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January 31, 2010

What my WrestleMania XXVI card would look like

The road to WrestleMania XXVI officially begins with tonight’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view, so with the event just hours away, I thought it would be fun put together a WrestleMania XXVI card based on what I think might happen at the Rumble. Actually, this is more what I’d like to see at WrestleMania; I don’t necessarily believe this is really how the card will end up.

First, I’ll reiterate the predictions for the Rumble that I made this morning. I have John Cena winning the Rumble match, with Triple H and Shawn Michaels causing each other’s elimination; The Undertaker retaining the world heavyweight title against Rey Mysterio; and Randy Orton winning the WWE title from Sheamus.

Then at next month’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (formerly known as No Way Out), Triple H will defeat Orton for the WWE title. Orton losing the championship somehow leads to tension between him and Ted DiBiase Jr., and Orton turns on him.

So here is my proposed WrestleMania XXVI lineup:

World heavyweight title: The Undertaker vs. John Cena

WWE title: Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels

Street fight: Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

Edge vs. Chris Jericho

Randy Orton vs. Ted DiBiase Jr.

Hair vs. Mask: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Batista vs. Kane

Money in the Bank ladder match: Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, The Big Show, John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Christian, Cody Rhodes, Ezekiel Jackson

Intercontinental champion Drew McIntyre and U.S. champion The Miz vs. R-Truth and MVP (the stipulation is that if either McIntyre or Miz get pinned, they both lose their titles)

Tag team battle royal (winners receive a future shot at unified tag team champs – assuming none of these teams are already champs): The Hart Dynasty, Cryme Tyme, Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft, Matt Hardy and The Great Khali, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne, Dolph Ziggler and Mike Knox, Jack Swagger and Carlito, Santino Marella and Chris Masters

Some type of divas match

Note: Obviously, there are some problems with this card. I have 11 matches listed. Even if one is a dark match (probably the tag team battle royal), that’s almost certainly too many. At last year’s WrestleMania, nine matches were scheduled, and one of those – John Morrison and The Miz vs. Carlito and Primo – ended up being bumped and made a dark match). A possible way to get just about everyone on the card would be to have one of the matches be a lumberjack match.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:33 PM | | Comments (25)
        

Comments

Dude,your card would rock..do you mind if I cut,paste and send this to the WWE in-box?

Is John Cena vs The Rock wishful thinking?

Ok Kev...just one more thing.."WHAT-IF" RVD comes back tonite and wins the Rumble...he has been working lately and says he is ready to come back to work(that's the rumor)...That could be interesting...as always God Bless.

Dolph Ziggler doesn't need to be in a tag team, he needs to be getting the gold in singles matches.

Just out of curiosity, how are you proposing DX drop the tag team titles?

RESPONSE FROM KE: They could lose them to Punk and Gallows.

Eck, given Undertakers health issues I thought he would be due to take a couple of months off after mania(same with HBK), if this is the case then he cant go into mania as the champ or the streak will have to be broken, the only way round this is to have taker v HBK 2 with no title on the line, that way the streak stays intact and both these guys go on their summer break after having another big mania match.

Love reading the blog, dont agree with everything you say but at least you always back up your points of view with some facts

R.I.P TNA

Not bad proposes.. Mines are almost same. And what fight you are waiting for the most?

If I was booking:
Michaels vs Bret Hart
Undertaker vs Cena (Undertaker finally loses)
HHH vs Batista
Punk vs Morrison
Edge vs Jericho

The rest I don't care about.

I don't want CM Punk to face Mysterio in a hair-versus-mask match. The outcome of that one would be more of a foregone conclusion than Undertaker vs. whomever.

Very interesting choices you made, especially with the money in the bank ladder match. Big show and Sheamus climbing ladders? BLAH

Also, I noticed you forgot about the ECW championship...its gotta be defended!!!

Besides all that, I agree with you on the rest of the match ups. I REALLY want to see Edge vs Y2J and HHH-HBK for the title with HBK hopefully winning.

