Fantasy Booking WrestleMania 34: Main Event, Match Order & Championship Matches

With Summerslam in the bag, all eyes turn toward New Orleans and WrestleMania 34. The last time that the WWE held its flagship show in the Big Easy was WrestleMania XXX, where Daniel Bryan had his defining moment by defeating Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista in the same night to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The show also featured Brock Lesnar ending the legendary ‘Streak’ of the Undertaker. All in all, it was pretty memorable.

With that in mind, would it be possible to book a card for WrestleMania 34 that proves to be as good as, or even better than, WrestleMania XXX? The current WWE roster certainly has the talent for it and given the chance to go out and shine, along with sensible booking of course, it is definitely a possibility.

I am going to put together the card that I think would provide the most bang for your proverbial buck. I will be using a 10 match card, with every available title being on the line. This does mean that some big names have missed the cut, most notably The Miz, Bray Wyatt, Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal. The only one of those that I really feel bad about though is The Miz as he is one of the most entertaining characters on a weekly basis, he just happens to be on the wrong show.

I will be structuring this card from opening match to main event, after all the structure of the card can be almost as important as the matches themselves. Let’s get this started.

 

US Title Ladder Match

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Chris Jericho vs Bobby Roode vs Rusev vs Randy Orton

You have to kick off the WrestleMania card with a bang and the preferred way of doing that has been a ladder match. It makes perfect sense as it allows for lots of crowd popping spots while also getting a whole host wrestlers on the card. That is exactly why I have used it here.

This would require a change in title holder, with AJ Styles being the current champion, but there is plenty of time for that. I would have Bobby Roode take the title from Styles and head in to WrestleMania as champion. He could play the cocky heel gimmick that he is so adept at, beating everyone using underhanded tactics before being forced into taking on all of his challengers at once.

The talent in this match would ensure that the show got off to an exciting start and it has a nice face/heel split that could lead in to more matches moving forward.

 

Raw Women’s Title

Sasha Banks vs Bayley

This one is more about wanting the best possible match than it is about using whichever wrestler Vince has taken a particular fancy to at any given time. To this day, the match between these two at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn is the best women’s match ever to take place inside a WWE ring. Everything about it worked to perfection and it would be great to see that level of match on the grandest stage.

To get a match of that quality a few things would need to happen. Firstly, the heel/face dynamic would need to be restored to what it was. The TakeOver match worked so well because Sasha was such a good heel during the match that it made all of Bayley’s babyface work that much better.

The second thing that would need to happen is a change in how Bayley is presented. Her current presentation as a fangirl that is afraid to hurt people isn’t helping anyone, they need to show a tougher edge to her to get the crowd back on side. If they do that this match could be spectacular.

 

Smackdown Tag Team Titles

The Usos vs New Day vs Authors of Pain vs Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin

I contemplated just having The Usos and New Day compete for this title due to how good their recent matches have been but I decided that having the Authors of Pain in a match like this would be the more sensible option, while still keeping the standard of wrestling high. It would also provide a fresh matchup for the teams involved.

I would have the Authors of Pain head into the match as the unbeaten champions having to face their biggest challenge yet. We have seen that they are capable of stepping up and performing when they have to and I believe that this could be the match that establishes them as one of the truly dominant teams of the modern era.

 

Cruiserweight Title & UK Title

Neville vs Pete Dunne

This one doesn’t really need a lot of explanation. ‘The Bruiserweight’ is the best possible opponent for the ‘King of the Cruiserweights’. Not only is he an exceptional wrestler, he is possibly the only person that can outdo Neville in the dickish heel stakes.

We often see face vs face title matches in the WWE but it is much rarer to see a heel vs heel encounter. There would have once been an argument that a heel vs heel match would struggle to garner a solid crowd reaction but in the modern age of wrestling that won’t be an issue at all. If you just let these two go at it on the mic the match will book itself. It could easily steal the show on a card chock full of big matches.

 

Intercontinental Title

Samoa Joe vs John Cena

I was originally going to put John Cena vs Roman Reigns in this slot but due to that being announced for the No Mercy card I decided that this would be the better option and, at the end of the day, who doesn’t want to see this? With its placement on the card it would also act as main event, of sorts, to the first half of the show.

This is a simple match to set up, Samoa Joe wins the title from The Miz at some point later in the year and defends it against anyone who wants a shot. After a few months of being off TV, filming the next Transformers movie, John Cena returns and tells Joe that he wants a shot at his title. He has done many things in his career but the IC Title, and therefore the grand slam, has always eluded him.

