WWE WrestleMania 31 Predictions
March 29, 2014
By: Mike Tedesco of Wrestleview.com
Well it’s finally here. WrestleMania 31 will take place tonight. It took way longer than it ever has, but after watching last night’s fantastic Hall of Fame ceremony, I’m finally feeling the WrestleMania season bug. The build for this year’s WrestleMania has been one of the worst in recent memory, in my opinion at least, but I have to admit I’m getting excited to watch tonight. Especially with the big news story that came out on Tuesday, I’m really intrigued by what they’re going to do. We’ll get into that more later, but for now, onto the predictions!
André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal – WrestleMania Kickoff Match
Confirmed entrants include: The Miz, Curtis Axel, Ryback, Fandango, Adam Rose, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Titus O’Neil, Darren Young, Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Damien Mizdow, Sin Cara, Goldust, Heath Slater, Mark Henry, Konnor, Viktor, Hideo Itami
I wasn’t upset at all with the moving of this match to the kickoff show. Honestly with the severe lack of star power in this match, it doesn’t deserve a spot on the main WrestleMania card. Also that gives the seven main matches some extra time. I don’t think we’ll see any time shortened matches on the show this year. I’m sure there will be some surprise entrants in this one. I could totally see a return of The Bunny since Jon Gruden and Bill Simmons both brought him up in their discussions on this match. I also think we’re going to see the return of Sheamus in this one. I could see Damien Mizdow going far in this one (complete with a Miz elimination), but Sheamus will eliminate him. If Sheamus does that, he’ll be an instant heel before that crowd. Sheamus has desperately needed a heel turn for the last three years. This could be the night to kick it into gear. The other rumor is that he could be added into the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match, but I think this is the more likely option. It’s a risk to predict a guy who isn’t officially entered into the match, but it’s WrestleMania. Time to take a chance.
Prediction: Sheamus
WWE Tag Team Championships – WrestleMania Kickoff Match
The Usos vs. Los Matadores vs. The New Day vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (c’s)
Typing out the names of the tag teams in this match just makes me shake my head. Los Matadores, The New Day – are you kidding me? I think the guy who played Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy” has more of a pulse than those two teams combined. I mean for the love of god. The Usos haven’t been hot lately, but since they’re from the area, I think they’ll be heavily cheered tonight. They did a nice job at the Hall of Fame ceremony last night inducting their father. I’m happy for Tyson Kidd to be involved in WrestleMania in some form this year. I still have to shake my head for Cesaro. After the WrestleMania he had last year and all the promise of joining up with Paul Heyman the night after, we find him here in the opening match for the Tag Team Titles fighting The Usos and Los Matadores again. All that stuff to be right in the same place he’s always been, but this time without a prayer of ever getting back to those levels. I think that four ropes… err sides comment killed him dead forever. He’ll always be a “should’ve” wrestler. “Cesaro should’ve been great, but he never really got a chance.” I don’t really care about any of the teams in this match. I guess since Cesaro and Kidd just recently got the titles, it’s too soon to take them off.
Prediction: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro retain
AJ Lee and Paige vs. The Bella Twins
You don’t know how happy it makes me to think of a divas match and not cringe at how short and awful it will be. This combination of divas has been on fire in recent weeks. They’ve had longer matches and have worked their butts off to entertain. The Bella Twins have vastly improved, and AJ and Paige have been great partners for them to work with. Now if only the rest of the divas on the roster could follow suit (or they send up some NXT divas starting tomorrow). I’ve got a lot of faces coming out on top in my predictions, so I’m going to go with The Bella Twins here. I think this will be the best divas match on a WrestleMania card in years. Like seriously, YEARS. The last good one I can remember was Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James from 2006. THAT long ago!
