Wrestlemania 36- Fantasy Booking

[Senor M]

Sitting around on a Sunday and thinking about what might happen at Wrestlemania next year & I typically do a bit of fantasy booking about what I think will happen this time of year--- these are my thoughts.

WWE Universal Championship Match
Title Vs Career Match
‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt © Vs John Cena​

• ‘The Fiend’ continues to dominate the Smackdown roster defeating The Miz at TLC and Bryan at the Royal Rumble. ‘The Fiend’ is built up as unstoppable and plays mind games with the entire Smackdown locker room. The week before the Royal Rumble John Cena returns to Smackdown to ‘enter’ the Rumble; however, is attacked by ‘The Fiend’ and misses the Rumble match. After the Rumble win there is regular references to John Cena in the Firefly Funhouse segments.
• For the Elimination Chamber PPV it is Bryan/Miz/Reigns/Braun/Corbin/Sheamus for a match against ‘The Fiend’ at Wrestlemania. Reigns & Braun are double eliminated from the Chamber by one another when Braun spears Reigns through the chamber and to the outside. When it’s the final three in the Chamber match (Bryan/Miz/Sheamus); ‘The Fiend’ attacks and ends the match by attacking all three—leaving no winner to the Chamber match.
• After Elimination Chamber John Cena returns to Smackdown & calls Bray out for attacking him; but also ‘his family’ in Smackdown. John Cena challenges ‘The Fiend’ to a match at Wrestlemania; but ‘The Fiend’ only accepts if Cena puts his career on the line. Cena either ends his career or overcomes the odds to win his record breaking 17th World title.

WWE Championship Match
AJ Styles © w/Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows Vs Kevin Owens​

• AJ Styles wins the WWE Championship from Lesnar at the Rumble through assistance from Anderson & Gallows. The OC are the ‘dominant’ force on Raw & try to recruit Rollins to join their alliance. Rollins rejects and Styles/Rollins faces off for the WWE Championship at Fast Lane. Styles defends again and goes into Wrestlemania as a heel champion in a similar vein to his NJPW run.
• Kevin Owens wins the Royal Rumble in a ‘workhorse’ performance from the First 5; lasting over 40+ minutes. Owens has to defend his Rumble opportunity at the Elimination Chamber, winning again in a Chamber against Anderson/Rusev/Lashley/McIntyre/Orton. This continues to build Owens up as an ‘Austin’ style face up against the OC.

CM Punk Vs Seth Rollins​

• Rollins continues to be a tweener on Raw the next few months; rejecting the ‘support’ of the AoP; teaming up with Owens against the AoP on Raw early in the new year. Rollins appears on WWE Backstage again talking about how he will win the Royal Rumble and continue to ‘build’ the tension between Rollins & Punk.
• The week after the Royal Rumble (in which Rollins is eliminated by the AoP) Rollins & Punk both appear on WWE Backstage and Punk calls Rollins out for losing; ending with a face to face encounter. This encounter makes Rollins doubt himself & leads to him almost joining The OC. However instead of joining The OC; Rollins challenges Styles to a WWE Championship match at Fast Lane and loses.
• On the Raw after Fastlane Rollins promises a ‘Pipe bomb’ promo at his frustrations for his lack of success the past 6 months. Rollins claims that he’s “still the best wrestler in the world” & is interrupted by Punk. Punk mentions that he’s sick of Rollins running his mouth--- and that if Rollins wants to prove he’s the best in the world; he has to beat a returning Punk.

Brock Lesnar Vs Tyson Fury​

• Tyson Fury talks ‘smack’ about Lesnar on ESPN, social media, WWE Backstage, etc. for a few weeks; then Heyman responds on behalf of Brock Lesnar; challenging Fury to have a ‘face-to-face’ encounter on an episode of Raw.
• The face to face encounter ends up in a brawl between the two that is broken up by the entire Raw roster. Lesnar & Fury rotate appearances on Raw for the next two months; but don’t go face to face again until Wrestlemania.

