WWE WrestleMania 31 Discussion Thread - March 29, 2015 from Santa Clara, CA

[TPIB 62]

WWE presents WrestleMania 31, which will come to you, live on the WWE Network, on March 29 from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, CA.

 

The official theme song for WrestleMania 31 is "Rise" by David Guetta (featuring Skyler Grey), which is available now in iTunes.

 

 

Confirmed Matches/Events

 

WWE World Heavyweight Championship:

Brock Lesnar © vs. Roman Reigns

 

Triple H vs. Sting

 

Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker

 

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins

 

United States Championship:

Rusev © vs. John Cena

 

Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match:

Bad News Barrett © vs. Dean Ambrose vs. R-Truth vs. Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust vs. Daniel Bryan

 

Paige & AJ Lee vs. The Bella Twins

 

WWE Tag Team Championship: Fatal 4-Way Tag Match (Pre-Show Exclusive):

Cesaro & Tyson Kidd © vs. The Usos vs. The New Day vs. Los Matadores

 

Second Annual Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (Pre-Show Exclusive)

 

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Participants

The Miz

Curtis Axel

Ryback

Fandango

Adam Rose

Zack Ryder

Jack Swagger

Titus O'Neil

Darren Young

Big Show

Kane

Erick Rowan

Damien Mizdow

Sin Cara

Goldust

Heath Slater

Mark Henry

Konnor

Viktor

Hideo Itami

Edited March 29, 2015 by TPIB

[Guest Jack Collision]

Obviously looking forward to going, but not overly expecting that the in-ring action is going to be the centerpiece.

[Guest bigmatt]

Rollins/Orton if it happens could be great.

[Guest bigmatt]

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler is set according to Meltzer. He also said Bryan vs. Sheamus was the original plan but Bryan requested a match with Ziggler.

[Guest bigmatt]

This is the official theme song apparently - "Rise" by David Guetta (feat.Skylar Grey):

 

[video=youtube;ueSzbU_42Sg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueSzbU_42Sg

[Guest Jack Collision]

If Ziggler and Bryan get, say, 20 minutes, then I'll be ecstatic. That should be a brilliant match.

 

EDIT: I don't hate the theme song as much as others, most of whom stopped listening to music after Seether's second album. I have a lot of time for Skylar Grey.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Jack Collision

[Guest bigmatt]

[video=youtube;tWgcy55_A4g]

[TPIB 62]

After Bray Wyatt's promo on SmackDown where he said that he "fears nothing, living or dead", it made me think; is it outside the realm of possibility that we could see Bray vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania?

 

Doing Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler at WrestleMania is definitely the best case scenario for both of them. They can put on a show-stealing match like they seemingly want to do and it will also give the very vocal Daniel Bryan fans something to cheer for that will actually live up to the hype. On Dolph's end, it's the best way to get a spot on the card as, let's face it, there's not really any other spot for him on the WrestleMania card otherwise unless he's involved in a battle royal or other multi-person match.

[ViciousPrism 177]

After Bray Wyatt's promo on SmackDown where he said that he "fears nothing, living or dead", it made me think; is it outside the realm of possibility that we could see Bray vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania?

 

[video=youtube;xECUrlnXCqk]

[Guest Jamster26]

Bryan v Ziggler is abit left-field. Is one of them going to turn heel? Seems strange to have two top faces facing each other. No doubt it will be a good match though.

[dsrchris 190]

There's no need to turn either of them, they just need to sell it as a showcase match. Just two guys wrestling to see which one is the better man that night.

 

If the last week or so is anything to go by, Dolph's on a mission to push his game to another level (just look at the finish of his match with Wyatt on Raw) so a match with Bryan could be spectacular.

 

Or WWE could give it 3 minutes just to be b*tches. It could honestly go either way.