Prediction: The Bella Twins
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
Even though I’ve been very critical of the build for this match, I still think these two are going to go out there and have one of the best matches of the night. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Seth Rollins in his first WrestleMania singles match, and Randy Orton isn’t a slouch either. The intrigue for me to see this one is a little down because of that vicious beating Orton gave him a few weeks back on RAW. It was so egregiously long and violent that I just don’t know why they need to have a match with nothing on the line. However, since it was such a vicious beating on Rollins, I think Rollins is going to walk away the victor in this one. The guy has to save face a little bit. In the past month, he’s been duped by Randy Orton, kicked in the berries by Jon Stewart, and violently assaulted by Orton. It’s a good time for Rollins to pick up a win.
Prediction: Seth Rollins
Sting vs. Triple H
Tonight, Sting will compete in a WWE ring. That still absolutely boggles my mind. After all this time – all these years – the man they call “Sting” is finally going to compete in the WWE. I actually think this will be a way better match than what some people think it will be. Is it a 56-year-old man stepping into the ring 45-year-old guy? Yes, but the 45-year-old guy can still go, and I think the year off the 56-year-old man had let his body heal to the point that he’ll have an excellent match. This is probably the match that a lot of the old school fans are jacked to see. I know I am, and I never really followed Sting in WCW (and I definitely didn’t follow him in TNA). I knew who he was, but I was a WWF guy. I know a lot of people think that Triple H is going to go over here because he literally hasn’t had Sting on his back for more than a minute before Sting gets the better of him in each interaction, but with it being Sting’s first WWE match (let alone WrestleMania match), I just don’t see any option that doesn’t have him coming out on top.
Prediction: Sting
The Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
I am so excited to see The Undertaker right now that it’s not even funny. I’ve been curious how he’s going to look, and I can’t wait to see tonight. Undertaker looked so sluggish and bad in his match against Brock Lesnar last year that I had serious doubts he’d ever be back. Well, he agreed to do this one against Bray Wyatt, so the old man still has a few fights left in him. However, if he has another poor performance against Wyatt, then I think WWE needs to think about his physical wellbeing and call an end to his career. I know they want to have the big sendoff for WrestleMania 32 in his home state, but if he’s bad tonight, let’s just say he won’t be any younger next year than he is right now. I’m hoping he proves everyone wrong and has a tremendous match.
My hat is off to Bray Wyatt for this match. Wyatt has been brilliant in the build for this one. Much like Paul Heyman, he’s done all of the build-up for this match on his own, and he’s turned in some tremendous work. I don’t think he’ll be winning, but losing to Undertaker at WrestleMania is never a bad thing. Just being in the ring with him at this show should let you know that you’re doing something right. The fact that the streak is over may hurt the aura of the match a little bit (I still don’t think it should have ended), but it’s Undertaker at WrestleMania. I’m sure the fans will be respectful for this.
Prediction: The Undertaker
WWE United States Championship Match
John Cena vs. Rusev (c)
I think tonight is the night the Rusev undefeated streak comes to an end. I’m hoping they pull the swerve, which would solidify Rusev as a formidable superstar for the next few months (or even the whole year), but I really think tonight is the night he goes down and stays down. This interesting thing is where he goes from here. Hopefully they don’t have him lose a million more times to Cena and whoever else (good lord, could you imagine if Jack Swagger avenged all of his losses to Rusev?). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if Rusev loses tonight, he shouldn’t be pinned in another match until at least the summer. They need to keep this guy winning so he doesn’t look like a fluke. I hope he’s with Lana tonight. She’s worked so hard keeping nuclear heat on this guy for most of the year. She deserves to be there on the biggest night of their characters’ careers. I think this match is going to win up being really good. I’m hoping they pull a quick one here, but Cena was really brutalized by Rusev on RAW so that signals that it’s not to be.
Prediction: John Cena wins the title
WWE Intercontinental Championship – Ladder Match
Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose vs. R-Truth vs. Luke Harper vs. Stardust vs. Bad News Barrett (c)
So not only do we know that Daniel Bryan is a tremendous worker that gets an unbelievable fan reaction everywhere he goes for the most part, but now we know that WWE made a huge mistake by not going with him as the official face of their company. Bryan’s touching induction of Connor “The Crusher” last night at the Hall of Fame left me in awe that the WWE decision makers just don’t see him as their guy to be on top of the company.
