Randy Orton – The North Jersey Nonconformist

WrestleMania 38 Postscript

April 4, 2022 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

After a 19 year absence, Stone Cold Steve Austin returned to the ring at WrestleMania 38 against Kevin Owens

I must move past my complaints about the WrestleMania two-night paradigm because it appears to be permanent. But when WrestleMania spans two nights for a total of 16 matches, there is a lot to unpack. First and foremost, as a whole WrestleMania was very enjoyable. Most of the matches were exciting and there were many unexpected moments.

In isolation, however, Saturday night was the better of the two. In fact, if WrestleMania 38 was just what was given to us on Saturday night, I would have been perfectly satisfied. It was full of great matches that were capped by a surprise main event match featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin that re-wrote the history of his career and legacy.

Sunday night was a good show, even if things were a little strange at times. The Gable Steveson segment was a bit awkward and made him look very green. The New Day match was unusually short. The Pat McAfee bonus match with Mr. McMahon was another awkward segment that did not do either one of them any favors. The main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar ran a little short for a champion versus champion match.

These are minor criticisms. A show this large would be impossible to make perfect. Not every wrestler is the best and not every match can draw five stars from the critics.

To look at it through a different lens, I offer a list of WrestleMania winners and losers every year. This year, there are far more winners than there are losers.

Losers

Rick Boogs: The show got off to a rough start when Boogs suffered a devastating leg injury in the first match. Things were looking good for the upstart wrestler, but now he is facing surgery and a lengthy rehab.
Otis: The big man has a lot of potential but got lost in the shuffle in his six-man tag team match.
Omos: Having him lose at WrestleMania is not a great way to build a monster heel of his size.
The New Day: As I mentioned, their match was so short it was a throw-away. Time to move on from this gimmick.
Mr. McMahon: He should know how to sell a Stunner by now!

Winners

The Usos: Their career began with them constantly being overlooked at WrestleMania. Now they are the top tag team in the WWE and made a strong statement by winning the opening match.
Drew McIntyre: He got to cut the ring ropes with a sword. Cool!
Logan Paul: I had no expectations for his wrestling ability given that as far as I could tell, he had never worked a match in front of a crowd. I was blown away with how well he performed. He carried himself like a veteran. He was smooth, paced himself well, and his mechanics were solid. He should sign a full-time contract.
Cody Rhodes: Jim Ross always says that when a wrestler leaves a promotion, it is usually because of one of “the two c’s: cash or creative”. Rhodes left the WWE for AEW for the latter but returned for the former. And while he was cashing in, he orchestrated himself a great WrestleMania moment with his win over Seth Rollins.
Kevin Owens: The big man from Marieville, Quebec was in a WrestleMania main event match against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Enough said!
Stone Cold Steve Austin: He looked a little slow, but it did not matter. His connection to the audience is as strong as it has ever been. He often said he did not want to return because he did not think he was physically capable of performing at a high level. But he proved himself wrong and found a way to make his match work.
Steve Austin Fans: If you ever chanted “ONE MORE MATCH” at Steve over the last 19 years, you finally got your wish!
Triple H: He got the send-off he deserves with one last WrestleMania moment.
Gable Steveson: The Olympic gold medalist and NCAA champion was spotlighted two nights in a row. I only hope for his sake that this sake he doesn’t get slapped with the “he’s being forced down our throats” label.
Randy Orton: What a pop for that hot tag!
Pat McAfee: He might not look like a wrestler, but he can sure work like one. He even got to call his own match on commentary. He should be on cloud nine all week after the weekend he had.
Austin Theory: Hey Mr. McMahon, you can learn a thing or two from your protégé about how to sell a Stunner!
Roman Reigns: I started this blog primarily so I could rant about how much I could not stand to see Reigns in the WrestleMania main event year after year. But since he took WrestleMania 36 off and returned as The Tribal Chief, he has been the top performer in the world. I have done a complete about-face about Roman. It is about time I finally say it: I acknowledge Roman Reigns!

Raw is beginning as I am finishing this post. I look forward to seeing where things go from here. Hey look, Veer is going to make his Raw debut tonight…

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: Austin Theory, Cody Rhodes, Gable Steveson, Kevin Owens, Logan Paul, Mr. McMahon, Pat McAfee, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Stone Cold Steve Austin, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 38 Sunday: Analysis and Predictions

April 3, 2022 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

If WrestleMania 38 was just the Saturday card, it would have left everyone satisfied. Every performer on the Sunday show is going to have a hard time following the matches that took place on Saturday. It was a near-flawless show that exemplified professional wrestling at its finest.

There is no lack of star power lined up for WrestleMania Sunday, and there is a good mix of grudge matches and title matches. It is going to be capped with a title unification match between the two top stars in the WWE. If WrestleMania must be two nights, at least there is a lot to look forward to tonight.

The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland (with Butch)

This match is behind the eight-ball to begin with because Big E will not be able to compete in it, having suffered a broken neck on Smackdown in an accidental botched spot with Ridge Holland. Big E would have been the biggest star of the bunch, and it cost Butch his opportunity to be in the match. Instead, he will be the heater on the outside.

The New Day gimmick certainly has staying power and is still over with WWE fans. Sheamus and Ridge Holland are a much newer pairing, and Holland is in a good spot here with a chance to show that he can hang with this veteran group. Butch is the odd man out but should at least get a spot to draw some heat for himself.

Prediction: Winners, Sheamus and Ridge Holland

Queen Zelina and Carmella (c) vs. Sasha Banks and Naomi vs. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan vs. Natalya and Shayna Baszler in a fatal four-way tag team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Try to say that one fast. This is the lone overbooked “let’s get everybody on the WrestleMania card” match of the weekend. These matches are always confusing and help nobody look good. This will give me an opportunity to catch up on my DVR queue while the show is still on.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn in an Anything Goes match

Logan Paul crushed it on WrestleMania Saturday. Can Johnny Knoxville do the same? The Anything Goes stipulation opens a creative channel to introduce multiple Jackass-type stunts into the match. It also protects Knoxville if he can not wrestle at a competent level.

Prediction: Winner, Sami Zayn

Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory

I caught Pat McAfee wrestling in a War Games match on NXT and was very impressed with how he carried himself. He does not have too many matches on his professional resume, but he has shown he can rise to the occasion. Austin Theory is among the youngest competitors at WrestleMania 38. He is going to want to prove he has long-term potential to be a WrestleMania star.

McAfee has a great deal of name recognition outside the WWE as a sportscaster to begin with. This is an obvious spot for the WWE to give him a few highlight-worthy spots and a victory to draw some mainstream recognition.

Prediction: Winner, Pat McAfee

RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) (c) vs. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis) in a triple threat tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

SHOOOSH!!! This one is not quite as bad as the women’s fatal four-way championship match, but there is going to be a lot going on that will distract from the individual talents. These are three very capable tag teams, and you must hope that their performances do not get lost in the shuffle.

Randy Orton is a former WrestleMania main-eventer who has slid down the card as a babyface tag-team wrestler. It seems logical that at some point he is going to backstab Riddle and turn heel. What better time and place than WrestleMania?

Prediction: Winners and new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Alpha Academy.

Edge vs. AJ Styles

A grudge match between two veterans with nothing titles or stipulations on the line? Yes, please! Edge working heel for the first time since his surprise return to the WWE? Yes, please! This one has match of the night potential.

Prediction: Winner, Edge

Bobby Lashley vs. Omos

It is good that Bobby Lashley made the WrestleMania card after it looked like he was suffering from some sort of injury that limited his participation at Elimination Chamber and saw him surrender the championship. Unfortunately, there was not much of a build for this match. But Bobby is one of the top stars in WWE today and it should be fun to watch these ridiculously large human beings do battle.

Prediction: Winner, Bobby Lashley

Brock Lesnar (WWE Champion) vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Champion) (with Paul Heyman) in a Winner Takes All match to unify the WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship

This is the third time we have seen this exact same WrestleMania main event. But it is the first time that Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar have been positioned properly. Roman Reigns is finally the arrogant heel that the fans wanted him to be, and Brock is the “cowboy with a strange mohawk and ponytail” that is somehow working out very well for him.

There is a clear good guy versus bad guy dynamic in this match, and there is a title unification on the line. What more could you really ask for in a WrestleMania main event?

Prediction: Winner and Unified Champion, Roman Reigns

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Austin Theory, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, Butch, Edge, Johnny Knoxville, Omos, Pat McAfee, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, Riddle, Ridge Holland, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, The New Day, WrestleMania, WWE

2022 Royal Rumble Analysis and Predictions

January 29, 2022 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

The Road to WrestleMania 38 begins Saturday night at the Royal Rumble in St. Louis. WrestleMania is now an unnecessarily long two-night event, so there are a lot of storylines to lay out between now and then. The matches on the Rumble card that will have the biggest consequences for WrestleMania are the men’s rumble match, and the two men’s championship matches.

