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Reigns WM main event

Hey, Scott! I brought this up during the TLC thread, but given that Brock Lesnar is a foregone conclusion to leave the company after Wrestlemania, is it even worth it to have him in the main event anymore? Shouldn't they just throw their hands up and put the belt on Cena at the Royal Rumble at this point? At least the idea of Reigns and Cena in the WM main has some drama to it, but Reigns/Lesnar's outcome is such a foregone conclusion that it's hard to generate any excitement for it.

Yeah, the more we don't have Lesnar on TV, the more I'm on Team Cena as far as being the guy to put over Reigns.  Brock loses his specialness every week he's gone from TV without anyone mentioning him or caring about the World title and clearly PPV is so dead as a medium that there's little point in trying to use him to pop buyrates any longer.  Plus Cena is pretty much a guaranteed great match for Reigns, whereas Brock who the fuck knows what you're gonna get.  

Comments

  1. Any chance that they don't do a clean finish at Royal Rumble and actually try to do the blow-off of Cena/Lesnar at WM?

    GHUA.

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  2. So we've gone from Brock would lose his specialness if he was around all the time, to he's losing it by not being around more. I'm...confused. (For the record, I think he should have had just one more title defense between NoC and RR.)
    I've been of the opinion that it should be Reigns/Cena for awhile, and I think they foreshadowed it last night. But we still have four months until WrestleMania. While Brock's impending departure could take away from whatever his WM31 match is, I don't think his absence to date will.

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  3. If I get to watch lesnar taunt reigns yelling "I'll kill you." For twenty minutes I'm totally fine with that.

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  4. I don't see Lesnar mailing it in if he main events WM. If you are saying he won't be able to carry Reigns then I'd buy that. For the record, I don't think Cena could carry him either.

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  5. I don't care for cena vs Lesnar. Been done to death

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  6. So we've gone from Brock would lose his specialness if he was around all the time, to he's losing it by not being around more.
    It's not because he's not around more. It's because he doesn't matter. He's been gone for two months and no one seems to care.

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  7. If they hadn't done the last two Cena/Lesnar matches- or even if Cena had just gone away for awhile after NoC- I could see myself getting on board with it.

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  8. Which is a failure of WWE Creative. They chose to completely ignore/devalue their biggest title in their storylines... Even without Lesnar there, they could have kept the drama going...so many possibilities.

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  9. if hunter starts booking raw then it'll be brock v hunter at mania with hunter winning

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  10. Exactly. If this was their grand plan all along then just job him at NOC and send him on his way

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  11. I'm not saying Cena/Lesnar at WM would be a good thing. Just wondering if they'd consider doing it...because they're running out of "good thing" options (or because they wouldn't know a good thing if they had one.)

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  12. Cena/Reigns feels like a Standard WWE Main Event. Reigns/Brock has some buzz to it and could be epic.

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  13. this guy is main eventing mania 31 http://barstoolu.barstoolsports.com/files/2014/12/Undertaker-New-Photo.jpg

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  14. Wait, I thought Brock lost his specialness if he showed up on RAW every week?

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  15. The way it's going now, it'll be Brock vs Cena at Wrestlemania.. "The Final Battle (for real this time)"

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  16. Smarks opinions change more often than their underwear.

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  17. I do think they'll re-introduce Brock though. he has quite a few dates left right? Not saying it'll work, but all he has to do is come back, beat some people up and act arrogant and it'll work. I still think having him squash cena at RR (wont happen though) and then having Reigns beat him clean is the best way to go. Might not work out, but if they're gonna push the guy, go all in

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  18. Hey Lesnar having his last match at Mania worked out great last time.

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  19. I think it'd be a trainwreck. Has Reigns ever had a solid, 20-minute, 1-on-1 match? That's not a rhetorical question. I really don't know.

