Road to Wrestlemania 33 - Part 1

The Rumble is here.

Wrestlemania 33, from the fightin’ city of Orlando, is in April.

This month I’ll cover the singles matches, next month, the tags, the women’s title, and Dark Ride.  

Here’s the men’s singles card:

WWF Title: AJ Styles v. Austin Aries (Special Guest Referee….TBA)

IC Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Chris Jericho

Dean Ambrose v. Tyler Black

Nick Nemeth v. Roman Reigns-Uso

Sheamus v. Braun Strowman

-There is no WWF programming the week after the Rumble, everything in the country goes totally dark as we wait to see what happens to Linda McMahon.  But by the next weekend it’s decided that she can no longer serve as President – Vince is sworn in – and he addresses the country and tells us we need to get back to our lives, he suggests we watch RAW on Monday, reminding us that its Wrestlemania season. 

-That leads to the first controversy of his presidency, he and Linda (obviously) sold all of their stock in WWF prior to the campaign, but the kids still have theirs, and it could be perceived that this reference to wrestling is an attempt to self deal.  Vince apologizes, says he didn’t think of it that way, given all of the circumstances surrounding that address, but he understands and says he won’t be talking about the WWF for the remainder of his tenure.  Vince is applauded for his decisive action and willingness to admit wrongdoing. 

-We then go back to work, many of the babyfaces wear black Linda45 armbands throughout the build to Mania, and the posters for the show include a Linda45 insignia in the corner. 

-RAW opens with the scene in the Bullet Club locker room that was broken away from to show Linda’s collapse at the Rumble – it’s AJ, minutes after keeping his title over Luke Harper, just laying into Anderson and Gallows – “where were you guys, I’m all alone out there trying to keep this title – and who said we were bringing in the girl – I run this thing – I am the Bullet Club – you better remember that.”

(the girl is Becky, she joined the BC at the Rumble)

-The announce discusses the tape – Nigel asks if the Bullet Club falling apart – and then AJ comes to the ring.  AJ says here’s what we should be all talking about, that he is going to Mania as WWF Champ for a full year, the longest reign since Danielson.  RAW should be a celebration of AJ Styles – instead, the announcers are just gossiping like women.  AJ says really the problem isn’t Ranallo – it’s Nigel (Ranallo has been perceived as soft on the Bullet Club given their mutual NJPW background, a kayfabe breaking photo of him with several members, including some non WWF members, circulated prior to the Rumble which caused a real fracture in Ranallo’s relationship with Aries, his partner over on Dark Ride Wrestling, enough that Corey Graves returned to that announce table to mediate the tension).  AJ calls Nigel to come up the ring – he does.

-AJ says he wants Nigel to admit that he’s a better wrestler than Nigel ever was, Nigel says that he had a good career, was ROH Champion, was TNA Champion – but he’s not here to put himself over, he would be lying if he didn’t recognize that AJ Styles was a better wrestler than he was.  AJ tells him to remember that and to sit back down – and Nigel does. 

-AJ repeats the same thing the following night at Fight Night with Regal, and Regal also says that he was not as good as AJ

-AJ repeats the same thing later in the week on Dark Ride, brings Aries into the ring – is about to ask Aries the same question – and Aries cuts him off.  Aries says he’s better than AJ.  Aries says not only did he used to be better than AJ, not only was he better than AJ at ROH and TNA – but he’s better than AJ now.  And before AJ can say anything, Aries punches him in the face, Aries then lays AJ out, leaves him laying on the canvas – Aries stands over AJ and says “and at Wrestlemania, I’m going to prove it” and exits.

