WrestleMania 31 Predictions

We are roughly a week away from WrestleMania 31 as of this writing and I can honestly tell you that I am cautiously optimistic about how the card for this particular edition of "the showcase of the immortals" will turn out. This is in light of the fact that if you go back and look at an entry to this here blog that I published back in January (click here to read "My Still-Way-Too-Early-to-Tell WrestleMania 31 Predictions") wherein I attempted at that point in time to predict the card for WM31 you'll find that I turned out to be a half-assed prognosticator at best. I successfully predicted 5 of the 8 matches on the card, but they were the 5 obvious ones so I'm not even going to go so far as to claim a moral victory on that effort.

Looking at the official card for WM31, there were a few surprises that I did not see coming, namely the decision to feature the Intercontinental title in a ladder match that will likely be the "HOLY CRAP, DID YOU SEE THAT?!" portion of the show. I imagine it will be like the Money in the Bank match used to be before it was removed from WM cards in order to become the subject of its own pay-per-view in that it includes a whole bunch of athletic, super-talented competitors who don't mind getting into a train wreck every once in a while. I was glad to see that the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal is being brought back; it won't be a match with any consequence outside of the show, however it's an opportunity for someone to possibly break out as a talent to watch in the next few months. The Divas being in a tag team match as opposed to there being a match for the title makes me believe WWE didn't think a one-on-one match would've been anything other than a restroom break for a majority of the audience. Chances are it will still be a restroom break for most fans because the Divas division has been awfully stale for the past 4-5 months (which coincides with Nikki Bella's reign as champion, oddly enough). I am genuinely upset that the tag team division isn't on the card as it seemed as though there was momentum in building up that aspect of the roster that has now completely vanished. (Anyone seen the Ascension lately?) It's troubling because, for the life of me, I don't know why tag teams don't get a fair shake anymore.

Be that as it may, now that we know the full card for WM31 (other than whatever may take place during the pre-show, that is - assuming there is a pre-show, of course), lets revisit things and make a final set of predictions for WWE's biggest event of the year.

1) Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Participants: The Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Damien Mizdow, Sin Cara, Goldust, Heath Slater and Mark Henry

I half way hate to say this seeing as how I want to think the Andre Memorial is supposed to mean something, but I look at that line-up and I can't think of anything especially noteworthy that's happened for more than half the names listed there in the past year. That's how Battle Royals tend to me, though; you've got a match where 95% of the talent involved have zero chance of winning plus 3-5 participants who should logically blow all the others out of the water.

What's interesting about this assemblage is that there's a chance several storylines could be conveniently tied up or extended during the course of the match. Curtis Axel and Ryback were tag team partners at one point (Ryback has also been tied to Erik Rowan ever since the 2014 Survivor Series); similarly, Titus O'Neil and Darren Young just recently reformed the Prime Time Players. Kane and Big Show have been in an uneasy alliance with the Authority lately, and Mark Henry has lately drawn the ire of both men. The Miz and Damien Mizdow haven't seen eye to eye ever since Mizdow became a bona fide fan favorite. Everyone else in the match - Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Sin Cara, Goldust, and Heath Slater - is there as filler in my opinion, but at least they'll get a nice payday.

I am going with this man as my predicted winner because I think the fans in attendance would all lose their minds if the match is executed properly and he were to win.

PREDICTION: Damien Mizdow

2) AJ Lee & Paige vs. The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie)

There's been something of a women's rights movement within a segment of the WWE fanbase as of late stemming from comments made by several of the WWE Divas and how they should be respected, treated, etc. as their male counterparts on the roster are. The hashtag "Give Divas A Chance" became a thing just long enough for it to seem like WWE cared, but here we have this match that (in my eyes) tells me they had to put two of their best Divas (that being AJ Lee & Paige) in there with the Bellas just to counteract the level of suck that Nikki & Brie will introduce. I can't help but feel like this is an extension of something to do with the Total Divas show on the E! network, which is why I'm going to go ahead and say that the Bellas will win.

PREDICTION: The Bella Twins

3) Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match

Participants: Wade Barrett (C), Dean Ambrose, Stardust, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Luke Harper

There is so much talent involved in this match that it blows my mind R-Truth somehow got involved. Seriously, R-Truth? Why? True, the guy has been gainfully employed since 1999 by either WWE or TNA, but having him involved makes no logical sense. Of course I say that yet if you were to ask me to name someone else on the main roster that could've taken that spot (who isn't either injured or involved in an angle that would preclude their participation; i.e., Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Sheamus, etc.) no one comes directly to mind with the exception of Goldust, and I think the only way his inclusion would've benefited the show is if he or Stardust were set to win the title. That would've been a great way to extend their feud, which is now dead in the water.

As it stands, I feel like whoever wins the IC title is going to do great things in elevating that championship, which has been woefully ignored for far too long. There are a lot of possibilities that can come from these men feuding with one another, but only time will tell where they go from here.

PREDICTION: Dean Ambrose

4) United States Championship Match - Rusev (C) vs. John Cena

In talking about professional wrestling, critics and smart marks like to talk about how someone either does or does not need to win because of how it can affect storylines relating to them. Even though some want to say that wins and losses don't matter these days, the truth of the matter is that they do (and they always will) because they affect our perception of how good or bad a wrestler's abilities are in the context of the angle they're involved. For example, last year at WM30 when Brock Lesnar defeated the Undertaker, Lesnar - who was already thought of as a monster - suddenly became this whole other thing in terms of him being thought of as a beast because of the fact he beat the Dead Man. In this instance you would likely find that a lot of observers feel John Cena doesn't need to win this match because of the fact he's John Cena - the man is one world title reign away from tying that of Rick Flair, for crying out loud. He should be used here to help further elevate Rusev, who's been a real tear here lately and who could be a very useful commodity in the coming year.

PREDICTION: Rusev

5) Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins

When I originally wrote up my thoughts on where this match would go I talked about how a win for Orton would be a great way to finish off a feud that's been ongoing since November of 2014. The Viper being victorious wouldn't necessarily derail Seth Rollins seeing as how he's still able to direct his own destiny so long as he holds the Money in the Bank briefcase. Even so, I can easily see how the script might get flipped here and Rollins wins the match, and in convincing fashion without the assistance of anyone from the Authority being involved, thus making him into a legitimate contender in the future with or without the MitB contract. I'm sticking with my gut, though, and hanging by my original prediction of Orton getting the victory.

PREDICTION: Randy Orton

6) Sting vs. HHH

Of all the matches on the WM31 card, this one has my attention more so than any other. It's a match that is decades in the making. Sting - the legend, the icon, the stalwart representative of World Championship Wrestling who never left that company, even as it withered and died - now finally set to make his debut in a match for WWE. I honestly never thought I'd see the day, but if I have learned anything from watching professional wrestling for as long as I have it's that you should never say never.

There aren't many men left in the business who could serve as a quality opponent for a man like Sting, and one of them has a match on this same show with Bray Wyatt. Triple H is an old wily veteran who knows everything there is to know about ring psychology and what it means to tell a story inside of a wrestling ring. I am hoping this lives up to my expectations because, truth be told, they're pretty doggone high at this point.

PREDICTION: Sting

7) Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker

When Bray Wyatt lost to John Cena at WM30, his character literally had to be relaunched because the defeat left Wyatt at a point where he had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one to feud with. In the time since then he's mostly bumped around between his old charges, Luke Harper & Erik Rowan, and Dean Ambrose. Despite how uninvolved that may make him sound, the truth of the matter is that he's been able to capture the minds of anyone who watches him through some of the most stellar development anyone has brought to WWE programming in ages. Wyatt's promos in building this feud with the Undertaker have been nothing short of amazing, and they've mostly had to be thanks to the fact that Taker has been kept off TV - some say because of business, some say because he's not in the shape he once was. Regardless, this match strikes me as a turning point for both men. I don't know that either of them can take losing at WrestleMania two years in a row.

I predicted this man would win back in January. While I have some concerns over that selection I'm not going to deviate from it.

