Wrestlemania 39

The Build

Wrestlemania 39 comes to you from Los Angeles.  It is the 145th WWF PPV

(Dark: Nakamura/Styles d. Riddle/Knight

            McDonagh d. Dunne/Alexander

            Dark Ride Title: Dragunov d. Dragon Lee)

The opening package is every wrestler who left the previous 38 Manias as a champion, lot of pinfalls, holding of belts, celebrations, etc...

1: Tito Santana/Brutus Beefcake

    Roddy Piper

    Ricky Steamboat

2: Bret Hart/Davey Boy Smith (w/Anvil)

    Randy Savage

    Dynamite Kid

3. Hart Foundation

    Randy Savage

    Ricky Steamboat

4. Rougeau Brothers

    Bret Hart

    Dynamite Kid

5. Brainbusters

    Rick Rude

    Randy Savage

6. Rick Rude/Marty Jannetty

    Bret Hart

    Mr. Perfect

7. Road Warriors

    Bret Hart

    Mr. Perfect

8. Money Inc.

    Randy Savage

    Bret Hart

9. Steiner Brothers

    Shawn Michaels

    Bret Hart

10. Lex Luger/Bam Bam Bigelow

      Razor Ramon

      Owen Hart

11. Smoking Gunns

      Razor Ramon

      Bret Hart

12. Steve Austin/Dustin Rhodes

      Vader

      Shawn Michaels

13. Davey Boy Smith/Owen Hart

      Cactus Jack

      Steve Austin

14. New Age Outlaws  

      Ken Shamrock

      Owen Hart

15. Hardys

      Al Snow

      Cactus Jack

16. Hardys

      Eddy Guerrero

      Chris Benoit

17. Dudley Boys

      Steve Austin

      Kurt Angle

18. Chris Jericho/Lance Storm

      Rob Van Dam

      Kurt Angle

19. Shawn Michaels/Triple H

      Rey Mysterio

      Kurt Angle

20  Ric Flair/Leviathan Batista

      Eddy Guerrero

      Chris Benoit

21. Randy Orton/John Cena

      Edge

      Eddy Guerrero

22. Paul Wight/Kane

      HHH-M

      Rey Mysterio

23. Juventud Guerrera/Super Crazy

      Randy Orton

      Fit Finlay

      CM Punk

      Booker T

24. John Cena/Leviathan Batista

      MVP

      CM Punk

25. Paul Wight/Kane

      Rey Mysterio

      Chris Jericho

26. Kingston/Killings

      Matt Sydal

      Chris Jericho

27. Wade Barrett/Justin Gabriel

      Sheamus

      Nic Nemeth

28. CM Punk

      Young Money

      The Rock

      Bryan Danielson

29. Tyler Black/Dean Ambrose (w/Langston)

      Nic Nemeth

      Brock Lesnar

30. The Shield

      Nic Nemeth

      Claudio Castagnoli

31. Bray Wyatt

      The Shield

      Brock Lesnar

32. Sasha Banks

      Jimmy Uso/Jey Uso (w/Reigns)

      El Generico

      AJ Styles

33. Becky Lynch

      Hardys

      Brock Lesnar

      AJ Styles

34. Asuka

      The Revival

      Shinsuke Nakamura

35. Asuka

      Brock Lesnar/Kurt Angle/Shelton Benjamin

      Ricochet

      AJ Styles

36. Street Profits

      Asuka

      Angel Garza

      Tyler Black

37. Randy Orton/Damien Priest/Apollo Crews

      Rhea Ripley

      AJ Styles

      Matt Riddle

38. Ronda Rousey

      The Usos

      Cody Rhodes

      Roman Reigns

     

The Announcers are Michael Cole (4) Corey Graves (6) Wade Barrett (6)

1. STREET PROFITS d. VIKING RAIDERS

-Standard opening tag, fast paced, quick tags - babyfaces get the win and everyone starts off happy.

2. LEGENDS MATCH: LOGAN PAUL d. JOHN CENA (special guest referee-Pat McAfee)

-The big spot here is McAfee turning heel, quick counting Cena, Paul gets the win and he and McAfee are once again aligned, they leave the ring together with a joint livestream as they head up the ramp.

3. BAYLEY/NATTY NEIDHART/TRISH STRATUS d. LIV MORGAN/RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ/CHELSEA GREEN

-The long war between Clique and Harts may have reached its end, Natty and Trish aid each other and Bayley gets the fall on one of the members of the heel trio.

