If they are really going the Cena vs Russev route how are they going to explain Cena giving up wanting to go after the top spot for a battle over some mid card title?
It's not for the title, it's FOR AMERICA. BECAUSE REASONS.
Rusev can lose the US Title soon in some screwy way, like Angle losing both titles but not getting pinned in a 3-way. It doesn't look like the Russians are doing anything storywise with it, so whatever.
You know, if Cena was to actually submit clean to RUSEV CRUSH, WWE would have the biggest heel of the last 15 years on their hands. Then you could have Rusev win the Rumble while Cena gets his title shot (for winning at HIAC) against Lesnar, winning the belt, and Rusev could main event WM against Cena for the World title. That way you could continue building Reigns slowly until he's really ready (and Rusev isn't necessarily ready, I get that) to take over the main event. Reigns could finally get after Rollins. See? This isn't hard.
So, of course, it goes without saying that Rusev and Sheamus are going to eliminate each other via a double-countout at SS. Henry will pin Big Show. Cena will pin Kane and Henry. Ryback (who I assume will now be the fifth guy for Team Cena) will pin Harper, but only after Harper pins Ziggler to set up an I-C title program. Ryback will then destroy Rollins but fall victim to a curbstomp after the cruiserweight division distracts him. Cena will then beat Rollins. And it's LOLCENAWINS all over again.
Rusev still hasn't shown enough to be considered "Top Heel" material. And I wouldn't bet against a WrestleMania crowd cheering for the evil foreigner over John Cena if that match was to main event.
I have a feeling they will probably have Rusev lose the US title in screwy fashion in a multi-man match where he doesn't have to be pinned and gets distracted by Cena before Mania. If that is the case down the line then that's a pity because it actually give the title some much needed meaning and importance if Rusev does defend it against Cena at Mania. If I had it my way I'd have Rusev face Ziggler for the IC title at TLC or Royal Rumble to unify the midcard titles and then have him defend it at Mania so now the company can finally have a secondary title people care about. Therefore when it is defended it can be a bigger attraction especially considering their current situation where the World champ isn't on TV regularly.
They're shockingly doing a great job with Rusev and I find myself actually thinking Cena/Rusev will be one of the highlights of Wrestlemania even if the card ends up stacked.
If Cena doesn't pass out in the Accolade, though, fuck it all. I was fine with Bray losing to Cena, because Bray isn't a character defined by wins and losses. But Rusev, quite obviously, is.
Nah, that's too difficult for the WWE right now. It'll go like this: The Authority dominates, eliminates the first 4 members of Team Cena, before CENA defies the odds, WINS 5 in a row, then LOLS.
Totally agree, but getting it off Rusev without him jobbing and then doing a US/IC unification in another match would also work for me. (I'd cast my vote for a double-turned Cesaro v. Sheamus for this match.)
I don't think there's any way the Authority loses. Even if they wanted to write HHH and Steph off TV, they wouldn't waste it on a slapdash Survivor Series match.
It's too early to start the Cena vs. Rusev feud at Survivor Series. That means they have to drag it out for four-five months to lead to Mania, which would be soooo boring.
LISTEN JACK. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY AND I KNOW SOME OF THESE PEOPLE DONT LIKE ME SO MUCH... YEAHHHH LETS GO CENA CENA SUCKS...BUT EVERYONE LOVES AMERICA JACK AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT YOU CAN GET OUT USA USA USA
Normally I would agree, but given that WWE is giving away the network and SS for free this month, a major storyline turn like that (perhaps forcing HHH back into the ring in order to feed his family, or Stephanie completely losing her shit and blaming HHH for the loss) might be something to hook some of the freebies into paying subscribers. Maybe.
There's about a zero percent chance Rusev would beat Cena at WM. That'd be the big payoff with Cena ending his undefeated streak to beat him, I'm sure.
Unless Cena's actually gonna put teh guy over, what's the point of this "Cena wrestles a rookie midcard heel at Wrestlemania" strategy? Cena beating a rookie heel doesn't get anyone over (see Wyatt, Bray) and it diminishes Cena's value as a Wrestlemania selling point, so why bother?
