Wrestlemania only comes around once a year, annually being held sometime between March and April. In 2010, the 26th edition of pro-wrestling’s SuperBowl takes place on March 28th at the University of Phoenix Stadium, Arizona.

• ECW CHAMPIONSHIP SCRAMBLE MATCH
  Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson vs Shelton Benjamin (c) vs William Regal vs Goldust

Kicking off Wrestlemania 26 would be a Scramble Match. The conditions of a Scramble go as follows: two men initially begin the contest. Every five minutes a new man enters until a total of 5 men are in the ring at the same time. Any time someone scores a pinfall/submission they are herald as the interim champion – meaning, if they last the full 20 minutes of length they will become the champion. The winner is the wrestler who last got the pinfall or submission. He will then be crowned the official champion!

Going into this match as champion would be Shelton (although it really doesn’t matter). Christian has been the top dog of ECW ever since he returned in February 2009. As of this writing he is still champion. Let’s just say he takes a loss to Shelton and drops the belt to him prior to Wrestlemania. His story going into the match will be wanting to reclaim the crown that he carried for so long. Then you have Goldust who has been consistently having good matches, plus he’s a vetern. Ditto for William Regal. Jackson just split from Regal/Vlad (as of this writing it happened a few hours ago). He’s got a great build and can most certainly be a big name someday. A Scramble Match between all 5 of these guys would be a good way to represent ECW in a positive manner. Not a squash or an afterthought, an exciting show opener.

PROPOSED WINNER: Shelton, retaining the ECW championship!

• INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
  Matt Hardy (c) vs Dolph Ziggler

The coveted intercontinental championship title has been breathed new life once it got drafted to Smackdown post-WM25. Before that it was stuck on Raw and used more as a prop than anything else, an example being the hilarious and infamous “Honk-a-Meter”. Dolph Ziggler has been chasing the IC title throughout the better half of 2009, always coming up short. He’s had so many fantastic bouts against Rey Mysterio and John Morrison, all of which left him empty handed. They can weave him in and out of the intercontinental title scene in early 2010 to keep his struggle always on the forefront.

John Morrison as of this writing is the IC champion. Let’s say he drops it to Matt Hardy either at the Royal Rumble or on Smackdown. Matt can take the title, have the mandatory bout with Kane and walk away victorious, and then begin a program with a super ticked off Dolph Ziggler. They can have a title match on Smackdown with Ziggler losing to emphasize his everlong tragic lust for the title, which will spark the Wrestlemania 26 battle between Hardy and Ziggler.

PROPOSED WINNER: Ziggler! Ziggler finally gains what he has longed after for so long in his Wrestlemania debut. Perhaps Ziggler can even gain face sympathy for reaching this milestone in his young career.

• MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH
  Yoshi Tatsu vs Evan Bourne vs The Miz vs Kofi Kingston vs Sheamus vs R-Truth vs Jack Swagger vs Kane

Lot’s of Wrestlemania firsts in this match. We have ECW’s lone representative, Yoshi Tatsu, high-flying Evan Bourne, Raw’s resident douchebag, The Miz, the white hot Kofi Kingston, the…just plain white Sheamus, the truthfully talented R-Truth, a future champion in Jack Swagger, and then there’s Kane. You have some big guys (Kane, Swaggmeister, Sheamus), sound regular guys (Miz, R-Truth), and agile risk takers (Kofi, Yoshi, Bourne). It’s a blend like this that keeps a match as hectic as Money in the Bank from being just a spotfest. MITB is always a fun attraction and with all the young/fresh guys on the cusp of a much bigger future, this MITB in particular is pretty important.

PROPOSED WINNER: Kofi Kingston. WWE has a really special guy here, and they’ve made all the right moves in showing his potential. Money in the Bank means a guarenteed title shot that expires in one year. Within one year’s time after Wrestlemania 26, Kofi Kingston will be ready to help carry the company into it’s next era and potentially the next boom (boom boom!) period.

• SINGLES MATCH
  Chris Jericho vs Edge
  

With Edge and Chris Jericho’s brief run as Unified Tag Team Champions, an opportunity is here to capitalize on Edge’s absence. Edge has been out since July with a torn Achilles tendon. He left while being one-half of the tag team champs with Jericho. After he got injured, Jericho assigned Big Show as his replacement and proceeded to cut a promo about Edge being the weak link in the team. This was, presumably, a setup for a possible Wrestlemania return for Edge to get back at Jericho. The timeframe is almost perfect with the expected amount of time Edge has to spend on the shelf in recovery. It would be a cool moment to see Edge return as a face to take out a heel Jericho.

