WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match

There's no doubt in my mind that this will be the best match of the night. You're going to see 7 of the most entertaining and athletic superstars in WWE right now fight over a title that is sure to get more prestigious by the end of the match and it's in the vain of one of the best matches that WWE have ever created, the Money in the Bank. How can you not be excited!

My favourite wrestlers are in this match, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose and Stardust. Add those great competitors to some other amazing talent in Luke Harper and R-Truth. We've got a hot here folks.

I will say one thing about this match I think Bryan will win. Or I want him to win. Although I don't think there will be a root of Bryan doesn't win you'd have to think WWE have learnt their lesson by this point. I also would love to see Ziggler win or any of the others above to be honest.

Realistically though youu should just dot back and enjoy this one. I for one will be marking out.

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WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - John Cena vs Rusev

Cena as we all know had been getting quite bland on us, and in a year where we should've seen Bryan's year on top he sadly got a bad neck injury and forced WWE to go back to old faithful in Cena. So we have had Cena in the lime light once again until Royal Rumble. But when he started this feud with Rusev something came out of Cena that made him interesting again.

Although this battle is still for a title it's nice to see it isn't the WWE Title. Instead Cena is going for a midcard title which could potentially bring back some interest in the title and make it worth something again. But the main reason I'm actually excited about this feud is because we've seen Cena bring a dark side to his segments. He's been playing heel in his actions but face in his promos which may be a sign of things to come.

But while I'm in my dream land of Cena being heel we will stay here in the real world and be honest with ourselves. This is gonna be another shitty Cena match isn't it? Let's just hope Rusev gets the rub then.

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WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins

Out of all the matches on the WrestleMania card this match is the one that I'm surprised I'm excited about. This is due to Rollins playing the coward heel and that the face is Orton. I think what really makes this work though is how good Rollins has been as essentially being the top heel of the company this past year, also don't forget the absolutely divine brutal segment a couple of weeks ago of Orton completely destroying Rollins.

I think the best thing though is that this rivalry will surely elevate Rollins to new heights. The triple threat match at Royal Rumble definitely helped but now at Mania he can shine in a higher ranking match at the big event. Don't forget that he is the Money in the Bank holder and could be out new champion by the end of tonight or tomorrow night.

What I'm getting at is more than anything the reason I'm excited is because Rollins can start climbing once again. He seems to be slightly buried to the way side as we see some part timers swoop in during WrestleMania season but I know if he and Orton pull this of and if Rollins gets that belt these next two days he could be the next huge star. That's when I personally would love to see Reigns in the main event picture taking on Rollins.

Tell me what you think, will Rollins get the belt?

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WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - Sting vs Triple H

Sting vs Triple H is really great due to the Monday Night Wars and because Sting has never set foot into a WWE ring to actually wrestle. I really enjoy the references to WCW and I think it really adds up to the feud that could be amazing.

The match could be a great underdog. On paper it sounds great but you start to get doubts because Triple H hasn't been great since his last bout with Taker and Sting is same age as Taker you worry if the match would be any good. But I feel like these two can definitely pull it off they both look great and ready to put on a show and I'm actually really excited.

Having Sting finally talk and the confrontation at Fastlane really did the feud good. Every segment wetted my appetite and I'm surprised at how excited I am for this match. I'm hoping that the match doesn't let me down.

Seeing as this is Sting's first match in WWE I see it being obvious that he wins, that is probably why Triple H is his first opponent someone who won't get hurt from a loss at Mania.

There is one thing that I'm confused about, no Authority stipulation? I could've sworn that they would have a 'If Triple H looses The Authority is our of power for good' but maybe this will continue onwards till Extreme Rules to further some other story lines that need The Authority there, cough cough Rollins vs Orton.

Either way I'm ready to see this match and I'm surprisingly hyped up. Tell me what you think though! All your opinions let's have a discussion!

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WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - Bray Wyatt vs The Undertaker

Fear, that's what this match is all about who is the most frightening superstar in WWE. Bray Wyatt came into the company very promising and had some great feuds, he lost momentum this time last year as he faced John Cena and got beaten but since then has got back to his former popularity with his feud with Dean Ambrose. Now he is here at the best possible feud that Wyatt could have in his career and it has its own share of issues.

