Part two of my four-part series on WrestleMania focuses on the Smackdown matches. In the nine months since the brand split, The Smackdown brand has done a good job of building up superstars who wouldn’t have had as much time on television otherwise. This has given us a good lead-in to WrestleMania 33, and a very balanced list of matches on the card. With the obvious exception of the mixed tag team match, these matches are gimmick free and will engage the wrestling purists among the viewing audience.
Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles
A classic Shane McMahon high spot during a recent Smackdown episode.
In January of 2016, neither of these two men were actively employed by the WWE. In 2017, both are featured in a high-profile match against each other at WrestleMania. There has been a lot of fan backlash to his match, with many upset with the idea of pairing the immensely talented AJ Styles with a non-full time wrestler, Shane McMahon. I don’t share in this criticism, I think that this is an intriguing matchup and that both men will get a chance to shine on professional wrestling’s greatest stage.
AJ Styles made his WWE debut (not counting his failed quick tryout in 2002) at the Royal Rumble in 2016, and within a few months he had caught fire and become WWE Champion. It was a pretty remarkable debut year and something you don’t see very often, if ever. Someone in their late 30’s that makes a debut on the WWE main roster and quickly becomes champion is more or less unprecedented.
Styles is regarded by many as a “Modern Day Shawn Michaels” in the sense that his in-ring work is reminiscent of The Heartbreak Kid. I don’t see the exact comparison, but I can’t deny that he is among the best wrestlers in the WWE today. Very few can keep pace with him during matches and that is where the criticism of this matchup comes into play.
Shane McMahon has always endeared himself to WWE fans through his willingness to take incredible risks and almost impossible looking bumps. He left us with indelible memories from the Attitude Era when he jumped off the Titan Tron, got thrown through a plate glass window, or jumped coast-to-coast across the ring. His most recent death-defying stunt was when he jumped off the top of Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 32 last year.
The flip side of that coin is that Shane is known as a one-trick-pony who’s matches are only meaningful if he takes a crazy bump. He isn’t known as a sound technical wrestler. A number of fans are vocal in their displeasure of Shane being Styles’ opponent for this reason.
I’m going to take a wait-and-see attitude before I rush to judgement. Both men are veterans and have delivered when put into the spotlight countless times throughout their respective careers. This match doesn’t appear to be designed for Shane to take a crazy bump (Styles as much said so on the go-home Smackdown this week), but he doesn’t have to do that in order for the two to tell a story with this match.
Prediction: Winner, AJ Styles
John Cena and Nikki Bella vs. The Miz and Maryse in a Mixed Tag Team Match
This is seriously the best they could do with “Big Match” John Cena?
This match is one of the aforementioned creative missteps that I alluded to in my previous blog post. John Cena and The Miz are two of the absolute best in the world right now and deserved better than to be saddled with a mixed tag team match.
This isn’t WrestleMania VI when it was a novel idea to have a mixed tag match between “Macho King” Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri vs. “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire. At that time, women’s wrestling in WWE was occasionally interesting to watch, and Sherry and Sapphire were two of the best there were. These days, women’s wrestling in WWE is insufferable to watch, a cacophony of shrieks and botched spots. Nikki Bella embodies this terribleness as one of the absolute worst there are today. Who would even know if Maryse is any good? Does she even wrestle?
The Miz has been on a roller-coaster of highs and lows over his decade-long WWE run. He was the main event winner at WrestleMania XXVII over John Cena and walked out of the building as the reigning WWE Champion that night. Since then, he has toiled in the mid-card, not having worked any main event-level angles in that period of time. He has shown steady improvement that entire time, however, and has become one of the most dependable heels on the WWE roster today. The crowd genuinely hates him.
There aren’t enough accolades to describe John Cena at this stage of his career. He’s taken a slight step back in his wrestling schedule, taking a few months off per year to film TV shows and movies. When he is working WWE matches, he proves time and time again why he is the best in the world and has earned the moniker “Big Match John”. He can work matches with anybody on the roster, and has spent a considerable amount of time making NXT products such as Rusev and Kevin Owens look good early on in their careers. He also produced one of the best matches of the year against AJ Styles.
Much credit should be given to The Miz and John Cena for trying to make the most out of this mess. The satirical comedy that The Miz and Maryse have performed in their take on “Total Bellas” has been hilarious. They have done a good job of bringing the reality of the situation into the storyline, especially when pointing out the very real nature of Cena’s and Bella’s relationship together, one that is not based on love but the desire for the both of them to build their brands. Cena has consistently and expertly countered their barbs and come back with clever one-liners of his own. Nikki Bella has been terrible as usual. Luckily, Cena, Miz, and even Maryse have overshadowed Bella’s awful performances so they are barely noticeable.
The bottom line is that John Cena and The Miz deserve better than this. This should have been a singles rematch of their WrestleMania XXVII match, maybe with their respective significant others in their corners. Maybe. Instead, two of the best we have today will be saddled with this aborted mess of a match. A match that is not designed to entertain regular WWE fans, but is designed to be a commercial for the “Total Bellas” reality show.
