Here we go again. Another high profile Wrestlemania match is being misbooked because the wackjob in charge, Vincent K. McMahon, won't tell the story the way it's supposed to be told.
Last year, in the run-up to Sting vs. Triple H, I wrote in this space that the storyline should've been about a match more than 20 years in the making, since I don't believe HHH (as Terra Ryzing or Jean-Paul Levesque) faced Sting when both were in WCW (1993-4). Instead, McMahon insisted on continuing with his personal vendetta against WCW, laying the final nail in the coffin with an overbooked match between two men in the twilight of their careers. Sting is over 50. HHH is almost there, as he'll turn 50 in 3 years. Their match should've been sponsored by AARP, but they want nothing to do with a 70 year old executive who is so out of touch with reality, he thinks MTV still plays music videos 24 hours a day.
This year, it's Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon. For the wrong reasons.
Shane nailed the biggest bullet point in the storyline when he said on Raw that Vince was "no longer best for business". I've been saying that for years. There is no rhyme or reason to anything Vince does these days, including conscripting Undertaker to do his dirty work.
Ah, there is a method to the madness here. Consider the track records of both men at the Showcase of the Immortals:
Undertaker has only lost one match at Wrestlemania, and that, of course, was to Brock Lesnar 2 years ago. It's inconceivable to think he'd lose again for the 2nd time in 3 years, but his record is negated, virtually, by the presence of Vince, who is 0-Wrestlemania, both as a manager (0-2), and as a wrestler (0-4), and one of those losses was to Shane-O-Mac himself 15 years ago. Vince wants to finally win a match, however he can, at the big dance. The only carrot I can imagine him dangling before the Dead Man might be another crack at the World title. Other than that, it doesn't make any sense. Of course, it doesn't make any sense. That's Vince McMahon in the 21st century, operating as if he's still in the 20th century.
A review of Raw on the shared Figure 4 Weekly/Wrestling Observer site suggests that Vince is playing Shane and Stephanie/Triple H against each other when the three of them should be together, once and for all, with Vince trying to prove that he still has it, but he lost his creative juices a long time ago. A large chunk of his audience has abandoned him because of the recycled storylines, and McMahon's stubborn refusal to acknowledge his own weakness to the public, though you can imagine most of the fans that left figured it out for themselves.
Let us not forget, too, that in the past, which Vince would rather we forgot, but we don't and won't, Hunter, Steph, & Shane have all been victims of the insane chairman's mad schemes, as has the Dead Man himself.
The only scenario I can see happening at Wrestlemania requires Stephanie turning on her father and siding with big brother. She pleads with Undertaker, getting down on her knees, and even admitting Vince is the one responsible for all of the company's problems. Taker then turns on Vince as well and lays him out with the chokeslam and tombstone, then tells the ref to stop the match.
I think we're all sure that Hunter will lose the title that night, largely if Vince does what I think he will and butt in where he doesn't belong, and costs HHH the championship. If that happens, count on two things on April 4.
First, Vince will have the entire family against him, as Linda returns after 6 years away. Call it the other shoe dropping. Then, and finally, to end our national nightmare, outside of politics, it is revealed that Vince is unfit to command, and, for the second time in less than 5 years, is forced out as Chairman AND CEO. Shane takes over Raw. Steph begins her second reign as GM of Smackdown, taking the house that she essentially built as GM in 2002-3 and giving it a fresh coat of paint, shall we say. One big mea culpa to the talent and the audience will turn her & Hunter babyface in mere seconds, since they should never have been turned heel in the first place.
Much like the original McMahon-Helmsley Era angle (1999-2002), The Authority has gone on too long, and should've ended had a strong face personality been available to offset the heel administration at every turn. HHH retires from competition, going back to the office, and also to NXT to oversee the next generation of superstars. Oh, and one other thing that I especially want the Princess to do, and that's get rid of the Divas title, the last vestige of the Vickie Guerrero era (2007-14). That butterfly-shaped belt should've been retired when Vickie left. Charlotte should have the WOMEN's title, like she had in NXT.
As we get closer to Wrestlemania, I will outline just how Hunter's babyface turn will come about.......
