Road to Wrestlemania 31, Part 2

Part 1 is here.

Here's the card as currently stands.

Bryan Danielson v. Kenta (w/Heyman)

WWF Title: No DQ: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Claudio Castagnoli (w/GDI)

Tags: The Shield (Ambrose/Black) v. D1 (Nemeth/Swagger)

IC: Luke Harper v. Bray Wyatt

6 matches left.

Legends Last Stand: Undertaker (w/Hogan, PAUL, Kane) v. Sting (w/Flair, Malenko, AA)

At the Rumble, Austin (1/3 of the only seen when needed Championship Committee) announced a celebration for Sting on the following RAW - and that happens.

The main event segment opens with as many of the following people seated in the ring as we can get - Vader, Stan Hansen, Muta, Harley, Funk, Lex, Jarrett, Shane Douglas, along with Regal and Steamboat.  This is the first appearance for Steamboat in a WWF ring in awhile and the announce will note that he's quietly divested himself of his ownsership interest in GDI. 

Foley then comes to the ring - hey, Mick.   Foley will speak for this first group, representing Sting's friends and enemies.  Foley had both a longtime feud with Sting and they were NWA tag champs (if you didn't follow the NWA portion of our alternate world, that's a thing that happened).  There are clips, he tells a story.  Then Foley says Sting's greatest enemies, who eventually became his greatest friends, are also here tonight - making his return to the WWF, along with the Four Horsemen - the Nature Boy Ric Flair!

Flair, along with Dean, Arn, and as many of the following as we can get - Ole, Tully, Windham, Batista, Chavo, come to the ring.  Flair, whose return is a surprise, tells a Sting story from the NWA, but then explains to the WWF audience that may not be aware, that in TNA, not that long ago, Sting finally became a Horsemen - and it was as a Horsemen that he won his last title (for those of you who did not follow the TNA portion of our alternate history)  Flair says the Horsemen cross promotions, cross time and space, cross generations and mortality.  Flair says Sting, for all his accomplishments, will forever be a member of his family - a Horseman.

Flair then introduces Sting - who comes to a WWF ring for the first time, soaks up the applause - and after thanking over everyone in the ring - announces his retirement.

Everybody hugs, shakes hands - there's a Sting chant, and we're off the air.

In a subsequent RAW there's a vignette in which Shawn, repping the championship committee, pulls the Undertaker into an office and tells him he's done.  Undertaker can have his last match at Mania and can pick an opponent, but the time has come to stop.

In a subsequent RAW there's a vignette in which Hogan (hey, it's Hogan) tells PAUL to grab his guys, that being Taker and Kane - Hogan's hot with how Taker's being treated.  A guy like Sting, who doesn't even work here, gets to have this elaborate ceremony, and the Undertaker is forced out in a back room someplace.  Hogan says Taker's last opponent should be Sting, that he should beat him down in the legends match at Mania.

In a subsequent RAW there's an in ring promo from Flair (Woooooo). He continues his role as "dude who explains TNA storylines to WWF fans who otherwise might not be aware" telling us that the reason for Hogan's animus is Sting forced him out of TNA and ended his wrestling career.  Flair teases that if Sting were to wrestle Taker, he'd peel the bark clean off him.

A subsequent RAW has a Heyman Hustle with Hogan and Flair as the guests.  They take shots at each other and ramp up the stakes for a possible Taker/Sting match - if Taker loses, Hogan leaves the sport.  If Sting loses, Flair leaves the sport.   All that remains is the two wrestlers to agree.

In a subsequent RAW they do.  Taker comes to the ring and makes the challenge.  Sting comes to the ring and accepts.  They go nose to nose.

That's the build, we fill it out by making it a No DQ and having a couple of real world survivor series style promos, Taker/Hogan/Paul/Kane on one side and Sting/Flair/Dean/Arn on the other to raise the legends aspect of the legends match.  All 8 men will appear.  It's the last match ever for both Taker and Sting, and either Hogan or Flair will leave the sport.

Five matches left.

Langston v. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana)
As discussed in Part 1, Langston isn't part of the Shield's program with Division One, that's because he accepts an open challenge GHB makes to the locker room to take on the undefeated Rusev at Mania.  It's irresitable force/immovable object - Langston's part (albeit the third man, and that's part of the build, GHB's questioning if Langston's really in the Shield or just a bodyguard, sort of like a less attractive Lana) of the two year tag champs The Shield. And Rusev is unbeaten foreign monster, pretty much out of central casting.