-AJ doesn’t appear on any programming the following week, but Aries cuts a promo on Dark Ride where he hammers the history of late period TNA (this first came up in a WWF context when Sting wrestled Undertaker at Mania and then was referenced by Aries when he put Roode and Strong together).  AJ Styles was Mr. TNA, the franchise player, the promotion was built around him and catered to him.  And after years of that, a group of wrestlers who used to work at WWF decided they wanted to burn TNA to the ground – and guys who hated each other, like me and Bobby Roode, we decided to put our differences aside and come together to fight them off – but AJ Styles wouldn’t join us.  TNA gave AJ Styles a career but the idea that he wasn’t going to be the star – that he had to be part of a team, just wasn’t worth it for him – so he left and went to Japan and that place fell apart.  That’s who AJ Styles is – so it doesn’t surprise me to see that the Bullet Club is catching on to his bullshit, AJ Styles is about AJ Styles and no one and nothing else matters. That idea now moves into the talking stream, and as we see those fractures within the Bullet Club there's speculation about how close they really are and if negative feelings about Styles will play a role at WM.

-We learn that Aries will appear on the next RAW, AJ opens the show with Anderson and Gallows behind him; AJ says the Bullet Club are his brothers, and when Austin Aries comes out to the ring, he’ll find out how close they are.

-Aries hits the ramp – and behind him are Roode and Strong.  They hit the ring – there’s a brawl, the Bullet Club bails out.  Danielson makes a 6 man for the main event that night, Aries gets the fall on either Anderson or Gallows, there is only very nominal Aries/Styles interaction, it’s teased but not realized. Given that Aries/Roode/Strong are all TNA vets (Aries/Strong were TNA tag champs, Roode's a TNA triple crown winner, one of their signature home grown guys) there's subtext that this is a TNA faction given the way Aries has characterized those last days of TNA (TNA is of course still around, but no longer has the status it once did; it's an indie as opposed to a rival) so in the way that the ROH stans have had GDI as their avatar, there's going to be TNA loyalists who are invested in Aries vs. AJ as a Mania main event.  

-That’s the last match for both Aries or Styles, they’ll cut promos but their squads will do the ring work (and there will be some other teams involved as well, that’ll come in the tag section) Aries looks to undercut the relationship between AJ and the rest of the Bullet Club, and there's still speculation about the strength of that relationship, AJ says it makes sense that Aries is living in the past because that’s where all of his best days were.  Aries got the better of AJ at the end in TNA, he took the title from him, he beat him in his last ever TNA match – which is why the Bullet Club savagely beat him in his first night in the WWF, and that’s the text to this match; this is the next (maybe final) chapter in a long feud that spans multiple promotions. Aries and AJ are picking it up from 5 years before at the main event of Wrestlemania.  In the way the Punk/Steamboat storyline moved from TNA and ROH to WWF, we emphasize the useful continuities between the TNA program and the WWF characters of Styles/Aries to give some heft, some gravity, to this title match.

-The “who will the special guest referee be” speculation starts ramping up halfway through the build, there’s a special guest referee for one match at every WM – there’s some type of brawl leading to a no contest that causes Danielson to say the title match will have the special guest referee – and that it will be a person whose stature in the wrestling business is worthy of the spot.  Danielson really wants to tell the fans that this isn’t some type of wrestling nonsense where you promise a big star and then Al Snow arrives (Danielson says Mick Foley wrote that joke).  Danielson says trust me.

-Much speculation.  

-Two weeks out is the announcement, Danielson has the Bullet Club (Minus Nakamaura, we'll discuss him in the Dark Ride section) along with Aries/Roode/Strong all in the ring, it’s the main event segment of RAW two weeks before Wrestlemania, so there’s a ton of anticipation.  Danielson says watch the video wall.

-A Kurt Angle clip package plays featuring his 2 year long WWF Title reign, the longest for any singles champion in the Wrestlemania era.  From young Olympic hero to veteran heel stable leader – the last shot is of a man in a chair turned away from the camera, he turns around – he’s in a suit, wearing sunglasses – and when he removes him there he is, for the first time on WWF TV in over a decade – Kurt Angle. 

“It’s true.  It’s true.  I’m Kurt Angle.  And I’ll see you at Wrestlemania 33.”