PROPOSED WINNER: Edge. The outcome of this match isn’t as important as seeing how much Edge can “go” in the ring post-surgery. He’s gone on record to state that he isn’t sure how much longer he has in the business, and that he has saved his money very smartly. Should Edge be on his way out in 2010 or 2011, which would be unfortunate, he should go out on the best note possible. A career ending feud with Christian at Wrestlemania 27, passing on the belt for the first time for Christian, would be ideal and epic in every sense of the word given their history together. That’s getting too far ahead though.

• WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
  Beth Phoenix (c) vs Natalya Neidhart

This one is one of the few female feuds that could be a special encounter. You have the two all around best female wrestlers, not divas, in the business. They are experienced and skilled in just about every area. Natalya is the daughter of wrestling legend Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Beth is very strong and dominating.  Natalya  represents the legendary Hart family and as such The Hart Dynasty will accompany her at ringside. The match as of this text has not occurred yet. Knowing WWE they’ll blow it on Smackdown before then, but if not this could change people’s mind about female wrestling – it’s good when the performers are good, not just eyecandy.

PROPOSED WINNER: Beth Phoenix. Why Beth? Because I think she may one day be more than just a female wrestler. I think down the road when WWE is more about regular sized guys, which is the road it’s thankfully heading, that perhaps we could have another Chyna on our hands (minus the unwarrented self-importance). What does that mean? Another female intercontinental champ? Maybe so, maybe more…

• TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
  Randy Orton vs Ted DiBiase vs Cody Rhodes

The inevitable imploding of Legacy is due at Wrestlemania 26. All 3 members of what became The Legacy have always had a volatile relationship. Here you have 3 men who are the sons of legends, all three of which have been involved in the pro-wrestling biz at an early age. These guys are young and still progressing in their career. While Cody and Ted still have a bit more to improve on, they’re ready for the next step in their careers. Orton has corralled these two young stars for nothing but his own gain. They’ve dealt with Orton’s demeanor for well over a year now only to remain successful. Perhaps after this triple threat they’ll realize that they do not need Orton any longer. They stood their own with DX, afterall.

PROPOSED WINNER: Cody Rhodes. Why Cody? Because he needs the win more than Ted and Randy. The real money match is Ted DiBiase vs Randy Orton. That program can take off after Wrestlemania 26. At the event itself, Cody getting the upset would give him a boost and only cause more turmoil in the saga between the trio.

• RETIREMENT MATCH
  Dave Batista vs Rey Mysterio

Batista and Rey have had a storied history together in the WWE. At Survivor Series in November, Rey was taken out by a freshly turned heel Batista. Rey is said to be undergoing surgery again, which would put him in Kennedy-league at this point. It’s not believed either of these guys have much time left. If Rey recovers quickly enough (4 months) they can try to put together one last bout between the two former friends. It’s not gonna be a pretty match but it would be one heck of a way to go out for either man.

PROPOSED WINNER: ??? I nor anyone really knows what’s going on with Rey and Batista. Batista said in interviews that he felt he had one more good year left. The interview took place last March. Wrestlemania 26 is in March.  Rey has had so many nagging injuries that he’d be foolish to keep going and going when his body won’t let him. Considering his style is fast paced and high risk – high reward, he’s not going to be one of those guys wrestling into their 40s. The outcome would be unpredictable, and that’s good for marketing a PPV.

• WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
  John Morrison vs CM Punk (c)

There’s the Cubs vs White Sox, good vs evil, peanut butter vs jelly, and John Morrison vs CM Punk. Punk and Morrison used one another to elevate their careers in ECW in 2007. One of the few positives to come out of the Benoit tragedy was a then Johnny Nitro getting his first world championship title. Morrison/Nitro replaced Benoit and defeated CM Punk to win the belt. Since then they’ve had a number of matches with very few making it to pay-per-view.

Morrison has been the breakout star of Smackdown this year (2009), having top notch matches with the entire Smackdown roster. While on the rise, Punk established himself as a main eventer in his classic feud with Jeff Hardy, who in kayfabe and in real life wound up leaving the company at its conclusion. Morrison went face and Punk went heel. There’s a brand new dynamic to work with and with neither man having a singles match at Wrestlemania, it only seems right to pull the trigger on another big time bout between the two.

