WrestleMania 32 Pre-Show & Live Thread *speculation within* April 3rd 2016

Pentecost

Ah I'd say they'll give her a few mins of a speech and let her have a send off. She's been a dependable and reliable worker for a good few years now. She deserves a bit of appreciation.

CastorTroy

I know there's talk of Sting announcing his retirement and talk of him interfering in the Taker match, but I was wondering has the HOF night ever been used to set up a match or feud? Usually hard since the guys going in are no longer active, but for ones who might be.

PTH2009

CastorTroy wrote: »

I know there's talk of Sting announcing his retirement and talk of him interfering in the Taker match, but I was wondering has the HOF night ever been used to set up a match or feud? Usually hard since the guys going in are no longer active, but for ones who might be.

not many hof wrestled after there inductions (hogan and king i recall as the only ones).

im for sting/taker as much as the next man but all this bs about 'still wanting to face him' is getting tiring and giving fans false hope.

hard to believe mania is a week away. Theres a mania party in Waterford so heading to that, prob watch the hof on the network.

wonder will sting wear his facepaint for the ceremony ???

Itssoeasy

CastorTroy wrote: »

I know there's talk of Sting announcing his retirement and talk of him interfering in the Taker match, but I was wondering has the HOF night ever been used to set up a match or feud? Usually hard since the guys going in are no longer active, but for ones who might be.

The only thing I can think of is ric flair and HBK the night before his last wwe match.

DM_7

Strange to go into a mania where the Diva's match is one of the things I look forward too. Its probably the match with the best build.

Ambrose and Brock is the best use of two over guys.

Apart from that I think they have the event a bit messed up. Overall the right people are on the card but in the wrong matches.

Taker should be in Triple H's spot. If they needed a star name to put Reigns against then they should have used Taker.

Shane should be against Triple H.

The ladder match should be for the US title with the singles bout going to Styles v Owens for the IC belt.

Zayn should be facing Jericho, with the same storyline except Jericho would have recruited Zayn to be his tag partner before turning on him when the crowd chanted for Sami.

ShagNastii

There is an obvious comparison but could Ambrose going over Lesnar be that final little thing he needs to become a real real deal. Would it make him Austin big?

Wouldn't be against Sting cropping up in the Taker match but tbh it should have happened years ago. The stuff with Trips has taken the sheen and novelty off anything Stinger does.

Bounty Hunter

Honestly I don't think anyone on the current roster can get Austin big at this present moment, the last person I thought could was Bryan but Injury stopped that even though he got as big as anyone of this generation has in terms of popularity.

That said I would love if they put Ambrose over and it would make him a bonifide star. There are people who will argue he doesn't need to win to become a star but really why the half measure, its things like that that stop next level stars being born.


and with regards Sting, they obviously couldn't forsee his injury but yeah I never understood them not going straight for a Taker Sting program and if they had to delay it why they wouldn't give Sting a win to build to it but nah he had to lose to HHH and then it was too late for the dream match.

martyos121

ShagNastii wrote: »

There is an obvious comparison but could Ambrose going over Lesnar be that final little thing he needs to become a real real deal. Would it make him Austin big?

Wouldn't be against Sting cropping up in the Taker match but tbh it should have happened years ago. The stuff with Trips has taken the sheen and novelty off anything Stinger does.

Nobody will ever be "Austin big" again unfortunately, especially not with 50/50 booking, aka the stupidest concept in pro-wrestling history.

Also, I don't see Ambrose going over. Brock has another year left on his contract and losing three Mania matches in four years doesn't make his look like much of a beast tbh. He will make them more money than Ambrose because of his limited appearances so there's no way Dean is getting the win.

He will come out of a much bigger star than he went in though, that is for certain.

ShagNastii

Ahh I probably overshot it with the "Austin big" statement.

Whether it happens or not you can put your house on Sting VS Taker being one of the most painful matches you'll ever watch. Sting/HHH was basically an extended segment. Taker hasn't been anywhere near a watchable standard in the ring since the two HHH matches.

