Hypothetical WrestleMania 27 Tournament

[Calderownz]

I remember watching WrestleMania V and finding the idea of the entire tournament taking place on the one show. I loved that Savage came out on top, but the concept itself was simply impressive.

So, my point is this... Let's say WWE decided to run a tournament that would crown an Undisputed champion, like they are rumored at times to be doing. Due to the fact that I doubt they would be willing to devote the ENTIRE PPV to the concept, they only had 8 guys in the entire tourney.

What guys would you like to see as champions before the event?

What guys would you like involved in the tournament?

How would it break down and who would walk away the overall winner?

I'll go first.

RAW Bracket:
Wade Barrett vs. John Cena = Cena wins. Advances.
Randy Orton [c] vs. CM Punk = Orton wins. Advances.

Breakdown: I'd have Wade and Cena face each other, due to the fact that their feud could only help the match seem bigger then it already should. I'd want all the opening matches ot have some history if possible. Barrett would attempt to cheat Cena like he has in the past, but have it backfire. With Orton, he actually ended the first title reign of CM Punk. Getting a clean pin over Punk could help Punk in the long run.


SMACKDOWN! Bracket:
Edge vs. Christian = Edge wins. Advances.
Jack Swagger [c] vs. Alberto del Rio = Swagger wins. Advances.

Breakdown: Both matches have some decent history. Edge and Christian could be build as Christian tying to get out of Edge's shadow and it'd also just be an excellent match. With Swagger and del Rio, they seem to have solid mic chemistry and could potentially build a Mexico vs. America thing that would be fun to watch.

Semi-Finals Bracket:
Randy Orton [c] vs. John Cena = Cena wins. Advances.
Edge vs. Jack Swagger [c] = Edge wins. Advances.

Breakdown: Edge and Swagger seem to be building towards something. So, this could be easy to set up in terms of the build. With Cena and Orton, they clearly have a history. However, it'd be fun to face a guy that has changed into the babyface, take on the biggest draw in the company during this era. The fan reactions would be fun to watch. They have decent chemistry as well. Cena would get the win when CM Punk interferes, which would force a storyline that gets build up naturally. Plus, it'd fit into Punk's character. "How could you cheer a man that only looks out for himself and ended my title reign, etc." Edge could get the clean pin. This would also be interesting in the sense that both men just won the titles in their previous matches and would now be combining the two titles.

MAIN EVENT:
John Cena [c] vs. Edge [c] = Edge wins. Advances.

Breakdown: I get it. It's a stretch. But it would give Edge something that Cena doesn't need. He doesn't need a new, big moment to build on. Cena has those all the damn time in some ways. He's over and will stay that way for a very long time. Edge on the other hand, has exactly become stale, but people need to see him as a TRUE main eventer again. This would obviously do that.

Anyway, that's my take. What do you guys have?

 

[DeathClutch]

Be realistic this isn't going to happen.
Now a 4 man tournament could POSSIBLY work if the semis were done at the start of the show (think Wrestlemania 10) but the risk WWE run is that the main event would have to be the finals, and having 3 quality matches could end up problematic for booking along with booking the Undertaker into a meaningful match/feud.

All in all WrestleMania doesn't do Tournaments all that well, so avoid just have a tournament the following PPV or BEFORE Wrestlemania.

 

[GideonGodsend]

a tournament would be a good idea. but not the whole thing in one day, you dont want guys wrestling more than once at wrestlemania, it would take time away from the other people on the card. but the tournament could happen, the first and semi round being before mania and having the finals at mania.

i would like to see:

Raw:
CM Punk vs Orton: Orton putting over Punk
Morrison vs Barrett: Morrison Over

Smackdown:
Edge vs Kane: Edge over
Taker vs Swagger:Taker Over

Edge vs Morrison at No Way out: Edge Over
Punk vs Taker at No Way Out: Punk over

Punk vs Edge: Punk Over

 

[Nikeo]

If there is ever a tournament you can safely bet 'Taker will NOT be apart of it. It'd add too many wins to the "streak" and would take away from the legitimacy of the man "who has walked in to 18 Wrestlemanias and left the victor." Can you imagine some poor announcer trying to explain how he's been to 19 'Manias and won 21 matches, etc, etc. It'd destroy the magic of the streak, imo.