[Guest bigmatt]

I don't really want to see the Wrestlemania main event turn into another three-way (as is the current plan if reports are correct). I'm not the biggest fan of triple threats generally, especially as the Wrestlemania main event, they've just done a good one as the main event of their number two PPV, the Wrestlemania main event last year was one, it doesn't capture that aura of Brock as well as a one-on-one match, if they beat him in a triple threat it takes away some of the importance of that and they have the obvious Shield three-way for a Wrestlemania main event in the near future.

 

I also don't want to see Bryan v Brock now, the story was there for that at the Rumble, it would have been a really great story. Bryan finally wins the title at Wrestlemania 30, the culmination of a lifetime's work, he defends it, then suffers a career threatening injury and is stripped of the title. A surprise unannounced return in the number 30 slot to play homage to that whole thing last year. He guarantees his opportunity to reclaim the title he never lost (circumventing the Authority in the process and thumbing his nose at them) but now the title is on an unstoppable monster, a bulging behemoth. We have the perfect David vs Goliath story with an absolute perfect David and Goliath. If they went to that now it wouldn't be such a good story.

 

I'd rather see them stick with Reigns v Brock in some fashion, whether they have to turn him beforehand, or do the double turn in the match itself or just front it out, I don't know. This build is really unpromising at the minute. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out at Fast Lane though and the match itself.

[Guest Jables]

I still half-expect them to put Cena in the title match, with some lazy excuse. 'Cena wasn't the one pinned at Royal Rumble, so he gets another shot.' 'Every 10 Make a Wishes completed, Cena gets a title match,'

 

Seriously though, I would like to see them try to do some type of special match with the IC title. An Ambrose vs. Barrett vs Sheamus vs Ziggler ladder match or something like it.

[Guest bigmatt]

I wouldn't mind that. Although I probably wouldn't use Sheamus. I might be in a minority but I quite like what I've seen of Sheamus (in the ring, I've no idea what sort of character he's supposed to be). I haven't seen anything of Sheamus except from SummerSlam 2014 to his injury just before Survivior Series, so my opinion of him hasn't been coloured by whatever they were doing with him before then (There seems to be a lot of bad blood there, something about a megapush that he wasn't over enough for? Aligned with a cartoonish character or something?). But his matches were good, particularly that really good match with Cesaro at Night of Champions. Quite a fun, snug brawler. With them being so light on heels, I'd like to see him come back as a heel, with some sort of interesting character tweaks or something and given a push. There has to be some value as him as a secondary heel behind Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns if they turn him and maybe Rusev? I like Big Show and Kane but they have to change it up a bit and this whole Authority schtick needs a philosophical overhaul too. It's difficult because they're good performers but, ach that's a different argument.

 

There was a lot of consternation about Bryan v Sheamus at Wrestlemania and relief when the idea Bryan/Ziggler was brought up instead but I might be in the minority again of much preferring to see Bryan/Sheamus. They apparently have had a couple of really good matches too? I think Extreme Rules one year was mentioned? I don't know how you bring Sheamus back now with a bang before Wrestlemania.

 

Who would you have win the Andre the Giant battle Royal? There's probably a spot there for a Ziggler, Ambrose or Ryback.

[TPIB 62]

I give Sheamus credit for being one of the few big guys in WWE who can actually carry on a decent match, but with that said, I have no interest in Sheamus as a wrestler or as a character whatsoever. Whether you blame it on his booking or just the man himself, he just seems played out. I'm just hoping that, when he returns, WWE will do something with him that will change my mind. It also looks like Sheamus will likely be returning in time for WrestleMania, so that makes me wonder just who he will face at 'Mania, if anyone. I know one of the early plans was to put Sheamus against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania, but ever since the forced booking of Daniel Bryan following the Royal Rumble, I just can't see that happening.

