It's the Raw after WrestleMania, the best night of the year usually. Will things be the same this year? Let's look ahead at just what might go down tonight.
The Crowd
Each it's customary that before heading home all the Europeans that have made the trip over for WrestleMania go to Raw the next night and throw a bit of a party for themselves. Celebrate being wrestling fans and just have a jolly good time, no matter what is wheeled out in front of them. Tonight, will surely be no different. Expect loud chants, mexican waves and singing along with entrance music, just because they can.
New World Heavyweight Champion
There's a new sheriff in town and he just so happens to be The Authority's Golden Boy Seth Rollins who claimed the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the epic climax of last night's WrestleMania. Will Brock Lesnar be there looking to gain revenge, after losing his title without being pinned? What about Roman Reigns? He had his WrestleMania moment stolen from him by Rollins. There's even Randy Orton, who defeated Rollins earlier in the night, I'd expect things to get heated quickly at the start of Raw.
New IC and United States Champions
Daniel Bryan and John Cena claimed new championship gold at Mania, titles further down the pecking order than they are used. How will the new champs go about re-building the presitge of their newly captured straps? Will Bad News Barrett and Rusev be gunning to get their titles back? How about Dolph Ziggler who came just inches from winning the Intercontinental Championship? The middle of the card has been shaken up by these title changes and having such popular guys holding these belts and keeping them with strong, interesting storylines can only be good for the straps going forward.
Debuts
The night of Mania is also famous for debuting new superstars. Could we see anyone from NXT make the step up tonight? Adrian Neville? Sami Zayn? Charlotte? If we see these superstars make their full main roster debuts, where will they slot into the landscape? Straight into a feud? Or a slow build against jobbers and the like? I'd much prefer straight into a feud, as it's a quicker way of getting to know what a wrestler can really do in the ring and will allow those fans who don't watch NXT to climatise to the characters and in-ring skillsets.
Other Mania Fallout
Will The Authority be looking for blood after their clash with The Rock and Ronda Rousey? How will Bray Wyatt react to his loss to the Undertaker at WrestleMania? What next for those unsuccessful in the Intercontinental Championship? Who will step up to challenge Tyson Kidd and Cesaro for the Tag Titles? Will Miz and Mizdow get to go at each other once again? Will Big Show knock some people the fuck out to celebrate his battle royal win?
All these questions and more will be answered tonight on Raw. And I'll miss them all, because I'll be finishing off this 24 hour challenge! Yikes.
It's the B Pay-Per-View to end all B Pay-Per-Views, WWE Fastlane! The anticipation is about as warm as Lucy Beale's body and you could cut the tension with a spoon. Hopefully this preview get's you a little bit more hyped for the show...but probably not.
Singles Match for the Number One Contendership to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns
Norman Smiley ain't having any of Bryan's shit.
Head to Head Record- Bryan, 1 win. Reigns, 1 win.
In an attempt to garner some support for Roman Reigns, WWE put him in a storyline opposite the most popular babyface in the company. It's a risky decision...but it could pay off. Reigns and Bryan seem to have chemistry when opposite each other, as well as an odd-couple tag team as demonstrated on Smackdown last week and hopefully that will feed into their contest here. Reigns will need to put in a performance of his career to quell the "smart" fan uprising against Reigns that was seen during his Royal Rumble victory, if he's going to go over Bryan and head to WrestleMania. A dusty finish would almost seem like the easy option for WWE, having Bryan compete in the Triple threat at WrestleMania, whilst still allowing Reigns to win the title, by keeping that vocal section of the fanbase happy. Prediction - Roman Reigns wins, fans say Bryan "carried him".
Face to Face Confrontation
Triple H and Sting
Naitch forgot to flush again.
