Road to Wrestlemania 34-Part 1

Rumble is here.

Wrestlemania 34, the 125^th PPV in WWF history, comes from New Orleans in April.

There’s an 11 match card, plus additional special segments – we’ll split the build in half; the top of the card (5 matches) is here; in a month we’ll finish up.

TITLE VS. TITLE: WWF CHAMPION SHINSUKE NAKAMURA V. IC CHAMPION BROCK LESNAR (W/HEYMAN)

BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD: AJ STYLES V. THE AMERICAN DRAGON BRYAN DANIELSON

MASK VS. MASK: EL GENERICO V. KID CANADA (SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE-REY MYSTERIO)

WWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: LUMBERJACK MATCH: BECKY LYNCH V. ASUKA

WWF TAG TITLES: USOS (JIMMY/JEY) V. THE REVIVAL (DASH/DAWSON, W/ AA AND RIC FLAIR)

TITLE VS. TITLE: SHINSUKE NAKAMURA V. BROCK LESNAR (W/HEYMAN)

RAW the night after the Rumble opens with tape from a desolate Bullet Club locker room immediately following the Rumble match.  2 years prior was the Bullet Club coming out party, but last night was the nadir – despite having three entrants in the Rumble match, it was the man they kicked out, Shinsuke Nakamura, who became WWF Champion, eliminating Tyler Black (who himself had eliminated AJ).  Styles is clearly fuming at Black – the plan was to eliminate all other men (it was a 20 man Rumble, so having 3 entrants is pretty good) first, but Black tossed Styles over the top prior to the last entrant. Black is irritated that Styles is irritated – the truth is he lost track of how many men had come to the ring and thought he was the winner – but that’s embarrassing, and when you add that to his genuine belief that he had won the WWF Title having been taken away – and when you add that to his having gotten pinned by Nakamura – Black is miserable.  Prince Devitt was eliminated by a British comedy wrestler, Jack Gallagher, and he is furious.  Anderson and Gallows lost their title shot, the first one they’ve gotten, and Becky kept her belt – but had to walk away from the ring to do it.

None of them say a word. It's all glaring, pacing, slamming lockers.  Finally Becky says look – we need some time apart; all of us are going to be in Wrestlemania matches somehow – and I’m the only one with a belt around here.  I’ve got to figure out a way to keep it – you all do what you want. And she exits. 

When we go to the arena – Danielson’s music hits  Danielson has been gone since his being knocked out by an “errant” AJ forearm at Survivor Series, we saw him on the video wall last night say he’d be back tonight with an announcement – and the speculation has been heavy, heavy all day that he is leaving his post as commissioner. 

Danielson comes to the ring – stands below the giant WM34 banner – which is surrounded by 4 covered banners.

Danielson says he has a personal announcement….but he’ll make that later in the night.

Danielson says at WM34 there is a double main event.  And he’s going to announce one match right now.

A banner is revealed (like if you were unveiling a championship banner) and it’s a picture of WWF Champion Shinsuke Nakamura.  The violinist comes to the ramp and Nakamura does the full elaborate entrance. 

Danielson…”and his opponent”

The next banner is revealed…it’s the IC Champ Brock Lesnar. 

Lesnar’s music hits – Heyman, in full cat that ate the canary mode, leads Brock to the ring.  This is credit to the managerial genius of Heyman, Brock was done – lifetime bar from challenging ever again for the WWF Title, but Heyman developed a working relationship with longtime rival Danielson, positioning Brock to be able to grant Danielson a favor (vanquishing Rusev, who was tormenting Linda McMahon and embarrassing the promotion) which he is collecting on here.  In between (as that was over a year ago that Brock won the IC) Heyman built equity in the idea that Lesnar was “Real World Champion” and when the WWF Title was vacated, that narrative became the predominate one among fans, really forcing Danielson’s hand here and making this the only matchup that makes sense.  A real tour de force from the guy who you’d expect it from, and a real comeback given Heyman’s getting played by Devitt was a substantial factor in the rise and spread of the Bullet Club, WWF version. 

Brock hits the ring, the men go nose to nose – it’s going to go down at Mania.