After last years WrestleMania we doubted if The Undertaker would actually return making it obvious it was his last match by having Lesnar beat the streak and ultimately leave Taker destroyed. I always thought that if the streak got broken Undertaker would retire. Surprisingly however that didn't happen. Now we are here. Huge rumours that Taker is a withered old man who can't really go anymore plus the fact that he hasn't been on TV with Wyatt carrying the feud. I personally love this match. I just hope that it's great.

Last year the match wasn't great and the only reason it was memorable was because the streak was broken. It just makes me wonder will this be any better, add that to the fact that maybe letting Bray win the match will make Lesnar look insignificant but give him a mountain of momentum or let Taker win and put Wyatt back down to where he was last year.

But I think really these worries shouldn't be thought about to much as Wyatt vs Taker truly is a dream match and I have every hope in the world that it is amazing.

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WrestleMania 31 Breakdown - WWE World Heavyweight Championship Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns

Brock Lesnar since last year, even with his little appearances has become the most dominate and powerful figure this wrestling company has seen in years. Even when we didn’t like the fact Mr McMahon said Lesnar was a special attraction we can’t disagree now. However the WWE fan base seem to be split on Roman Reigns. At the beginning he was boo’d and hated, he wasn’t ready and his mic skills were bad. Now only a select group think that while the others don’t mind. I don’t mind, I still think Bryan in this position would’ve been a better match but who cares now.

Heyman has been the one redeeming factor to the build the of this fued, he nailed every single promo and Brock was pretty great when he had his video packages. Sadly though Reigns has looked weak, he has been beaten a lot for some one who is about to main event Mania but you cannot deny he looks great and can finally do everything in ring and on mic that he couldn’t do before, WWE as always just does a bad job at booking him.

However we do have some common theories among fans about the outcome of the match, one which shows Lesnar lose due to Heyman turning on him and supporting Roman Reigns. The other is Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank and leaving the show of the immortals as the champ. I personaly would love to see either happen but I would n’t be surprised if it is just the normal face wins clean ending.

All in all though I think Reigns is ready to be the badass WWE want him to be. He looks the part, he feels the part and he looked really good in front of Lesnar (before the tug of war). Its now up to the fans and the two competitors in the match to make it good. This match better be brutal and brilliant or the fans will shit all over it. Period.

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Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 9

That’s it. This Sunday will host the huge event that we have all been waiting for, will it be good? Who knows all I know is that the card is absolutely stacked with matches that have all the potential in the world. All the promos and matches on this weeks raw just proved that more.

Lesnar recently resigned with WWE which completely confirms that he wins this Sunday, well that is according to other people. I believe it won’t be so black and white. I believe that the WWE wouldn’t groom Roman Reigns to this badass status (he did look ‘strong’ in front of Lesnar on Raw. Very convincing) to then not let him win the big one. But I’m glad they did tell us about the signing merely because now I feel it could go either way. Of course we still have the idea that Heyman may turn on Lesnar but he also could not. It just depends if WWE continue to want the champ away from TV and not let Reigns win it yet or if they want a champion who will be on TV week in and week out.

Not a lot happened with the Battle Royal apart from people stating Ryback was the favourite to win..Ok. Also on the Kickoff show will be the tag championship match which I thought have done a good job in making every team look good going in, sadly they had to let their tag champions lose because of it.

All the Authority matches seem to be ready for Mania and they were some of the most entertaining builds, I’m especially looking forward to Sting vs Triple H, Sting and The Game are both capable of wrestling well so it is possible that we get a great match out of that. Also Rollins is superb in the ring and Orton can put on a great match also so I wouldn’t be surprised if that one is a good watch too.

The truly best match of the night though will come in the form of the IC title match. 7 Superstars Money in the Bank style will face each other for the belt. They’ve even got R-Truth showing some of his Ron Killings side leading up to the match which is great.