-This is seismic, explosive, as talked about as any RAW moment in years, Angle is one of the seminal figures in WWF history, arguably the greatest WWF Champion of all time, Angle feuded with AJ over the belt and then was part of the Future Endeavors faction that attempted to take over TNA that has driven this program.  It’s like Bret Hart returning if Bret had a rich post WWF career (he did not) – but Angle was as important to the TNA world as was he to the WWF – and this AJ/Aries match is torn directly out of a TNA storyline. Angle was positioned during his time in WWF as maybe larger in stature than the rest of the promotion (he/Benoit/Eddy really dominated WWF main events for several years) and then had the same positioning in TNA.  Beginning with Joe's joining WWF, there has been steady TNA talk, increasing with Aries and Roode, increasing with the first month of this program.  There's value in that, as WWF swallowed ECW and WCW, then ROH and elements of NJPW through their existing factions, they now bring TNA into the fold.

-And who ties it all together is Kurt Angle. A WWF Legend returns.  

-What will he do?  Will he attack both men?  Will he call it down the middle?  What version if Kurt Angle, last seen in the WWF at WM 22, will we see in Orlando? 

It’s good stuff – AJ vs Aries with Angle as the third man in the ring. 

IC: Brock Lesnar v. Chris Jericho

-Brock took from Rusev at the Rumble, as they were exiting, Heyman called him the Real World’s Champion – and that’s where we pick it up.  Lesnar can’t wrestle again for the WWF Title based on terms of an agreement with the promotion after his attack of Joey Styles ended the longtime WWF announcers career.  But he got this IC shot from Danielson (who needed someone to exterminate Linda McMahon antagonist Rusev) and Heyman, opportunistically, now parlays Lesnar’s IC win into the talking point that it’s not the belt who makes the man – it’s the man who makes the belt – and with the IC Belt around the waist of Brock Lesnar, the IC belt becomes the Real World Championship. 

-Heyman adds that language in every promo, this isn’t just Lesnar/Jericho for the IC title, it’s Lesnar/Jericho for the Real World’s Championship. 

-Jericho has had a year long “last ride” storyline, a documentary series celebrating his career, his age is the central focus of his character now, he is a creaky veteran, getting by on guile and not athleticism – he beat Reigns/Nemeth at the Rumble to earn this shot but now has his back against the wrecking machine, one on one with Brock Lesnar, their first meeting since Brock returned to the WWF. 

-Jericho wrestles three times in the build – he goes against big men and breaks them down, first it’s Corbin, then Rowan – and finally he avenges his Survivor Series loss by somehow beating Luke Harper.  Heyman scouts all 3 matches, growing more serious with each successive match, as perhaps just perhaps, if Jericho can find a way to beat Harper, he can find a way to beat Lesnar. 

-Jericho is a guest on Heyman’s Hustle, Jericho doesn’t downplay that he’s the underdog, agrees with all of Heyman’s assertions – Lesnar is an unstoppable beast and it’s crazy for anyone, much less someone of Jericho’s age to face him.  Jericho even goes along with this being a match for the Real World’s Title – he takes a dig at AJ, says that after Aries takes down the Bullet Club at Mania, maybe they can sort this thing out for good.  Heyman grows a little frustrated – Jericho won’t rise to any of the bait – yes, Lesnar is the best, yes, Jericho is an old man – yes, Jericho is a heavy, heavy, underdog.  All true.  But yet…despite all that…for some reason Heyman seems nervous.  Weird.  Jericho says that Heyman’s known him for 20 years, watched him win titles, watched him win the Triple Crown, watched him lived his life inside the squared circle – and Heyman knows as well as anyone that if this is his Last Ride in the WWF, that Lesnar’s going to have to put him down to beat him. 

-It's Brock Lesnar, as dominant, as unstoppable as any professional wrestler who ever lived - against the 25 year veteran Chris Jericho whose yearlong storyline has been designed to wring nostalgia and sympathy from the fans.  Heyman says this is the Real World's Championship - they meet at Wrestlemania.  An announcement is made with a couple of weeks remaining in the build that Jim Ross will return at Mania to call this match specifically - and Heyman uses that as evidence that this is the Real World's Championship match.  