The build is taped babyface pieces about Nakamura – he was a heel throughout his prior two years with the promotion, albeit there had long been some separation between he and the Bullet Club proper such that fans who wanted to see him as a separate entity could – so now there’s a real need to babyface him up.  The taped pieces take us through his career at NJPW, fully establishing him as a pillar of the contemporary ascension of that promotion to the top of the non WWF heap.  He’s full charismatic, singles star Nakamura, who adds a WWF Title to his 3 IWGP Championships and is said to be representing all of Asia in establishing a pre-eminent role in wrestling.

The Brock build is, of course, Heyman promos – Brock’s about to become the first wrestler in modern history to hold both the IC and WWF Titles (Brock had a Giant Real World’s Champion belt made before the Rumble, so he’s always got 2 belts) and being the only man to accomplish something is really the only thing left to drive a man like Brock Lesnar.  He’ll also become only the 4^th man in WWF history to win the WWF Title three times (Heyman can’t help himself, pointing out that Danielson only won twice).  Heyman sells that Brock and Nakamura have met before – and Brock whipped him.  We are about to enter the Era of Lesnar.

Tuneups for both guys – Nakamura goes over Hero, Brock goes over Kenta.  The two men go face to face just one more time, in a contract signing for the go home – there’s no heat angle, the last year has built up Lesnar (Lesnar’s entire second run, starting with the UFC work, has built up Lesnar; he’s a big fight guy and we’ve been calling him the real world’s champion for over a year) and Nakamura is a newly minted babyface, a global superworker who just won the WWF Title and now is main eventing Wrestlemania. 

BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD: AJ STYLES V. BRYAN DANIELSON

Back to the night after the Rumble.  Danielson returns in the main event segment of the evening.  Says he has two more announcements.  He says in the second half of the double main event at WM 34 will be…the third giant banner is revealed – it’s a picture of AJ Styles.

Styles sells the unexpected nature of this – he and Danielson have been antagonizing each other for nearly two years, AJ started a “I’m the best wrestler in the world” campaign the night after last year’s Rumble, deliberately to provoke Danielson (but he also means it) and now, it’s Danielson who has tapped him for a main event Wrestlemania match.  AJ smirks at Danielson, and stands in the ring awaiting his opponent.

Danielson says “and his opponent….before we get to that…I guess I have another announcement I need to make…”

Danielson says the rumors are true; this will be his last night as WWF Commissioner.  He says he actually has AJ Styles to thank – 3 years ago, Danielson had his last match at WM 31, and for a couple of years, he went to every neurologist in the country, trying to find any experimental treatment that might allow him to get back in the ring.  Danielson talks about hours, days spent in hyperbaric chambers, driving him to the point of physical and emotional depletion.  He fought, he fought, he fought.   

But somewhere he stopped, he settled into role of WWF Commissioner, he resigned himself that the doctors were right, that the American Dragon was gone forever – and that AJ Styles was right – he was now the best wrestler in the world.

And then, at Survivor Series, AJ Styles literally knocked some sense into him.

(crowd probably senses something’s up by now, so Danielson starts building steam)

Because after AJ Styles hit me with that forearm, I had to go back to see another specialist, and while I did have a concussion – thanks for that – the impact on me was no different than the impact would be on any other wrestler.  Those two years of suffering had paid off.  And so – in my last act as WWF Commissioner (Danielson turns to Styles) your opponent at Wrestlemania (the banner with Danielson’s face is revealed) is the Best Wrestler in the World, the American Dragon, Bryan Danielson.

Crowd reacts as they do.  Danielson and Styles go face to face, both men jawing at each other.

As the build develops the idea is this match is decide the unofficial title of the best wrestler in the world; it’s sold as a dream workrate match, as many old greats as possible are tracked down and put on camera announcing their prediction in 20-30 second clips; the credentials of both men are given – titles won, matches of the year awarded, wrestler of the year awards, the idea is that these are the two best workers of their generation – that Danielson was clearly crowned as the best wrestler in the world, but over the past 3 years it has been Styles.  And now – after almost two years of the two sniping at each other, the match we never thought would see again – a match that hasn’t occurred in over a decade and has never occurred in the WWF will happen on the grandest stage – AJ and Danielson, the winner to be considered the best wrestler in the world.

AJ is supremely confident in the build – he gets a tattoo on his forearm (BFITW, for best forearm in the world) he says that this is the moment his whole life has been building for – that while Bryan Danielson was going to doctors, he was winning the IWGP championship, while Bryan Danielson was sitting in meetings with HHH-M, AJ Styles was holding the WWF Championship for more than a year.  AJ says maybe there was a day where Danielson was number one and AJ was number 2 – but that day is long ago and far away and we’ll prove that at WM34.