Face to Face confrontation. A confrontation that will happen face to face. Sting and Triple H will look at each other for the first time since...last month. LAST MONTH! FACE TO FACE CONFRONTATION! LAST MONTH! Triple Aitch will most likely pull out one of his long meandering promos, and reference the Monday Night Wars and such other things. Eventually Sting will arrive and there'll be some WrestleMania challenge thrown down. FACE TO FACE! CONFRONTATION! Prediction - There will be a FACE TO FACE CONFRONTATION!
Singles Match for the United States Championship
Rusev (C) vs. John Cena
Rusev have boo boo spot.
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
John Cena's spent most of the last month taking the piss out of Rusev's accent and Lana's breasts, because he's John Cena and can do what the fuck he likes. Suddenly being portrayed as the old man veteran of the roster, whilst Kane and Big Show whizz about like spring chickens, Cena has been having trouble with his eye as of late, so expect that to be a large focus of the match on Sunday. Rusev's proved he's best when given a good story to tell in the ring, see his SummerSlam bout with Jack Swagger, so Cena's eye injury and the fact that Cena is the first real threat to Rusev's undefeated streak should provide enough for these too to put on, at least, a decent match. Although, I wouldn't expect a squeaky clean finish just yet.
Prediction - Cena wins via Countout, Rusev retains the United States Championship.
Singles Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett (C) vs. Dean Ambrose
Who knew Dean Ambrose was a Manchester United fan, eh?
Head to Head Record - Barrett, 1 win. Ambrose, 2 wins
When he's not engaging in bants on Twitter with Wayne Rooney, Bad News Barrett is loosley involved in a feud with Dean Ambrose over the Intercontinental Championship. Ambrose has become obsessed with joining the "Wall of Champions" in WWE HQ, seemingly forgetting that he held the United States Championship for almost a year.These two have the potential to put together a very good match indeed, with their brawling styles matching up nicely, whilst still being different enough to make an in-ring battle an interesting watch. Neither man can really afford to lose this one so close to WrestleMania, but Ambrose's failure to win a PPV match since the break up of The Shield means that it needs to the Lunatic Fringe who goes over here.
Prediction- Ambrose wins, to gain his first ever Intercontinental Championship.
Six Man Tag Team Match Dolph Ziggler, Ryback & Erick Rowan vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show & Kane
Is Rowan checking out Ziggler's arse?
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
Nothing says "We have no idea what's going on?" more than a six man tag team match announced the day before the PPV! Essentially a rehash of the Survivor Series main event, with some loose build up on television over the last few weeks, but nothing particularly substantial. I guess there's the intrigue on the situation between Big Show and Kane, although I genuinelly couldn't care less about guy. Why have a Ziggler vs. Rollins match on Raw and then this match on Pay-Per-View? I'm sure the match will be watchable, six man tags usually are in WWE, but I just don't really understand why it's on PPV.
Prediction - Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback pick up the victory.
Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Championship.
The Usos (C) vs. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd
The return of Natalya's farting gimmick.
Head to Head Record - Usos, 1 win. Cesaro & Kidd, 1 win.
I have hope that this match is going to be an improvement on the build to this match. The Usos seem to be being pushed as a modern day Team Extreme with Naomi by their side, whilst Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Natalya are involved in some kind of kinky three way of sorts. These teams can certainly string together an entertaining tag match, if given enough time, it would be nice to see this one go, at least, ten minutes. Hopefully the involvement of the Diva's is kept to a minimum, as whilst Natalya and Naomi may be two of the strongest on the roster, their involvement will almost certainly detract from what could be a physical tag team tussle. I'm not sure WWE is that invested in the Kidd and Cesaro tag team going forward following a mixed bag of luck of the past few months, so I can't really look past The Usos in here.
Prediction- The Usos retain the Tag Team Championship.
Singles Match for the Diva's Championship
Nikki Bella (C) vs. Paige
Nikki Bella cutting another incredible promo.
Head to Head Record - Nikki, 0 wins. Paige, 2 wins.