Unless Cena's actually gonna job and make a new star, then they really should just match him up with Rock or Lesnar or HHH or Sting and be done with it.
Why, how could you forget the epic AJ v. Nikki Divas title match?!? Also known as the "piss and nacho break."
But seriously, since the World champion is AWOL and the U.S. and Intercontinental champions are in the main event tag match, I presume we're going to get Part 782 of Dusts v. Usos for the tag belts. Beyond that, I really don't know.
- a bad/overdone Divas title match that's really about the Bellas - Usos - Dusts - Cesaro jobbing to another mid carder, let's say Adam Rose to really push that bunny storyline. - something with midgets - Mizdow getting over during another boring IC title defense from Miz
I think Dolph turning and the show ending with The Authority standing tall is your "big hook" for subscribers. Because they'll have to see what The Authority does next!
I think the idea, and I can get behind that part of it, is to put someone else in the main event of WM rather than John Cena all the time. The problem is what you said...he just ends up cleanly and fairly easily beating an up and coming heel, cutting off their momentum, which definitely doesn't help the heel and doesn't help Cena either (because who cares, he easily beat some loser he said before WM he was going to beat, who he spent a month making goofy photoshops about).
I guess it's hard to predict, because I don't know what the people they're trying to hook would badly want to see. I'm pretty much indifferent to the Authority...I sometimes enjoy them on TV, but I'm not exactly invested in them. I'm not actively rooting for them to win, but I don't particularly want to see John Cena heroically defeat the Authority, probably leading to him crushing Rollins and making him look terrible. I agree with you that a major storyline turn makes a ton of sense to try to hook the people getting the free month...I just don't know what that storyline turn could be at this point.
For me (and I'm not saying I represent the majority, nor am I cancelling the Network as I enjoy the archives way too much), short of the latest Bryan stuff being a swerve with him returning (or the obviously not happening Cena heel turn), I'm not sure what they could honestly do to get me interested. Team Cena wins? Who cares? Team Authority wins? Still the status quo. Orton returns and joins Team Cena? So, now the top two faces are Cena and Orton again, just like it was for years, and everyone else gets pushed even farther down the card yet again (Ambrose, Reigns, Bryan when he returns). I just don't care for the most part. I've been watching less and less of Raw live as the weeks have gone on, pretty much tuning in just for Ambrose, Rollins, Ziggler, and Cesaro. I like a couple other things (I'm interested in a Harper push as I really like him, and Mizdow is pretty funny), but most of the show is such a drag lately.
I figured as much when the Cena/Rusev rumors started but I'm not so convinced now. Lesnar doesn't make much sense financially anymore; since no one can replicate his real-life cred, what they're creating with Rusev might be the next-best thing.
The smart money is almost always on Cena to win, that much I do agree with. But I'd put the chances of Rusev winning well above 0.
EXACTLY. I understand the premise of using Cena to elevate new talent, but that's not what they did last year and not what they'll do with Rusev. So in that case, from a business perspective you might as well wring whatever "big star" value Cena has and book him in the fucking main event against another big star.
I'd like to see Rusev get an impact finisher as well as the Accolade. That's the problem with top heels that have only submission finishers...certain guys will never ever ever under any circumstances submit (like Cena), so it immediately hurts the match for me. It's why I never got into Cena/Del Rio matches. I can buy that maybe a heel can hit a finisher out of nowhere and get a quick pin, but Cena cannot submit, so Del Rio had no way of winning the matches without massive cheating.
You could do the pass out finish with Rusev and Cena, but I unfortunately don't see it happening.
I don't entirely disagree with that point, but that's how it was going to be as soon as Cena beat Bray at WM. Bray gave him everything he had and lost clean to the babyface. How do you continue the feud after that? Bullshit shenanigans with Bray looking increasingly worse.