Dean Ambrose v. Tyler Black

-        

         -  You know the story, The Shield held the tag belts for more than two years, the longest championship reign for any belt in the Mania era – at WM 31 Langston (the third man in the act, a bodyguard/enforcer/occasional worker in the mold of Neidhart’s role with the Hart Foundation…and if you don’t know who Bret’s partner was in the Hart Foundation, you really should watch the Counterfactual WWF Network) turned on them, costing the tag titles and costing Black a year of his career with injury.  Ambrose decided not to pursue vengeance but moved onto a singles career, this fractured the relationship between Black and Ambrose, and that fracture has worsened over the course of this year until breaking cleanly at the Rumble.

-        

          So, now they fight.  Black, however, is on crutches, as he’s been since Survivor Series, so his health for the match is an open question – but he says he’ll be 100% and even if he’s not, at 50% he’s twice as good as Ambrose.  Ambrose says he won’t give Black any home team discount, he’s attacking the leg the moment the bell rings.  Renee Young interviews both multiple times, and she constantly suggests that the two should find a way to patch this up, that its hard to see them like this, which is the first on screen indication of some type of relationship she may have with the two.

-        

           In the go home RAW, we see a healthy Black for the first time in months, Ambrose is wrestling…let’s say Nemeth…there’s a ref bump, Black runs to the ring without the crutches, hits a high spot on Ambrose, allowing Nemeth to get the fall.  Ambrose, when he realizes what has happened, is steamed, Black points to his leg, indicating he’s fine – that Ambrose will get his best version – Ambrose yells good, good – no excuses, no excuses on Sunday. 

      It's the Shield, almost by acclimation now considered the greatest WWF tag team of all time, broken up headed for a violent collision at Wrestlemania. 

Nick Nemeth v. Roman Reigns-Uso

-It’s a battle of the two men who lost the chance at the IC shot, Nemeth, the most recent Triple Crown winner, is the heel, Reigns is the babyface who has largely been associated with the Usos tag act.  The build here is tied into the build of one of the tag matches, so that will be discussed next time, but there’s a sense that maybe these two men are passing each other with Nemeth the one headed in the wrong direction – and Nemeth is visibly irritated at that speculation. 

Sheamus v. Braun Strowman

-Okay, so Strowman’s been killing the replacement level guys since the beginning of 2017, squash match after squash match; he beat up Miz at the Rumble – and that’s where Sheamus comes in, Miz earned Sheamus’s respect with his transformation into Mike Mizanin, and when Sheamus and Strowman have to be separated when they are working out at WWFU (Underground) that gets us to this match.  Sheamus says someone’s gotta teach Strowman a lesson, Strowman says Sheamus and Nemeth are dinosaurs standing in the way of new Underground blood.  Strowman says Sheamus used to be known as the Cliq Killer - maybe Strowman needs to be known as the Underground Killer - that leads to Strowman mowing down that generation of Underground wrestlers - Slater, Ryder get squashed - Curt Hawkins returns and gets squashed - and in the go home, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus' old partner, returns to the WWF and Strowman kills him dead.  Strowman bullies his way through the prior generation from Underground and that gets us this match.

Okay.  Singles down.  Pretty good, right?  The Angle addition adds some juice to a good workrate main event, and if you're a TNA fan you remember that long, hot AJ/Aries program that sent AJ out of the promotion (and into NJPW and into the Bullet Club, and here we are).  Jericho will give Lesnar all he possibly has - and Ambrose/Black has been building and building and building for a year and now here we are.  Good stuff.  

Tags and the women’s match to go.  See you in a month.

Royal Rumble 2017

You'll want to stay to the end.  

Royal Rumble 2017 is in San Antonio, your announce team is Mauro Ranallo (his 6th PPV), Steve Regal (his 16th), and Nigel McGuinness (his third).  16 is a lot of PPVs for a WWF color analyst - only two men have done more:

Cornette 23
Taz 22

(Dark Matches: Joe d. Nakamura, Gargano d. Ciampa)

This is the 28th Rumble and the 120th WWF PPV.

It's Bullet Club Celebration Night here in San Antonio; one year ago the BC invaded the WWF - this show begins with a local boys/girls choir, fully decked in robes, they come out and sing some type of very simple "the Bullet Club is here...the Bullet Club is here" while clapping and lining the ramp.  The video wall plays highlights of the Club running roughshod over the WWF over these past 365 days.

