Home » Columnists, Featured, James Mustoe, Mark Bright, No Gimmicks Needed, PPV Coverage, Phil Lowe, Throwing In The Towel, WWE, WrestleMania 25, Wrestling News

WrestleMania 25: Previewing HHH vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title

Sunday April 5, 2009 BY iFight365.com

RELATED STORIES:
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing the 25-Diva Battle Royal
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing JBL vs. Rey Mysterio for the IC title
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Miz/Morrison vs. Carlito/Primo in a tag title unification match
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Money in the Bank
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Edge vs. Cena vs. Show for the World title
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Chris Jericho vs. The Legends
- WrestleMania 25: Previewing Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

We’re previewing the full card for WWE’s WrestleMania 25 PPV ahead of our live coverage here at iFight365.com this evening from around 5pm EST/10pm UK time.

The main event of the night sees Triple H take on Randy Orton for the WWE title. Read on to see how the iFight365 team see it playing out…

Dan Short: As I’ve stated and will continue to say so up until match time, I’m just not feeling it with this one. I have no doubt that the two could possibly pull out a winner of a match at WrestleMania, but in all honesty I have no real interest in seeing it until the DVD comes out. And a lot has to do with how the match has been built. By dropping the ball with the storyline after everything was set and ready to go following Orton winning the Royal Rumble and then punting Vince McMahon.

From there, it was a whirlwind of doing something good at the sacrifice of something else. For me, everything went downhill with Triple H attack Orton as the latter’s “home.” I just really didn’t see the point in caring any further. And don’t get me started on how in the WWE Universe history is forgotten and past Triple H vs. Randy Orton battles are treated as being non-existent. They just happen to forget that they had a big feud last year some a little of the year before. It’s one thing to think wrestling fans have short attention spans, but even this is ridicules.

Clearly, the end result of the match will be based upon where the match will be positioned on the card. If it is the main event, expect Triple H to win. If it is not, expect Orton to have a better chance than before to win. As I mentioned previously, it will probably be the main event and therefore lead to Triple H retaining.

James Mustoe: HHH/Orton got a whole lot better for me, as the re-involvement of Shane and Vince as a big shock that I did not see coming. Hopefully the two will be able to put together a decent brawl similar to their best prior match (the Last Man Standing bout at No Mercy 2007), and the added involvement of Shane/Vince and Legacy should at least keep the brawl interesting and hopefully prevent any of the interminable Orton headlocks from occurring. I’d like Orton to win this but then I can easily see it going the other way. What I don’t want to see is Orton winning and then having a rematch series with Hunter throughout the rest of the year. I think they should keep it to maybe a HHH/Vince/Shane vs. Orton/Legacy street fight at Backlash and that’s it.

Mark Bright: If you ignore several weeks of bad TV and just concentrate on the condensed version of history that Orton portrayed in his promo on Monday’s go-home RAW, this is a great angle. Orton kicking Vince in the head was a shocking moment that put Orton over the top as a guy they were “strapping the rocket to” and portraying as a major star. Then he eliminated HHH last, with the help of Legacy, to win the Royal Rumble. Shane McMahon gets involved and Orton has to sell for him for weeks, killing all that momentum.

The angle where he RKO’d Stephanie and HHH rushed in for the save was fantastic. Then HHH went sledgehammer crazy and things took another backwards step before the big money angle where he and Legacy handcuffed HHH to the ropes, he DDT’d Stephanie, then kissed her, before nailing HHH with a sledgehammer shot. Orton tied this together with an excellent promo on RAW before the McMahon’s showed up on stage for the closing brawl. That was done really well, but honestly I would’ve saved Shane and Vince’s re-appearance for Mania when Legacy run-in. We’ll probably still get that spot at some point in this match, and it’ll get a huge pop, so the way they did it is fine.

As for the match, HHH, when he’s motivated which he will be for a victory in a WrestleMania main event, can be great. Randy Orton is great, and has the most interesting character in the company right now, so I have absolutely no problems in predicting this will be an excellent match. After Orton has basically destroyed the entire McMahon family, a win over HHH would really put him over the top as the biggest star in the company, but I don’t think that’s happening, I think this is closing the show and we’re getting the happy ending of HHH retaining the title and maybe even Stephanie or Vince punt kicking Orton post-match. That would be fine, and the McMahons booking themselves strongly in a main event is not something that would surprise anyone, but they have several possibilities other than that.

I believe that Orton will get the majority of the crowd on his side here, and therefore they could do a double turn. Hunter has talked in interviews about how he prefers being heel, and Orton has the Steve Austin anti-hero vibe down pat, and now it’s been revealed that Hunter and Steph are married and he’s in the family of the biggest constant heels of the last decade, I don’t really see how people (especially the smarky crowd that WrestleMania usually pulls in) can cheer for Hunter come Sunday night.

Phil Lowe: All signs point to Triple H and Randy Orton closing the show tonight in Houston and if that’s the case, Hunter has to be favourite to walk out of the show as champ. In fact, I can quite easily see a McMahon family celebration being the scene we see to close tonight’s show. After all, it is the 24th 25th anniversary of WrestleMania.

But Orton really, really needs to win here. It’s rare that Mania closes with a heel going over but tonight it just has to happen. Orton’s game has improvement dramatically over the past year and the time is right for him to have a lengthy run on top. I don’t expect to see the feud end tonight and I’m fine with it continuing into Backlash (where I’m calling a HHH/Vince/Shane vs. Orton/Rhodes/DiBiase main event), but I really don’t see it doing good business if Hunter still has the belt after tonight. This will be a good match and I’ve no doubts of whether or not it will deliver. But because of the build on TV, there’s absolutely no way that Orton can lose tonight otherwise the past month or so of television has just been a waste of time. For me, Orton wins.

Michael Campbell: It comes down to this – are they going to do a swerve, and have a McMahon join Orton? If they are, then yes, I can see Orton walking out as champ. I am almost one-hundred per cent certain that Orton is not going to pin HHH clean in a one-on-one wrestling match at this stage (or perhaps any… no, but seriously, I can them eventually giving Orton a clean victory in a Hell in a Cell). But is Orton going to pin Hunter with the McMahon’s involved, yet against him, and have Legacy outwit the McMahons and Hunter? Absolutely not. McMahon will not allow his egomaniacal family to look bad by having them simply outfought by actual wrestlers. This is unthinkable. With Shane and Vince on the scene, Trips has God-like back-up. If Hunter is relieved of the title, it’ll be down to a McMahon.

Like it or not, the McMahon’s are involved. For me, it’s either the McMahon’s celebrating with Hunter, or one McMahon celebrating with Orton. I’m plumping for the latter, and if I’m honest, I’m more hoping this will happen, than believing so. Winner and NEW WWE Champion: Randy Orton.

Comments are closed.