Anyway, this is probably going to be the best match of the night. If I can say one thing about what WWE has done right, they realized in the WWE Champion-less months of the fall that there needs to be something for their superstars to strive for, otherwise they’re just fighting just because. With the Cena/Rusev US Title Match and this Intercontinental Championship match giving credibility back to these titles, they’re going to have two titles that can headline their house shows should they decide to make an interesting decision in the main event (more on that soon). I’m not sure what R-Truth and Stardust are doing in this, but the rest of them should definitely be in this one. I don’t know how I can feel bad for someone getting a spot on the WrestleMania card, but I do feel bad for Dean Ambrose. The guy hasn’t won a single PPV match since The Shield broke up, and I’m sorry to say that I don’t think he’ll start winning tonight. I also feel for Dolph Ziggler. After having that tremendous moment at Survivor Series, he’s right back to where he’s always been (though I did say this was going to happen months back).
Tonight I see being Daniel Bryan’s night. Bryan is still getting great reactions from the crowd (boy was I wrong saying that he’s done for), and him holding that title will do wonders for it. I’m really expecting an excellent match from everyone in this. It should be very, very good.
Prediction: Daniel Bryan wins the title
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (c)
If you asked me my thoughts about this main event last Sunday, I’d have told you it was probably going to be the worst WrestleMania main event of all time. At the time, it didn’t seem promising that Brock Lesnar was going to re-sign, which made the result obvious. The ice cold Roman Reigns would walk out of WrestleMania as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion to a chorus of boos after a match that would see both men heavily and mercilessly booed. There was no interest to be had in this main event.
Today is a different story. Lesnar announced on ESPN that he re-signed with WWE on a three-year deal and was ending his MMA career (ESPN probably didn’t see that coming at all). All of a sudden a result that was a sure thing all of a sudden isn’t a sure thing anymore. In fact, this main event has become the single most intriguing part of the show now. Is stubborn Vince McMahon going to go with the ice cold Roman Reigns (who is surely to be heavily booed tonight) or does he stick with Lesnar, the monster he just signed to a three-year deal? Honestly, I just can’t see any result that doesn’t involve Lesnar walking out of WrestleMania as the champion. Actually let me rephrase that. I don’t see any result that doesn’t involve Lesnar beating Reigns. Walking out is certainly something that could be up in the air. I could see a scenario where both men viciously beat each other down before Lesnar squeaks out a victory. Then Seth Rollins comes down and cashes in Money in the Bank on the wounded beast to leave with the title. Either way, I just cannot see Reigns winning this match. The whole Reigns push has been a debacle. At most times he’s looked like a fish out of water. He’s improved some, but the programs for a Lesnar or Rollins championship reign are so much better than what Reigns has in front of him as a face (and a weak, weak face at that) champion. I’m not going to officially predict a Rollins cash in, but I honestly think Lesnar is leaving as the champion… unless Paul Heyman turns on Lesnar and goes with Reigns.
Prediction: Brock Lesnar retains
I really didn’t do well with my predictions at WWE Fastlane. I went a terrible 2-4, my worst performance thus far. WrestleMania is one of those shows where what you think will happen a lot of the time won’t. I always think of WrestleMania 28 when I say that. I thought for sure John Cena would beat The Rock there, but it didn’t happen. Hopefully I’ll have a better performance tonight.
Predictions Record: 6-5
Well, those are my predictions for the show. What are yours? Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know!
E-Mail – MikeyT817@gmail.com
Twitter – @MikeTedescoWV
As always, Wrestleview.com will be providing excellent live coverage of WWE WrestleMania 31. Live coverage by the great Adam Martin begins at 7 PM EST (6 PM CST) along with brief updates on Twitter.
Thanks for reading and enjoy WrestleMania 31!