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  20. They could lift the Zayn/Neville storyline for this perfectly. In the weeks leading up to Raw, Reigns talks up how he's going to win the Rumble, and Cena casually mentioning, well, okay sure but you haven't really won anything since the Shield broke up. Cena beats Lesnar (and who's done that TWICE?), Reigns wins the Rumble (sure, but even VINCE MCMAHON has done that). Cena plays a subtle heel ("Reigns hasn't won the big one" type stuff) and then Reigns wins, big crowd pops and then they do a respect handshake afterwards.

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  21. He would yes, so thanks for arguing against something no one was saying.

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  22. As long as the belt is somewhere else, I could give a shit.

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  23. Reigns/Orton from Summerslam was pretty pedistrian. And Orton is supposably good.

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  24. no hunter wins the belt lol

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  25. Good lord, please no. This is going to be their fourth match since Lesnar's been back. 4 of Brock's 9 matches have been against Cena. And I thought that 3 against HHH was bad...

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  26. What exactly was the change of opinion that we smarks collectively had, out of curiosity?

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  27. And Brock has to win to tie the series.

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  28. This Brock absence was such a prime opportunity to make the other titles mean something. Is anyone shocked that's not what happened at all?

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  29. I thought we all sat in front of our computers without underwear, or is that just me?

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  30. i wish there was like 3 months between ppvs

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  31. I think it was back in August, we were all cool with Brock having the belt without defending it every ppv or appearing on Raw, because that would make his appearance more "special." Which of course it would have, if the writers, announcers, and other wrestlers didn't forget Brock Lesnar worked for the company or HAD the world title since pretty much the night after Night of Champions.


    As if we can't adjust our opinions based on the evidence we see, or something that COULD have been a good idea in August is not because the WWE "creative" team got their inept hands on it.

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  32. I don't even like Reigns, but I think I could get excited about him taking on Cena at 'Mania. It would be so Hogan/Warrior (part 1) that it would have no choice but to be awesome.

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  33. When figuring out how to make this Reigns as Champion thing happen, I tried to slip into the mindset of a writer that exists under Vince's thumb in December 2014.

    Here's what I got.

    Cena loses at RR, but to get his heat back, enters and wins the Rumble. Vince tells the writers to have Cena go on another "I'm more focused and hungry than ever" build to Cena/Lesnar IV at WM31. Cena wins the title back there and gets his "redemption."

    Cena defends the next month against whoever and after the match, Rollins cashes in the briefcase on a Cena who (given that it's Extreme Rules) is battered, bloody, may be missing an arm, etc.

    At Payback, Roman Reigns says that it's time for payback for Rollins breaking up the Shield, fists will be cocked, reign will be made up in that bitch, declarations will be declared, believe that.

    Reigns trounces Rollins and takes the title.

    It gets the belt on Reigns, nobody comes out of it looking particularly good or strong, Cena doesn't have to pass the torch.

    It all makes no sense, is the opposite of how you should book for the future and is something I can totally see happening.

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  34. You know, stuff.

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  35. Can Reigns have a good match against Rollins? Why not have Brock beat Cena to within an inch of his life but Cena rises above and pulls off the upset win, Rollins cashes in his briefcase (he still hasn't cashed it in, right?), and then have Reigns come out and remember that Rollins beat him with a chair 8 months ago, shouting payback.


    Rollins vs. Reigns for the title
    Cena vs. Brock in a loser leaves town match
    Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt in a Kennel in a Cell with Tables, Ladders, Chairs, Stairs, and Kitchen Appliances match

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  36. It absolutely stuns me that, kayfabe, not a single wrestler has griped that the richest prize in the industry is being held hostage and no one can take a shot at unseating the champion.

    It makes the characters look like the men playing them: broken, unmotivated, going through the motions, no ambition.

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  37. Because if Reigns is the future, you don't establish him as such by having him beat another guy who is the future.

