WWE: Wrestlemania 34: Fantasy Booking, Dream Cards, Predictions and/or Masochism

Kimi

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Jun 24, 2004
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Newcastle upon Tyne
I started doing the task before my eyes started hurting. Got back to around WM23 before I gave up.

IMO I'm of the mindset that at Mania every title should always be on the line so I like that they're doing it for the first time in the modern era.
I don't think it should be a hard rule that every title must be defended, especially now with so the Raw/Smackdown split.

First is that it might leave you with little time to do other matches. Nine title matches and then two battle royals doesn't leave you much room for anything else. This year you've got the Undertake match and the Bryan match, but it's not unreasonable to have more than that.

Second is that a champion might end up in a tag match where the title singles title can't be defended. It's not hard to end up with a faction vs faction thing where some are champions involves.


But I do think that the champions should be on the card somewhere (not a battle royal). (Assuming nothing falls apart due to injuries or whatever.)
 
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Kimi

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So I'm looking up the start and retirement dates of all the titles and I found out that there was a WWF Canadian Championship at one point. I never knew about that.

I also was reminded that the Raw Tag Titles are the belts that were made for Smackdown back in the day. Totally forgot about that until I read it.
 

Kimi

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Jun 24, 2004
9,890
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Newcastle upon Tyne
Is this the first time in at least the last 15 years that every title has been on the line?
So the only Wrestlemania shows that have had all the active titles on the card are:

Wrestlemania V - 89
Wrestlemania VI - 90
Wrestlemania VII - 91
Wrestlemania VIII - 92
Wrestlemania IX - 93
Wrestlemania X - 94
Wrestlemania XIV - 98
Wrestlemania XIX - 03
Wrestlemania 34 - 18

I've ignored the belts that were with NJPW and IWF, as well as the Canadian belt. I've also ignored the NXT titles and the UK title.

The Women's Tag was included, but I'm not sure how much that was actually pushed. It was active on some WWF house shows so I think it should count. If you ignore it, then Wrestlemania 2 had all the titles defended on it.


I'll post later once I workout what all the non-defending champions were actually doing on each show/if they were even there.


EDIT: I missed Wrestlemania XIX as having all the titles. I forgot that the US title was unified at the time.
EDIT 2: I missed Wrestlemania XVI aswell. I failed at reading 'cos Owen Hart was clearly defending his title.
 
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Kimi

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You are a saint. So it's been 24 years, insane.
I'm actually terrible. I was going by the start and retirement dates for the titles but forgot that the US and Intercontinental were unified for a while before being split again. So Wrestlemania XIX in 2003 is added to the list.

This means it is indeed 15 years since all the belts were defended on the same show, which is still ages.
 
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Kimi

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(This took a lot of work, but I did it all while I was technically working so I don't mind as I got paid for it^^)


A list of all the times that a title wasn't defended at Wrestlemania and what the champion was doing at the time:

Wrestlemania 1 - 31.03.1985
+WWE Championship - Hulk Hogan - On card - Tag match with Mr. T
+WWF Women’s Tag Team - Velvet McIntyre & Desiree Petersen - Not on card - Was active on house shows

Wrestlemania 2 - 07.04.1986
+WWF Women’s Tag Team - Leilani Kai & Judy Martin - Not on card - Maybe in Japan

Wrestlemania III - 29.03.1987
+WWE Women's - Moolah - On card - Cornered Harley Race
+World Tag Team - Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart - On card - In six-man tag match with the crooked ref against Bulldogs & Santa who they screwed
+WWF Women’s Tag Team - Leilani Kai & Judy Martin - Not on card - In Japan

Wrestlemania IV - 27.03.1988
+WWE Women's - Sensational Sherri - Not on card - Was active on house shows
+WWF Women’s Tag Team - Jumping Bomb Angels - Not on card - Probably in Japan

Wrestlemania V - 02.04.1989
+All on card

Wrestlemania VI - 01.04.1990
+All on card

Wrestlemania VII - 24.03.1991
+All on card

Wrestlemania VIII - 05.04.1992
+All on card

Wrestlemania IX - 04.04.1993
+All on card

Wrestlemania X - 20.03.1994
+All on card

Wrestlemania XI - 02.04.1995
+WWE Women's - Bull Nakano - Not on card - Dropped title on Raw the next night before going to Japan

Wrestlemania XII - 31.03.1996
+WWE Intercontinental - Goldust - On card - In that terrible match with Piper that was taped outside

Wrestlemania 13 - 23.03.1997
+WWE European - British Bulldog - On card - Defended the tag title he held at the same time

Wrestlemania XIV - 29.03.1998
+All on card

Wrestlemania XV - 28.03.1999
+WWF Light Heavyweight - Gillberg - On card - In battle royal

Wrestlemania 2000 - 02.04.2000
+WWE Women's - Stephanie McMahon - On card - Cornered HHH in four-way WWF Championship match
+WWF Light Heavyweight - Dean Malenko - On card - In six-man tag vs Too Cool & Chyna