GHB as mouthpiece allows Langston do show a little more of his humor than he does in the Shield, which is a pretty serious act.  He can't go full comedy, because I hate full comedy, but the back and forth with Bradshaw can involve some put downs and that requires more than strongman stoicism.

Four matches left.

Texas Bull Rope Match: Dustin Rhodes v. Cody Rhodes (special guest referee: Dusty Rhodes)

Dustin and Cody have another wild ass brawl, like in a big box department store or a Chili's.  They fight until exhaustion; after which over all the television sets in the place comes a video from Dusty.

Dusty says something to the effect of when the unions have all been killed off and now you live paycheck to paycheck it's hard times, when decades of tax cuts for millionaires have dried up government services for the working class it's hard time, and when an old man watches his two sons fight to the death every week and he knows its his fault, it's hard times.

Dusty forgives both boys.  Forgives Dustin for attacking him.  Forgives Cody for turning his back on him a couple of years ago to stick with the Undertaker.  And Dusty apologizes to both for putting his career first.  He doesn't know how many days he has left on the planet, but he wants to spend them with his family.

And he knows the only way to do that is for Dustin and Cody to be in one last fight, a fight so brutal they won't be able to fight no more - at Wrestlemania, they'll fight in a Texas Bull Rope Match, they'll bleed every last drop of hate right out of them and then it will be done.  And to make sure - Dusty will be the guest referee.

That's the build - both guys are basically babyfaces now, the positioning is they've been in a feud for more than a year and it's time to end it once and for all.

Three matches left.

Tyson Kidd v. Ka$h Kingston (w/Woods)
Kingston turns heel in the build.  Recall, we met Woods in the Rumble build, he's in a racial identity politics professorial gimmick, talking about a new day in the WWF.  He focused on Kingston, and his argument got boosted at the Rumble when the official missed Kingston's foot on the ropes during the fall.  In the build, Kidd apologizes, says they've had too many great matches for it to end like that, challenges Kingston to one more match at Mania.

Woods enters, accepts on Kingston's behalf, says Kidd would like one more match, maybe to hold the tights or use a foreign object or otherwise screw over Kingston again, but with Woods monitoring from the outside, that won't happen.

Kingston sneak attacks, taking out Kidd, he and Woods stand over him and we have this match. This feud, also over a year long, is set to come to an end here.  Woods introduces the hashtags #blackwrestlersmatter and #wrestlemaniasowhite in the build.

Two tag matches remain

John Cena/Harper v. Wade Barrett/Fandango Curtis
Harper is Sandow doing a Luke Harper imitation; he turned on Barrett at the Rumble and that gets us here.

Usos (Reigns/Jimmy w/Jey) v. Direct to Video (Orton/Miz w/HHH-M)
They trade wins in the build, what looks to be the rubber match includes Jey coming to ringisde on crutches.  He's taken out by HHH-M with a pedigree to the outside, that leads to a full brawl, a no contest, and this match being made to open Mania.

That's your show.  Wrestlemania 31 from Santa Clara.

Bryan Danielson v. Kenta (w/Heyman)

WWF Title: No DQ: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Claudio Castagnoli (w/GDI)

Tags: The Shield (Ambrose/Black) v. D1 (Nemeth/Swagger)

IC: Luke Harper v. Bray Wyatt
Legends Last Stand: Undertaker (w/Hogan, PAUL, Kane) v. Sting (w/Flair, Malenko, AA)
Langston v. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana)

Texas Bull Rope Match: Dustin Rhodes v. Cody Rhodes (special guest referee: Dusty Rhodes)
Tyson Kidd v. Ka$h Kingston (w/Woods)
John Cena/Harper v. Wade Barrett/Fandango Curtis
Usos (Reigns/Jimmy w/Jey) v. Direct to Video (Orton/Miz w/HHH-M)

It's not on the Network - only on PPV!

Road to Wrestlemania 31, Part 1

The Rumble is here.

We're going to split this in half.  Top 4 matches today.  Everything else in March.  Mania in April.

Two time WWF Champion Bryan Danielson returned unepxectedly after a 6 month absence to close the Rumble, getting some shots in against Kenta in front of a stunned Lesnar.

Danielson opens RAW the next night with a promo.  He hasn't shaved or cut his hair since Mania; he's now the longest haired version of real world Bryan.

He says that six months ago he was told it would be a significant neurological mistake to return to the wrestling ring.  

He says he's been in the main event of the past 3 Manias - and now, at WM31...he's going to be in a 4th.