Edge and Beth Phoenix vs. The Miz and Maryse in a Mixed tag team match

A lot of what Miz does these days is mid-card work that promotes his outside interests in reality shows. He is still the most dependable heel the WWE has on the roster and could easily move up the card if he was not mired in situations like this.

You would be hard-pressed to find an Edge fan who wanted to see him come out of retirement to be in a mixed tag team match with his wife. This is a long way down from last year when he won the 2021 men’s rumble match as the #1 entrant and went on to get smoked by Roman Reigns in the WrestleMania main event.

Prediction: Winners, The Miz and Maryse

Becky Lynch (c) vs. Doudrop in a Singles match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

No comment.

Prediction: I’m going to take a nap during this match.

Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Bobby Lashley (with MVP) in a singles match for the WWE Championship

These are two of the very best in the game right now. Both competitors have similar backgrounds as amateur wrestlers-turned pro who then bounced between professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Lesnar has been near or at the top of the WWE for his entire career, but Lashley was more of a late bloomer, not winning his first WWE championship until he was in his mid-40’s.

Time has not slowed these two down at all, they are both peak athletes and freakishly large. This is a WrestleMania caliber match that I cannot wait to watch.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Champion, Bobby Lashley

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Seth “Freakin” Rollins in a Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

These two former Shield members are feuding again. They have both undergone many character machinations since Rollins took the belt off Reigns at WrestleMania 31. Reigns took longer to find himself but he finally figured out how to be the top guy in the company. This will be the first time they clash as heels. The Uso’s have been banned from ringside so Reigns will have to go it alone.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Ronda Rousey is going to make a surprise return to win the Royal Rumble and go on to face Becky Lynch at WrestleMania.

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

The rumor mill has not had much to say about this year’s men’s rumble winner. The main men’s matches at WrestleMania are going to feature Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar (potentially even head-to-head) so that leaves a spot open for someone to jump into the main event picture.

The WWE is cross promoting the new Jackass movie and will place Johnny Knoxville in the rumble match where he will likely eliminate Sami Zayn. Zayn always seems to be the mark to get guest celebrities over. Not a bad spot to be in.

At the time of this writing, there are five spots that have yet to be announced. They’ll likely be filled by NXT call ups and returning retirees. None of them have potential to contend for the win.

I am handicapping the field as follows:

No Chance in Hell

Angelo Dawkins
Montez Ford
Dominik Mysterio
Austin Theory
Johnny Knoxville
Happy Corbin
Madcap Moss
Sami Zayn
Omos
Riddle
Chad Gable
Otis
Dolph Ziggler
Robert Roode
Shinsuke Nakamura
Rick Boogs
Ricochet

Dark Horse Potential

Sheamus
Damian Priest
AJ Styles
Kofi Kingston
Randy Orton

Favorites

Rey Mysterio
Big E
Kevin Owens

The No Chance in Hell field contains nobody with WrestleMania main event potential, at least not in 2022.

Damien Priest has been on the rise this year and could surprise with a big win. The rest of the dark horse field are former champions and can be counted on to carry a WrestleMania title match. A win by any of them would be a surprise, but not a shock.

Rey Mysterio has been at the forefront of WWE storylines and is on the cover of the latest WWE video game. The geriatric luchador apparently is still a moneymaker and might have one big main event run left in him.

Big E is a recent former champion and may be poised to take off again. He would match up well against Reigns or Lesnar in a one-on-one match.

Kevin Owens recently returned to working as a heel which is his natural state. He would be able to sell a WrestleMania main even against a top babyface in his sleep. Maybe this is finally KO’s time to have a big WrestleMania moment.

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Big E, Brock Lesnar, Damian Priest, Edge, Johnny Knoxville, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, Royal Rumble, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, The Miz, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 37 Night 2 Analysis and Predictions

April 11, 2021 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

Two nights of WrestleMania? Best weekend ever? Or too much wrestling?

After watching last night’s card, I believe the WWE has fixed the “overcrowding” situation it used to have when WrestleMania was one night. There was only one over-booked match that was in place to get people on the card. Most of the matches were plain singles or tag team matches that were not rushed. While there were not too many surprises in the outcomes, most of them were very entertaining from start to finish.

Saturday’s show will be a tough act for Sunday’s show to follow. I think I would have been happy if last night was the entire WrestleMania card, but I am happy to watch again tonight. Here are my match predictions.

Riddle (c) vs. Sheamus in a Singles match for the WWE United States Championship

I have always been the kind of wrestling fan that found most of the babyfaces to be annoying. Riddle is my worst nightmare. I do not know what they are thinking with this guy. All I can hope for is that Sheamus shoves Riddle’s scooter down his own throat, and then kicks Riddle’s head into the 19^th row.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE United States Champion, Sheamus

Asuka (c) vs. Rhea Ripley in a Singles match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

Rhea Ripley’s gimmick seems to be to show up from NXT just before WrestleMania and get herself a major brand title shot. Not sure why this keeps happening to her, she does not bring much to the table. Asuka certainly does not bring anything to the table either.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss) vs. Randy Orton

Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews Nigerian Drum Fight for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

This is a head-scratching development. These guys were perfectly capable of carrying a babyface/heel feud centered over the Intercontinental Championship as they were. For some reason, Apollo Crews decided he was going to turn into an ethnic heel and develop a fake accent just a few weeks ago. There is nothing stranger than when a WWE Superstar gains or loses an accent, just ask Kofi Kingston.

Whatever a Nigerian Drum Match is supposed to be does not sound like it is WrestleMania-worthy. But these terrible creative decisions can not take away from the fact that these are two of the best wrestlers on the roster today. Hopefully, they can make chicken salad out of chicken scratch and turn in a memorable match.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Apollo Crews

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (with Logan Paul)

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are trying to challenge Randy Orton and John Cena for the longest feud ever. These guys know each other well and are both performing at a high level right now. They are going to have to get Logan Paul involved in the match somehow, hopefully in a way that does not interfere with the story the two professionals are trying to tell.

Prediction: Winner, Sami Zayn

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) (with Reginald) vs. Tag Team Turmoil winners in a Tag team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

The makeshift team of Natalya and Tamina was the puzzling choice to win Saturday night’s race-to-the-bottom turmoil match to earn a shot at the Women’s Tag Team Championship on Sunday. With any luck the title match is better, but I would not count on it.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

The Fiend (with Alexa Bliss) vs. Randy Orton

Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are at it again at WrestleMania and hopefully this time their match is better than the aborted mess that was their WrestleMania 33 match. The 2017 version of Bray Wyatt was floundering, and the special effects used in the match were anything other than scary. Now that Bray Wyatt is working as his “Fiend” alter-ego and his television exposure has been kept to a minimum, his work is stronger than ever. Given the involvement from Alexa Bliss and some creative camera work and special effects in the fan-less WWE Thunderdome, the build for this match has been one of the only standout storylines on WWE television right now.

Randy Orton is a versatile performer and seems to be in his element dealing with the supernatural aspect of Wyatt’s character. These guys are going to want to erase the memory of their first WrestleMania match and deliver a match to remember this time around.

Prediction: Winner, Randy Orton

Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Edge vs. Daniel Bryan in a Triple Threat match for the WWE Universal Championship

For years I complained that Roman Reigns was a talentless disaster that ruined every single WrestleMania main event he was in. He was miscast as a babyface, his promos and catchphrases were cringe-worthy, and his in-ring psychology defied logic. Then he disappeared the week before WrestleMania 36, forfeiting his spot in a championship match with Goldberg and stayed off WWE television for months.

Then something strange happened. Reigns pivoted into a heel and finally became a talent worth taking an interest in. His brooding mannerisms are much more suited towards being the arrogant “Head of the Table” than whatever the “Big Dog” was supposed to be.

While it is a feel-good story that Edge was able to return to the ring after being forced into retirement due to a neck injury, his reemergence has been a complete debacle. His WrestleMania 36 match with Randy Orton was among the worst on the card, a thirty-minute exercise in how many times they could hit each other over the head with a heavy object. Not much longer after that, Edge was lost to injury in a development that surprised nobody. While he was able to win the Royal Rumble and secure a title match at WrestleMania, it seemed like the match was lacking something big.

Cue everyone’s favorite underdog, Daniel Bryan. Bryan was the main event winner that WWE management did not even want on the card at WrestleMania XXX. After being forced into early retirement himself and making a miracle comeback, Bryan is now being asked to spring into action to spice up the action for the main event of WrestleMania 37. There has not been a career arc like this in WWE history!