I still think if they had just had Bray win at WM (with help from Rowan and Harper), then have Bray win at the next PPV (via interference is fine, but not via Cena defeating the Wyatts 3 on 1 easily before crazy kid spooks him), and then the last match could have happened the same way it did, with Cena finally enlisting the help of the Uso's and winning a wild brawl. Bray still gets two wins against Cena (and not one complete and total garbage win where he looked worse than he did in every other match he actually lost), and Cena barely manages to defeat Bray with the odds even. Cena still wins the feud but Bray looks like he gave Cena an actual fight. Instead Cena took Bray's best shot immediately, beat him clean, absolutely destroyed him and Rowan and Harper in the cage match before losing due to ridiculous shenanigans, and then beat him again.
I've been saying that for a few weeks now--- I absolutely think Orton vs Lesnar is a real possibility for Mania. If Roman comes back and bombs or they get cold feet on him, I totally agree that Orton is their backup plan. Orton's definitely getting the superman push as soon as he gets back.
Personally that does nothing for me and I doubt that Randy Orton as the lead babyface in 2014 will help business, but yeah that's a real possibility.
I like the idea of Orton's character, but I hate the idea that in 2015 we're going to be entering the year with Cena and Orton as the top two faces yet again, and everyone else shoved down to the midcard. And while Orton is far preferable to Cena, the idea of blowing the streak ending and Brock's huge run by having another guy who debuted in 2002 and is already a bulletproof main eventer beat him is nauseating.
How they get around Rusev dropping the US Title: 1. Rusev gets over on Cena somehow at Survivor Series (ideally, he passed Cena out clean in the middle, but more likely they brawl to a double countout and Rusev lays him out after the fact) 2. Some guy challenges Rusev in Cena's honor for the December "TLC" ppv and it becomes a Ladder match for some contrived reason. 3. Cena returns from a nothing "injury" to cost Rusev the Ladder match, giving the US title and progressing the Cena-Rusev fight. In WWE logic, this gives the "rub" to whoever wins the US title and gets the belt off Rusev without jobbing him
The interesting thing tho is to my knowledge, Orton and Lesnar have never wrestled each other in the WWF/E, somehow two guys who have been pros for almost 15 years would be a fresh matchup.
Orton vs Lesnar, Sting vs Taker, Cena (w Vince) vs HHH (w/ Stephanie). Boom, that should be their Mania 31 card. Not because I think it's a good card or would help business in the slightest long term, but because they don't really want to build new stars anyway so at this point they might as well book Mania completely around the part-timers and pop the once a year buyrate and be done with it. Throw everyone else in the Andre battle royal and have Roman win and there ya go, Wrestlemania.
Yeah, what's the downside to having rusev being built like an unstoppable badass and beating cena? Let's say he flops completely, it's not like cena wont be fine (insert rise above joke here). Sometimes they just need to go for it.
OR they could just have him keep dominating, have cena show that he cares about the belt and really wants it only to lose cleanly and then make a new start. There's that path too
Look I agree ... Cena had no reason to win that match, the reason he did I think is because Undertaker lost. Vince maybe thought jobbing Taker and Cena might kill the crowd some at one single show.
My point is Bray was still a hot act after Wrestlemania ... they just never gave him his payoff. I kind of looked at it like Bray proved he could hang with Cena and learned what it took to finally beat him. The fact that they fel the need to protect a guy who's been on top for 12 years is basically what is wrong with the WWE to begin with.
If they're doing Cena vs Lesnar as the title match in Philly at the Rumble, what are the chances that match gets the Cena/Orton treatment? I doubt it, but good God people are gonna be sick of this stupid "feud" by then. Would be unreal to see Brock Lesnar be involved in a match that gets "we want divas" chants.
I could Cena saying he's bored of the title but he'll never say that. How many times can you win somethng before it loses value to you? Rusev is at least a new challenge.
IF they wait until Mania who can say Rusev has the title that long? But if he does they can treat it like an afterthought like they did the IC title in the Ric FLair/HHH feud. I didn't even know the cage match they had was for the IC title until JR basically mumbled it under his breath.
I can't wait to hear the uproar when Cena stands up while being put in the Accolade, maneuvers him into the fireman's carry position and gives him the AA.
It's bad enough he's wearing Hogan's colors. Does he have to act like him as well?
