Road to Wrestlemania 27 Part 1

The Rumble is here.

The Road to Wrestlemania 27 starts the Thursday after the Rumble on GDI.

With Tyler Black.

Black, his arm in a sling, is hot at Underground, hot at Alex Riley, but especially hot at Bryan Danielson, for not coming to the ring to aid Black and Sydal in their failed attempt to save Punk. Black says he hasn’t been GDI as long as Danielson, but if there’s one thing GDI stands for, it’s backing each other up no matter what the odds – and Black thinks Danielson saw GDI outnumbered  and decided it wasn’t worth it.

Danielson enters, says if GDI means anything it means standing on your own two feet, making your own decisions and living by the consequences, and if Black and Sydal wanted to go save a scumbag like Punk, who probably deserved that asskicking, then its their own fault when they wind up as part of that asskicking.  Danielson said he was preparing for a match against one of the greatest wrestlers, one of the greatest athletes who ever lived, Rey Mysterio –

Black points out that Danielson lost.

Danielson gets hot – but its broken up by Sydal – standing up in the crow’s nest with the giant white sheets of paper, the #3 sheet exposed, meaning that GDI has 3 matches left to claim.  Sydal says if he could he’d challenge Alex Riley for Wrestlemania – but Empire has a tag title shot – so he’ll take the next best opportunity and challenge the Douchebags.  Sydal says he needs a partner – and since Black’s hurt and he doesn’t know what to think about Danielson, he needs to go to RAW to find him. 

Sydal rips off the number 3.  Two matches left to claim – and at the end of the night, the last shot is Danielson ripping off the number 2.  One match left.

For a couple/maybe 3 weeks is speculation about Danielson, as he isn’t on TV again until he needs to be. The working assumption is Danielson is going to take the opportunity to main event Wrestlemania against Edge for the strap.

On the Monday after this GDI episode, we get our first match for Wrestlemania 27. The Opening Tag:

Matt Sydal/Yoshi Tatsu v. Douchebags (Ryder/Hawkins)

Sydal appears on Raw after Michael Cole's botched managing again costs Tatsu a match against one of the Douchebags; Tatsu immediately gets defensive, but Sydal says he knows Tatsu can understand him – and he has an offer.  He’s got a Wrestlemania match and he needs a partner.  Both of them have a score to settle against the Douchebags – and Sydal knows, after all the months and months they spent going at it in GDI, that the best partner for that job is Tatsu.

Tatsu agrees – but Sydal says there’s a catch – he has to dump Michael Cole. 

Fans cheer – and Tatsu agrees – that’s a face turn, and Cole is left in a tantrum in the ring.

At least a week in advance, we find out that at the close of RAW, Bret will announce the main event for Wrestlemania.

He and Edge come to the ring; Edge has been WWF Champ since taking from Jericho at Summer Slam; 

Edge is as sleazy as he can be as he and Bret vamp for a moment until Danielson’s music plays.

Here’s the second match for Wrestlemania 27.

Rey Mysterio v. Bryan Danielson

Bret and Edge expect Danielson to claim the title match, Edge makes a comment about how it’s just like an indie wrestler who spends years calling himself the best wrestler in the world to wait until he loses to try to get a title match. 

Danielson says Edge is right.

Danielson did lose at the Rumble – and at the Rumble Rey Mysterio showed that not only is he one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, but he’s still one of the best wrestlers today.  And of course, at Wrestlemania, Rey Mysterio might be the best wrestler in the world – since he’s undefeated.

Which is why Danielson is claiming his match – at Wrestlemania – against Rey Mysterio.

Danielson says all he cares about is having the best match he can have and being the best wrestler he can be – and at Wrestlemania 27, there’s no question, to do that who he needs to wrestle is Rey Mysterio.

Mysterio’s music plays – he comes out on the ramp – stays there, doesn’t come to the ring – cuts an extra quick promo that Danielson should be careful about what he wishes for. 

And that’s cut off by a live shot from the Dragon’s Dojo, the GDI Arena, where a giant ZERO appears on the white sheet where the number one once was – that means someone has taken the last sheet, Danielson’s open mouthed, he clearly doesn’t know what’s about to happen.

What happens is Ricky Steamboat’s music plays – and he comes to the ring carrying the number one.

Steamboat, the owner of GDI, gone since right after 26, his injury the cause of GDI getting the ten WWF matches of their choice, hits the ring.  He quickly shakes Danielson’s hand and apologizes for not being able to warn Bryan ahead of time. 