PREDICTION: The Undertaker

8) Brock Lesnar (C) (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Roman Reigns

This match has shown me a number of reasons why I hate the internet and what it's done to professional wrestling. Why? Because for weeks now all the talk surrounding it has been about one of two things: 1) Whether or not Brock is going to renew his contract with WWE or go back to UFC, or 2) how Reigns is terrible at anything other than looking like a greasy, long-haired tough guy while walking down stairs. Sometimes conversations around the match bring up a bit of both, but the fact remains that's all anyone's seemingly been wanting to talk about. The internet has made it infinitely worse because no one would know of Lesnar potentially wanting to skip town if not for it, and Reigns wouldn't be seen in nearly the negative light that he is if not for the fact that every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a cell phone can chime in on social media with their uniquely idiotic perspective on the matter.

Don't get me wrong, to an extent insider knowledge is fun. Here, for this contest, it's taken so much away from the actual match that I more or less just want it to be over so that we can move on to whatever's coming next. It all depends on what Lesnar's intentions are, which is rather startling seeing as how he could leave with the WWE world heavyweight championship and create such chaos that the ramifications of it would be felt for years if not decades to come. That could certainly happen, and Lesnar would be the only one to say whether or not that's what's going down, but I think he's smart enough to know doing a job isn't the end of the world.

PREDICTION: Roman Reigns

One of the things about this time of year that comes around just as regularly as WrestleMania itself is the thinning of the WWE roster. Many years ago I read in a book how wrestling promoters tended to run their product much like how a television series does in that they treated them as seasons with a beginning, middle, and end. For WWE, WrestleMania signals the end of the current season and the start of the next one. With that in mind, you can see how this becomes the appropriate time of year to let go talent that aren't viewed as being worth keeping around. I think we could be in for a deeper cull than usual this year as there is a wealth of talent under WWE's employ that aren't exactly going anywhere anytime soon.

Overall I'd say this stands to be an entertaining installment to the WM mythology. You've got legends, you've got brutality, and you've got a ton of unanswered questions many of which will likely still be unanswered after the show is over. Even so, it'll be as big an event as anyone in the world of wrestling has produced (well, since New Japan Pro-Wrestling's WrestleKingdom 9 event, anyway), and worthy of your attention. Until then, watch this trailer and imagine all the possibilities!

Event Report: World Wrestling Entertainment presents WWE Live (12-5-2014)

My wife and I were able to have a night out on the town this past Friday night, which is something that's a very valuable commodity now that the focus of most of our free time is taking care of the Duke. He's a bit needy since he is a newborn and all, but we're not holding that against him - it's not his fault he can't prepare his own supper or wipe his rear end yet, obviously.

This particular night was a special occasion seeing as how World Wrestling Entertainment was in Columbia, South Carolina for a live event at the Colonial Life Arena. If you didn't know, live events are also referred to as house shows because they are non-televised. Companies like WWE use them for a number of purposes. For one, they're quick cash generators as they typically take advantage of whatever the going storylines are on TV to pique the interest of fans in a local market. In addition, they're an opportunity for a promotion to test the waters in terms of how an audience reacts to a match, a new gimmick for a performer, or any number of things which may or may not wind up appearing in programming later on.

In this instance it looked as though a majority of what was going on had to do with the upcoming Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view that is set to take place later this month. That event will be headlined by a tables match featuring John Cena and Seth Rollins - who would also be headlining the event we saw in Columbia.

Getting in and around the parking lots at CLA has always been somewhat tricky seeing as how the building is in the middle of downtown Columbia, is adjacent to several major streets, sits on the doorstep of the University of South Carolina's Greek village, and there's usually no assistance from local law enforcement in terms of directing traffic. That last bit is an issue thanks to the fact that there are no traffic lights to control the flow of cars, rather a couple 4-way stops that leave it to motorists to negotiate matters amongst themselves.

We got to the arena around 6:30 PM by which time a majority of the front-most parking lot was filled. Cost for parking that night was $5 - that's not too bad seeing as how game day parking for events at Williams Brice Stadium will set you back $20 or more, depending on how close you want to be to the venue.

Our tickets were being held at will call even though I had purchased them as part of a pre-sale promotion. Why? Allow me to elaborate.

Face value of the tickets I chose was $25. Those seats were a good middle ground option since they were not as expensive as the $90 floor seats but with a better view than the $15 seats. (WWE offers what is called the WWE VIP Experience for certain of their events; this is a package that includes front row seating where you are given the chair you sat in that evening, a backstage meet and greet with some of the Superstars, and a few other perks. These packages start around $300 and go up from there. Yes, there were a handful of VIP seats sold at this event!) There was a section of limited view seats available for this event, which struck me as odd seeing as how there were no limitations on the view; "limited view" usually refers to seating situated in such a way that it can be blocked by staging used during TV tapings. As I mentioned earlier, this was a non-televised event.

After you add in CLA's fees ($9 per ticket for this show; I've referred to convenience/facility fees previously as the "take a dump" fee because I can only assume they want you to pay for the fact that you had to go to the bathroom while you were there), our total was $68. Wait, we're not done yet because that amount doesn't count the fee you incur depending on the ticketing delivery option you select: Mail delivery, print at home, or will call. I don't remember how much the other two were but at $3.50 will call was the cheapest of the three. (What that $3.50 covers I can only imagine. I gather these tickets are printed on parchment salvaged from an ancient Egyptian tomb and printed using the blood of pandas.) If you add in the cost of parking and ticketing delivery split between our two tickets, a $25 ticket in reality costs $38.25.

And folks in the pro wrestling business wonder why live event attendance is down!

I have to commend the people who work behind the scenes to operate and maintain CLA. It is a beautiful arena that is always pristine in appearance and the staff working there are generally quite cordial. I can't say as I've ever had a bad experience there.

Our seats were in one of the lower levels several rows off the floor. When it comes to events like this I've learned that the only good floor seats are in the front row. If you're sitting further back from that you're going to spend the majority of the time dodging the backs of other people's heads instead of watching the show. Given how much those seats cost, it's simply not worth it. For this reason unless I can get front row I'm perfectly fine taking a seat in the bleachers. Quite frankly I don't know that I would buy front row these days even if the opportunity presented itself seeing as how in my opinion the product doesn't warrant the cost.

A number of vignettes and advertisements were shown on the jumbo-trons around the arena before bell time, and these included a message from Dolph Ziggler who spoke about his Intercontinental championship match against Luke Harper that would be coming up later on in the evening. I can only guess as to what attendance might have been but I will note that there were plenty of good seats available. (The house looked about the same as what we've seen the last few times we've been to WWE live events in Columbia.) The show began promptly at 7:30 PM and our ring announcer for the evening was none other than Brandi Rhodes who is the wife of Cody Rhodes.

Here's a rundown of the card along with my thoughts on each match.

#1) Ryback defeated Curtis Axel

Ryback has had his name in the press a lot here lately thanks to having been the subject of some of CM Punk's comments made during an interview on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast wherein Punk stated that Ryback was responsible for injuring him on a number of occasions. If Punk's statements are true, it would appear as though Ryback's previous gimmick of "The Corn-fed Meathead" Skip Sheffield wasn't that far off from reality.

Speaking of Ryback, he definitely benefited from being the first babyface (hero/good guy) to appear on the card as the crowd reaction he received was quite audible. It appeared to be coming from the same section of the audience that later on in the evening would be chanting "LET'S GO CENA!"

This seemed like an odd bit of booking to me because it was only a short while ago that Curtis Axel and Ryback were working as a tag team called RybAxel (appropriately enough). To my knowledge there was never a storyline presented as to why they'd be broken up, but then again the success of many modern WWE storylines is dependent upon the fact that their writers assume the fans suffer from some form of memory loss. (Hence the reason why Big Show has gone through something along the lines of 20 character turns - as in transitioning from hero to villain - during his run with WWE.) Nevertheless, you can tell who was Marty and who was Shawn out of their pairing based on the fact that Ryback was in the main event of Survivor Series and Axel has been relegated to appearances on Main Event (if you don't get the Marty/Shawn reference, I'm sorry but you've been reading this entry for far too long to be that far out of touch with this kind of material).

#2) Fandango (with Rosa Mendes) defeated Sin Cara

Fandango was announced as being "the new and improved Fandango". I bother with pointing that out because the wrestler now known as Fandango has been involved with WWE since 2006 (not the whole time as Fandango; he's had 3 or 4 other gimmicks) at which point he began working with Deep South Wrestling, an independent promotion that served as a developmental territory for WWE which no longer exists. He has worked there, Florida Championship Wrestling, NXT, and finally as part of the main WWE roster. For someone as talented as he apparently is to have had such a drawn out career with no real highlights to speak of is baffling to me.