From above the ring, the banner for Mania is unfurled - it says Danielson vs. Kenta. The Best Wrestlers in the World.

Kenta. For you.  For this.  I'll make that mistake.  

That's Kenta's music cue, he and Heyman come to the ring.

Throughout this section, Kenta and Danielson go nose to nose while Heyman talks.  Danielson never looks at Heyman.

Heyman says Danielson won't believe this, but he's glad he's back.  Because he wants to be in the winning corner for Danielson's last match.  He came back to the WWF with Brock Lesnar to destroy GDI, to destroy the idea that independent wrestling had transcended ECW.  And here we are.  Brock Lesnar beat CM Punk half to death and CM Punk is gone.  Brock Lesnar took Claudio Castagnoli's title.  And Brock Lesnar hit you so hard, Bryan Danielson, that you can only get clearance to wrestle by waiving the WWF of all liability.  

Heyman says Danielson's ready to fall - and Kenta, the best wrestler of the 21st century, is the man to finish the job.  Heyman says 31 years of Wrestlemania have all been building up to that moment, when Kenta, the lineal descendant of the greatest professional wrestling the world has ever known - ends Bryan Danielson's career.

Danielson's still not looked at Heyman once and doesn't now - he just addresses Kenta.

I'll see you in the ring.

Most of the build is now pure sports.  Danielson goes away for the entire build; when we see him its in MMA training vignettes; Steamboat, never seen with GDI these days, is there at those sessions but obviously not leading them.  

Kenta has two matches, once early in the build and once in the go home.  Early in the build he goes over Nemeth; there's a spot where he's outside and Steen comes to the ring, he doesn't interfere but the message is clear that he could get to Kenta anytime. After that, Heyman sends Kenta home, And we get vignettes of Kenta preparing, ideally in a NOAH dojo, ideally with Kobashi at those sessions. The more we can tell the story of the Steamboat/Danielson relationship contrasted with the Kobashi/Kenta relationship is to the good - the more the All Japan turned NOAH lineage is contrasted with the US independent wrestling growth after the turn of the century is to the good.

We'll talk about Kenta's return for the go home momentarily.  There's also a pre Mania press conference we'll discuss.

Lot of talking heads in the build - it's presented as maybe the ultimate fantasy match; Danielson, the leader of the 21st century independent movement vs Kenta, the culmination of the All Japan/NOAH style - in the main event of Wrestlemania.  It is (behind the curtain) more than I ever could have hoped for when putting together the counterfactual and that's the spirit of the build.  We couldn't do Kobashi vs. Benoit, but we can do this.  

The title match is a rematch, Brock defending against Claudio in a No DQ match.  First match was straight, this is No DQ.  Brock is totally obsessed with Danielson, ideally he comes out of the Rumble with a black eye so there's a physical representation of what Claudio can do to him. He and Heyman do a promo relatively early in the build, Heyman tries to talk about Claudio but Lesnar goes off script and starts yelling about Danielson.  He just works himself into a lather - Danielson was dead and buried over the summer after the battle royal, Danielson's some kind of freaky wizard, Danielson never really beat him, Lesnar wants him again - Lesnar wants to wrestle Danielson any goddamn day.  Lesnar's tears the ring apart, rips a top rope off and the ring falls apart.  

That clear distraction is used by Steen - there's a Heyman Hustle where the guests are Steen/Generico/Pac.  Steen hits the "Brock better stop thinking about Danielson and start thinking about the 4 members of GDI who will be on the other side" note.  Unlike the Rumble, Claudio isn't sending anyone home - and this is a No DQ match.  Brock's gotta go through all of them to keep that belt.

When we see Claudio, we need a little bit of an effect from his match with Brock - that's the story for all Lesnar's opponents; Brock takes something away from them.  With Claudio, he's a little quieter, a little less effusive about how great everything is.  Previously, he'd lead the fans in the "hey" chant - he'd point at something and yell "hey" and that would kick it off.  He's the bandleader of the Hey Movement.  But not now.  When the fans yell "hey" - he'll respond, but he doesn't start the chants.  Announce speculates about his condition, tying Punk/Danielson/Claudio together and the physical toll just getting into the ring with Lesnar exacts.

Lesnar works once, in a go home tag match with Kenta.  Lesnar's first tag match of this run (he may have done one with Swagger but he never got in the ring - Brock in a tag is weird psychology but we need to allow that for the sake of the build). But we're not ready for that yet.

So that's the story - Lesnar's only lost one match in his return, it was to Danielson, so he's obsessed with Danielson, and will that cause him to overlook Claudio, who might be called more serious, and also might be called concussed, just like everyone else who Lesnar has faced.