Paige says she's an Anti-Diva, The Bella Twins say Paige isn't an Anti-Diva. That's the long and short of it, but at least they've had time to build up an actual feud. Nikki has improved slightly in-ring over the last year or so, but like all Diva's pay-per-view bouts this will be harmed by a lack of time and a lack of crowd investment. WrestleMania tends to feature the Diva's in some kind of multi-person fracase, so it doesn't really matter who wins here.
Prediction - Nikki Bella retains the Diva's Championship
Singles Match
Goldust vs. Stardust
Gold...always believe in your soul.
Head to Head Record - FIRST TIME MEETING
With Stardust finally turning on his brother on this week's Raw, thanks to Dusty Rhodes attempting to get involved in the pairs crumbling tag team. Personally, I was hoping we'd get to finally see these two go at it at WrestleMania, but hey ho, maybe we'll get a gimmick match at The Show of Shows? It's time for Stardust to cash in on all the promise we'd seen from him during his feud with The Authority in 2013 and break out of the shadow of his brother.
Prediction - Stardust wins.
Finally...
Whilst I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to Fastlane, there are a number of matches on the card that could prove sleeper hits. Barrett vs. Ambrose would be the standout amongst the possiblilities, due to the similar styles of the performers and the fact that the match could go either way. Many of the matches are dependent on the length of time they will recieve, so hopefully Sting and Triple H's confrontation is kept fairly concise to give the regular performers the best opportunity at putting on a good match. It's the last stop before WrestleMania, so hopefully we'll see a few twists and turns thrown into the PPV as well, with Seth Rollins, Kane and Dolph Ziggler all conspicious by their absence on this card.
Enjoy the PPV, look out for coverage on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, before our full review goes live on Monday.
First Raw of 2015, y'all! So they're gone make it big one, right? Explosion and shit, perhaps? Midgets on unicycles? Big Show in a diaper? Let's find out!
John Cena Appreciation Night
The main storyline this week centered around the return of The Authority and there attempts to get to John Cena. Following a recap of the end of last week's show, the show opened with the "entire" roster in and around the ring, although the focus was clearly on the red and yellow clad John Cena. Cena cut a promo about going back on his word last week, with his usually angsty facial expression, I don't think this promo was particularly needed, neither was it particularly impressive. Everything Cena said had been communicated to the audience in the recap at the start of the show. Luckily, after interupting Cena, Stephanie McMahon did a much better job, playing her patronising boss character perfectly, with Triple H also doing a decent job, gaining the group a decent amount of heat. The Authority thanked Seth Rollins by placing him in the World Heavyweight Championship bout with John Cena and Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, which definitely makes the match more interesting for me. Finally, the duo announced that tonight would be "John Cena Appreciation Night", which would clearly be the main event segment. To tie in with the John Cena Appreciation Night theme, a number of vignettes featuring big moments from Cena's career, starting with Cena's debut answering Kurt Angle challenge on Smackdown in 2002, winning the WWE Championship for the first time from JBL in 2005 and being drafted to Raw on an edition of Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel also in 2005. These clips have been pretty much played to death over the last few years and I'm not sure if they were supposed to be annoying to play into The Authority's ideas behind the John Cena Appreciation Night deal. The main event segment started with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon winding up John Cena in the ring, by going over how much they appreciated him bringing them back. Stephanie was once again on point here, but Triple H launched into one of his rambling promos that never quite goes anywhere. Eventually, Ryback, Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler were bought out to the ring, with The Authority talking about their futures as if they weren't in the ring. This worked really nicely, as I think a lot of the viewers would be able to relate to having a condescending and frustrating boss talk in such a manner. Eventually with The Authority retreated to the ramp, they revealed they had decided the fate of the three member of Team Cena, with Stephanie doing her best Mr. McMahon "You're Fired" impression. With Cena continuing to pull his conflicted face, streamers and balloons came down from the ceiling for his Appreciation Night, contrasting with reactions of Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan as they left the ring. This gave a nice visual for the end of the show, whilst also leaving a number of open questions, that made me want to tune in next week. It's important that Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan aren't seen for sometime in my opinion to push the fact they have been fired and to get the biggest reaction out their respective returns. Personally, I would want them all to have, at least, a month off television and perhaps even longer, a Ziggler return at WrestleMania to return the favour for Sting could get a huge reaction and be well worth the time off.