4. EMANCIPATION MATCH: DOMINIC MYSTERIO d. REY MYSTERIO

-The finish comes when Defiance interferes, Priest distracts the official, Solo spikes Rey - Dom gets the fall - postmatch, he joins Defiance, ripping off his mask (one of Rey's legendary masks). Rey gets wiped out with finishing moves and Defiance poses above his body.  

5. SHEAMUS d. THE MIZ

-McDonagh gets his redemption, running down to stop the Miz from some type of outside skullduggery, Sheamus gets the fall and he and McDonagh shake hands postmatch.

6. 2 of 3 FALLS: IYO SKY d. ASUKA

-A real step up for workrate - this might be the best bell to bell womens match in the history of the promotion.  Asuka gets the first fall - then intentionally draws a DQ in the second fall by working Sky over with a chair - Sky bravely battles through it, defeating Asuka in the third fall for the biggest win of her career.

7. MONEY IN THE BANK: LOGAN PAUL d. KEVIN STEEN/SAMI ZAYN/TYLER BLACK/JIMMY USO/JEY USO

-Paul, recall, was not announced, the 6th man was a mystery opponent.  And he doesn't appear until the end of the match.  

-Black gets knocked out midway, taking whatever level of giant ladder bump he's able to take

-The tag spot that was teased on TV happens, they toss the ladders out of the ring and do a few minutes, Usos v. Steenerico.  

-That ends with a big bump, like if the Usos were stacked on a tables and Steen hit a senton off of a ladder on the outside.  All 3 men, dead.

-That leads to Defiance running in.  Priest/Dom/Solo -- they attack the Usos/Steen; or rather, they start with Steen but then Priest and Dom move to the Usos - Solo steps in, shakes his head - he and Priest have a moment where it looks like they might go at it....but then they don't - all 3 men turning their attention to Steen.

-As that was happening, Zayn was grabbing a ladder, putting it up, and starting to slowly climb - so what we're looking at is the Usos, dead, having been put through the tablestack - and Steen being attacked by 3 members of Defiance.  Zayn can win this match - he can climb the ladder and win this match.   

-But he doesn't.  The storyline is Zayn has never stepped up to aid Steen in this period where their rivalry is not as intense as it had been  - that Steen, multiple times, had "saved" Zayn, in a clear attempt to repair their broken friendship, but Zayn had not returned the favor, clearly holding onto the much discussed offenses Steen committed.

-Instead - Zayn, hopefully at the urging of the fans, makes the decision to aid his teammate - he leaves the ladder - diving out of the ring atop Defiance -- saving Steen, but because Steen is not able to stand with him, it's 3 on 1 essentially.

-And thats when Logan Paul appears (with McAfee).

-The 6th entrant was a mystery - and that mystery is solved, Paul runs to the ring - McAfee behind, doing the streaming -- Paul climbs the ladder - and Logan Paul wins Money in the Bank, he can challenge for any title any time in the next year.  He and McAfee exit in celebration

-Attention now returns to the outside, Defiance stomping Zayn - Steen is aroused - Steen and Zayn now fight together, running off Defiance.  

-Steen and Zayn return to the ring, trying to put together what happened.

-The video wall shows the finish - shows Paul's win, which is how Zayn and Steen see that - and also shows Zayn giving up the win to help Steen.

-So, we get the makeup moment - Steen sees that Zayn has sacrificed - it's emotional - the weight of all their years together and now apart evident in the ring - Steen extends his hand -- Sami shakes his head no -- and then offers a hug.  It's a reconciliation, Steen and Zayn, together again - here at Wrestlemania 39!

And that's the end of the first half of the show.

In Memorium

Antonio Inoki

Bobby Lane

Chelsey Love

Dave Hebner

Don West

Gil Hayes

Jaysin Strife

Johnny Powers

Katsuya Kitamura

Lasser

Masashi Ayoagi

Tarzan Goto

Tim White

Zebra Kid

Black Warrior

Charlie Norris

Lanny Poffo

Jerry Jarrett

Jay Briscoe

8. WOMENS TAG TITLES: FIGHT FOREVER (BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR) d. HORSEWOMEN (RHEA RIPLEY/SHAYNA BASZLER w/Tiffany Stratton)

-The first modern day WWF Women's Tag Champs are Lynch and Flair - Baszler takes the fall, there's attempted interference from Stratton to aid Ripley that backfires - Ripley clearly irritated with her stablemates with the loss.  Big celebration for Lynch and Flair - tag team champions of the world.