The Shield has hit very rare air; they will go to Mania as 2 year defending tag team champions.  

In that build they talked about joining Mt Rushmore of WWF title reigns.  Now they say the only faces who deserve to be on that mountain are there's. A win and they're the longest reigning holders of any title in the Mania era. 

It doesn't take long to find out their challengers, they do a promo (on Fight Night, which is super rare) saying there is no possible way anyone can dispute they're the greatest tag team ever.  Regal leaves the announce and comes to the ring.  

He says he disputes it.  It's a rare time for Regal to go face to face with members of Underground who turned their backs on him.  Regal says he feels the same way he did 5 1/2 years ago when he and Finlay lost their last match together to this team.  The greatest tag team he's ever seen - is Division One.

Swagger and Nemeth, wearing the old D1 gear come to the ring to the old D1 music.  This has been building since the summer battle royal, the slow piecing back together of Division One - and now it's done, and they go noses to noses with all 3 members of the Shield.

That will be it, however, for Langston in this build - he won't be part of the program as he has a singles match.  We'll talk about that in Part 2.

Largely, D1 and The Shield are kept apart in the build. D1 doesn't wrestle together until the go home, which is D1 against Lesnar/Kenta (that's the match I've been referencing). The finish comes when Lesnar is on the outside and gets attacked by Steen/Generico/Pac allowing D1 to hit their double team finish to pin Kenta.

Lesnar fights 1 on 3 against GDI, but Claudio then comes down to the ring and together all four members of GDI are able to lay him out.

Having Kenta pinned, even in a 2 on 1, is a risk - but I want to make sure the tag title match is really put over.  Shield's had the belts for two years and Division One has a pretty good "what might have been if Nemeth didn't turn" mythology that's been intentionally fueled for many years, "well this team is good - but what if D1 was still together..."  When D1 beats Lesnar/Kenta that tag match really becomes super hot, giving us 3 matches at the top of the card that really sell this show.  

In advance of that go home, maybe even earlier that day, is the Mania press conference - included there is Lesnar going nuts when seeing Danielson; flipping a table, knocking over a podium.  There's real concern about Lesnars focus.  There's a buzz at the press conference that can be discussed on the network in the analysis shows (the WWF network should have at least one PTI style show every afternoon talking about wrestling) that is speculation that win/lose/draw Wrestlemania will be Danielson's last match.  That is very late buzz, in the go home week, and doesn't make TV. 

The other title match is the IC - it's Luke Harper defending against Bray.

We stretch out the breakup of Bray and his former top man through one more program.  Cena attacking Dustin after his IC loss to Bray serves to allow a little more rope for the story.  Recall, at the Rumble, we had Sandow's conversion into Harper, so now we have two of them.  Bray's explanation to Luke Harper is that this is a win/win, Luke Harper isn't needed as a bodyguard anymore, he can focus on his IC title, because he has been replaced.

We can probably stretch that out a little more - Bray treats Harper the way he used to treat Luke Harper - here Luke is with his IC title, his friend Dustin has been kicked out of the family, and Luke is getting ostracized, shunned by his father figure Bray.  Wyatt looks for every opportunity to elevate Harper as superior to Luke Harper until finally Luke Harper explodes, "if you think he's so great, let's see if he can take this title from me at Wrestlemania".

That's the trap - Bray says that makes Luke seem a little yellow, he wins the IC title and defends it against an old man like Dustin Rhodes and then a bodyguard like Harper.  Bray says it's shameful - this is Wrestlemania and Luke is the Intercontental Champion, he should defend it against a quality opponent.  Against a man.

Luke then challenges Bray.  Which is what Bray wanted all along.

Bray accepts and then Cena and Harper attack, incompacitating Luke so Bray can smack him around.

Luke Harper never actually strikes Bray in the build, if you recall the finish of the battle royal, that spot was teased at the end, Luke hitting Bray - but he couldn't do it and allowed Bray to win.  Bray hits that in his promos to build to Mania, that in the end, Luke won't be able to go through with it.

That's the top four matches for Wrestlemania 31.

Bryan Danielson v. Kenta (w/Heyman)

WWF Title: No DQ: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Claudio Castagnoli (w/GDI)

Tags: The Shield (Ambrose/Black) v. D1 (Nemeth/Swagger)

IC: Luke Harper v. Bray Wyatt

6 more matches to come.  Including a Legends Retirement Match: Undertaker v. Sting

Back in March.