Oh yeah, we're def getting a bunch of wacky finishes with Cena having rusev in a submission hold before someone (maybe even Kane!) breaks it up for a DQ in the Raw before WM, so cena can then go over clean at WM. And the build up will be a lot of "this is the US - love it or get out!" messages from Cena. Then he'll beat him again and the next PPV and move on to the next feud. Lather, rise, repeat
The funniest part about that will be how they spent all year building Rusev and Lana up as this heel act that actually draws heel heat, that fans actually boo, a heel that actually gets other babyfaces over (Christ, people were cheering for JACK SWAGGER of all people) by virtue of how hated he is... and yet at Wrestlemania the crowd will be cheering for the Russian because it's John Cena.
Cena will do the exact spot you described and the Mania crowd will boo it, because John Cena burnout trumps evil Russian in terms of fan hatred.
Titles are props now, and the US title is only important as a prop to Rusev because he's anti-American. Since it's important within the context of the feud and his character, it's important to John (Vince) and will mean something to win it via beating Rusev. Soon as that's over he'll lose it in some meaningless match on RAW to somebody via some sort of wackiness.
If it was the IC title he could at least say he's going after a title he's never won. But in this case Hogan did put out a tweet asking Cena to step up.
It's so, so easy to work Hogan into this angle with the eventual payoff being Cena vs. Hogan for the World Title. Lana already teased it on Twitter with Hogan and Cena's recent adoption of Hogan's red and yellow for his new shirts is a subtle heel move.
Mania will still likely be Cena vs. Rusev, but Hogan could be champion by Extreme Rules or Cena vs. Hogan could happen as late as SummerSlam. WWE has a lot of room to work this angle depending on how much they want to use Champion Hogan to promote the Network.
Ugh, fuck him. Give that spot to Ryback and have Rusev STILL win.
ReplyDeleteCena can always win the title but killing off a potentially hot act is something he only does a couple times a year.
ReplyDeleteRusev can lose the US Title soon in some screwy way, like Angle losing both titles but not getting pinned in a 3-way. It doesn't look like the Russians are doing anything storywise with it, so whatever.
ReplyDeleteI'm expecting Rusev to get the duke on Cena at Survivor Series, could be an awesome way to kick start that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it'll be Cena vs. Rusev, and if Cena wins, Rusev simply must vacate the title. Wouldn't that be something?
ReplyDeletePretty much a given that Rusev is going to eliminate Cena at SS.
ReplyDeleteThat's perfect. Put those two in the same match, cancels them out. Let Cena do something worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm expecting a lame DCO, something like that. They really booked themselves in a corner including Rusev in this match.
ReplyDeleteYou know, if Cena was to actually submit clean to RUSEV CRUSH, WWE would have the biggest heel of the last 15 years on their hands. Then you could have Rusev win the Rumble while Cena gets his title shot (for winning at HIAC) against Lesnar, winning the belt, and Rusev could main event WM against Cena for the World title. That way you could continue building Reigns slowly until he's really ready (and Rusev isn't necessarily ready, I get that) to take over the main event. Reigns could finally get after Rollins. See? This isn't hard.
ReplyDeleteSo, of course, it goes without saying that Rusev and Sheamus are going to eliminate each other via a double-countout at SS. Henry will pin Big Show. Cena will pin Kane and Henry. Ryback (who I assume will now be the fifth guy for Team Cena) will pin Harper, but only after Harper pins Ziggler to set up an I-C title program. Ryback will then destroy Rollins but fall victim to a curbstomp after the cruiserweight division distracts him. Cena will then beat Rollins. And it's LOLCENAWINS all over again.
They should bust out the fake snow and Santa to hang out with Cena at the end.
ReplyDeleteRusev still hasn't shown enough to be considered "Top Heel" material. And I wouldn't bet against a WrestleMania crowd cheering for the evil foreigner over John Cena if that match was to main event.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling they will probably have Rusev lose the US title in screwy fashion in a multi-man match where he doesn't have to be pinned and gets distracted by Cena before Mania. If that is the case down the line then that's a pity because it actually give the title some much needed meaning and importance if Rusev does defend it against Cena at Mania. If I had it my way I'd have Rusev face Ziggler for the IC title at TLC or Royal Rumble to unify the midcard titles and then have him defend it at Mania so now the company can finally have a secondary title people care about. Therefore when it is defended it can be a bigger attraction especially considering their current situation where the World champ isn't on TV regularly.