Sin Cara came to the ring sporting a Lucha Dragons t-shirt, which is the name of the tag team he's involved with in NXT. As of this writing he and his partner, Kalisto, are the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions.

#3) Emma, Alicia Fox & Charlotte defeated Paige & The Bella Twins

There was a social media push before the show began towards getting the fans in attendance to use a Twitter hashtag to vote on whether they wanted to see a 6-Divas tag team match or if they wanted to see a 1-on-1 Divas match. In terms of offering up options to fans of pro wrestling, that's like asking a 6 year old if they want a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone or some nice blanched asparagus.

The big deal here was that Charlotte was involved. She's the current WWE NXT Women's Champion and, perhaps of more interest to most fans, the daughter of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. She was involved for the majority of the match and made a good showing for herself. The Flair references are a little thick with her presentation at the moment seeing as how she had "WOOO!"-ed about a dozen times before the match even started.

After the match was over, Nikki and Brie (the Bella Twins) began to argue with one another. The two of them are supposed to be on the same page according to what's going on within TV storylines, however they appeared to have split on less than amicable terms this night as Brie shoved Nikki and walked off on her own. That could be foreshadowing something to come down the line but it could also be an example of how house shows exist in a vacuum, meaning none of these events matter in the grand scheme of things because they aren't on TV and therefore aren't part of the running narrative.

#4) Intercontinental Championship Match - Dolph Ziggler defeated Luke Harper by disqualification

Going into the show I had this contest in mind as being a contender for match of the night. In reality it felt kind of flat, and that bugs me for a number of reasons. Knowing what these two are capable of and seeing the match they had, it surprised me that it was somewhat dull in its pacing. I knew Ziggler had zero chance of winning the title because titles never change hands at live events (that's not entirely true; they do change hands at live events but only about as frequently as we elect Presidents). The fact that the guts of the match didn't feature the sort of athleticism these two show off during episodes of RAW or Smackdown was disappointing but the decision to have the match end as the result of Harper pushing Ziggler into the referee was somewhat confusing (at first I thought the ref had disqualified Ziggler for making contact with him) and mostly unsatisfying.

- Intermission -

#5) R-Truth defeated Cesaro

As I mentioned on my Twitter feed, this is why CM Punk quit.

Here's another crazy booking decision which doesn't make any sense to me. Why would a guy like R-Truth, who hasn't been on any of the main WWE programming for a while now, get a win over Cesaro? I can only assume Cesaro is in someone's doghouse. If this is all the Swiss Superman will ever get to be on the main roster, then by all means send him back to NXT where he can be appreciated for having phenomenal matches with talent like Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, and Hideo Itami.

#6) A New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E Langston with Xavier Woods) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & Damien Mizdow in a non-title bout

This was my favorite match of the night because out of the 7 contests on the card it was the one that had the most energy and life to it. The Miz can get heat just by picking up a microphone, Damien Mizdow is one of the best characters in WWE right now, and I sincerely hope that A New Day goes far because those guys are working their tails off in that gimmick.

#7) John Cena defeated Seth Rollins in a street fight

The last event my wife and I attended together before this one was a WWE Live show in November of 2013 which was also held at CLA. The main event that night was a street fight between the Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Eric Rowan) and the team of CM Punk & Daniel Bryan. Fast forward to the present where the Wyatt Family doesn't exist, Daniel Bryan may or may not ever wrestle again, and CM Punk is gone from WWE completely. My how things change over the course of a year!

I have to give a hand to Cena and Rollins because this match was definitely more in line with what one would expect when you hear of a match being held under street fight rules than others I've seen. (Of course you could just as well interchange street fight, extreme rules, no disqualifications, and a few other labels that get added to matches where anything goes. Why WWE uses one instead of another is anyone's guess. Perhaps WWE conducted a study and determined that "street fight" was more effective in terms of marketing.) They brawled up and down the aisle, made use of a number of weapons, and Rollins had so much heat on him that he even managed to make a young female fan at ringside burst into tears. That's the kind of reaction you rarely see anymore in pro wrestling and it goes to show that no matter how many times John Cena may face insurmountable odds (and triumphantly overcome them) his loyal fans are there with him 100% of the time.

Rollins went through two tables during the match, once on a reversal out of an Irish whip into one of the corners and a second time via an Attitude Adjuster from Cena off the top rope. I believe Cena and Rollins had this same match at least once more during the loop of live events this past weekend, so that means Rollins likely went through 4 or more tables in less than 3 days time. All I can say to that is hopefully he has a good chiropractor.

All things considered this was a fun night out but the matches overall left both of us feeling like there was something missing. I don't know if that something is star power, emotional involvement, or what but this was a fairly vanilla piece of work. Looking back, I think it's interesting that out of 7 matches the heel (villain) only won once, that being Fandango.

Of course we couldn't go to something like this without shooting an episode of Rasslin' with Redbeard! I have to give my wife major kudos seeing as how she served as camera operator for more than a few shots that became a part of this episode. She humors me and my silly endeavors, which is just one reason why I love her.

WrestleMania 30 - My Picks vs. Reality

It's difficult for me to think of a moment in recent history where the state of professional wrestling has been as good as it's been over the course of the past week. I may be jumping the gun here but it suddenly feels cool to be a fan of rasslin' again!

Unfortunately, as triumphant as we pro wrestling fans may have felt coming away from the 2014 World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame ceremony, WrestleMania 30, and Monday Night Raw the next day, we have also had to come to terms with the tragic death of a man who, for many of us, was a childhood hero.

In one of my previous blog entries (which you can read for yourself here), I attempted to predict winners of the matches scheduled for WM30. I faced two challenges in doing so seeing as how I not only tried to use logic to determine who the winners would be (I, of all people, should know that logic and wrestling go together about as well as scrambled eggs and chocolate pudding) but also to try and figure out the rest of the card since only half the bill was known when I published the aforementioned blog. As it would turn out, I am not a clairvoyant when it comes to match outcomes but I wasn't too bad in terms of figuring out what matches were going to take place. What follows is a comparative rundown of my predictions versus what actually happened at WM30.

1) Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) (C) defeated Los Matadores (Diego & Fernando), RybAxel (Ryback & Curtis Axel), and The Real Americans (Jack Swagger & Cesaro)

Prediction: The Usos

It seemed highly likely to me that a tag team championship match would get on the card somewhere, although I wasn't certain which teams would be involved outside of The Usos. With a lineup as packed as WM30 was, one of them was going to wind up relegated to the pre-show and sure enough it was this particular match. (In my mind it was a toss up between this and the Divas Championship.) Somewhat conspicuous by their absence were the team of the Rhodes Brothers, Cody Rhodes & Goldust. I can only take that as a sign that their time as a pair is over, which is bothersome to me because they made a great team, as you would expect.

2) Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H

Prediction: Daniel Bryan

No real shocker here, even though I know some in the IWC (short for Internet Wrestling Community) were thinking Triple H would get the nod to further infuriate the fan base only to have something transpire during the show leading to Bryan getting into the main event for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The match lasted just shy of 30 minutes, making the task of one of these guys wrestling again later on in the evening that much taller of an order. Even with an hour's rest between bouts, having two main event level matches in one day is an extraordinary tribute to the conditioning of someone like Daniel Bryan.

3) The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns) defeated Kane & The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg)

Prediction: Kane & The Ascension

I was going in the right direction in putting together the dynamic of this match but I did not anticipate The New Age Outlaws being put with Kane to face off against The Shield. (When I first heard of it I couldn't fathom the idea of Kane - corporate or otherwise - being aligned with two of the primary members of Degeneration X, then I was reminded that for a brief moment Kane had formed a tag team with X-Pac and the two of them had won the WWE Tag Team Championship together.) I had it in mind that this might be an opportunity for new blood to be brought into the upper tier of WWE's roster; truth be told, young talent did get elevated here, and it was Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns. Those three were hot before WM30 but now they are truly at the top of charts when it comes to popular Superstars.

4) Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Winner - Cesaro

Prediction: Cesaro

No kidding around here, I'm fairly impressed with myself in having accurately predicted the winner of this match. It's anything goes when you talk about a battle royal, so to have been able to accurately say Cesaro would come out on top is quite cool to me. I admit that I got lucky because Cesaro wasn't an announced entrant in the match yet when the opening bell rang there he was. With that, you have no one but two guys who pulled double duty at WM30, Cesaro and Daniel Bryan.

