Road to Wrestlemania 33-Part 2

Here’s what we set up in Part 1

WWF Title: AJ Styles v. Austin Aries (Special Guest Referee-Kurt Angle)

IC Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Chris Jericho (Guest PxP by Jim Ross)

Dean Ambrose v. Tyler Black

Nick Nemeth v. Roman Reigns-Uso

Sheamus v. Braun Strowman

And now here’s the rest of the card (we’ll also cover Dark Ride at the end)

Tag Title: Ladder War: Kevin Steen/El Generico v. Trash (Claudio Castagnoli/Neville)

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch (w/Bullet Club)

Luke Harper/Bray Wyatt v. Full Circle (Randy Orton/John Cena)

Bullet Club (Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows) v. American Alpha (Chad Gable/Jason Jordan)

The Usos (Jimmy/Jey) v. Kalisto/Apollo Crews

-Trash formed in the lead up to Summer Slam, disenchanted Neville (formerly Pac) and Claudio split from their GDI stablemates Steen/Generico, won the tag belts, and attacked their former friends. Steen probably had it coming, and if you side with Trash, it’s because you’ve bought into Neville’s righteous anger at how Steen (and the sport of wrestling as a whole) has treated he and Claudio badly.  Steen/Generico took the tag straps at the Rumble, becoming the 100^th ever WWT tag team champs.

-Neville is furious, it cannot stand, he and Claudio call Steen and Generico out to the ring – Neville says they want a rematch, Neville says Steen can pick any stipulation he wants. 

Steen whispers to Generico – Generico exits the ring, reached under, grabs a ladder and brings it into the ring. 

-Steen says “two words.  3 syllables.  Ladder War.”

-The Ladder War was a match made famous by Steen and Generico a decade earlier in Ring of Honor, and now they’re bringing it to Wrestlemania.   The four men (along with Gargano, who has sided with Trash, and Ciampa, who has sided with Steenerico) continue to work together in singles matches in the build, with multiple teases of ladders throughout.  Just before Mania, Ciampa is seriously injured during a match – Gargano clearly has a crisis of conscience, here is his former partner, injured, but Neville steers him away from aiding him. 

-It should be an all time great match – it’s Steen and Generico defending the WWF Tag Titles against Neville and Claudio in a Ladder War!

-Sasha Banks regained the Women’s Title at the Rumble, beating Charlotte Flair to end their long feud, she was then turned on by her friend Becky Lynch, who joined the Bullet Club.  Now, with Anderson or Gallows or sometimes both seemingly always a step away, Becky will challenge for the title.  Sasha cuts “have some guts – you are one of the greatest women’s wrestlers alive, take me on one on one – we have been friends for years – have the decency to just meet me one on one” – which doesn’t matter to Becky at all, she laughs it off – she’s Bullet Club 4 Life.  There’s some mystery about how it is Becky became a member of the Bullet Club – AJ disavowed any knowledge, which seems to be legitimate, but those questions fade as we get closer to Mania.  Sasha defends her title against Becky, now part of the Bullet Club.

-Anderson and Gallows started attacking young American Alpha months ago, believing that they were being overly hyped as the next great tag team, their assaults on Alpha included ending the WWF career of their manager, Jack Swagger.  Alpha’s fought back and they meet up in this build, Alpha joins Roode/Strong as part of the main event program against Anderson/Gallows – and they’re joined by The Revival, who feuded with Alpha as they both came up in Underground. That allows for a lot of mixing and matching with all of those guys as we push both the Alpha/Bullet Club match and the AJ/Aries match. 

-Cena and Orton were tag champs over a decade ago (they were the 76th tag champs) they reunited at the Rumble when Cena turned on Bray with aid from a returning Orton.  Cena’s been a tag champ with Leviathan, become a hardcore darling, joined the Wyatt Family; Orton started Defiance and had tag title runs with Ted DiBiase, Jr.,Cody Rhodes, and Giant Bernard) he also was IC Champ - They’re calling themselves Full Circle, for obvious reasons.  They’re calling out Bray, Cena mocks the fans for thinking that he was so weak minded that he had fallen back in line with Bray – Cena says he was luring him in, getting him comfortable until he could euthanize him.  Bray does a typical video promo, unveiling that he’ll be tagging with Harper, his protégé turned IC Champ turned main event opponent of AJ Styles in both Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.