Prediction: Winners, The Miz and Maryse
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Baron Corbin in a Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
This match is an exciting opportunity for both the fans and the competitors alike. The fans have a chance to see a meaningful title matchup for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania for the first time in recent memory. For the competitors, they both have an opportunity to make a statement with this match, and propel their fledgling careers. Both men come into this match with a reasonable amount of criticism about their in-ring work and ability to entertain on the mic. But they can put a lot of that talk to rest with a strong performance in a WrestleMania match.
The reigning Intercontinental Champion, Dean Ambrose, is in his fifth year on the main WWE roster. He immediately rose to the top as a member of The Shield, and has had nearly three years to show us what he has as a singles competitor since the faction was broken up. Ambrose is a former WWE Champion and has worked many pay-per-view main event matches. His critics will point out that his in-ring work is lacking, especially given that he can’t throw a credible working punch. It also feels like at times that he is trying too hard to act “insane” rather than just to be himself and let the crowd decide what they think about him.
Baron Corbin is just about to celebrate his first-year anniversary on the WWE main roster. He was a surprise entrant in the André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, and shocked the audience when he was the winner. In the year since, he has been given a chance to get over with his “Lone Wolf” gimmick. Most of the criticism towards Corbin is directed towards his ability to deliver convincing promos. He sounds very scripted and insincere, kind of like he is trying too hard and not being himself when he talks.
These two were handed the ball when their feud was set up at Elimination Chamber when Corbin beat down Ambrose after Ambrose had eliminated Corbin from the match. They’ve had a series of brutal encounters on Smackdown since, culminating in the announcement of their WrestleMania match. It is put up or shut up time for these two. If they come through and give us something to remember for years to come, it will go a long way towards getting them over permanently.
Prediction: Winner and new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Baron Corbin
Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Mickie James vs. Carmella (with James Ellsworth) vs. Naomi in a Six-pack challenge for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
This match is on the pre-show. If you are at WrestleMania, you can stay in the parking lot and get drunk and you won’t miss much. If you are watching at home, you can flip through the channels and maybe watch bowling on ESPN 4 and you won’t miss much.
Prediction: This is going to be the worst match of the night by a wide margin. We’d be better off with nothing in its place.
Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton in a Singles match for the WWE Championship
Randy Orton’s unexpected win of the Royal Rumble match in January took him to a very circuitous route to the WWE Championship Match against Bray Wyatt. As a loyal member of the Wyatt Family, Orton immediately refused his guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania, citing his allegiance to the WWE Champion, Bray Wyatt. This set in motion a series of events that lead to AJ Styles winning a match against Luke Harper for the right to face Wyatt at WrestleMania 33.
In a Shakespearian twist, Orton abruptly turned on Wyatt and burned down the house that the mysterious “Sister Abagail” lived in, sending Wyatt into a rage. In the process, Orton declared that he wanted his title shot back and was awarded a chance to face AJ Styles for the #1 contender spot in a match which he won.
It wasn’t the most straight-forward and logical wrestling angles we’ve seen, but it served the purpose to not only set up an emotional basis for the feud between Orton and Wyatt, but it also paved the way for the AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon match as well.
Randy Orton missed WrestleMania 32 last year with an injury, reportedly to his shoulder. The Viper will be fired up and ready to put on a good show this time around. He can always be counted on to deliver at WrestleMania, having been in more than one main event, most recently at WrestleMania XXX.
Bray Wyatt was at a career crossroads. He had never won a WrestleMania match, nor had he won a singles championship of any kind since his debut on the WWE main roster as the Wyatt character. He previously had an unsuccessful run as Husky Harris, but was re-packaged in NXT as an occult heel and the leader of the Wyatt Family faction.
At first, Wyatt was unique and a breath of fresh air. His bizarre ramblings and uncommon ring entrance were a big hit with fans despite him working mainly as a heel. Unfortunately, as time went on, his act became old and stale, especially since he never seemed to be able to win a big match. He was 0-2 at WrestleMania, and worked a forgettable angle with The Rock at WrestleMania 32 last year. With no significant victories on his resume, you could pretty much count on him losing every big match he was in, thus making them difficult to become emotionally invested in. All of this changed when he finally became WWE Champion in February at Elimination Chamber. Suddenly, there became reason to believe he actually was a contender.
This match, along with any match Randy Orton is ever in, has the chance to be the match of the night. These two have a bruising style, and move deceptively quickly for men of their size. There is no doubt that they both view this match as potentially legacy-defining and will aim to bring the house down.
Prediction: Winner and still WWE Champion, Bray Wyatt
Stay tuned for more analysis between now and Sunday. If you have any questions or comments, please comment below or send me an e-mail (advice@njnonconformist.com).
The North Jersey Nonconformist 
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