A Heroic Wrestlemania 29: Jesse’s Predictions

This week on Most Heroic we will once again be covering a different subject and a different format than in weeks before. Since yours truly is a big fan of the WWE, and this being WrestleMania 29 week, I decided to give my predictions for the event, and who I think will triumph .

For those who wonder how this has anything to do with cinema or my focus on heroes, I’ll point to the nature of the sports entertainment business. They’ve always had the different groups of heroes and villains, which are referred to as babyfaces and heels respectively. They do tell stories through the outcomes of the matches, but not just the classic struggle of good and evil. There’s a lot of personal stories going on here, and I’ll touch on each ones for each match. Besides, this is my column, and this week, I want to talk wrestling!

As always, I expect this year to be an opportunity for the ‘faces to shine, and for the younger talent to go over. Certainly some of the heels shall win, but I think overall, WrestleMania 29 will end up with more potential for heroics. There will also be plenty of swerves, and I’ll do my best to predict them based on what we already know, and how the match has already been booked.

Click here for Page 2: Wade Barrett vs. The Miz

1: Pre-show match: Intercontinental Championship Match: Wade Barret (c) vs The Miz.

This is one of the matches on the card that doesn’t really have too much story behind it. It isn’t like these two have been feuding for the last few months or anything like that. Their conflict only started a few weeks ago with a Triple Threat match with Chris Jericho, and it really doesn’t mean anything. The only thing at stake is the ICC, which both men have held within the last year.

Wade Barrett returned from injury a few weeks after Raw 1000 with a new finishing move, the Bull Hammer elbow, and has been pushed since he got back. He’s looked very strong ever since winning the strap from Kofi Kingston on the last Raw of 2012. On the other hand, Miz has been recently been mentored by the Nature Boy himself, Ric Flair, and has even adopted the Figure-Four Leglock as his own.

Honestly, I don’t see Miz winning the belt back here. It wouldn’t mean anything, and it would take a lot of momentum from Barrett, who seems to need it more than Miz right now.

Winner: Barrett

Click here for Page 3: Eight Person Mixed Tag Match 

2: Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins

There’s really nothing of major importance behind this match. The Rhodes Scholars lost a good deal of momentum when they temporarily broke up after being defeated by Team Hell No at the Royal Rumble (Why did Creative even have them break up?) but Tons of Funk (ugh) & the Funkadactyl seem to be moderately popular stable at the moment. The Bellas just returned after months of being gone from the company, and a ‘Mania record would go a long way towards getting them some good direction.

If they want to give the tag team division some depth and importance, I’d say that in this case Team Rhodes Scholars should walk away with the victory, but they probably won’t. Either Brodus or Tensai will end up smashing Sandow or Rhodes for the pinfall.

Winner: Tons of Funk & the Funkadactyls.

Click here for Page 4: Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

3: Chris Jericho vs. Fandango

Chris Jericho shocked everyone by returning at the Royal Rumble as the second entrant, starting the match with his recent rival, Dolph Ziggler. From there, it looked like they would continue their feud from the late part of last summer, but unfortunately their rivalry seemed to just disappear. From there, Jericho eventually was paired up with the WWE’s newest superstar, Fandango.

Upper management must have a hell of a lot of faith in Fandango, since he hasn’t wrestled once on television refusing to compete due to announcers and superstars alike mispronouncing his name. It’s an extremely risky move letting an untested talent debut on The Grandest Stage of Them All, but they seem to have compensated for that fact by pairing him with the experienced Jericho. Y2J is certainly capable of making Fandango look good, and I’m sure he’d be happy to do it. Jericho is by far the most unselfish superstar on the roster, preferring to build the younger talent over holding the bigger championships.

I wish Y2J would win, but he’ll probably put Fandango over.

Winner: Fandango

Click here for Page 5: Ryback vs. Mark Henry

 

4: Ryback vs. Mark Henry

This one could end up being a lot of fun, and both of the superstars involved can end up making each other look very good.

Henry’s already reopened the Hall of Pain by injuring Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara and attacking Daniel Bryan, and he had a very strong showing at Elimination Chamber. Putting him up against the Human Wrecking Ball is a smart move on booking, although they should have announced this before trying to put Ryback in the match against The Shield.

Ryback on the other hand, needs a victory after losing several high profile matches on the last few pay-per-views. He’s fallen to The Shield a bit too often over the past few months, and a victory over The World’s Strongest Man would certainly be a good moment.

In my opinion, the best thing to do would be to have Henry disqualified, that way they can both look legitimate, and Henry can solidify himself as a top heel.