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  38. I definitely understand why people feel this way, but Lesnar losing the title b/f mania cements the decision to end The Streak a colossal mistake. It's a shame that WWE booked Lesnar for two PPV's in a row (and even sadder that he was booked to lose). Had they waited until Survivor Series, it wouldn't have seemed like such a long break in between Lesnar appearances. That's on WWE. Also, no one mentioning Lesnar by name is also WWE's mistake. If they really, truly wanted to cement Reigns as The Guy, and wanted to "transfer" the streak ending to him, they'd think of the extra money spent on Lesnar as an investment in Reigns.

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  39. HOLY. FUCK.


    I though it was Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant.

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  40. Yeah but to you really trust Lesnar to *make* Reigns?


    I can see Cena getting Reigns over. But not Lesnar.

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  41. This. Lesnar being MIA would be fine if the way they handled it wasn't to just set an iCalendar reminder to write him back in the last week of December and forget about him until then.

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  42. I can totally see Vince panicbooking that if he spazzes over the reactions Reigns gets.

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  43. Lesnar will make anyone they ask him to. He doesn't give a shit.

    If your concern is that Lesnar doesn't have enough clout, expect to hear enough about the Streak to make you retroactively regret Taker ever being a wrestler.

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  44. God, no, not with this creative team.

    Their idea to build to TLC was to copy/paste the scripts for the build to Survivor Series and just delete Triple H and Stephanie.

    We've been watching the same shitty episode of Raw for 6 months. I don't want to watch the EXACT same shitty episode of Raw for 3.

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  45. That's kind of what I'm thinking/worried about.

    Even BEFORE he sees what reactions Reigns gets.

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  46. Rollins runs in again at the Rumble, causes another DQ, and this time cashes in and pins Brock. Rollins/Cena/Reigns three way dance at Mania.

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  47. Yeah Lesnar's weirdly professional for giving so few fucks.

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  48. He's 49.

    Same age as Austin and Michaels.

    He looks like their dad.

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  49. There's a difference between putting a guy over and going out of your way to make the guy look like the next superstar in this business. Are you sure Lesnar understands the difference? I'm not.

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  50. Yeah, the only way to go is Cena vs Reigns. If Brock is working one more Mania, let him put over Ambrose or even Rusev so you can get some mileage out of him for a future star. Objectively, I think Cena deserves to get his win back over Brock anyway. He is staying, Brock isnt. And Cena stands a good chance of getting Reigns cheered at least

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  51. If you're gonna do a three way, might as well make it Reigns/Rollins/Ambrose.


    Just, you know, hide the monitors.

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  52. But wouldn't Reigns be the guy who beat Brock and sent him back to MMA? It may lose some foots prestige since he disappeared after every big match anyway but they could play it off like Reigns scared Brock away.

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  53. Lesnar's not retarded and he's not unwilling to take bumps that are silly for a man his size to take. If they ask him to do that, I haven't seen anything to convince he wouldn't or couldn't.

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  54. Cena vs Reigns
    HHH vs Sting
    Rollins vs Orton
    Lesnar vs Ambrose
    Ryback vs Rusev
    Usos vs Ascension
    Ziggler vs Barrett
    Divas bathroom break
    Cody vs Goldust
    Wyatt vs Harper vs Rowan

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  55. Power_of_Hogans_HOF_RingDecember 15, 2014 at 7:14 PM

    I thought they were saying Brock was more likely to stay with WWE. What's changed since he won the belt?

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  56. He has absolutely no love for what he does. But he always is a professional.

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  57. He's now closer to his contract expiring and wants to see just how much money he can squeeze the company for.

    If you believe reports that Vince halted all Brock merch production and put the focus on Sheamus, maybe he asked for more than Vince was willing to pay.

    It's not like Brock needs the money or has anything left to do in pro wrestling.

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  58. What's it like back in 2001?

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  59. In his whole career, who has Lesnar ever "made"?

    I've been saying they should drop him from the roster since before The Streak, guy does no one any good.