Not only will this match have a great build due to both men being excellent on the mic but it should also deliver in the ring too. Cena has said in the past that he would really like to wrestle Joe and that bodes well, as he was also keen to face AJ Styles and Kevin Owens prior to their first encounters and those matches turned out very well indeed.

 

The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs The Club (Finn Balor, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson)

This one is part fan service and part wanting Finn Balor to do something worthwhile again. Reigns has recently gone on record saying that he would like a full Shield reunion and it goes without saying that the fans would very much like that too. It might even get Reigns over.

Before the match happens there would need to be some rehabilitation work done on Anderson and Gallows as they have not had the most successful of years. It is in no way unachievable though, especially with Balor back in the fold. I’m not 100% sure that the fans would buy into Balor as a heel but they could always present The Club as tweeners, with Balor having had enough of being an afterthought.

At the end of the day the fans want to see The Shield, they want to see The Club and they want to see Reigns not be in the WrestleMania main event. This ticks all of those boxes and provides a WrestleMania moment in the process.

 

Raw Tag Team Titles

The Revival vs The Hardy Boyz vs Sheamus & Cesaro

I know I already have one multi-team tag match on this show but I really didn’t want to leave out any of these teams. We have seen in recent months that Shesaro have got great chemistry the Hardy Boyz, and if you add the Revival to the mix things can only get better because the Revival are top guys.

There is surely no way that this match doesn’t deliver the goods in the ring and with the Hardy Boyz involved the crowd will be on board from the opening bell, which will stop the crowd from becoming lethargic following the return of the Shield.

I had reservations about putting two matches featuring six wrestlers back to back but I stuck with it because I wanted the last three matches on the card to be as memorable as possible.

 

WWE Title

AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Now, this is the match that every wrestling purist wants to see, or for those that saw their spectacular match at Wrestle Kingdom 10, see again.

Styles is the most talented wrestler on the WWE roster, and one of the three best wrestlers anywhere in the world, and he deserves to have that classic WrestleMania match. Nakamura, on the other hand, has been a step behind the level he was at in New Japan. Some of that is down to the standard of opponents being lower and some of it is down to the way Nakamura has adapted to the WWE style. I absolutely guarantee that he comes out of this match looking like the world beater he is, though.

I would also put the WWE Title on this match. The Jinder Mahal experiment hasn’t worked. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but all of his matches have the same tedious formula. His feud with Nakamura is continuing so this match is easy to set up, have Nakamura pick up the title and Jinder can go back to the midcard.

This match has the potential to be one of the all-time great WrestleMania matches and it will go a long way to establishing these two as the best wrestlers the WWE has.

 

Smackdown Women’s Title

Asuka vs Charlotte Flair

I didn’t want to run the two world title matches back to back but I still wanted to have a high profile match in the semi main event spot and I can’t think of many that fit the bill better than this.

I have left a lot of WWE’s female wrestlers off this card and that is because I believe that the best way to establish the division as on par with their male counterparts is to have memorable, well wrestled, important singles matches. It’s one thing to be told that there is a Women’s Revolution, it’s something else to actually see it in action.

Asuka is a phenomenon, unbeaten since joining the company, and Charlotte is the most dominant, and best, female wrestler on the main roster. This could be the defining moment for women’s wrestling in the WWE and, given the time and respect it deserves, it could be seen as a classic for years to come.

 

Universal Title, No DQ

Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman

I may have changed the Reigns vs Cena match because it was announced for No Mercy but I really wanted to keep this one, it feels like a WrestleMania main event. It’s two monsters trying to kill each other, what’s not to like?

There are two ways you could go about setting this match up and both of them are pretty similar. You could have Lesnar find a way to eke out a victory at No Mercy, then refuse to give Strowman a rematch. Strowman would then go on to get his rematch by winning the Royal Rumble. That is the build up that would make the most sense. Strowman would be a beast winning the Rumble. The other way would be for Braun to win the title at No Mercy and Lesnar to leave for a while before claiming his rematch on the road to WrestleMania.

The No DQ stipulation would just add to the excitement of the match. I would anticipate something akin to a one on one version of the main event at Summerslam, which would be the perfect way to end WrestleMania. As long as Braun throws an office chair at Brock I’ll be a happy man.