February 25, 2020 - Evan Luebbe

Vince McMahon unsure about WrestleMania 36 Card on the SmackDown Side

February 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Since Royal Rumble, it has been a foregone conclusion that Roman Reigns would be the likely winner of the Elimination Chamber match and go on to face The Fiend at ‘Mania for the Universal Championship. It was also thought that John Cena was a pretty safe bet to be paired with Elias to work a WrestleMania match. These two matches, along with several others on the SmackDown agenda, are being rethought, according to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio.

Rather than working with Reigns at WrestleMania, Vince McMahon is reportedly considering booking Bray Wyatt with John Cena as he did at WrestleMania 30 in 2014. The other option would be Braun Strowman in a Universal Title match. This dynamic would be interesting because these two guys have never worked together in a singles program, and only have experience as members of The Wyatt Family.

It could be a fresh matchup that the WWE universe has never seen before. Mr. McMahon might be hesitant to put Strowman in such a spotlight because he is still relatively green in the business. He doesn’t have 10 or 12 years of experience like many others do.

Along with the notion of throwing Cena into the Universal Championship match at Mania or booking him to work with Elias, Mr. McMahon is also considering having him work with King Corbin or Sheamus. Both of these possibilities make sense because John has worked with both men in the past. Fans should remember that one of the primary goals of WrestleMania each year is to book the card so as many superstars as possible get the opportunity to be a part of the show.

Fury defeats Wilder; WWE Implications

February 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Congratulations to Tyson Fury on defeating Beyoncé Wilder by seventh round TKO in what will go down as the biggest boxing fight of the decade. This result creates even more of a possibility that the WWE universe may see Fury in some capacity at WrestleMania 36, even if he doesn’t participate in a match. Also, it would be extremely cool and have dollar signs written all over it to have Beyoncé Wilder potentially do a match with WWE. Wilder has said that he would jump at the opportunity if he were approached by WWE.

Mustafa Ali deserves a Spot in the Elimination Chamber after the Stars did not Quite Align Last Year

February 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

WWE may want to consider orchestrating the return of Mustafa Ali on the March 6 edition of SmackDown on FOX and announcing him as a last-minute entry into the Elimination Chamber match on March 8. Ali is deserving of this because not only is he an extremely talented performer, but last year he was originally booked to be in the Elimination Chamber match for Daniel Bryan’s WWE Championship. Those plans were derailed when he was attacked by Randy Orton and suffered facial injuries.

Ali was replaced in the match by Kofi Kingston, which started KofiMania and gave Kingston the necessary momentum to win the WWE Championship. The rest is history. Nonetheless, it would be a nice accomplishment on Ali’s resume and contribute to the narrative of his WWE career.

Samoa Joe Unfortunately Injured Again

February 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Samoa Joe has experienced some bad timing as of late when it comes to injuries. In September 2019 he broke his thumb causing him to miss about three months of action. He returned around Christmas time and was good for about a month and a half before he suffered a concussion on an episode of Raw. This caused him to miss another few weeks. He returned to action just recently and had a match on the February 17 addition of Raw, competing alongside Kevin Owens and The Viking Raiders to take on Seth Rollins and his disciples.

After that, apparently Joe filmed a WWE commercial and suffered a head injury while going through a table. I wish him nothing but the best in his recovery. Hopefully he isn’t forced to miss WrestleMania. If this were to happen, it would be the third year he has missed ‘Mania in the four years he’s been on the main roster.

Joe missed WrestleMania 33 due to a legitimate injury and was good to go for 34 but was not used because he had just recently returned from injury. That, and Vince McMahon did not know how to adequately use him. The only WrestleMania he has competed in was last year, defending his United States Championship at the time against Rey Mysterio. Even then, it was not as good a match as it could’ve been because Mysterio was hampered due to an injury he suffered before the event. Timing is everything.

The Monday Night Messiah Settles into his Character and becomes Immersed with the Persona

February 25, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Seth Rollins has fully committed to his Monday Night Messiah character. He is digging his heels into making it the best it can be. The WWE universe is starting to get a feel for the nuances of the character which have a religious element to them. He is portrayed to be a bit delusional and narcissistic in that he thinks of himself almost like the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is sure to get an emotional response from fans since people worship Jesus – there is a large attachment to this type of figure.

The Monday Night Messiah is very akin to an updated version of the character Mordecai. This character may have gotten over decently had Kevin Fertig not been in a bar fight; there were big plans in store for him.

Fertig pitched the idea for the character’s plan to John Laurinitis and Vince McMahon. They both loved it. The plan they devised in 2004 was to build the aura and mystique of Mordecai for an entire year leading up to a match at WrestleMania 21 against The Undertaker, maybe even potentially ending his streak, which was at 12 – 0 at that time. The bar fight, however ruined those plans. The Undertaker faced Randy Orton at WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles and handily got the victory.