RAW Deal: What’s really happening at WrestleMania?

ANAHEIM, CA—The more we think we know about what’s gonna happen at WrestleMania, the less I believe we actually know anything. 

The rumor mills are churning with new dirt at a frenzied pace, with plans changing from week to week (and even day to day in some cases). The fact that we’re all even privy to the machinations going on in a way that seems too easy now makes me cast doubt on everything we’re reading, no matter how true some of it turns out. Why would the WWE make the plans for their biggest show so accessible? Those of us who are a little wiser should be wary of a bluff, and some of the signs point in that direction.

Could Dean Ambrose be winning the main event of Fastlane?

The situation surrounding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship might be the biggest red herring dangling in front of our faces. The word has always been that everything that’s happened to Roman Reigns so far is to groom him for a huge WrestleMania moment—and an equally momentous championship reign moving forward. 

But things haven’t seemed that way lately. We could trace it all the way back to the Royal Rumble match, where it was Dean Ambrose kissing the floor last, not Roman Reigns—meaning Reigns never got that climactic finish everyone assumed would be his. Ambrose was added to the contendership match at Fastlane for no real reason at all, other than to provide Reigns with another obstacle. The latest shot comes at this week’s episode of RAW: Ambrose lost his Intercontinental Championship to Kevin Owens, and if we trace the arc of traditional wrestling booking logic, that loss pulls him back for a projected bigger shot at winning the main event.

Honestly, why shouldn’t Ambrose win and go on to WrestleMania? Without trying too hard, he’s become the everyman hero Reigns had always strived to be but couldn’t achieve. He has all the positive heat in the world, the support Reigns only wish he had. And Vince McMahon seems to be deliberately bungling Reigns’s narrative. This hamstrung WrestleMania needs all the help it can get, and positioning Ambrose at the top might be one of the few things that can save it. Actually, as long as they book Ambrose in a match people want to see, they can still save the show.

Where does that leave everyone else? 

If Ambrose moves into the main event spot at WrestleMania, then I would love nothing more than to have a rematch of last year’s main event, but only with pride on the line. Let’s be honest: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar was a decent match well before Seth Rollins did what he did. 

If Brock Lesnar gets Reigns instead of Bray Wyatt, then the next logical thing would be to book another huge rematch: Bray Wyatt vs. the Undertaker. Rumors are also swirling that Undertaker will be facing someone who “isn’t an active wrestler,” but the dirt on his opponent has changed so much in the past month that I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up Monday morning to a new rumored challenger.

Never mind all that. Let’s have Wyatt/Undertaker II and finally give Wyatt a win he can hold on to. Right now, him and the Family are just a group of cartoon henchmen led by a grittier Dick Dastardly. 

Assuming the original plans are to have Ambrose lose so that he can move into a WrestleMania feud against Kevin Owens, and that we’re changing these plans because Ambrose is moving into the main event, that leaves Owens wide open for the championship. We can go two ways here: either have another ladder match (or any multi-man match) for the title, or… we can have a midcard title unification match between Owens and U.S. Champion Kalisto. Even though the Intercontinental and US Championships have produced some quality feuds and matches recently, their environments still remain redundant. Unless WWE is planning to revive the brand split and keep the championships away from each other, we don’t need two. If this is happening, we can let all the midcarders have a multi-man match to determine a #1 contender for this unified title.

The tag titles are fine on their own as the scene is developing yet again, and whatever they plan to do, I can run with. The rumored plan for the Divas Championship is Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks, and I feel like there’s no red herring they can come up with for that one, given the depth of the Divas division. (It’s not like they’re going to throw Naomi or Brie Bella in the mix, anyway.) 

Lucha Underground is getting crazier

Now would be a good time to jump into Lucha Underground, although it admittedly might not be for all tastes now more than ever. We’re only four episodes into the second season, but it’s already largely moved away from the gritty action genre (with specks of fantasy) it debuted in to something that’s almost fully fantasy. We’re dealing with time travel, made-up Aztec mythology, undercover police, the personification of death, crazy kidnappers, and so much more—it’s like a Latin American Artemis Fowl novel, but with wrestling. I know I keep shilling this show, but it’s just a crazy (and fun) little alternative. 

If you’re tired of RAW and really want a whole different take on pro wrestling, please watch this show.

Shaking up the New Japan status quo

Shinsuke Nakamura’s headed to WWE and officially starting in April, and the power vacuum he left in his wake has already been filled. Kenny Omega has won the IWGP Intercontinental Championship last week, as predicted, while perennial upper-midcarder Hirooki Goto is working a rather compelling storyline with Kazuchika Okada, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. It’s basically their version of countless John Cena angles in which an evil force is tempting him to join the dark side and embrace being a heel, and what makes it so interesting is that NJPW doesn’t run angles like these very often. When they do, it’s a little understated, preferring to make these stories take the backseat to the action, mostly because they don’t have a weekly TV program like others do.

Also, former NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii just won the Ring of Honor Television Championship from Roderick Strong. I’m not sure if that means he’ll be working in the US more, or it’s just a change for ROH’s current tour of Japan. Almost everyone is being pressured into taking more risks, and the wrestling landscape is more volatile—meaning more exciting—right now. 

*****

If you’re reading this on or before Saturday, Feb. 20, then you should go check out PWR Vendetta! It’s happening at 7 pm in iAcademy in Makati! “Classical” Bryan Leo invokes his rematch clause against PWR Champion Ralph Imabayashi for the title, plus much more hard-hitting Pinoy wrestling action! If you’re a real pro wrestling fan and you can make it, support local wrestling! Tickets are P350 regular seats and P400 VIP seats, which include a backstage meet and greet after the show! Come on and spend your Saturday night there! 

Do you listen to podcasts? Would you want to listen to a local podcast about pro wrestling? If the answers to those questions – especially that last one – are yes, then you should check out the cleverly-named Smark Gilas-Pilipinas Podcast, featuring Mellow 94.7 DJ and PWR General Manager Stan Sy, wrestling writer Romeo Moran, and all-around multimedia person and former voice of PWR Raf Camus! They just hit episode #100 this week, and they talk about everything under the sun in the wrestling world this past week! Listen to it here! – Rappler.com