5) John Cena defeated Bray Wyatt

Prediction: Bray Wyatt

The story that has been conveyed around these two is that Wyatt is attempting to break John Cena in such a way that he has no choice other than to abandon his chipper, boy scout ways and embrace a state of mind that is much, much more visceral and dark. From that perspective, this match was very successful in what it accomplished as there were points where Cena looked to be teetering on the edge of his own character. I'm not sure if this feud will continue but at the very least it made Cena interesting for once in what seems like forever.

6) Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker

Prediction: The Undertaker

Well, THAT didn't go at all how I expected...

Suffice to say, neither did most of the pro wrestling world. Be that as it may, according to Forbes there were apparently a number of betting websites that began getting a lot of action on Lesnar within an hour of WM30 starting.

The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania stood at 21 victories and now his WM record stands at 21-1. That one loss bothers me, and it bothers me a lot. I'm not saying that Taker should never have lost at WM as it was bound to happen eventually (provided he didn't retire beforehand, of course). What bothers me is that the loss was to Brock Lesnar, a guy who for all intents and purposes stands to reap the least possible amount of benefit from having scored that pin fall. I do not get why he was the one to be rewarded with that opportunity as it makes no sense to me from a booking perspective. All I can say is I hope he does something significant for wrestling in the future, otherwise this will go down as a terrible blemish on all involved.

7) Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational: AJ Lee (C) defeated ALL the Divas

Prediction: AJ Lee

Putting this match so late in the card, especially after what was essentially the end of an era that will never be duplicated, is one of the most absurd pacing decisions I've ever encountered. Fans tend to make fun of Divas matches as being bathroom breaks during a show because the contests aren't generally something to which anyone looks forward. They're like getting a gift card to a store in which you never shop; sure, it's a gift but you didn't want it and you're likely to never use it for anything other than to maybe buy someone else a gift they in turn might not want themselves.

That said, this wasn't a surprising outcome. There was no clear rival to Lee going into WM30 and the Divas division is mostly geared towards promoting the Total Divas show these days and that's quite sad in my opinion. There are some talented wrestlers in WWE's employ who just happen to be women, and I feel like they get relegated to disrespectful positions because of that.

Consequently, this seems to have been Vickie Guerrero's last appearance with WWE as she has decided to pursue other interests rather than remain with the company. What's more, the following night on Raw, AJ Lee lost the Diva's Championship to Paige, who is now the NXT Women's Champion and the WWE Divas Champion. That's a lot for her to carry seeing as how prior to Monday night only a portion of the WWE audience was aware that she existed, but I have a feeling she'll handle it well.

8) WWE World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton and Batista

Prediction: Batista

In pro wrestling vernacular, there exists the term "overbooked". What that means is that there's potentially too much going on in a given angle or match that the whole thing becomes muddy, difficult to follow, or altogether pointless. It's more common than you'd expect as there seem to be times where people involved in the creative aspect of wrestling write their material to where there's no convenient resolution. This is why you end up with a WrestleMania main event that involved 4 wrestlers (one of whom got carted out on a stretcher half way through the match only to return), 2 referees (the second of which hadn't been seen in months since the point in time he was implicated in having rigged Daniel Bryan's victory over Randy Orton at the 2013 Night of Champions pay-per-view), and Stephanie McMahon in its outcome.

Yes ("YES!"?), there were a LOT of moving parts here but I think the final product was a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to a storyline that has lasted in the area of 7 months. That kind of long-range booking is almost unheard of anymore, and to see it play out to fruition was really something else. You had all the major players involved, they all did their part, and in the end Daniel Bryan walks out of WM30 as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

All things totaled, I was able to accurately predict 4 of the 8 matches from WM30. 50% might not sound that great but as any baseball fan will tell you, a .500 average is nothing to scoff at. I'll take it, even though it represents a drop off from my 6-2 record last year in trying to guess the outcomes of the matches held at WM29.

I can't wrap up this entry without speaking on the sudden death of James Hellwig, who was better known as the Ultimate Warrior. Warrior died earlier this week while at a hotel with his wife, having been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame and appeared on Monday Night Raw within three days prior. He was an intense individual, inside and out of the squared circle, and as the Ultimate Warrior he left an indelible impression on a generation of young pro wrestling fans, myself included.

As a kid, when you read comic books you never expect there to be an issue where a character like Spider-Man, for example, dies. Sure, he may get beat up, bleed, and be on the cusp of mortality but he never actually expires. He gets up, he heals, he perseveres, and he overcomes. This is an unrealistic presentation because comic book characters exist in a vacuum, a conveniently self-contained universe where the laws of physics and nature don't always apply. So it is that when one of our heroes expires, we're left wondering why him, why now - just plain why?

We're all born and some day we'll all die. Like it or not, that's how it works. It doesn't matter if you're a person who's name isn't known to more than 5 others or if you're a celebrity like the Ultimate Warrior, death comes for us all. We're not guaranteed our next breath - try as though we may to fight it, there's nothing to be done when your time is up. Warrior knew this, which is why his comments during Raw are especially poignant.

"Every man's heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized. By the story tellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever. You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior. In the back I see many potential legends. Some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they lived with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends, as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of the Ultimate Warrior will run forever!"

- Ultimate Warrior

If nothing else, Warrior's passing should be a lesson to us all that life is too short to spend it holding onto grudges and the sins of the past. Our lives are but moments in time and often undervalued until it's too late. We should all strive to make the best of every second of every day, because to do otherwise is to insult the gift that is each of our lives.

WrestleMania 30 Predictions

It's that time of year again. A week of the year where the entirety of the professional wrestling community (both fans and those in the industry as well) focuses its attention on one city for an event so massive in its scope that it could only be compared to the Super Bowl in terms of the world-wide attention it receives. Yes, I'm talking about World Wrestling Entertainment's WrestleMania, this year's edition being held at the Super Dome in New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the thirtieth iteration of the annual event which has been dubbed "The Showcase of the Immortals".

Only problem is, "The Showcase of the Immortals" was fitting back in the day when competitors like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, The Undertaker and others were on the card but that phrase doesn't necessarily seem as applicable this time around. While the Hulkster is involved in WM30 as the special guest host of the show (he's returned home to WWE after having been with iMPACT Wrestling for the better part of 3 years, which does nothing to explain why WrestleMania needs a host in the first place), the line-up for WrestleMania XXX isn't exactly making me want to throw down $60 to watch the show live on pay-per-view. If anything, it's making me want to ignore the whole thing in the hope that it blows over and the next day WWE's creative minds organize some kind of a company-wide nullification whereby the results make for a convenient reset of existing storylines. Things have gotten messy here lately and the only way out of it at this point, to me, seems to be to take the slash & burn route - razed to the ground, as it were, in the hope of going somewhere better than where we are right now.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the series of events leading up to WM30 have been interesting but not necessarily in the way that leads to people actually wanting to buy into what is most definitely the biggest wrestling-related pay-per-view event of the year. For one, Batista returned in similar fashion to how The Rock came back last year at WM29 - that being to use the WrestleMania appearance as a vehicle for promoting something, in this case the upcoming MARVEL film Guardians of the Galaxy in which Batista plays the role of Drax the Destroyer. It seemed as though WWE assumed the fans would welcome his return as being that of a hero, but the reaction he received was nothing short of remarkable. The fans immediately turned on him, booing him mercilessly. This wasn't "you're a bad guy and we're booing because we're supposed to"-booing, this was "WE HATE YOU AND WE WANT YOU TO DIE"-booing.

Why did they react that way? Because their true hero, Daniel Bryan, was getting snubbed from being in the main event of WrestleMania 30 in favor of some has-been wrestler who left to be an actor in Hollywood.

The adulation Daniel Bryan has garnered is magical, quite frankly. I cannot recall the last time a fanbase literally rose up and commanded that a performer (especially one who was: A) fired by WWE at one point for essentially having played his character too well, and B) looked upon by WWE management as being nothing more than a strong hand and good mid-card talent at best) be "the guy" the way that fans have for Bryan. I'm not saying he wouldn't have gotten to where he is without the fans; the fact of the matter is without them he'd be floundering somewhere in mediocrity right now (like what's happened to other talent - such as Zack Ryder, Fandango, Dolph Ziggler, and others - who got over with the fans on their own) instead of being at the top of the heap like he is.