Steamboat turns to Bret and Edge – says as the owner of GDI, he has the right to claim the last match – and he does – for the main event of Wrestlemania 27, to meet Edge for the World Wrestling Federation Championship.

Edge shakes his head, says there’s nothing sadder than a man trying to recapture his youth, says if Steamboat wants to ruin his legacy by getting squashed at Wrestlemania – then Edge is up for it.

Steamboat says no – he’s not claiming the match for himself – he’s claiming the match for someone else….

And that’s when Punk’s music plays.  And if you've been invested in our story for awhile, that's a good moment, right?  Can you see Ricky Steamboat in the ring with Bret Hart, Bryan Danielson, and Edge - as CM Punk appears at the top of the ramp?  You gotta feel that one.  

That’s our third match for 27:

WWF Championship: Edge v. CM Punk

Punk’s beard and hair have been growing for, hell, a year, two years, however long its been, he’s still got Edge’s name scrawled all over his body – and he comes to the ring.

Punk and Edge – the match building for a year and a half – Bret gets in between them – Bret staring hard at Punk, “I told you you’d never be WWF Champion as long as I have anything to say about it.”

Steamboat tells him he doesn’t have anything to say about it. 

Punk and Edge go nose to nose as the show ends.

So – the poster for 27 has Edge/Punk in the foreground and Rey/Danielson in the background, that’s the centerpiece of the promotion for the show.  Danielson/Rey is essentially sold as “who is the best wrestler in the world” – Rey’s a triple crown winner, a 2 time WWF Champion, Rey is unbeaten at Wrestlemania, including victories over The Undertaker and Chris Benoit.  And Rey beat Danielson at the Rumble.  Bryan Danielson is Bryan Danielson, leader of GDI; when Steamboat first returned to WWF years ago, it was Mysterio who he trumpeted – Eddy/Benoit/Angle were fighting for the top spot – but it was Rey, who had never been WWF Champion, who Steamboat called the WWF “ace” – but now he and Danielson are on the outside of the company with GDI, and Steamboat has indicated that Danielson is maybe a better wrestler than even Mysterio at his very best.

But there’s tension between Steamboat and Danielson over Punk – Punk returns to the GDI Arena – to the company he founded – and is embraced by the fans.  But not by Danielson.  Steamboat will tell Danielson he gets it, but even if Bryan doesn’t notice there’s a war on, GDI has been under attack, Steamboat understands Danielson doesn’t think about Alex Riley defecting, or how John Cena hit him with a light tube, or how every single week Steve Regal is running down GDI – but Steamboat cares, and so does Punk.

So – the dynamic is Punk’s the face, he’s been chasing Edge forever and now he’s caught him; in the eyes of most fans, the Steamboat endorsement is redemption.  You might side instead with Bret’s position, the absolutist position – Punk threw down the WWF Title, Maria spat upon the belt – and there’s nothing Punk can do to take that back.  You might instead side with the Danielson position, Punk’s manipulative, he’s always been manipulative, and if everyone else wants to buy in that’s fine, Danielson’s got a match to prepare for.  The other thing is tricky, Punk/Edge is a blood feud, so it isn’t primarily about the WWF Title, but Punk’s attempt to win his 3^rd title, tying Bret and Owen, needs to be part of the build, and the growing importance of the WWF Title to Punk, as a symbol of taking from Edge the thing most important to him, is also part of the build.

Punk doesn’t shave or cut his hair.  Edge also has his beard – it’s a couple of guys with long hair and beards in the main event of Wrestlemania.  

That's Part I, between now and April 1, probably early March, the build for the rest of the card. 6 more matches: 

The Clique Matches:

IC: Johnny Nitro v.____________

The Miz v. ______________

The Tag Title:

Defiance v. Empire (Barrett/Gabriel)

Money In the Bank:

______________ v. _____________ v. ___________v. __________v. ____________ v._________

The Legend's Match:

Undertaker v. _______________

And one more singles match:

______________ v. ___________


Keep going.

Royal Rumble 2011

The build is here.

Royal Rumble 2011 is from Boston.

(Dark: Black d. Sydal

            Smith d. Barrett)

                Last show with the crazy announce – Joey and Striker are the lead team, Striker leaves for the semi-main, replaced by Josh, and JR and Lawler do the main event.

Throughout the show are backstage shots of Danielson and Mysterio each warming up for the match; like Low Ki at Survivor Series, Danielson/Rey is presented as a special attraction, a never before seen/perhaps never again to be seen match, and the talk of the wrestling world; so we repeatedly see each guy, see clips of the video packages put together in the build.   