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  60. Yeah, I can see that. But I think the potential hijacking and what not with fans knowing Brock is done is just too much risk for a Mania main event. Let someone else beat Brock on the undercard and they can be the guy who sent Brock to UFC

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  61. A valid argument, but how many people was he ever in the position to make? And how many was he asked to, since a champion can't be expected to go around asking to job to other people?

    He was made champion in August of 2002 and was gone in March of 2004. Not really a whole lot of time to build a legacy to "make" other guys with.

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  62. He was Cena's first high profile feud.

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  63. where is kane and big show

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  64. I'm .... absolutely fine with this, and I feel dirty saying that.


    Brock should have been defending the title at minimum the Big Four, which included Survivor Series. It's been almost four months (?) since we last saw him? Let him give UT his win back or have he fight Ambrose or something.

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  65. The dude basically cried during a match when HHH hit him in the gut. He really doesn't Care about looking tough unless that'd what they're asking him to do.

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  66. Is Batista done with the company? They could do Brock/Batista, that could be a fun trainwreck.

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  67. Fatal Fourway Main Event. Your welcome.

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  68. True, thats about it. I wonder if he is worried about getting hurt by guys he thinks might be too green....

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  69. So you're saying nobody is grabbing the brass ring even in kayfabe

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  70. That's a huge stretch. They're both faces, that's pretty much where the similarities end. Hogan/Warrior was epic and people we're dying to see it. And they built it up well. These two couldn't pull that off under any circumstances, especially with the booking and writing these days.

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  71. Ah, when Cena was slumming with the World title.

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  72. it was solid. Orton is crisp with his moves, but tends to be waaaay too deliberate and slow between moves. He also sells well. Probably about 3 stars.

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  73. Or even showing the desire.

    I mean, Lesnar wins the belt and disappears.

    Why isn't Rollins furious that HHH took the belt he believes is his and handed it to Lesnar? Or furious because as long as the champion is MIA, his briefcase is worthless?

    Why isn't Vince, the guy who created a new title the night after Punk "quit" because the WWE needs a champion, asking HHH when Lesnar is coming back to defend it?

    Why aren't guys like Ambrose, Ziggler, Show, the guys you'd consider to be in an 8-man world title tournament field, asking why there hasn't been a tournament to crown a new champion yet since Lesnar has violated the 30-day rule?

    Why hasn't Mr. THA CHAMP IS HERRRREEEE seemed more upset about his security blanket being held hostage?

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  74. I was all for Brock defending on sporadically, but it's TOO sporadic. Plus they don't put him on shows he really should be on. For instance, he should have defended at HITC, b/c it's Brock freakin' Lesnar from UFC...of coarse people want to see him fight in a fucking cage!

    And they don't keep him relevant. I assumed Heyman would always be on Raw singing Brock's praises and moving the stories along, but that hasn't really happened.

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  75. Yeah, Brock will do whatever they tell him to do and make it look awesome. You can make a much better argument that no one has ever benefited from from beating Cena (but a lot of that has to do w/ how WWE booked things afterwards)

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  76. I love that they took Heyman off TV too because they didn't want to draw attention to Lesnar and the belt not being around, as though that was just a thing that happened somehow.

    YOU'RE THE ONES WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE THING YOU DON'T WANT TO DRAW ATTENTION TO, YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKERS.

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  77. Stop it, you're using logic.

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  78. Well, Cena... Someone here called it The Cena Experience and now I do as well, because it's succinct and says all that needs to be said.

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  79. I'm not sure he doesn't love wrestling to be honest... he just think he hates a lot of aspects of it (probably the same things that we on this blog hate)

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  80. I'm down with Cena/Reigns...at least it feels like a real passing of the torch situation.

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  81. Seems so, failed run, movie career taking off, money in wrestling not what it used to be.

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  82. I believe the last report was that his acting career has taken off better than expected, pays more while being less physically dangerous and we know from his appearance on Jericho's podcast that he wasn't at all happy with how they handled his return or the company's atmosphere.

    So, yeah, probably. I think he may come back for one final match, but not more than that.