ReplyDeleteThey're shockingly doing a great job with Rusev and I find myself actually thinking Cena/Rusev will be one of the highlights of Wrestlemania even if the card ends up stacked.
ReplyDeleteIf Cena doesn't pass out in the Accolade, though, fuck it all. I was fine with Bray losing to Cena, because Bray isn't a character defined by wins and losses. But Rusev, quite obviously, is.
Nah, that's too difficult for the WWE right now. It'll go like this:
ReplyDeleteThe Authority dominates, eliminates the first 4 members of Team Cena, before CENA defies the odds, WINS 5 in a row, then LOLS.
Totally agree, but getting it off Rusev without him jobbing and then doing a US/IC unification in another match would also work for me. (I'd cast my vote for a double-turned Cesaro v. Sheamus for this match.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's any way the Authority loses. Even if they wanted to write HHH and Steph off TV, they wouldn't waste it on a slapdash Survivor Series match.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Rusev could have a strong showing at SS and put Cena out after some shenanigans to set up a feud.
ReplyDelete'Hey Rusev, you have to cheat to win? Maybe in Russia that's how it is but here in AMERICA blah blah pie BBQ Wal Mart yakety schmakety...'
It's too early to start the Cena vs. Rusev feud at Survivor Series. That means they have to drag it out for four-five months to lead to Mania, which would be soooo boring.
ReplyDeleteLISTEN JACK. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY AND I KNOW SOME OF THESE PEOPLE DONT LIKE ME SO MUCH... YEAHHHH LETS GO CENA CENA SUCKS...BUT EVERYONE LOVES AMERICA JACK AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT YOU CAN GET OUT USA USA USA
ReplyDeleteShoot me.
Normally I would agree, but given that WWE is giving away the network and SS for free this month, a major storyline turn like that (perhaps forcing HHH back into the ring in order to feed his family, or Stephanie completely losing her shit and blaming HHH for the loss) might be something to hook some of the freebies into paying subscribers. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteNow that the main event is set, what other matches can they make for Survivor Series other than Bray/Ambrose?
ReplyDeleteThere's about a zero percent chance Rusev would beat Cena at WM. That'd be the big payoff with Cena ending his undefeated streak to beat him, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteUnless Cena's actually gonna put teh guy over, what's the point of this "Cena wrestles a rookie midcard heel at Wrestlemania" strategy? Cena beating a rookie heel doesn't get anyone over (see Wyatt, Bray) and it diminishes Cena's value as a Wrestlemania selling point, so why bother?
ReplyDeleteUnless Cena's actually gonna job and make a new star, then they really should just match him up with Rock or Lesnar or HHH or Sting and be done with it.
Why, how could you forget the epic AJ v. Nikki Divas title match?!? Also known as the "piss and nacho break."
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, since the World champion is AWOL and the U.S. and Intercontinental champions are in the main event tag match, I presume we're going to get Part 782 of Dusts v. Usos for the tag belts. Beyond that, I really don't know.
I agree. Something needs to happen to hook people.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a midget match?
ReplyDeleteLet's really push the boat out here. How about
ReplyDelete- a bad/overdone Divas title match that's really about the Bellas
- Usos - Dusts
- Cesaro jobbing to another mid carder, let's say Adam Rose to really push that bunny storyline.
- something with midgets
- Mizdow getting over during another boring IC title defense from Miz
Done. Lunchtime /writersroom
I think Dolph turning and the show ending with The Authority standing tall is your "big hook" for subscribers. Because they'll have to see what The Authority does next!
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again, midgets = money.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea, and I can get behind that part of it, is to put someone else in the main event of WM rather than John Cena all the time. The problem is what you said...he just ends up cleanly and fairly easily beating an up and coming heel, cutting off their momentum, which definitely doesn't help the heel and doesn't help Cena either (because who cares, he easily beat some loser he said before WM he was going to beat, who he spent a month making goofy photoshops about).