1. Zach Ryder (w/Douchebags) d. Yoshi Tatsu (w/Cole)

Unannounced match to open up the Rumble; the explanation given is that Alex Riley, scheduled to open against John Cena is unaccounted for. Riley doesn’t come to the ring, the announce speculates on what might have happened to him – here is his big opportunity, to defend the honor of GDI on PPV, and he isn’t here, something must be up.  So – a match scheduled to be on the pre-show opens the card.  This has been a TV program, a way to push Underground, specifically the Douchebags, as they’ve been programmed against Tatsu.   The story is they keep beating him in singles, as they use their numbers to cheat while Michael Cole, Tatsu’s manager, is ineffective in stopping them – Tatsu grows a little angrier at Cole with each offense.

Here, same – Ryder goes over with outside aid – Cole can’t stop it – Tatsu fumes .

2. Mark Henry d. John Cena

Announce says Riley still hasn’t been found but he’s been replaced by Henry.  There’s speculation if maybe he had something to do with Riley’s mysterious absence.     Henry cuts promo after he comes to the ring.
          

Henry says he doesn’t know or care where Alex Riley is, but he’s been waiting more than a decade to kick somebody’s ass at the Royal Rumble – and John Cena’s the unlucky victim. 

Cena tells the timekeeper to ring the bell; Henry tells Cena to hit him with the light tube.  Cena complies.

It’s essentially a squash, Henry no sells the light tube, screams at Cena, gets a quick pinfall and stands over the body.  Announce puts over Henry’s resurgence, he is a WWF veteran kept down for years – and now he’s on quite the hot streak.

3. Number One Contender Elimination Tag: Empire d. D1/Rotunda & Hennig/Hooligans

-Hooligans are out quickly, eliminated by D1.  McIntyre gets pinned by Nemeth; this sequence establishes that D1 still has it, despite wrestling as singles most of the year, and that Hooligans are off their game, they lost Fit in this build and lack focus.  Rotunda/Hennig go next, eliminated by Empire, Barrett pinning Hennig; there’s a long sequence with Swagger (with knee brace) in the ring against Empire – when he’s finally able to make the hot tag to Nemeth – Nick’s pulled off the apron by someone from underneath the ring. 

It’s Alex Riley.

Swagger’s caught by a double team that targets his injured knee – he’s pinned by Barrett and surprisingly – Empire is headed to Wrestlemania.  Nemeth doesn’t have time to deal with Riley as he and Kelly both move to aid Swagger from the ring and back up the ramp – Riley hits the ring and unzips his varsity letterman jacket to reveal an Empire t-shirt.

Alex Riley has left GDI and moved Underground.

As Regal will make clear and Bret will accept, Riley is part of Empire and all three men can be used interchangeably.  Empire will go to Wrestlemania 27.

4.The Miz (w/Natty) d. Diesel Kevin Nash

-Nash is the Mystery Clique Opponent in this match.  Miz is a chickenshit heel (as opposed to a guy who punishes people); he cheats, he preens, he begs off and goes low – Nitro is the superathletic cocky guy, Natty is the enforcer, the Chyna in the act (Natty wouldn’t be cutting weight in this world, wouldn’t be attempting to get prettier, here, she looks to bulk up; there have been no women’s PPV matches in the Counterfactual; in my head, Natty and Kong are going to work at Wrestlemania 30.  Maybe Kong isn’t around then; maybe she can’t work anymore if/when she returns; I don’t want two divas just for the sake of being divas – but if I can keep Natty in some type of enforcer role for the next 3 years, I’d like to put her in a match at 30) and Miz is the chickenshit heel.  It’s the Clique; it’s a good act.  I’m pleased they’re together.

Why are you looking at me like that?  Do you know something?

Anyway, I assume this is Nash’s last match, he gets in some big guy spot and then Miz is able to weasel his way to the pinfall win. 

5.  Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Ricardo and Vicki) d. Chavo Guerrero

This wraps up Chavo, who had a helluva Counterfactual WWF run.  IC Champ, Tag Champ, he was a Horseman, he main evented a PPV, he had high profile Mania matches.

Nonetheless, the story here is that he’s broke, or if not broke, doesn’t have enough money to take care of Vicki.  It serves to portray the Guerreros as a typical wrestling family, dysfunctional, unable to maintain their money – the opposite of the Dos Caras family lineage.