Not to mention that 'Taker wrestling one quality match is a stretch these days, how can you expect somebody that banged up to work two or three matches?

 

[RkoMachine]

i agree that this would probably not happen but who cares? its a fun idea and a great thread.

So here is how i would have it break down, i would also go with the 8 man tournament and the opening match of mania would be match number one

Undertaker vs Cm Punk (c) Undertaker wins of course BUT that means he has to fight in another match which makes his chances of losing at mania greater

match 2- John Cena (heel)(C) vs Randy Orton (face) i would have Randy get the win here even though nexus tries to interfere and help cena

match 3- HHH vs Wade Barret i think these 2 could put on a nice brawler style match and i would have wade Barret steal the win with help from Cena

match 4- Edge vs Jack Swagger i agree with the poster and like this match BUT i would like to see Swagger win this and give him an accomplishment that he desperately needs

semi finals match 1- Jack Swagger vs Undertaker Taker wins but has to wrestle yet another match which would make his chances of losing at mania even greater

semi finals match 2- Randy Orton vs Wade Barret once again Orton gets the win even after another interference from nexus

Main Event match for the Undisputed WWE Championship- Undertaker Vs Randy Orton! In one of the greatest Mania matches of all time Taker wins his 3rd match of the night and wins the title BUT out comes the miz who cashes in the money in the bank contract and beats the beatdown taker easily to steal the title!

 

[Brahma Bull]

i like the concept, but as others pointed out, it would be hard to include taker, and it would take away many challengers for taker. but lets say it happens with taker vs sheamus at wrestlemania as we have heard rumors of.

first round: Cena vs barrett, barrett says cena has to lay down but he doesnt. he beats barrett and barrett says cena will be fired, but then otunga comes out with slater and gabriel and says they no longer follow barrett, and since cena only had to follow barrett because nexus does, cena is no longer fired and can continue. they can then beat barrett down if they want.

round 2: cm punk vs orton- id have cm punk win in a heelish fashion. orton doesnt need the victory, and do we really need orton vs cena again? besides, you need a heel over on raws side to keep it interesting.

round 3: heel jericho vs face edge- jericho wins but not in a heelish way, its a great match and they shake hands afterwards. not to mention he was the first unified champion, so you can make it like he is going to do it again

round 4: del rio vs mysterio- winner mysterio. jericho needs to fued with a face, and this may be mysterio's last mania so give him a good win. he can put del rio over at other ppv's.

semi 1: cena vs cm punk- cena wins over cm punk after cm punk tries to do the same dirty thing he did with orton. lets say he starts the ses with some other people. orton will run off the guys who were gunna interfer and cena wins

semi 2: jericho vs mysterio- jericho wins and they put on the match of the night with them shaking hands afterwards. this starts a jericho face turn

final: jericho vs cena- the fans are chanting for jericho big time because he is trying to do it again (unifying the belts) and he just shook hands with mysterio. id have it were jericho has cena in the walls of jericho with cena about to tap. then nexus comes out to distract the ref while cena hits jericho with the title. he pins jericho and becomes the new leader of the nexus. it turns him heel, and turns jericho face.

the only other way i would book it is have jericho about to win, then have the miz cash in his case, hit scf on jericho and cover him to unify the titles.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I really hope they dont have a tournament at WM 27, there's a lot of matches I would like to see happen on the card and it dont involve the Undisputed Title and with a tournament on the card, it would get in the way of those matches happening. However I'll try fit some of the matches in with the tournament although one of the matches I had in mind was Cena vs. Taker and I think Cena would be useful for the tournament but not Taker cause then we'd all know beforehand he would win, so my main event will change to HHH vs. Taker.