For the first time in his career, Roman Reigns will be in a WrestleMania main event worth watching. Bryan knows his days are numbered and will look to make this a match to remember. This not only has match of the night potential, but it could also go down as a WrestleMania classic.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Universal Champion, Daniel Bryan

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: Apollo Crews, Asuka, Big E, Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, Rhea Ripley, Riddle, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 36 Postscript

April 6, 2020 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

The most unusual WrestleMania ever featured an unforgettable Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles

Vince McMahon and the WWE managed to defy the odds and stage WrestleMania 36, despite overwhelming regulatory pressure across America to avoid unnecessary work and remain socially distant. The die-hard fan in me says that WrestleMania is necessary and must go on at all costs. But I’ll leave it up to my readers to decide if it was a wise decision to go ahead with it, given the potential risks to the performers, production staff, anybody they came in contact with, and society as a whole.

The WWE did the best they could under the circumstances, but it is nearly impossible to put on a credible professional wrestling show without a live audience in the stands to react to what they are seeing and hearing in the ring. Two nights of fan-less WrestleMania started to fall a little flat by Sunday.

It was the most obvious during the final match of Sunday night between Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntire. This was a championship match in a WrestleMania main event that was made up of almost all finishing moves and not much else. Under normal circumstances, the fans would have popped for the finishers and each subsequent false finish, finally exploding when the emerging hero Drew McIntire finally got the pin and took home the gold. But with silence in the building, the match came across as underwhelming and lacked excitement. That exact same match in front of 80,000 fans would have appeared to be much different.

It wasn’t all a wash, there were some fun moments, and some interesting spots that wouldn’t have happened in front of a live crowd. You could hear what the wrestlers and their entourage members were saying, like when Paul Heyman said to Lesnar: “He’s good, you have to hit him again!” And the wrestlers were able to make creative use of the props in the WWE performance center.

If I had to grade the show overall, I’d give it a “B”, but I’d give Saturday night an “A” and Sunday night a “C”. Saturday night was a bit more compact, and it featured a very good match between Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins. And of course, the main event Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles stole the show and will go down as one of the best WrestleMania matches of all time.

Sunday was a big more lackluster overall, not just because of the lackluster main event. It also featured another cinematic match between Bray Wyatt and John Cena which didn’t work as well as the Boneyard Match on Saturday. In their Firefly Funhouse Match, there wasn’t much of a match at all, but a satirical and bizarre career retrospective of both individuals that ended without much wrestling or fighting at all. I see what the WWE was trying to do there, but it just didn’t work all that well.

Sunday also featured the Last Man Standing match between Randy Orton and Edge. The match went way too long, and in fact clocked in at the second longest WrestleMania match ever behind only the sixty-minute Iron Man match between Shawn Michaels and Brett “The Hitman” Hart at WrestleMania XII. As Causal Geekery points out, Last Man Standing matches are a creative trap to being with, they are an exercise in very long false finishes which try your patience. Which is more exciting, a kick out at two and 7/8ths, or someone who barely gets to his feet after an excessively long 9 count and then falls back down again? These two should have had an emotional and exciting match, instead all they did was hit each other over the head repeatedly and found ways to get up until Edge brained Orton with a Con-Chair-To to put the match out of its misery.

Per the norm, WrestleMania had its share of winners and losers. Some came out looking very good, others not so much.

Losers

Seth Rollins: Seth came into WrestleMania with an impressive 6-1 record, having recorded at least one victory in every WrestleMania he had competed in. Those aren’t exactly Undertaker-like stats, but they were nothing to sneeze at and something he could have used to build interest in future WrestleMania matches. That angle is now dead.
Charlotte Flair: Now that she’s the NXT champion, does that mean she’s demoted from the main brands? This never made any sense.
Brock Lesnar: He sure loses a lot of WrestleMania matches, doesn’t he? At what point does he lose his mystique as The Conqueror?
Goldberg: Why was he brought back again?
Bobby Lashley: Jobbing to Aelister Black has no upside.
Daniel Bryan: Lost a championship match in two straight WrestleMania’s. He needs to regain some momentum if he wants to finish his career out on top.
Dolph Ziggler: They finally put him on a WrestleMania card in a singles match, and he loses to Otis? And Otis gets the girl in the end? Oh man, just put Ziggler out of his misery already!
Randy Orton and Edge: Had a chance to put on a much better match than they did. Nobody told these veterans that “less is more”?

Winners

Kevin Owens: Seth Rollins’ loss is KO’s gain. He finally had his WrestleMania moment and can build off this.
Becky Lynch: Her match sucked, but she has her own Mack Truck!
Drew McIntyre: His WrestleMania moment lost a little something with no fans to enjoy it, but he still closed out WrestleMania with a championship win over Brock Lesnar, his journey to the top of the WWE is finally complete.
Braun Strowman: Let’s hear it for the guy who couldn’t ever seem to get to the top! After all these years in WWE, he won his first singles title in 2020, only to lose the Intercontinental Title very quickly. He had to replace Roman Reigns in a championship match against Goldberg with no buildup, and just like that he had his WrestleMania moment and walked out with the WWE Universal Championship!
Sami Zayn: His middling career finally includes a singles championship match victory.
Otis: This is the unlikeliest WrestleMania booking of them all. For a guy who is a rookie and a tag team specialist to get a singles win at WrestleMania is nearly unheard of. And he got the girl in the end, I guess I must admit that the guy has game!
AJ Styles and The Undertaker: All I can say about their match is “wow!” It was a masterpiece of the rarely utilized “Cinematic Wrestling” artform. The Undertaker has been justifiably criticized for hanging on for too long and putting on sub-par matches. But the creative editing in this non-traditional match made him look like a million bucks. AJ Styles was the perfect foil for this match. The guy knows how to be a heel, he cheats, he talks smack, and he begs for forgiveness right before he gets pummeled by the babyface. It was a movie and a wrestling clinic all in one, and it will be included in the list of greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. And it began and ended with “Now That We’re Dead” by the greatest band in the world, Metallica!

Moving forward, it is very hard to say what will happen next. Not because of the natural unpredictability of WWE storylines, but because the world is still in the throws of the COVID-19 crisis, and that directly impacts how and if the WWE can still generate content. Now that WrestleMania is over, safety is paramount, and we can only hope that the world returns to normal sometime soon and we can get back to enjoying Raw and Smackdown and WWE pay-per-views in front of packed arenas again. That would make the world seem normal again!

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Edge, Goldberg, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Otis, Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, The Undertaker, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 36 Analysis and Predictions

April 4, 2020 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

I hope you weren’t counting on Roman Regins to appear at this pandemic-influenced WrestleMania!

Amid a global pandemic that has shaken our reality to the core, WrestleMania weekend is here. By all accounts, the entire show was recorded on several closed sets well in advance of the weekend.

Professional wrestling is impossible to be “socially distanced”. Even a die-hard fan must wonder if the decision to go ahead with WrestleMania was a wise one, even with all the limitations that were placed on the event. Vince McMahon has a pretty shady past to begin with. In 1983, he helped Jimmy Snuka beat criminal charges for the murder of Nancy Argentino. He proceeded to do business with Saudi Arabia in the face of overwhelming evidence that their royal family had a man tortured and killed. You can almost hear him in a boardroom at WWE headquarters in Connecticut telling what’s left of his management team: “Dammit, I’m not going to let this coronavirus get in the way of what’s best for business, dammit!” Whatever you think of Vince or decision, we now have two nights of WrestleMania to watch, and there isn’t much else to do! Might as well tune in and try to enjoy it.

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, WrestleMania 36 had to be adapted radically, and it is going to look much different than what we are used to. First off, as I mentioned, it had to be stretched into two nights to cover for the loss of the traditional surrounding events such at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony and NXT Takeover. Second, number of competitors in matches has been limited, likely due to social distancing measures. Gone are the Battle Royals. Third, there will be no special guest appearances by non-WWE talent like we’ve seen in the past. No Joan Jett, Flo Rida, or Living Color to play superstar entrance themes.

But the most obvious difference of them all is that there won’t be any fans in attendance. It is hard to imagine professional wrestling taking place in front of an empty arena. It is a performance art that completely depends on fan reactions, and it feels empty and meaningless without a live audience to react what is said and done in the ring. This is going to put extra pressure on the performers themselves to figure out how to entertain a television audience that they can’t see or hear.

The one interesting thread outside of the announced matches is the inclusion of Rob Gronkowski as WrestleMania host. Gronkowski recently flamed out of the NFL because he was no longer able to perform at an elite level. The WWE saw something in him and signed him to a contract. I’d presume the original intent of his WrestleMania involvement was to have him get involved in a match leading to his first feud in WWE as a wrestler. Now he’s on double duty so we’ll see where it leads.

At the time of this writing, there are sixteen (!) matches planned across two nights. Of course, this means that there are too many active competitors on the WWE main rosters, and there is no way to hold an audience captive for long enough to watch all of them. I suggest using the women’s matches to get up and stretch. You won’t miss much, and it will help you concentrate on the better matches.