I want to be getting my kicks from really great matches not 20 minute entrances and a crappy forced spot (I'm looking at you Wyatt crab/Mike Myers sit up)

LeeJM

The obvious thing to say is that Austin didnt have to beat Bret Hart to be made. A star can be made in defeat just as easily as they can be made in victory. In saying that I do fully expect that Brock is gonna make Dean next weekend. And because its not beyond the realm of possibility that Dean does win there should be a couple of good near falls. If done right it should be MOTN

martyos121

LeeJM wrote: »

The obvious thing to say is that Austin didnt have to beat Bret Hart to be made. A star can be made in defeat just as easily as they can be made in victory. In saying that I do fully expect that Brock is gonna make Dean next weekend. And because its not beyond the realm of possibility that Dean does win there should be a couple of good near falls. If done right it should be MOTN

Looking at the card, they'd have to feck that match up pretty badly for it not to be MOTN. It's just absolutely perfect on paper, I'm expecting something like Edge vs. Foley at WM22 without all the blood and flames.

LeeJM

martyos121 wrote: »

Looking at the card, they'd have to feck that match up pretty badly for it not to be MOTN. It's just absolutely perfect on paper, I'm expecting something like Edge vs. Foley at WM22 without all the blood and flames.

Brock will bled. I dont think its gonna have a "HOLY SHÍT" moment but it will be a proper war

martyos121

LeeJM wrote: »

Brock will bled. I dont think its gonna have a "HOLY SHÍT" moment but it will be a proper war

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, there will be blood, there just isn't supposed to be.

ShagNastii

With the almost certain "Holy Sh*t" moment from Shane-O-Mac I wouldn't be too sure Brock/Ambrose can provide one that'll live up to it.

Blue_Dabadee

Gotta love this week for WWE. RAW before WrestleMania, NXT Dallas, HOF, WrestleMania Preshow, WrestleMania, RAW after WrestleMania.

Then things go back to normal.

Loughc

Is there any truth to the rumour WWE are stretching WM out to 5 hours excluding the 2 hours preshow this year?

A few sites had that rumour circulating last week and last night on Raw, both Saxon and Cole said there will be upto 7 hours of WM programming on Sunday.

I really hope it's not true as imagine the crowd burnout/fatigue, unless that's the plan, the crowd will be exhaused by the time the Main Event comes around they won't have the energy to boo Reigns. :P

connemara man

Reigns wins to a chorus of boos the Rock goes out to celebrate with him only to be hit with a spear and Reigns turns one the biggest heel in the business.

One can hope

Straight Edge Punk

I just had a thought.

Shane has won on Sunday so has control and we're at the end of the main event. Vinnie Mac comes power walking down the entrance way to the ring, swings and takes the head off.......HHH because he can't have the champion being fired from the show, best for business blah blah blah. Roman and Vince siding against Shane and someone for the next few months.

That's what they are going to do isn't it?

sky88

I was thinking a way to go is have reigns beat hhh to the expected boos.

then shane/taker is on last reigns interferes and cost taker the match. then have him explain on raw it was his way of getting rid of the authority and the fans should thank him and be praising him as a hero. Theres your heel turn every ones happy plus you get to have a vengeful undetaker coming after reigns.

Straight Edge Punk

sky88 wrote: »

I was thinking a way to go is have reigns beat hhh to the expected boos.

then shane/taker is on last reigns interferes and cost taker the match. then have him explain on raw it was his way of getting rid of the authority and the fans should thank him and be praising him as a hero. Theres your heel turn every ones happy plus you get to have a vengeful undetaker coming after reigns.

But Taker probably won't be seen again until late summer.

sky88

Straight Edge Punk wrote: »

But Taker probably won't be seen again until late summer.

hes advertised for the UK smackdown after mania.

It could also work if its waits a while get roman over as a heel more which wont take much. Then have a big return.

Moneymaker

Why not just incorporate real life. That's what they did for years and it always worked.

Do the double turn and align Reigns with Vince. Shane and Hunter can align, or you can reveal Vince and Shane were working together all along. Vince cuts a promo with all the stuff the internet says about him. He introduces "his champion" and they give Reigns licence to just speak his mind and rant at the fans(which he clearly wants to do, just look at his body language in the ring and the interviews he's given).

Hunter goes babyface and he brings back the man who never lost his title. Seth Rollins.