ReplyDeleteI guess it's hard to predict, because I don't know what the people they're trying to hook would badly want to see. I'm pretty much indifferent to the Authority...I sometimes enjoy them on TV, but I'm not exactly invested in them. I'm not actively rooting for them to win, but I don't particularly want to see John Cena heroically defeat the Authority, probably leading to him crushing Rollins and making him look terrible. I agree with you that a major storyline turn makes a ton of sense to try to hook the people getting the free month...I just don't know what that storyline turn could be at this point.
ReplyDeleteFor me (and I'm not saying I represent the majority, nor am I cancelling the Network as I enjoy the archives way too much), short of the latest Bryan stuff being a swerve with him returning (or the obviously not happening Cena heel turn), I'm not sure what they could honestly do to get me interested. Team Cena wins? Who cares? Team Authority wins? Still the status quo. Orton returns and joins Team Cena? So, now the top two faces are Cena and Orton again, just like it was for years, and everyone else gets pushed even farther down the card yet again (Ambrose, Reigns, Bryan when he returns). I just don't care for the most part. I've been watching less and less of Raw live as the weeks have gone on, pretty much tuning in just for Ambrose, Rollins, Ziggler, and Cesaro. I like a couple other things (I'm interested in a Harper push as I really like him, and Mizdow is pretty funny), but most of the show is such a drag lately.
I figured as much when the Cena/Rusev rumors started but I'm not so convinced now. Lesnar doesn't make much sense financially anymore; since no one can replicate his real-life cred, what they're creating with Rusev might be the next-best thing.
ReplyDeleteThe smart money is almost always on Cena to win, that much I do agree with. But I'd put the chances of Rusev winning well above 0.
Yeah, I could see that. Good point.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. I understand the premise of using Cena to elevate new talent, but that's not what they did last year and not what they'll do with Rusev. So in that case, from a business perspective you might as well wring whatever "big star" value Cena has and book him in the fucking main event against another big star.
ReplyDeleteNikki will win the Divas Title with Brie's help, setting up the ultimate Bella blowoff for the Divas Title!
ReplyDeletePaige and Alicia in some stupid all women are crazy filler
Dusts/Usos MMXVVIII
Mizdow/Hornswoggle/Bullfighter Guys with midget hilarity to really ruin a rare comedy spot that connected in WWE.
Jericho jobs to Rowan, or some heel they don't know what to do with
Cesaro jobs to The Bunny in the pre-show
Jobbing to Cena and Wrestlemania won't hurt Rusev, it didn't hurt Bray Wyatt. The problem was jobbing thirty times after Wrestlemania.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Rusev get an impact finisher as well as the Accolade. That's the problem with top heels that have only submission finishers...certain guys will never ever ever under any circumstances submit (like Cena), so it immediately hurts the match for me. It's why I never got into Cena/Del Rio matches. I can buy that maybe a heel can hit a finisher out of nowhere and get a quick pin, but Cena cannot submit, so Del Rio had no way of winning the matches without massive cheating.
ReplyDeleteYou could do the pass out finish with Rusev and Cena, but I unfortunately don't see it happening.
Easy
ReplyDelete1. Rusev submits cena with the accolade at ss.
2. Attacks him at rumble.
3. Wrestlemania match.
As for us title, he wants it to mess with rusev
Anyone else think Orton's tweener pshycho-anti Authority babyface character is going to blow up? I do.
ReplyDeleteOrton vs. Lesnar at Wrestlemania - book it, son
I want to shoot whoever showed Vince the Austin Powers movies.
ReplyDeleteJobbing to Cena and Wrestlemania won't help Rusev, it didn't help Bray Wyatt.
ReplyDeleteFixed that for ya.
I don't entirely disagree with that point, but that's how it was going to be as soon as Cena beat Bray at WM. Bray gave him everything he had and lost clean to the babyface. How do you continue the feud after that? Bullshit shenanigans with Bray looking increasingly worse.
