Did I call it? The Answer: Sort of.

With Wrestlemania XXIV over, it is time to reflect on how things turned out. Below are excerpts from the earlier article (in italics), accompanied by the result. Enjoy!

24 MAN BATTLE ROYAL TO FACE CHAVO GUERRERO FOR ECW TITLE

A whole bunch of people are in this; I think Kane will win, simply because he hasn’t gotten a title shot in a long time and a face needs to get the title off of Chavo. This will give CM Punk something better to do.

Nailed it! Kane did indeed win. The Battle Royal was free on WWE.com. It was underwhelming, but entertaining nonetheless. It came down to Kane vs. Mark Henry, and Kane got him out with a clothesline. The Lady Penguatroll’s pick (hereafter as LP): Cody Rhodes, who didn’t last very long. A good showing, but not great. I also called Kane beating Chavo, but not in 10 seconds. This was probably done to eliminate any shadow of a doubt that Chavo would get a rematch, freeing up the ECW title scene.

BUNNYMANIA: CANDICE MICHELLE ASHLEY & MARIA VS VICTORIA MELINA AND BETH PHOENIX

I don’t even remember who’s in this match and it has been announced; that’s how little I care. Maria will win because she’s in Playboy.

Updated: It’s Melina, not Victoria.

Update to the update: Candice got hurt, so Ashley’s taking her place.

I was wrong; Beth won via heel shenangians by Santino Marella. Santino got laid out by Snoop Dogg, so that was interesting.

BRAND SUPERIORITY: BATISTA VS UMAGA

This will be an awesome match, if I’ve guessed right on who Smackdown has picked. Batista currently has nothing to do, and I highly doubt he’ll be in Money in the Bank. I really, really hope they’re kidding about Paul Burchill taking Umaga’s spot. He’s been on RAW for like two weeks. Anyway, Batista wins this match, but it’ll be a hell of a fight.

The match was good, not great. Batista took down Umaga without a lot of effort. I honestly thought they should have had Umaga kick out of the Batista Bomb at least once. I’m 3-1 now. Hell yeah!

FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. VS BIG SHOW

Big Show will win. I love the build but I’m uncertain about the match.

Floyd won, but it was an entertaining match. There was some wishy washy nonsense about who the heel was going in; there certainly isn’t now, as it took a hell of a lot to bring Big Show down for the count. One of the few genuine surprises. 3-2.

CAREER THREATENING MATCH: SHAWN MICHAELS VS RIC FLAIR

… My gut says Flair loses, but puts on a hell of a fight …

Best match of the entire night. Flair broke down in tears; HBK mouthed “Are you sure? I love you” before delivering Sweet Chin Music for the third and last time. Lots of back and forth action; I honestly had doubts Flair was going to lose.

MONEY IN THE BANK: MR KENNEDY VS JEFF HARDY MVP VS JERICHO VS SHELTON BENJAMIN VS CARLITO VS CM PUNK VS JOHN MORRISON

UPDATE: There is a chance Matt Hardy will show up; I doubt he will win, though. I’m going to do a column on this later; suffice it to say, I think Punk will win and take his step forward.

Punk definitely won. There were some great moments, and everybody looked really good. Matt Hardy did come out and hit MVP with the Twist of Fate, renewing that feud, which was awesome. I was screaming when Carlito or somebody else would touch the case; I didn’t want the match to end. LP Pick: Chris Jericho. Y2J was awesome, but Punk was just slightly better; it would be better for ECW if Punk goes after the ECW title, but MUCH better for the WWE if he goes after the World Heavyweight Title. I’m up to 5-2, baby!

FINLAY VS JBL

Finlay. He’s way too over with the fans and given how JBL treated Hornswaggle, there’s no way Finlay will lose.

Opening match; really solid start to the show. This was a good old fashioned hardcore match. JBL won, and won cleanly, which kind of saddened me. Maybe this feud is just beginning…

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: UNDERTAKER VS EDGE (C)

I’d be thrilled if Taker won, but he’s not going to be around forever and I’m not sure there’s another superstar would benefit more from the rub than Edge. Edge wins, either by DQ or cleanly, but he wins.

Ouch. Way off on this one. The Edgeheads did get involved, and Edge kicked out of the Last Ride, Chokeslam, AND Tombstone, but the Unnamed Submission Choke beat Edge. This was actually the main event, which kind of surprised me, but it was a fine choice. Edge put up a hell of a fight, but he is still a legit as hell contender. I expect a Punk-Edge feud any day now.

WWE TITLE MATCH: JOHN CENA VS TRIPLE H VS RANDY ORTON (C)

I really, really, REALLY wish Orton had a snowball’s chance in hell at retaining, but he doesn’t. Orton has been built well, but not well enough that he could win between Cena AND HHH. Weirdly, the champ is by far the underdog. I don’t think they’ll put the title back on Cena so soon; it’s going to HHH, probably by pinning Orton. Although if Taker beats Edge, Orton’s chances go from 0% to 1%.

Try 100%. Orton retained, thanks to a Pedigree by HHH on Cena. Orton kicked HHH off, then pinned Cena. HHH busted out the Crippler Crossface, and everyone looked good, but this match was too short for my taste. There was an RKO, but it was early in the match and only held off Cena. Orton won, but got the worst of it as everybody treated him as a bitch. LP Pick: Cena.

So I finished the night 5-5. A very, very good PPV. The best match was Flair vs. Michaels. The worst match was the Bunny Mania match. Looking forward to XXV in Houston, where I bet Undertaker gets the Ric Flair treatment and finally loses.

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