Also, something tells me that the Rock may make an appearance... but that's just my wish.

RESPONSE FROM KE: The ECW title was not defended on last year's show.

I'm still gunning for the very unlikely event that Shawn Micheals wins the Rumble, goes on to WM26 and beats the Undertaker. I'm a big Undertaker fan, but the streak story every year is is now boring.

Batista vs Kane isn't very exciting... Maybe they should build Kofi Kingston or John Morrison for him. I'd like Kofi to win MITB and have Morrison steal the show with Batista.

I cant say I told you EDGE would win the rumble, because I said he would be # 30!!
I will find my prediction post, and repost on your royay rumble review

Predicted Wrestlemania Card:

1. Christian (c) d. Regal (ECW)
2. Miz (c) d. Swagger (US)
3. Cryme Tyme d. Punk/Gallows (c) and Harts (Tag)
4. McIntyre (c) d. Mysterio (Intercontinental)
5. Bret Hart d. Vince McMahon
6. HHH d. HBK
7. Random women's match
8. Kofi d. Sheamus, Bourne, Ryder, Benjamin, Batista, Morrison, R. Truth (MITB)
9. Underaker d. Cena (interbrand)
10. Edge d. Jericho (World Heavyweight)
11. Orton (c) d. Dibiase (WWE); Kofi cashes in MITB, wins WWE title.

Winners
1. Christian (ECW)
2. Miz (US)
3. Cryme Tyme (Tag)
4. McIntyre (Intercontinental)
5. Mickie James (women)
6. Bret Hart
7. HHH
8. Kofi (MITB and WWE)
9. Undertaker
10. Edge (World Heavyweight)
11. Orton (then loses to Kofi).

Another problem, who is the ECW champ? You have both Christian and Ezekiel Jackson in the ladder in the bank, current WWE, World and ECW champs don't participate

RESPONSE FROM KE: ECW champ could be either Christian or Jackson. It's been established that the big belts are the WWE and world heavyweight titles; the ECW title is at best the equal of the IC and U.S. I'm setting a precedent and throwing the ECW champ in the match. At least the ECW champ would be on the card; he wasn't last year.

Edge wins!!!

Gallows and Punk should win the tag belts at No Way Out off DX when HHH turns on HBK. Then they can set up the Hart Dynasty V The Straight Edge Crew, maybe as a 3 way battle including the girls for the belts at Mania. With Bret as face maybe the Harts could do a full face turn at Mania and take the belts!

sovle that little dark match problem by getting rid of Batista-Kane. No one would care

I agree wish some other people statments.

Please don't book a Hair vs. Mask: CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio.

We already know Punk would have to lose it. And his look is so great right now.

Not a bad card...but post rumble here's what I would like to see at Wrestlemania XXVI:

WWE Championship: (presuming Sheamus loses title in Elimination Chamber):
John Cena vs Triple H in Ironman Match

World Heavyweight Championship:
Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker
(After Shawn defeats Edge in a post - Rumble match for his Rumble earned spot.)

WWE Intercontinental Title (Best 2 out of three falls match)
Drew McIntyre vs .John Morrison

WWE Womens Title (Triple Threat Match):
Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix vs Michelle McCool

Money in the Bank Ladder Match:
Participants: CM. Punk, Batista, Kane, Ezekial Jackson, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth
Matt Hardy, Rey Misterio, Jr.

Grudge Handicap Match:
Randy Orton and Edge versus Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Ted Dibiase Jr.

ECW Championship:
Christian vs Sheamus

Submission Match: (with special referee "Stone Cold" Steve Austin)
Vince McMahon vs Bret "the Hitman" Hart

Unified Tag Title #1 Contender's Match: Big Show and The Miz versus MVP and Mark Henry

Singing National Anthem:
Taylor Swift

Special Ring Announcer for WWE and World Heavyweight Title Matches:
Michael Buffer

PPV Announcers:
Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Guest Announcer Al Michaels

After that closing segment can we now say Cena/Hart vs. Batista/McMahon?

