Talk is Jericho Recap – WrestleMania Preview, Rousey Needs to Break Stephanie’s Arm, Asuka Vs. Rousey at WM35? More!

Jericho is joined on today’s show by Fozzy’s Production Manager, Jack Slade, to preview this year’s WrestleMania.

Jericho begins today’s show by informing that this year’s WrestleMania is not being promoted as “WrestleMania 34” because Vince McMahon hates the numbers. McMahon thinks the numbers makes the event seem old, and for similar reasons the event is no longer allowed to be referred to as the “Granddaddy of Them All”.

Jericho also informs that “America The Beautiful” always kicks off WrestleMania because Vince McMahon doesn’t like the American National Anthem as much as “America The Beautiful”. McMahon considers “America The Beautiful” to be the epitome of what’s great about America according to Jericho.

Getting into this year’s matches, Jericho begins by discussing the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He points out that this match allows a lot of WWE Superstars to get on the WrestleMania card, which is great because all of these performers work very hard all year long. Jericho suspects Matt Hardy or Bray Wyatt will win this match because they’re the two biggest names in this match.

He points out that he’s not working WrestleMania this year because there’s really nothing for him to do. He wasn’t interested in returning without a captivating story, and if you’re working the Battle Royal you rarely have a storyline. Hardy and Wyatt are the exceptions to that rule, and for that reason he assumes one of those guys will win.

Moving onto the Women’s Battle Royal, he assumes that Sasha Banks and Bayley are quite upset that they’re working the Battle Royal instead of working a singles match on the Grandest Stage of Them All. He thinks this match will come down to these two girls, and he predicts Bayley will pick up the win.

Slade predicts that Mustafa Ali will defeat Cedric Alexander to become the Cruiserweight Champion. Jericho says Ali’s finisher is probably the most impressive finishing move in the company right now, and he has no idea how Ali executes it.

Moving onto WrestleMania’s main card, Jericho suspects the United States Title Fatal 4-way match might kick off the show. Jericho predicted about a year and a half ago that Rusev would eventually be a huge babyface because he’s a very likeable, funny guy. Slade predicts Rusev will win the United States Title and Jericho agrees entirely, saying that this is Rusev’s time.

Jericho says that he really likes Nia Jax, and he suspects she’ll win on Sunday. Slade disagrees, predicting that Bliss will win by DQ. Jericho notes that given all the terrible things Bliss has said about Jax as well as the size difference, he thinks Jax needs to pick up a convincing win here. Anything other than that will take him out of the moment in terms of suspending disbelief.

Jericho and Slade both agree that The Bludgeon Brothers have to win the Smackdown Live Tag Team Titles in their triple threat match against The Usos and The New Day. Jericho loves The Usos and The New Day and he appreciates their impact on WWE’s business, but this needs to be The Bludgeon Brothers’ time, and they need to pick up a convincing win here.

Jericho doesn’t think there’s any reason for Charlotte to defeat Asuka on Sunday. He points out that WWE is heavily pushing Asuka’s undefeated streak and they’re also heavily pushing Ronda Rousey. He thinks Asuka will win the Women’s Title on Sunday and hold it for an entire year, and next year’s Title match at WrestleMania will be Asuka versus Rousey.

Slade predicts that James Ellsworth will be Braun Strowman’s tag team partner at WrestleMania. Jericho admits that would be interesting, but he thinks Big Show will return and he and Strowman will win the Titles. He then thinks Big Show will turn heel and they’ll have to defend their Titles as enemies for a while. Jericho guarantees that he will not be Strowman’s mystery partner, primarily because WWE didn’t ask him, and secondly because he wouldn’t accept that invitation.

Neither Jericho or Slade think The Miz will retain his Intercontinental Title on Sunday. Slade thinks Rollins will win and Jericho thinks Balor will win. Jericho wonders if we’ll see Balor’s “Demon” return, and he adds that he’s surprised we haven’t seen a “Demon vs. Demon” match between Balor and Kane.

Speaking about the Rousey & Angle/Triple H & Stephanie McMahon match, Jericho says he’s not expecting a great match and we probably won’t get one, but he thinks it’ll be an entertaining segment. He adds that if this match finishes with anything other than Rousey breaking Stephanie’s arm, it will be a mistake.

Jericho goes on to say that there’s “zero percent chance” Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon lose to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn on Sunday. He suggests that maybe Shane will turn on Bryan after the match, setting up a singles match at SummerSlam. Regardless, Jericho says the audience is going to be very hot for this match and he would not want to go on after it.

Jericho says he’s done with the “bullshit” and it’s time for Nakamura to show what he’s got. He points out that this match has been designated as a show-stealer, and he thinks these two guys are going to try to match the 5-star bout they had at the TokyoDome a few years ago. It’s obvious that Nakamura is a great talent, but he needs someone to work with him who knows how to work with his style. Styles is that guy, and these two men have a chance to do something special on Sunday. He predicts Nakamura will win.

Jericho and Slade both agree that Undertaker verses Cena will happen at WrestleMania. Jericho doesn’t think Undertaker should ever lose at WrestleMania again, and it’s well known that Cena has a lot of things happening outside of wrestling right now. For this reason, he predicts Undertaker will be victorious on Sunday.

Jericho points out that Roman Reigns has been hand-picked by Vince McMahon to be WWE’s top guy, and there’s no doubt that he’ll emerge victorious on Sunday night. Much like John Cena, Jericho doesn’t think Reigns will ever turn heel, and he thinks Lesnar will leave for UFC after this match.

That sums up today’s episode of Talk is Jericho. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!