Part two of this three-part series about WrestleMania 31 will feature the matches in the mid-card. You never know what you are going to get from the mid-card at WrestleMania, but you can be assured that the performers are going to give 100% in an attempt to forge an unforgettable “WrestleMania moment” of their own. Sometimes you get a standout match like The Ultimate Warrior vs. Macho King Randy Savage at WrestleMania VII, or Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X that go down in history as one of the all-time greats. Other times, you get bowling shoe-ugly showcases such as Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. Rick Martel in a blindfold match at WrestleMania VII, or what is widely considered the worst WrestleMania match ever, Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole at WrestleMania XVII.
The eternal WrestleMania mark in myself is hoping for something that fits in the former category, not the latter at WrestleMania 32. Interestingly enough, since I published part one about the pre-show, the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal was moved up from the pre-show to the main card. It’s hard to say exactly why this happened, but it’s likely going to compress the rest of the matches for time as there are now eight matches to squeeze into a four-hour time frame. Those matches don’t include other features such as an appearance by The Rock, the Hall of Fame introductions, and whatever other skits they have planned between matches.
Hopefully this time crunch doesn’t take too much away from any of the matches and the performers don’t try too hard to rush a “this is awesome” spot, and instead focus on the story telling of in-ring psychology. At the very least, hopefully the Diva’s match is kept to about 1:15 so this doesn’t become too much of an issue.
As I said in part one, I predict that Braun Strowman is going to win the André trophy. My analysis and picks for the rest of the mid-card matches are as follows.
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder vs. Sin Cara vs. The Miz vs. Stardust in a 7-man Ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
This will be the 10th ladder match in WrestleMania history and the third time that it will be used to decide the winner of the Intercontinental Championship. This match is also a repeat of last year when the opening match of WrestleMania 31 when Daniel Bryan won the IC belt in a 7-man ladder match to start the show. This year, Kevin Owens enters the match as the champion and has a mostly different cast of characters to compete against.
Kevin Owens is coming off of a strong rookie year in 2015 when he defeated John Cena in his first match on the main card, instantly giving him credibility with the fans. Following a few high-profile rematches against Cena, Owens’ push was slowed down a bit. He did, however, manage to win the IC title on Raw and is in a high-profile match at WrestleMania so he is in a good spot. Owens is a rarity on the Raw roster today as his target audience is mainly adults, and there is nothing kid-friendly about him. He is a perfect wrestling heel, he is obnoxious, cowardly, and cheats to win.
Sami Zayn is one of the higher-profile NXT call-ups as of late. He didn’t have much luck in his first go-around on the main roster. During his ring entrance for his debut match, he raised his arms in the air and managed to break his shoulder, costing him over eight months of his career. Anyway, he rehabilitated his injury and now is in the biggest match of his life to date. Although he appears to be somewhat of a standard white-meat-babyface, the WWE fans have taken to his ring entrance and his character. I am not convinced; I need to see a few good matches out of him before I make a judgement call on his abilities.
Dolph Ziggler has performed well in ladder matches, having won the Intercontinental championship in a standout ladder match against Luke Harper in 2014 at TLC. Ziggler has plateaued in his career and no longer really shows any main-event promise. He is a solid worker but he oversells for his opponents and is playing out of position as a babyface. This is the right match for him to be in and he will certainly perform at the best of his abilities on the WrestleMania stage.
Zach Ryder is the lucky winner in this match. He is filling in for Neville who badly broke his ankle and leg just two weeks ago on Raw. Ryder was the low man on the totem pole in the WWE before went into business for himself by filming his own YouTube show. Fans took notice and started chanting for him at live events. A quick push disappeared as fast as it started and he has been languishing in NXT for quite some time. This is an opportunity for him to showcase his abilities on the grandest stage of them all and he should be very highly motivated in this match.
Sin Cara doesn’t have much going on for himself right now as he has been outshined by his tag team partner, Kalisto. He does not display any character and is mostly voiceless. We don’t know much about him other than that he is a Luchador-style high spot worker. I would expect him to try some sort of death-defying bump during this match just to get himself noticed.
The Miz continues to be under-utilized on the WWE main roster. He was once the top heel in the company, having defeated John Cena in the main event at WrestleMania XVII with an assist from The Rock. That was the highlight of his career as he has been booked in the mid-card at best ever since. A ladder match doesn’t seem like it plays to his strengths as a performer. Overall, it doesn’t make much sense for him to be in this match and it probably won’t advance his career very much.