Winner: Ryback by DQ

Click here for Page 6: Team Hell No vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E

5: Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston w/ AJ Lee

This one came as a bit of surprise when it was announced, but it does make a good amount of sense. Kane, Bryan and Ziggler all have a shared romantic history with AJ Lee, and WWE does like to use her since her “crazy chick” gimmick allows her to make some really surprising developments.

I think the company owes Bryan a win after his somewhat disrespectful 18-second loss to Sheamus last year in Miami, and as a thank-you for all the work he’s done since then. His tumultuous partnership with Kane has been one of the more consistently entertaining parts of the company since last summer, and they’ve had some really good matches while being the champions.

However, I think that the winners will end up being Dolph Ziggler & Big E. Langston. Defeating Team Hell No will give Ziggler’s little entourage more credibility and momentum for the future. It’ll also give the inexperienced Langston the opportunity to learn a bit more before he gets ready for singles competition.

I expect that AJ will eventually distract either Kane or Daniel Bryan long enough for Ziggler to score the pinfall for one of them.

Winner: Ziggler & Langston

Click here for Page 7: The Shield vs. Randy Orton, Sheamus, Big Show

6: Sheamus, Randy Orton & The Big Show vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Roman Reigns)

Left to right: Sheamus, Big Show, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose. Barely pictured: Randy Orton, Seth Rollins

The Shield have been one of the hotter things since debuting at Survivor Series last November. Their match with Team Hell No & Ryback stole the show at TLC back in December, and they actually managed to defeat the team of John Cena, Sheamus, and Ryback at Elimination Chamber. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins have had an excellent start to their careers, and it’s clear that all three of them have a lot of promise for the future. I can definitely see Ambrose ending up as a future top heel.

The addition of Big Show to this match does add a few x-factors. First, there’s the fact that The Shield haven’t had the same kind of luck with him they have had with the rest of the roster. But on the flip side, it’s also been established that Show and Sheamus don’t get along, given their history.

The Shield’s undefeated streak will have to end sooner or later, but I don’t think it’ll be here. They’ve still got a lot of mileage to go, even though their gimmick and direction needs some work.

It’s been rumored that Randy Orton will soon return to his heel roots after years of being a stale babyface. If that’s the case, there’s no better time to do so than at Wrestlemania 29. He’ll either cost his team the match by attacking Sheamus, or turn on them after falling to The Shield.

Winner: The Shield following a DQ

Click here for Page 8: Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger

7:  World Heavyweight Championship Match: Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger

This is a tough one for me to choose. These two are going to be evenly matched since they’re both very experienced grapplers with some very deadly submission moves. They’ve gotten a lot of heat since Swagger has been positioned as the vicious Tea Party xenophobe against the heroic Del Rio. Along with the heated rhetoric, Swagger broke the ankle of Del Rio’s manager Ricardo Rodriguez, making things even more personal for Del Rio.

Even though it could go either way, I don’t see Swagger winning this one. He still has yet to be publicly punished by the company for his DUI and drug possession a few months ago, and I don’t think that they’ll let him leave WrestleMania 29 with the gold around his waist with such a recent black mark on his record. At least, they shouldn’t. Because……..

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Yes, I know this is cheating, but I’m certain Dolph will be cashing in his Money in the Bank Contract on the winner of this match. His latest catchphrase is “stealing the show” and if he wins both the Tag Team Championship match and the World Heavyweight Championship match, he’ll be the biggest show-stealer ever.

Click here for Page 9: Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H

8: Brock Lesnar vs Triple H

This is the first of the rematches that will certainly be adorning the top of the card,  and will probably end up being the most brutal. There’s a lot of bad blood between these two, and quite a bit at stake.

Brock Lesnar returned to the company last year and it wasn’t long before he found himself at odds with The Game. The two feuded up until SummerSlam, where Lesnar forced Triple H to tap out to the Kimura Lock. After the match, it looked like Triple H’s career would be over, but the Game answered the call to arms when Brock attacked Vince McMahon.

Heyman being the Mad Scientist, he manipulated the terms of the bout to suit Brock by having Triple H sign the contract before knowing the match’s stipulations. After taking a beating from The Game, Heyman revealed the bout would be No Holds Barred and Triple H’s career would be on the line.

We’re sure to get one hell of a slobber-knocker with this one. Lesnar may not be as good as he was in his first run with WWE, but he’s still a beast and he looks like some kind of monster in the ring. Triple H is the seasoned warrior who’s looking for vengeance against the monster that threatens to end his storied career. We’ll be sure to see Triple H’s sledgehammer come into play, as well as Brock’s deadly Kimura Lock, which has “broken” Triple H’s arm twice already.

