The Wrestlemania Build

Some of the folks who are coming over for Wrestlemania this weekend wanted a little backstory about some of the big matches taking place on the card. Since there's been a PPV since folks last came over for the Royal Rumble, I am happy to oblige them.

SHAWN MICHAELS VS THE UNDERTAKER
CAREER VS STREAK
NO DQ, NO COUNTOUT - MATCH CAN ONLY END BY PINFALL OR SUBMISSION

The Undertaker is undeafated at Wrestlemania, and the last few years his matches there have mostly centered around wrestlers who want to make a name for themselves by ending the streak. Michaels was last year's challenger, and he lost clean. Cut to a few months ago, when Michaels challenged Undertaker to a rematch. Taker, who was World Heavyweight Champion at the time, told Michaels he would wrestle him anytime, except not at Wrestlemania, since Michaels had had his chance and lost. This drove Shawn Michaels CRAZY. As you saw at the Royal Rumble, Michaels turned on his tag team partner Triple H, eliminating him, and when Michaels was eventually eliminated by Batista, he superkicked the referees who tried to get him to leave the ring. Michaels was so distracted by his need to face Undertaker that he wound up costing DX the Unified Tag Team belts against Miz and The Big Show, and also losing an Elimination Chamber qualifying match to Randy Orton. At the Elimination Chamber PPV, Undertaker was about to win the Smackdown Chamber match and retain his title when Michaels emerged from under the ring and superkicked Taker, allowing Chris Jericho to get the pin and become the new champion. Michaels confronted Taker on Raw the next night, claiming that since Taker was no longer champion, he had no reason not to face Michaels at Mania. Undertaker agreed to the match on one condition: that Michaels put his career on the line. Michaels agreed. Since then, each has been trying to get in the other's head - beating up midcarders, showing up on the other's show to deliver finishing moves, that sort of thing.

BATISTA (C) VS JOHN CENA
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH

Batista turned heel a few months ago, creating a great "It's all about me" gimmick where he demands a spotlight for all his ring entrances and promos. I've never really cared for Batista but this character has really clicked. Meanwhile, John Cena is John Cena. At the Elimination Chamber PPV, John Cena was the last man standing in the Raw Elimination Chamber, beating five other guys and becoming the new WWE Champion. However, immediately after the match Vince McMahon (looking for revenge for Cena's support of Bret Hart) came out and declared that Cena would have to immediately defend his title against Batista. Batista destroyed the weakened Cena and became the new champion. In the rematch, Batista immediately kicked Cena in the balls for the DQ and then proceeded to spend 10 minutes just totally destroying him. Later, Cena wanted to know why Dave would be so mean to him, so Batista explained that while the two of them rose in the WWE ranks simultaneously (they both won World title at Wrestlemania 21), for some reason Cena became the face of the WWE, while Batista never got the recognition or, most importantly, money he felt he deserved. So Batista agreed to be Vince's hired gun. Basically, Batista hates Cena and Cena wants his title back. Oh, and Cena has never beaten Batista in a singles match. This is basically a match between the two biggest stars of the current wrestling era and the WWE has been promoting it as such.

CHRIS JERICHO (C) VS EDGE
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

Many months ago, Edge and Chris Jericho were the Unified Tag Team Champions. Edge, despite having been the top heel in the company of several years, was starting to get a lot more cheers than boos. Then Edge tore his achilles tendon at a house show and had to vacate his half of the titles. Jericho promptly replaced him with The Big Show and cut a promo about how Edge was the weak link in their team who was holding Jericho back. Edge then cut a promo from his hospital bed, vowing revenge. Cut to the Royal Rumble, where Edge made a surprise early return from injury and won the Rumble, earning a title shot. Edge opted to wait to decide which title to challenge for after seeing the results of the Elimination Chamber PPV. As I mentioned earlier, Shawn Michaels interfered in the Smackdown chamber, allowing Jericho to become the new champ. Edge then challenged Jericho the next night on Raw. The build for this one's been pretty lackluster honestly, which is pretty disappointing since these are two of the best guys in the business. Mostly it's just been Jericho mocking Edge for being injury prone, then Edge spearing Jericho and getting the crown to chant "Spear!" That's basically it. Regardless, both these guys are awesome and should pull out a great match.