On to the predictions!

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins in a singles match

Who is better on WWE programming right now than Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins? These guys could be in a professional wrestling textbook chapter about how to get a classic good guy versus bad guy feud over with the fans.

The “Monday Night Messiah” cuts one of the best promos in WWE right now. And he sports an impressive WrestleMania record of 6-1. His only loss occurred at WrestleMania 31, but he went on to score a win later that same night anyway. Kevin Owens missed WrestleMania last year due to injury and does not have a signature WrestleMania moment in his career. He’s going to look to change that this weekend against Rollins. This match could steal the show, which ever night it’s on.

Prediction: Winner, Seth Rollins

The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) vs. Austin Theory and Angel Garza (with Zelina Vega) in a tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

This should be a decent filler match. The Street Profits are hot right now, and Austin Theory, who was called up from NXT to replace the unavailable Andrade, are all motivated to put on a good WrestleMania match.

Prediction: Winners and new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Austin Theory and Angel Garza

Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair in a singles match for the NXT Women’s Championship

After headlining WrestleMania 35 last year, Charlotte Flair finds herself in one of the biggest WrestleMania main event demotions since what happened to King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania III. She’s competing for the minor league title against a fledgling competitor that isn’t ready for the Raw or Smackdown stage, let alone WrestleMania.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

Becky Lynch (c) vs. Shayna Baszler in a singles match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

See the notes about the Charlotte Flair match above, Becky is in the same boat. It’s hard to understand why this happened to the women’s division year over year, but it probably has something to do with the fact that it is highly overrated and was not ready to headline WrestleMania 35 to begin with.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Drew McIntyre in a singles match for the WWE Championship

Drew McIntyre is the feel-good story headed into WrestleMania. His tale of being fired, re-dedicating himself, and making his way to the top of the WWE card has been told ad nauseum in the run up to this main event. This may seem like an organic storyline, the underdog that the crowd supported because they recognized his talent and effort, who was rewarded by the WWE with a WrestleMania main event appearance. But it really isn’t.

Brock Lesnar is the face of the WWE. He is the special attraction that sells tickets and draws ratings when he appears sparingly on WWE events. Drew McIntyre is nowhere near Lesnar’s league, and Lesnar is going to make very short work of him on his way to a big WrestleMania win.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE Champion, Brock Lesnar

Goldberg (c) vs. Braun Strowman in a singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

Talk about COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the WrestleMania card. First off, the WWE makes the ridiculous decision to have Goldberg come out of nowhere to squash The Fiend Bray Wyatt to set up a WrestleMania match between Goldberg and Roman Reigns. Never mind that the WWE spent a year building up Wyatt to be an unstoppable force, only to completely undo the whole thing by having him completely job to Goldberg at a match in Saudi Arabia. I guess they didn’t believe in Wyatt’s ability to sell tickets to WrestleMania, so they had to fall back to an ancient relic with better name recognition to fill that spot.

That match was designed to make Goldberg look strong headed into his WrestleMania main event against Reigns. There was a brief in-person faceoff between Goldberg and Reigns to set up the feud. But due to circumstances believed to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic, Reigns backed out of WrestleMania very late in the production cycle. Therefore, the WWE was forced to substitute Braun Strowman in Reigns’ place with no time to build up any storyline whatsoever. A situation like this is unprecedented in the WrestleMania era, no main event has ever been changed during WrestleMania weekend.

This is a bit of a curveball which makes the outcome of the match difficult to predict. It’s hard to believe that the WWE would elevate Strowman to champion out of nowhere. It’s also hard to believe that Goldberg is going to stick around for long as the champion when it appears that his job was simply to headline WrestleMania, hand the title to Reigns, and then fade away. It’s anyone’s guess, but I’ll make one anyway.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE Universal Champion, Goldberg

John Cena vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in a Firefly Fun House match

Bray Wyatt was a lost cause in the WWE, having not lived up to his full potential. The WWE pulled him off television, repackaged him as The Fiend, and a star was born. He became WWE champion and appeared to be on his way to a WrestleMania main event when he was inexplicably destroyed by Goldberg and lost the strap.

Even more inexplicable than that, the next night instead of challenging Goldberg to a rematch, he challenged John Cena to a WrestleMania match. This is a rematch of their WrestleMania XXX match that Cena won. It was a creative misstep to have Cena beat Wyatt at that time, and that sent Wyatt into his spiral of almost always losing big matches.

With the character of The Fiend all but ruined after his loss to Goldberg, it’s hard to care very much about him. But he is going to continue to be a full timer in the WWE while Cena will likely leave after WrestleMania to return to his acting career. Logic seems to dictate that Wyatt will take this victory under those circumstances.

Nobody knows exactly what a Firefly Fun House match is, or how someone wins it. To watch how that unfolds should be an interesting development.

Prediction: Winner, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

Bayley (c) vs. Lacey Evans vs. Naomi vs. Sasha Banks vs. Tamina in a Fatal 5-Way Elimination match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship

This match should be outlawed. Not because it violates social distancing standards, but because it looks terrible on paper, and will probably be even worse in practice.

Prediction: This match is going to suck.

Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley (with Lana) in a singles match

I have no idea where this match came from or why I should care. Bobby Lashley was doing some cool things in his “love triangle” program between himself, Lana, and Rusev. That program went away, Rusev is gone, and he’s now in a match that with the underwhelming Aleister Black, a guy with a cool entrance and not much else.

Prediction: Winner, Bobby Lashley

The Undertaker vs. AJ Styles in a Boneyard Match

After inexplicably being left off last year’s WrestleMania card, the greatest WrestleMania performer of all time is set to compete against veteran AJ Styles. The Undertaker made a surprise appearance at WWE Super Showdown in February to win the prestigious Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy, and to set up the feud with Styles for WrestleMania.

The Undertaker dropped his “deadman” gimmick for this feud as Styles called him out by his real name and referenced his wife Michelle McCool. Paradoxically, this is going to be a Boneyard Match, so you’d have to assume that The Undertaker is going to approach the situation with a hybrid “deadman” and “American Badass” persona. This should be one of the best matches on the card.

Prediction: Winner, The Undertaker

The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane) (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a tag team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

Four of the worst performers on the main roster.

Prediction: This match is going to suck

The Miz and John Morrison (c) vs. The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) vs. The Usos in a Triple Threat Ladder match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

It’s not WrestleMania without a ladder match, right? These are two of the best tag teams in the game today, along with the Miz and Morrison. It’s hard to understand why, when the talent roster is so stacked that the WWE brought back the highly overrated Morrison, but there are enough solid competitors in this match to carry him and make it entertaining. Hard to imagine a ladder match without crowd reactions, though.

Prediction: Winners and new WWE Smackdown Champions, The Usos

Elias vs. King Corbin in a singles match

Corbin is coming off one of the best programs of his career with his long-running feud with Roman Reigns. He’s among the best heels in the company right now and will be a formidable opponent for Elias. Both guys always carry themselves as if they have something to prove, so expect them to go the extra mile to put on a great match.

Prediction: Winner, King Corbin

Edge vs. Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match

After a nine-year absence from the WWE due to what was thought to be a career ending neck injury, Edge shocked the Houston crowd at the Royal Rumble with his surprise entry into the match. At the time it was hard to imagine a better feel-good moment. Well, the even better feel-good moment happened the very next night when Randy Orton attacked his former friend in the ring and attempted to re-break Edge’s neck! And the best feel-good moment of them all was when Orton explained that he attacked Edge because he loved him and was for his own good!

As far as wrestling storylines go, it doesn’t get any better than this. Randy Orton is cutting the best promos of his life right now and this is guaranteed to be an emotional, knock-down, drag-out brawl. This match could stand as one of the main events, it has that kind of potential.

Prediction: Winner, Randy Orton

Sami Zayn (c) (with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura) vs. Daniel Bryan (with Drew Gulak) in a singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

There is a lot happening in this match. It is a bit overbooked with all the extra faction members that are involved. Zayn and Bryan are more than capable of carrying this match on their own. I don’t get where Drew Gulak even came from or who he is. It is an odd pairing that does nothing for Bryan. Nakamura and Cesaro are well past their WWE peaks and are running out the clock on their contracts at this point without much to offer anymore. I’m hoping the focus is just on Zayn and Bryan and they put on an entertaining match. Bryan always saves his best for WrestleMania and I expect this year to be no different.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Intercontinental Champion, Daniel Bryan

Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler (with Mandy Rose) in a Singles match

Otis being booked in a singles match at WrestleMania is as unlikely as it gets. He is a tag team specialist and doesn’t have any memorable singles matches in the WWE at all. But the WWE saw something in him when it created the soap opera-like angle with his ill-fated romance with Mandy Rose. On the go-home Smackdown, a shadowy hacker revealed that Otis’ attempt at a date with Mandy Rose was sabotaged by a conspiracy between Sonya Deville and Dolph Ziggler.

