Let me announce that I am going to Wrestlemania 25 and I have a ring-side seat (C6, # 15). Unless the Gods are against me, you should be able to spot me somewhere with a light green poster (shiny colour, so that it gets noticed) saying “Mayank came from Ranchi, India to see Phenom Forever 17-0”. My friends wanted me to put the name of my home-town somewhere in it, and I thought it might be good to put my name in it as well apart from the name of the great legend whom I am going all the way to see.
Money in the Bank Ladder match: Oh how much I want Kane to win this. Though, the WWE rarely does what I want. However, I am still going with him. I predicted him to win the ECW belt last year and he did! Kane, with his tweener character, is a perfect fit for winning the title by surprise at any time. Let’s face it – he was one of the most dominant and destructive stars ever, and lately he has lost his dominance and is losing to much smaller guys (and stars) just to promote them in this Rated PG-13 era. If they stop his heel turn and make him a tweener again, he can feud with just about anybody and kick anybody’s a** anytime to win the title. So in case there is an injury and the actual champion needs to take time off or the belt needs to switch brands, etc - Kane is the perfect choice to beat just about anyone and win the belt. I’m betting that he has one long reign left in him because he never had a long one – give it to him before he retires even if he does not want it. Having him return with the mask will be the icing on the cake because then we will see the same mean big red a** kicking whom we know (and today’s fans don’t know) as the real Kane. But I know he won’t return due to no such story (even though they came up with the impostor Kane, and then the rivalry with Mysterio over the ‘mask’). Ok , I know Paul Bearer said he won’t come to Wrestlemania, but at least get him on Kane’s side as a surprise!
Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy: As much I’ve started hating Jeff Hardy for his recent push despite taking drugs and violating the WWE wellness policy, I think I will have to go with it that due to his support from the ‘kids’, he will have to win. And its an extreme match, in which he is supposed to be a hero, isn’t it?
JBL vs Rey Mysterio: Again, I like JBL more than Mysterio because he is better at character-presentation. Be it a face or a heel, JBL is always entertaining and makes me laugh. He was also a good wrestler in the days he was under the Undertaker in the ministry of darkness. However, I think he is going to retire and take it to commentary, so I guess Mysterio is winning this one. And keep him at that ‘Intercontinental’ level - don’t bring him to the world championship level again, please.
Carlito, Primo vs Miz, Morrison: Ok, I still get confused as to who are the WWE Tag team champions and who are the World Tag Team champions, and I get confused which one belongs to which brand, but I think Carlito, Primo will win this simply because Miz, Morrison have had a much longer tag-team championship reign.
25-Diva Battle Royal: Well, some veteran divas might return, e.g., Sable, Torrie Wilson, Debra, Sunny, Trish Stratus, etc. I don’t know if Chyna is going to be there. If she does show up, I would prefer to see Chyna and Beth Phoenix as the last 2 women in the ring, with Chyna coming out on top. If Chyna is not coming back, then I am pretty sure Trish Stratus will be crowned Miss Wrestlemania.
Chris Jericho vs WWE Legends: With all due respect to the legends, who wants to see this match? It would have been so much better if Chris Jericho kept on insulting legends on Raw, and then started insulting Hall of Famers, saying that all of them are trash. What next? There would’ve been a glass-breaking noise and Stone Cold would’ve walked in, saying, “I’ve been watching you for 6 straight weeks, coming here and insulting Hall of Famers, saying that they can’t wrestle anymore. I too am a Hall of Famer”, and then he would’ve turned to the crowd and said, “If you all wanna see Stone Cold whoop Chris Jericho’s a** at Wrestlemania 25, give me a ‘Hell Yeah’”, to which the crowd would have obviously responded, “HELL YEAH”. It would have been good to see Austin in one last match and winning it, that too in his home-state of Texas. But alas, the WWE don’t want to do this. In either case, be it with Austin or with these legends, I expect Jericho to lose this one. But again, the WWE will as usual not do what I want. I still expect Austin to come to Mania and lash out a few stunners to the most unexpected people (maybe Santino Marella, who wants to be in the diva match). It’s the 25th anniversary, so imprint all the popular faces from the past on the DVD – get the Rock too!
