Tomorrow is the biggest day of the American pro wrestling year, as it's time for Wrestlemania XIX. (And thank goodness they dropped that silly X-7, X-8 crap and went back to plain old Roman numerals.) So, with that in mind, I'm going to preview the big show, attempting to predict the quality, result and card placement of the ten matches on the show. Let's start at the beginning...

Hold on, the official Wrestlemania website is an enormous pain in the ass, as they have to use complicated Flash for everything, instead of good old-fashioned HTML, so I have to go elsewhere for a match list...

Oh, there we go. It's just really slow. On with it...

World Tag Team Championship: Lance Storm & Chief Morley vs. Rob Van Dam & Kane

This match isn't listed on the WM site anymore, as it's not actually part of the WM card anymore, but it's still happening on Heat, so it's the obvious place to start. I don't have particularly high hopes for the quality of this, as RVD and Kane aren't particularly good individually, and don't look any better as a team. Morley & Storm could make a good team, but Storm has looked less than stellar lately and Morley isn't so great as to carry it all by himself. I expect this will be something of a mess with RVD & Kane coming away with the Championships.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Matt Hardy vs. Rey Mysterio

They seem to like to put cruiserweight matches at the top of the crowd to get the crowd hyped up, so I will guess this will start off WM proper. It's a pretty easy call that this will be a good match, as Matt has been fantastic lately as a wrestler and a heel and Rey will make a good babyface opponent for him. I think this is a potentially big feud for the Cruiserweight Championship, and it's really only just begun, so I think they'll stretch it out a bit by having Matt retain here by nefarious means.

WWE Tag Team Championship: Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros vs. Chris Benoit & Rhyno

This match could go later in the card, but I think with so many big matches on the show there won't be too much room for it there. And this is sure to be full of action, so they wouldn't want to burn the crowd out by putting it back-to-back with some of the main events that will have big heat. I'm not a big fan of three-ways in general, and if we're comparing matches to this one, the Benoit/Angle vs. Rey/Edge vs. Guerreros three-way from Survivor Series, which was probably the weakest match of the feud between those teams, seems like a pretty apt comparison. This match should still be a very good spotfest if nothing else and should be a crowd-pleaser. I think Benoit & Rhyno will put it out, just because they don't seem ready to give Benoit the main-event singles push he really deserves.

WWE Women's Championship: Victoria vs. Jazz vs. Trish

Last year they threw the Women's Title match on after the Hogan/Rock match to let the crowd calml down before the main event. It didn't really work, as it just started a steady stream of fans out of the arena, but it did give me time to go buy a t-shirt, which was nice. There are so many matches on this card which look likely to have big heat that I think they'll throw this one on earlier before we get into the bigger matches. I am still no fan of three-ways, but this will at least be better than last year's, with Victoria being a significant upgrade over Lita. I think Trish finally gets her climactic win over Victoria here.

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho

Only on this card would this match be so early. This is one of the matches I'm looking forward to most, as I think Jericho will be very fired up going against one of his idols and Michaels will at least bump big for him. The buildup to this has been great, with Jericho cutting some really tremendous promos. I think this is a potential show-stealer if Shawn brings his working boots. And it will be an absolute crime if Jericho doesn't win.

World Heavyweight Championship: Triple H vs. Booker T

It seems that when they have two World Title matches on one show, they tend to stick one of them near the middle of the show to spread them out. I think this one is clearly the weaker of the two and the one with less storyline going in, so it goes here. HHH has looked somewhat better lately, though still not comparing to his 2000 fluke, I mean peak, year. The crowd should be hot for Booker T. Hopefully Goldust will be silent in supporting his friend. This could be a solid match, or it could be a clusterfuck full of runins and sledgehammers that surprise no one but Jim Ross. It will be a crime if Booker doesn't win, but I am predicting that Booker T will be seen at a Seattle police station late at night attempting to press charges.

Underaker & Nathan Jones vs. Big Show & A-Train

This is another of those matches designed to let the fans calm down or go get something to eat. It will be the worst match on the card. Nathan Jones will blow a spot or five. Undertaker will pin someone.

WWE Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar

Yeah, I don't think they're going to end the show with a World Title match this time. I'd rather they did, but I think they're going to try to avoid repeating last year's show at all costs. And also, who needs guys who can wrestle when you've got big stars like Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon? Anyway, the only thing preventing this from being awesome is the status of Kurt Angle's neck. I figure he'll do a couple of things he really shouldn't do, but they'll still keep it on the mat for most of the match and wind up having an excellent match. Brock really has to win this, as Angle needs to go have surgery. I just hope he makes it back next year.

Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon

They just can't put this on last. They've been building it up more than all the other matches put together over the last week, but they just can't. I predict an overly long brawl with lots of weapons, blood and runins. I could certainly see Vince winning via screwjob, but I think Hogan will win, just because I don't think they want to end the show on two heel wins. Speaking of which...

The Rock vs. Stone Cold

I don't think this will be as good as their last WM match, but the Rock is probably a better wrestler now than he was then, and Austin's basically just unproven since his comeback, as opposed to deteriorated, so maybe they still have a great one in them. I think Rock wins this one to break his streak of losses to Austin, just because he's been made to look the weakest of the two during the buildup. It will be pretty depressing to see Goldberg accomplish what Austin couldn't, though. Downward sprial...dying days...

Overall, this looks like a very good show with a few potentially great matchups. All the matchups have some questions, whether they be injury issues or just age, but if everyone steps up for the big show, it could be one memorable night. I don't expect it to give me much optimism regarding the future of the company, though.  ¶ joe | 7:09 PM |