All in all though I wasn’t that excited, I didn’t even know when WrestleMania was until I wrote this post. Now I’m ready for the biggest event of the year.

Tweet Me: @olikidsley

Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 8

Goosebumps cannot be controlled as I sit and watch Sting completely destroy The Authority with Orton by his side. Sting looked like a supreme badass to the point where I wished Reigns had this effect on me. As 8 long weeks of build has been going on we are finally reaching the end of our ‘Mania season. One more week left with one last segment for the Reigns vs Lesnar Main Event and they have to absolutely nail it or the match is going to flop. It may flop either way seeing as the comments I’ve seen have all been negative towards the match. There has however been a lot of great speculation on what will happen at the event. Will it happen is a different question.

A lot of fans like Roman Reigns but they don’t feel he is ready. More importantly they think he is terrible on the mic. I think he has improved over the past 8 weeks but they don’t think it is enough. A lot of people want Reigns to be like Lesnar.. A silent badass. The kind that stands in the middle of the ring looking completely dominant while someone else talks for him, someone like Heyman. You get where this is going? The general opinion is that if Lesnar leaves Heyman will be high and dry and if they want Reigns to win why don’t they turn him heel and give him Heyman as his mouthpiece? It is perfect really, especially with all the back and forth “I respect you Roman” “I respect you Paul”, maybe this was where it was heading all along? It would be great, it’d be better if Heyman could be face but he can’t. Heyman is born to play a heel and whoever he is managing will have to adapt to that. Heyman couldn’t be with Punk while he was Face, he can’t do it now. If Reigns and Heyman were face it would still allow Rollins to be the best Heel in the business and cash in the MitB on Reigns. We’ll see if this actually happens or not as the odds of having Reigns plus Heyman seems impossible in a world like WWE.

The IC Title Match as usual being the highlight of every week finally saw Barrett steal is own title back and completely dominate the rest of the competition. Again another big discussion point right now is if Bryan and Cena both win the mid card titles, will this signal a start of WWE raising the profile of these titles? That is really what they should’ve been doing during the gaps where Lesnar was away from the company and WWEWH title story lines were months away, but I digress. It’d be really great to see the two top guys carry the mid card belts and elevate it with great story lines and big segments on Raw. I really don’t know who will win the IC Ladder match and that’s what makes it the most exciting to me, I can’t wait to see the crazy shit they pull off and the amazing show they will put on.

Although many seem to believe that Rusev will lose at ‘Mania to Cena I hope he doesn’t. Like I said previously it’d be nice to see Cena elevate the US Title and show that more of a heelish side to him, but I want Rusev to continue to be the monster that WWE have managed to create him as. A win over Cena would elevate Rusev to new heights and be unstoppable, he would have the Lesnar quality of being the powerhouse who cannot be stopped. I’m sure you can go somewhere with that, it would probably elevate the US Title just as much as Cena would and if he never drops it but continues to aim for the main title it would really show how much of a monster he is. That would probably see the title get lost in the shuffle though and just be an accessory to Rusev by that point.

Orton vs Rollins and Triple H vs Sting are linked as we saw this week on Raw, sure they are their own entities but at the core it was all to do with The Authority. There has still been no word on if the Triple H vs Sting match will include the added stip of The Authority being out of power, but if Sting continues to be at least Semi regular like Jericho and RVD after ‘Mania it wouldn’t be surprising to see that story line continue over the coming months to Extreme Rules or maybe all the way to SummerSlam. I’d love to see Sting on a regular basis and face some younger dudes, putting them over, maybe, winning, maybe, whatever they feel like doing. As long as Sting looks great and wrestles great why the hell not?

That’s all I’ve really got to say this week, I’m getting excited when I think about ‘Mania being such a short distance away but it doesn’t crowd my mind like it usually does. I’m aiming to do a couple of articles over the next week or so, similar to last yeah I want to do WrestleMania Matches Breakdown articles as well as the ‘Mania article and the WWE 2014-15 Season Awards, like last year. Keep an eye out for those, but as always tell me your opinions!