ReplyDeleteI still think if they had just had Bray win at WM (with help from Rowan and Harper), then have Bray win at the next PPV (via interference is fine, but not via Cena defeating the Wyatts 3 on 1 easily before crazy kid spooks him), and then the last match could have happened the same way it did, with Cena finally enlisting the help of the Uso's and winning a wild brawl. Bray still gets two wins against Cena (and not one complete and total garbage win where he looked worse than he did in every other match he actually lost), and Cena barely manages to defeat Bray with the odds even. Cena still wins the feud but Bray looks like he gave Cena an actual fight. Instead Cena took Bray's best shot immediately, beat him clean, absolutely destroyed him and Rowan and Harper in the cage match before losing due to ridiculous shenanigans, and then beat him again.
I've been saying that for a few weeks now--- I absolutely think Orton vs Lesnar is a real possibility for Mania. If Roman comes back and bombs or they get cold feet on him, I totally agree that Orton is their backup plan. Orton's definitely getting the superman push as soon as he gets back.
ReplyDeletePersonally that does nothing for me and I doubt that Randy Orton as the lead babyface in 2014 will help business, but yeah that's a real possibility.
I like the idea of Orton's character, but I hate the idea that in 2015 we're going to be entering the year with Cena and Orton as the top two faces yet again, and everyone else shoved down to the midcard. And while Orton is far preferable to Cena, the idea of blowing the streak ending and Brock's huge run by having another guy who debuted in 2002 and is already a bulletproof main eventer beat him is nauseating.
ReplyDelete-100% chance Cena submits. Never ever ever happening.
ReplyDeleteNo. Orton will never be believable as a face for long. But, I can buy him as the crazy unpredictable tweener that could threaten Brock.
ReplyDeleteHow they get around Rusev dropping the US Title:
ReplyDelete1. Rusev gets over on Cena somehow at Survivor Series (ideally, he passed Cena out clean in the middle, but more likely they brawl to a double countout and Rusev lays him out after the fact)
2. Some guy challenges Rusev in Cena's honor for the December "TLC" ppv and it becomes a Ladder match for some contrived reason.
3. Cena returns from a nothing "injury" to cost Rusev the Ladder match, giving the US title and progressing the Cena-Rusev fight.
In WWE logic, this gives the "rub" to whoever wins the US title and gets the belt off Rusev without jobbing him
Just small bills though.
ReplyDeleteRISE ABOVE NEW STARS!
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing tho is to my knowledge, Orton and Lesnar have never wrestled each other in the WWF/E, somehow two guys who have been pros for almost 15 years would be a fresh matchup.
ReplyDeleteI legit laughed out loud at this.
ReplyDeleteIf by blow up you mean he'll continue to do the same dull act he's been doing for years and be boring, then yes, agree
ReplyDeleteOrton vs Lesnar, Sting vs Taker, Cena (w Vince) vs HHH (w/ Stephanie). Boom, that should be their Mania 31 card. Not because I think it's a good card or would help business in the slightest long term, but because they don't really want to build new stars anyway so at this point they might as well book Mania completely around the part-timers and pop the once a year buyrate and be done with it. Throw everyone else in the Andre battle royal and have Roman win and there ya go, Wrestlemania.
ReplyDeleteYeah, what's the downside to having rusev being built like an unstoppable badass and beating cena? Let's say he flops completely, it's not like cena wont be fine (insert rise above joke here). Sometimes they just need to go for it.
ReplyDeleteOR they could just have him keep dominating, have cena show that he cares about the belt and really wants it only to lose cleanly and then make a new start. There's that path too
ReplyDeleteLook I agree ... Cena had no reason to win that match, the reason he did I think is because Undertaker lost. Vince maybe thought jobbing Taker and Cena might kill the crowd some at one single show.
ReplyDeleteMy point is Bray was still a hot act after Wrestlemania ... they just never gave him his payoff. I kind of looked at it like Bray proved he could hang with Cena and learned what it took to finally beat him. The fact that they fel the need to protect a guy who's been on top for 12 years is basically what is wrong with the WWE to begin with.
If they're doing Cena vs Lesnar as the title match in Philly at the Rumble, what are the chances that match gets the Cena/Orton treatment? I doubt it, but good God people are gonna be sick of this stupid "feud" by then. Would be unreal to see Brock Lesnar be involved in a match that gets "we want divas" chants.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about a knockout/pin finish. But I'd consider putting some money on Rusev winning via ref stoppage at the right odds.
