Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of FANTASY BOOKING where we discuss what we would do if we were given the power to control what happens when it comes to WWE Creative and the planning of events.

As we always do around this time, we need to set our sights on the build to the biggest pay-per-view of the year, WrestleMania. The event is coming up in just a few weeks and the card is starting to fill up, but it may not be shaping up the way you specifically would have preferred, so if you were in a position to change things, how would it go down? What would you do if you were in charge of creative control and could pick the matches scheduled for the biggest event of the year?


The Rules:

1) The earliest time frame you can begin planning from as a reference point is last year's WrestleMania.

2) You need to justify your choices within a reasonable mindset of what WWE has in store. Just because someone is a favorite of yours does not mean WWE would be pushing them to the title in any realistic fashion.

3) You cannot include people who are not a member of the roster, whether they are retired, working for another company, or obviously deceased. You can, however, work under the assumption that injured stars might possibly return in time for certain events (if it is within reason). Also, be realistic when it comes to bringing NXT stars up to the main roster. WWE never brings up 30 people in a year, so don't flood the market.

4) Time constraints need to be taken into consideration. This is not a 14 hour show.

5) The brand split cannot be undone.


Note: Normally, I try to switch up the pre-show panel, the commentary teams and so forth, but we're at a time right now where I feel like many people can't fit those proper roles and I don't know who to replace them with. I don't think Corey Graves should be on both Raw and SmackDown, so I'd replace him on Raw, but I don't know who would take that color commentary spot. The same goes with replacing Nigel McGuinness on 205 Live.


This is a two-hour pre-show, so we have plenty of room to incorporate matches as well as dedicating time for promos, recaps, panel analysis and so forth. Not even match needs 10 minutes dedicated to showing people the same footage we've seen before. If you want to be caught up, watch Raw and SmackDown and 205 Live. That's your incentive to tune in.

Cruiserweight Championship Gauntlet Match

This is very speedy action to showcase multiple people in the division. At the end, ideally, the final two people would be a heel like TJP or Neville and a babyface like Rey Mysterio, Johnny Gargano or Cedric Alexander.

United States Championship Match: Bobby Roode (c) vs. Randy Orton

Bobby Roode enters the match as the heel and finds a way to retain his title through cheating. He eats an RKO at the end of the match for his efforts, though. Roode will drop it at the next event, as he needs to win Money in the Bank later in the year.

5th Annual Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

This incorporates everybody else you don't see here, including some big names like Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt, Matt Hardy, Jinder Mahal, etc. Depending on the WWE Championship match, either Shinsuke Nakamura wins this, or it goes to Drew McIntyre.


Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Kicking off the show with a classic, normal match to balance things out. A new champion is crowned.

Raw Women's Championship Triple Threat Match: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Nia Jax vs. Asuka

Alexa Bliss tries to manipulate Nia Jax into protecting her from Asuka, who is gunning for the championship. Nia Jax starts to realize that Alexa is using her, and it becomes kind of a race between which one of the two challengers can beat Alexa, who has no champion's advantage to escape having to fight them both. Asuka ultimately gets the win, with Jax and Bliss ending their friendship and Jax transitioning more into a tweener/face role.

Raw Tag Team Championship Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Bar (c) vs. The Balor Club

Kassius Ohno has joined The Bar at this point, while Finn Balor, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are The Balor Club. New champions are crowned, and it's possible that Sheamus is excommunicated from The Bar so he can be moved over to SmackDown after WrestleMania.


Triple H and Kevin Owens vs. Kurt Angle and Jason Jordan

Kevin Owens never gets traded over to SmackDown, as all he really did over there was fight AJ Styles a million times, reform a pact with Sami Zayn and then feud with Shane McMahon. Instead, he stays on Raw and remains a stooge of Triple H. Eventually, he and Angle get on each other's bad sides and Jason Jordan tries to step up to Owens to defend his dad, but Owens takes Jordan to school. It then becomes a scenario where Jordan and Angle team up to fight Triple H and his protege.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Elias

Elias tries to give a musical performance. Jeff Jarrett smashes a guitar over his head after they scuffle.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match: The Usos (c) vs. The New Day vs. The Bludgeon Brothers

This is the story of biological brothers, spiritual brothers and brothers in blood. The Usos go in as champions, but The New Day come out with the titles.

Submission Match: Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar would have dropped the Universal Championship to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, before going on a somewhat babyface run of taking people down with the Kimura Lock, until he hits the roadblock of Samoa Joe, who is out to make a name for himself and establish some new dominance. Contrary to what some people would like to see, Samoa Joe actually wins this and we have a new top dog, because Lesnar shouldn't get the ability to dictate all the terms of everything he does in WWE and this would take him down a peg. Next year, if Lesnar is still around, he loses to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania 35 in a Street Fight.


Hall of Fame Recap

This gives fans a chance to run to the bathroom.

Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen

Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke, Shayna Baszler and Marina Shafir try to waltz into WWE and pick a fight with Charlotte Flair (who is the SmackDown women's champion), Bayley, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.

Alternatively, if the Four Horsewomen can't all wrestle, it's Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair and the three others all accompany ringside and scrap at some point anyway. I have no interest in Stephanie McMahon against Ronda Rousey since they already did their segment years ago.

John Cena vs. The Undertaker

No explanation needed. Two legends duke it out. The Undertaker is victorious.


WWE Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Daniel Bryan or Shinsuke Nakamura

If Daniel Bryan is able to wrestle, he wins the Royal Rumble to challenge AJ Styles. Meanwhile, Shinsuke Nakamura is added to the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and possibly wins that.

If Daniel Bryan is NOT able to wrestle, Bryan is the special guest referee of this match between Styles and Nakamura. I'm not sure if I'd go with Nakamura winning the title or coming up short, but if he were to win it, he'd have been built up enough ahead of time where he'd be able to handle the load of SmackDown, rather than looking like a weak top dog.

Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Braun Strowman

Roman Reigns would have defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, all the while turning heel. As this was happening, Braun Strowman would continue his ascent to being beloved by the crowd like he currently did. Strowman would be the favorite to win the Royal Rumble, but Reigns would be too intimidated to allow him to win and screw him out of it. However, Strowman would get his chance by winning the Elimination Chamber, setting himself up to be the victor here and to dethrone the heel Reigns. Obviously, Strowman and Reigns wouldn't have fought as many times in 2017. Eventually, in 2018, Samoa Joe is the person who takes the championship away from Braun Strowman. Then, John Cena takes the title away from Samoa Joe at WrestleMania 35 to win his 17th world title.