Tweet Me: @olikdsley

Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 7

After a dying of momentum for Orton after Fastlane with a weird but ultimately logical story line we have finally gotten our setup for the Orton vs Rollins match, and being completely honest with you it looks like one of the better built up ones. Yeah there is no real bad build up yet (unless you think the main event is being poorly handled) but nothing seems amazingly exciting. It feels like WWE every week cycle through which story they are going to push that week with the IC Title match continuously being pushed (probably because they work every week) and Wyatt carrying a whole story on his own back. I said in my last post that feels like WrestleMania but almost like a disappointing one, and I still stand by that, it is hard to muster up any kind of enthusiastic excitement when you know the last match of ‘Mania will be one we all didn’t want to see.

Maybe it is just me but WWE has a lot of matches and story building but none of it really jumps out at this part of the fan base. There is a lot of talk and maybe it’s our own fault for not sitting down, relaxing and just enjoying the product for what it is, or maybe it is the fact that most of these matches were not what we had in mind. Wyatt vs Taker should’ve been an exciting match, but we have no Taker. Triple H vs Sting was supposed to be great but they only appear every other week and a video package otherwise. Orton vs Rollins could be amazing but the slow story killed it as soon as Orton came back. A lot of problems surround every story making each feud a bit boring. This week it did pick up with Orton and we did have another good IC segment, Tag Team matches and Cena was one of the main highlights for Raw!

Cena came out this week after realising he might not be in Mania, said that wasn’t the point and then made Rusev pass out TWICE fuelled by not wanting to miss ‘Mania alone. He also looked completely sinister and combine that with the past couple of weeks of dirty tactics, he looked like a heel.. and it was awesome. Not gonna lie to you, a smile crossed my face when Cena smirked after he got his match, that was cool, interesting and completely different. Exactly what we’ve wanted out of Cena for a while. I don’t know if they will ever turn him full Heel but if they do the right time will be soon. But I really shouldn’t keep my hopes up for this situation.

With that in mind has anyone else seen that WWE may be doing a little tweener thing, Ambrose is leading this movement and I don’t think his character would work any other way as a face character, we have the Orton from this week and he’s been a tweener a lot so he’s perfected it by this point, and lastly Cena. The idea that you have a face who does heelish stuff but still gets cheered for it, is an endearing factor to have in a gimmick, it seems very reminiscent of Austin during the attitude era. So tell me what you think about the lead to Mania so far, same boat as me or not? What’s your favourite build up? And Do you think WWE are trying to get edgier with more attitude era-esque ideas?

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Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 6

As another slow week comes and goes the biggest match on my mind is the IC Title Ladder match, it seems almost certain that Bryan will be part of the match as well as Harper, R-Truth, Barrett, Ambrose and my favourite Ziggler. Just looking at the participants, thinking about the event and the obvious similarities to the Money in the Bank match you can’t help but feel this will be the show stopper, the show stealer, the best match of the whole night; especially when every other match seems to be a disappointment in the eyes of most of the fans.

I’ll tell you honestly, this week was fun. I am enjoying WrestleMania season as usual, maybe not as much as the past couple of years (last year especially) but it’s not the worst thing in the world. I do think this stems from the Main Event not being the match most of us wanted to see. There is a lot of matches that could be amazing like Rollins vs Orton, Wyatt vs Taker, Sting vs Trips; but it doesn’t grab the attention quite like Bryan’s fight last year or other great Mania moments. But really what do we expect? This is WWE, a company by this point that have lost touch with its fans. A company that blatantly doesn’t listen to the fans and the only reason fans still watch is because they are life long fans of wrestling or maybe because there is one good storyline they want to watch and in this case it’s the build to the IC Title Ladder Match. Ok maybe not all of the fans, I’m obviously talking about the one specific group that you could classify as IWC or maybe just readers of this article. There are a lot of fans who are casual but I don’t think they make up the core audience of WWE.

I almost didn’t write this article, I am interested but not enough. People are right to complain and say that it doesn’t feel like Mania season. It’s because it’s not. If there is any bigger of an indication that Vince needs to step down it is now.

