WM 26 Update

Every week until WM26 on Sunday, Mar 28, I'll make updates to the card and my predictions as to who will win and why.

WrestleMania 26 announced matches:

WWE Championship: Batista (c) vs. John Cena

Another week where Batista gets the better of Cena. Still a good feud.

Who will win? John Cena. My guess is this will be the last match of the night so WWE typically likes to send its WrestleMania crowd home happy with a face victory.

Who should win? Batista. Cena's had the title several times over the past year. He's always a solid champion and torchbearer for the company, but Batista's new heel persona is really catching fire. I'd love to see him get a longer run.

World Heavyweight Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge

Doesn't seem like "Spear! Spear! Spear!" is going away, but at least Jericho got in some good shots this week. Still a pretty toothless lead up.

Who will win? Chris Jericho. Along with Randy Orton and Batista, Jericho is one of the biggest and best heels in WWE. He's earned a longer run with the World title than the 6 weeks between Elimination Chamber and WM26.

Who should win? Chris Jericho. Despite winning the Royal Rumble, Edge will come up short on this one and chase Jericho for a few more months.

Streak vs. Career - No Count-out, No DQ: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

Not a lot of action between HBK and Taker this week. That's ok though. They don't really need much more to hype this match.

Who will win? Undertaker. The WrestleMania undefeated streak of 16-0 is his biggest legacy. HBK respects him too much to take that away.

Who should win? Undertaker. As much as it pains me to say it, HBK's career will end at WrestleMania. Yeah, probably not. But at least Shawn can take a few months off to spend time with his family and heal some injuries. Then he'll be back in time for SummerSlam!

No Holds Barred Match: Bret "Hitman" Hart vs. Vince McMahon

The contract is signed and now it's No Holds Barred which basically means Vince will take a thrashing with a trash can or two. Also, Bret revealed that his broken leg was merely a ruse put together by him and John Cena to bait Vince into the WM challenge. Oh you clever Canadian. Bret has definitely slipped on his mic work, but this should still be a good catharsis for him.

Who will win? Bret "Hitman" Hart. This seems like a no brainer. Why would he sign a contract only to be humiliated again by the person who turned his life on its head 13 years ago?

Who should win? Bret "Hitman" Hart. Time to bury all the demons and lay the Vince-Bret feud behind us once and for all.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Christian vs. Kane vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Jack Swagger vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs. vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre

A surprise ninth entrant to this match was Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre after qualifying by beating a local jobber. Unfortunately, given how high Vince thinks of this guy, he may now be the front runner.

Who will win? Not sure, but here's how I rank their overall chances: 1. Drew McIntyre; 2. Christian; 3. Kane; 4. MVP; 5. Jack Swagger; 6. Matt Hardy; 7. Shelton Benjamin; 8. Dolph Ziggler; 9. Evan Bourne.

Who should win? Christian. He was exiled for a year to ECW and now Christian is ready to hit the big stage. Please please please, Vince, won't you give Christian a chance?

Triple H vs. Sheamus

Pretty solid build this week with Sheamus attacking Triple H at the end of the Triple H/Orton match. We can probably expect former rivals Triple H and Randy Orton teaming up against Sheamus, Rhodes, and DiBiase next week on RAW.

Who will win? Sheamus. Triple H has been much more flexible about putting younger guys over these days (see: Jeff Hardy). Sheamus will win, but it probably won't be clean.

Who should win? Sheamus. Since WWE took the time to put the WWE title on this guy for a few months this year, they're looking to invest more into him. A win for Triple H does nothing for him. A win for Sheamus at WrestleMania against the Cerebral Assassin...well that's something you can brag about all year long.

Unified Tag Team Championship: The Miz and Big Show (c) vs. John Morrison and R-Truth

Nothing momentous really happened with this feud either.

Who will win? Show Miz. The Miz is on a roll with the Big Show at his side. No need to stop this team in its tracks. Plus, it gives Big Show something important to do for another couple months.

Who should win? Show Miz. Again, The Miz is developing into one of the better jerk heels on RAW so let's see where this goes.

Triple Threat Match: Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase

A slight twist to this match is that it's a Triple Threat format rather than handicapped. So in theory, Rhodes and DiBiase could get into it for a bit. But certainly count on Orton getting whaled on quite a bit. But it's nice that Orton finally got on the card and that Rhodes and DiBiase will be making their WM debut.

Who will win? Orton. It seems like this feud should last a bit longer and Orton has been getting beaten left and right so he needs a win to make it more equal. My guess is that Rhodes and DiBiase get distracted trying to be the one to actually pin Orton and get the win that the Viper will strike out of nowhere.

Who should win? DiBiase. He has more main event potential than Rhodes so having this under his belt could be a nice launching point for a singles career.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Finally announced on Friday, CM Punk continues to be fantastic. For apparent reason, Rey was introducing his family to the WWE fans on SmackDown when out comes the Straightedge Savior. Excellent stuff. This could be a classic if WWE lets them have some time to work.

Who will win? CM Punk. Rey is merely a bump in the road until he returns his focus back to the main event.

Who should win? CM Punk. After Edge eventually wins the title from Jericho in a few months, count on CM Punk to come knocking on his door.

WM26 Projected Matches:

Interpromotional Womens Match: Michelle McCool (c - Womens), Maryse (c - Divas), & Layla vs. Beth Phoenix, Kelly Kelly, & Gail Kim

This seems to be what they're building toward. Not exactly interesting, but I'd be surprised if the women didn't have a match on the WM card. I'd like to see Beth Phoenix actually get a title shot, but they may be trying to include as many people as possible at this point.

Notables currently out in the cold at WrestleMania: Kofi Kingston, Hart Dynasty, Mark Henry, Great Khali, Carlito

Kofi is still not on the WM card, but I would imagine that they open up a 10th spot in the Money in the Bank match that he'll get. Look for that on Friday or next Monday.