This story is still being told, and its outcome is probably more interesting than the outcome of the match itself. The real prize isn’t winning the match, it’s Mandy Rose herself. One must hope that the outcome is for Dolph Ziggler to get her in the end, proving once and for all that nice guys finish last and chicks dig bad guys! Ziggler is a perennial under-achiever, this is a good opportunity for him to shine.

Prediction: Winner, Dolph Ziggler

That’s a lot of wrestling for two nights! Even a pre-produced and crowd-less WrestleMania is still going to be the best of the WWE. Enjoy the show and let me know what you think!

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Aleister Black, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Edge, Goldberg, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Otis, Randy Orton, Rob Gronkowski, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Street Profits, Undertaker, Vince McMahon, WrestleMania, WWE

WrestleMania 35 Analysis and Predictions

April 6, 2019 by njnonconformist 1 Comment

Myself with WWE Champion, The New Daniel Bryan and WrestleMania Axxess

East Rutherford, New Jersey will be the most important place in the world on Sunday! WrestleMania week is here! The excitement is in the air in my home state of New Jersey where WrestleMania 35 will be held at MetLife Stadium. There is no better tailgating scene in the NFL than at Giants and Jets games, and my crew and I are going to extend our parking lot grilling skills to WrestleMania.

There has almost never been a more peculiar time to be a WWE fan. Ratings for Raw have been at historic lows, despite the glut in talent from the NXT feeder system. There has never been a deeper WWE roster, but creatively, the WWE can’t seem to get out of its own way. In recognition of the low ratings and viewer apathy, Vince McMahon returned to WWE television and promised to shake things up. The shakeup included firing both general managers of Raw and Smackdown just to insert the McMahon family back as authority figures (because we’ve never seen that movie before), and promising a bunch of NXT call ups that either didn’t show up (what’s with that Lars Sullivan guy?) or completely failed to get over (EC3, I had such high hopes for you!).

But hey, WrestleMania 35 is here and there are at least 15 matches crammed into what will be a six-plus hour show. Time to get excited! We have title matches, battle royals, grudge matches, farewell matches, you name it! The possibilities are endless! We have no idea if The Undertaker, John Cena, or most oddly Kevin Owens are even going to be on the show. But if they do or they don’t, this card has all the makings of what can become a top-five-best WrestleMania of all time.

Since there are so many matches, unlike the WWE, I’m going to practice a little brevity with my blog and not take your entire day with it. But, if you are betting the matches offshore, you’ll want to take my predictions to the bank!

Special Attractions

Alexa Bliss is going to be the WrestleMania host. The way they’ve been playing things out on TV, she’s been more of a heel commissioner type by creating matches for superstars, rather than being a host. Either way, this is going to play out somehow, and will likely dictate the direction and finish of at least one match on the card.

Elias is going to put on a special musical performance. I expect him to insult the crowd and get interrupted, which perhaps will turn things into a spontaneous match.

Triple H. vs. Batista in a No Holds Barred match with Triple H’s career on the line

After having completely botching Batista’s last return to the WWE ahead of WrestleMania XXX, the WWE got this one exactly right. He’s back on a hot, reality-based, and emotional angle against his former mentor, Triple H. Of course, Triple H is the perfect foil for this type of angle, always able to get any kind of storyline over.

For the second straight WrestleMania at MetLife Stadium, Triple H’s career is on the line in a match. Unlike WrestleMania XXIX where he survived to see another day by defeating Brock Lesnar, don’t expect HHH to duplicate that feat. He has looked older and slower in recent years during his one-off matches, and he suffered a major injury when he last competed at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia last year. Time for the Cerebral Assassin, The King of Kings, The Game, whatever you wanna call him, to finally hang up his boots.

Prediction: Winner, Batista

Shane McMahon vs. The Miz in a Falls Count Anywhere match

Grudge matches don’t get much better than this. The rivalry between these two was built in a slow-burn angle that started with The Miz begging Shane to be his tag team partner so The Miz could make his dad proud of him. So, when the team failed, it set the stage for a masterfully executed heel turn by Shane when he attacked The Miz from behind in front of The Miz’s father.

The falls count anywhere stipulation was added to this match to accent McMahon’s talents as a stuntman. There will certainly be some big spot that includes him taking a death-defying leap and exploding through a large object at the bottom of his fall.

Prediction: Winner, Shane McMahon

Buddy Murphy (c) vs. Tony Nese in a singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

This match is a complete waste of time and shouldn’t be on the card. I wouldn’t know either guy if he bit me on the ass, and I’m betting you wouldn’t, either. Not gonna bother making a prediction for this match other than I’ll probably ride it out on the nacho stand line in MetLife Stadium.

Kurt Angle vs. Baron Corbin in Kurt Angle’s farewell match

Kurt Angle finished his career out well after his return to the WWE at WrestleMania 33. He’s a Hall of Famer and was featured in a high-profile WrestleMania match at WM 34. He’s going out on a high note with a feature farewell match at WrestleMania 35 against Baron Corbin.

This is a great spot for Baron Corbin, to be featured in Kurt Angle’s last match. He’s a great heel judging by the fan backlash against him being in this match. He knows he’s annoying and that people hate him, and he doesn’t care.

Wrestling tradition dictates that when someone leaves town, he puts the new guy over. It never fails.

Prediction: Winner, Baron Corbin

AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton

They’ve spent weeks on television trying to one-up the other on the microphone. There’s no gimmick, no titles on the line in this match. Just two of the best veteran professional wrestlers in the world in a heated grudge match. It will be a treat to watch them trying to one-up the other in the WrestleMania ring.

Prediction: Winner, Randy Orton

André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Ah, the refuge of the damned. The Sixth annual André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, the match that exists to “get all the wrestlers on the card” and hasn’t really produced any memorable moments. It hasn’t helped any careers either.

It is unfortunate that Braun Strowman is stuck in this match. This guy never seems to have any luck when it comes to WrestleMania booking. He’s got some silly feud going with two guys from Saturday Night Live that nobody has ever heard of. And there are 27 other competitors in the match, none of whom are marquee names. Boring.

Prediction: Winner, Braun Strowman

Samoa Joe (c) vs. Rey Mysterio in a singles match for the WWE United States Championship

After a long wait, Samoa Joe finally gets a one-on-one matchup at WrestleMania. Joe is one the most dependable heels on the roster and he is good at getting any storyline over. This is a great spot for him to be in, and he should really be able to carry the inferior and undersized Rey Mysterio to an exciting match.

Prediction: Winner and still champion, Samoa Joe

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre

Roman Reigns isn’t going to be in a fifth straight WrestleMania main event and that is a good thing. He wasn’t any good before he went away to get treated for Leukemia. He didn’t improve during that time, but the human-interest story stemming from his cancer battle seems to have finally gotten him over with the fans. That’s a long way to go to get over!

Drew McIntyre is believed to be a future WWE champion by many. This is going to be the biggest match of his life, so expect him to deliver a brutal performance.

Prediction: Winner, Drew McIntyre

The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) (c) vs. The Divas of Doom (Beth Phoenix and Natalya) vs. The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) vs. Nia Jax and Tamina in a fatal four-way tag team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship

The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection is far and away the worst name for a tag team the WWE has ever come up with. I can’t even think of something that compares. Bayley has the poorest gimmick in the WWE. Just no to this whole thing.

Prediction: The team with the dumbest name wins

Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Finn Bálor in a singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Finn Bálor is a scrawny little twerp who smiles too much. His Demon King gimmick is lame and illogical. I don’t get what the big deal with this guy is. Bobby Lashley is the total package and has already participated in one of the highest profile WrestleMania matches of all time when he represented future WWE Hall of Famer Donald Trump. Bobby won his match, giving them the right to shave Vince McMahon’s head bald. Expect another big performance out of Lashley this Sunday.

Prediction: Winner and still champion, Bobby Lashley

WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal

I love WrestleMania, but there are way too many matches on this card. If this match wasn’t on the show, not a single person in the world would think any less of WrestleMania.

The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) (c) vs. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder in a tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

Hey, good for Hawkins and Ryder to be featured in a straight-up tag team match in a crowded card. They haven’t done anything to distinguish themselves lately, but hey, here’s a chance! Well, they’ll probably get smoked in a quick match, but you never know.