9. TAG TITLES: NO DQ: DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (WALTER/BROCK LESNAR w/Paul Heyman) d. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (DREW MCINTYRE/CHAD GABLE w/Bobby Lashley)

-We get a real ass kicking here; the superteam of Walter and Lesnar romp and stomp - it's No DQ, so Lashley gets involved - the 3 men in the Holy Roman Empire all here to take their beating at the hands of the tag champs.  

10. IC TITLE: RICOCHET d. PRINCE DEVITT

11. IC TITLE: LOGAN PAUL (w/Pat McAfee) d. RICOCHET

The 81st IC Champion is Ricochet - he takes from Devitt in a long workrate match, nearfalls, real main event style, every drop both men have sort of a match.  Ricochet takes Devitt's belt - the two shake hands postmatch and their feud has ended.

And then - to the ring comes McAfee with Logan Paul and the briefcase.  Paul's not gonna wait - he's gonna cash this in right now.  Ricochet is spent - and in a 8-10 minute match Paul catches him in a fall.

Logan Paul is the 82nd IC Champ - Logan Paul becomes the first man in history to win 3 Wrestlemania matches on the same night - and and McAfee wildly celebrate - doing an energy drink celebration like Austin's beer bash.

12. WOMENS TITLE: RONDA ROUSEY (w/Heyman) d. BIANCA BELAIR

The 16th modern WWF Womens Champ is Rousey, she regains from Belair - postmatch, Walter and Lesnar return - the Dangerous Alliance hitting the turnbuckles - standing atop Wrestlemania 39, all 3 holding title belts.  

Prior to the main event - a surprise - the return of Steve Regal - Regal is a long beloved figure in the WWF, considered the pivotal person in the developmental system - he joins the announce table for the main event.

13. WWF TITLE: CODY RHODES d. ROMAN REIGNS

The 65th WWF Champion, the 17th Triple Crown winner, is Cody Rhodes.  There's no one to help Reigns, his full group having been wiped out in the tag title match, Cody hits his finisher a couple of times -- and Roman's year long reign at the top comes to an end.  

Cody Rhodes, Dusty's son, Dustin's brother - the Undertaker's protegee, raised by Randy Orton, from the Bullet Club, ROH, AEW VP - Cody Rhodes is the new WWF Champion.  Fireworks, tears - the whole thing as Wrestlemania comes to an end.

Long journey toward that booking decision, as I take you behind the curtain given that we're about to start the final wrestling year of the Counterfactual.  

Initially - the Reigns spot was going to be Langston's.  Reigns puts together the stable of non-ROH guys to take control of the promotion, but Gable's spot was Langston's - Langston would wind up getting a title shot, probably via a number one contender's battle royal, and he gets the title - Reigns is fine with that for a while, but eventually its too much for him and tears the group apart.  

But - Langston got hurt, so Gable took that spot.  Gable was then positioned as the version of IRL Zayn, except with him going over Reigns at the end of that story to take the belt.  But - Gable hasn't worked a PPV since Summer Slam 2023 and so he can't get the belt.  

So then what?  Well - something that you know but the Counterfactual does not know yet is we're getting a pretty significant talent back at the end of 2023, and a title match between that guy and Reigns, given how Roman's entire narrative has used that guy long before that guy became available to be used, was impossible to pass up.  

But -- then that guy worked the Rumble and got hurt.  Meaning - were Roman to win that match, he'd be looking at a 2 year title run headed to WM 40.

Which was more than I wanted to do - so I backed all the way up here and did this switch.  Roman was over Cody for most of the past year on the booking sheet - but it didn't turn out that way and we pivot.

Back in May for a couple of filler months before we get to Summer Slam.  

      

The Road to Wrestlemania 39 - 2

Part 1

(I don't want to say it's unprecedented, but it's super, super rare - between writing Part 1 and writing Part 2, my planned finish in a prominent match has changed; I had already written down in longhand the results of the PPV and something IRL in real time has caused me to flip....a lot of future booking.  A lot.)

In Part 1 we set up the 5 title matches:

WWF TITLE: ROMAN REIGNS v. CODY RHODES

-Roman's been champ for a year, can he extend that reign or does Cody take the WWF Title and the Triple Crown?