The song ends - the clapping continues, Anderson and Gallows make their way to the ring (they're carrying the flag and AJ's Survivor Series trophy)- and as they walk past each choir member disrobes to reveal Bullet Club t-shirts (so many t-shirts, on sale throughout the arena and where all t-shirts are sold, just dozens of the damn things) as Anderson and Gallows hit the ring, the pyro goes off, its Bullet Club's one year Bullet Club a versary.

Anderson and Gallows stay - they sit at the timekeeper's table as the big night begins.  The announce reminds us of how big last year's Rumble was and speculates what could possibly happen to top it.

1. Crews/Kalisto v. Swann/Gallagher 
-It's a traditional up tempo, high spot laden opening tag match.  We're looking to wake up the crowd and, in this instance, get Crews/Kalisto over as a fun babyface tag act.  The announce puts them over as a possible contender for the tag titles at some point.  Anderson/Gallows stand and politely applaud post-match.

2. Women's Title: 2 of 3 Falls: Sasha Banks d. Charlotte Flair
-The most epic match they can have, it's the blow off to this program and really the blow off to the 4-Ground program which has made up the spine of the entire women's division since it was launched.  At some point (between falls) Becky comes down the ring to exhort her longtime friend Sasha (slapping the apron, that sort of thing).  It works, Banks comes through, regains the belt (Sasha is the 7th women's champion, the second 2 time champion).  Postmatch Becky hits the ring - she and Sasha hug and hug, it's super emotional - Sasha has triumphed.  Due to camera angle, we're able to see what's going to happen next before Sasha does.  During the hug, Becky makes the fingergun  motion behind Sasha's head.  We see it - the crowd sees it - the only person who doesn't see it is Sasha - so she's shocked when Becky turns that hug into an inverted DDT and lays Sasha out.

Anderson and Gallows hit the ring (this is why they're there), they grab Banks and hold her in place so Lynch can wear her out, boots, slaps - then they drop her and Lynch continues to punch the clearly defenseless champ.

Now we focus on Charlotte on the ramp - she decides she isn't putting up with this and she runs into the ring and hurls herself at Lynch.  She gets in some shots - but then is grabbed by Anderson and Gallows - allowing Lynch free shots and then Lynch buries her as well with the inverted DDT.  Charlotte and Sasha are down in a heap - Lynch is tossed a Bullet Club t-shirt and she puts it on - Becky Lynch has joined the Bullet Club!

3. Braun Strowman d. Mike Mizanin
-Strowman's just a bully and he's picking on the underdog babyface Mizanin - Mike gives it all he has, but he is squashed in a five minute match, really pounded down by Strowman, who demands the referee count to 5 before counting the fall.

4. Bullet Club (Anderson/Gallows) d. Bray Wyatt/John Cena (countout)
-Anderson and Gallows return for this one (they didn't stay at ringside for the Strowman match) they take on the reunited Wyatt Family they've been feuding with as the undercard to the Styles/Harper title match.  If it seemed maybe a little too forgiving of Cena to accept Bray in this new role after escaping the clutches of his cult-like control - maybe that was a good intuition.  Because what happens here is, with Cena in the ring, Randy Orton appeared from nowhere the RKO Wyatt off the apron to the floor.  Cena immediately exited - and he and Orton put the boots to Bray while a surprised, but willing, Anderson and Gallows accepted the countout win.  Orton and Cena drape Bray over the guardrail, Orton kicks him in the head - it is a real outside beating.  Orton and Cena, over a decade since they were tag champs, have reunited.

Anderson and Gallows smirk - "we earned our money tonight" - they completely miss American Alpha coming out of the crowd, they've been bullying Alpha since Mania - but Alpha whips them now, Anderson and Gallows have to bail out and scurry back up the ramp.  They leave behind the flag - and AJ's Survivor Series trophy - which Jordan and Gable break in half.

That's the first half of our show.  Lot going on here at Rumble...hey, here comes Shawn Michaels.

San Antonio's favorite son makes an unannounced appearance - he's here to introduce the President and Vice President of the United States - Linda and Vince McMahon!