Another aspect of why Daniel Bryan has become the focal point of WM30 is the fact that CM Punk left the company, taking what WWE Chairman Vince McMahon himself referred to during a WWE shareholders meeting as a "sabbatical". Punk's sudden departure made Bryan the biggest fan-favorite on the card (greater even than John Cena - some people hate Cena whereas no one seems to dislike Bryan) and set in motion a series of events that have lead to several matches on the WM30 card being augmented due to his presumed absence on the show. It was believed that Punk's opponent for WM30 would be Triple H, even though Hunter had by that point long assumed the role of company brass rather than in-ring performer. The two had begun sparring with one another, albeit indirectly, and Punk vanished as soon as the feud looked to have ignited itself organically. Try as the fans might to will Punk back into the ring by chanting his name during televised events, Punk has shown no signs of returning and the reality of the situation is that he may never come back as his contract with WWE is set to expire this Summer.

All that having been said, as of this writing there are 5 confirmed matches for WM30. If recent history is an accurate indicator of what the final card will look like, there will be a total of 9 matches - 1 on the pre-show and 8 on the main broadcast, as has been the format for the past two WrestleManias. I've done my best to try and predict not only the outcome of each match but also what those final 3-4 matches will be. I stand to be wrong on a lot (as in A LOT) of these predictions this year because of the uncertainty of things, however I'm going to do the best I can based on where things seem to be headed as of right now.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match - Randy Orton (c) vs. Batista vs. HHH/Daniel Bryan

You have to assume that Daniel Bryan gets into this match by way of defeating HHH earlier in the evening. If he doesn't, I wouldn't think it out of the realm of possibilities that more than a few people in attendance at WrestleMania 30 begin making their way to the exits. Unless they're hanging around to fling random bits of refuse at the ring, that is, which would be an amazing visual and a big middle finger to everything WWE has done creatively for the past 5-6 months.

Even if we do wind up with this match being Orton vs. Batista vs. Bryan, I don't expect Bryan to walk away from WM30 as champion and for a number of reasons. Bryan is getting married (no, really, he is - it's not some silly wrestling wedding) soon to one of the Bella Twins. You'd think he's going to take a little time off to celebrate his nuptials, or at least I assume he would, and there's no point in putting the belt on him when he won't be around full time. Additionally, Batista signed a 2 year deal with WWE when he returned to the company meaning he's not going to up and disappear as soon as the final bell rings. I feel as though either he or Orton will come out of WM30 as champion, and as much as it may pain me to say it, I think Batista's getting the rub.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Batista **

It's old-school booking, but there's just more that can be done with a heel champion in wrestling than with a good guy.

The WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship were unified in 2013, and the new title is referred to as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It was a unification more or less in name only seeing as how Randy Orton has been the champ ever since then but he's had to carry around both of the old belts. One of the rumors going into WrestleMania 30 is that there's a chance we may finally see a new singular belt to represent the company going forward, possibly something that will feature a new WWE logo like the one that's been used thus far in promoting the WWE Network and also in the logo for WrestleMania 31.

Whether or not that happens remains to be seen - it would be a significant development in the eyes of people like myself who have an interest in graphics, especially those relating to championship belt designs.

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt (formerly known as Husky Harris, who is the son of Mike Rotundo - better known as Irwin R. Schyster - and brother of WWE NXT star Bo Dallas) is one of the best things to come out of WWE in a very long time. Not only has the gimmick been a throwback to an era where wrestling villains could be legitimately scary, but Bray has displayed a unique style of violence with his ring-work that makes contests featuring him feel more like back-alley brawls than matches.

On the other side of the coin, John Cena is John Cena. He's been doing the same thing for years, and there's no end to it in sight because he sells tickets & merchandise like no one else. People are going to adore Cena regardless of whether or not he wins or loses at WrestleMania, which makes him winning this match completely pointless.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Bray Wyatt **

Wyatt wins at WM30, and I fully expect him to go on to greater things in the year that follows.

The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar

It has become an expectation, or perhaps a presumption, that The Undertaker will return every year around WrestleMania and begin a feud with someone so that he can continue his WM winning streak. (Fun Facts: Undertaker's winning streak began in 1991 at WrestleMania 7. He did not compete at WM10 or WM16. During this run, he has faced Kane and Shawn Michaels twice but HHH holds something of a record of his own as he's lost to Taker 3 times at WrestleMania.) At this point, the Dead Man is a perfect 21-0 at WrestleMania, having defeated a literal who's who of top-tier competitors over the past twenty-three years.

Brock Lesnar will be win number 22 for The Undertaker.

** PROJECTED WINNER: The Undertaker **

This match, to me, has had the least fanfare in its build up of any match associated with the Undertaker in the past 5 years. There's been some cool moments leading up to where we are now but this doesn't have the same appeal. Fact of the matter is that Brock does not deserve to be the one to break Undertaker's streak. He's a fine athlete and has had fantastic success in both pro wrestling and mixed martial arts, but when it comes to his long term value within WWE he's simply not fit to be the one to unseat Taker.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

This match is a new addition to WrestleMania lore as it will apparently become a regular aspect of the show (we'll see how long that lasts). Previously fans could count on a "Money in the Bank" ladder match - a bout where the winner would receive a contract for a guaranteed shot at the WWE champion - somewhere on the card as a means of elevating young talent (it's also a means of getting a whole bunch of people involved in the show without having to expel much effort on doing so), but this seems to be the latest & greatest idea for accomplishing that task at WM30.

Thirty competitors will enter the match which will be played out under normal battle royal rules; that being no pinfalls or submissions, the only way to eliminate an opponent is to throw them over the top rope so that both of their feet touch the floor (a rule that has been used to create drama very effectively over the years). As of this writing, the list of known participants is as follows.

• Cesaro
• Sheamus
• Christian
• Rey Mysterio
• Big Show
• Cody Rhodes
• Big E Langston (current Intercontinental Champion)
• Ryback
• Curtis Axel
• Fandango
• Dolph Ziggler
• Alberto Del Rio
• Titus O'Neil
• Damien Sandow
• Mark Henry
• Heath Slater
• Drew McIntyre
• Jinder Mahal
• The Miz

That leaves 11 more spots in the match. Who the final 11 will be is anyone's guess but if I had to assume who will get in based on the remainder of the roster I would put in Sin Cara, Wade "Bad News" Barrett, Brodus Clay, Darren Young, Goldust, The Great Khali, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Santino Marella, and Alexander Rusev. A lot of prognosticators have said that this is Rusev's coming out party as he's been getting built up in promos for weeks now. I don't see it that way because there's another guy out there who has been wowing people with his abilities lately who could use a big win like this to further get himself over, and that's none other than "The Swiss Superman" Cesaro.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Cesaro **

Notice that in this match you have the potential for several existing tag teams - Swagger & Cesaro, Ryback & Axel, Rhodes & Goldust - to be put in play on the card but not in the confines you'd expect. What this does more than anything else is it potentially eliminates them from contention in terms of having a match against The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championship. It's not unlikely that some of those guys get pulled from this match to be in a tag match for the titles, in which case I would hope the available spots in the battle royal would be filled by rising stars from WWE NXT. Wrestlers like Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, Mojo Rawley, and others.

Daniel Bryan vs. HHH

Of all the matches on the card, this one stands to be the most emotionally charged. Not Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair emotional, but  Daniel Bryan has fought for months to overcome being thought of as a "B+ player" and the fans have rallied to his cause, meanwhile HHH and Stephanie McMahon have continued to belittle him despite his successes. It's a true David vs. Goliath scenario and I'm certain that these two will have a fantastic match structured around that kind of narrative. It will be violent, brutal, and quite possibly beautiful.

The bigger picture here is the added stipulation that whoever wins this match will then be added to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match in the main event of WM30, making that contest a three-way bout where the current champion doesn't even have to be involved in the decision to lose the title.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Daniel Bryan **

Unless WWE truly wants to take a huge, steaming, dump on its fans (as if to say "We don't care who you like or what you want!"), Bryan wins this match and goes on to the main event. I admit that I want Bryan to win, however I won't lie to you here as it would be epic to see him lose and the audience go nuts about it. I'm fairly certain the Super Dome would get burned to the ground if that happens.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Every match from this point forward is pure speculation on my part. I've done my best to put together the remainder of the line-up based off where things stand as of the date of publication for this entry. In other words, if you're reading this a month, year, or whatever after WM30 and are wondering what the hell I was thinking, now you know.