It's so freaking simple. Yet it will never happen and we will have Reigns vs Ryback, Reigns vs Big Show, Reigns vs Rusev and Reigns vs Sheamus to look forward to in 2016.

It's just so ****ing infuriating. All the pieces are there for a great show, and they refuse to do it almost. "Why bother trying if people will turn up anyway?"

sky88

Have the wyatts been announced for anything yet?? I thought they would be in the andre and bray would win it but cant recall anything on it.

Seems like a total waste for someone who is built as one of there bigger stars throughout the year. Unless theres a plan on them interfering in one of the bigger matches

Angron

Wyatt Family hasn't been announced for anything. Harper is out injured, seemingly looks to be out for a few months, so it's just the three of them for the time being.

Moneymaker

Just as well he doesn't have a match since Bray would be doing the job.

Bray Wyatt, the Eater of Pins.

paulie21

Just seen a stat that all champions at the end of last year's Mania won't be competing at this years event. There all either injured or retired

PTH2009

my prediction for the Taker/shane match. Taker will destroy him for most of the match and suddenly the match spills to the top of the cell and taker is pushed off onto the table by shane and goes through the announce table and shane does the elbow thing from the top of the cell onto taker and pins him 123. Taker somehow gets up into the ring where shane is celebrating and shakes his hand while vince runs out and starts shouting at taker. Taker and Shane attack vince and leave the ring together. Taker is rehired the next night on Raw.

Kevin Owens to win the Intercon title

Reigns to beat Triple H with help from the Rock to end mania with a chorus of boos

Loughc

PTH2009 wrote: »

my prediction for the Taker/shane match. Taker will destroy him for most of the match and suddenly the match spills to the top of the cell and taker is pushed off onto the table by shane and goes through the announce table and shane does the elbow thing from the top of the cell onto taker and pins him 123.

Reigns to beat Triple H with help from the Rock to end mania with a chorus of boos

There's no way at his age is Taker taking a bump from the top of the cell.

I reckon you'll be spot on with the ending of Reigns HHH though.

Bounty Hunter

Just a slight twist to that Reigns finish for me

I think that The Rock will make his appearance cutting a promo in which he will mention that he is there to see his family defeat HHH in the main event (but probably quickly follow that up with and watch Shane O Mac try to oust to authority from power inside HIAC to avoid boos) then later come out to ringside during the main event which Roman will win (perhaps thanks to the Rock) but after the match as the fans boo Roman he will snap and take out the Rock with a superman punch and a spear and in doing so turn heel.

He can talk about how The people's champion just had to get involved and couldn't let him have his moment or whatever he wants as he runs down the fans or "The People" who turned their back on him and booed him despite the fact that he was going up against the authorithy.

Wrestlemania 33... Roman Reigns vs The Rock

ShagNastii

Roman to heel turn on Rock leading to a fued would be sooo bad ass.

There's no doubt WWE will turn Roman heel at this stage. I'd guess they are mad to get to that post WM refresh.

I sometimes cringe when the go to solution is a turn but this is so akin to The Rock. It'd be great to play off of. Plus with Ambrose getting rocketed and been super over as a face.

Heel Reign/Face Ambrose would have super depth and scope.

the groutch

If they go that way they're more than likely building up to the Shield triple-threat at Summerslam.

They could have Lesnar win MITB, Heyman can manage another wrestler to remind us of the threat of him cashing in, and Brock can fulfill his part-time contract with cash-in teases.

Bounty Hunter

the groutch wrote: »

If they go that way they're more than likely building up to the Shield triple-threat at Summerslam.

The WM refresh inc a Reigns turn could open up so many possibilities esp with the return of guys like Rollins (as a face).

Reigns vs Rock at WM 33
Reigns vs Lesnar 2 this time with a proper heel face dynamic
Reigns vs Rollins vs Ambrose
Rollins vs HHH

etc

Loughc

ShagNastii wrote: »

Roman to heel turn on Rock leading to a fued would be sooo bad ass.

There's no doubt WWE will turn Roman heel at this stage. I'd guess they are mad to get to that post WM refresh.

I sometimes cringe when the go to solution is a turn but this is so akin to The Rock. It'd be great to play off of. Plus with Ambrose getting rocketed and been super over as a face.

Heel Reign/Face Ambrose would have super depth and scope.

