Greetings. This bus is humming down the road to WrestleMania, so let’s continue to fantasy book this sucker. Also, full disclosure, I wrote this before the 02/27/17 Raw episode.
So far, we have 3 matches set: John Cena versus Dolph Ziggler, Smackdown Tag Champs American Alpha versus Raw Tag Champs Gallows and Anderson (no title on the line), and Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton versus Kane and The Undertaker. We have AJ Styles with the Smackdown Live! World Title running around and saying there is no one left to beat. Who will Styles face at this alternative WrestleMania? I’ll be happy to tell you, but not today.
Today, we will switch focus over to Raw. We know the Universal champion is set to take on Goldberg at Fastlane. Will he be able to defeat the legend of Goldberg and go on to WrestleMania with the belt? Short answer – no. But how will we get there?
At Fastlane, Owens will lose the title to Goldberg due to outside interference by Chris Jericho. The following night, Kevin Owens will demand the title be returned to him because of Jericho. Goldberg will come out and say he would have won whether Chris Jericho came out or not. Before Goldberg and Owens start fighting, Brock Lesnar’s music hits and he comes out on the stage. Goldberg drops the title belt and charges towards Goldberg and they start brawling to the backstage area. Owens picks up the title, smiles, and holds it above his head.
At that moment, Mick Foley comes out and tells Owens that he can not just take the title. He said he needs to remember the times Jericho interfered for him and his victories still count. Owens claims that was different and when Foley asks how so, Triple H’s music hits. Triple H comes out and tells Foley that Owens is right, things are different now because he has his back now.
As the bickering continues, Stephanie McMahon comes out to continue the discussion. Mick tells her that she is the Commissioner and she has to make a choice on what to do. She can either do what she knows is right or she can back her husband’s position and Mick will quit on the spot. Triple H then tells her to give the title to Owens because she knows that is what is best for business.
Stephanie takes a moment and Mick and HHH begin yelling at each other. Finally, Stephanie screams at both of them to stop. She says that she can not just give the belt back to Owens. But she also refuses to let Goldberg win the title due to such blatant outside interference. She declares that the Universal title will be held up and a tournament will begin today with the final match occurring at WrestleMania. Stephanie then walks out while HHH, Owens, and Foley all standing around dumbfounded.
A tournament is set up with 8 participants: Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Samoa Joe, Sami Zayn, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, and Goldberg. She also announces that Roman Reigns will not be part of the tournament because he is not there tonight. The first match is Kevin Owens versus Sami Zayn. Zayn wins the match when Chris Jericho comes out and interferes again. Owens goes ballistic afterwards. Triple H tries to calm Owens, saying he still has a horse in the race. The second match is supposed to be Samoa Joe versus Goldberg, but Goldberg and Lesnar are still fighting all over the backstage area. Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon talk backstage and decide that Lesnar and Goldberg already have their match set for WrestleMania and obviously can’t think of anything else, so they agree to pull them from the tournament. We go to commercial and when we come back we have Samoa Joe in the ring ready to fight.
Mick Foley comes out on stage and announces that Lesnar and Goldberg are being replaced in the tournament by Cesaro and this man – Sheamus. Sheamus hits the ring and he and Samoa Joe have a brutal battle, but Joe comes out on top. The third tournament match is Chris Jericho versus Cesaro. Cesaro wins a very good match between the two men. Afterwards, Kevin Owens and Triple H jump Jericho in the ring. A returning Seth Rollins comes out to even the odds, but gets beat down as well.
The final opening match of the tournament is Seth Rollins versus Braun Strowman. Strowman takes advantage of the weakened Rollins and moves on in impressive fashion. The semifinals are now set as Cesaro versus Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe versus Braun Strowman.
The next week, we see Triple H talking to Braun Strowman backstage. As this is going on, Cesaro and Sami Zayn go out and have a Match-of-the-Year candidate. The end sees Cesaro going over Sami Zayn after Zayn misses a Helluva Kick and Cesaro is able to finish with the Neutralizer. So Cesaro moves on to WrestleMania to attempt to win the Universal Title.
The second semi-final is scheduled to be Samoa Joe versus Braun Strowman. Triple H comes comes to the ring and announces that Samoa Joe has the night off and was sent home. He has moved on to the finals at WrestleMania against Cesaro for the Universal Title. The reason Joe has moved on is because Strowman forfeited. He agreed it was best for business. As a thank you, Strowman has been granted a match for the United States title against Chris Jericho and it will start right now.
As Chris Jericho comes to the ring, Seth Rollins springs up from the crowd and attacks Triple H. Rollins is able to get the best of HHH and then escapes through the crowd. Chris Jericho comes into the ring, sees Triple H struggling, and decides to put him in the Walls of Jericho to the delight of the crowd. Jericho keeps him in the Walls as Braun Strowman runs to the ring and clobbers him from behind. The bell rings and Jericho loses the US Title very quickly to a dominant Strowman.
The next week, Triple H and Kevin Owens come out and threatens Seth Rollins and Chris Jericho. They say they are losers who could never survive in the ring with them. Seth Rollins then comes out and says that sounds like an insult and a challenge. And he will be happy to come down to the ring and accept that challenge. But if he’s not mistaken, someone else was insulted as well. Jericho’s music hits and he comes out. Jericho apologizes to Seth Rollins for their past, and while he knows their is no love lost between them, they both have been wronged by HHH and Kevin Owens, so if he would like to partner up, he’d love to be by his side to put those two down.
As Rollins and Jericho shake hands and start to walk towards the ring, Triple H tells them not to take another step. HHH is not dressed to wrestle. Plus, he doesn’t think the crowd there deserves to see him wrestle tonight. Kevin Owens suggests they make examples of these losers on the biggest stage of all – WrestleMania. Triple H agrees as do Rollins and Jericho. Then Rollins and Jericho hit the ring anyway and Owens and HHH escape after a short beating.
And just like that, we have two additional matches added for this Fantasy Booked WrestleMania! Samoa Joe versus Cesaro for the vacant Universal title and Seth Rollins and Chris Jericho teaming up against Kevin Owens and Triple H. Next time, we will find out what is going to happen with the United States title and the Intercontinental title. Stay tuned…
