WWE Wrestlemania XXIV Shotgun Roundtable Preview
Time to shoot on the granddaddy of them all. This time Birdsong sits in and gives his obviously pro-Hulk Hogan rhetoric on this year’s Wrestlemania. (Actually, that’s not true. This is the first time I’ve read something of his for more than 5 minutes were the big yellow-and-red cheese isn’t mentioned, and that’s not Captain Marvel either.)
Anyway, here’s the opening question for the roundtable: will Floyd Mayweather’s involvement in Wrestlemania help WWE recoup his $20 million price tag?
Jonathan Birdsong: Buyrates go up in general when it comes to Wrestlemania. In theory this is a good card, so depending on the performances I imagine DVD sales of this show will be up too. It has the potential to be GREAT, but in the same breath it also has the potential to be mediocre. There’s nobody from the International scene (Japan/Mexico) wrestling on the card, so we’re not really seeing anything new here. $20 mil, recoup…smells like Jay Leno and Karl Malone in WCW all-over again. There will be budget-cuts come Summer Slam!
The Russ: I’m not sure how much money Donald Trump made last year, but did he really do anything to help sell the show besides show up on video every so often on Raw? They didn’t even do anything on The Apprentice with any cross-promotion. At least Mayweather is heavily involved in doing appearances and physically getting involved on Raw, and his name gets a lot of run on the sports talk shows, which is WWE’s target demographic. But, you’re right… Wrestlemania is traditionally the end of WWE’s fiscal year, and April is generally when people get released. If they don’t do some Mike Tyson-like numbers, I would bet that a lot of folks will get whacked next month and they will quite rightly point the finger at this particular business decision.
Ashley & Maria vs. WWE Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix & Melina (BunnyMania Lumberjack Match)
Russ: The ex-Bunnies will get the win here to push Maria’s Playboy appearance off into the sunset, and then we will continue to forget about the Divas division again. I never thought I would say it, but right now (besides SHIMMER) TNA has the best women’s division in North America.
Birdsong: I know Snoop Dogg is gonna be present at ringside…but perhaps The Rock can do a run-in and let The Glamazon know what her role is!! The ‘faces’ get the win..provided with some accidental nudity at the heels expense.
Russ: I don’t think we’ve seen much accidental or unaccidental nudity for several years now, except for this:
By the way, do they ever mention on WWE Kids that Paul Birchill and Katie are into incest and that half of the chicks in this match posed naked? I guess maybe that’s not the “target audience” for this match. I know this is a tangent, but there is absolutely nothing on WWE that I want my kids to watch, even if it’s sanitized for their new kids magazine or that web site. In fact, I am often quite embarrassed watching modern WWE in front of my family, and I think it’s downright hypocritical for WWE to be so into pushing the envelope with content and then trying to pass themselves off as being family-friendly.
You want “family-friendly” wrestling? Go visit your local indy and you’ll generally find it right there, and those people work hard and deserve your support… not some asshole millionaire.
Finlay vs. John Bradshaw Layfield (Belfast Brawl)
Birdsong: Hornswaggle gets his revenge. Finlay gets the win. JBL goes back to doing play-by-play! Or maybe his own segment show (Piper’s Pit/Carlito’s Cabana)
Russ: Yeah, this is one of those feuds that seems like it’s building to really put over Finlay as a toughman and JBL to get his comeuppance. I don’t see any way they let Bradshaw win this one unless he threatens to rape somebody in the shower.
24-Man Battle Royal (Winner faces ECW Champion)
Birdsong: Boogeyman! Why not?
Russ: Um… why? They seem to be pushing all the big men heavily in this match, which would be one of these: Kane, Mark Henry, Big Titty V, and the Great Khali. This maybe tells me that they’ll send Big Show back to ECW/Smackdown once his feud with Mayweather is all over. I would like to see Khali win and beat ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero to set up a feud with those two, giant vs. giant. I’m not a big Khali fan, but that would be a great match to promote this summer.
Batista vs. Umaga (Smackdown vs. Raw)
Birdsong: If the match-makers have any gumption (!!!), they’ll have Batista get the win, and possible do a teaser RAW VS Smakdown feud at the next pay-per-view. However, since the-powers-that-be are also high on Umaga, this match will most certainly end in a draw.
Russ: Gumption? Were you watching Green Acres when you wrote that? If you believe the dirt sheets, Batista is a hated guy in the locker room, and of course, Raw is the “A-show”, but I would have to think that Batista would lose some value if Umaga beat him in this match. Sure, a victory by Umaga would make him look really impressive, but when Triple H beats Orton and they get finished feuding, they will have plenty of time to build up Umaga and get him ready to challenge Hunter. So, I think Batista has to win this match, or it would just be a really stupid business decision not to do so.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho vs. Ken Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Carlito vs. WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrisson vs. CM Punk vs. WWE U.S. Champion Montel Vontavious Porter (Money in the Bank Ladder Match)
Russ: Historically, whoever has possessed the briefcase has gone on to win the title. I think it would be a waste if one of the ECW guys won it and then went after the ECW belt. Maybe it would suddenly give that belt some credibility, but I think that the brand is just too tarnished and used to waste it on that, so that eliminates Morrisson, Punk, and Benjamin from competition. They’re not letting any of those guys feud with the Undertaker when he wins either.
