WrestleMaina Weekend

Yes, it's that time of year again...WrestleMania! The card is actually shaping up to be good. So, I'll start my new item with "the grand-daddy of em all" WrestleMaina. GrzeTim Books...WrestleMania 21 - WrestleMaina Goes Hollywood - Sunday, April 3, 2005

- Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio - There are a few matches on the card that can fit the "1st Match". I would guess it will either be this or the Women's Title...but I would hope they save the titles for higher in the card. Eddie and Rey have had a few good matches on SmackDown over the past few weeks...and I expect the same here. If given 15-25 minutes, these two could be one of the many matches to steal the show. This is also one of the matches that can have a nasty swerve in it...either man could turn heel and throw the crowd for a loop. Winner - Eddie Guerrero via a rollup with a handful of tights out of a reversed Rey move.

- Money In The Bank Ladder Match - Again, I would like this to be higher in the card, but the titles SHOULD be the top billing. This match can go a lot of different ways and can be a sign of how the Raw title match is going to go. The piece of this that makes it hard to call is the fact that the contract is valid for a year, which means they could have a heel win and keep the belt on Triple H and have a machine 6 months down the line based off this contract. Just DO NOT use the title match within the next two weeks...that will destroy the whole thing. This is a tough call...Winner - Edge

- Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels - This is one of the many matches on the card that the WWE has done a WONDERFUL job to promote. It's like an old-school feud that was going for months and months and is going to be settled at the PPV. I know, regardless of how this comes out, one or the other will move shows and continue the feud, but just to see these two rip it up for 25+ minutes (I hope) will be worth it. So many hard picks in this...Winner - Kurt Angle via a rollup reversal and some help from the ropes.

- Sumo Match - Big Show vs. Akebono - I wasn't sure what they were going for with this till I saw Akebono "wrestle" on Thursday's SmackDown. I don't know if they are going to have them really sumo or if they are going to have a planned ending. This match scares me and reminds me of when they had Butterbean fight Bart Gunn in a boxing match. After Bart Gunn had beat the tar out of many WWE stars in boxing matches, Butterbean knocked him out with a few punches. Not surprising, Bart Gunn disappeared soon after. Big Show is toted by WWE as "the biggest athlete in the world". If Akebono defeats him, it could take a lot of air out of Big Show's sails. Winner - Depends on if it's a real sumo match

- Piper's Pit - This should get interesting...both Steve Austin and Roddy Piper are "colorful" characters to say the least and neither wants to be made a fool of. What I see happening here is that Austin and Piper will go back and forth on the mics and when it's about to come to blows, Hassan will come out and jabber on about how he isn't on the card, but these two "has beens" are. For his efforts, he'll get smacked by Piper and a Stunner from Austin. Austin and Piper will then partake in the beer and the fans will be cheering. What a wonderful world...

- Women's Title - Trish Stratus(c) vs. Christy Hemme - Now, I have no problem with the WWE hiring women who are, for lack of a better term, eye candy. After all these years, we still get a "we want puppies" chat during a women's match. I recall when they did the Diva Search, they turned women away cause while they were nice looking, they and a more developed wrestling background and "we aren't looking for wrestlers in this contest". Then, six months later, they turn around and put Christy, a minimally trained wrestler who had her first "match" just a few weeks ago in a six-person tag, against the Women's Champ at the biggest show of the year. I have to cry foul. They had a decent Women's Division a while ago with Trish, Victoria, Lita, Jazz, Molly, Gail Kim, and Ivory. It seems that Ivory is going to do commentary now, which is a shame since she was a great wrestler. They let Jazz and Gail go. Lita is hurt AGAIN. So, we're down to Trish, Molly, and Victoria. So, what do we do? We squash Victoria and have a NON-wrestler dodge her finisher and pin her CLEAN. To quote a famous movie "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here!". As I said before, I have no issue with the non-wrestling ladies of the WWE. They have a place in the show, but it is NOT this high on the WrestleMania card facing the Women's Champ. If they put that belt on Christy, not only is it a slap in the face to all the other women wrestlers in the company, it's a slap in the face to the fans. Trish has busted her butt to make the Women's Division mean something again; it would be a shame to have this happen. Winner - Trish Stratus via royal beatdown of Christy (I hope)

- Randy Orton vs. Undertaker - Another match that has been built up rather well. The most interesting part of this feud was how the crowd reaction has changed for Orton. From the moment he challenged Undertaker, the crowd has turned on him a little more and a little more. The straw that broke the camel's back was when he gave Stacy the RKO. Instant heel, just add water. I have also loved how he (not the character, the man) has reacted to the fans turning on him. You can see he expected the fans to at least split as they did with Hogan vs. Rock. I had said to a few people on Tuesday that if Orton showed up and laid Taker out with an RKO and Taker did not sit up right out of it, that Orton didn't have a shot in hell. Well, that's what happened. I see a decent match with some type of setup for Orton to go out for the shoulder work he needs done. Winner - Undertaker (13-0) via the Tombstone

- WWE Championship - JBL(c) vs. John Cena - Yet another match with good buildup. The fact that they couldn't touch each other over the past few weeks will make seeing them lock up even more exciting. They had some great steam going after last week, but the lame, recycled arrest angle took some of the fire out of this one. I'd look to see the Bashams and/or Orlando Jordan get involved and maybe even be the reason JBL loses the title. Winner - John Cena via FU

- World Heavyweight Championship - Triple H(c) vs. Batista - This feud has been building for a while and while most people would expect it to hit its peak here, I don't think it will. First off, the events of the contract signing were many weeks ago and after that, this got slow. I think they ran out of things to do over the past few weeks. Also, the placement of this match is one I question. While I feel that the title match with the winner of the Rumble SHOULD be the top match (thus the Main Event) my prediction contradicts the "send them home happy" idea. Winner - Triple H via Pedigree - My logic on this is that I expect Batista to somehow get a rematch for Backlash, where he will win the title.

I didn't pick an easy PPV to start with, but hopefully I'll set the tone here. Come back Monday for my breakdown of the events of the PPV and to see how I did.