WrestleMania Fantasy Booking

[The Legend]

DISCLAIMER: The WWE is doing some of its best storytelling in a really long time when it comes to the main event scene headed into WrestleMania season this year. They also have built up some of the most compelling and interesting babyfaces to challenge Roman Reigns since either Kofi Kingston won the world title off of Daniel Bryan four years ago or Daniel Bryan wone the world championship nine years ago. (Seriously, if you haven’t been watching WWE in a while, check out the Bloodline storytelling that has been going on the past six months and will develop in full Mania weekend, the Royal Rumble was fantastic for this). The only issue is they have built up two different babyfaces with two different stories entirely and only one champion for them to challenge, so walking a tightrope of not overshadowing either story will be difficult. The fact that Mania is now a two-day event is the lifeline that WWE needs though. Without further ado, here’s

DAY 1

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship – Damage CTRL (C) vs Teagan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart vs Mia Yim and Candice LeRae – Damage CTRL keep their belts in a chaotic three way tag match by using their stronger team ties than the other teams, as well as an interference from Bayley that seals the deal.

Rey Mysterio vs Dominik Mysterio w/ Judgment Day – This match is clearly on the way, even though I’m not sure why it’s going to happen. The only logical conclusion is Rey wants this as his retirement match and wants to give his son the heel heat on the way out for ending his career. Dominik uses plenty of help from the rest of Judgment Day to get the win.

Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens – There’s still time to build up why this match is happening with Lashley and Owens both desperate to prove themselves on the WrestleMania stage and get a spot on the show. Owens gets the surprise upset victory.

United States Championship – Johnny Gargano (C) vs Baron Corbin w/ JBL vs Austin Theory – It’s time that Gargano get a respectable championship and reign on the ‘main roster’. He should win the title in the Elimination Chamber to set up this match in which Theory gets his re-match and Corbin gets mixed in there to help advance the story with JBL’s mic work to go with the other two and create an interesting dynamic with a triple threat.

Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett vs LA Knight – This match is a little less than ideal, considering both guys are in pretty big need of a big win at this point. I think Knight gets a win at Elimination Chamber to help build him back up after the Black Out Match at the Rumble against Wyatt. That clears the way for Kross and Scarlett to finally do something of note on a stage like WrestleMania.

Smackdown Women’s Championship – Charlotte Flair (C) vs Rhea Ripley – Ripley is in this spot after winning the women’s Royal Rumble and she should be able to rise to the top of the mountain for the first time. The rest of Judgment Day should try to interfere at different points with Charlotte putting Dominik in the Figure 8 at some point to eliminate him, but Ripley uses the distraction to hit her finisher and end the match.

Braun Strowman vs Sheamus – A classic big man battle with Strowman coming out on top as the crowd cools before the main event.

Universal Championship – Roman Reigns (C) vs Jey Uso – A little backstory, Jey Uso is in limbo right now and nobody knows if he’s with the Bloodline or against them. That should play through Elimination Chamber where he should interfere in the Zayn/Reigns match by first attacking Zayn and then turning on Reigns as soon as the match is over to set up this match. Solo and Jimmy should both be involved in this match with Jey eventually overcoming Roman to win the belt thanks to Sami and Jimmy coming to the rescue to overcome Solo and Roman.

DAY 2

There’s not a great opponent for Bray Wyatt on this card, but I’d make up for that by having him wreak havoc on matches through out the night and bring about some clearer pictures of the other members of his new clan.

Smackdown Tag Championship – The Usos (C) vs Ashante/Top Dolla w/ B-Fab vs Erik/Ivar w/Falhalla vs New Day w/ Big E – After last night when Jimmy saves Jey, the match starts with Jimmy taking out his brother and leaving him alone. With the champs out of the way, the other three teams battle it out in a great bout with a mixture of speed and strength. Ashante and Top Dolla win the championships. After the match, Jimmy demands to be Jey’s first challenger for the championship.

Edge w/ Beth Phoenix vs Finn Balor w/ Judgment Day – After a great first day of WrestleMania for the Judgment Day, Edge and Beth Phoenix get their long awaited revenge and take the group down a peg with a strong win over the leader of the group.

Raw Women’s Championship – Bianca Belair (C) vs Asuka – Asuka’s new darker character makes for a great fresh and new foil for Belair going into WrestleMania. After Asuka spends the weeks leading up to Mania by tormenting Belair with her new bag of tricks, a great match filled with Belair’s power and Asuka’s striking and technical prowess takes place and Asuka wins the belt to finally get the type of WrestleMania moment she should have gotten long ago.

Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul – Logan Paul put on quite the show at the Rumble and has pretty much delivered above expectations every time WWE has used them. With limited routes for Rollins to Mania, but no reason his talent shouldn’t be used on the show, the two rivals continue and finish their story at Mania with a high-spot filled match that Rollins uses to get a much-needed win.

