Triple H main event match. A little over six months away, Mania 25 will be historic regardless of its card, but don’t be too surprised if WWE goes all-out and puts on one of the best show ever.