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Kane vs. Roman Reigns

The thing about a group like The Shield is that it's not going to last forever. At some point a break up will occur and the three of them will go their separate ways. The questions are how and when it happens, and who's the real star to emerge from the ashes of the wake? The how and the when haven't been answered yet (even though there's been more than a few teases lately of its impending development) but all signs are pointing to Roman Reigns coming out of whatever leads to The Shield's implosion as someone who could be a big-time player in WWE for years to come.

Reigns is a physical specimen with the kind of warrior good-looks that make most women and certain men feel all warm & fuzzy in their naughty bits. Despite this fact he's not equipped with the gift of gab and his wrestling ability is questionable. He's been carried along by Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, two journeymen wrestlers with a wealth of experience on their side as a result of having been stars on the independent pro wrestling scene for years prior to coming to WWE. They're more than likely going to be the Marty Jannety's of The Shield to Roman Reigns' Shawn Michaels.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Roman Reigns **

Kane is 46 years old, has been with WWE for almost 20 years, and has held every major WWE title (other than the long defunct European Championship) at one point or another in his career making him one of only 12 wrestlers who would qualify for Grand Slam Champion status. He'll be fine for having lost this match is what I'm getting at.

The Shield (Dean Ambrose [current United States Champion] & Seth Rollins) vs. The Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Eric Rowan)

Oftentimes there will be a match on a card that gets little to no hype but that flies in under the radar and blows everyone's minds with how awesome it was because the players involved realized the opportunity that was in front of them. If this match happens, that's what will take place when Ambrose & Rollins pair up against Harper & Rowan.

These teams have already had what some view as match-of-the-year caliber bouts at pay-per-views and other live events, and it's likely that they'll turn in another similar performance if they're allowed the time at WM30. It would be as good a moment as any to have something with a sense of finality transpire that leads to The Shield's split, with Ambrose potentially turning on Rollins or vice versa.

** PROJECTED WINNER: The Wyatt Family **

There is one thing about the prospect of this match that bothers me, and it's the same sentiment I have towards Big E Langston being in the battle royal. Ambrose and Langston hold WWE's other singles championships, both of which are viewed historically speaking as being stepping stones to a competitor potentially being a world champion down the line. You'd think then that they'd be worth defending on WWE's biggest event of the year, but that simply isn't the case. The Intercontinental title was defended at WM29, albeit on the pre-show, and the United States title was nowhere to be found. The US Championship in particular seems to be of no concern when it comes to WrestleMania cards; MVP and Chris Benoit wrestled for the strap back at WM23, and it was later defended in a dark match at WM27 but hasn't gotten any attention since then.

ALTERNATE: The Shield vs. Kane & ?

There are rumors circulating the web (meaning some guy with a blog and/or website, like myself, wrote about it then someone else picked up on it and it became gospel on pro wrestling news sites from there) that instead of the two matches I just described we could get a 6-man tag match featuring Ambrose, Rollins & Reigns vs. Kane and two compatriots of his choosing. Since it stands to reason that The Wyatt Family (Harper & Rowan) will be involved with Bray Wyatt and John Cena's match, the decision of who to put with Kane isn't at all cut and dry. There's a tag team in WWE's NXT developmental system that would make perfect sense to make subordinates of Kane - Konnor & Victor, otherwise known as The Ascension, the current NXT Tag Team Champions.

Konnor once worked for a promotion in Charlotte, North Carolina (NWA Charlotte, may you forever rest in peace) where he was known as Ryan O'Reilly. He was a star in that company thanks to his size and ability, and I am glad to have been able to see him there as he's no doubt bound for greater things in his career.

Truth be told, the idea of these 6 guys going at it is really cool to me. I have a feeling it would be a visceral bout that might not be the best thing on the card but it would be an old school brawl of a match featuring a lot of bright, young talent and one of the most respected veterans on WWE's roster.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Kane & The Ascension **

No matter which of the three matches we get involving these groups at WM30, the fact remains that The Shield's time is almost up. They're either done at WM30 or soon thereafter.

Divas Championship Match - AJ Lee (c) vs. The ENTIRE WWE Divas Division

I can't lie, I have literally no idea what's going on in the WWE Divas Division right now other than the fact that AJ Lee is the current champion. All I seem to hear about in regard to women's wrestling as it relates to WWE is the Total Divas TV show - by some way or means that show has become what women's wrestling should be about in the realm of World Wrestling Entertainment, and that's a real assault on the fact that there are many, many talented wrestlers out there who just happen to be female. They shouldn't have to belittle their athletic abilities by having to play the role of ditzy or catty women. It's disrespectful but I gather it pays well, so at least there's that.

As for who AJ will potentially face at WM30, the possibilities are seemingly endless because there doesn't seem to be a clear number one contender. Since I have to make a guess here, I'm going to say that the most likely scenarios are for either Natalya, one of the Bella Twins, or Tamina to be Lee's opponent. Of those, the better match would be either AJ vs. Natalya or AJ vs. Brie Bella.

** PROJECTED WINNER: Someone Other Than AJ Lee **

No matter who AJ faces, I don't think she's leaving New Orleans as the Divas Champion. She has the misfortune of being a piece of wreckage left floating around in WWE after CM Punk's departure. The two of them have been romantically linked for quite some time now, and it's not uncommon for WWE's management to take out their frustrations on someone for who they happen to be associated with.

Tag Team Championship Match - The Usos (c) vs. The New Age Outlaws/The Shield/The Wyatt Family/Los Matadores/The Real Americas/RybAxel/The Rhodes Brothers

I truly don't think WWE knows what they want to do with the Tag Team Championship at WM30, if anything. As I've mentioned already, a lot of the talent who are in existing tag teams have been listed as participants in the battle royal. While it's not impossible that they could have two matches on the same show, it's highly unlikely seeing as how it's all but certain that Daniel Bryan is pulling double-duty (no point in going to the well that frequently, in other words).

There have been attempts lately to establish a number one contender in the tag division recently but those matches have ended in ways where no clear winner was decided. It appears to be that we'll see a 3 or perhaps even a 4-way match for the Tag Team Championship at WM30. The Real Americans (Cesaro & Jack Swagger) and RybAxel (Ryback & Curtis Axel) are their most likely opponents but The Rhodes Brothers (Cody Rhodes & Goldust) and The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn) are lurking out there. It's not out of question that The Wyatt Family (Harper & Rowan) get an opportunity, however the more I think about it the more I expect they'll have some involvement in Bray Wyatt's match with John Cena.

** PROJECTED WINNER: The Usos **

I, personally, am not a fan of Jimmy & Jey Uso. They just have never appealed to me for whatever reason - most likely because when I think of Samoan wrestlers I like to think of big, burly brawlers who look like intimidating tribal warlords instead of two guys who wear face paint and, for reasons unknown, have back pockets stitched onto their ring gear. They've established themselves with a following, though, and I wouldn't be shocked if their run as tag champs continues for another couple months.

Wrestlemania 29 - My Picks vs. Reality

Wrestlemania 29 has come and gone, and it seems as though a lot of the IWC (or Internet Wrestling Community, for those of you not in the know - which included me until I looked up that acronym just moments ago) aren't exactly thrilled with the outcomes of the matches. It seems as though WM29 is being looked at as one of the more disappointing Wrestlemania cards of all time and I can't say that I necessarily disagree with that opinion. There were very few surprises coming out of World Wrestling Entertainment's biggest event of the year, which would seemingly continue WWE's progression towards going with storylines & angles which favor maintaining the marketability of the product over taking chances with innovative possibilities. This is where professional wrestling as a form of performance art gets tampered with by stockholders and bean counters. That said, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon just ran an event that drew over 80,000 attendees, generated more than 12 million pay-per-view buys and who runs a billion-dollar industry. Meanwhile, I'm just a guy with a blog - I'll defer to the man who could use $100 bills as toilet paper as opposed to trying to convince anyone that I know better, at least in this context.