Prediction: Winners and still champions, The Revival

The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) (c) vs. Ricochet and Aleister Black vs. The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev in a fatal four-way tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

There’s a lot to unpack in this match. To summarize the most important things you need to know about it:

The Usos: Veteran tag team that only made their first main-card WrestleMania appearance last year, only to get squashed and lose the titles. They want to put on a better show this year.
Ricochet and Aleister Black: Recent NXT callups that were randomly made into a tag team. They are hot right now and have a great deal of upside.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev: Why are these guys a team? In fact, why is Nakamura still in WWE and why is Rusev constantly cooling off every time he gets hot?
The Bar: After middling singles careers, these two have turned into one of the best tag teams we’ve ever seen.

Prediction: Winners and new champions, The Bar

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

Big Brock Lesnar continues to dominate the competition on Monday Night Raw. That is, when he decides to show up! Much to the chagrin of most fans, a part-timer is WWE Universal Champion. Of course, none of them realize that there’s money in getting them to hate the guy, no matter what the reason.

As good as Seth Rollins is, expect Vince McMahon to continue to troll you all with a Lesnar win. He can then go on to defend the title the next time the WWE heads to Saudi Arabia this year.

Prediction: Winner and still champion, Brock Lesnar

The New Daniel Bryan (c) vs. Kofi Kingston in a singles match for the WWE Championship

After a three-year layoff due to a brain injury, Daniel Bryan has been firing on all cylinders since his return a year ago. Questions about his working style or the WWE’s commitment were quickly squashed when he became a heel champion in 2018. The WWE has never committed to him more than they have right now. Daniel Bryan is at his best when he works heel and is a breath of fresh air to see him shun his “Yes Chant” and trust in his ability to make the crowd hate him.

Kofi Kingston is playing out a role reversal with Daniel Bryan from Bryan’s lead in to WrestleMania XXX. The fans wanted Bryan to get a title shot so WWE creative asserted the storyline of him being labeled a “B+ player” who was being oppressed by the McMahon Family and had to earn his shot to main event WrestleMania.

Kofi caught lightning in a bottle in a gauntlet match on Smackdown that he wasn’t even supposed to be in. Filling in for the injured Ali, he put in a nearly hour long effort until finally losing to AJ Styles. After 11 years of toiling in the mid-card, Kofi was embraced by the fans who demanded that he get a title shot at WrestleMania. Since WWE creative had some time to kill, and apparently, they were out of new ideas, they replayed the exact same “B+ player who is being screwed by the McMahon Family” angle on Kofi. Of course, Kofi persevered, and now here he is in the biggest match of his life.

This match most certainly should be the best match of the night. These are two of the best workers on the roster, and for the first time in 11 years, Kofi will go from a B+ player to an A player. He’s still going to lose, though.

Prediction: Winner and still champion, The New Daniel Bryan

Ronda Rousey (c; Raw) vs. Charlotte Flair (c; SmackDown) vs. Becky Lynch Winner takes all triple threat match for both the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship

They said it couldn’t be done, but for the firs time in WWE history, women will headline the show in the main event. As my faithful readers now, I am no fan of what is formerly known as the “Diva’s Division”, having suffered years of sub-par bra-and-panties matches, and other waste of time segments of the like.

That was then and this is now, and the WWE has fully committed to making the Women’s Division equal to the Men’s Division. Although I’m still not really a fan of most of the division, I have to say that two of the best they have are in this match, in Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair.

I was convinced Rousey was going to absolutely suck when she burst onto the scene last year and I was surprised at how well she took to the business. Her promos are raw and personal, and she is a workhorse in the ring. I was initially interested in Charlotte Flair because she is Ric Flair’s daughter. But she went on to distinguish herself almost immediately and is an imposing figure in the ring.

I am not sold on Becky Lynch. She seems to have gotten over in the same manner as Daniel Bryan five years ago, and Kofi Kingston this year. Her performances aren’t the best, and she is going to be overshadowed by the other two superior performers in this match.

Even I must hand it to these three. From a division that was lucky to have one match on the WrestleMania card just six years ago, to the division that is in the main event, they certainly earned this opportunity. I’m not sure what to make of this match, and the crowd is going to be exhausted after sitting through fifteen matches prior to this one. The are going to have to bring their best in order to win over this crowd. Expect them to try something special that we won’t forget.

Prediction: Winner, and new double-champion, Charlotte Flair

That’s as brief as I could make it! I will see you at the show!

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Alexa Bliss, André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Baron Corbin, Batista, Becky Lynch, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Curt Hawkins, Daniel Bryan, Drew McIntyre, Elias, Finn Bálor, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Shane McMahon, The Miz, The Revival, The Undertaker, Triple H, WrestleMania, WWE, Zach Ryder

Guest WrestleMania Spot

April 4, 2019 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

by Ned Moraghan, special to The North Jersey Nonconformist

WrestleMania 35 is this weekend. This will be the fourth time I will be attending in person and the first that I’m taking my kids with me. I’m very much looking forward to going. I also am trying to figure out which matches I will remember years from now. At WrestleMania 18, it was Hogan vs Rock. Hogan was supposed to be heel but we were going to have none of it. We nearly willed Hogan to victory but he came up short. I still remember being exhausted at the end of the match. Of all the sporting events, concerts I’ve attended in my lifetime, I’ve never been a part of a crowd like that. For WrestleMania XX, both main events were awesome. I also vividly remember Lesnar vs Goldberg getting booed out of the building. Punk vs Taker stole the show at WrestleMania 29. The irony is that it’s Punk’s last WrestleMania match as well as the last match that Taker won in the Streak.

Now to figure out which matches have a chance of having that WrestleMania moment.

Angle vs Corbin – I’m very torn on this. I’ve following Angle’s career and been at some of his most memorable matches (first title win against the Rock, street fight against Shane, WrestleMania XX against Eddie). Angle’s matches were always must see. He was an Olympic gold medalist and picked up pro wrestling so easily. However, he’s now 50 and has definitely lost a step. This is his retirement match and he’s facing Baron Corbin. That is a huge disappointment. Ric Flair got HBK for his final match. HBK got Taker. I’m glad that I get to see his last match but I wish it was against a better opponent. Winner: Corbin.
Miz vs Shane – The Miz is right, he is must see TV. I’m not aware of any current wrestler that is better than the Miz both in the ring and on the mic. He gets Shane who is now 49. AJ Styles carried Shane to a decent Wrestlemania match. I believe that Miz can too. The falls count anywhere guarantees some crazy spot will happen, hopefully the rest of the match is good too. Winner: Miz
HHH vs Batista – Really don’t see the need for this match. Winner: HHH
Battle Royal(s) – The second year in a row they are wasting Braun Strowman. Hopefully they move him over to Smackdown to face Daniel Bryan. As for the women’s side, they have also wasted Asuka who can actually put on a decent match. Winners: Strowman and Asuka
Bryan vs Kofi – This match could steal the show. Both are great workers and here is Kofi’s first chance to shine on the grandest stage. Bryan’s heel turn has rejuvenated his career. I think Bryan hangs onto the title for a little bit longer. Winner: Bryan
Styles vs Orton – A sleeper pic for match of the night. Styles has put on some classic matches since joining WWE. I think Orton has one more classic still in him. Winner: Styles
Reigns vs McIntyre – I’m happy that Reigns has beaten leukemia. I’m also happy that Reigns is not in the main event this year. Raw is lacking some top heels. Hopefully, they let McIntyre become the monster heel. Winner: McIntyre.
Lesnar vs Rollins – Similar to Angle, I also in person for Lesnar’s first title win, also against the Rock. His part time status hurts more than helps. The Universal championship should be defended at every ppv and for years now that hasn’t happened. It’s time to let Rollins run with the title one more time. Winner: Rollins
Rousey vs Flair vs Lynch – the WWE has done a great job booking this match. The seeds were planted at Summerslam when Lynch beat the crap out of Flair after losing the title match. That was the spark that pushed this feud into high gear. SummerSlam was also Rousey’s first title win. I thought that Rousey was going to be the female equivalent of Angle. Unfortunately she is the female equivalent of Lesnar. One year in and she’s already burnt out. Lynch is going to win, the question is will it be the match of the night.

Filed Under: Guests, WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Batista, Becky Lynch, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan, Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Kurt Angle, Ned Moraghan, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Shane McMahon, The Miz, Triple H, WrestleMania, WWE

WWE WrestleMania 34 Postscript

April 11, 2018 by njnonconformist Leave a Comment

WrestleMania 34 week is in the books. Some critics are calling it the best four nights of wrestling in history. That may be a bit of hyperbole, but between NXT Takeover, WrestleMania 34, Raw, and Smackdown, the WWE sure did give the fans what we want.

WrestleMania stood by itself as a very good show. It may have fallen flat in a few places, but overall, it was certainly well worth the WWE Network subscription fee! There were unexpected moments, thrilling matches, and the right amount of comedy throughout the evening. The Styles/Nakamura match was an unexpected dud, but it didn’t help that the show ran so long and the crowd was exhausted before it started. As usual, there are winners and losers coming out of WrestleMania.

