10 Matches WWE Could Have Booked For WrestleMania 38
3. Ladder Match For The WWE Intercontinental Championship
The piteous state of WrestleMania’s midcard is truly something to behold.
Ricochet’s Intercontinental Championship defense on the go-home SmackDown extends a year-long PPV drought for the title dating to last year’s WrestleMania. Drew McIntyre is engaged in a listless four-month rivalry with Happy Corbin. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs challenging The Usos feels like it was pulled from a hat. Sheamus and his Celtic cohorts are soldiering on with a New Day feud minus Big E. Tommaso Ciampa is being primed for a main roster run after his presumed NXT curtain call at Stand And Deliver and Sami Zayn is embroiled in an ‘Anything Goes’ match with Johnny Knoxville.
The appeal of Knoxville in such a contest is understandable. He’s the perfect celebrity opponent. Anyone seeing more than 30 seconds of ‘Jackass’ knows that fear of injury is a virtual non-factor. The ringleader among stuntmen would likely be ecstatic at the prospect of annihilation by a pack of professional wrestlers or plummeting through a stack of ladders.
So, grant Johnny his wish.
In one match, WWE could resolve numerous orbiting rivalries, provide an action-packed demolition derby and honor the late Scott Hall’s legacy by making a Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania a permanent fixture. Knoxville serves as the proverbial thorn in Zayn’s side without actively competing. Then there’s the ‘X’ factor of Ciampa. This would be a crucial introduction for someone recently dubbed ‘The Pulse of NXT’--particularly if he had left as champion.