IC TITLE:       PRINCE DEVITT v. RICOCHET

-It's the biggest rival for each man in their respective WWF careers; will history repeat, with Ricochet taking Devitt's IC Title - or does the Prince get his redemption?

TAG TITLES: NO DQ:  DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (WALTER/LESNAR w/Heyman) v. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (MCINTYRE/GABLE w. Lashley)

-Walter/Lesnar look like a superteam, do they win this No DQ rematch against the HRE?

WOMENS TITLE: BIANCA BELAIR v. RONDA ROUSEY (w/Heyman)

-Rousey's taken two pinfall losses in WWF, losing the title to Belair was one of them, she looks to regain the belt here.

WOMENS TAG TITLES: FIGHT FOREVER (BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR) v. HORSEWOMEN (RHEA RIPLEY/SHAYNA BASZLER w. Stratton)

-Its the inauguration of the modern womens tag title belts, who will become the first WWF modern womens tag team champions?

7 More Matches Now Announced:

2 OF 3 FALLS: ASUKA v. IYO SKY

-The 2 time Womens Champ Asuka returned after long injury layoff to find her former stablemate Sky with a fully Americanized persona; Sky defeated Asuka, who then turned on her - Asuka got revenge in a brutal Rumble win and here's the rubber match; it's sold as potentially the best womens wrestling match in promotion history.  

MONEY IN THE BANK: KEVIN STEEN v. SAMI ZAYN v. JEY USO v. JIMMY USO v. TYLER BLACK v. ?

-Why not have a big multi-man ladder match?  Winner can challenge for any title over the next year.

Steen and Zayn's relationship is now one of the epic stories in promotion history; over the course of this wrestling year Steen has given up in an attempt to repair their relationship; one talking point mentioned by announcers for months has been that while Steen had occasion multiple times to "save" Zayn, attempting to cut against the claim that he has been selfish in their long friendship. Zayn, however, has never shown appreciation or reciprocated, and while Steen did commit the sin that ended their friendship (I'm not going through that whole thing, you can look it up) there's a lot of miles in the rear view such that fans in 2023 should find themselves saying that its Zayn now who needs to step up.

The Usos are 4 time tag champs, but are broken up now, Roman's rejection of them as part of his stable caused a fissure that couldn't be repaired.  

There's a moment in the build that teases the tag match that never happened - "I mean, obviously we're not ever going to have this match...but if we did...who do you think would win...."

They do a tag in the build - Jey and Zayn beating Steen and Jimmy when Jey (the only heel in the mix) pulls out some knucks and knocks Steen out - Zayn maybe could have stopped it - but does not, taking the win instead of aiding Steen.

Add Black - who spent the previous wrestling year chasing the IC in an attempt to win the Triple Crown - he's focusing on the briefcase and teasing that maybe, if he won, it's that IC belt that he'd be going after.

Add a mystery 6th entrant and you've got the match.

EMANCIPATION MATCH: REY MYSTERIO v. DOMINIC MYSTERIO

-After a couple of years of stumbles, Dom has achieved some success as a chickenshit heel - Rey is disgusted by this and so a deal is struck - if Rey wins, then Dom has to give him the rest of 2023, allow Rey to train him, do what Rey asks entirely - and if, at that point, Dom still wants to do things his way, Rey won't stand in his way anymore.  However - if Dom wins, that freedom comes now, Dom (an adult) is emancipated, and he doesn't ever need to listen to Rey again.  Dom's a masked wrestler, like his dad - and as part of this build Rey gives Dom a special mask from his career (maybe the one he wore when he became WWF Champ, lets say).  It's a touching moment, from a father to his boy.

LEGENDS MATCH: JOHN CENA v. LOGAN PAUL (Special Guest Referee: Pat McAfee)

-Paul ended Edge's WWF career at the Rumble and is at the highest possible level of cockiness; he declares himself the only real WWF legend - Cena returns to challenge; they insult each other - Paul promises a legendary Mania to his followers.  McAfee returns here to resume the Paul rivalry and is named guest referee.  

SHEAMUS v MIZ

-Former rivals, then partners, now rivals again - Miz does a "I'm a vet, who are you" thing with McDonagh, talking about how his big brother Devitt is too busy to protect him - that leads to Sheamus emerging; the backstory of Sheamus bullying Miz comes into play - the two of them becoming tag champs with McIntyre and then it all blowing up provides the backdrop.