Ambulance Match
Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
This match would the be the zenith of the Wyatt vs. Ambrose feud that's been raging on since late October. This was confirmed in a pre-taped promo from Bray Wyatt that aired earlier in the night. It was Wyatt's usual style of promo, talking about Ambrose's father and the devil. I think having a clear direction for where the promo should go helped Wyatt here as this was one of his stronger efforts as of late. Dean Ambrose also had an opportunity to get the match over on the microphone, with his own pre-taped promo. Everything he said, the way he said and his expression made me want to watch a fight. Can't ask for more than that really. I'm not a big fan of Ambulance matches, and I also haven't been convinced by the majority of the Wyatt and Ambrose's feud, however I rather enjoyed this bout. Almost certainly the strongest match on the card and pretty much the only bout that the crowd gave a shit about either. The early brawling between the two was convincing and it got across to any new viewers that these two didn't like each other a whole lot. The pair fighting out in the crowd and near the Ambulance early was a nice twist to the regular pattern of the Ambulance match. It was here that the story of the match really came together, with Wyatt slamming the Ambulance door into Ambrose's leg, going on to focus a lot of his offence onto this leg. Again this was another welcome addition, and suited Wyatt's character down to the ground, whilst also allowing Ambrose to really show off his selling ability. The spots were kept simple and used at effective point during the match, which gave the bout a strong flow. Ambrose's unique offence and character worked was more often than not tied into these spots, hitting a lovely version of his pendulum lariat using a stretcher, as well as the stand out spot of the night hitting an elbow drop off the top of the ambulance through a table (which was painted white with a red cross, which looked ridiculous). All the time Ambrose was selling the leg, aiding his crowd reaction as a babyface, whilst Wyatt's offence was kept simple and dirty, which is all good with me.
The finish played into Ambrose's leg injury as he grasped at his leg following the elbow drop through the table, which allowed for Wyatt to hit a Sister Abigail into the ambulance, followed by one onto the concrete and pick up the victory. This worked as a satisfying finish to the match as the story all came together, but I'm not sure how Ambrose will be effected going forward from losing this feud. However, I also think Wyatt needed to win this one, after his feuds with John Cena and Chris Jericho in 2014, so I am a little conflicted. I am happy to see how things move for both men going forward and I'd still expect both to featured in big matches on WrestleMania in March.
Intercontinental Championship Two Out of Three Falls Match
Dolph Ziggler (C) vs. Bad News Barrett
Part of the show opening segment involved the announcement that Dolph Ziggler would be defending his Intercontinental Championship against Bad News Barrett, with the reasoning being that Barrett had never lost the the title, after having to vacate the title back in July. I was left a little confused, as on the previous weeks Raw Barrett had returned and appeared to be a babyface, defeating Cesaro after Cesaro had cut a heel promo and offered an open challenge. Now, was this match just to make Cesaro look silly for his previous comments about the company, or do creative just not give enough of a shit to bother with something silly like consistent storytelling? The first part of the match saw Barrett completely dominate, using mainly strikes and rest holds. The Corpus Christi crowd didn't seem to be into this at all, being very quiet, with a mild clap for Ziggler whilst Barrett had him locked in a headlock. I'm not sure if like me they were also confused with Barrett's sudden and unannounced switch back to a heel. Pretty much out of nowhere Ziggler managed to steal a victory with a rather nice crucifix pinning combination as a reversal for Barrett's Wind of Change. This first part of the match wasn't anything near what these two are capable of doing, their match on Raw last June would prove that.
