Every year I have an issue with the build to WrestleMania. Not that the builds are always bad but I always have unrealistic expectations of what WrestleMania builds to me. My mind immediately goes to Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania V, the literal one-year build to the Mega Powers Exploding. It’s, to me, the prototypical way to book towards a WrestleMania.

Year-long builds are not a realistic goal in today’s WWE but to their credit, the Daniel Bryan story and its zenith, which will occur at this year’s Mania, is the closest we’re going to get. They had some help along the way (CM Punk’s departure) and some bumps in the road (Wyatt Family, screwjobs) but when it’s all said and done, 70,000 rapid fans will be chanting “YES!” along with the new WWE Champion.

Daniel Bryan has been built masterfully leading into WrestleMania but what about the rest of the card? I enlisted the help of our great readers to find out what they thought of each build and will follow with my personal grade and opinion.

The Shield  vs. The Authority (The New Age Outlaws & Kane)

On the surface, this match looks completely thrown together and really, it has been. The Shield looked to be bursting at the seams due to in-fighting and the selfishness of Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, but they’ve patched things up and actually turned full babyface in recent weeks. After refusing to do Corporate Kane’s bidding, The Shield has been the target of both Kane and his Authority lackey’s The New Age Outlaws. Kane cost The Shield an opportunity to be the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships taking them out of that match and title picture and instead into this grudge match.

We’re pretty all over the place here. I’m going to go with a C on a pure build grade. Like others have said, I’m super glad that The Shield not only didn’t break up, but that they’ve also become established faces through this feud. With that said, I haven’t been in love with how we’ve gotten there and to people that said it happened out of nowhere, yeah, that’s not usually good. It seemed rushed in a sense or that they had another idea for The Shield (Roman Reigns face turn and Rollins vs. Reigns vs. Ambrose seem most likely) and somebody said hold off. It’s okay, I’ll get over it but the best I can do for this one is a solid C.

Grade: C

Bray Wyatt vs. John Cena

We all did a double take when Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported this matchup as a potential feud some months ago. Bray Wyatt vs. WWE’s top star?! No way. Yes way. WWE gave Bray a huge win over Daniel Bryan at the Royal Rumble and effectively threw Bray into the main event picture when The Wyatt Family interfered in Cena’s match against Randy Orton, costing him the WWE Title. At Elimination Chamber, the Wyatts once against cost Cena the match, leading to Orton eliminating Cena and setting the stage for this matchup. Cena briefly flirted with the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal but eventually issued a challenge to Wyatt for ‘Mania.

I won’t lie, this promo video is probably going to bump this build up a grade or two. That is some of WWE’s best work in years and maybe the best WrestleMania promo since Austin vs. Rock from WrestleMania 17.  I also tend to agree with @LuchaNerd’s assessment. I went into this build thinking I wouldn’t like it but I have, Cena’s brief Jimmy Buffet comedy aside. It’s had a different feel than most WWE builds and it should, Wyatt is unlike anything else in WWE right now. It’s been creepy, it’s had some zany Hogan/Warrior/figure in the mirror stuff but it’s done a great job of painting Cena as a wounded warrior going into battle with a crazed mad man.

Grade: B

Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan

What more can we say about this one? It’s been in the making since SummerSlam, we’ve talked about it ad nauseum on the Voices of Wrestling podcast. In one breath, smart fans complain about the lack of strong builds, the lack of year-long builds like Savage vs. Hogan and in another breath, get pissed that Daniel Bryan wasn’t the champion immediately after SummerSlam and didn’t have a six month reign as champion. As I mentioned in the lede, there were bumps along the way but we’re here now, so don’t worry about it. Bryan is more over now than he’s ever been, he’s becoming a top merchandise seller and a ratings mover and when it’s all said and done, he will leave WrestleMania as WWE Champion and as the clear focal point of the company.

I knew people would love this build (how could you not?) but I didn’t expect almost across the board praise. It’s the best longterm build this company has done in quite some time, Joseph Trischitta said since 2006 and he may be right because I can’t think of one even close. HHH has been absolutely perfect as the Authority figure heel as has Stephanie, both are really finding their footing as top heels. Bryan, as mentioned, is as over as ever and it all leads to an incredibly well built WrestleMania matchup.

Grade: A+

Continued on Page 2: Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. ??? and The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar

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