Danielson is supremely driven in the build – he has spent 3 years dreaming of this day, dreaming that somehow, someway, if just went to one more doctor, had one more test, spent one more afternoon in an MRI, one more morning  in an oxygen chamber, just climbed one more mile, walked one more step – if he just fought one more round – that is dream would come true.  And at WM34, it’s happening, WM34 isnt just about Bryan Danielson, it’s about every single person out there grinding and grinding away for a better life – when Bryan Danielson beats AJ Styles at WM34, it won’t just prove that he’s still the best wrestler in the world, it will prove for every single person that if you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you.  They do a similar face to face to close the build, again, there doesn’t need to be additional heat – this is a long built match with an obvious draw. 

MASK VS. MASK: EL GENERICO V. KID CANADA (SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE-REY MYSTERIO)

Kevin Steen and El Generico are positioned as close as brothers; as close as two partners have ever been in the sport – someone, maybe Gabe, is on a taped piece saying they truly love each other.  For years in the WWF they have been together, first as part of GDI – then, after the split, going to war against Trash.  Over the past year, Steen has been in the persona of Canadian luchador Kid Canada, creating the Tres Bon Mask Challenge, which allowed for Generico to win workrate matches against other masked wrestlers including the returning Rey Mysterio at the Rumble.

Steen has been an avowed anti-masker since entering WWF, he would routinely hector Pac and Generico about their masks holding them back, he encouraged Pac to put up his mask against Kalisto (in a match he’d lose, resulting in a devastating identity loss and resulting heel turn) and so, when now, he sets up a Mask vs. Mask match against Generico, there should be a sense that there are some stakes. 

There’s an in-ring promo segment with Kid Canada and Generico to set up the match – Generico, understandably is baffled – he’s never understood what Steen is doing in the Kid Canada persona – and following a Kid Canada TV squash, he calls Generico to the ring.

Canada starts his promo in the exaggerated accent, full caricature, but then he drops it – and speaks in Kevin Steen’s normal voice – he tells Generico that while he doesn’t know Kevin Steen – here’s what he imagines Steen would tell him about the mask. Steen would say that he doesn’t care who wins the WM match with those other guys, the best wrestler he’s ever seen is El Generico --- but El Generico has gone as far as he can go.  Kevin Steen is not as good as El Generico, he knows that, you know that, everyone knows that – but Kevin Steen was a WWF Champion and El Generico never will be.  Steen blames it on the mask – the only WWF Champion who wore a mask is Mysterio and Mysterio is a unicorn; there won’t be a second one.  And if the guy under that mask wants to get what he deserves – wants to win the greatest title in the sport – wants to be WWF Champion – he needs to do it as himself – he needs to take off the mask.  But Kevin Steen knows that he won’t do that on his own – so at Mania, Kevin Steen, because he loves the guy under that mask even more than he loves El Generico – Kevin Steen is going to kill El Generico.

Steen then goes back into the Kid Canada accent – “oh, maybe you will defeat me, either way, it’s wrestling!” and exits. 

Both men work a couple of matches in the build to show intensity – we should get the feeling that Generico will desperately fight to keep that mask – so we see a much more violent El Generico than we are used to; say he’s in a match with a guy who decides to try to pull Generico’s mask off – and he freaks out, really punishing the opponent in a way that we just never see from the fan favorite.  We want to understand that El Generico will do whatever he needs to do to keep the mask.

And we see Kid Canada wrestle like Kevin Steen – Canada is a comedy wrestler, it’s Steen doing lucha spots – but he comes out for a TV squash and even though he’s under the mask, he abandons all pretense of not being Kevin Steen, and devastates some masked wrestler who we don’t need (Hunico, or just some random enhancement guy) and rips off his mask. 

So – we’ve got 15 years of history between Steen and Generico, shown in taped pieces that walk us through their relationship, with indi based talking heads explaining their special bond  (ideally there’s footage that we can use) we’ve got the backdrop of the dynamic of their full WWF run with Steen as big brother/taskmaster for all of GDI, we’ve got the experience of Pac’s losing his mask and all of the catastrophic fallout – and we’ve got one more thing.

We get the return of the Legendary Rey Mysterio.