Big moment for the McMahons, they were just inaugurated earlier in the week and are making their first joint appearance - and it's, of course, right here, in the WWF.

Linda, as you know, has been under the weather, really since the election - but she gives it all she has in a three-four minute speech - talking about reversing the decades long concentration of power in the hands of the few.  Talks about unleashing the power of the federal government, as FDR did, as LBJ did, in a massive, sweeping tide which will democratize the American economy and political system.

 "Let the workers organize. Let the toilers assemble. Let their crystallized voice proclaim their injustices and demand their privileges. Let all thoughtful citizens sustain them, for the future of Labor is the future of America!"

President McMahon's voice cracks - she apologizes - she thanks the WWF fans for their generations of support - and hopes they --

Shes' cut off by GHB, appearing in the aisle - who is soon surrounded by Secret Service.

Linda says he can speak - GHB cuts a promo, she's weak, America needs a strongman who will put the people in their place.  America is a land of haves and have nots, of successes and failures, of the strong who dominate and the weak, like all of these people, who will work at Dollar General and die desparate and alone.  That's America.  And tonight - a Russian will remind everyone of what America is - when Rusev destroys Brock Lesnar - just like he destroyed Skip McMahon - and just like, in 2020, a great Texan like Ted Cruz will destroy Linda McMahon - if she makes it that long.

That's it - GHB is shoved to the back by Secret Service, which also escorts the McMahons from the ring - and we're onto the back half of the show.

5. Number One IC Contender: Three Way Dance: Chris Jericho d. Nick Nemeth d. Roman Reigns
-Elimination match rules, Jericho's last ride will take him all the way to Wrestlemania - he's been doing a creaky, old man, Terry Funk in ECW, gimmick since Mania - and now he'll be wrestling the winner of Rusev/Lesnar.  He's really outgunned here, younger, more athletic opponents - but he uses ring generalship to navigate the match - and gets a break when Nemeth, who had induced Reigns to work with him - then turned on Roman with a superkick (it's sort of Nemeth's thing to do).  But Nemeth can't do it to Jericho - and although it looked multiple times as if the ride had come to an end - #7 pulls it out, gets the fall - and will go to Wrestlemania 33.

6. Dean Ambrose d. Langston
-The third member of the Shield, Tyler Black, hobbles down to ringside during the match, on the crutches he's been using, really, for most of the last two years, given two separate attacks by Langston (well, the last one was maybe Black's own fault).  And the second Ambrose gets the pinfall Black is crawling into the ring and swinging the crutch at Langston - he breaks the crutch over Langston's back - he tries to swing the other crutch at him but it...inadvertantly?....catches Ambrose instead.  Langston does the disappearing act - a furious Ambrose gets into Black's face - they go nose to nose - swearing at each other - yelling at each other - Black and Ambrose start throwing shots - Black and Ambrose throwing blows at each other before they're separated by security (not secret service, just WWF security) Black and Ambrose screaming at each other in the middle of the ring - the Shield has exploded here at the Royal Rumble.

7. IC Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) d. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana)
-Brock becomes the 69th IC Champ - it's no longer than 10 minutes - each man throws heavy blows - probably some real potatoing going on, it's supposed to be short and stiff and brutal and then Lesnar ends it decisively.  Suplex City.  F5.  Done.  GHB gets on the apron to give Lesnar the badmouth - Brock yanks him in - F5 - Done.  That's the write off for Bradshaw in all of his iterations.  Heyman points to Lesnar's belt "that's the real world championship belt now - this is the real world champion right here."

Prior to the tag match - a clip package featuring each of the 99 WWF Tag Team Championship reigns.

8. Tags: Kevin Steen/El Generico d. Trash (Cladio/Neville)
-Bell to bell, this card really depends on this match to deliver.  The booking of this card is strong, if I say so myself - but for it to be a successful wrestling show, this match has to crack four stars.  Fortunately, we've got exactly the right guys in exactly the right spot.  Steen and Generico take the tag belts from their former stablemates in the very best match they can possibly have - they become the 100th WWF tag champs - Steen adds a tag reign to go with his WWF title run, Generico has previously been IC Champ and adds these tag belts - it's a full on feel good babyface title win here at Royal Rumble 2017.

