Getting a grip: WrestleMania 34 card set, NXT and Ring of Honor poised for huge weekends

Brian Fritz

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Getting a grip: WrestleMania 34 card set, NXT and Ring of Honor poised for huge weekends image

Each week, Sporting News runs down the biggest stories in the world of professional wrestling.

WrestleMania 34

This year’s “Showcase of the Immortals” is a stacked show and one of the better lineups on paper over the past decade. Right now, 13 matches are slated for the show including nine championship matches.

(We’ll have live coverage of WrestleMania as it’s happening Sunday night here on Sporting News beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET for the kickoff show and the main card at 7:00p ET. You can also get more coverage by following us on Twitter @SN_wrestling.)

However, the most talked about match over the past few weeks hasn’t been officially announced: a potential showdown of legends between John Cena and The Undertaker.

MORE: ROH Champion Dalton Castle on new pressure, ideas for spectacular entrances

The thinking by most, including by yours truly, is the match will happen. In fact, it may even close out the show on Sunday night. It feels unfathomable that WWE would tease fans with this match and then not deliver on it.

Yet, it’s a curious build to this point. You would think WWE would have announced this several weeks back and putting together some incredible videos packages to further hype the mega-showdown at WrestleMania. Instead, it has been John Cena time and after calling out the “Deadman” and doing everything from insulting him to nearly pleading for him to return for one more match.

So how will this play out? No one is quite certain right now. Maybe it’s Cena imploring The Undertaker one more time at Friday night’s Hall of Fame Ceremony. Or maybe they’ll wait all the way until the WrestleMania kickoff show — the second hour will be simulcast on the WWE Network and on TV on the USA Network — to make his final plea with ‘Taker finally accepting the match.

That would feel quite strange waiting to that point before officially adding it to the card. So you have to look outside the box and wonder maybe it won’t happen. Maybe this is being set up for a match at next year’s show. Or it’s something different where maybe Cena gets to personal for Undertaker’s liking and he shows up unannounced to put down a beating.

All signs point to The Undertaker being at WrestleMania 34 come Sunday. The question is what he will be doing come show time.

Here is the entire card as it stands right now:

— Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship

— AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship

— Charlotte vs. Asuka for the WWE "SmackDown" Women's Championship

— Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax for the "RAW" Women's Championship

— Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey vs. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

— Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (if Owens and Zayn win, they will be rehired to “SmackDown”)

— The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

— Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Rusev for the WWE United States Championship

— The Usos vs. The New Day vs. The Bludegon Brothers in a Triple Threat match for the WWE "SmackDown" Tag Team Championship

— Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Braun Strowman (and potential partner) for the WWE "RAW" Tag Team Championship

— Women's Battle Royal (pre-show)

— Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (pre-show)

— Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali for the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship (pre-show)

Predictions: Roman Reigns conquers “The Beast” to become Universal Champion;
AJ Styles retains the WWE Championship in a show-stealing match with Shinsuke Nakamura;
Asuka remains unbeaten and takes the “SmackDown” Championship;
Nia Jax rolls over Alexa Bliss for some sweet revenge and the “RAW” Women’s Championship;
Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey beat HHH and Stephanie into submission;
Owens and Zayn take advantage of a banged up Shane-O-Mac to remain on “SmackDown”;
The Miz gets a surprise win to remain Intercontinental Champion;
Rusev celebrates Rusev Day with a win and the United States Championship;
The Usos survive the Triple Threat war to keep the “SmackDown” Tag Team Titles;
Sheamus and Cesaro taka beating from Braun Strowman but hold onto the “RAW” Tag Team Titles;
Sasha Banks outlasts everyone to win the first-ever WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal;
Elias dazzles with a singing performance before taking the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal;
Cedric Alexander wins the vacant WWE Cruiserweight Championship in a spectacular match with Mustafa Ali.
 

NXT TakeOver: New Orleans

Will this be the time that TakeOver outshines the WWE show on the same weekend? It will be a big challenge considering both how loaded and the depth of the WrestleMania lineup. But NXT also seems to be up to the task.

NXT has quite the lineup the night before ‘Mania — and also airing on the WWE Network — for its latest TakeOver event. Arguably the most anticipated match on the show has been one of the best storylines in wrestling over the past few years between Tommaso Ciampa — the jaded former tag team partner who wants his due — against Johnny Gargano, one of the most likeable performers in all of wrestling.

Both are fantastic talents who should have an incredible showdown now that Ciampa has been cleared from several injuries including a surgically repaired knee.

The six-man ladder match for the NXT North American Championship looks like an incredible opportunity for Ricochet to show off his athleticism and possibly steal the show. Plus, Andrade “Cien” Almas has been on fire the last six months and he and Aleister Black should have a stellar match.

