Wrestlemania XXX Preview: Assorted Thoughts

The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is a nice idea. The WWE was going to have some multi-man match to put guys on the card they couldn't build proper feuds for, anyway, so doing it like this makes it seem like more of a big deal. And you would want big deals at Wrestlemania XXX. Battle royals where nothing is on the line just seem so worthless to me. A trophy is on the line. It may seem meaningless, but I like it. I am one of those guys that wouldn't mind seeing King of the Ring make a return. Those kind of things are fun. I want to see something that grants an honor besides a guaranteed title shot. The Royal Rumble is important because the winner gets a title shot at Wrestlemania. The guy that wins Money in the Bank gets a title shot whenever he wants. Those things aren't honors in themselves. Tournaments and battle royals like this can make things more interesting outside of the major title matters. Moreover, it has gotten some good development in the past few weeks.

Who wins? Big Show definitely is a favorite to win. Miz has never been beaten on the Wrestlemania PPV. Then again, he can get tossed out and the WWE can still sell it as him never having been pinned or made to submit. It can be a big push for Rusev to get that big win at Wrestlemania. Sheamus is also a good possibility. Jinder Mahal? No, probably not Jinder Mahal. You might also get some surprise entrants. Out of the people I have named, I think Miz might win it. It would give him back some momentum and give him something to brag about. In case you haven't noticed, he's a heel again.

This multi-diva match for the Diva's Championship is something I don't like. For years now, if they haven't relied on tossing a bunch of divas together, they have relied on celebrities. Or a mixture of that. And this is the first time the title will be defended at the big event. You would hope it would be something special. It will be a special moment for the diva that wins, but I am talking about the build of the match. This match has just been tossed together because of something AJ Lee said about Vickie Guerrero. Vickie Guerrero wasn't even relevant before that! Even though I don't like it, I expected it. People actually thought AJ Lee vs. Naomi was something they would actually develop for Wrestlemania? Not likely. Not only does it not follow the recent trend of what happens to the divas at Wrestlemania, that match just didn't have a big feel to it.

This match they are running with does not even have a big feel to it. AJ Lee? You can call her queen bee. This match is really centered around her. All the other divas are targeting her. Vickie Guerrero is targeting her. Is AJ Lee face or heel?  She continues to be the best-pushed diva of this dark age. She has better creative interest on her than anyone else heading into the match. I would expect her to win. Fans despise Vickie Guerrero more than heel AJ. The classic moment of Vickie raging over AJ Lee overcoming the odds seems likely.

How about Summer Rae? I could talk about Brie Bella, Naomi, Natalya, or any other diva. What does it mean that Summer Rae had a match on Raw and won it? I have said for a while that she is the likely candidate to follow in the line of Sable, Trish Stratus, and Michelle McCool. She seems to be breaking out on her own even more. Putting her on Total Divas is an easy way to give her some creative interest. Of course, that show gets less than half the viewers Raw gets. It would be smarter to develop her on Raw. And they did a little bit of that this week. Not only was there a match, but they aired footage of the Total Divas segment that set up this match. When Total Divas can lead to more depth in the diva division, it's good. But I think this is about more than just adding more to talk about in the diva division. They want to groom their new centerpiece. Are they ready to pull the trigger and give Summer Rae the title? I still think AJ is likely to retain, but Summer Rae winning would not be that shocking. Transfer AJ back into periphery angles by have her feud with Vickie Guerrero.

Let me go back to a question I asked many weeks ago. Over or under? Will Wrestlemania XXX get over or under a million buys? The last three Wrestlemanias all had over a million buys. The last three Wrestlemanias also had The Rock. Before that, Wrestlemania had 885,000 buys in 2010. I got my numbers from here. Can the WWE keep the ball rolling?

It all comes down to how well the WWE has created hype for the event in the last few weeks. No Rock, but Hulk Hogan has been around. You can expect Austin and other top stars of the past to also be there, but there has been no big hype for them. Just looking at the actual feuds, I don't think the WWE has created something epic that can draw in viewers outside of the regular wrestling fan audience. The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is nice, but I don't think it is a big draw. Cena's feud with Bray Wyatt has led to some interesting promos, but it is no big deal. The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match does not have that big feel to it, in terms of how they have developed it. The Daniel Bryan saga has become epic, but I don't believe it will be enough to draw the interest of casual fans. The other matches are not worth mentioning. And I doubt the possibility of a surprise return from CM Punk will do much. Raw ratings have been pretty mediocre in the last few weeks. That doesn't mean Wrestlemania won't get a lot of buys, but it is one indicator that the WWE has not created great hype to get fans to tune in for Raw. If you can't do that, how much can you expect when trying to get fans to spend money for the biggest PPV of the year?

How will the WWE Network impact things? People that are subscribing to that will automatically get Wrestlemania. But how many people actually have it? From the few polls I have come across, the majority of fans will be watching the event through the WWE Network. Looking at some of those results, you might think a lot of people have subscribed and a lot of people will be watching Wrestlemania. Just keep in mind that these are wrestling fans voting on these polls. They don't represent other types of fans that will really influence how many viewers Wrestlemania gets. But it is obvious that there will be less people spending money to buy the PPV because they can watch it through the WWE Network.

This is Wrestlemania XXX. You would expect great buyrates for it. Wrestlemania 25 got less than a million buys. And I think this year's Wrestlemania will see a decline from last year. Just to allow a little leeway for people watching on the WWE Network, I would say 900,000 PPV buys would still be great. I am not too sure they will even get there. They have not created great hype.