Fantasy Booking WrestleMania XL...it's the return of the Untitled Monday Blog!

 

Good Morning!

Hey, it’s a Monday blog? I know, weird, especially since we didn’t have our normal SmackDown/Rampage/Collision weekend schedule due to the NCAA tournament. However, it’s only two weeks until Wrestlemania XL, and I really wanted to write about the big show. 

Two reasons for that. One, obviously, is that I really like writing about pro wrestling, and this is arguably gonna be one of the biggest WrestleManias of all time, both in terms of size and scope. And two, because I’d like to weigh in on some of the matches. So this is less of a preview, per se – I’ll make one of those next week, once everything is locked in and we have an idea of the schedule. But, using Wikipedia and what we think we know about the card, I’ll be booking my own two-night ‘Mania and we’ll see how it goes. It’s our…

Thing of the Week!

Wikipedia has ten matches listed, with the main events set and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship being contested on night two as well. It also made a point to note that the matches I didn’t just mention are “subject to change”, which I assume means they’re making this up just like I am. And that’s fine! While we've got match graphics for most of the matches I didn't make up, we've still got two weeks of shows remaining; any number of them could be swapped out or added to. There’s also room for more – since the introduction of a two-night WrestleMania in 2020, we’ve had cards with 18 (in 2020), 14 at 37, 16 at 38, and 15 matches at last year’s WrestleMania 39. 18 seems like a lot in hindsight, but we gotta remember that we were also all locked in our homes in 2020 because of COVID, and what else did we have to do? 

So far, we’ve got seven championships up for grabs at the Show of Shows, with only the Women’s Tag Team Championships still going undefended. But with Bianca Belair and recently-returned Naomi getting involved in the drama around Iyo Sky’s WWE Women’s Championship, I’m thinking the Kabuki Warriors will be defending, too, either in a straight up match against Belair and Naomi (or Bianca and Jade Cargill, if she and Naomi can't get on the same page), or in some kind of showcase match similar to the six-pack ladder match the men are running. Hell, we could even do Bianca, Naomi, and Jade against the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota Kai, although then it wouldn't be for the tag belts.

Actually, given that we will need SOMETHING for these women to do after 'Mania, I like that better. Get Jade in front of a lot of eyes on the biggest stage imaginable, alongside proven champs, and then we can branch off after Raw. That woman is gonna be a superstar (outside of my home, where we're already sold on her) and a WrestleMania appearance will only help get her there faster.

We also have several Bloodline-adjacent matches. Aside from the main events of nights one and two, and the brother-against-brother match between Jimmy and Jey Uso, we’ll also see Seth Rollins defend his title on night two against Drew McIntyre. I don’t think Drew will get involved in the night one tag team match involving Seth, Cody Rhodes, The Rock, and Roman Reigns, but you never know. Drew has been adamant that the Bloodline is the reason he doesn’t have a championship, but he’s also been fine taking advantage of Bloodline attacks when they work in his favor. A beaten-down Rollins might be enough for Drew to take him down on his own. 

Tonight’s CM Punk appearance on Raw might also factor into this match, since Rollins was set to defend against Punk before both men got injured, and Drew has gloated about being the one to take Punk out in the Royal Rumble. Maybe Punk is healthy enough to serve as a guest referee, or to join on commentary, getting involved when the action gets a little close to the announce table. Punk could have a hand in the match or a cash-in, even if it’s just his hand that counts the pin that ends Drew’s short reign, or Seth’s slightly longer one. Priest’s MitB run hasn’t been spectacular, or even memorable, but that all goes away with a successful cash-in. And keeping Punk involved, even if it can't be physically just yet, goes a long way in keeping him relevant.

I still think Chad Gable will have a part to play in the Sami Zayn match against Gunther for the Intercontinental title. He and Sami had some heated discussions last week. Maybe Chad goes full heel and costs Sami the belt at ‘Mania, or the two decide to include Gable in the match and stay respectful…who’s to say? I’d like a triple threat, personally, but we do have to factor in the fact that there isn’t an offseason and we’re gonna need some storylines to drag on past the beginning of April.