-The Usos are a longtime babyface act, former tag champs (they dropped to Trash at Summer Slam) they’ve generally wrestled with Roman, and they weren’t on the Rumble card. Who was on the Rumble card was Kalisto and Crews, and they got a lot of “look at this exciting babyface team” talk.  Jimmy and Jey come out to the announce table for a Kalisto/Crews match, and they express some interest in this development – “I mean, these guys are nice wrestlers, but lets calm down a little.”  When the other announcers ask if they have an uncertain future given Roman’s burgeoning singles career, they get a little edge in their voices, “yeah, we’re pretty good too, damn”.  And we begin to see the morphing of the Usos, we see them more in streetclothes, their promo style starts to get a little harder edge, they work an 8 man on the same side as Crews/Kalisto and it turns into a “can you top this” as they compare high spots and superkicks.  They work another 8 man on the side of Crews/Kalisto and they knock them both out with stereo superkicks.  It's a heel turn for Jimmy and Jey. It’s going to be a fast paced opening tag to kick off Wrestlemania 33.

-Over on Dark Ride, Nakamura lost the title to Joe prior to the Rumble, and he remains at Dark Ride throughout the entire build to Mania, just as he did for the Rumble build, ignoring the remainder of the Bullet Club.  Joe and Nakamura do multiple tapings in the UK, each man trying to have great matches with some of the young English wrestlers (Dunne, Bate, Andrews) building to another title match.  Also sent to the UK is Asuka, as she continues to build a reputation for having great matches.  The week before Mania we get the Nakamura/Joe showdown – and Joe keeps the belt.  The value here is to put a spotlight on the Dark Ride belt - it means so much that Nakamura abandoned the Bullet Club in order to spend months pursuing it.  That also puts a spotlight on the ongoing fractures within the Club - AJ promises that at Mania, they will all be together.  The other thing is does is elevate Asuka - Corey Graves as the Dark Ride analyst says she's clearly the best women's wrestler in the entire promotion - that no matter who holds the Title, the clear best worker is Asuka, and no one offers any disagreement.

Okay.  That's your card.

WWF Title: AJ Styles (w/Bullet Club) v. Austin Aries (w/Roode/Strong) (Special Guest Referee-Kurt Angle)
-If Styles is to cotinue his year long WWF Championship reign, he's got to beat his old TNA rival Aries.  Wrestling Legend Kurt Angle makes his return to WWF after a dozen years.  

IC Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Chris Jericho (Guest PxP by Jim Ross)
-Is this match, as Heyman suggests, for the "Real World's Title"? - Brock looks to keep the IC belt against the veteran Jericho, on a year long "Last Ride"

Tag Title: Ladder War: Kevin Steen/El Generico v. Trash (Claudio Castagnoli/Neville)
-The likely match of the night, a possible MOTY candidate, four elite workers in a hot feud with a dangerous stipulation.  

Dean Ambrose v. Tyler Black
-The Shield explodes.  Considered the greatest tag team in WWF history, they've cleaved apart over the past year and now they meet at Wrestlemania

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch (w/Bullet Club)
-Lynch turned on her best friend Banks, joining the Bullet Club, and now challenges for the strap.

Luke Harper/Bray Wyatt v. Full Circle (Randy Orton/John Cena)
-Cult leader Bray is now a burgeoning fan favorite, he and his protege Harper reunite against another former member of the Wyatt Family, Cena, who has rejoined his tag partner from over a decade ago, Orton.  

Nick Nemeth v. Roman Reigns-Uso
-A rare winner of the WWF Triple Crown, Nemeth looks to hold onto his spot against a surging Reigns.

Bullet Club (Karl Anderson/Doc Gallows) v. American Alpha (Chad Gable/Jason Jordan)
-Their long feud comes to a head, upstarts Alpha against the veteran Bullet Club members.

Sheamus v. Braun Strowman
-Strowman, trainined in Underground, is cleaning house of Underground vets - next stop is the fomer IC/tag champ, Sheamus.  Can the Irishman stop this train?

The Usos (Jimmy/Jey) v. Kalisto/Apollo Crews

-Jimmy and Jey have just become rulebreakers, and as their brand new, harder edge begins to emerge they take on the exciting, high flying Kalisto/Crews in what is sure to be a crowd pleasing opener.

That's Wrestlemania 33 - we've got dark matches, we've got Bryan Danielson, it's Wrestling's Super Bowl, the height of the calendar - you have to watch Wrestlemania 33 - coming in April only on Pay Per View!