VS… Starring Matthew Michaels & PK~!

Features, VS.

Welcome to this week’s Vs. This week we have Matthew Michaels and PK once again… grabbing yet another topic from the news bin, sharing our opinions, and fighting like the little marks that we are.

The topic at hand: What will be the big time matches at Wrestlemania?

First up, let’s take a look at teh ECW Title. Mm, what do you got?

/Matthew Michaels/
Well, first of all, despite how ECW ended, The Undertaker’s staying on Smackdown… MAYBE going to RAW. But definitely not going after Lashley’s belt. The rumor-mill keeps saying we’re looking at Bobby Lashley defending against Hardcore Holly, whose job it would be to make Lashley look like a million bucks and put him over strong (something a “rising star” like Monty, Burke or Punk just aren’t in the right position to do). But something tells me Holly’s arm injury is more serious than we’re hearing, and unfortunately for him, we won’t see him at Mania. So who’s left? Even if they turn him heel, RVD won’t get booed in Michigan, so he’s out. Test is useless. The ECW Originals will all get cheered over the Champ. Foley or Funk would work perfectly here, but it’s probably too late to start anything up. And see above for my thoughts on the ‘newer extremists.’ Which leads me to what to me is a natural conclusion: Chris Benoit’s gonna turn heel and move to ECW to get a shot at one of the only titles he’s never held.

/PK/
I agree with the New Extremeist not getting a shot, however Im not really sure Benoit challenging Lashley is the best choice. I can only see an ECW Original taking on Lashley to finally put him over. Sabu fits this bill nicely. Sabu was very helpful in giving what credability Big Show had as ECW Champ. No matter who Lashley faces, he is coming out of WM unscathed.

Next we have the World Title. This is something I am sure we are both on the same page. This is where Undertaker will end up, and we will end up seeing the train wreck that will be UT vs. Batista. The biggest question mark here however is that who will be put over? Will Batista finally break UT’s undefeated at WM streak? Will UT finally win the Big Gold Belt and become the new champion one last time before his retirement?

/Matthew Michaels/
You’re right — this one won’t be the subject of any brawling between the two of us, PK. Taker’s challenging Batista, and he’ll come out of Mania with his streak intact and his first reign with the Big Gold Belt. I’ve said it before, but there’s only two big-time superstars from the Monday Night War Era that haven’t held both belts, and we’re not gonna see Sting in a WWE ring any time soon… WWE knows this — as well as the fact that Batista’s too close to Undertaker’s age to be breaking his streak. Of course if Taker ends up going up against Lashley or Cena, I wouldn’t bet on the Dead Man…

…and speaking of Cena, who WILL WWE put up against the RAW Champ at Wrestlemania? There’s a good argument for it to be Shawn Michaels, who can probably get the most out of John Cena with regards to a “match of his career” caliber effort. Rated-RKO is an intriguing possibility for a three-way, but I don’t think WWE wants to do Cena vs. Edge yet again, and I can’t imagine them rewarding the all-too-often-suspended Orton with such a high payday just yet. Cena vs. Umaga? This matchup wasn’t even discussed on Monday’s RAW. Cena vs. Khali has most likely been proposed backstage, but not even WWE can be that stupid. Cena vs. Nitro would be a great idea, especially if they could bring in K-Fed to be in Johnny’s corner, but I’d imagine he hasn’t “earned his stripes” just yet. Cena vs. Hogan? Nah….

I’m gonna go with Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge here. The possible match-ups coming OUT of Mania are too enticing here, you’ve got Cena up against two people the fans love to boo, and we already know Cena works well with Mr. Copeland. Sorry, HBK, but maybe there’s a good inter-brand match for you somewhere…

/PK/
Oh Double M, how close you are to what will really happen. This one will be turned into a Fatal 4-Way, if for no other reason then there is nothing else for whoever is left out. With HBK and Cena now holding the Tag Titles, that will continue to have interaction between these 4 guys well into March, and at that point, why not just go the whole 9 yards? However, there is no shot that Cena loses the belt, so they might as well just toss every guy on Raw that doesn’t have a match at WM, so we can see SuperCena beat them all…maybe this time with a collapsed lung.

