Intercontinental Championship
Wade Barrett © vs. The Miz
Really disappointing to see two guys who were at the top of the food chain only a few months before Wrestlemania 27 be relegated to the preshow of 29. In my opinion, The Miz doesn't really benefit from winning this match, as he's still got MizTV and commentator duties on Main Event to get over, whereas Barrett would just get lost in the shuffle if he were to lose. Something, though, makes me believe that in spite of all that, The Miz will still pick up the victory, and they'll continue feuding for the next month or two.
WWE Tag Team Championship
Team Hell No © vs. Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston
This is one of the matches that I think could dictate an outcome later on in the show. In my mind, I can see one of two scenarios unfolding in this match. The first, is that Daniel Bryan and Kane's differences finally start to get to them, and it ends up costing them their titles, leading to a feud between the two. The other is that Daniel Bryan and Kane still get in each other's way, but just manage to coexist long enough to retain, and eventually lose the belts to the Primetime Players down the road. If the second scenario occurs, I see it setting for to Dolph Ziggler cash in his Money in the Bank on Del Rio, and become the new World Heavyweight Champion in his second match of the night (a road similar to that of Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania IX). However, I expect that the first scenario is what we'll see, and Dolph Ziggler and Big E Langston will be crowned the new Tag Team Champions.
Singles Match
Ryback vs. Mark Henry
I don't expect this match to go very long, but I think that it'll be Ryback coming out with the victory. With Mark Henry on the tail end of his career, this would be a huge (literally) win for Ryback. I just hope that he can manage to pull the Shell Shock off on Henry, and not mess it up like he did to Tensai a couple months back.
World Heavyweight Championship
Alberto Del Rio © vs. Jack Swagger
I'm going into this match assuming that Ziggler won the Tag Team Title earlier in the night, and won't show up after this match.
I think that this'll be an entertaining match, and could quite possibly be one of the matches of the night (similar to Punk vs. Jericho last year). I think that we'll be in for lots of submission attempts and close calls, but I can see Alberto Del Rio retaining in a hard-fought defense, possibly thanks to Zeb Colter accidentally distracting Swagger. I don't see this being the end of their feud, but I don't think Jack Swagger would we rewarded with a title win at Wrestlemania, especially after his arrest last month.
Singles Match
Chris Jericho vs. Fandango
I'm a big fan of Chris Jericho, but to go from facing Punk last year to a "debuting" Faaannndddaaannngggooo this year is a huge step back. While I think that this'll be a good place for Johnny Curtis Fandango to show off his skills, I don't expect to be too excited about this match. With Jericho saying he'd mostly come back to put over younger talent, I expect Fandango to pick up the victory.
Six-Man Tag Team Match
Randy Orton, Sheamus & Big Show vs. The Shield
What The Shield is doing is exactly what Nexus should've done back in 2010- dominate against the main eventers of the WWE. While I would really love to see The Shield win by their own accord, I expect either Orton or Big Show (or both) to walk out on their partner(s), leaving The Shield with the advantage, and the victory.
No Holds Barred Match
Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) vs. Brock Lesnar
Just like the Tag Team Championship match earlier in the night, I expect the outcome of this match will directly affect a match later in the evening. Again, I have two scenarios in my head that I think are the likely outcomes, both of which are the result of an all out war between the two. In option A, Triple H gets his revenge against Lesnar, setting up for an on and off feud that eventually leads to a tie-breaker match at either Summerslam, Royal Rumble or Wrestlemania 30. In option B, Shawn Michaels actually proves to be a distraction for Triple H rather than helping him, and Brock is able to win the match and end Triple H's career. After this, Brock would make it clear that he wants to go after the WWE Championship.
Just like I was a month ago, I'm still not 100% sure what will happen. Based on Triple H's past, I would say that there's no way he hangs up the boots right now. But the other part of me thinks that he realizes how much work he has cut out for him on the corporate side, and that it's more important than his in-ring career. In the end, I'll say that Brock Lesnar picks up the win in a very entertaining match, leading to an emotional goodbye from Triple H with Shawn by his side.
Eight-Person Mixed Tag Team Match
Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs. Team Rhodes Scolars & The Bella Twins
If this predicted line-up does in fact go in this order, you can bet that no one will even care about this match, and it'll be used as the bathroom/concession break before the co-main events. This will likely be a two or three minute filler with longer entrances than actual wrestling (thanks to the Diddy performance, I'm sure), and I completely expect Brodus, Tensai, Cameron and Naomi to get the victory in a lackluster match.
Singles Match
The Undertaker vs. CM Punk
This is the match that I'm the most excited for, and if I had my way, it'd be the true main event of the evening. If Undertaker is in shape similar to that of last year's Hell in a Cell match, I think this could easily be a 5-star classic. I fully expect that they'll throw everything in their arsenal at each other, and in Punk's case, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Chokeslam/Tombstone/Hell's Gate attempt out of him.
I think one of the interesting points that Punk made on this past Raw was that we wasn't past trying to get The Undertaker disqualified, thus ending his streak. I expect this to be one of the main focal points of the match, culminating to Undertaker very nearly hitting Punk with the Urn. At the last second, he realizes what nearly happened, and in that moment of weakness, Punk will hit the GTS. Something tells me that Punk wouldn't be satisfied winning the match right there, and in an attempt to prove that he's the best in the world, he tries going for one more, leading to a reversal by the Undertaker by hitting a Tombstone for the victory. In what I believe will be his final match, The Undertaker will extend his streak to 21-0, leading to the rumored hiatus of CM Punk.
WWE Championship
The Rock © vs. John Cena
Twice in a lifetime. For as big of a deal as they're making this match, I only care about it slightly more than the Jericho-Fandango match. Don't get me wrong, it'll be a pretty good match that likely goes 30+ minutes, but with Cena's character being as stale as 8-year old bread, I just can't find myself invested in this feud.
I expect that this match will have a flow very similar to last year, where they both spend a good amount of time feeding off the crowd before they actually get down to business. It definitely won't be a classic match like I expect Punk-Undertaker to be, but I think we'll see a very even, back-and-forth between the two, with many failed finisher attempts between them. With some speculation that Rock might be sticking around until Extreme Rules, I'm holding on to the glimmer of hope that he walks away with the win, but I just can't see it. With Cena continually making reference to the fact that the Rock's time is up and his time is now (despite it being his time since early 2005), I expect John Cena finally gets the year old monkey off his back and wins the WWE Championship.
On a side note- if Rocky somehow does pull this one out of the hat, we might very well see a Rock/Brock match at Extreme Rules. In concept sounds good (and it should lead to some good PPV sales), but could have the potential to be a train wreck between two part-timers.
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If that was tl;dr, my quick results are:
The Miz d. Wade Barrett
Ziggler & Langston d. Team Hell No
Ryback d. Mark Henry
Del Rio d. Swagger
Fandango d. Jericho
Shield d. Orton/Sheamus/Barrett
Brock Lesnar d. Triple H
Brodus/Tensai/Cameron/Naomi d. Sandow/Rhodes/Bellas
Undertaker d. CM Punk
John Cena d. The Rock