However, the pair would be given a reprieve, as after losing the match Barrett went on to absolutely batter Ziggler around the ring. Using everything around the ring, Barrett's insensity here was particularly impressive. He looked strong and showed a different side to his character that we perhaps hadn't seen in a while, it made sense that he would be frustrated after dominating the match, but it also made it easy to see him a "sore loser" type guy, meaning he should have gotten a bit more heat that he actually got from a rather quiet crowd. After Barrett had finished his beating, Kane made his presence felt by revealing that the match was supposed to be Two out of Three Falls and hence the match would continue. With the match continued and I still found myself feeling a little disapointed with the quality of the action. Barrett quickly got a cover after a big boot and Wasteland, meaning the match was tied at 1-1. Following this there was just far too many rest holds for my liking, especially considering how long the match was and how quiet the crowd was, neither guy really attempted to get the crowd into the match. The closing stages bout something a little extra than the rest of the match, with a decent sequence that ended in Barrett hitting the Bullhamer elbow to pick up the win and pick up his fifth Intercontinental Championship. Personally, I would've liked Ziggler to have got a lengthy title reign heading into WrestleMania at least, but with the event elsewhere, it was clear that the title needed to be drop for that storyline to work.
Two-on-One Handicap Match
Ryback vs. Seth Rollins & Kane
Ryback's initial punishment from The Authority was a handicap match against Seth Rollins and Kane. Ryback was one of the most over guys on the show with the crowd, with numerous "Feed Me More" chants throughout the match, and the Big Guy did a good job of playing to the crowd and for the most part looked good when on the offence, a nice belly to belly suplex in particular stood out for me.
Where this match fell apart for me was an over reliance on rest holds, Kane in particular seemed to be in love with headlocks. The match could have easily been four or five minutes shorter and been much better off because of this. Rollins and Ryback did seem to have at least something regarding chemistry when allowed to go at it, with a nice sequence building towards a spinebuster from Ryback. Rollins picking up the victory following two Curb Stomps after Kane had recieved a Shellshocked, was a strong and satisfying ending to the bout that finished up the numbers game story that the match told.
Singles Match
Big Show vs. Roman Reigns
The build up to this match began with a video package detailing the rivalry so far, which has essentially been each man tipping the announce table on each other, for the craic supposedly. A Roman Reigns interview with Renee Young was also presented, in which Reigns explained what Big Show could expect in the match later on. I couldn't help feeling that Reigns is trying too hard with promos, I'd like to see him relax a little and allow that natural charisma to he does have to come through, because everything here felt a little too forced. I was pleasantly surprised by this match, as Show and Reigns worked around their limitations by presenting a decent story to follow of Show working over Reigns stomach, which as the commentary pointed out would be where Reigns' recent surgery took place. Reigns' comeback is perhaps the strongest part of his game, as many would have known from his days in The Shield, and we saw some of that here when Reigns exploded out of the box with multiple close lines and an impressive Samoan Drop. Unfortunately that was cut short with a DQ finish after Show used the steel steps, before Reigns hit a Spear on the inside meaning the steps landed on big show. Personally, I think this should have been a clean victory for Reigns, as whilst this match wasn't bad I have no desire to see the feud continue and Reigns could have used the momemtum heading into the Royal Rumble.
Six Person Mixed Tag Team Match
The Usos & Naomi vs. The Miz, Damien Mizdow & Alicia Fox
There was a surprising amount of build up going into this match, firstly with a recap of last weeks show which saw The Usos regain the tag titles from The Miz & Damien Mizdow, followed up by a backstage segment that saw Alicia Fox attack Naomi. It was a shame that this attack seemed to be forgotten about by these performers once the bell rang, as there was a lack of any real aggression between the two women in the match. The rest of the action between the men in the match was dull, as Miz spent most the match in control, and as soon as the hot tag was made for the Usos, the match was over with a confusing finish that saw Miz pick up the win with a school boy roll up.