BRET HART VS VINCE MCMAHON
NO HOLDS BARRED

You guys have heard of the Montreal Screwjob, right? No? Well, you can read all about it here. In short, Bret Hart, one of the biggest WWE guys of the 90's, was legitimately screwed out of his World Title by Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels because Vince was worried that Hart was going to jump to rival WCW and take the World Title with him (WWE was in dire financial straights at the time and could not afford such a thing to happen). IAnyway, Bret Hart did wind up in WCW and then retired a few years later. He was understandably bitter about the whole thing and vowed not to return to the WWE. That is, until a few months ago, when he guest-hosted Raw. This was a crazy-big deal for longtime fans, since Bret hadn't been in a WWE ring in 12 years. He promptly buried the hatchet with Shawn Michaels with a handshake and a manly hug, and then tried to do the same with Vince. Vince just kicked Bret in the balls and yelled "You deserved to be screwed!" In short, Bret wants to put the past behind him but Vince is just a huge dickwad. There were some dumb shenanigans about Bret having to fake a broken leg in order to get Vince to agree to the match, but let's not talk about that. The match will be very very short, since Bret is not in the best shape these days. It will end with Bret giving Vince his Sharpshooter submission finisher in the middle of the ring, and everyone in the stadium over 30 will mark the fuck out.

CM PUNK VS REY MYSTERIO
IF REY LOSES, HE MUST JOIN THE STRAIGHT EDGE SOCIETY

I can't even remember why Punk started hassling Mysterio. He was around, and Punk didn't like him. Punk upped the stakes considerably when Mysterio brought out his family on Smackdown and had the crowd sing 'Happy Birthday' to his 9-year-old daughter, only to be interrupted by Punk. Let's just watch it, because it's gold.



Anyway, Punk did that, then declared that Mysterio was a coward for not facing him. Mysterio wanted their match to be a street fight, but Punk had Mysterio face Luke Gallows, claiming that he would only agree to the street fight if Mysterio won. If Mysterio lost, their match at Wrestlemania would determine whether or not Mysterio would have to join Punk's Straight Edge Society. Punk lost to Gallows (after much interference from Punk and Serena), so now if he loses this match, he'll have to join the SES. Should be awesome.

TRIPLE H VS SHEAMUS
You might remember Sheamus as the pale Irishman who was WWE champion at the Royal Rumble. He lost his title in the Raw elimination chamber and was eliminated by Triple H. Thus, match. Sheamus wants to make a name for himself, and Triple H is the biggest name who wasn't busy elsewhere. That's really it.

THE MIZ & BIG SHOW (C) VS JOHN MORRISON AND R-TRUTH
UNIFIED TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS MATCH

No real story here. Morrison and Truth won a triple-threat to qualify, and that's basically it. They're good guys, Miz and Show are bad guys. Move along.

RANDY ORTON VS TED DIBIASE VS CODY RHODES
TRIPLE THREAT MATCH

All the guys in Legacy fight. Legacy has been teasing dissension basically since they got together, and this is finally the (shitty) payoff. The original plan months ago was to eventually turn Ted Dibiase face, but someone must have realized he has all the charisma and wrestling ability of a doorstop, because they ditched that plan. I guess management finally just heart the increasing number of cheers Orton was getting, said 'Fuck it', and decided he'd be the one to go face. This basically screws Dibiase and Rhodes, who have always been portrayed as scrubs who get beat up by guys looking to get at Orton, but what are you gonna do?

MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH
KOFI KINGSTON VS CHRISTIAN VS MVP VS EVAN BOURNE VS JACK SWAGGER VS DOLPH ZIGGLER VS DREW MCINTYRE VS KANE VS MATT HARDY VS SHELTON BENJAMIN

That's a ton of dudes! Again, no story here. 10 dudes want the title shot in the briefcase, and they will do crazy shit with ladders to get it. No idea who might win this one.

10-DIVA TAG MATCH
Five good women fight five bad women. There you go.

See you Sunday!