WrestleMania 34 Winners

Ronda Rousey: I’ve been nothing but extremely critical of the Women’s division in the WWE for years. It was probably a generation’s worth of calling them Diva’s, bad wrestling, and stupid gimmicks like bra-and-panties matches that put me off to the division for good. When I heard Ronda Rousey was coming to the WWE, I had low expectations, given how poorly she left things off in UFC. Her early promos on Raw were embarrassingly bad. Then something unexpected happened. She put on a really good performance in her debut WWE match at WrestleMania. Her match told a story and was very entertaining. I’m not going to say that she can turn the Women’s division around, it is a complete mess right now. But Rousey certainly is the best member of the division already.

Nicholas: How great is it that some random kid became the youngest champion in WWE history? Of course, we found out on Monday that he wasn’t so random, he is the son of a WWE referee. Either way, it was a feel-good story, and the crowd loved it.

Braun Strowman: There’s something about this guy. He is involved in one ridiculous storyline after another. He flips ambulances with his bare hands, he enters tag-team-battle-royals by himself (and wins them), and he picks a 10-year-old out of the audience as his tag team partner and wins a championship at WrestleMania. In this reality-based era of wrestling, there is something to say about a wrestler who can get silly storylines like this over time after time. Watch this space, Braun Strowman is trending upwards.

Braun_04082018MM_0007--04dc9147d5347c78880c958b103c85ad.jpg

Unlikely WWE Raw Tag Team Champs!

Corey Graves: In just a short period of time, Graves has turned himself into the top announcer in the WWE. His comedic wit and timing during his WrestleMania calls where impeccable. How great was it when Ronda Rousey tagged into the match and he exclaimed “Call the cops!”?

Seth Rollins: Finally, something went this guy’s way. After his program with Jason Jordan was scrapped due to injury, he walked away from ‘Mania with the IC title instead. Not bad.

Brock Lesnar: Shocked the world with a win and title retention. Nobody would have bet against Reigns, but for some reason, they decided to keep the strap on Lesnar. Good for him, well deserved.

The Undertaker: Long live The Deadman! We were lead to believe he was going to walk away after WrestleMania 33. And with no official announcement, he returned to WrestleMania 34 to quickly destroy John Cena. That match told a story, and an important one. The greatest WrestleMania performer of all time still has some gas left in the tank.

John Cena: The squash loss didn’t hurt him one bit. This was the highest profile match Cena had at WrestleMania in five years and he carried his end of it well. His days as a full-timer are over, but he can still deliver at WrestleMania.

Daniel Bryan: A three-year layoff due to brain damage, and he returned to The Grandest Stage of Them All with a convincing performance. He’s too fragile to be the face of the company, but he’s back and will be featured prominently as long as he is healthy.

Shinsuke Nakamura: His match laid an egg, but nothing like a swerve and a heel turn at WrestleMania to make up for it!

The Miz: This guy looks great, even when he loses. He truly did restore greatness to the Intercontinental Championship during his run. He keeps getting better, don’t be surprised if he gets another WrestleMania main event in the future.

Jinder Mahal: This guy gets a lot of criticism, but he keeps the hits coming. I’m a fan, and I’m glad he had a WrestleMania moment as his great year continues. The token ethnic heel wearing the US Championship is always entertaining. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn: These guys carried Smackdown with their months-long feud with Shane McMahon. The feud came to an end with their loss at WrestleMania, but it was a job well done, especially by Sami who had nothing going on before his heel turn.

The Bludgeon Brothers: Well-deserved tag-team championship victory for these two often-overlooked veterans. They have all the talent in the world, and they will show it.

Sheamus and Cesaro: Sold their end of the tag team championship with veteran savvy. These guys are still at the top of their game, even without the straps.

WrestleMania 34 Losers

Elias: Deserved a match, not a quick appearance before the Cena match.

AJ Styles: Failed to deliver during his highly anticipated match. Maybe it was placement on the card, but they put everyone in my apartment, and everyone in the Superdome to sleep during their match. I didn’t expect much from Nakamura, but I had higher hopes for AJ.

Finn Bálor: This scrawny little punk needs to go to the 205 division, never to be heard from again.

The Usos: After waiting all of those years to finally have a match on the WrestleMania main card, they dropped the straps in a quick match. Maybe next year, they’ll get at least 10 minutes in the ring.

The New Day: This gimmick is stale. Time to split up.

Randy Orton: Plodded through another WrestleMania match. Is this guy ever gonna show some fire again?

Roman Reigns: Is anybody in the WWE C-Suite listening? People DO NOT LIKE ROMAN REIGNS! Time to find a new top guy! At the very least, he didn’t win the match, so that’s good for us.

What’s Next?

The WWE is a story that never ends. Homer couldn’t have written a longer tale than this. Raw and Smackdown laid the foundation for what’s coming next. A host of returning stars from injury, a few NXT callups, and the surprise return to the WWE of Bobby Lashley will freshen things up in the near-term. Of course, the Superstar Shakeup will shift the lineups on both shows next week.

And how cool is the “Greatest Royal Rumble” card going to be. It looks like it’s more ambitious than WrestleMania itself, and it is crazy that it takes place just three weeks from the big show!

We have all the ingredients in place for an interesting year ahead of WrestleMania 35 in East Rutherford, NJ in 2019. Daniel Bryan vs. The Undertaker anybody?

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Braun Strowman, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Corey Graves, Daniel Bryan, Elias, Finn Bálor, Jinder Mahal, John Cena, Nicholas, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Bludgeon Brothers, The Miz, The New Day, The Usos, Undertaker, WrestleMania, WWE

WWE WrestleMania 34 Analysis and Predictions

April 7, 2018 by njnonconformist 1 Comment

It’s the best time of year to be a WWE fan! No weekend out of the year is better than WrestleMania weekend! WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans will have a stacked card from start to almost the finish! Roman Reigns is set to ruin a fourth straight WrestleMania main event, but even the lack of suspense surrounding the outcome of his match won’t dampen my enthusiasm for the card.

In fact, there is enough mystery baked into this card to keep us guessing for most of the night. In addition to there not being too many obvious winners on the card, there are a lot of questions that we don’t have answers for right now:

What is this “performance” that Elias has promised us going to entail?
What’s up with John Cena calling out The Undertaker to no avail? Is Cena really not going to have a match? Would they have an unadvertised Cena/Undertaker match on the card? Is something else going to happen?
Who is Braun Strowman’s TBD tag team partner? Or is he not going to have one and use some sort of reverse Feebird Rule to win the tag title himself?
Is this Brock Lesnar’s last match before returning to the UFC?
What happened to Bray Wyatt in the Lake of Reincarnation at the Hardy Estate two weeks ago? Is he going to make a surprise return with a new persona?
Is there going to be a heel turn we don’t see coming?
Is a WWE alumnus going to make his return? Will an NXT call up have an impact on the card? Will someone from NJPW crash the show?

The WWE is at its best when it can actually keep storylines secret and you don’t have any idea what is going to happen. It makes the show all the more enjoyable to sit back and watch. I expect that this could be one of the best WrestleMania’s we’ve seen in the past 10 years, and we could be treated to at least one or more top-10-all-time best WrestleMania matches.

On to my expert predictions.

AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Singles match for the WWE Championship

It’s hard to believe how far Shinsuke Nakamura has come in just one year on the Smackdown roster. He showed up on the Smackdown following WrestleMania 33 with a violinist playing in his bizarre entrance. He called himself the “King of Strong Style” and got the crowd to sing along with his entrance music in the following weeks. He started to stand in the middle of the ring, do a squat, and scream “Come on!” at his opponents and the crowd ate it up. Lastly, he came up with the catch phrase “Knee to Face” and that seemed to put him over the top. I can’t figure out where the substance to any of this is, but the fans seem to really like it.

AJ Styles, conversely, is one of the top performers in the company right now, both on the microphone and in the ring. His in-ring work is unparalleled on the WWE main roster right now and that has earned him the fans respect. He reminds many of a master wrestling technician who can also sell and tell a story, like a young Shawn Michaels. Even in his early 40’s, he’s the subject of anybody’s dream match right now.

The build for this match has been lackluster. Anytime you have a big babyface vs. babyface match, the angle is a bit of a creative trap. They have to protect both guys image, and nobody can generate any real heat. They have to pretend like there is a mutual respect for each other, and that is a very uninteresting way to promote a match. Either way, when they get to the ring they should deliver.