Also to make sense of things, both World Titles will have been vacated but both champions are in the tournament. Christian will have won the Royal Rumble, cashed in to face the WWE Champion at Elimination Chamber and won the title from him, Christian moves to Raw. The Miz will have cashed in on the World Champion and won the World Title from him at one of the PPVs between now & Elimination Chamber, The Miz moves to Smackdown. I know the rules for the Miz's MiTB was for him to cash it in a Raw guy but WWE can just change that rule easily for the sake of storyline

And considering Mania is 4 hours, yes I'm pretty sure they can fit 14 matches in the card although some will have to be cut short.

*First Round matches will be Raw vs. Smackdown

Preliminary Battle Royal - Alberto Del Rio

Obviously all the people who dont have a match & bookers dont have plans with on the main card go here. Since WWE are high on Del Rio, Del Rio wins. Plus Del Rio just recently debuted, he doesnt need to be on a Mania this quick, give him more time to become established then put him on WM 28's main card when he will need it more.

1) US Championship
John Morrison vs. R-Truth

I've always said R-Truth is a black Morrison. Both men are similar in style, they're an on & off tag team and a few times they have had tension between each other. This is the perfect matchup for Morrison at WM, fighting his own black self. I pick Morrison cause he's never held the title before and would carry the title better than R-Truth.

2) First Round: Sheamus vs. Big Show

These two goliaths need to face off one day and this event & tournament is the only way I can see face off against each other. Originally I was gonna book Sheamus to face Booker T in honor of WCW (I doubt Goldberg would accept coming back and Booker is the next best representative for WCW) but instead I put Sheamus in the tournament to make the tournament look more stronger. Also this is kinda like a WCW vs. Sheamus match since Show was first in WCW. Sheamus winning is obvious, he's a bigger star and more valuable to the tournament than Show which is why he advances.

3) First Round: Christian vs. Edge

This is the long awaited rematch between the two brothers especially since they are both now bigger than the last time they fought and this would be the next best brother vs brother match for WM after Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart, Kane vs. Taker & Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Hardy. But Vince isnt high on Christian and I only ever see Christian winning the big one not because Vince thinks he deserves but to further a storyline like this one, so Edge wins.

4) First Round: Randy Orton vs. Kane

These two have dark gimmicks and are at the highest peak of their career right now plus they never haved faced off before, so I would love to see The Viper take on The Big Red Monster here, it makes sense. But I just dont see Kane beating Orton. Orton needs to advance since he's the new generation and needs the glory more while Kane will be retiring anytime within the next 1 - 2 years.

5) First Round: John Cena vs. The Miz

There was talks of having this at Mania and these two could use another PPV match together and a proper one as last time the two faced off, it was a 5 min squash for Miz. However there's no chance in hell Miz would ever go over Cena at WM, everybody knows that.

6) IC Championship
Rey Mysterio vs. Kaval

The dream match comes alive at the big one. And just like the US Championship for Morrison - Truth, the IC Championship is the only way I see these two getting together. I dont see WWE putting over Kaval just yet though probably because Rey is more established, so they feel he should get the first win in the dream match then Kaval gets the next win in the rematch.

7) CM Punk vs. Kofi Kingston

Totally forgot to include Punk in, so I'm editing this in but I wouldnt include him in the tournament simply because I would have to change around my whole booking and I think Punk vs. Orton or Cena or Edge for the World or WWE Title would be best saved for another PPV. You dont wanna use up all future potential World Title matches on this one PPV. I pick Kofi to face Punk cause they were once friends with each other and have never faced off before, so it would be good for this to happen considering they're history. Kofi could use a main eventer to face off on his road to becoming a main eventer himself at the big one. Kofi could use the win to help advance him into the main event scene. The story for this one could be Kofi eliminating Punk in the Royal Rumble match then Punk attacks Kofi following the elimination like how Kurt did Shawn Michaels at Royal Rumble 05 which leads to Kofi getting eliminated from the RR match then it leads to back & forth attacks and promos by both guys on each other on both Raw & SD then at Elimination Chamber, Punk could cost Kofi the SD Chamber match but Kofi gets revenge later and costs Punk the Raw Chamber match which leads to Kofi challenge Punk to an interbrand match for WM which Punk accepts.

