PREVIEW
THE HEADLINER
Their Tuesday night counterparts might not even get on the card in Orlando, but with just weeks to go before WrestleMania and legendary names all over the show, Raw’s tag division got top billing in WWE.com’s preview.
So that should mean good things for either Enzo Amore & Big Cass or Cesaro & Sheamus, because whoever wins their match tonight will go on to the Show of Shows for a chance to take the tag team titles away from Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows.
This battle of babyfaces was set up last Monday, when the Realest Guys ended up brawling with the former champs instead of finishing things with the current ones. Gallows made sure the referee didn’t see Zo’s foot on the ropes at Fastlane, allowing the Good Brothers to retain, but earning Amore & Cass an insta-rematch. But as has been the pattern since Gallows & Anderson won the belts, hostilities between Sheamus & Cesaro and the Certified Gs meant nothing got settled.
Either Enzo got too excited, or the Swiss Superman was somewhere he shouldn’t have been, but the result was the same regardless: spilt coffee and accidental interference leading to a DQ win for the champs. When the melee that resulted turned into a backstage argument, General Manager Mick Foley booked a #1 contender match for this week.
Can the Swiss Superman & the Celtic Warrior pick up a win? Will the Smacktalker Skywalker & his seven-foot friend get another opportunity to claim their first championship? Or will the current titleholders somehow get involved leading to yet another threeway dance at Mania?
THE TITLE SCENE
► Our third ever Universal champion, Goldberg, is not booked for Michigan tonight, but the man who F5-ed him last Monday (setting off a string of similarly graded tornadic finishers across the New York area over the weekend) will be. Oh, and that’s Brock Lesnar, who will be attempting to end Goldberg’s reign at WrestleMania.
► He quickly agreed to put his United States title on the line on April 2, but Chris Jericho’s fight with Kevin Owens doesn’t have much to do with gold. It’s about friendship and betrayal - especially after KO told Jericho last week that he never liked, and only used him to keep his own run with Raw’s top prize alive.
► Bayley won’t be able to count on help from her best friend to help her hold onto the Women’s championship at Mania. Sasha Banks has been influential in the last pair of Hugster victories over Charlotte Flair, but at the Showcase of the Immortals, both Banks and Flair will be her opponents in a Triple Threat.
► Cruiserweight titleholder Neville thought he’d cleared out the division, then Austin Aries left the announce desk of 205 Live to become a wrestler again. Now, the King says his WrestleMania challenger will be determined this week, but he wasn’t too clear on how or when.
OTHER STUFF TO KEEP AN EYE ON:
► There aren’t any official titles on the line, but Undertaker and Roman Reigns are fighting over the yard. The Phenom didn’t like the Big Dog claiming the ring as his, so he showed up at the end of last week’s show to chokeslam him in it. Roman will be making some sort of claim to yard ownership in Detroit.
► WWE’s doctors haven’t convinced Triple H that Seth Rollins will be back in time to answer his challenge on April 2, but they haven’t convinced the Architect to stay home, either. Expect another update on this situation tonight.
► We’d like to know what Samoa Joe will be up to in Orlando. And why he’s hanging around Owens. And if it has anything to do with that Irish guy who came back this weekend.
► Oh yeah... that Irish guy is Finn Balor, the first Universal champ, and he’s wrestling again after shoulder surgery and should probably just go ahead and come back to television.
► They have an ice cream bike. They’ve beaten the Shining Stars. Soon, New Day hosts.
► Big Show would really like a WrestleMania match. With Shaq. Or anybody.