Congrats. Worst card so far.
So far. Now I'm here to chime in.
WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Undertaker
As unlikely as it may be I have Punk successfully defending against Rock at the Rumble. This is one of those rumored matches that I wasn’t crazy about at first but the more I think about it the more I like it. No one would be able to deny Punk the respect he so desperately craves if he can beat Taker at mania. The main problem is I would have Taker win which means he would have to stick around for a little while after mania before dropping the title.
The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar:
How does Punk defeat the Rock and still fail to gain respect? Paul Heyman has his buddy Brock interfere and cost Rock the match at the Rumble. This leads Rock to challenge Lesnar at mania. We have two huge part time stars with the Rock claiming he came back for the love of the WWE Universe whereas Lesnar is just a sellout in it for the money.
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H:
Like it or not this match has been building for two years. Going back to WM27 when HBK told Triple H he couldn’t beat the Undertaker to last year when the story about HHH never being as good as HBK was just as big as the HIAC match itself. Triple H calls HBK out of retirement for one more match to finally prove once and for all who the better man is. It really doesn’t matter what the outcome is as long as they have a great story and great match.
World Championship: Big Show vs. Ryback
Ryback wins the Rumble and gets his first world title at mania. Picking up Big Show for the shell shock will be his big moment.
John Cena vs. Randy Orton:
It’s about time I got to Cena. Cena vs. Rock seems to be a given but I don’t really care to see it again. Cena and Orton have wrestled each other many times over the years but never one on one at mania and never while both were good guys. I think it’s time to renew this rivalry. They can build a story off how the two most popular full time wrestlers are complete opposites in how they achieve their popularity. They both respect each other professionally but don’t care for each other personally. This match could get a great crowd reaction. Orton says he’s not a role model for all the kids and he doesn’t care that the people cheer for him. This of course leads to more cheers from the Cena haters. Even though Cena has always been way ahead of Orton they have had similar careers and it seems somewhat fitting that they wrestle each other as they both make their tenth consecutive mania appearance.
Mick Foley vs. Dolph Ziggler:
I’ll steal this idea even though I’m really not crazy about it. I think Ziggler needs something more out of mania than being one of a handful of guys in some sort of clusterfuck match. Foley will give Ziggler the opportunity to look good on the big stage. Foley is likely to headline the HOF the night before so Ziggler can be there to spoil the party at mania.
Sheamus vs. Wade Barrett:
The two are similar in size and style and seem to have good chemistry together. If I’m not mistaken I think they’ve worked together before joining WWE so they know each other well and could deliver a good hard hitting match.
Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio:
Miz will be an accepted face by then (if he isn’t already) and has just the right personality to get under the skin of ADR and deliver a good mid card feud.
IC/US Championship: Kofi Kingston vs. Antonio Casero vs. Jack Swagger vs. R Truth
I’d like to see this be for the unified title but that’s not likely (although nothing on my card is likely anyway). If not to unify the titles this could work as a weird gimmick with stipulations for winning either title. In order to win either title one of the three men must pin the champion. For example, Truth pins Kofi to become IC champ. He pins Casero to become US champ. Pinning Swagger does not get him a title so he has no motivation to do that. Kofi pinning Casero gets him the US title but pinning anyone else just means he retains his IC title and does not win the US title. Maybe overly complicated but I think it could make for a fun little story with some interesting strategies. Would Kofi be content to pin Swagger just to retain his title or would he target Casero? Would Swagger and Truth work together since them pinning each other doesn’t help either? Would Kofi and Cesar work together with an agreement that retaining their own title is just as important as winning the other guy’s? How would these strategies change as the match went on? If the card is too crowded Miz and Del Rio can be in this instead of Truth and Swagger. That would make this match a little bigger.
Tag Championship: Hell No vs. Rhodes Scholars vs. Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Prime Time Players:
Standard fatal fourway that honestly isn’t anything exciting but it gets these guys on the card. We’ve seen these combinations against each other so why not finally just put them all together? Not likely since Mania is still four and a half months away and these combos have already crossed paths many times but as of this writing I’ve got nothing else. I'd like to see something better for Bryan but there's always someone getting short changed at mania.
Divas Championship: Eve vs. AJ
I could do without a divas match but we know there is going to be one so this works I guess.
There was a time when the mania card was already taking shape around Survivor Series but those days are long gone. Anything can happen over the next couple months so it’s very likely that nothing I’ve written here will actually happen or that I’d even want it to as the weeks go by. I left Rollins, Ambrose, and Roman off the card for now simply because I haven’t seen enough of them to guess where they might be going. Could be like Rhodes and Dibiase from 2009. Both looked like important players but neither got on the card. Most of my card is a long shot at best but as of today’s date it’s not the mania I think will happen but the mania I’d like to see.