After seeing this you'd almost thing there was no other way for WWE to book Reigns at and post WM.

I actually fully expect Vince & Co, have Reigns go over clean, remain face, turn Ambrose either the next night or a few weeks later and have Rock's participation at WM watered down to a 15 minute promo and announcing the attendance figure.

PTH2009

Got this signed in Nov 2013 and 2.5/3 years later 2 of those men have headlined a mania or created a mania moment

PTH2009

Got this signed in Nov 2013 and 2.5/3 years later 2 of those men have headlined a mania or created a mania moment

CastorTroy

They should have a poll and see which match would be preferred as the main event: Women's triple threat or HHH/Reigns.

cena

I am looking forward to the taker and shane match. Haven't watch wrestling in awhile got rid of sky sports

Rock77

Loughc wrote:

I actually fully expect Vince & Co, have Reigns go over clean, remain face, turn Ambrose either the next night or a few weeks later and have Rock's participation at WM watered down to a 15 minute promo and announcing the attendance figure.

Sorry everyone but this is exactly what's going to happen.

Furious-Red

Dwayne The Rock Johnson

1997, I was 25yrs old, the youngest Intercontinental Champion in WWE history and performing in ‪#‎WrestleMania13‬.
It would become one of the most defining moments of my life. Not because it was my first WrestleMania I had the privilege to be a part of, but because I was boo'd out of the building. Literally boo's that screamed "Get the f*ck outta here". And when you're supposed to be a good guy or "babyface" in wrestling speak - getting boo'd is the worst thing that can ever happen. They boo'd me because I wasn't being real. I was told by the company how to act, how to respond to fans and the worst part of all...I was told what to say and what not to say.
Not long after this match, I lost the title and was eventually sent home for months to recuperate from an injury - it didn't really matter anyway because I wasn't drawing the company any money nor did the fans care I was gone.
A week before I was scheduled to return to the WWE, I got a call from Vince who said "How do feel about turning heel?" (which means becoming a bad guy). I said "Great, but I have one request... give me 2 minutes on the microphone on live TV and let me be myself. Be real and authentic. I gotta be me". Vince said "You got it". The following week I cut a promo that was from the heart. Real and authentic.
6 months later I was the hottest heel in the company.
Even though I hated being boo'd out of the building at Wrestle Mania 13, I learned one of the greatest life lessons that still serves me today. Be real. Be authentic. Be me.
Truly my honor to perform this Sunday at ‪#‎WrestleMania32‬ for the WWE Universe. as me.

I think if they have Reigns win then have HHH offer to shake his hand as a sign of respect. Then reigns just loses it and beats the crap out of HHH "ending his career" which brings out the Rock to calm him down only for reigns to turn on the Rock .

Prob not gonna happen but would make sure the heel turn is 100% confimed

Bret Hart

I'd love if the saw Dean was given came into play more then him just hitting Brock with the blunt side of it,that they could go one further and recreate the infamous spot with the saw,that Dean(Jon Moxley) did at CZW against Brain Damage,albeit that was of course just a smaller scale chain saw,a meat carver I guess you could also call it.

Anybody else with me ?

Endaaaagh

My predictions for Sunday night (including a bit of fantasy booking)
Shane beats Taker after interference involving Vince that sees Shane and Vince team up.
Later that night Reigns beats HHH after interference from the Rock.Vince and Shane come out afterwards and they shake hands with Reigns and the Rock.
The following Monday night, Shane and Vine open up Raw to reveal the last few weeks have been all part of a master plan to get control of the company, announce the formation of the "new corporation" and introduce Roman Reigns who comes out accompanied by The Rock who cuts a heel promo declaring Reigns the new corporate champ.
The corporation now has control of Raw leaving HHH and Co. to run Smackdown (which becomes NXT). A new brand splitis formed with the corporation/WWE on Raw and HHH/NXT on Smackdown.