Carlito is perpetually in the doghouse, so they won’t give it to him. Kennedy won it last year, but he had to drop it when he hurt his shoulder. He still hasn’t proven he can stay healthy, so he won’t get it. That leaves MVP and Chris Jericho. I think that the winner will hold onto the briefcase for awhile… they’ve been too worried about the winner using up their shot within 2 months the last couple of times. That would favor MVP over Jericho, because he could use the briefcase as a gimmick, and he will likely drop the U.S. Championship to Matt Hardy when he comes back. So, I will say that MVP wins this one.
Birdsong: Some quality guys in this match. Possible show-stealer. Former/Current Intercontinental/US/World/Tag champs… But, my gut tells me Mr. Kennedy. Though he’s not deserving, he needs it the most. I do believe this match will set-up a CM Punk vs Jericho feud. Hopefully, Shelton won’t be too much of a daredevil.
Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Career Threatening Match)
Birdsong: This is match is actually ten-years too late right!? Ha! Shawn Michaels wins, but I expect Flair to dig down deep one more time and go out and perform like its 1986 all-over again!! And he had sure better cut a promo at the end, (similar to his unforgettable WCW-closing speech) referencing how he faced and beat them all - Wahoo McDaniel, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Steamboat, Von Erich, Bruiser Brody, Terry Funk, Koloff etc.
Russ: The fact that this is going to be Flair’s retirement match is just about the worst-kept secret in pro wrestling. Michaels wins, ‘natch.
Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs. Big Show
Birdsong: Floyd Mayweather. Expect a run-in from Rey Mysterio. (I hope I didn’t blow that surprise.)
Russ: What dirt sheet did you read that from? Okay, I have read that WWE lately has been misinforming the sheets about how long guys will be out of action to keep better secrets from the fans, but I seriously doubt Rey Mysterio shows up. He only had surgery last month, and he’s supposed to be out for 6 to 9 months. Even if they fudge the time a little bit like they did with John Cena’s injury, that’s still not until September probably.
World Heavyweight Champion Edge vs. Undertaker
Birdsong: Maybe NEXT year the WWE will put the streak on the line vs the whims and wants of the Most Powerful Son-In-Law in Wrestling history. Until then, The Undertaker will remain undefeated at Wrestlemania (and win the title).
Russ: This will be the start of the title reign that Undertaker was supposed to get last year after Wrestlemania… until he gets hurt again. Honestly, the guy has never really been that durable, which is probably why he’s never gotten that long of a title reign. Anyway, I seem to be one of the few that hopes the Taker will end up keeping the streak intact throughout his career.
WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Triple H vs. John Cena
Russ: I think this will be the first time since ‘99 when Vince McMahon won the Royal Rumble that the winner won’t win the title at Wrestlemania. To be honest, Triple H deserves to get the belt back for a while. He hasn’t held a major title in 3 years, except for the night he wore it at No Mercy when he feuded with Randy Orton. John Cena is over enough now that he doesn’t need a title reign right now, and if Triple H wins, it shouldn’t be politically motivated, but the fact that he truly deserves to wear it for a while. Like I said before, let him finish off the feud with Orton at Backlash and Judgment Day, and then get him started in on a feud with Umaga for the rest of the summer.
Birdsong: Does Randy Orton even have a chance of retaining? Seriously… But, wouldn’t it be great to turn Cena “heel” here. It would be totally unexpected and heck, half the audience all ready boo’s him anyway.
Russ: John Cena is too kid-friendly for them to turn him heel. He moves merch pretty good, and he and Rey Mysterio have no chance of turning heel as long as they’re selling stuff like crazy for the kids. And, while Triple H doesn’t play the role of babyface well, they have very few strong ones on the roster (Shawn Michaels right now is even playing a quasi-heel), so he is stuck in that role until they can build up Chris Jericho or perhaps reinstitute the draft.
Birdsong: Triple H wins the title that has eluded him these past few years. For some reason I envision Henry Godwinn challenging Trips the next day on Raw to a match in a pigsty. It could happen…
March 28th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Good preview and yeah the main two titles seem easy to foresee as well as HBK but I’d expect Chavo to retain especially since they bumped the battle royal to a pre-show match shown on WWE.com. It looks like Tommy Dreamer will get the nod there plus I don’t see all 3 titles changing hands and you always get the odd heel win on one of the big PPVs.
I’d have to agree with Jonathan Birdsong’s pick for MITB in Ken Kennedy. This would kick start his career again, but the only thing against this decision would be that in promos he has said about cashing it in on the same night. That is probably your usual heel hyperbole mind you. Jericho does not need it in my opinion, he is a former champion and is already a ‘name’ even if he has been gone the past few years. MVP is a good outside bet, if it were a horse race I’d back him each-way.
Rumours have Umaga going over to Smackdown so that match might have a dodgy finish. But the most disappointing thing is that they have built Big Show up as a monster with all those squash matches and yet he will lose. Possibly due to outside interference, I read somewhere that there was talk of this leading to Show vs Shane McMahon.