Stardust is among the most talented performers in this match. As the son of The American Dream Dusty Rhodes, he was born and bred to be in the professional wrestling business. He has earned critical praise for being all-in to his Stardust character and plays a very convincing character. He is yet another under-utilized talent on the crowded WWE roster. He certainly is deserving of a premier spot on the card and hopefully is featured prominently in this match.
These seven-man ladder matches are a tough proposition for wrestlers these days. We have seen too many of them. The wrestlers are starting to run out of ways to use ladders as weapons, or fall off of ladders through tables. They constantly struggle to find new and interesting ways to take death-defying bumps to wow the crowd. Timing is also key in a match like this as quite often one or more of them need to either disappear for large swaths of time, or be standing in the right place at the right time to take their bumps properly. Like I said at the top of this blog, it could either be a standout classic, or very ugly to watch.
Prediction: Winner and still WWE Intercontinental Champion, Kevin Owens
The New Day vs. The League of Nations in a 4-on-3 Handicap match
The New Day has enjoyed a very solid run as the top heel faction in the WWE over the past year. They have been so good at it, they have slowly turned into a babyface trio as the crowd can’t help but laugh at the ridiculous things they say and do. Their hard work and dedication to their gimmick has paid off as they have held the WWE Tag Team Championship using the Freebird Rule since the summer. They are likely going to do an extensive comedy skit before the match as part of their entrance. Let’s hope for everybody’s sake that they bring their best material as their skits can be hit-or-miss.
The League of Nations is a group of guys who make you scratch your head and ask yourself “how did he go so wrong?” Sheamus actually held the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for a few weeks last year, not that anybody would remember. King Barrett was on top of the world with his “I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news” catch phrase, only to have inexplicably lost his momentum after winning King of the Ring in 2015. Alberto Del Rio used to have one of the greatest ring entrances of all time, driving to the ring in ultra-expensive luxury cars while his personal ring announcer introduced him to the crowd in Spanish. Since his return to the WWE, he beat John Cena in a match and quickly got pushed down the card. The most depressing case out of all of them is Rusev. He was the best monster heel the WWE has seen in years headed into WrestleMania 31. That day was the turning point in his career as he started a losing streak that he still hasn’t recovered from. The low point was when he permanently lost all credibility as a bad guy when he was entangled in a bizarre storyline about a love triangle with Summer Rae, Dolph Ziggler, and Lana.
What we have here are two factions headed in different directions. The New Day has a lot of upside potential for the rest of 2016 and beyond. It wouldn’t surprise me if most or all of the members of The League of Nations aren’t even on the WWE roster by the time WrestleMania 33 rolls around. That will be a shame, as they are all very talented and deserve better than what WWE creative has handed them.
This should actually be a decent match as there is a good combination of size, strength, speed, and agility across the board. I have a strong feeling that this match will play out in such a way that The New Day come out of it as babyfaces and stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Prediction: Winners, The New Day
Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Divas Championship
Not even Ric Flair himself can save this train wreck of a match from being awful. All I can hope for is that it is very short. If we are really lucky, the show will be running long and it will get bumped because there is not enough time to have it.
Prediction: This match is going to suck
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho is about eight years past his prime. He looks chubby, slow, and old in the ring. He has left and returned so many times that it is no longer shocking or interesting when he shows up in the WWE from out of nowhere. Despite all of this, if there is only one thing that he is still good at, it is his ability to cut a great heel promo. His diatribe towards the crowd at WWE Roadblock two weeks ago was simply brilliant and has the fans solidly rooting against him.
AJ Styles was well received by the WWE faithful following his surprise entrance at The Royal Rumble in January. In somewhat of an unusual step, a WWE outsider was brought in to the main roster without having to stop off in NXT developmental for a stay. Styles is apparently a well know performer from TNA and NJPW, but as a WWE-only fan, I don’t know anything about him other than what I’ve seen these past three months. So far he has shown flashes of impressive wrestling offense, but he is rather dull on the microphone. This is a very good spot for Styles to be in, having gone from relative obscurity to a singles match at WrestleMania in a short period of time.
This is a repeat match that we’ve seen twice already. The two were enemies, friends, and enemies again in just a matter of weeks. They already have a pretty decent rapport and familiarity with each other, with Styles proving that he can carry the older and slower Chris Jericho through a match. I’ve always felt that wrestling is at its best when two performers square off in a one-on-one grudge match with no distracting stipulations. This match fits that category and could be very entertaining.
Prediction: Winner, Chris Jericho
Thanks for reading part two. Part three is coming soon and will feature the three main events on the card.
The North Jersey Nonconformist 
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