Nody

Endaaaagh wrote: »

My predictions for Sunday night (including a bit of fantasy booking)
Shane beats Taker after interference involving Vince that sees Shane and Vince team up.
Later that night Reigns beats HHH after interference from the Rock.Vince and Shane come out afterwards and they shake hands with Reigns and the Rock.
The following Monday night, Shane and Vine open up Raw to reveal the last few weeks have been all part of a master plan to get control of the company, announce the formation of the "new corporation" and introduce Roman Reigns who comes out accompanied by The Rock who cuts a heel promo declaring Reigns the new corporate champ.
The corporation now has control of Raw leaving HHH and Co. to run Smackdown (which becomes NXT). A new brand splitis formed with the corporation/WWE on Raw and HHH/NXT on Smackdown.

Closer to 95% fantasy booking :P

Reality is most likely that Reigns will be pushed as the face, will be booed out of the house and will still be face pushed at Raw because Vince is Vince and Reigns is suppose to be the top guy who's "fighting the Man". To get him to get over Rock will come out to "protect" him from further interference by Vince (who came out to help his son in law win) during the match and the end is Reigns going over with Rock holding him up proclaiming him as the people's champion as your ending Wrestlemania moment (with all mics muted from all the booing). And it will fail just as badly as it did last year and Vince will still not give a damn because he's right and the audience is wrong (as always).

Endaaaagh

I dunno,
- they keep hammering home the point Shane's match is for control of RAW, not the WWE. This seems to be pointing towards a brand split which the roster is way to thin to support at this time. This could by remedied by using NXT stars on Smackdown
- They haven't yet announced what the Rocks role is going to be, which is weird considering he's one of the biggest stars in the world right now
-One of the biggest problems with the brand split the last time was the Smackdown PPVs were't drawing buys. This would not be an issue with with the network subscribers. And the NXT takeovers specials (outside of Full Sail) have shown there's a huge appetite for NXT ppvs.

Angron

Hammering home the point of "it's for control of Raw" could just be their way of saying "we really don't care about Smackdown" :pac:

nasty_crash

As much as it wouldnt suck as much if reigns got a heel turn there have been soo many opportunities to do it thus far.... like could have made life so much easier if they did it a year ago... so i really dont see it happen him turning heel.... but reading some of the replies and thinking about it myself - there could be a trips guy (Shawn Michaels) superkicks the head off reigns - then rock comes out and rock bottoms both of them and reigns wins and they both celebrate in ring.... thats probably the best they can hope in order to give reigns the best chance of not being booed!

The Taker vs Shane match is quite interesting as i do see Shane winning it - and i dont see shane bringing taker back when he does - but vince will bring him back a la - you owe me! - and have him do his bidding on the brand split!

I like the idea of the brand split - mainly because im liking the nxt talent so much that you have to think that 4-5 would move up to the roster as it would be wearing thin (and even at that some are so sh!t) but having more NXT guys move up will then line up the next round of fueds and storys in NXT - Finn, Corban, Joe, Sami, Enzo, Cass, Bayley, Alexa all imo are ready to move up - freeing up show time for your nakamura, hideo(when fit), Crews, Jordan & Gable, Asuka, Tye, Carmella and then whatever new pickups they get.... Eric Young and Robert Roode maybe - from a business point of view it makes sense.... to me anyways.... and from what ive heard wwe go by 'best for business'!

Endaaaagh

Nody wrote: »

Closer to 95% fantasy booking :P

Just out of curiosity, which 5% do you believe will happen?.

Angron

Reigns beats HHH, obviously :P

sky88

Think the rocks role will be something simalar to wrestlemania 30 to try rile up the crowd at the start. Then maybe do a run in with reigns or even the new day.

CastorTroy

Will be like every time they announce someone will be at Raw only for them to come out at the very end to clear the ring or something. so Rock will appear to raise Roman's hand and that's it. Followed by a Rock Bottom in the same way Austin stunned Goldberg and Lesnar to give something for the fans to cheer for in that match

CSF

I still think the Reigns heel turn is unlikely. They've had all the way up to Fastlane to change direction. They haven't in the slightest, instead they formed a plan, how to go ahead with the plan with the fewest audible boos.

They knew the situation they were going into a while back. They may be stupid, stubborn and pigheaded, but what they are not is oblivious. There is no way that by the end of that triple threat when Reigns hit that spear for the 3 count (the last real chance that they had to change direction) they thought Reigns vs HHH at Mania was salvageable.

They went with it anyway so I don't see why they'd change it up now when it's not Mania, and is less important to get it right then it was when they concocted this abomination.