There’s a lot on the line in this match. Styles gets his first opportunity to defend a championship at WrestleMania and Nakamura has never wrestled a bigger match in his life. His Tokyo Dome experience from NJPW is the little league compared to having to perform on the Grandest Stage of Them All. Both of these men, at this stage in their careers will want to make a statement in this match. It has the potential to be the match of the night, and perhaps a top-10 greatest WrestleMania match of all time.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE Champion, AJ Styles

The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Bálor in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

The Miz has come a long way since his WrestleMania XXVIII main event against John Cena in which he successfully defended the World Championship. In many ways, he’s a better wrestler now, and his reign as Intercontinental champion has been more impressive than his World Championship. He is the best heel in the business and is considered by many to the WWE MVP.

Seth Rollins has lost a great deal of momentum since he lost the WWE Championship following an in-ring injury. He was the feel-good story coming out of WrestleMania 31, when he stole the championship from Brock Lesnar in the main event with a surprise cash-in of his Money In The Bank contract. Since the injury which cost him a spot at WrestleMania 32, he hasn’t had too many noteworthy moments. He flip-flopped back and forth as a heel, he re-united The Shield, but that angle fizzled due to illness and injuries to the other two. He had a slow-burn angle with Jason Jordan which came to a quick end when Jordan himself was injured. Rollins needs his luck to turn around, and a big match at WrestleMania 34 would certainly do that.

Finn Bálor is a one-trick-pony. He has a slick entrance with audience participation. Other than that, he’s a scrawny little twerp who wears tights with a leather jacket. He should be in the 205 division, wrestling guys his own size. He doesn’t look right wrestling guys who outweigh him by 75 pounds. He has zero personality to make up for his lack of size. I don’t expect him do much of anything interesting in this match.

I’d prefer to see this as a two-man match, but this is better than the typical 5-man ladder match they usually put on for the IC title at WrestleMania, so I’ll take it. Triple-threat matches are all about timing the big spots between the three competitors and are stylistically very difficult to pull off. The Miz and Rollins are going to have to be at their best to pull this off and carry Bálor.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE Intercontinental Champion, The Miz

Randy Orton (c) vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev in a Fatal Four-Way Match for the WWE United States Championship

Not to be outdone by the triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship, the United States Championship will be decided in a fatal four-way match. A match like this will be either memorable for years because it was so good, or bowling shoe-ugly. Everybody will try to get a signature move in at some point in order to stand out.

Randy Orton continues to plod through the later stages of his career. His championship win at WrestleMania was noteworthy because the crowd of over 70,000 was mostly silent throughout the match. He’s going to need something better out of this year’s WrestleMania match.

Bobby Roode is the least interesting competitor in this match. Over-produced entrance, an underwhelming personality, and way past his prime. Nothing to see here.

Rusev snuck into this match because he suddenly has a popular catch phrase: “Rusev Day”! It’s kind of weird but it works for him and should last for a little while longer. I thought he was better as a monster heel, but I guess he’s selling more merchandise this way so good for him.

Jinder Mahal is the biggest home-grown star we’ve seen in years in WWE. He’s had an amazing rebound from being fired from the WWE to his return and eventual ascension to WWE Champion. He’s got a great look and played the part of the cliched ethnic heel to the best of his abilities. If anybody deserves a WrestleMania moment and a win in this match, it’s Mahal.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE United States Champion, Jinder Mahal

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax in a singles match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

If you’ve ever followed this blog, you know what I’m about to say.

Prediction: This match will suck

The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) (c) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) in a Triple threat tag team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship

Big build up all around for this match. The Usos finally get a match on the main WrestleMania card for the first time in their careers. They’ve put in the time and they did a good job re-inventing themselves after their bland Hardy Boyz-ripoff gimmick they started off with. This is a big opportunity for them.

The New Day is as stale as can be, and this team is dying to be broken up. Big E will go straight to the top, Xavier Woods will go straight to the middle, and Kofi Kingston will go back to being a jobber. They’ve had a fantastic run, but it is high time for a swerve and a heel turn for one of them, bringing this faction to an end.

The Bludgeon Brothers are hot right now. Harper and Rowan (having just lost their first names!) are the two most underrated big men on the roster right now. These guys have all the tools to be the best in this game. Their outfits are a little over the top, but everything else about this team screams heel champions. Their build to this spot was masterful, having them lay waste to a host of jobbers and making them look unstoppable. Watch this space, these guys are going to be big.

Prediction: Winners and new WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Bludgeon Brothers

Cesaro and Sheamus (c) vs. Braun Strowman and TBD in a tag team match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

How great is this? The best tag team on Raw takes on the hottest talent on Raw, with a bone-fide mystery partner by his side! This is WWE at it’s best, creating a ridiculous situation that we’re dying to see. Could you imagine paying to see the Yankees play a home game against a mystery opponent? Wouldn’t ever happen! But in professional wrestling, this is creative gold!

People have argued that this isn’t the best spot for Braun Strowman and that he deserves to be in the main event. I’m a huge fan of his, but I think this is a great spot for him. Roman Reigns is the “chosen one” and there’s nothing we can do about it. Strowman is still going to get his push, and he’s going to take the ball and run with it. He does monster heel, he does comedy, he performs ridiculous feats of strength. What’s not to love about the guy? Just because he’s not in the main event, doesn’t mean he can’t be awesome.

Who is his partner? I’ve read all kinds of speculation that it could be a returning hero, an NXT call up, or someone else already on the roster. What’s the point in trying to figure it out now? Just sit back and let the show come to you!

Cesaro and Sheamus always deliver. They are going to nail their parts in this match and you can count on that. When they lose the title, it will be fun to watch them chase it back down.

Prediction: Winners and new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Braun Stroman and TBD

Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Asuka Singles match for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship

Out of respect for Ric Flair, I won’t disrespect his daughter. But this match is as good as it gets for women’s wrestling because the bar is set so low. Asuka is average at best and her gimmick is annoying.

Prediction: Winner and still WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion, Charlotte Flair

Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in a mixed tag team match

Kurt Angle made a hero’s return to the WWE last year at the WWE Hall Of Fame ceremony, and then re-joined the regular show as Raw General Manager. Rumor had it there would be a big build to a WrestleMania 34 match for the Olympic gold medalist. Instead, he got saddled with this abortion of a match.

Ronda Rousey left the UFC as a loser and a shell of her former badass self. In the time between her UFC days and her WWE days, she did nothing to repair her reputation. Thus far, she has completely bombed on the WWE stage. Her promos are embarrassingly awkward. As one of my readers pointed out to me “she had the personality of a wet blanket in UFC” and apparently, her ability to memorize and read lines the WWE creative team feeds her is zero. Who even knows if she can wrestle? Probably not very well.

I can’t feel too sorry for Triple H, he’s had some very good WrestleMania matches in his career. But Kurt Angle deserved better than this. I don’t think either one of them can save this mess.

Prediction: Winners, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a tag team match and if Owens and Zayn win, they will be rehired to SmackDown

Daniel Bryan’s surprise return to Smackdown changed the current landscape in the WWE in a way nobody saw coming. He was close to the Shane McMahon rivalry with the Owens/Zayn duo for months, and he is perfectly positioned to return in this match.

Kevin Owens is the top heel on SmackDown, and the story arc of his simmering feud with Shane McMahon has taken on many Shakspearian twists since it began in 2017. It’s now involved Sami Zayn, included the both of them sending McMahon to the hospital, and then getting themselves fired by Daniel Bryan before beating him up on the night he announced his return to active competition. This was top heel work and WWE creative at its best.

This could be the most entertaining match of the night. It has three of the best workers in the WWE right now, along with Sami Zayn who will play his supporting role as well. It has “win” written all over it for Zayn and Owens, and it will be fun watching the aftermath on Smackdown when it’s all over.

Prediction: Winners, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman) vs. Roman Reigns in a singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

A fourth straight WrestleMania event is about to be ruined by Roman Reigns. It’s a good thing this card is so stacked because the show will end with a thud with this match. We’ve known for a year that Reigns is going go win the match. The “like me because I’m a full-timer and Brock is a part-timer” angle is boring and has not helped Reigns improve one bit. He still sucks on the mike and his in-ring psychology is poor. No matter how many WrestleMania main events he gets, he never improves.

Brock Lesnar is about to walk out on the WWE. His act has gotten tired and it will be good for the WWE to move on from him at the top. He had a great run since his return as a part-time special attraction, and something needs to be said about how less exposure can actually help a superstar in the WWE. But it is time to go.

This match is going to fail to entertain. The crowd will be tired, Lesnar will have his eye on the exit, and Reigns will continue to stink. Try to stay awake if you can.

Prediction: Winner and new WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns

Filed Under: WWE Tagged With: AJ Styles, Bludgeon Brothers, Bobby Roode, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Elias, Finn Bálor, Jinder Mahal, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Rusev, Sami Zayn, Seth Rollins, Shane McMahon, Sheamus, Shinsuke Nakamura, Stephanie McMahon, The Miz, The New Day, The Usos, Triple H, Undertaker, WrestleMania, WWE