As for my WM29 picks, I'd say that I did well overall, finishing with a record of 6-2.  There was one match which I did not pick as a result of it having been added to the pre-show card after I'd published my previous entry, that being the Miz vs. Wade Barrett for Barrett's Intercontinental Championship. Miz defeated Barrett for the title; he's been on an intense climb as of late, and had I been aware of that match prior to releasing my blog with picks I'd have definitely chosen him as the winner. I won't be so bold as to retcon my picks, though, so my record for WM29 shall hold strong at 6-2.

There was another match added to the card after I'd made my predictions in the form an inter-gender 8-person tag team match: Brodus Clay, Tensai & the Funk-adactyls vs. Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes and the Bella Twins. However, this bout wound up getting bumped off the card at the last minute. I'm not sure if it was because of time restrictions or what exactly but I hate it for all those involved. Performing at Wrestlemania is a dream for every professional wrestler and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have the rug yanked out from under you in such a way as that. To make matters worse is the fact that WWE, despite having promoted the match in advance of WM29, appears to now be attempting to scrub it from ever having been a part of their planning as all mentions of it have been removed from content associated with the event.

At any rate, here are the full results from WM29 with my remarks tacked onto the matches I failed to correctly project.

1) The Miz def. Wade Barrett to win the Intercontinental Championship

2) The Shield def. Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show

3) Mark Henry def. Ryback

If you look back at my predictions, I mentioned the fact that having Mark Henry win here would do a lot towards elevating him as a top heel seeing as how Ryback, up until WM29, had been on a tear. The fact that WWE saw fit to put over Henry in a decisive manner means that he's in someone's good graces at this point in time; I would hope that he is because Henry really has been turning in some quality performances over the past year and looks like a legitimate monster. While Henry hopefully has many more good years of competing in him, I would say that the time is now for Mark seeing as how he's on the verge of his 42nd birthday. Pro wrestling, much like any pro sport, is a young man's game. Mark has shown repeatedly that he's not bulletproof and his being up there in age won't help matters.

I would say that Ryback is due for some repackaging. He just does not come off to me as a guy for whom the fans should be cheering. I would say he could benefit greatly from being taken under the wing of a manager, handler or mouthpiece but those are roles WWE doesn't seem keen on filling these days and that's a real shame. There was a point in time where a guy like Ryback who has obviously tremendous physical gifts could go farther with their potential by being paired up with a great manager. I'm not sure when managers became a bad thing but regardless of that Ryback is a prime example of a guy who could go from being just another ticked-off meat head to a real villain just by giving him a dastardly ally to play off of and rely upon to make the crowd hate them both.

4) Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) def. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship

5) Fandago def. Chris Jericho

6) Alberto Del Rio def. Jack Swagger to retain the World Championship

7) The Undertaker def. CM Punk

8) HHH def. Brock Lesnar

I'm not surprised at how this match ended. To think that Hunter would ever have someone like Brock Lesnar be the one to retire him was a mistake on my part, however I will say that it seemed like a decent potentiality at the time. Helmsley is an executive within the upper ranks of WWE management now, meaning his in-ring career as a wrestler isn't his sole focus anymore. There will come a point in time where he hangs up his boots, but that time isn't here yet.

Brock Lesnar is left without much direction coming out of this match. He and Hunter have been at each other for quite some time now, and as a result of their feud seemingly coming to an end Brock is - well, Brock is left without a dancing partner, at least not one that naturally springs to mind. I've seen some rumors floating around that WWE is interested in having Brock feud with The Rock in the future, but that shouldn't be taken as anymore more than pure speculation for now.

9) John Cena def. The Rock to win the WWE Championship

WrestleMania 29 Predictions

It's that time of year again - WrestleMania weekend. A weekend during which professional wrestling fans from across the globe flock to the site of an annual event that will either leave them completely floored by how awesome the whole thing was or wondering why in the world they spent so much money on being a part of it all. I'm fairly certain I'd fall into the latter category. Seriously, I love pro wrestling (well, most of the time) but my status as a sufferer of buyer's remorse causes me to go into a state of shock when considering the financial ramifications of attending WrestleMania.

First and foremost, you've got to have tickets to the event. The face value price range for WM29 tickets starts at a fairly modest $49.50 (including taxes & vendor fees), however I think it's safe to assume that those seats will have you watching the show from a distance so far from the ring that you might be able to high-five the crew of the International Space Station. (By comparison, it'll cost you $69.95 to watch WM29 at home via pay-per-view in high definition.) The cost of tickets goes up from there with the most expensive ones being a select group at ringside which are valued at $2,000. Yes, you read that right - 2 grand per ticket (my wife's engagement ring and wedding band cost me just a smidge over that), but on the plus side you get to keep your chair from the show as a bonus. If you figure in other factors such as airfare, cab fare or rental car fees, a hotel stay, food, etc. I would hazard a guess that you're probably looking at a list of expenditures that will set you back between $1,500-2,000. If you treated this as a vacation that might not be such a bad thing. I can't say that I wouldn't consider it, however given that I could spend less money and do something like take a cruise for example I'd more than likely take the cruise - even with the probability of the boat breaking down being at an all-time high right now.

As of this writing, there are 8 matches on the card which, of course, is subject to change. At this point, the Intercontinental, United States, and Divas championships are not scheduled to be defended - I do not expect them to be included on the card unless, that is, they wind up getting added to a pre-show, if that even happens. I think that should give you a real idea as to how important those titles are viewed as being within the realm of existence that is the WWE Universe. Unfortunately the Divas division is paper-thin right now and the two mid-card titleholders - Wade Barrett (IC) and Antonio Cesaro (US) - seem to be perceived as the best enhancement talent available for guys on the upper-tier.

All that said, here are my winning picks for the matches to be featured in WM29. "Winning" meaning that I'm so certain of these outcomes that you could certainly put money on each of them and expect a return on your investment because I think there are a few sports books out there that actually allow lines on an event like this. In all seriousness, if you are a person equipped with enough disposable income that you'd put a bet on a pro wrestling match I would encourage you to instead send that money to me. I promise to do something important with it, like pay my property taxes or take my wife out to a nice steak dinner and not something totally frivolous like buying a fainting goat or getting an absurd tattoo (a pig with wings wearing a tiara and Crocs, for example).

- Ryback vs. Mark Henry

This is the match I have the least amount of interest in. Why? It's more or less just here for the sake of putting two big brutes against one another - there's nothing all that organic about it, in other words.

Ryback is essentially a less charismatic version of Goldberg wearing Rob Van Dam's gear. He's been presented as a good guy but to be honest he carries out the part more like a villain. I don't think he has it in him to make Ryback out to be a likeable character. On the other hand, I do like Mark Henry; his character has shifted from being a buffoon to a monster and he's been able to do great things since the change. Henry's been with WWE for almost 17 years and this is the first time I've ever expected great things out of him. That may be asking too much here, unfortunately, given who he's working with.

I'm trying to think logically when picking a winner in this match but WWE and logic go together like mashed potatoes and strawberry jelly; that being a palatable product but not what you were most hoping for. Henry could use the win seeing as how it would elevate him into a position where he could feud with John Cena, Rocky, or anyone else seeing as how there aren't many other top-tier villains right now. Ryback has been something of a work in progress for a while, though, and I don't see him losing.

Projected Winner: Ryback

- Fandango vs. Chris Jericho

Not every wrestling fan is aware of this but WWE maintains what amounts to a farm system similar to what Major League Baseball does through associations with minor league franchises. It's essentially a training program for wrestlers WWE have recognized as being potential stars which works to mold them into talent fit for the main roster. Just because you're a member of WWE developmental doesn't eventually guarantee you a spot on RAW or Smackdown, though. Sometimes things don't pan out, and sometimes a guy will spend years in training before getting an opportunity to move up. Such is the case with Fandango.

The Fandango character is that of a flamboyant and extremely arrogant ballroom dancer; think one of the professional trainers from Dancing With the Stars if they had the most ridiculously inflated ego imaginable. Before he was Fandango he was Johnny Curtis, and Johnny Curtis was in WWE developmental for right at 7 years - a fact that blows a lot of observers minds seeing as how he's known as a truly talented guy (he won one of the seasons of WWE's NXT program when that show was still featured as a competition instead of the stand-alone show that it is now). In all that time, this is the best gimmick the creative minds in WWE could come up with for him.