Intercontinental Championship – Gunther (C) vs Ricochet – Gunther looks to be in line for a really big push after his showing in the Rumble and this could be a pivotal moment for him. He gets the win and continues to look super strong with a dominant victory over the smaller Ricochet.

AJ Styles vs Drew McIntyre – This match does not need much selling, just let these two great performers talk their way through the feud and then put on a great show in the match.

WWE Championship – Roman Reigns (C) vs Cody Rhodes – Again the WWE has done a great job of building up the return of Rhodes at the Rumble as something truly special and you can’t ruin that momentum. The story of this match should be Reigns desperate to cling to his last championship after losing the other belt the night before. Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman try to pull out all of the tricks they can, but eventually Rhodes wins the belt with the help of Sami evening the odds once again and Rhodes gets to celebrate with Brandi in the middle of the ring.

[KaiserGlider]

I've come to the conclusion that Roman Reigns defending each of his "belts" on different nights is not a good idea and here's why: If Roman successfully retains on Night 1 it makes the whole concept pointless, and if he loses on Night 1 then it lessens the impact of him losing on Night 2. Right now we officially have one undisputed world championship in WWE, and we've had one for a year, ever since Roman unified the belts. I say let's take advantage of that and build to one final all-important match with the ultimate stakes and the ultimate drama. If after Wrestlemania they want to split into two world championships again that's fine. But right now, not only is there no kayfabe reason for Roman to want to defend on both nights, there's also just not an obvious opponent for him that will be as big as Cody Rhodes (like Sami Zayn would have been).

Likewise, I also think the Usos should defend (and lose) the tag team championships on one night. That way the whole Bloodline could crumble at the same time and nobody in that group will have a championship after Wrestlemania. After the events of Elimination Chamber, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens should team up to take them on. This way Sami Zayn can still be integral to taking down the Bloodline, and the Usos's first loss is a big moment. There's a lot of storytelling that can be done here over the next month, from establishing the relationship between Sami and KO, to whose side Jey is on (can tease Solo taking his place in the match if he doesn't show up)

Here's what I have so far:

Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes for the undisputed world championship
Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso (or Solo Sikoa) vs Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the undisputed tag titles
Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul
Bianca Belair vs Asuka for the women's belt
some combination of Edge, Beth Phoenix, and Rey Mysterio vs The Judgment Day w/Dominik
I have no idea what to do with Bray Wyatt either...

Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley in a 2 Out of 3 Falls Match:
First fall is amateur wrestling
Second fall is mixed martial arts
Third fall is pro wrestling

I know Brock's never gonna want to do anything like this, but in a perfect world this is the kind of blow-off match I'd like to see for Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley. They have now fought 3 times, and every single one of those times has been the standard 5-minute Brock Lesnar match. This feud is still going on, so I have the right to fantasy book a little creativity.

[Messiah]

Final card looks set in stone

I can't remember the last time I was this excited for a WrestleMania. In fact, I'm not sure there is one that surpasses the build to this one for me.

Reigns vs Rhodes and Owens & Zayn vs The Usos will both be a spectacle. The results of both are somewhat predictable but in a good way. And it has been FAR too long since WrestleMania closed with a first-time champion in a feel-good moment (at least with a crowd; poor McIntyre). I love Reigns and his title reign might be the GOAT, but I hope the WWE doesn't try to get cute here. Rhodes should win this one. Owens & Zayn should win too... but I could see the Usos winning and would be fine with it depending on what happens after.

Gunther/Sheamus/McIntyre might end up match of the night though. Good lord this is going to be insane. No idea who wins this and it doesn't matter because all 3 would be good choices. McIntyre would be a great champion, Sheamus has been on a roll the last year, and Gunther is a beast.

Belair/Asuka doesn't seem like it has had a great build, but the match will definitely be good. Belair has been champion for so long and dominated the division for the last 2 years, so an Asuka win would be huge.

I like the story behind Flair/Ripley, although Charlotte as a face is kind of weird. Rhea should win this. It hasn't been made official yet but Dominik/Rey is 100% happening and after the Bloodline, this is the best story in the WWE. Dom and Rey have been fantastic. I hope Dom wins but Rey winning makes sense too. Everyone wants to see Dom get his ass kicked.

Theory/Cena and Rollins/Logan should both be fun to watch

I don't care much for Balor/Edge HIAC though. Feud has been going on so long. But will be cool to see Demon Balor not only return but debut as part of Judgment Day.

Lesnar/Omos we can only hope is over fast.

[KaiserGlider]

Man, that was really gonna be one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all time until the ending. What a complete and utter fucking buzzkill of a finish. Seriously?



Wrestlemania was actually pretty fucking good for the most part. Incredibly disappointing way to end it.