8) Semi Final: Edge vs. Sheamus

Both these guys along with Orton & Cena are obviously the WWE's four top guys, they've battled with Cena & Orton but never against each other. Edge is much bigger than Sheamus and hasnt held the World Title for a year now, so he should deservingly go to the Finals.

9) Semi-Final: Cena vs. Orton: Draw

Even though they have faced off many times, this is the like the Austin vs. Rock of this generation. It doesnt live up to Austin vs. Rock's level but this is the way WWE is booking it, so why not have the "new Austin vs. Rock" at the big one which is what the original Austin vs. Rock was big for. Both draw with each other which causes controversy in the tournament, controversy is always exciting and would put over both guys as the toughest guys in WWE if they were to go to a draw and because nobody wants to see Edge automatically winning the Undisputed Title, Vince decides to advance the two into the Finals. Explaination as to why I book this is down below on the Edge vs. Cena vs. Orton match.

10) Daniel Bryan vs. Chris Jericho

I really cant imagine Daniel up against anyone but Jericho at WM. And it's a great matchup considering Daniel's first WWE match was against Jericho (not counting his Velocity match with Cena from 2003) and they could have a really talented feud together. The story for this one can be about HBK like the main event between Taker & HHH. Jericho could badmouth HBK on Raw, talk about their history together and how he's better than him then Daniel comes out to defend his teacher's honor leading to a feud. Jericho always puts the future stars over and he knows this win for Daniel would elevate his WWE career, so he will put over Daniel no problem.

11) Divas Championship
Melina vs. Gail Kim

Probably the most two talented divas in WWE today that have never faced off. Doesnt really matter who wins here but I'll say Melina as WWE are so high on her and most would expect or want Gail to win but WWE usually pulls out the unexpected.

12) Wade Barrett vs. Booker T

As mentioned above, Sheamus was my original booking to face Booker in honor of WCW, so I went with Barrett instead as Sheamus would be more useful for the tournament as he's a more established main eventer than Barrett is and other than Big Show or HHH, I cant really see Barrett against anyone else. The story for this one is obviously a WCW Hall Of Fame, Barrett could just come out on Raw and rant about why WWE are honoring a dead promotion and that Nexus deserve to be in the HOF cause they're the next generation. You know a new school vs. old school feud and obviously since this would be a one off for Booker and it's in honor of WCW, Booker should win unless Vince decides to stomp on the legacy of WCW once again by making Booker lose and putting over Barrett but I dont see Booker agreeing to Barrett winning unless he was back with them permanently not for a one off.

13) Finals for Undisputed Championship
John Cena vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton

Other than going for a one on one, I decided to go for summit unexpected and popular at WM nowadays, a Triple Threat for the title. WWE was originally gonna book this match for WM 23 before they went for HBK vs. Cena. These three guys are the top guys with Sheamus coming in forth but they've had a Fatal 4 Way between Edge, Orton, Cena & Sheamus. And considering the history of Triple Threats & Fatal 4 Way matches between the three men, Edge vs. Cena vs. Big Show at WM 25, Cena vs. Orton vs. HHH at WM 24, Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge vs. HBK at Backlash 2007, Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge vs. Sheamus at Fatal 4 Way, it would make absolute sense for Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge. I pick Edge because out of the 4 Ways & Triple Threat I listed, Edge hasnt won any of em whereas Cena & Orton have at least won 1 or 2 and Edge hasnt been a World Champ in a long time, so I'd rather see him as champ than Cena or Orton who've held it this year.

14) Undertaker vs. HHH

Another long awaited rematch between the two and obviously with this feud being revolved around the HBK storyline last year. Also Taker winning is pretty obvious as to why he wins.