BAYLEY/NATTY/TRISH v. LIV/RAQUEL/CHELSEA

-As part of the launch of the tag belts, a documentary about the evolution of the role of women in WWF is shot, unsparing look at the misogyny evident earlier days of the Mania era.  Trish and Natty, representing the Clique and the Harts, come to detente over the course of the shooting; they get called out by Bliss and Morgan doing a "can you get your old asses out of our ring" thing - Bliss gets hurt and Morgan grabs another young team, Rodriguez and Green, and they stomp out the vets.  Bayley then comes in near the end and we've got a 6 woman match.  

STREET PROFITS v. VIKING RAIDERS

-Straight opening tag, the babyface Profits against the heel Raiders.

And that's the show - multiple dark matches, including Dragon Lee defending the Dark Ride title against Ilja Dragunov.  

We're off to Los Angeles for Wrestlemania 39 - coming in April

The Road to Wrestlemania 39 - 1

Rumble

Wrestlemania 39 is in Los Angeles in April; 12 match card, here, we'll cover the 5 title bouts.

WWF TITLE: ROMAN REIGNS v. CODY RHODES

IC TITLE:       PRINCE DEVITT v. RICOCHET

TAG TITLES: NO DQ:  DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (WALTER/LESNAR w/Heyman) v. HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (MCINTYRE/GABLE w. Lashley)

WOMENS TITLE: BIANCA BELAIR v. RONDA ROUSEY (w/Heyman)

WOMENS TAG TITLES: FIGHT FOREVER (BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR) v. HORSEWOMEN (RHEA RIPLEY/SHAYNA BASZLER w. Stratton)

Reigns v. Rhodes: Roman's been telling the same story since Covid: Punk, throwing down the WWF title, GDI, all the home grown talent pushed down, the sleeper cell for AEW - and he's now defeated the 4 guys he centered: Zayn, Steen (in a tv tag) Styles, Black.  Roman thought that was it - he'd do that and maybe retire to a private island - but then....then one year ago at Wrestlemania, AEW came right up to the front door and won the IC Title.

Roman admits he was wrong - he tried to take it out immediately, send it back home - but now he sees that the better move is - on the sport's biggest stage - to mark his 1 year as WWF Champion, to beat AEW right in the middle of the ring.  

And he calls Cody out.  

As the build continues, it's clear Cody doesn't still work for AEW - but Roman's narrative has been that AEW is bad for WWF, bad for WWF fans, bad for WWF wrestlers - and Cody is as responsible as anyone for creating it.  Roman says Tony Khan isn't showing up to take his beating, so this is the next best thing.  

Cody's story is essentially his IRL story - his dad and brother never won the WWF Title - Cody is a WWF Title win away from the Triple Crown; he and Roman have a lot in common, both felt they hit a glass ceiling, Roman smashed through it to win the WWF Title - Cody smashed the entire sport, built another promotion and now he is going to beat Roman in the main event of Wrestlemania and win the WWF Title.  

Devitt v. Ricochet: This is the best rival either guy has had in his WWF career, a few years ago they had a long program spanning both main roster and Dark Ride, Ricochet taking Devitt's IC.  Now - here we are again, Devitt's taken on all comers in the run - and Ricochet presents his WM challenge.  Ricochet's a babyface; Devitt's a tweener, but given the number of wins, likely to get babyface reactions consistently at this point.  Devitt's formed an Irish alliance with McDonagh (there's a name coming and perhaps an added member or two, but that's a spoiler and not part of the build) and that can be part of the build with the other two members of Blood Warriors International (Alexander/Tozawa) supporting Ricochet.  It's a workrate program backed up by the history of the Ricochet/Devitt feud.  

Dangerous Alliance v. Holy Roman Empire: Walter and Lesnar are a superteam, they're the MegaPowers, they work once - say the Viking Raiders - and it's a squash.  They're an unstoppable force.  One would assume Roman  would be hot with his guys after the Rumble (Cody beat Gable, McIntyre/Lashley lost the tag belts) but instead he's warm - "hey, you guys were all in over your heads - this was my fault - go home, get some rest" - the return is midway through the build to set up a Gable match against Shelton Benjamin that occurs two weeks out from Mania.

Prior to the Rumble, came Nic Nemeth's last match, Gable beats him and at Roman's direction, McIntyre chairshots him while Lashley/Gable (Nemeth's former stablemates)  hold him (Gable didn't want to do this).