Edge vs Big SLow vs John Cena: Ok, if there is one person who has a Streak at Wrestlemania comparable to Undertaker’s, it is Big SLow – but it’s a losing streak. At least I can’t recall when he last won. Therefore, Big SLow doesn’t strike to me as material who will win the gold at Mania. Edge has a chance of winning, but aren’t we sick of seeing Edge becoming champion in the same ‘opportunistic’ and ‘manipulative’ way again and again? And what's up in this love triangle with Vickie? Is that the only way she can get attention? Gone are the days when people fell in love with Torrie Wilson or Sable or Debra, what is the standard now? Vickie? With the new complication in the relationship between Edge, Vickie and SLow, I expect Vickie to turn on Edge during the match for SLow, but Cena will take advantage of the situation and become champion. Of course, he won’t have anything to do with Vickie after that. But hey, I am sick of seeing Cena as champion too, so guess what – I am predicting a feud between Undertaker and Cena after Wrestlemania over the belt. There is no doubt that Undertaker will soon be in a title feud because he never lost the title last year, and why do it with Edge again? That feud is over, and Edge along with his entire factum of minions got “owned” by the dead-man. Undertaker vs Cena will be a fresh feud for the title. The last time they feuded, Undertaker was in his human big-evil persona, it was not about a belt and Cena was not such a big star. Now, it will be interesting to see Undertaker vs Cena for the belt, with Cena getting his a** kicked and all the kids realizing who the real man is. Superman has a weakness – Kryptonite. The dead-man has no weakness.
HHH vs Randy Orton: The more the WWE promote somebody before a PPV and make him look like the favourite or more dominant, the more are his chances of losing at the PPV. If HHH keeps winning before Mania, I have a feeling that it means he is the one chosen to lose the title at Mania.
Now don’t get me wrong here - I am a HHH fan more than I am an Orton fan (hell, Orton won’t be anywhere even in my top 20 list of all-time) and I don’t intend to create trouble here, but from an unbiased business-point-of-view, I don’t see HHH winning the title at Mania. Why? Because HHH has held the title 13 times (including winning it at Mania earlier), held long title reigns and been a main-eventer for long. He just had a long and dominant title-reign last year. Would it be repeated again this year? No, its time now to pass the torch.
Why would Randy Orton be getting the kind of push that he has been getting since early this year, if he was not to become champion soon? Why would he be made to win the Rumble? That is why HHH pinned Undertaker and won the belt at No Way Out, so that he could get involved in his family feud with Orton at Raw and Orton could challenge him for the title at Mania (and Undertaker was not supposed to be in the title scene for Mania because they were planning a legend vs legend feud for him with Shawn Michaels - that is why he said to Shawn “Its hell trying to get to heaven” at the Rumble itself).
If the Rumble winner does not win the championship at Wrestlemania this year, then it would be 2 consecutive years that the Rumble winner did not win the belt at Mania. That would lead to the Rumble losing its significance and then people would not pay to see the Rumble next year on, which would be bad for the business. Last year, the WWE screwed up the Rumble by making it all about the return of the jacka** Cena (whereas I was expecting either Undertaker or HHH to win it - since none of them won it, it was obvious that they would win their respective Elimination Chamber matches at No Way Out 2008), but this year if the Rumble winner again does not win the title, many fans would not be interested in the Rumble match from next year on.
The WWE might surprise me and make retain HHH retain the title at Mania (like last year, I was expecting HHH to win the belt at Mania but Orton retained - however, eventually HHH won it in the story-line), but I guess eventually this time, Orton will win it soon and keep it until Batista returns for his revenge (remember Orton was the one who took out Batista). Then we’ll have an Orton-Batista rivalry, which should also be a relatively fresh, good and long one to see.
My guess is that Steph will remain on HHH’s side but maybe that Vince will turn on HHH. Then Orton will also have the advantage of having the two idiots Rhodes & Dibiase on his side. From the looks of the Orton-HHH rivalry, I was pretty much assured that it will not be a regular one-fall wrestling-match but a no-disqualification kind of match, but in any case it will somehow allow Rhodes/ Dibiase to help Orton for getting the win.
Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels: This is the match I have awaited the most. Please script it nicely because it is the match from which all veteran wrestling fans and observers have the highest expectations. A lot of people have said in the past that if anyone deserves to end the streak of the Undertaker, it should be a new rising star, because it will give him a good boost. Tell me, did the feud with Undertaker not give a good boost to Orton, Batista and Edge even though they lost to him? That is the best part about a rivalry with Undertaker - you get famous and noticed without winning.