Last Man Standing Match
Roman Reigns Vs Braun Strowman​

• Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman team up against Corbin, Ziggler & Roode on Smackdown in the new year and form an ‘unlikely alliance’ heading into the Royal Rumble. In the Royal Rumble match, Reigns accidently eliminates Strowman off the ring apron as Reigns tries to spear Ziggler out of the Rumble match. An angry Strowman gets back in the ring and eliminates Reigns.
• Braun Strowman turns heel again & repeatedly attacks Reigns on Smackdown; including a massive double elimination at the Elimination Chamber (as described above).
• In the weeks leading up to Wrestlemania Braun keeps trying to ‘up’ what he does to get rid of Reigns similar to the old “I’m not finished with you” skits; where Braun flips objects onto Reigns every week.

The Undertaker Vs Baron Corbin​

• Baron Corbin invites Kurt Angle to Smackdown to ‘celebrate’ his career; but instead taunts Angle that Corbin ended his career last year at Wrestlemania. Angle mentions that even though his career is over; he’s got a friend that will defend his honour against Corbin at Wrestlemania 36--- The Undertaker.
• The Undertaker returns to Smackdown; but gets beaten down by the trio of Corbin, Ziggler & Roode. At Wrestlemania The Undertaker gets a basic ‘squash’ match of Corbin.

4 Horsewomen Vs 4 Horsewomen
Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Sasha Banks & Bayley Vs Ronda Rousey, Shayna Basler, Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke​

• A ‘debuting’ Shayna Basler wins the Women’s Royal Rumble match; last eliminating Charlotte to win the match. Becky Lynch comes out to stand face to face with Shayna; but the face-off is broken up by Shafir & Duke.
• Basler decides she doesn’t want to wait until Wrestlemania to challenge Becky Lynch and the Basler/Lynch for the Raw Women’s title happens as the main event of Fastlane with Lynch having Charlotte for ‘support’ while Duke & Shafir are supporting Basler. During the match Ronda Rousey returns & costs Lynch the match; making Basler the Raw Women’s Champion. The MMA ‘Four Horsewomen’ stand tall over Lynch & Charlotte to end Fastlane.
• The next night on Raw the MMA Horsewomen attack Lynch again; but this time they are saved by Sasha Banks & Bayley; leading to a four vs four stand-off.
• This feud is built up across both Raw & Smackdown.

Intercontinental Championship Match
Shinsuke Nakamura © w/ Sami Zayn Vs Daniel Bryan​

• Shinsuke Nakamura holds onto the Intercontinental Championship across the next few months with the help of Sami Zayn; defending against Ali, Cesaro, Shorty G & Sheamus in defences on both PPV and Smackdown. Nakamura looks like an unstoppable midcard champion.
• At the same time, the “Yes Movement” is back in full swing, even though Daniel Bryan has had a few loses in recent months. Zayn continues to question Bryan’s ability and whether ‘he’s still got it’. Daniel Bryan has to defeat Sami Zayn on Smackdown to earn a title match and wins in a 30-minute epic match between the two.

US Championship Ladder Match
Rey Mysterio © vs Andrade Vs Humberto Currilo Vs Ricochet Vs Cedric Alexander Vs Buddy Murphy​

• Rey Mysterio is super over at the moment and it’s a great opportunity for him to elevate the young, high flying Raw midcard. For this match to be really hype; the title would be kept on Mysterio for a few months who would defend it in singles matches against all of the other participants in singles matches.
• Depending on who is able to get over with the fans the most in the next few months (Ricochet, Andrade, Currilo or Murphy) would depend on who wins the ladder match.

Smackdown Tag Titles Invitational Gauntlet Match
The New Day © Vs The Revival Vs. Miz & Morrison Vs. The Hardy Boyz Vs Sheamus & Cesaro Vs Heavy Machinery Vs American Alpha​

• The New Day are the ‘greatest’ tag team of the past decade and invite some of the greatest teams of all time to challenge them for the titles. By reuniting teams such as Miz & Morrison, The Hardy Boyz, The Bar & American Alpha (even if Jason Jordan can only do a couple of bumps) on Smackdown it makes Smackdown look even more of a big deal for Fox and is a fun nostalgic pop fest.
• Heavy Machinery win the match with Otis doing a Caterpillar on Kofi Kingston; fully putting Heavy Machinery over as the ‘next big tag team’.

