WrestleMania outlook 1 week after Royal Rumble

Article Title: WrestleMania's Outlook, the First Week after the Royal Rumble

From John Cena making a surprise return to Pau Gasol being traded to the Lakers, this week has provided fans of sports and sports entertainment with lots of surprises. The WWE has lots of wrestlers to work with, and just a couple short months until Wrestlemania 24. John Cena will be at WM, so who else will join him?

For a Royal Rumble that had no title changes, 2008's Royal Rumble still found a way to be exciting. John Cena, who had just about everyone, including most of the wrestlers backstage, convinced that he was injured for a few more months, came back out of nowhere and won. Next up for Cena: No Way Out, and a WWE Heavyweight Championship match against Randy Orton. No Way Out will also feature the Elimination Chamber. Oh, and not just one. TWO Elimination Chambers. Jericho and JBL will continue their feud in the Chamber, Umaga will be there just to be there, and HBK, HHH, and Jeff Hardy all looking at a shot at Wrestlemania. That's just the RAW Chamber. Then you have the Smackdown! Chamber, with Finlay, Great Khali, MVP, Big Daddy V, The Undertaker and Batista. I don't see any way in hell anyone other than Taker or Batista wins this one. I would have to say that Taker takes it. Not sure what Batista will have to do at WM, perhaps he'll be thrown in the WHC match too as a Triple Threat, but Taker and Edge will likely face off. 

The most likely victor of the RAW Chamber, and my pick, is a previous 2 time Elimination Chamber winner, Triple H. Shawn Michaels, Triple H twice, John Cena, and Bobby Lashley are the winners of the only 5 EC matches the WWE has ever had. Triple H looks to be the most likely winner this time, as 3 of the 5 other guys have other plans. Jericho and JBL will likely go into WM feuding, and HBK is rumored to be the one to beat Ric Flair at WrestleMania and end his career. Umaga has no shot in hell at winning this EC match, which leaves Jeff Hardy and HHH. Hardy has a strong fanbase and following, but HHH is a bigger, more widely known name. Due to that fact, and HHH having some sway backstage, HHH will likely win this match and face Cena at WM 24. A side note is that Triple H hasn't really been in the main event picture in awhile, other than his short reign at No Mercy. A likely storyline would be Cena beating Orton at No Way Out, then facing HHH at WM for the belt.

What about other WrestleMania matches? Well, there are still plenty of big names around. Edge, Undertaker, Batista, Jeff Hardy, all free. What I and many other fans would personally like to see is Undertaker beating Edge at WrestleMania. The Undertaker will most likely win the EC match at No Way Out, and face off against Edge at WM. Batista has a chance of being thrown in, though he just may face Rey Mysterio or something else.

My pick to win the likely match between Edge and the Undertaker at WM 24 is the Undertaker. Taker is one of the greatest wrestlers ever, and unlike other famous legends such as The Rock(though not to take anything away from The Rock), it's mostly for his in-ring ability. Undertaker is 15-0 at WrestleMania, perhaps the biggest stat in wrestling, like the home run record in baseball. He won his first WrestleMania match in 1991 against Superfly Jimmy Snuka, and has only missed two WrestleManias since, WM 2000 and WM X. He missed WM X due to a back injury, and WM 2000 due to a bicep injury. He is guaranteed to be at this WM barring another injury, and the best fit would be against Edge, but it's not in stone yet. While it's unclear what most of the other matches will be, one that is almost a guarantee is MVP vs. Matt Hardy. Most expect Matt Hardy to win this match if/when it happens, but whatever the outcome, it will be a big match. Y2J and JBL are supposedly going to continue feuding up till WM and take their fight into the PPV.

Ric Flair is supposedly going to have his final match at WM as well. He faces Kennedy at No Way Out, and then is rumored to be facing off against HBK at WM, in his final match. He signed a 3 year deal with the WWE recently, however, so he may be back on-screen at times, just not regularly. While it would be more beneficial to elevate a young wrestler by having them beat Flair at WM, it'd be more marketable to have Flair and HBK.  The two are old friends and will likely have a fun, though sad, moment at WM where they handshake and hug after HBK wins.

Whatever happens at WM 24, it will be a Pay Per View worth watching, as are all WrestleManias. This one should have as much star power as any have had, and is likely going to be worth the cost of ordering it. 

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