There’s a special guest referee at every WM; Mysterio worked the Rumble, it was supposed to be a one off, Rey returns for a promo on RAW and announces that he’s come to a deal and that at Survivor Series he will be returning to WWF as a full time wrestler. 

Which is a big deal – Mysterio is an all time legend, a Triple Crown winner, and he’s returning to the WWF. 

Mysterio says but before that – he’s going to appear at WM as the special guest referee for the mask match.  Mysterio sets up the importance of the idea of the mask (we did a lot of work with that in the Pac buildup) that it isn’t just some wrestling stipulation, there’s a spiritual component to the mask, and the removal of the mask is a sacred responsibility.  Mysterio says that, as the greatest masked wrestler in WWF history, he will be the one to do that removal to whomever loses at Mania.

WWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: LUMBERJACK MATCH: BECKY LYNCH V. ASUKA

Bullet Club Becky goes into Mania as women’s champion for a year – the longest reigning women’s champion on modern WWF history.  Asuka is undefeated.  We’ve been following her IRL Goldberg run since she was working Bayley on Dark Ride Wrestling.  Asuka clearly would have taken the title from Becky at the Rumble – but Becky walked away, taking the countout loss.  That won’t happen again as the women’s roster will be at ringside serving as lumberjacks.  Returning in this build – Paige – she’s been gone since 4-Ground (Paige, Becky, Charlotte, Sasha) blew apart, she returns here, cuts a babyface promo – says for more than 3 years it’s been 4 women who have dominated the women’s division – 4 women who have held the WWF Women’s Title.  Paige, Charlotte, Sasha, Becky – but now it’s time that ends.  The best women’s wrestler in the world is Asuka – and at WM – the monopoly on the title belt that she started back at Rumble ’15 comes to an end.  There won’t be any Bullet Club.  There won’t be any countouts.  It’s just Asuka and Becky, woman on woman, for the WWF Women’s Title. 

There are enough matches between various combinations of women in the build so there might be tension among the lumberjacks – Becky’s entirely by herself in the build, as set up in that locker room video post-Rumble, she cuts defiant heel promo challenging the rest of the locker room, says she’s ending that streak, and if she has to fight every lumberjack with her fists she’ll do it.  Asuka continues to be unstoppable, undefeated Asuka, with the chants and the fireworks and the “Who’s Next” and the whole thing.  They meet at Mania.

WWF TAG TITLES: USOS (JIMMY/JEY) V. THE REVIVAL (DASH/DAWSON, W/ AA AND RIC FLAIR)

It’s superkick party cocky heel Usos, who have held the belts since August, against old school straight ahead, no flips just fists Revival.  That old school/new school is what gets the emphasis; Revival has a couple of tune up matches to emphasize that – Jimmy and Jey are going without Roman for this match, they have a couple of tune up matches featuring as many dives and supericks as they can do.  There’s also a spot where Roman comes down to the ramp to superman punch one of the opponents on the outside to lead to an Usos win – what that spot leads to is an Arn Anderson promo saying that if it were 20 years ago, he could handle Roman if he decided to interfere at Mania – but now, he needs some help.

At Wrestlemania – will be the first public appearance if Ric Flair since his near death health scare – Flair’s been gone from the WWF since the end of his time managing 4-Ground, and, as you recall, nearly died IRL – that happened here too, and Arn says he’s coming to Wrestlemania to stand shoulder to shoulder on the outside, and they might be two old dogs, but they can handle the Big Dog if he decides to get involved.

Okay.  That’s the upper card. 

TITLE VS. TITLE: SHINSUKE NAKAMURA V. BROCK LESNAR (W/HEYMAN)

BEST WRESTLER IN THE WORLD: AJ STYLES V. BRYAN DANIELSON

MASK VS. MASK: EL GENERICO V. KID CANADA (SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE-REY MYSTERIO)

WWF WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: LUMBERJACK MATCH: BECKY LYNCH V. ASUKA

WWF TAG TITLES: USOS (JIMMY/JEY) V. THE REVIVAL (DASH/DAWSON, W/ AA AND RIC FLAIR)

Next month, we learn about the remaining 6 matches including:

-Money in the Bank

-a super elite workrate match

-Kurt Angle’s return to Wrestlemania

-a Final Deletion match

-a multi-team opening tag

-and….a special MMA attraction…

All of that (and a Dark Ride Title switch) coming next month as we conclude the build to Wrestlemania 34.