Wrestlemania X-7 - 01.04.2001
+WWF Light Heavyweight - Crash Holly - Not on card - Was on Raw the next night

Wrestlemania X8 - 17.03.2002
+WWE Cruiserweight - Tajiri - Not on card - Was on TV the next night

Wrestlemania XIX - 30.03.2003
+All on card

Wrestlemania XX - 14.03.2004
+WWE Intercontinental - Randy Orton - On card - n Evolution vs Rock ’n’ Sock 3-on-2 match

Wrestlemania 21 - 03.04.2005
+World Tag Team - William Regal & Tajiri - On card - Both in battle royal
+WWE Intercontinental - Shelton Benjamin - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+WWE United States - Orlando Jordan - On card - In battle royal
+WWE Cruiserweight - Paul London - On card - In battle royal
+WWE Raw Tag Team - Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio - On card - Faced each other in singles match

Wrestlemania 22 - 02.04.2006
+WWE Intercontinental - Shelton Benjamin - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+WWE Cruiserweight - Gregory Helms - No on card - Injured (broken nose)
+WWE Raw Tag Team - Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro - On card - Both in battle royal

Wrestlemania 23 - 01.04.2007
+World Tag Team - John Cena & Shawn Michaels - On card - Cena defended his WWE Championship against Michaels
+WWE Intercontinental - Umaga - On card - Vince’s pick vs Trump
+WWE Cruiserweight - Chavo Guerrero - On card - In lumberjack tag match with Helms vs Carlito & Ric Flair (dark match)
+WWE Raw Tag Team - Paul London & Brian Kendrick - On card - Lumberjacks
+ECW Heavyweight - Bobby Lashley - On card - Trump’s pick vs Vince

Wrestlemania XXIV - 30.03.2008
+WWE Women's - Beth Phoenix - On card - n tag match. Snoop Dog segment
+World Tag Team - Hardcore Holly & Cody Rhodes - On card - Both in battle royal
+WWE Intercontinental - Chris Jericho - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+WWE United States - MVP - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+WWE Raw Tag Team - John Morrison & The Miz - On card - Morrison in the Money in the Bank ladder match, Miz in battle royal

Wrestlemania XXV - 05.04.2009
+WWE Women's - Melina - On card - In battle royal
+WWE United States - MVP - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+ECW Heavyweight - Jack Swagger - On card - Lumberjack
+WWE Divas - Maryse - On card - In battle royal

Wrestlemania XXVI - 28.03.2010
+WWE Women's - Michelle McCool - On card - In 10-man tag match
+WWE Intercontinental - Drew McIntyre - On card - In Money in the Bank ladder match
+WWE United States - The Miz - On card - Defended the tag title he held at the same time
+WWE Divas - Maryse - On card - In 10-man tag match

Wrestlemania XXVII - 03.04.2011
+WWE Intercontinental - Wade Barrett - On card - In 8-man tag with Corre
+WWE Raw Tag Team - Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel - On card - Both in 8-man tag with Corre
+WWE Divas - Eve Torres - Not on card - Was active

Wrestlemania 28 - 01.04.2012
+WWE United States - Santino Marella - On card - In 12-man tag match to decide GM
+WWE Divas - Beth Phoenix - On card - In tag match

Wrestlemania 29 - 07.04.2013
+WWE United States - Cesaro - Not on card - Was active
+WWE Divas - Kaitlyn - Not on card - Was active

Wrestlemania XXX - 06.04.2014
+WWE Intercontinental - Big E Langston - On card - In battle royal
+WWE United States - Dean Ambrose - On card - In six-man tag with Shield vs New Age Outlaws & Kane

Wrestlemania 31 - 29.03.2015
+WWE Divas - Nikki Bella - On card - In tag match

Wrestlemania 32 - 03.04.2016
+WWE Raw Tag Team - The New Day - On card - In six-man tag match (non-title) vs League of Nations

Wrestlemania 33 - 02.04.2017
+WWE Smackdown Tag Team - The Usos - On card - Both in battle royal

Wrestlemania 34 - 08.04.2018
+All on card



This list didn't turnout nearly as badly as I first expected when I worked out which titles were not defended. I think it's actually quite reasonable the majority of the time.

2005-2010 really stood out but a lot of those were Money in the Bank matches, which is a valid reason to not defend a title. There are a few times where tag champions held a second title and they only defended one, which is also fine. Along with some faction stuff (Evolution, Corre, New Day, Shield). And the Vince vs Trump match.
 
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Kimi

Registered User
Jun 24, 2004
9,890
636
Newcastle upon Tyne
Why was Wrestlemania 18 and 20 so early in March?
No idea. If I had to guess, I'd say that it would be because those were the dates they could book the venues.

Unfortunately the Newsletter archive doesn't have the years around those shows so I can't dig there to see if there is anything.
 

Kimi

Registered User
Jun 24, 2004
9,890
636
Newcastle upon Tyne
X8 was the one in Toronto at the baseball stadium. With the season starting this time of year, maybe they could only book it if they went early?
 

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