WWE have some amazing man made stars at there disposal and we know they love their man made stars. Take Dolph Ziggler, the new People’s Champ (according to Booker T). He has the fan base, he has the talent in ring and on the mic, he has the song, the look, he is overall the full package. So WHY do WWE insist on pushing the opposite of this for the one simple fact of their philosophy “Bigger is Better”?

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Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 5

Five Weeks in and we are starting to see progression. The night after Fastlane was pretty uneventful that’s why this weeks post is going to be mainly focused on the discussions that have been swirling around on the TWN Facebook group which TWF is affiliated with. Let’s just make some acknowledgements first though. Star vs Goldust is really the way WWE should build Midcard feuds, the beauty of it is that it has short and intresting promos and nothing to do with a title. That is refreshing to me. The Divas segment on Raw was completely disgraceful and I don’t want to even talk about it.

So let’s talk about the fan favourite and the best wrestler in WWE right now, Daniel Bryan. A lot of people have been discussing on the facebook group, what will Bryan be doing and how will this help Bryan in the long run. Earlier on we heard that Bryan may have had a matched booked at ‘Mania for Ziggler and there was a rumor that Sheamus returning would be a feud against Bryan referencing their terrible ‘Mania match before. Now however it seems Bryan may be involved with the IC Title Ladder Match. The question is, is this good or bad? To me personally I don’t want Bryan in the match. Of course it’ll be amazing seeing as the match will almost be exactly the same as a Money in the Bank match but that is not the problem. I don’t think Bryan should be in the match as he would be thought to win seeing as he is rightfully in line for the next shot at the WWEWHC after Reigns but letting him win will demote him to the Midcard because the title would not be elevated to main event status due to Bryan, the IC Title has a stigma against by this point that Bryan would sink to the midcard with the title, plus if he does lose the match he will look weak against people who are considered Midcard to the general fan. But a lot people think that Bryan could raise the status of the Championship, and with Lesnar away most of the time it could bring a big following for the IC Title. Not to mention that this is the last title that Bryan needs to capture to become a Triple Crown champion and to have held every active title in WWE right now for Males. So what do you think?

The second topic for discussion is agin about booking and how WWE should book this match. Bray Wyatt vs The Undertaker. The debate for this seems hugely split with most not even wanting the match to happen. I personally want The Undertaker to return at ‘Mania to only showdown with Wyatt, no match. If ‘Taker doesn’t turn up before this like rumors have been suggesting then it would be a decent enough pay off, this would then lead to a month long feud until a match at Extreme Rules, for me Wyatt would win. Wyatt would get a rub off ‘Taker and he’d get a great boost and start gaining back his momentum he had before Cena destroyed him last year. The main problem with this match up is the fact that ‘Taker’s streak is broken and the match is at ‘Mania. Having Wyatt win at ‘Mania will make Lesnar win look insignificant, it will make the streak look terrible but will put over Wyatt. On the flip side, if ‘Taker wins Wyatt doesn’t get the needed boost from’Taker that he needs but the streak still seems legitimate and Lesnar still looks like a beast. There has been a lot of argument over this one and many believe Wyatt will be buried again but they don’t agree with it. What do you think? Do you think Wyatt being buried is good if Wyatt’s showing in the match is great? Do you not want the match happen? Tell me! Comment or Tweet your opinon to me.

Tweet Me: @olikidsley

Road To WrestleMania 31 - Week 4 And Fastlane

So after all the speculation of how Bryan will lose at Fastlane, will it be Ziggler or Sheamus costing him the match? Nope, he loses, CLEAN. Being a Bryan fan what does this tell me? They still don’t care about Bryan. Now I have no idea where they will take Bryan for WrestleMania. He could be in the Andre the Giant Battle Royale for all we know! That aside however I felt like the lead up to the match was exciting and done very well, not only did they fix the Reigns problem they created at Rumble by making him a tweener and making him “look strong”, they also managed to build the match in such a way that it could’ve gone either way. Sadly I thought the match felt too one sided for Reigns. Although there was good back and forth it felt like Reigns would always prevail unless he had an exposed injury. Saying all this however, I am excited to see if the Reigns vs Lesnar match at ‘Mania will be as good as WWE think it’s going to be. Let’s also hope Bryan gets to do something decent as well.