They do that again here - that should be seen as an escalation; Gable and Benjamin are both in the Angle lineage (part of the Angle tree) and were close as members of Shoot Nation. Gable demonstrably does not want to go along with this - and here is where Roman's attitude shifts 180 degrees as he goes off on Gable, fully screaming at him to show his loyalty or get out of the ring - once again, they do it - Benjamin is laid out - Gable exits without talking to his stablemates.

That writes Benjamin off - the other consequence, of course, is Lesnar is going to totally freak out, given that Benjamin is one of the only relationships he's ever had in WWF, and Gable's having been a part of this won't go unanswered.  

That turns out to be a set up - a week later is the go home RAW and in the main event angle, Roman's doing a Heyman Hustle, he and Paul together in the ring - when Lesnar arrives at the arena, he has to break down a door - kill a bunch of security guys - but it's a trap - waiting for him are the other 3 members of the HRE, they assault him in the back (Walter and Rousey are known not to be here for whatever reason) - on the video wall we see the 3 other members of HRE batter Lesnar down - Roman smiling/laughing in the ring -- when he's laid out by an entering Rhodes.  Cody holding the WWF Title aloft as the go home RAW ends.  

On Fight Night - we learn the actions of HRE toward Lesnar have led to the No DQ stip - which raises the likelihood that all 3 non Roman members of HRE will be involved in that match, which adds to the possibility the heels regain the titles.

Belair v. Rousey: All babyface match, the tension in the program coming from discussion that Rousey would have beaten Belair at Survivor Series if not for the concussion suffered prior to the event.  Eventually, that talk gets to Belair who says she'll prove to everyone that she's better than Ronda.

Fight Forever v. Horsewomen: A women's tag belt is launched, it appears that the importance of that will lead these two rivals to go "straight up" at each other - but a Lynch/Stratton match ends with a Horsewomen run in, they beat Lynch down - Stratton joining Ripley/Baszler to give the heels a third member of the stable.

Those are the title matches.

7 matches to come next month - it's Wrestlemania, so that means an opening tag and a legends match, which will feature a special guest referee.  We've got a Money in the Bank, a 2 of 3 Falls and a Trios Match - we've got an Emancipation Match, I say - an Emancipation Match- Coming next month, the rest of the card for Wrestlemania 39.

Royal Rumble 2023

The build.

The 34th annual Royal Rumble comes to you from St Louis.  It is the 144th WWF PPV.

Your announcers are Michael Cole (3rd PPV) Corey Graves (5th) Wade Barrett (5th).  

Your ring announcer is Jeremy Borash.

(Dark Matches: Dark Ride Title: Dragon Lee d. Axiom

                          JD McDonaugh d. Tyler Bate

                          Jimmy Uso double countout Jey Uso)

The PPV opens on the aftermath of the Uso dark match, Jimmy and Jey brawling outside the ring, up into the stands, until they disappear onto a concourse, Jimmy and Jey - the twins spurned by Roman now in full battle over which one was the cause, this feud must continue.

Then to the clip package to open the show of past WWF Texas PPVs, ideally Steve Austin does the VO.

1989 Rumble - Houston - Hogan bodyslams Andre, Jake Roberts DDTs Bad News.  

1994 Survivor Series - San Antonio - Bret/Anvil hit the Hart Attack on Luger to take the tag belts, Diesel turns on Shawn right after Michaels wins the Triple Crown in his hometown.

1997 Rumble - San Antonio - Austin hits the Stunner on Vader, the Rock hits the Peoples Elbow on Glen Jacobs

Wrestlemania 17 - Houston - fast chain sequence with Jericho and Guerrero, the Dudleys sending Raven through a table, Austin brawling with Regal, Kurt Angle holding the WWF Title in the center of the ring as the confetti falls.

2003 Survivor Series - Dallas - Michaels superkicking Bubba Ray Dudley cold, a 4 way brawl with Eddy/Brock/Benoit/Angle

2007 Rumble - San Antonio - Booker hits the Hangover on Edge, Lashley tombstoning the Undertaker, CM Punk hits the Pepsi Plunge on Matt Hardy

Wrestlemania 25 - Houston - a chain sequence with Punk and Steamboat, Rey Mysterio rolling up MVP, Jeff submitting to Matt and leaving the territory, Jericho putting Michaels in the Sharpshooter.

Wrestlemania 32 - Dallas - Sasha Banks pins Charlotte Flair to win the Womens Title, Jericho beats Hunter in a retirement match, El Generico with the bucklebuster on Styles, AJ Styles wins the WWF Title in the Elimination Chamber.