Special Guest Referee's Match
Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper
The Authority continued to punish the members of Team Cena by placing J&J Security as the special guest referees for Erick Rowan's match with Luke Harper. As you could guess this was a very quick match, with Noble & Mercury's antics getting in the way of Rowan's attempts at victory. Harper picked up the victory after a clothesline and a quick count from the pair, with the three continuing the beat down after the bell. I'd like to see what these two could do when given a bit more time, as I think an extended feud with Harper could do wanders for Rowan, both in terms of in-ring work and getting more over with the crowd.
Singles Match
Adam Rose vs. Big E
Going less than a minute, it was difficult to get much of a feel for either Big E or Adam Rose, who now seems to be a full on heel, in this one. Even then the bout included a headlock, which there really was no need for at this point. It was caught short when two of the Rosebuds, dressed in morph suits attacked Big E and the rest of his New Day partner, giving Big E the DQ win. The two men hit a terrific double team move, before revealing themselves as Cesaro and Tyson Kidd. If the two teams get given time for their feud this could potential provide some entertaining match ups, whilst also elevating both teams at the same time, but that's a big if in today's WWE.
Singles Match
Nikki Bella vs. Natalya
Before this match, Paige came out to show support for Natalya, with the pair sharing a hug at ringside. This again, showed a lack of consistency for WWE, as to the best of my knowledge Paige has been playing a heel on television for the last six month. This was too short to really get anything going, although Nikki did pull off a rather nice headscissors which would be my highlight of this bout. Natalya picked up the win with a roll up, following Nikki getting distracted by Paige and Brie on the outside. Nikki attacked Natalya after the match, Paige would make the save hitting a Superkick. Perhaps, if Paige had made a run in, rather than coming down to the ring earlier, the moment would have had a lot more impact.
Tag Team Match
Ascension vs. ???
Ah, The Ascension. What has happened here? Before the match Konnor and Viktor cut a shouty promo running down Demolition and the Road Warriors, which was very odd indeed. Are the Road Warrior going to make a run in? No, one of them is dead! So don't trash talk about them! Their match against a pair of unamed local talent, was dominated by JBL talking about how pissed off he was that they mentioned the Road Warrior and he did seemed genuinely annoyed. The match was less than a minute and the Ascension picked up the victory following the Fall of Man.
Rusev & Lana Promo
United States Champion Rusev and Lana were involved in a short pre-taped promo segment, which was essentially all the stuff we've heard from Lana for some time. Rusev did get some time to talk and wasn't awful, but did nothing that particularly made him stand out either. This seemed to be included just give the pair some face time on a packed show.
Finally...
Bar Ambrose and Wyatt's enjoyable Ambulance match, these wasn't a single match on the card that looked to stand out as better than average, whilst a number of the matches were dull or felt unimportant. Elements of The Authority storyline worked, especially Stephanie McMahon's performance which was spot on all night long, and created a number of interesting possibilities going forward. This was a great Raw to start the new year on, it's time for WWE to kick it's self into a new gear, as WrestleMania is only three months away!
There's only one thing I can really talk about today, and that has to be my predictions for WrestleMania XXX! I'm sure there's hundred of these things knocking around today, I recommend checking out Marc P's on Youtube (If you're a fan of air fresheners this ones for you) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q-fqWStjx4, obviously after you've read what I have to say. Let's work our way through the card, shall we?
Kicking off with the Pre-Show, we have The Usos defending the Tag Team titles against The Real Americans, Rybaxel and Los Matadores. This is a pretty throw away match, I expect inoffensive action, that will be watchable, but with nothing of any significance occuring. Los Matores and The Usos will hit dives over the top rope, with The Usos eventually picking up the victory, as they've only just won the belts. The Real Americans seem on the verge of break up, Rybaxel are Rybaxel and Los Matadores are seemingly there for the banter.
