Hey there everyone, this is it! The final SmackDown Live is here and the blue brand looks to put the finishing touch on their WrestleMania plans.
First things first, Shane McMahon and AJ Styles will have a contract signing to make their WrestleMania match official. It’s fair to say that this contract signing will go about as smooth as the one between Triple H and Seth Rollins last night, or y’know, every contract signing ever. To paraphrase CM Punk, they all end in brouhaha. Styles won’t be happy considering Shane put him through an announce table last week, so hopefully AJ takes some revenge on the commissioner. I’d also expect this match to get a stipulation added tonight, because that’s Shane’s wheelhouse and he couldn’t expect to compete with AJ in a straight wrestling match.
Then there’s Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin, who’ve used steel pipes and forklifts to beat each other in recent weeks. Well, it seems like that will all lead to a stipulation being added to this match as well. That means at least four matches will feature stipulations, not counting the two battle royales, which kinda seems like a lot of similar matches. And that brings me to the biggest concern for this year’s show: too many matches. WrestleMania 33, as of now, features 13 matches, 3 of which are on the pre-show. Last year’s WrestleMania, which ran for 5 hours (7 with pre-show), featured 12 matches. Normally WrestleMania will feature 8-9 matches, which is pretty much perfect. Now the roster is bigger and Vince is determined to have everyone be on the card, so we get a ridiculous amount of matches. As much as we all love WrestleMania, 13 matches is a lot to ask of even the most hardcore fans, especially when a match like Austin Aries Vs. Neville gets bumped the the pre-show to make room for things like Pitbull and Flo Rida. Anyways, I’m ranting, just some food for thought.
Also on tonight’s show, Bray Wyatt faces his former companion, brother, step-son, Luke Harper. It’s a shame for Harper that he came so close to the main event of WrestleMania, and put in some amazing performances, only to not even feature on the show. Well tonight Harper has a chance to prove himself again, and maybe even beat the Champion in the process. I’m sure Randy Orton will show his handsome face at some point during this match-up. This should be an excellent match come Sunday night.
We’re also set to get more from the “lost” episodes of Total Bella’s tonight, in which The Miz and Maryse impersonate John Cena and Nikki Bella. Those kind of skits usually suck but Miz and Maryse were great and the fans genuinely enjoyed the segments, so more will be welcomed tonight. Although, once again, I would expect Cena and Nikki to not take the humility sitting down. This feud has been really fun and I’d be happy to see it continue after WrestleMania.
Elsewhere we have the new tag champs in The Uso’s, who had a fantastic match last week but aren’t on the WrestleMania card, Alexa Bliss and her plethora of challengers, and plenty more. What are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments, download the Ringside News app, and enjoy the show!