The thing you expect to happen is what happens, Dos Caras is a fairly broad wrestling character, this is a wrestling angle.  Sheepish Vicki, the downtrodden widow of Eddy Guerrero, turns heel; Chavo loses clean to Caras, and in his attempt to apologize to Vicki she slaps him.  Vicki then makes out with Dos Caras as they are now a couple.  She joins the act – Dos Caras, nephew of Mil Mascaras, arguing his is the greatest wrestling family of all time, and his wealth and success in comparison to other second/third generation wrestlers is the evidence of that – adds Eddy Guerrero’s widow as his new girlfriend.  The shame forces Chavo from the company.

6. CM Punk d. Steve Regal (DQ)

-I’d assume I get to use Regal again, but as I’m not using him at Mania, I don’t know that I will.  So, I’m taking this opportunity for a sprint – they go as hard as they can until they blow up, and when that happens, with Punk establishing that he is about to win, Regal blatantly cheats.  It’s a Cobra Kai situation – Regal fishhooks Punk, gouges an eye, rabbit punches him – and then finally draws the DQ with a low blow that Punk sells like he’s been shot in the face.

And then Punk is swarmed – Douchebags hit the ring (there are like five guys in the Douchebags) and they stomp out Punk – they’re then fought off by Tyler Black, who pauses for a moment at the top of the ramp – it’s a thing that someone from GDI is saving Punk, there’s a page turning here.  Black hits the ring and then Sydal joins him, the three men get the advantage briefly – but Empire then hits the ring – and now it’s 10 vs. 3. 

As Underground gets the advantage there’s a backstage shot of Danielson; he shakes his head, then turns away from the monitor and resumes readying himself for the match.

Punk/Black/Sydal are left laying; Black’s going to be injured enough here that he won’t be able to work Mania.  Sydal has been out with injury; he was injured in his IC loss to Nitro, but that injury was furthered during the first GDI/Underground scuffle, in the stands during the Low Ki/Rey Fight Night match.  It’s Douchebags who account for that injury – and they target him again here. 

As the three men are laid out, Regal leads a chant of all the men in the ring that has only been Underground to this point, that means only on the website, not ever used in any of the tv clips that WWF shows of developmental.  Regal ends a training session by yelling “Whose House?”  And the response by the trainees is “Our House.”  It was a chant first started by the original WWFU trainer Taz, then continued by Mike Rotunda, and finally Regal, the current trainer – but never before shown on WWF television, so it’s just been for the Underground hardcores, the ones who watch online.

“Whose house?”

“OUR HOUSE.”

As Douchebags and Empire stand over Punk/Black/Sydal – Regal leads the chant.

“Whose house?”

“OUR HOUSE!”

"Whose house?"

"OUR HOUSE!"

Let's see if we can get that over.  

7. WWF Tag Titles: Defiance d. Young Money

-Orton wins his second tag title and Defiance finally gets gold, Orton hitting the RKO on Kingston for the fall. 

Killings blows off Kingston postmatch, not waiting for him to recover, instead heading back up the ring.  Announce speculates that the distance we’ve seen between the now former tag champs build during their reign may have led to their loss here against the clearly cohesive Defiance. 

8. IC: Johnny Nitro (w/Natty) d. Tyson Kidd (w/Harry)

-This is the sleeper match; you know Danielson/Rey will be really good, and Punk/Regal will be good as long as it goes and the angle postmatch is hot, but what this show needs to really be good is this match to hit that next level.  My expectation is high. 

Kidd can’t earn redemption here; Harry’s able to carry Natty from ringside, making it one on one and looking for a moment like Tyson might take the strap; but Miz runs in for some quick interference that turns the tide.  Nitro gets the fall and keeps his title. 

9. Rey Mysterio d. Bryan Danielson

-Rey’s a 2 time WWF Champion, a Triple Crown winner, he beat Chris Benoit in the main event of Wrestlemania – a show on which he is undefeated – and now, he beats Bryan Danielson clean as a sheet. 

It’s the very best match they can have and that’s all that it is at least for tonight. 

10.WWF Title: Edge d. Booker T

-Edge goes over clean.  Postmatch, he stands alone holding the belt aloft – at the end of Survivor Series, Punk returned from several months away and came to the ring for a nose to nose – here Edge taunts the crowd who chants for Punk – Punk was of course beaten down by Underground earlier in the evening – so he won’t be coming out to challenge Edge, and Edge smirks in that way that he has…

Except here comes Punk.

Slowly, holding his ribs, resolutely, indomitably, CM Punk walks to the ring.

Edge flips out – starts pulling at his hair, Edge points at his belt as security prevents Punk from getting to the ring, “You’ll never get this – You don’t get a shot – You’ll never get me – You’ll never get me.”

And that’s how the show ends.

Build to Mania is in February.  Mania will be posted Mania weekend.