WWE No.1 Contenders Triple Threat Match
Drew McIntyre Vs Rusev Vs Randy Orton
​

• Rusev is starting to build real momentum (despite the horrible storyline) and the Wrestlemania crowds have previously shown to love Ru-Ru. This match is an opportunity to put Rusev over as a babyface and towards a future Lesnar match or title opportunity.
• McIntyre & Orton are in this match primarily because they are ‘too big’ to just be in the battle royal, however there doesn’t appear to be any good storylines for them heading into Wrestlemania.

WWE Women’s Tag Title Match
Askua & Kairi Sane © Vs Naomi & Carmella​

• There will be a second Women’s match on this card and both Women’s singles titles and most of the big names will be attached to the 4HW V 4HW match. Therefore, it would make sense for Askua & Kairi Sane to get a Tag title defence at Wrestlemania.
• I think the most likely opponents for them could be Naomi & Carmella (they’ve tagged previously) with Naomi returning to be part of this match. The other option for the challengers could be Bliss & Nikki Cross; especially now that Bliss is officially a babyface.

HOSTS: The Street Profits ​

• Street Profits are fun characters that seem to resonate with the audience; this is a similar role to what Alexa Bliss and The New Day have done in recent years (attendance announcement, legend return segment, etc.)

-------PRE SHOW------

Raw Tag Title Match
War Raiders © Vs The Uso’s Vs Authors of Pain​

• The two best teams on Raw (War Raiders & AoP) in a match with one of the greatest teams of the decade in The Uso’s. As this match is on the pre-show it could be given 20-25 minutes to be an NXT Takeover quality tag match that all three teams are capable of doing.
• The Uso’s are the clear babyfaces in this match and win the tag titles in their ‘return’ to the WWE.

24/7 Title 30-Man 15-minute Hardcore Battle Royal
R-Truth © Vs. Bobby Lashley Vs Allister Black Vs. Shorty Gable Vs Dolph Ziggler
Vs Robert Roode Vs Elias Vs Eric Rowan Vs Akira Tozawa Vs Curt Hawkins
Vs Zack Ryder Vs Eric Young Vs EC3 Vs Mojo Rawley Vs No Way Jose
Vs Shelton Benjamin Vs Titus O’Neal Vs. Apollo Crews Vs Curtis Axel Vs Bo Dallas
Vs Drake Maverick Vs Jinder Mahal Vs Gran Metalik Vs Kalisto Vs Lince Dorado
Vs Drew Gulak Vs Tony Nese Vs Mike Kanellis Vs Samir Singh Vs Sunil Singh​

• Changing up the Andre The Giant Battle Royal formula and adding the 24/7 title. I would use the same rules as the Wrestlemania 2000 Hardcore title battle royal where the match continued for 15 minutes and the winner is the person with the title at the end of the time period.

Wrestlemania Women’s Battle Royal
Nia Jax Vs Natalya Vs Alexa Bliss Vs Nikki Cross (or Carmella & Naomi) Vs Lacey Evans
Vs Sarah Logan Vs Zelina Vega Vs Ruby Riott Vs Billie Kay Vs Peyton Royce
Vs Liv Morgan Vs Dana Brooke Vs Mandy Rose Vs Sonya Deville Vs Tamina
Vs Toni Storm Vs Rhea Rhipley Vs Bianca Belair Vs Candice LaRae Vs Io Shirai
​

• Annual Women’s Battle Royal. An opportunity to put over a returning Nia Jax; building her up as a future opponent for Becky Lynch (or a returning Ronda Rousey) as the ‘hard-hitting’ monster we saw in late 2018/early 2019.

EDIT: Changes for released wrestlers (9/12)

 

[Blackhawk42]

Card is starting to take a little shape despite only the one match being confirmed.

I am curious as to what Seth Rollins will be doing. Would love a match with Edge, but looks like that's going to Orton.
If he and Buddy are still tag champs then a tag title defence against a big name team could be the go. Not sure how it would work but Miz and Morrison could be cool.

Or for something different (to appease their fetish of multi-man matches at Mania) a tag team turmoil where Rollins and Murph are forced to start first and run the entire gauntlet. Could make for some serious in-ring entertainment if a team DIY or Broserweights were added to really up the ante.

 

[Cleavy]

Rollins/Murphy vs Owens/Samoa Joe for WM? ladder match?