Moving onto the show proper, I see The Shield opening the show for the second year running against Kane and The New Age Outlaws. I can't say I'm particularly hyped by this one, the build up has been pretty weak, with The Shield spending a fair few weeks teasing a break up, before Kane, Billy Gunn and Road Dogg were brought into it. I can't look past The Shield picking up the victory in this one, start off the show on a high and possibly put a close to the New Age Outlaws run in WWE. The joys of the Vickie Guerrero Invitational something or other, as AJ Lee defends the Diva's title against everyone. We all know this is going to be terrible, there is just no way fourteen women in the same ring is going to equal a good match, especially with one fall to a finish. I forsee AJ retain her title, leading to Paige's debut the next night on Raw, kick starting a feud between the two, but I've got a feeling that might be wishful thinking. My outside bet would go to Summer Rae, as they seem pretty high on her and it would tie in nicely with Total Divas. John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt is a tricky one, traditional storytelling would call for Cena to overcome the odds and pick up a heroic victory on the biggest stage of them all, but the flipside is the world of good it would do Wyatt, if Cena allowed him to go over clean. Personally, I think we'll be seeing Wyatt in the WWE title picture heading out of WrestleMania and towards SummerSlam, so I'm going to go with Bray Wyatt for this one. Hopefully clean, but it wouldn't surprise me if there's some shenanigans here, allowing for a rematch at Extreme Rules in May. Triple H and Daniel Bryan will battle it out for the opportunity to join Batista and Randy Orton in the main event, I think they'll place this one somewhere in the middle of the card. As much as I'd love to see Triple H win for the reactions on Twitter, the mark me really wants Daniel Bryan to win this one and it would seem like the right decision for him to do so. I see Triple H dominating Bryan for most of the match, giving Bryan and absolute beating, before Bryan pulls out the victory. It will be interesting whether they have Bryan win with the knee that beat Cena or the LeBell lock. Personally, I'd have Triple H attack Bryan after the match as well, a tasty sledgehammer attack to add intrigue to the main event. Then there's the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, better known as "We can't be arsed with mid-card storylines". I have to admit I'm intrigued with this one and I do enjoy a good battle royal from time to time. If booked right there's space to give a number of performers and opportunity to shine. I expect something crazy out of Kofi Kingston, I expect a load of people to team up to eliminate the big guys and I expect a couple of surprise entrants. Out of all the participants, Alexander Rusev looks like the guy for this one for me, after the build-up over the last few months, it would be great for him to eliminate Big Show or someone similar last and get the heel heat with the trophy. My outside choice for this one is Bad News Barrett, because it'd just make me chuckle. The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar go head to head, in a match that I don't think anyone gives Lesnar a chance in. That doesn't mean to say this doesn't have potential of being a very good match, because it does! No one gave CM Punk a chance last year, but they managed to put together some nice false finishes, especially the one with the earn and I expect more of the same here. I'd not be surprised to see a lengthy MMA style submission sequence, with Taker's Hells Gate and Lesnar's Kimura Lock, which could be very nice to see, especially if Lesnar works the arm. But yes, in the end Taker comes out victorious, with a possible angle either on the show or on the Raw after WrestleMania to set up his bout for next year. It seems likely to be Sting, but it would be fantastic if it's Bray Wyatt.
And finally, the main event of the evening. I personally think we will see a Triple Threat here, although I know many are expecting a Fatal Four Way. I don't see Daniel Bryan starting the match, I think we'll see Batista and Orton work the first seven or eight minutes to nuclear heat, with Bryan supposedly out of the match due to the attack by Triple H. Bryan eventually comes out to a huge pop, bandaged and beaten, and battles to an eventual victory, with streamers and all that jazz to close the show. It seems the logical way of doing things, and I'd mark out like a mother bitch for it.
Well, I hope you enjoy the show tonight and I'll see you tomorrow for the review!