 

Maybe I'm in the minority of people who believe this, but I am against WWE giving into the fans again. I know that's kind of an odd statement considering I am a fan, but I am quickly buying into the 'heel authority' concept that the fans don't know what they want. Daniel Bryan is a name that speaks for itself in WWE at this point. Bryan is, by far, the most over guy in the company right now, but that does not mean that WWE has to appease the fans at every opportunity. My hope is that WWE is using the match between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan at Fastlane as a way to get fans to jump back on the Roman Reigns bandwagon. Right now, Roman is getting a mixed reaction from the crowd because he is not as over as Bryan right now. If they give Roman/Bryan enough time at Fastlane and allow those two to put on an epic match, Bryan could prove to be the man to put Reigns back in the driver's seat as a solid face. Alternatively, they could turn Roman heel and have him cheat or something of the sort to ensure that he wins at Fastlane to keep his spot at WrestleMania.

 

Whatever they end up doing, I am very much against another Triple Threat Match in the main event of WrestleMania. To me, last year was a different story completely. Batista returned to WWE as a shell of what he used to be; he didn't have the skills on the mic or in the ring that he did before he left, but WWE booked him over guys like Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan so the damage control from WWE was justified. However, Roman Reigns is a competent in-ring performer and, while his mic skills still need a bit of work, there is no doubt that Roman is capable of being the future of WWE. Whether the fans agree with Roman being in the main event of WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar or not, WWE needs to stay the original course and not tarnish Roman Reigns' main event run in WWE before it truly gets underway.

 

If WWE is looking for a different plan come WrestleMania, then they need not look further than Seth Rollins. If WWE wants to create a WrestleMania moment worth remembering, then I think there is merit in having Brock Lesnar retain against Roman Reigns at 'Mania only to have Rollins cash in and take the title. They could also find a way to have Roman win the title (possibly by Heyman betraying Lesnar) and, as Roman is getting booed out of the building, have Rollins cash in and ruin Roman's moment by winning the title. No matter how they do it, I think a Rollins cash in and title win at the end of WrestleMania is the best way for WWE to go.

[Guest Jables]

Right now it's looking more and more likely that Daniel Bryan will be in the title match at Mania, but I wouldn't completely rule out a match against Sheamus. It is still Vince we're dealing with and he could easily decide to just have Sheamus cost DB the match at Fast Lane as the set up for a Mania match.

 

Guessing right now though, I will say that Sheamus gets involved with the Big Show and Kane. Leading to Sheamus essentially becoming Big Show's replacement in the Authority, and allowing for Big Show to complete his dozenth or so "face" turn.

[Guest Jack Collision]

'Every 10 Make a Wishes completed, Cena gets a title match,'

 

WWE should absolutely make this a one night storyline, where a camera follows Cena through the city as he grants Make A Wish's to all different children, like watching Challenge Anneka. And they just line up random wrestlers of past and present to wait for him on the streets to stand in his way. That, I would watch all day every day on Raw.

 

I have no ill towards a three way at Wrestlemania but I am convinced that WWE have no idea what they're doing. In typical fashion, Vince has listened to the live crowds and thrown everything in the air which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. In this instance, it just doesn't feel like it has what last year did. Plus, old ground trodden. I'd almost much prefer Bryan/Ziggler going half an hour and stealing the show, than the mess that the main event will be. It's unpredictable and that's good, but only because we have as much idea as they do.

 

In fact, the only thing I'm actually looking forward to seeing is The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt, because Bray is actually winning all of his matches and looking strong. Almost like The Undertaker's presence alone helps WWE book things properly.

[Guest John Hancock]

WWE should absolutely make this a one night storyline, where a camera follows Cena through the city as he grants Make A Wish's to all different children, like watching Challenge Anneka. And they just line up random wrestlers of past and present to wait for him on the streets to stand in his way. That, I would watch all day every day on Raw.

 

They should have done it during the Miz feud, with Miz trying to copy Cena and be the face of the company, and just ruining ill children's day by being too self-centred and unpopular.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

I'm actually liking the slow build to WM this year, before the Rumble I was a little worried with where WWE may go but now things are starting to take shape

[King 277]

Sweet Jesus :lol