Thursday, March 27, 2008

Pro Wrestling News: WWE Wrestlemania 24 XXIV Preview With Predictions

The pro wrestling industry is gearing up for the final show of its year long season. Wrestlemania XXIV will be live on PPV Sunday, March 30th at 7 PM EST. Now let's get to the matches!


ECW 24-man Battle Royal


This match recently got moved to the preshow and will be available for viewing on wwe.com at 6:30 PM EST. It features superstars from WWE Raw, Smackdown and ECW. I would say it would be an entertaining match if it weren't for the presence of beasts such as Great Khali and Big Daddy V. I'll say that Kane seems the most likely to win and go on to face Chavo Guerrero on the main Wrestlemania card for the ECW Title.



ECW Title Match - Chavo Guerrero (c) vs. Kane


The winner of the 24-man battle royal advances to this match, and we've already determined that will probably be Kane. WWE has a tradition of dropping all of their primary to titles to faces at Wrestlemania, but this one is tough to call. They may keep the title on Chavo in order to try and legitimize it, but in reality they've ran out of opposition for him on ECW, so I'm going to to with Kane storming in and winning the ECW Title from Chavo here to get the crowd off to a good start.



Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Chris Jericho vs. Carlito vs. MVP vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison


Jeff Hardy was originally scheduled to be in this match, but is serving a 60-day suspension due to a Wellness Policy violation. This ladder match almost guarantees to be one of the top 3 wrestling matches of the night, and I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they decide to open the show with it. It's difficult to pick a prediction, though easy to pick my personal favorite (CM Punk). Assuming that Undertaker and John Cena will win the belts of their respective brands, they will each probably be kept busy with feuds coming off of Wrestlemania. This leaves the ECW Title in limbo, in which case Shelton Benjamin could pull up an upset win and go on to feud for that title. MVP could easily win and go on to feud with Undertaker for the Smackdown Title. However my official prediction here is Mr. Kennedy, as he's seemed set for a major push for quite some time now, yet it always seems to stop dead in its tracks for one reason or another soon after it starts. Again, this one is really hard to call. MVP and Shelton Benjamin are my 2nd and 3rd picks, respectively.



Bunny Mania - Ashley Massaro & Maria vs. Beth Phoenix & Melina


This wrestling match won't really have a lot of wrestling and will probably have at least one blown spot. Maria is in Playboy and they'll still be trying to hype that, but don't want to weaken their women's champion, so we'll say that Maria manages a pin on Melina after about 6 minutes.



Belfast Brawl - JBL vs. Finlay


This match won't exactly be a scientific wrestling bout, to say the least. One or both men will probably bleed, we'll see outside interference from Hornswoggle, but eventually JBL will pin Finlay after hitting him in the head with some sort of weapon. Finlay's miniature push will essentially come to an end.



Smackdown vs. Raw Match - Batista vs. Umaga


There is no way that they'll put Umaga over clean here, so Batista seems to be the winner if we have a clean finish. This match will probably be better than expected, as Umaga is better at wrestling than many give him credit for. Batista beats Umaga with an impressive Batista Bomb, ending up getting the first pick for Smackdown in an upcoming draft.



Career Threatening Match - Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels


This wrestling contest may very well steal the show. Flair will pull out everything he has learned in the past 40 years in this match, with several believable near falls, but eventually all things have to end, and Shawn Michaels will finally put Flair away with the Sweet Chin Music. Flair will get a standing ovation after the match that goes on forever, and possibly cut a memorable promo after the match.



The Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather


This match is a lot of hype, but won't end up being a lot of substance. It'll end with the second most undersold chokeslam of all time, very likely in less than 10 minutes, with Big Show coming out on top.



WWE Title Match: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H


This will be a very good 30 or 40 minute match, with all three competing with one another to try and steal the show. Randy Orton has made a convincing heel champion, but Cena only lost his belt due to his injury, so the title will come home. Don't expect to see Triple H do the job here. John Cena beats Randy Orton with the FU and goes on to feud with the money in the bank winner while Triple H and Orton work out their differences to determine the number one contender after Wrestlemania.




World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (c) vs. Undertaker


It's time to The Undertaker to finally get his long title run. He'll hold the title for probably 6-8 months or possibly even a year after he beats Edge, so it will be interesting to see if Smackdown gets any better. This match will probably be a very good 4 1/2 star match, with Undertaker showing that he still has some gas left in the tank.


And that's the end of my predictions for the final pro wrestling event of WWE's season, Wrestlemania! Check back soon for the latest in Pro Wrestling news, rumors and spoilers.

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