As for the next big match, we have Money in the Bank. This usually contains 6 mid-card guys that just need that little bump to elevate them to main event, and if history is any indication we will see 2 from Raw, 2 from SD, and 2 from ECW.

ECW is pretty much a given being CM Punk & Elijah Burke. SD seems to have Kennedy doing nothing, and I’d have to say MVP being tossed in there. For Raw…Carlito & Kenny seem to fit the bill quite nicely…I can just see that frog leg drop from Kenny off the ladder!

/Matthew Michaels/
I agree that WWE has to put MitB on the card again — it’s just been highly successful, and BOTH winners have gone on to win the WWE Title in dramatic fashion. As for the participants, while I’d like to see RVD and Sabu in there from ECW, you’re probably right that “new” Extremists Burke and Punk will be given the opportunity to shine here, assuming Punk doesn’t piss anyone else off back stage. If Benoit (and ECW Original, by the way) doesn’t jump brands to face Lashley, I can see him in this match as well, to give it a bit of a rub since he’s a former World Champ (don’t forget that Jericho, Flair, Benoit and maybe one or two other former World Champs I’m forgetting have been in this match before). But I agree that — assuming the Hardyz and Nitro are occupied elsewhere — Carlito and Kenny are the two best choices from RAW, and while I can see Kennedy and MVP representing Smackdown, something tells me we’ll see Chavo and maybe even Booker in this match instead, and Kennedy facing Michaels in that cross-brand match I was alluding to above.

Finally let’s toss out a wildcard idea for a fifth match to round out the top five on Mania. I’m avoiding thinking about Hogan’s role on the show (or Austin’s for that matter), since most likely those decisions won’t be made until the last minute for a variety of factors… and I’m setting myself up for disappointment with regards to the Trump/McMahon payoff, since let’s face it, what are the chances WWE will ACTUALLY use this angle to elevate an up-and-coming superstar? (For the record, my money’s on “reality stars” Hulk Hogan and The Donald somehow teaming up before all is said and done, and it hurts to think about that.) No, what I’d rather look at is two big problems WWE has, and a quick and easy solution that the creative team is HOPEFULLY considering. You can both breath some life into ECW and the tag team division by having a multiple-team TLC match to unify the RAW and SD Tag Team Championships… and then having the winners jump to ECW the following Tuesday. The teams? Kendrick & London, Haas & Benjamin, Matt & Jeff and… RVD & Sabu. Throughout the match, the commentary will stress the importance of a win for SD’s Hooliganz, RAW’s WGTT or ECW’s Originals… and by having the Hardyz unify the belts and bring them to ECW you not only add some excitement to a lifeless division, but also bring two wrestlers to ECW that are a known ratings draw (and quite frankly, are worth more together than they are apart). Each brand will now have its own “specialty” division (women on RAW, cruisers on SD, tags on ECW), and if WWE wants, there are four joint PPVs throughout the year that give teams from RAW or SD the chance to “bring the belts back” to their brand. PK, it’s your week, so you get the last word…

/PK/
Now you’re going into ‘Fantasy Booking’. However, I do see some inter-promotional Tag matches coming up. ECW will not get the Tag Team titles for themselves, as a matter of fact I don’t think ECW will surpass it’s current TV deal, so it looks like all they are going to do with ECW, is push Lashley, Burke, & Punk down our throats to make them stars. This brings up the question of what they’ll actually do with the Tag Titles, and I say just have an inter-promotional grudge match. No titles on the line, and have the WWE Tag Champs and World Tag Champs square off, which will hopefully be Haas/Benjamin vs. Kendrick/London. And, Matthew, since you brought up the Hardyz…I think the Hardy/MNM feud will finally blow off here. Question is, how? I don’t think they would put a TLC & the Money in the Bank match on the same card, so let’s pull something else out of the specialty match bag of tricks…Tag Team Tables Match (and yes, Tag Team Tables, where BOTH guys have to go through the tables, not the pussy Tables Matches where only one guy has to go through). The only thing steering me away from these 2 teams in a Steel Cage or even Hell in a Cell, is that Im not sure they would hang one of these from the high ceilings at Ford Field.

Don’t forget to add your two cents by commenting below, as RumbleMania continues here at Pulse Wrestling.

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