ReplyDeleteNah, makes too much sense. I think goofy ladder match finishes and devaluing the title is where it's at!
ReplyDeleteI could Cena saying he's bored of the title but he'll never say that. How many times can you win somethng before it loses value to you? Rusev is at least a new challenge.
ReplyDeleteIF they wait until Mania who can say Rusev has the title that long? But if he does they can treat it like an afterthought like they did the IC title in the Ric FLair/HHH feud. I didn't even know the cage match they had was for the IC title until JR basically mumbled it under his breath.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear the uproar when Cena stands up while being put in the Accolade, maneuvers him into the fireman's carry position and gives him the AA.
ReplyDeleteIt's bad enough he's wearing Hogan's colors. Does he have to act like him as well?
Because CENAWINSLOL, duh.
ReplyDeleteIf what was said is true Nikki can't win the Divas title because she's on Total Divas.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, we're def getting a bunch of wacky finishes with Cena having rusev in a submission hold before someone (maybe even Kane!) breaks it up for a DQ in the Raw before WM, so cena can then go over clean at WM. And the build up will be a lot of "this is the US - love it or get out!" messages from Cena. Then he'll beat him again and the next PPV and move on to the next feud. Lather, rise, repeat
ReplyDeleteWhy would you want piss and nachos?
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of Pinko Commie would even ask this question? Just think...a little red white and blue towel!
ReplyDeleteThe funniest part about that will be how they spent all year building Rusev and Lana up as this heel act that actually draws heel heat, that fans actually boo, a heel that actually gets other babyfaces over (Christ, people were cheering for JACK SWAGGER of all people) by virtue of how hated he is... and yet at Wrestlemania the crowd will be cheering for the Russian because it's John Cena.
ReplyDeleteCena will do the exact spot you described and the Mania crowd will boo it, because John Cena burnout trumps evil Russian in terms of fan hatred.
He's wearing the red and yellow of Hulkamania. Will they put Hogan in his corner?
ReplyDeleteCENAWINSLOL + 'MURICA!
ReplyDeleteTitles are props now, and the US title is only important as a prop to Rusev because he's anti-American. Since it's important within the context of the feud and his character, it's important to John (Vince) and will mean something to win it via beating Rusev. Soon as that's over he'll lose it in some meaningless match on RAW to somebody via some sort of wackiness.
ReplyDeleteHe should lose it to Rollins.
ReplyDeleteIf they do a final Ambrose/Rollins blowoff at Mania, that would help Rollins recover his spot (such as it is) nicely, yeah.
ReplyDeleteHe'll get on the mic, tell everyone to pay attention *or else*, and they will.
ReplyDelete'I'm sick of beating up twinks like Orton. I want to beat up a MUSCLE BEAR like Rus - did anyone bother to rewrite Vince's original script here?'
ReplyDeleteOnly if they do the WM4 ending. Or better yet, the WM9 one.
ReplyDeleteIf it was the IC title he could at least say he's going after a title he's never won. But in this case Hogan did put out a tweet asking Cena to step up.
ReplyDeleteA bored and pissed Philly crowd chanting "We Want Sable!" during Cena/Lesnar would be pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteThat should been like the WM 22 card
ReplyDeleteShould've done the foreign fanantics vs team USA part II. Bring in Lugar and Borga to manage each.
ReplyDeleteYes, Orton and Lesnar have faced off before, back when Randy was a vanilla face:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM2V3AYuP2g
Good little Smackdown "semi-squash" match.
It's so, so easy to work Hogan into this angle with the eventual payoff being Cena vs. Hogan for the World Title. Lana already teased it on Twitter with Hogan and Cena's recent adoption of Hogan's red and yellow for his new shirts is a subtle heel move.
ReplyDeleteMania will still likely be Cena vs. Rusev, but Hogan could be champion by Extreme Rules or Cena vs. Hogan could happen as late as SummerSlam. WWE has a lot of room to work this angle depending on how much they want to use Champion Hogan to promote the Network.