All I can say is that it's a good thing Chris Jericho hasn't retired yet. He's one of few veterans WWE has around who can not only make Fandango look like a legitimate competitor but who doesn't mind putting over a young talent like Fandango for the sake of furthering the product. This will be one of the better matches on the card, even though it will be one of the least hyped.

Projected Winner: Fandango

- WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston w/AJ Lee

Tag team wrestling has become an often ignored element of WWE's programming in recent years. Gone are the days of tag teams like the British Bulldogs, Demolition, the Midnight Express and so many others - nowadays the idea is to throw two guys together at random and work out the details as they unfold. (It's the Lethal Weapon approach to tag team formatting, if you will.) Such is the case with this match as we're dealing with 4 individuals whose personalities have no natural attraction to one another.

Kane and Daniel Bryan have been engaged in the Team Hell No gimmick for what seems like forever. It's been an entertaining run for the both of them but you kind of get the feeling that it's grown stale. At the same time, Dolp Ziggler and Big E Langston are a fairly fresh pairing, with Langston more or less being the Virgil to Dolph's Million Dollar Man.

The wildcard in this scenario is the fact that Ziggler holds the Money in the Bank contract, which allows him to challenge the World Heavyweight Champion at any point in time - he only has until roughly the middle of July to cash it in, though, as the opportunity must be used within one calendar year or else it's nullified (he won it July 15, 2012). As much as I like Dolph, I don't think WWE is going to hand the belts to him & Big E if he's potentially about to feud with the WHC.

Projected Winners: Team Hell No

- Six-Man Tag Team Match: Sheamus, Randy Orton & Big Show vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns)

Here we have a feud that's been built out of a necessity to get the top stars in the company on the biggest show of the year. Sheamus, Orton and Big Show are all main-event stars who've had significant roles at WM in the past. By contrast you have Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns, three members of the roster who've made a name for themselves via their roguish actions but are still definitely on the rise.

In predicting a match like this, you have to try and take a long-term perspective on things. What happens if The Shield loses? To me, they're dead in the water - not to say they couldn't pick up steam again but having them lose now would be a major hit to their progression, as a group and as individuals. What happens if Sheamus, Orton & Big Show lose? Suddenly two good guys (well, one good guy - Sheamus - and one guy who could go either way at any point in time - Orton) and a villain have a reason to feud with one another. There's more to be gained from a creative standpoint from them losing than The Shield.

Projected Winners: The Shield

- No Holds Barred: Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman (added stipulation that if Triple H loses he must retire)

This match is the culmination of a feud that's almost a year in the making, which is something of a recurring theme for WM29 seeing as how Cena & Rocky have been going back and forth with each other for at least that long (more on that later). Between the two builds, I have to say I'm looking more forward to seeing how this one pans out.

Lesnar, as a pro wrestler, is still climbing out of a deep hole in my opinion. I still remember his send-off match at WrestleMania 20 against Goldberg and how much of a disaster it was. The match was a poor payoff involving two guys who, at the time, were huge stars and it was also proof that neither one of them cared enough about what they were doing in the moment to make the match what it could've been. Afterwards, both of them seemingly disappeared; Goldberg retired and Lesnar went off to pursue his various other interests. Now, having exhausted those outlets, Lesnar's back in WWE, working a schedule that makes him a part-time member of the roster at best.

Is Lesnar the guy to retire HHH? That's the real question here, and it's a matter of ego versus ego in the grand scheme of things. Is Hunter satisfied enough with his in-ring career that he is willing to let this be his swan song or does he want to leave things open so that he could have another go-round? If this is the end for Hunter, and I think it should be, he has done everything one could possibly do in the business of professional wrestling. There is literally nothing else he could do to further solidify his legacy. It's time to put down the sledgehammer, once and for all.

Projected Winner: Brock Lesnar

- CM Punk vs. The Undertaker

There were rumors posted on pro wrestling news websites for months that at WM29 CM Punk would challenge the Undertaker and his perfect WrestleMania winning streak of 20-0. Punk was WWE Champion then, and it seemed like only a matter of time before he'd be dethroned by either Rock or Cena so that those two men would be able to use the title as a feudal point. So it was that Punk would lose the WWE title to Rock earlier this year at the Royal Rumble, setting all the pieces in place for Rock to face Cena and Punk to face the Dead Man.

While it sounds great on paper, there wasn't a natural transition from Punk having been WWE champion for more than a year to suddenly going after Undertaker's streak. Then, tragically, Undertaker's legendary manager Paul Bearer passed away and suddenly Punk, one of the greatest villains in pro wrestling history, had a means to assault the Undertaker on a level so dastardly it made many (even within the confines of WWE) question whether or not having him do so was in good taste.

Having Punk use Bearer's death as a means to make his feud with Taker more organic may come off as a disrespectful maneuver, but I think it's a very powerful tribute to the man himself. Bearer was a brilliant manager and he would've understood that this is all ultimately about making the show better. The developments that have occurred in the weeks since Bearer's death have made Punk vs. Undertaker a much grander spectacle than it would've been otherwise.

I think it's a safe assumption that when Undertaker's streak ends, so too will his career. Could it be this year? Could CM Punk be the 1 in 20-1? I highly doubt it. This will be an epic match but it won't be the last time we see the Phenom in action.

Projected Winner: The Undertaker

- World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger w/Zeb Coulter

Jack Swagger is one of the more gifted athletes WWE has in their employ. He's a former All-American amateur wrestler, having garnered much attention for his collegiate career at the University of Oklahoma. His WWE career has been interesting, to say the least. He's been the ECW champion, United States champion, and World Heavyweight champion but he'd been noticeably absent since September of last year. He returned in February sporting a new attitude (which is more or less a mash-up of extreme Libertarian political views) and flanked by a manager/mouthpiece in the form of Zeb Coulter (who's perhaps better known as Dutch Mantell).

In between Swagger's return to competition and now, he was pulled over for speeding. When the officer involved searched his vehicle he was found to be in possession of marijuana and other drug-related paraphernalia. Swagger was arrested and charged with driving under the influence. This turn of events lead many to believe it might result in his being fired or otherwise buried (wrestling terminology for someone being demoted from a position of prominence). Fortunately for him, the push towards his facing Alberto Del Rio was already in play and it seems to have saved him from what likely would've been a major hiccup in his advancement - for the time being, anyway.

Alberto Del Rio has recently made a transition from villain to good guy. It hasn't exactly been the smoothest move in the history of the business as ADR had become one of the top bad guys around. There was no obvious inspiration for his character to change which made the shift feel clunky and forced. What's worse is that the feud with Swagger hasn't exactly set the wrestling world on fire. The whole thing stands to likely come out as a wash in the end with Swagger getting reprimanded in some way, shape or form and ADR moving on to whoever's next.

Projected Winner: Alberto Del Rio

- WWE Championship: The Rock (c) vs. John Cena

When Rock and Cena faced off last year at WM28, it was a matched billed as being "once in a lifetime". So much for that, I guess.

Having this match as the main event at WM29 is WWE's way of betting on a sure thing. This is a match that guarantees them mainstream attention. In one corner you've got John Cena - the face of the company, has been for a solid decade, isn't going anywhere any time soon. In the other corner you've got Rock - a hugely popular professional wrestler from the "attitude" era who's successfully transitioned into being a household name thanks to his having been embraced by Hollywood as a bankable action star. It's the kind of match that makes a man like Vince McMahon salivate at the mere thought of the thing.

To me, it's a fairly dull combination that has very little allure or mystique to it. Rock is a part-timer at most these days. He's an actor now, not a wrestler. As soon as he's done promoting GI JOE: Retaliation he'll vanish and won't be seen or heard from again on WWE programming until he needs to promote something else. That's not fair to the fans or the business, in my opinion.

John Cena will walk out of WM29 as the WWE Champion. He's the most consistent thing WWE has had throughout the modern era and there's a large chunk of the fanbase (read, women and children) that will flock to him no matter how repetitious he and his work may be. It only makes sense that he takes the belt from Rock because, as I said previously, Rock goes back to making movies when this show is over and done with.

If it sounds like I'm sour to the whole arrangement, that's very observant on your part. Quite frankly, I'm not a huge fan of either of these guys nor do I particularly care for the angle.

Projected Winner: John Cena