Here is the entire lineup for the show:

— Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Aleister Black for the NXT Championship

— Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship

— The Undisputed Era vs. Authors of Pain vs. Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne for the NXT Tag Team Championships and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament

— Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Ricochet vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Velveteen Dream in a ladder match for the inaugural NXT North American Championship

— Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa in an unsanctioned match; if Gargano wins, he gets reinstated to NXT but will be banned if he loses
 

WWE Hall of Fame

There will be seven new members of this year’s WWE Hall of Fame with the ceremony taking place on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Headlining the night’s festivities will be former WCW and WWE Champion Goldberg who was in a main event at WrestleMania just a year ago.

Here is the entire lineup for the night including who will induct each Hall of Famer:

— former WCW and WWE Champion Goldberg; will be inducted by Paul Heyman

— former ECW, WWE, and WCW Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz; will be inducted Edge and Christian

— former WCW and Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett; will be inducted by Road Dogg

— former WWE Champion Mark Henry; will be inducted by Big Show

— former WWE Women’s Champion Ivory; will be inducted by Molly Holly

— longtime WWE wrestler and ambassador Hillbilly Jim; will be inducted by Jimmy Hart

— Kid Rock who provided entrance themes for The Undertaker and Stacy Keibler and has performed at multiple WWE events

— Warrior Award recipient Jarrius "JJ" Robertson, a double liver transplant survivor and super WWE fan
 

Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor

There will be plenty of wrestling outside of WWE events this week in New Orleans including the stacked ROH Supercard of Honor event.

Cody and Kenny Omega have been feuding for months over who is the real Bullet Club as they will finally battle it out on Saturday night. Cody has transformed himself into arguably the best heel in wrestling and Omega is wrestling’s biggest stars and best in-ring performers anywhere in the world.

Anytime the Young Bucks are involved in a match on a big show, expect something wild and spectacular. That should be the case here as they join up with Flip Gordon against SoCal Uncensored for the six-man titles. Dalton Castle versus Marty Scurll for the ROH World Championship will be a wrestling clinic and the tag team title match won’t disappoint with that level of talent involved.

Here is the entire lineup for the show:

— Cody vs. Kenny Omega

— Dalton Castle vs. Marty Scurll for the ROH World Championship

— The Briscoes vs. Jay Lethal vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the ROH World Tag Team Championship

— SoCal Uncensored vs. The Young Bucks and Flip Gordon for the ROH World Six-Man Championship

— Kenny King vs. Silas Young in a Last Man Standing match for the ROH TV Championship

— Adam Page vs. Kota Ibushi

— Punishment Martinez vs. Tomohiro Ishii

— Chuckie T vs. Jonathan Gresham

— Kelly Klein vs. Mayu Iwatani and Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood in the semi-finals of the Women of Honor Championship Tournament on the pre-show with the finals on the main show

News and notes

— If there wasn’t enough wrestling already this coming week in New Orleans, WWE dropped a big surprise as it announced that it will have tournaments for the WWE UK Championship, the NXT North American Championship, NXT Tag Team Championships, and the NXT Women’s Championship. All of the matches will take place over the weekend at the various Axxess sessions and will include talent from NXT and "205 Live" as well as Progress and EVOLVE.

The winner of each tournament will get a shot at the respective championship on Sunday morning. Plus, that show will also feature matches for EVOLVE and Progress championships. You can see the brackets by clicking here.

— Renowned artist Rob Schamberger will again be painting at WrestleMania Axxess. His live art that he will be working on during the sessions will feature a painting of the first-ever showdown between Asuka and Charlotte. Plus, he will have signed prints available for sale including an exclusive Four Horsewomen print and the debut of his first signed Ronda Rousey print.

Rob always encourages everyone to come by to check out his art work and meet him. You can see his work at www.robschamberger.com and at auction.wwe.com.

— The Big Show announced that he has signed a new multiyear deal with the WWE. The big man is coming off hip surgery but says he’ll still be around “for a while." While he’ll be in the ring from time to time, Big Show will also be doing a lot more outside projects.

— Check out New Orleans' band The Soul Rebels marching through the streets playing WWE theme songs.

— Congrats to Maria and Mike Bennett on the birth of their first child, Fredrica Moon. Ah, the power of love!

— Don’t mess with Cody, even if you’re a former wrestler:

Brian Fritz can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrianFritz and listen to his Between The Ropes podcast on Blog Talk Radio.

Brian Fritz

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Brian Fritz is a contributor with The Sporting News covering the NBA and NFL who previously worked at BasketballNews. He is a 20-year veteran of sports talk radio in Orlando, Florida, after graduating from the University of Central Florida. He now resides in Durham, North Carolina.