At the go-home Raw, Shawn Michaels announced that he would be in Triple H’s corner. I think this will be the difference maker. Since the bout is No Holds Barred, that means that there are no disqualifications. Brock could set up Triple H for the F-5, only to to get some Sweet Chin Music from Mr. Wrestlemania at the last second. Triple H can add a quick Pedigree or two to score the pinfall. Everybody wins with this scenario. HBK gets some payback for Lesnar attacking him last year, Brock looks great by virtue of the fact that it took two legendary superstars to put him down, and Triple H keeps his career until next year at WrestleMania XXX.

Winner: Triple H

Click here for Page 10: Undertaker vs. CM Punk

9: The Undertaker vs CM Punk

While The Rock is my one of my favorite WWE Superstars, and I’m happy to see him as the champ, I was still disappointed to see CM Punk’s reign end the way it did. Punk is the single best thing in the industry today, and after everything he’s done, he deserved to close WrestleMania 29 in a championship match. But the bigger money would be there for Rock vs. Cena II, which meant that Punk had to lose the title. Despite losing his belt, Punk has one hell of a consolation prize in being one of the select few to challenge The Phenom at The Showcase of the Immortals.

The Straightedge Superstar and the Dead Man have faced off before, but under very different circumstances. This is the first time the Phenom has gone up against Punk after the young iconoclast’s rise to fame back in 2011. It’s been rumored that ‘Taker handpicked Punk for his opponent, and it’s not hard to see why.

The death of William Moody aka Paul Bearer did give an extra layer to this rivalry that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Punk took the angle and ran with it, and he’s played a truly despicable villainous foil to The Undertaker. Stealing Paul Bearer’s urn and disrespecting the man’s legacy was bad enough, and they’ve drawn quite a lot of controversy, but Punk had even more up his sleeve. On the last Raw before ‘Mania, Punk actually emptied the urn’s contents (which are supposed to be Paul Bearer’s ashes) on top of the Phenom himself in the ultimate show of disrespect.

All of his actions have given Punk a psychological edge over the Demon of Death Valley, but they’ve also angered him more than we’ve ever seen before. The Dead Man has promised to “end” Punk in storyline. Considering Punk has been pulled from all events after Wrestlemania 29,  he’ll probably be beaten so badly that we won’t see him for a while.

As much as I love Punk’s material and his work in the ring, I can’t see him triumphing here. Not even the Best In The World will be able the break The Streak.

Winner: The Undertaker

Click here for Page 11: The Rock vs. John Cena

10: WWE Championship Match: The Rock (c) vs John Cena

This was the match that headlined WrestleMania 28 last year, and it was billed as “Once In A Lifetime.” In that confrontation, the icons of two generations met in a tough, evenly-matched bout. In the last moments of the match, Cena made an uncharacteristically cocky move by mocking The Great One, and attempting to use The Rock’s own finishing move, The People’s Elbow, to end the match. The Rock countered with a last second Rock Bottom to seal the pinfall, and win their highly anticipated match.

In the year since, the two men’s careers went in different directions. While The Rock did go back to Hollywood, he returned at Raw 1000 to announce that he would face the WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble, the Rock defeated CM Punk to win the title, ending Punk’s historic 434-day reign as champion.

Meanwhile, Cena had the roughest year of his career. He barely triumphed over the returning Brock Lesnar in a brutal match at Extreme Rules, and lost to CM Punk twice, Dolph Ziggler, and even John Laurinaitis. While he did win the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, he became the first and only man to cash in the contract and fail to win the title. Cena vowed to make his 2013 a better year, and he started by winning the Royal Rumble for the second time. He chose to use the Wrestlemania 29 title shot to challenge for the WWE title, which meant that he would get his rematch against the Rock.

Their feud is a different kind of animal this time around. It’s still heated, but in a different way. Cena wants to prove that he can beat The Rock after missing his chance last year. The Rock however wants to prove that he can defeat Cena again, and remain the champion for as long as he can.

In both of these feuds, Cena has taken a bit more of a heel role than usual to foil the Rock’s babyface persona. Some fans are thinking that this will finally lead to a full-fledged heel turn from Cena, but I just can’t see it. If Vince were ever going to pull that trigger, he would have done so already. Would it cool to see? Absolutely. I think Cena has the potential to be a really good heel, but not half as good as he is as a face.

I was lucky enough to see the John Cena / CM Punk match in Dallas live. It was easily the best Raw main event match since Shawn Michaels was on the roster. In that match, both Cena and Punk pulled out some desperate moves out of their arsenals. Punk gave Cena a Piledriver, while Cena powerbombed Punk and actually won the match with a hurricanrana followed by the Attitude Adjustment for the pinfall. If we can see both Rock and Cena pull out some moves like that, then they’ll add a lot more spice to the meal that a lot of people don’t have too much faith in.

At the end of the night, John Cena finally beats the Rock cleanly. The Rock takes the loss like a man, and both men share the spotlight as the show closes.

Winner: John Cena