Why do people still don’t understand that it can’t be anyone younger “also”, because in all probability the younger guy might not become a legend AS BIG as Undertaker? Let me ask these questions:
What is the guarantee that he will be as phenomenally athletic and strong as Undertaker, that he will do as many gimmick matches as Undertaker and stand in the ring with superstars of all size/ skill as Undertaker has, that he will be as popular as Undertaker, as long-lasting as Undertaker, as respected (and locker-room leader) as Undertaker, that he will contribute to the business as much as Undertaker, as loyal to the WWE as Undertaker (instead of switching jobs later for TNA or any other)? Why ruin something which you spent 2 decades to create, and moreover why do injustice to the dominance of the ‘character’, which you created as a unique one, different from all the human characters like Hogan or Flair or Austin or Hart or Rock or any other? If it had to be done by anyone younger, it would have been done by now (e.g., Orton). If you take Undertaker’s streak away from him, he will have no commendable ‘numbers’ mentioned in his career - he is not a 16 time champion like Flair or 13 time champion like HHH, but they all fell to him at Mania, right? Let that be the claim to fame for the man whom WWE wrestlers themselves consider to be the greatest of all time, as per all their backstage interviews.
Its listed as the greatest Record in the history of the WWE at the WWE records page and I’m counting on it that it won’t be removed from there, and that due to the respect that Undertaker has both in the ring as well as back-stage, the streak will never be broken - at least as long as the great business mind Vince is alive. The WWE need one name to quote in history which never lost at Mania and which always delivered the most when it mattered the most, and what better a character for it than the indestructible dead-man, who cannot be hurt. The streak should only be broken by somebody who has or is definitely going to have a bigger streak at Mania - and what’s the guarantee for that? I’m going with it that Undertaker will at least go on till 20-0, if not beyond. And if anyone ever mentions losing at Mania to Undertaker, he should just say “Ok guys, I’m calling it a day”. I’ll be much happy, and I’m sure so will be many other Undertaker fans (not all, of course) if he retires at 18-0 or 20-0 instead of something like 18-1 because the 18-0 will remain a record forever which in all probability will never be equalled in our lifetime! (And I’m not discussing his retirement here, so keep that off-topic.)
Summary - it should never end! (That's the bottom-line, 'coz I said so!)
I must say I enjoyed the build-up for this match because they wanted to give Shawn the upper-hand before the match, so that he can lose gracefully. He said that Undertaker has never beaten him, which is true because Kane always came out to interfere and help Shawn Michaels. The only one time they had a clean one-on-one confrontation was Royal Rumble 2007, where obviously Undertaker came out on top. I expect the same to happen at this Wrestlemania. Of course, the build-up for the match was good because Shawn copied the Undertaker’s gimmick (the graveyard promo, the promo where he came out dressed as Undertaker with druids but in white, the funeral, etc) because the Undertaker’s gimmick allows for more manipulation and story-telling around it - that itself tells you how strong it is. We all know how horrible it would have been if Undertaker came out dressed as Michaels and started dancing around to the music “I think I’m dark, I know I’m scary, I’ve got the looks, That makes the dead rise. I’m just a demon boy, I’m not your bad-a**. My gong sends chills down their spine.... etc” Michaels wanted this great, big match at Mania before he calls it a day, and he got it. I have heard that JR will not call this match, but come on! You need to have JR calling this match for sure! Shawn might win the greatest legend of Wrestlemania award at the Hall of Fame ceremony, because I don't see Undertaker coming out and winning it in his current dead-man persona (though he deserves it the most), and since Shawn will lose to Undertaker after that, it will prove that Undertaker is truly the greatest legend of Wrestlemania in reality (but didn't get the award for it, as usual, like he didn't get his long title reigns despite being the greatest and the best).
I will be happy as long as I see this match ending with a tombstone piledriver. More than one tombstone will make me happier. What will happen after the match leaves me in doubt. Some people said that Paul Bearer will come, but I hope that he will not come for this match because it should be a clean legend vs legend match. I think Michaels will offer a hand-shake to Undertaker but Undertaker will refuse. He will then kneel down and return the respect to Michaels, motioning towards him in his signature fashion, thereby also retaining his super-human character instead of turning more human. It’s the dark-side that you introduced, Undertaker! That is how you gained fame, that is what differentiates you from all the other wrestlers - only you can pull it off, please remain that way!
Shawn Michaels, Rest In Peace.
Wrestlemania 25 Predictions
Friday, April 3, 2009, 03:48 PM EST
[General]
Tags:

