The Road to Wrestlemania Discussion Thread

[Mr H]

First topic message reminder :

Ok so the Road to Wrestlemania begins this Sunday at The Royal Rumble in what surely has to be one of the most unpredictable Wrestlemania cards in recent years. Although we'd all like to predict our cards I don't think anyone can say that a certain match is a lock at this stage. I thought Punk v HHH was as close to a lock as you can get but to be honest I'm not really sure.

Lets face it, the guy who has thrown any main event predictions into doubt is a certain Brock Lesnar. Ever since he declared himself as the Number 1 contender after the Royal Rumble the whole title picture is up in the air. Then there is the Elimination Chamber PPV. With only the one title to strive for it's sure to be a star studded Chamber but who will even be Champion going into the EC PPV let alone Wrestlemania. I can't imagine they'd throw away Lesnar's title shot on a free Raw episode so surely it will be at EC but then what will the Chamber match be for? It can't be to determine the new number 1 contender as the Rumble winner gets that accolade with there only being one title. I also can't believe that Brock Lesnar WON'T be winning the title. Surely they wouldn't have him lose in his title match before going into Wrestlemania looking weak?

So many scenarios to consider but if I had to put my neck on the line I'd go with -

Cena beats Orton for the title.
Batista wins the Rumble.
Chamber match is Cena vs Orton vs Punk vs Bryan vs Lesnar vs Sheamus. Lesnar wins the title.
Mania Main Event is Lesnar (c) vs Batista (RR winner) vs Cena (rematch clause)
Triple H vs Punk
Taker vs Bryan
Orton on the preshow.

What do you think will happen? Have the WWE booked themselves into knots by unifying the titles, allowing Lesnar to be No.1 contender and bringing back Batista? Do you think they even know what the Mania card will look like yet?

Personally I want Lesnar to go into Mania as champion. I’d also like to see a Chamber match where the winner gets a shot at The Streak.

Anyway, your thoughts?

[Kid Vicious]

Yeah I am confused about that, I heard he was wrestling for them without being contracted to TNA anyway the last few weeks?

You sure you're not mixing him up with AJ Styles?

That said, they could have just done the same thing and asked him to continue until they could figure out a decent send-off.


Actually, I'm a bit confused myself. WWE offered Styles (a guy still at the top of his game, more or less) an apparently derisory contract which he blew off in favour of ROH. Yet they're willing...if the rumours are true...to offer Sting (10+ years older and who hasn't had a "serious" match in over a year) a decent amount of money to sign for them...

That's because Sting is a superstar. AJ Styles ain't.

[Crimey]

I'm certain a big part of the reason WWE want Sting on board is because of the launch of the WWE Network, he was such a big part of WCW it'd be good to have him under a WWE contract for marketing purposes.

[Enforcer]

But Styles is a guy who has no standing at all with the vast majority of the WWE audience. Due to his style they would probably want him to go through NXT at least. At his age there would be a short period of time to make money from him if he did get over.

Sting, whilst old has got huge name value with a large percentage of the audience. For those who don't know him, WWE own his entire back catalogue of matches from WCW and would be able to put together enough promo videos to get people hyped (see RVD return).

This doesn't even cover the possibility of a Sting endorsed 'Best of' DVD release!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

One has history, relevance with the audience and a tonne of old footage.

The other isnt worth much to them

[dyrewolfe]

Thanks for the explanations guys - makes sense now. Wasn't thinking enough from a marketing / merchandise point of view.

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