9. WWF Title: Cage: AJ Styles d. Luke Harper
-So, what has been built as the new Wyatt Family against the Bullet Club is just these two - of course, there's no Devitt, gone since Summer Slam.  There's no Nakamura, he wasn't even around in the build, he spent all of it on Dark Ride Wrestling.  And now there's no Anderson/Gallows, having gotten whipped earlier in the night by Alpha.  Harper also has no backup as Cena turned on Bray, reforming with his long ago partner, Orton.

So it's just AJ and Harper, as it was at Survivor Series - this time in a steel cage.

AJ has to fight from underneath, Harper's bigger and very athletic - AJ gets roughed up, there's a little color from the cage - but the champ is able to turn the tide, and again, he's able to beat Harper, definitively, right in the middle of the ring.

AJ doesn't really celebrate - he's steamed, he takes the belt, shakes his head - this was supposed be the big Bullet Club celebration - but nobody is coming out to the ring, he stands alone - we follow him to the back, AJ hits the Bullet Club locker room, Anderson and Gallows are icing down, Becky is there - AJ loses it "where are you guys - what the hell happened to my trophy - who authorized bringing this girl into the Bullet Club" - AJ yelling at Anderson and Gallows when we hard cut to a limousine in the parking area - there is chaos, someone is screaming - we see that someone is down...it's the President.  Linda McMahon is down...Secret Service  places a hand over the camera and that's how the show ends.

As we (and the country) will learn over the coming hours and days and weeks- Linda McMahon has been struck with an unspecified illness that has been plaguing her for the last couple of months - it leaves her incapacitated to the point where the decision is made to invoke the 25th Amendment making Vincent Kennedy McMahon the 46th President of the United States.  Vince assures the country that he will carry out his wife's policies and that the American people can still, in fact, call him Vince.  He asks that we return to our normal lives, including watching Wrestlemania 33 on PPV.

I told you to stay to the end.

If you recall, back in November of 2016 (real time) I told you that the Trump election was going to have booking impact.  Here's the reveal:

When I first established that the Vince McMahon character here would be a babyface - the plan was always to turn him heel and make him the Mr. McMahon character.  I didn't originally lay out how that would happen, but my broad plan was it would happen when I was ready to stop doing this, Vince would take over the company and we'd align this world with the real world by having whomever the champions were (my assumption was they wouldn't be great, sort of like a Jinder Mahal situation) win titles under Vince's direction and I'd stop writing.  You can't fight city hall forever after all, and I like the idea of ending this story at some point in that way.

However - when Linda first ran for Senate and I decided to make babyface Senator Linda McMahon a character, that plan changed to this - Linda would become the first woman elected President of the United States, Vince would be the VP, Linda would be unable to serve (that real world angle with Linda in the wheelchair in some type of non compos mentis state was my visual inspiration) and Vince would become the President.

But he'd turn heel - he'd be meglomaniacal heel billionaire President Mr. McMahon, unhinged, cutting taxes on the wealthy, starting wars, cutting the safety net, telling the CDC they can't use the word science (okay, I didn't think of that one, but that general character type was the idea - let's make Mr. McMahon President).

And then Trump won.

And so my plan - for years - I mean, for years - for yeeeeaaaaars - then went up in smoke, as having a real world heel President ends the Counterfactual idea of a heel President.

I still wanted to do the Linda thing though - I had invested too many years not to throw her into this coma.  It's a wrestling blog after all, there had to be a payoff for all the politics talk.

So - this is that, Vince is President.  He's the Babyface Billionaire - and while it's unlikely I talk about it a ton going forward, just think of him as the Counterfactual Trump.  It's not what I planned, but it's what makes sense going forward.

And - when I decide to stop writing, probably I'll turn him and do that booking thing I planned originally - so if you're still around then, there's your spoiler alert.

Okay.  We'll split the build for Mania in half - half in February, half March.  The show's in April - here's your spoiler - AJ Styles will defend the title against.....Austin Aries.

See you next month.