The women’s championship matches have been set for some time, and the general consensus seems to be that both champs will be dethroned at the big show. Really, I think Logan Paul might be the only person to successfully defend his title – an achievement that would both be kinda dumb and a great next thing for the ego-driven superstar to latch onto. 

As far as the women’s belts though – there’s a chance Becky Lynch could lose, right? She’s had a big WrestleMania win already. She’s been hot lately, getting good matches out of Nia Jax and Liv Morgan on recent Raws. And Rhea Ripley hasn’t really had many rivalries of note since winning the title…Cagematch says she’s defended ten times, but can you name an opponent besides Nia Jax? 

I couldn’t, and I’ve watched every one of ‘em. Since winning the belt off of Charlotte Flair at last year’s WrestleMania, Ripley defended in singles matches against Zelina Vega, Natalya twice (albeit one being a Saudi Squash), Raquel Rodriguez twice, Zoey Stark, Ivy Nile, and Nia Jax. There was also a five-way defense at last year’s Crown Jewel where she beat Nia, Rodriguez, Stark, and Shayna Baszler.

I think Rhea might have a better run in her, but I don’t believe that stretching this title reign any further is the right call. Maybe it IS best if Becky takes the belt off of her for a while, and a future title run focuses more on Ripley and less on the Judgment Day, a faction that feels like it’s run its course. I imagine title losses for Ripley, Finn Balor, and Damien Priest will introduce some faction-ending tension in the group, with a Priest singles run all but guaranteed with that Money in the Bank contract.

I’ve talked myself out of that one pretty fast, haven’t I?

So, my night one could be:

*LWO (Rey Mysterio, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz del Toro, Carlito, and Zelina Vega) versus Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Elektra Lopez, Angel, and Berto) w/Dom Mysterio, maybe in a street fight?

Gunther © versus Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship

*Damage CTRL versus Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Jade Cargill

Logan Paul © versus Randy Orton versus Kevin Owens for the United States Championship

*A women's tag team showcase match

AJ Styles versus LA Knight

Iyo Sky © versus Bayley

The Rock and Roman Reigns versus Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins

With night two featuring:

Judgment Day © in a six-pack challenge for the Tag Team Championship

Jimmy Uso versus Jey Uso

Seth Rollins © versus Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship

Rhea Ripley © versus Becky Lynch for the Women’s World Championship

Roman Reigns © versus Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

That gives us thirteen matches, with four of them made up on the fly by me, just now. Trying to keep both tag belts away from their respective women’s title feuds was tough, as both sets of belts are paired with women’s championship matches, and Priest may be involved in the McIntyre/Rollins match as well. My logic was that the Bayley win should be the biggest moment in the women’s division at WrestleMania, and that crowd should get a nice good guy victory before the Rock and Roman (and Jimmy, and Solo, and whoever else they can find) get the win over Cody and Seth.

I hated putting Rhea and Becky in the spot before the main, but it will be labeled as a co-main and I think it will be great to get a nice moment before the bad guys pick up the win to end night one. Like last year, Sunday will feature a triple main event, with three of the most important championships in the company being defended. I also tossed in that LWO/LdF match after Friday’s SmackDown had Dom reprising his role as Rey Mysterio’s biggest hater, since that feud has been running for a long while now.

But, as always, this card is subject to change. I’ll be surprised if this entire post isn’t outdated by the time we finish watching Raw tonight!

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! I’ll be using Mondays for catching up on the weekend action from here on out, although I might post these a little later than the Casual Friday blog. Look for Untitled Monday Wrestling Blog around the crack of noon on Mondays.

As per usual, this week we’ll be watching RAW on Monday night, NXT on Tuesday night, and AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night. I’m considering trying something new, posting short recap posts the mornings after those shows, but we’ll see how that works out with my house cholo schedule. As always, Thursdays are my day for putting all week’s events into a nice, convenient blog for you to check out on Fridays – we call it the Casual Friday blog, and it’s usually up at 9am Mountain time on Friday, appropriately.

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