PROPOSED WINNER: CM Punk retains his title. Morrison is at his absolute best right now, as is CM Punk. There’s no reason why they can’t have the absolute most amazing match at Wrestlemania with both men looking like a million bucks regardless of the outcome. Punk going over has to do with what I want to happen post-WM26. Keep reading.

• SUBMISSION MATCH:
  The Undertaker vs John Cena

Considered to be a must-happen match, Cena and Taker would blow the roof off of the Phoenix Stadium. They’ve wrestled a few times in the past but haven’t been involved in a real feud since around 2003. Even then their big match was at Vengeance and not one of the “big 4″ PPVs. And to top THAT off, this was so long ago that Undertaker was still under the biker persona and Cena was some new kid rapper – Taker was face, Cena was…was…Cena was a HEEL. Now that’s a liberal amount of time! Undertaker has since further established himself as WWE’s premiere legend. Cena went on to become the face of the company. There’s one thing Cena and Taker pride themselves in, and that’s not backing down from a challenge; not giving up. Having a submission match between two of the biggest stars WWE has to offer in a highly anticipated feud where both guys are known for never submitting? That is the definitive Wrestlemania match.

PROPOSED WINNER: Undertaker’s streak is far too important to waste on an already made man like John Cena. Taker can make Cena tap and they can show respect by shaking hands afterwards…or Cena can turn heel and take Taker’s extended hand and turn it into an Attitude Adjustment. The latter would be nothing short of spectacular. Too bad Cena is a human shill machine for merchandise or else it would be more likely. They’re going to wait until Cena becomes stale(r) and then turn him when nobody cares anymore. Sad, but true. As far as Taker’s streak? If anyone should end it, it should be Ted DiBiase at Wrestlemania 27. Ted’s father brought him into the WWE at Survivor Series 1990, it would be ideal for his son Ted DiBiase Jr. to take him out of it. But that could also appropriately happen at Survivor Series 2010 to mark the 20th anniversary of The Undertaker.

• WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
  Triple H (c) vs Shawn Michaels

Here we are: the absolute main event of the evening. In any other circumstance I wouldn’t book Triple H in yet another world title match main event. However, it’s the battle of the degenerates. When Shawn came back in 2002 after missing the bulk of the attitude era, his first opponent was none other than Triple H. It was an epic encounter to say the least. They spent the remainder of 2002, part of 2003 and part of 2004 as bitter rivals. In 2006 they reformed D-Generation X and everything has been gravy since. Nearly 4 years later comes Wrestlemania 26.

I’m not sure how to split or who to turn (and we already have face vs face in Cena/Taker), but somehow DX need to find themselves in opposite corners. A very easy and true to life idea would be to have Shawn fed up with Triple H’s juvenile demeanor. Shawn’s a born-again and it would be realistic if he didn’t want to associate with DX, albeit a neutered DX, any longer. The turn would make Shawn a heel for being prudish, so I’m not sure if that would be something he’d be comfortable with doing. It was Triple H who always turned on Shawn in the past so this would make for an interesting scenerio. It’s one of those matches that have happened a dozen times in the past but considering they’re two icons with so much history, it only seems right to have a one-on-one encounter at Wrestlemania.

PROPOSED WINNER: Shawn Michaels, Shawn Michaels, Shawn Michaels. Triple H going over Shawn for the title in the main event would be sacreligious. Shawn HAS to win this one, and he HAS to take home the title for the first time since 2002′s brief victory. My ideal situation would be for Shawn to beat The Game, win the belt, and carry it all the way to SummerSlam. That would give him several months and a handful of PPVs to have some big matches on. At SummerSlam he would take on a determined John Morrison (who lost at WM against Punk) in a one-off ladder match as the first encounter between the two gifted athletes. A passing the torch takes place and Morrison wins his first world title. Shawn can disappear until WM27 or whenever he sees fit to help put over Morrison as well as to maintain his aging body.

And there you have it: my take on Wrestlemania 26. That was way longer than I expected so I apologize about the length! I just think there are so many cool possibilities for this year’s event, and with many of the old top dogs on borrowed time things are going to change drastically in the next 2 years.

Popularity: 13% [?]