We’re still on that road to WrestleMania. And the Undertaker chokeslams Shane McMahon

(Big D and I are also doing a corresponding podcast which drops Wednesday night. You can listen to last week’s.)

The Big News!

The Shane McMahon/Vince McMahon/Undertaker storyline took another turn, and somewhat of a bad one. But hey, at least Shane was wearing some sweet Jordan Is.

Big D, Draven, and myself recorded a Kayfabulous Lucha Bros show over the weekend which is scheduled to be released soon. The show is based on the famous Raw in San Jose from May of 2001, when Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit because Triple H and Stone Cold Steve Austin for the tag straps. During that show, Shane McMahon came out and cut a terrible promo on Kurt Angle. That version of Shane was fairly pudgy, but very boyish looking even though he was in his very early 30s. It made me realize that no matter how old Shane becomes, he’ll sort of always be boyish, especially when his dad is around.

This version of Shane is 46, a father of three, and yet, still dresses like a tech hipster from the Bay Area. Maybe he enjoys looking boyish and it offsets his role as his father’s son. But it is kind of ridiculous to think about when you think of what main event star wrestlers are supposed to look like. When he came into the ring to confront his father and the Undertaker, he looked like a normal dude in his 40s who jumped the rail to get his ass kicked. I think that’s part of the issue with the storyline.

Also, he told the Undertaker that his strategy was to wear the Undertaker down. It’s the Rocky III storyline. But if that was your strategy, why would you tell the greatest WrestleMania wrestler of all time? Are you swerving him?

As much as I try to buy into the storyline, it’s very hard to. And we still don’t know why the Undertaker is doing Vince McMahon’s dirty work.

(By the way, my favorite part of Shane coming out every week is seeing what sweet Jordan’s he’s wearing.)

What else important happened?

If you thought after losing to Triple H at Roadblock, Dean Ambrose would be fired up and not be able to take it anymore! Nope. He was actually fine with losing, I think. He said that he lives by the sword and dies by the sword. Paul Heyman interrupted him and Brock Lesnar came to the ring. However, because Ambrose can’t beat Lesnar up with his hands, he pulled out a crowbar. Lesnar didn’t really backdown, but he didn’t get inside the ring.

Later in the show, Mick Foley showed up in the babyface locker room. He asked Ambrose why he wants Lesnar. Ambrose asked him if he was scared in his Hell In A Cell match against the Undertaker. He said he was, but he’s Mick Foley and that’s just what he does. Ambrose said that’s the same reason why he wanted Lesnar. Foley, in a passing of the torch moment, gave Ambrose barbie, his barbed-wire 2X4.

So instead of having to use a crowbar to try and beat Brock, he’s going to use a barbed-wire 2X4. Babyface!

Triple H and Stephanie used the human doormat, Dolph Ziggler to make sure Triple H had another match before WrestleMania. It was really there to try and get the crowd to pop for Roman Reigns’ return.

Triple H cut a long and boring promo that the live crowd hated. I know I hated it. Ziggler came out and complained about being screwed, but vowed to fight. Stephanie offered him a chance to have a match at WrestleMania if he could win a match tonight. Of course, since he’s a mark, he accepted the match, which was against Triple H. This is so backward. Instead of just a chance to wrestle at WrestleMania, he should’ve requested a shot at the title. What a mark.

The match was pretty good, though predictable. Ziggler got all his hope spots in and Triple H did his best to make the audience believe Dolph had a chance, but then pinned him with the Pedigree in the end. This was all setup for Reigns who came out and attacked Triple H. They had a long brawl that was good, but Reigns isn’t over enough for it to really have felt like a main event WrestleMania angle.

And the rest…

There were a few other storyline advancements that happened.

Chris Jericho faced Adrian Neville and Neville was hurt on a slide. Jericho tried calling an audible and immediately pinned him, but the referee counted only two. Jericho pushed the referee and was disqualified and AJ Styles came out and beat him up. Unfortunately for Neville, it sounds like he’s going to be out of action for quite a while.

Sami Zayn pinned the Miz with Kevin Owens at ringside. It was weird in that Miz also had issues with Owens. I hope they don’t do a three way.

The New Day beat the League of Nations, but were jumped in a four on three after the match and they were laid out. New Day is full on babyface now, but the crowd is dead for the League of Nations, so there wasn’t much heat for it.

In addition to Triple H vs Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose vs Brock Lesnar, the Undertaker vs Shane McMahon, and Charlotte vs Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks, other matches look final for WrestleMania including Ryback vs Kalisto, the Usos vs the Dudley Boys, and the Andre The Giant battle royal.

Matches not announced but look for certain are Chris Jericho vs AJ Styles and the New Day vs the League of Nations. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens look to be on the road, but it’s uncertain as to who else will be in their match or if it will be a singles. It looks like there will also be a second women’s match featuring Lana and Brie Bella on separate teams.

Only two more Raws left. We’ll be back next week.