No Chance – A WrestleMania Wish List

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We’re getting close now. The card is all but filled, the sign has been pointed at a sufficient number of times, and against my will, I now know all the words to “Coming Home.” So it’s time to look at WrestleMania 29 and make a wish list. Not so much a list of who I hope wins or loses, but no matter the outcome of the matches, these are things that I hope happen on April 7th.

Cena and Rock earn their spot on the card: I think it’s fairly safe to assume that Twice in a Lifetime is going to be the final match of the night. And I think it is also fairly safe to assume that this will not be the match of the night. (An honor that I fully expect to go to Punk and Taker.) But even though it won’t be the best match of the night, it can still be one that earns it’s spot on the card. Last year the match between these two left something to be desired from me. Maybe it was just the fact that no match can live up to a yearlong build up, but whatever the reason, Rock and Cena didn’t quite fall flat but did severely stumble at the finish line there.  This week, for the first time, I’ve finally started to get invested in this match and all that I really hope is that this time around these two can put on a match worth of the pomp and circumstance that has surrounded their rivalry for these past two years.

The Shield wins: Ok so there is one win/lose wish on this wish list. But this is the match that I really do care what the outcome is going to be. The Shield is a storyline that has the potential to really cement these three guys as a genuine presence in the company both individually and as a group. A victory at WrestleMania is exactly what they need right now, and that can kick this whole thing to a new level. Or Team Other Guys can get the win so that we can cheer Randy Orton doing his group hug move for 30 seconds, then have The Shield fade away into obscurity while the other guys go back to mulling around on SmackDown every week, with nothing to show for their victory.

Do something with Ziggler: I won’t go so far as to say that I wish Ziggler will cash in at WrestleMania (though that would be nice) but If that’s not going to be the case. At least let the man truly shine on the grandest stage of them all, especially if he’s going to be in the ring with Daniel Bryan at some point. Don’t rush it. Give us some time to enjoy that matchup happening at WrestleMania. Speaking of which…

Let Daniel Bryan be amazing: I said it last year, but I have some friends who watch one wrestling show a year, this one. And they don’t understand why I like Daniel Bryan so much because their knowledge of him starts and ends with that eighteen-second match. While I wasn’t as up in arms about that match at the time (the way a very large portion of the IWC was) I will say that it is high time that the casual fan gets to see, and fall in love with the same Daniel Bryan we get to see every week.

No impromptu concert: Never have I paid for a PPV with the hopes that maybe this time, the wrestling that I am paying for will be interrupted by a singer I don’t care about sing a song I don’t like. While I do enjoy the grander entrances that come with WrestleMania, that doesn’t stretch to include full on mini-concerts that delay a main event I’ve already been forced to wait a year to see. WWE, don’t do that again.

One thing out of the blue: Now WrestleMania is more or less the season finale of WWE. All the stories that we’ve been following are leading to this moment. We know what to expect from the show. But I would like one thing, and it doesn’t have to be a huge thing, but one thing that comes truly out of left field. Something that will be truly unexpected, and will require us all to tune into Raw the next night so that somebody can get on mic and explain just whatever the crazy thing we saw last night was all about. (Punk breaking the Streak will qualify as fulfilling this wish, by the way.)

Joel Leonard reviews the latest movies each week for Inside Pulse. You can follow him @joelgleo on Twitter though he's not promising to ever tweet anything from there. Joel also co-hosts the Classy Ring Attire podcast and writes the No Chance column on Inside Pulse as well.