Bray Wyatt is probably the best feud Undertaker can have in this situation. After losing at WrestleMania and having The Streak broken, Undertaker’s only logical reason to ever return (apart from revenge against Lesnar) is through a callout from a certain eccentric and creepy character. Luckily for us Wyatt is that amazing on-mic and in-ring performer. The promos leading up to Fastlane were absolutely great, I really enjoyed the nail in the coffin Wyatt was hammering in and the actual promo at Fastlane caught everyone’s attention and explained the angle they are going to take very well. Hype is just talk though, will the match at ‘Mania be any good? That’s questionable, but I don’t mind finding out.

Triple H pushing Flair in the middle of the ring and getting intense with his mentor pushed the confrontation with Sting hype through the roof for me. Suddenly I became engrossed in the idea of this match and after some eluding at Fastlane we saw that it will be WCW vs WWE one more time. I love it, because Sting turning up in WWE makes sense, and although it could be argued that Triple H wasn’t the main guy in WWE during the Monday Night Wars he was a big enough factor within them to make the build seem logical. Add that with the fact Triple H was never in WCW and Sting before now had never been in WWE and it makes sense. I also enjoy Sting not speaking, Triple H plays the coward heel so well and Sting not talking or really responding to The Game’s action eludes to Triple H being frightened. I really like the angle and it just goes to show that matches that didn’t seem great on paper (especially because of Triple H pushing himself again) can become really intriguing stories, but similarly to the Wyatt vs Taker match, will this match be any good? Very questionable indeed.

The strangely great match of the night was Gold vs Stardust. The story and build is great and the match was a really fun watch, especially with all the different dynamics from the story going on, bringing in Dusty was a great decision and it really fleshes out the story, the question here is will Cody continue to be Stardust for the next Season if Goldust leaves? There is only so much that you can do with that character and most has been done with Goldust. Orton also returned during the 6-man tag and got a huge pop from the crowd. I am in the middle, Orton can get stale really quickly and I personally think he should be on a Jericho contract because of how quick he gets stale. I am excited to see him back but I’m not letting it get to me because I always remember what happens every time he turns up. I do want to see Rollins vs Orton at’Mania though, after the Triplr Threat at Rumble that Rollins competed in I want to see him hit the main event type match once again. I personally don’t think The Usos should have lost the titles last night, I think the best match at ‘Mania is Usos vs Acsension but giving the titles over to Cesaro and Kidd puts them over as great team, and the also intertwining link with wives to Total Divas hasn’t bored on me. I’m just unsure if another Tag Team Turmoil match at ‘Maina is the best way to go, because that’s the way it’s heading. The Intercontinental Title match end was stupid. Ambrose losing his chance like that angers me, sure he is supposed to be a crazy lunatic but he is motivated by the idea of being on the champions wall, shouldn’t he want to be champion rather than not caring when he gets DQ’d looking almost heelish and then stealing the belt just like he stole Rollins’ briefcase a couple of months back? I’d like to see where this goes though, hopefully Ambrose can actually hold the title for a bit and then look forward to the Main Event picture. Paige seems to be the only redeeming factor amongst the Divas division right now, I enjoy watching her wrestle I just don’t enjoy her opponent. Enough said.

Letting Cena lose to Rusev was the best possible decision, the fact that they still feel like that have to protect him from a “real” loss (Bryan doesn’t get that protection by the way) still is an annoyance. If the commentators had continued to call the match normally the loss would have been fine; but the obvious “Cena never gave up” line and the fact that interference made him lose the match has completely understated Rusev’s dominance over Cena, the match and build coming up to Fastlane definitely elevated the US Tilte value though. I understand that they want to continue this until ‘Mania but a dirty win could have been avoided, this time it is not completely evident that Rusev will lose at ‘Mania and Cena will be on top once again, even when they have a great chance to have a “Am I losing it?” angle with Cena.

All in all WWE seem to be stepping it up for WrestleMania season, I just wish it was like this all the time.

Tweet Me: @olikidsley