The Phantom Rant: The Bumpy Road To WWE WrestleMania 41

Greetings conversationalists all across the internet, it is the one and only Joe Davis and this is The Phantom Rant. As always I am coming to you from the sunshiney big apple that is New York City and the road to Wrestlemania is much like the Long Island Expressway here in New York. Long, slow moving and full of potholes. But just when you can’t take it anymore, traffic picks up and things are moving smoothly. That’s how the road to Wrestlemania is. Things are bumpy right now, but they are finally taking shape.

I was worried about the Gunther vs. Jey Uso match because it’s build up was pretty meh. I mean the match itself probably would be good. They had a really good match for the Intercontinental championship last year. But storyline wise it just was not clicking. That was until this week when Gunther took on Jey’s brother Jimmy and he beat the piss out of him. Jimmy tapped a gusher and Gunther was covered in his blood while Jey was ziptied to the ropes. It was effective and it’s lit that much needed fire this match needed. Jey isn’t only out for the title, he’s out for revenge and it’s going to be great.

Jey Uso is one of the most over guys in the company. I know it’s foolish, but there are people who still think he shouldn’t have won the Royal Rumble. I was of the opinion it was a shocking win because I didn’t think it would actually happen. It just sucks that with two nights of Wrestlemania, this match won’t main event either of them. Cody vs. Cena is the main event of one night and now Punk vs. Roman vs. Seth is supposed to the be the main event of the other. The way its being built up right now, I would assume it’s closing night two which would be the bigger of the two nights for the show. But yeah I hope Gunther vs. Jey has a position of prominence on the card. I don’t want to see them curtain jerking the show as the first match.

Now if you want the polar opposite of Gunther vs. Jey, after last night on Smackdown it has to be Tiffany Stratton vs. Charlotte Flair. Hoo boy was the segment where they went face to face bad. According to @WrestleVotes on twitter, they went way off script. The Chicago crowd was tearing into Charlotte from the start and I really think it legit pissed her off. Charlotte got thrown off and from that point on, she and Tiffy were throwing live rounds at each other. Tiffany made fun of Charlotte being on a talk show and crying about her divorce from Andrade. Tiffany even went so far as to say Charlotte has a record of 0 and 3 (this being her third divorce for those of you counting at home). Charlotte clapped back by saying “why is Kaiser (Tiffany’s real life boyfriend) in her DM’s”.

Based on the promo battle on Smackdown, this match between Charlotte and Tiffany has the potential to be bowling shoe ugly as Jim Ross would put it. Charlotte is out for herself and to pad her championship record. I’m not saying it will boil down into an actual shoot between the two, but I just can’t see them putting on a great match for the heck of it. Perhaps I’m wrong and they both will be professional about all of this and it will be a low key gem of a match. I’m just saying based on the promo’s these two have been doing with each other…don’t expect Flair and Steamboat with these two.

The road to Wrestlemania is really taking shape as I said. The big match that the show is being built around is obviously Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena. Finally this past week we got some physicality between the two as Cody ended up giving Cena a Cross Rhodes to the delight of the London crowd. I think Cody vs. Cena will be a really good match even if The Rock is not apart of the final outcome. I mean he should be, even if all we get is just a literal phoned in promo I just hope it makes sense.

Speaking of making sense, the other main event of Wrestlemania has been set as I mentioned earlier with CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins. I love the story this match is telling. Rollins hates Punk with a passion and he is apoplectic that Punk is main eventing Wrestlemania. Roman Reigns didn’t really seem to care because he’s Roman Reigns. That is until Punk cashed in his favor with Paul Heyman who earlier in the night said “Yes, what ever it is…yes”. Roman demanded Paul turn Punk down and Paul couldn’t do it. Paul Heyman is a master of emotion in wrestling and him breaking down into tears because he could not obey his tribal chief was so great.

So CM Punk wants Paul Heyman in HIS corner at Wrestlemania and there’s so many ways this match can I go. I hope all of them end with Seth Rollins losing. Much like Paul Heyman…I hate that damn song. Roman and Rollins can have a singles match down the line. This one is begging for Punk to win and it would poetic if Heyman is the one who helps Punk achieve his dream of winning a Wrestlemania main event match.

Is the road to Wrestlemania perfect? No, not by a long shot. But I am happy with what I am seeing for the most part. Cena/Rhodes is going to be one of the biggest Wrestlemania matches ever. Cena winning the title sets up for some interesting possibilities. Cody has proven that he’s great in the chase. He’s just like his father. Dusty Rhodes was at his best when he was chasing Ric Flair for the NWA World Championship.

We shall see what happens in the next two weeks or so as the ride on the road to wrestlemania gets faster.

I’m ending on a happy note this week because if I wrote about AEW Dynasty tonight, I would need a lot of expletives for the ending of Moxley vs. Swerve and this is a family website. So I’ll see where that mess is going come Wednesday.

Until then thanks for reading and remember you can leave feedback below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com