2018 Rumble - San Antonio - Ambrose goes over his former stablemate Langston, Jericho hits the quebrada on Reigns.

2017 Survivor Series - Houston - Becky and Charlotte exchange chops, Generico brainbuster on the apron against Kalisto, Tyler Black standing atop Dean Ambrose, Lesnar and Angle nose to nose.

2020 Rumble - Houston - Iyo high spot with Kari Sane, Lesnar and Gable walking the aisle together, Styles Clash on Danielson

Wrestlemania 38 - Dallas - Stone Cold Stunner on Edge, Lesnar submitting Riddle in the Octagon, Rousey getting a submission on Ripley, Usos winning the tag belts - Cody's return - Roman holding up the WWF Title.

Fight Forever - Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch enter, they go to the announce desk to join the broadcast team for the opening tag:

1. Winners go To Mania: Horsewomen (Ripley/Baszler) d. Morgan/Bliss v. Nikki/Niven v. Shotzki/Kai

The modern womens tag belt gets launched at Mania, Fight Forever taking on the winners of this match - it's the Horsewomen; they go over strong - the other story here is Nikki split from Morgan/Bliss in the build so the feud between those teams is furthered here.  Postmatch, Fight Forever hits the ring - its noses to noses as the WM 39 banner overhead is unfurled.

2. Damian Priest (w/Solo) d. Montez Ford (w/Dawkins) 

It's the blow off to the Defiance/Street Profits program, all four guys get involved here - and it's the heels who go over strong.  This 2023 version of Defiance: Priest/Solo continues forward.    

3. Loser Leaves Town: Logan Paul d. Edge

Edge uses his old gear, his old music - the goal is to seem as much as possible like its attitude era Edge, like when IRL Jericho became Lionheart.  This should feel pretty heavy - it's not just Edge leaving the territory; he has grown up on WWF TV, and he, Christian and the Hardys are just an enormous part of the last two+decades.  Edge is the last one left, there's as many callbacks to old spots as they can fit in here - this isn't God of Carnage Edge - and Paul can do all sorts of spots - it's the younger Paul who goes over here - he humps the prone body of Edge postmatch as the page turns.  There's a long taped package marking Edge's career postmatch.  You (the reader, not the viewer) know that the counterfactual is nearing an end, the Reigns push/story of his being the dawning of a new era/closing of the GDI era should probably be viewed by you, metatextually, as a recognition of that - this is in that vein, so many years, so many matches, so many programs around the Hardys and Edge/Christian - and now, they are all gone (and all with the other promotion).

4. Rey Mysterio d. Kingston

Rey gets in his stuff - fairly quick win for the legend.  Mysterio stays ringside for his son's match.  

5. Kevin Steen d. Dominic Mysterio

Rey/Steen had a personal feud that wasn't resolved to Rey's satisfaction and although Steen is a babyface now, he's not a babyface to Rey - Rey demanded his son fight this match with honor....but Dom does not, he does his chickenshit heel gimmick, including a spot where he attempts to hide behind Rey, causing Rey to have words with Steen and Dom to take advantage of that with a cheap shot that appears momentarily as if he may get a win.  The match ends with Steen putting a submission hold on Dom - Dom reaches out to his father, who is on the floor - looking for aid in breaking the hold --- but Rey does not rulebreak, even in this moment - Steen submits Dom.  Postmatch, Rey shakes his head and walks away from his son. Dom is masked, but ideally in the ring, he can convey the disappointment; Rey's the babyface here, obviously, but his personality could generously be described as overbearing and there's a good amount of equity now built into that element of his personality built into the Dominic relationship - so, even though we probably side with Rey, we do want to see Dom fight and now cower, after all -- the truth is he is more likely to win matches if he cowers, and isn't that what matters? 

6. Chicago Street Fight: Asuka v. Iyo Sky

Asuka turned after Sky's victory over her at Survivor Series and is now a full nasty veteran heel, double color for this match, Asuka going over to even up this feud.  Pretty simple story, it's the veteran Asuka, probably the greatest women's champion in the history of the WWF, coming back after injury and a step behind her protegee/friend/former stablemate Sky - add in some optics (look how Americanized, fan friendly, etc...Sky has become, to Asuka's chagrin) and a high level of workrate and that's the program.  It's 1-1 now, you can assume this feud must continue. 

