The problem with Wrestlemania

As I write this, I've just finished watching this week's Raw.

We all know Batista is headlining Mania, having won the Rumble. The big assumptions are that Daniel Bryan faces Triple H, Taker gets Lesnar, all of Bray Wyatt's good work gets ruined by facing John Cena, and Orton defends the WWE title against Batista. Aside from Taker / Lesnar, WWE has started booking things for all three other matches, so I can't see too much difference happening.

The problem with all this is simple: it's a bit shit. And the reason it's all a bit shit can be summed up in two words:

Randy Orton.

Going back to the Rumble, Orton was the number 4 guy in WWE. Behind Cena, Punk, Bryan, and then Randy. He's not actually got an opponent at the moment, his run with Bryan has finished. Cena is facing wyatt, once they're through with the Shield. Bryan has Triple H and Kane, lesnar and Taker will be sorting themselves out once they're back on TV. Randy Orton is losing weekly, which is making him look even worse (incidentally, why WWE gave Kofi such a huge win and have done sod all with him since pretty much sums WWE up at the moment).

All it'll take at the moment is three simple switches...:

Turn Batista heel, align him with the Authority.
Orton loses the title to Bryan in the Chamber.
Switch Bryan and Orton over in the above matches.

Mania 29, I only decided to order it the day before the event, when Vince did the big reveal of the stadium. If they go with what I think they're going with, I don't want to see Dave closing the show and winning the title. Ever.

Even if WWE do what you've suggested do you think they would actually Bryan keep the title at Mania? Based on past performance I can't really see it. Whatever happens in the lead up I still see Big Dave winng the title at WrestleMania.

I haven't been able to imagine Orton vs Batista as the main event even after Batista won the Rumble. I was sure something would happen at EC. To me it still looks like it might. They haven't had Orton and Batista do ANY build up, bar a slight backstage encounter. How can they leave every match with no build up until after EC? It's Wrestlemania ffs. The main storyline includes Bryan now, instead of Punk, but to waste that on the 3rd or 4th billing with the HHH match is ridiculous. He can't be that egotistical, can he? To have the 4th bill match as the most important storywise?

If Orton were to lose at EC, He'd still have his rematch, he probably won't, but he is being pushed aside in both the story and reality by HHH. The focus of the story is more about HHH than Orton, it's almost like they are setting up a turn, but Orton as face would mean he would be facing HHH at the end of it. It's a bit messy whatever happens. I think they regret planning ahead and will be looking to re work something new.

I think it's more that they've had to promise Dave the main event slot to get him to come back, there's no natural rivalry for him, except to go with the Orton / Evolution thing.

WWE has, over the past few years, done every other possible match with the full-timers to death. I've seen enough Cena/Orton/Punk combo to death, and Bryan's also main-evented PPV's against all of them. WWE has been so shit at building any new main event stars over the past 6 years, it's come back and bitten them big time.

I imagined the storyline would be better too. For wrestlemania it seems like the Authority storyline has long since peaked. I hadn't been keeping up until a few weeks ago, but it feels like it's just tailing off to nothing, or a really boring Orton turn. I would have expected more conspiracy and dirty dealing to really set the mood for the 30th anniversary. It's more like HHH is a bit bad, but mainly just because he wants a star to lead the company post Cena dominance. And he and Steph just take it in turns in basic live show heel play. I.e 'you want to see Bryan fight? ... Yes, yes, yes.. Well we don't.. Booo. Fans don't care, they just love Bryan to almost brainwashed nazi levels and want on nothing but cheap pandering to that fact.