Previewing Wrestlemania 2016: The Undercard

The Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal has never led to a serious push for either of the first two winners. Big Show, last year's winner, certainly already has his career made. He's going to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Cesaro, the first winner, has had his career go up and down. He has gotten a number of titles and accolades in between depushes. I know about the rumors about Braun Strowman winning and getting a big push later on. Since that might hinge on what the WWE does with Roman Reigns and injury issues, I am not picking him to win. I could imagine someone in The Social Outcasts winning. Would that be an insult to Andre? A jobber winning this? Well, is putting this match on the pre-show insulting? The WWE might do some funny things with someone from the group winning. And I do not think anyone else currently in the match can really benefit from this. I'll go with Heath Slater.

The Dudley Boys face The Usos. This match does not feel big enough for Wrestlemania, but at least there are some feuds going on in the tag division that go beyond the tag titles. Since The Dudleys turned heel just a few weeks ago, logic might say they win this match and continue their push. I am going to go against logic and say The Usos win. The WWE has not pushed The Dudleys well since they returned. At the same time, The Usos have not won anything major since they reunited. I'll go with them.

Kalisto defends the United States Championship against Ryback. Ryback went a few years without ever winning a title. There was a time when he seemed credible enough to win the WWE Championship. That never happened, bu he did win the Intercontinental Championship last year. I would say he does not really need another title reign again so soon. On the other hand, how serious is the WWE in pushing Kalisto as the new Mysterio? Having him bring this up in interviews and talking about him like he is the next Mysterio doesn't mean as much as booking him consistently. If his title reign ends this Sunday and he gets sent back to the tag division with Sin Cara, I doubt he will end up as the new Mysterio. I will say he retains the title.

Another multi-man ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship. Kevin Owens faces Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Zack Ryder, Sin Cara, Miz, and Stardust. Some of these guys are just extra bodies. This match should have just been between Owens and Zayn. I would say those are the two favorites to win. I would have Owens retain and lose the title later to Zayn in a singles feud.

The New Day take on The League of Nations in a handicap match. Just a few weeks ago, The League of Nations destroyed New Day and actually looked like great heels. They actually looked like a group the WWE was serious in pushing again. Since then, it feels like they have lost some of that intensity. I still hope the group ends up winning the tag titles. Until then, I will say they beat New Day. They should. 

AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho is a match that I do not think needed to happen again. This is the fourth match in a rivalry that is only two months old. This is a rivalry that featured them teaming up and eventually becoming contenders for the tag titles. This is a rivalry that featured the team splitting and one guy turning on the other. All in two months. You would think this kind of story takes a lot longer than this to develop. And yet, here we are.

I want to say a few things about how this feud has been developed since Chris Jericho turned heel. I have seen some fans criticize the WWE for taking so long to make this match official. They waited until the final Raw before Wrestlemania. I do not have a problem with that. The story is that Jericho was trying to avoid facing Styles again. Styles had to get Jericho to agree to it. This isn't bad storyline development.

The other part of this storyline that I want to bring up is the WWE bringing up "AJ Styles" chants. That supposedly annoyed Jericho. The issue I have isn't really the fact that Jericho is pretty over in his own right, even as a heel.This is about Styles. They obviously want the guy over. They are not burying his popularity. But how about they stop pointing out that fans like him and actually take advantage of what makes him phenomenal and develop his character better. Push him better. Fact is, I am not impressed by those chants. Maybe my memory is going bad, but I am sure I remember times when fans have reacted to wrestlers better. Those "AJ Styles" chants can be better. The WWE needs to put more work into AJ Styles. Smarks will cheer for him because he is great wrestler. Marks will cheer for him because he is pushed as a face. Beyond those fans that are either always criticizing the product or buying into it rather easily, how about the general audience? AJ needs to win those fans over. The WWE needs to do more than run a storyline about people chanting for him. He's not Daniel Bryan.

As far as the winner, it has to be Styles. Jericho is a jobber to the stars.

Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar is a big match, but not one of the likely two candidates to close the show, despite the presence of Brock Lesnar. Not to knock Ambrose, but this feels like the weakest Wrestlemania opponent Lesnar has had yet. It is a great push for Ambrose and will help elevate him, but Lesnar has faced guys with more star power or where there was something on the line in his other Wrestlemania matches. This is still a match many wrestling fans will look forward to.

And it is going to be a street fight. On the one hand, I like that the WWE has really made a storyline out of the match type. Hardcore legends have been utilized to push this feud. On the other hand, I think the WWE could have told a better story. Brock got mad at Ambrose for getting in the way of Brock getting a title shot. He attacked Ambrose in the parking lot the night after that. Just build on that intensity that was there. I feel how the WWE has handled the story these last few weeks has highlighted the match type more than the intense emotion that was there. Either way, should be a fun match.

The wildcard in this match will be The Wyatts. Dean Ambrose obviously has a history with Bray Wyatt. Brock Lesnar, moreover, was supposed to have a mini-feud with Bray. Bray was injured and that match got ruined. I doubt the WWE will have it end like that. They will go at it down the road. Will the WWE use this match at Wrestlemania to build up to that future match? The Wyatts don't have anything else going for them right now. Because there will be no disqualifications in this match, you can definitely imagine The Wyatts getting involved. Will it be a poor way for Dean Ambrose's feud with Brock Lesnar to end to just use this match as a stepping stone for another feud for Lesnar? That's another issue. Let's see how the WWE actually handles the match and what comes after.

Who wins? How often does Lesnar lose? Network specials aside, Brock Lesnar has not had a PPV win in a while. He lost at Fast Lane. He lost at the Royal Rumble. Is Vince McMahon going to be worried about Lesnar possibly starting to look weak? Some fans say that they cannot imagine Ambrose beating Lesnar cleanly. Well, can you imagine it with weapons involved? An extreme spot? It could happen. Of course, as I said, interference is likely. Cleanly or not, Lesnar has not won a big match in a while and I think he will win one here.