7. Ricochet (w/BWI) v. Santos Escobar (w/TSG)

Another feud comes to an end, Ricochet and Blood Warriors International going over Escobar and Twisted Sun Gods, again, all 6 men wind up involved in the match, the rules go out the window, there are ladders, there's a tablebump - Ricochet gets the fall.  BWI is Ricochet/Tozawa/Cedric Alexander, TSG is Escobar/Carrillo/Garza with Vega; most of the feud has taken place outside of PPV, but it's gone on for awhile on TV and this is the blowoff.

8. Cody Rhodes v. Chad Gable

Rhodes had just returned to the promotion, had some hot TV matches with Gable, when he was taken out of action by the Holy Roman Empire - Gable has some desperation here, not wanting to disappoint the big man - but it's Cody who gets the decisive fall.  The work is valuable here - Gable is the workrate guy with HRE, also the guy who can eat pinfalls (like Waltman in the NWO) it's Cody's first singles PPV match since returning, so the match (and the first portion of the show, as there's an intermission after) ends with Cody standing triumphant - he has not only returned to the WWF, winning the IC - but then returned from injury to come back and go over a member of the top of the card stable who put hin on the shelf,  Cody goes to the buckles - points to the WM sign -- and makes the motion signaling that he wants the title around his waist.  

Intermission - it's an in ring promo from Shawn Michaels announcing that the Clique returns tomorrow night and introduces them - Matt Riddle and the newest member - LA Knight.  Knight cuts a promo, the 3 men pose, the Clique rides again.

9. Womens Title: Bianca Belair v. Bayley

Bayley makes the big return from injury - but falls short in the all babyface match.  They hug postmatch, tough loss for Bayley, it's all respect from Belair - pushed to her limit, but she retains and will head to WM39 as the Women's Champion.

10. Tag Titles:  Dangerous Alliance (Walter/Brock Lesnar w/Heyman) d. Holy Roman Empire (McIntyre/Lashley) 

The 117th WWF tag champs is the Dangerous Alliance, Walter and his mystery partner, who turns out to be Lesnar.  Walter with Heyman first - we don't know who will come next although the working assumption is it's Rousey's return - but instead, it's Brock.

Lesnar got beaten down by HRE to close Summer Slam, Heyman led Walter to the ring to break it up - 5 months later, Lesnar returns, having once again rejoined Heyman, they are presented as a superteam and they really take it to McIntyre/Lashley, leaving them both for dead as they take the belts.  Lesnar/Heyman have not been aligned since Heyman left him to manage Walter, but upon Brock's return to the promotion a year ago, multiple segments have portrayed them as fine - Heyman then aided Brock in the aforementioned manner after Summer Slam - so, with Rousey on the shelf, knocked out by Roman (and, while Brock barely knows who anyone in the sport is, much less respects them, he obviously knows and respects Rousey, cause she's a shootfighter) Heyman makes the call and Brock shows up.  

This isn't a 50/50 match - the feeling here is MegaPowers - if Brock and Walter are on the same page, who could possibly beat them?

Rousey does return here - there's a spot where Gable makes his way to ringside - Gable's clearly going to interfere -- but right behind him down the ramp runs Rousey - and she puts Gable in a submission hold on the ramp - so the match ends with the fall going on in the ring while Gable is tapping out on the ramp.

11. IC Title: Prince Devitt d. Johnny Gargano 

Devitt's workrate run continues - he goes over Gargano in what probably is the match of the night, main event style, long finishing sequence, Devitt keeps the belt.  Just workrate here, give the people the very best match they could have.  

12. WWF Title: Roman Reigns v. Tyler Black

Roman will go to Wrestlemania 39 as WWF Champion for a year - no members of the HRE appear at any point - the show ends with Roman having demonstrated he can defend his title on his own, he hits his catchphrase postmatch and the Rumble ends with Reigns alone in the ring holding the belt aloft.  By necessity, Roman's had help throughout his reign from his stable (ideally, the help isn't viewed as determinative - this is a workrate promotion, so what you want are clean finishes, however, you do need to get over a heel stable as benefiting from numbers, so as a booking philosophy, you do pre match beatdowns, or very fast spots in the body of the match that swing momentum but don't lead to finishes) -- but here, since we're now moving to the big Mania main event - Reigns goes over clean - he's the man - he's who he says he is - he will go to WM 39 as WWF Champion for a full year.

And that's the Rumble.

Next month, part 1 of the build to Wrestlemania 39.