Hmmm, I like 46Degreesouth's idea for Hart Dynasty versus the Straight Edge Society in a six-person mixed tag match for the WWE World Tag Team championship belts.

Before last night's RAW, a friend and I were talking about a six-man tag match between the Hart Dynasty and Legacy (since Randy Orton had offered to punt Bret's head earlier). Although now it appears to be Bret & Cena vs. Vince & Bats, I think that six-man tag could have been as interesting or moreso. Vince is third-generation, so he could have led The Legacy into the feud, which could serve as a wedge to drive them apart. As it is now, I'm not sure I can see a Legacy split having much impact since the trio has been disjointed since the beginning.

Following last night's RAW, allow me to enter a revised set of Wrestlemania XXVI card predictions:

World Heavyweight Championship: The Undertaker (Champ) vs Edge

2nd World Heavyweight Championship Match:
The Undertaker (Champ)
vs Shawn Michaels
(After Taker defeats Edge, Shawn Michaels, the Money in the Bank winner does what has never been done before and cashes in the case here at Wrestlemania and defeats the Undertaker thus the Taker's Wrestlemania win streak is technically both intact and broken by Michaels.)

WWE Championship:
Sheamus (Champ) vs. Triple H

Grudge Match:
Bret Hart & John Cena
vs
Vince McMahon & Batista
(I still would like to see Stone Cold
Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee)

US Title Match:
The Miz (Champ) vs. MVP

Intercontinental Title Match:
Drew McIntyre (Champ) vs.
John Morrison

Handicap Grudge Match:
Randy Orton vs
Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase Jr.

ECW Championship:
Christian (Champ) vs. Big Show

WWE Ladies Championship:
Triple Threat Match:
Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix vs
Michelle McCool

Money in the Bank Ladder Match:
Participants:
Shawn Michaels
Rey Misterio Jr.
Kane
Ezekial Jackson
C. M. Punk
Kofi Kingston
Chris Jericho
Mark Henry
(If WWE would expand field to 10 participants, Matt Hardy and Shelton Benjamin could be added here.)

Singing the National Anthem:
Taylor Swift

Guest Ring Announcer for WWE and World Heavyweight Title Matches:
Michael Buffer

Guest Time Keeper and Bell Ringer for McMahon / Hart Match:
Trish Stratus

PPV Broadcast Team:
Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and special Guest Broadcasters Al Michaels and Jesse Ventura.

This card appears to be the only way Shawn gets the Undertaker and Edge and Triple H both still headline under the current scenarios.

WWE Title -Orton (c) vs Edge

World Heavyweight- Undertaker (c) vs Jericho vs Mysterio

Tag Team - DX (c) vs Straight Edge Society vs THD

Intercontinental- McIntyre (c) vs Morrison

MITB- Miz, Swagger, Christian, Kofi, Bourne, Sheamus, Ziggler, Big Show

Woman`s battle royal w Santina as a Diva

Cena with Hart in his corner vs Batista with Vince in his corner

Cody Rhodes vs Ted DiBiase Jr

Kane (Smackdown) vs MVP (RAW) vs Ezekial Jackson ( ECW) Lumberjack Interbrand match

Guest Host Battle Royal


Great card Kev! I would like to add Rhodes to the Orton-Dibiase match and make it a triple threat. Would also be pretty cool to see foley in a money in the bank ladder match and the rock challenge undertaker's streak, hey I can dream right? Won't happen this year, but an evolution triple threat match for a title with flair as guest ref would be my dream match for a future wrestlemania.

Being as it is Super Bowl weekend, I realized this morning that this year's WrestleMania is in the same location as the Giants/Pats game two years ago.

Ya know, the one where the Patriots were UNDEFEATED and they left Arizona with a broken record of 18-1.

Undertaker is undefeated. Does anyone else think that WWE should play up the 2007-08 New England Patriots as a part of this year's hype?

The irony is if Undertaker were to defend his championship successfully, and then the MITB winner cashed in and beat him, then The Streak would end at 18-1.

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling.
E-mail Kevin.
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