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  83. Dude is the new Bond villain, he wont be back for a long time...

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  84. Plus Cena has lost clean several times (Punk, Bryan, Brock), and WWE has done there best to train people to think it's not a big deal

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  85. "If you are saying he won't be able to carry Reigns then I'd buy that."



    *believe that

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  86. In a best 2/3 falls match... w/ HHH taking two straight falls

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  87. I'm not OK with Reigns even being in the main event. Dude needs a run with a secondary title ala Ultimate Warrior.

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  88. He's a henchman. I mean, good on him, but let's not act like it's going to be a franchise role.

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  89. Well, it did me good to watch the suplex fest that was SS.

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  90. Its a pretty big deal, I think if anything it will give him clout when he comes back...

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  91. Secondary titles are not what they once were, he should be above those useless titles...

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  92. For sure. Having a secondary title means that you are lower on the card than someone who does not have it.

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  93. Yeah, Odd Job really forged a huge career out of it.

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  94. I think you run Cena/Reigns and then put Lesnar in another marquee match-up. I really like the idea some folks have had about Lesnar doing a semi-face turn and facing Rusev. It would put Rusev over huge on Lesnar's way out. This gives us:
    -WWE Championship: Cena vs. Reigns
    -Sting vs. Triple H
    -Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins
    -Brock Lesnar vs. Rusev


    Seems like an interesting card, but it still feels like it is missing something...

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  95. Think its a bigger deal now than it was back then....

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  96. I've heard it described as an iconic henchman role, like Jaws or Oddjob, so he's going to be heavily featured and possibly even be in future Bond flicks. Plus he's got at least one for GOTG movie (prob more). If I had to bet, I'd say the number of matches he has w/ WWE going forward is probably less than one

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  97. And wouldn't it just be perfect to have Edge there in the audience too?

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  98. God help me but I would be OK with this.

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  99. Oh really? Name the last five Bond villain henchmen and their latest projects.

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  100. Rusev and Lesnar stiffing each other for 10 minutes, then Rusev getting the final big blow in and stretching Brock with the Accolade would be a better use than him trying to put over Reigns.

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  101. Wake you up in the morning. You kidding me? That sounds great, where do I get it!

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  102. aren't they do for a singles match with each other.. ?

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  103. Here's Dougie to shit on stuff and treat us like idiots!

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  104. Maybe you should stop being an idiot?

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  105. Having Lesnar end the Streak has already been cemented as a colossal mistake.

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  106. Lesnar doesn't want to be the best *wrestler*

    He just wants to be the BEST.

    That's the sense I got with his going all out in his 2002-04 run. Dude is super competitive.

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  107. Like a friend of mine said last night "The fourth fight in the trilogy"

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  108. Brock Lesnar vs. Rusev is a fucking glorious idea; nowhere in the Great Book of Wrestling does it say that John Cena has to beat the new monster heel. It took Bray Wyatt half a damn year to recover from his program with Cena, and Rusev is nowhere near as over or versatile a character as Wyatt was. Have Rusev and Lesnar beat the piss out of each other, Rusev go over, and then build to Reigns-Rusev at SummerSlam. The only issue is that jumbling up the main event scene like that will leave the overall Mania card disjointed, but I have a feeling it'll be fucked up anyhow.

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  109. The only guys he "made" where in the UFC sadly...

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  110. They'll both turn mid-match and at the finish.

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  111. Soon we will have 5 Hour Energy Shampoo!

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  112. I think Vince is almost ready to put Cena out to pasture. Reigns is clearly the new golden boy.

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  113. Agreed, I'm totally onboard with Rusev vs. Lesnar at Wrestlemania. That's a terrific idea.

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  114. $95 an hour! Seriously I don't know why more people haven't tried this, I work two shifts, 2 hours in the day and 2 in the evening…And what's awesome is I'm working from home so I get more time with my kids. Heres where I went, ,,,.

    ▬▬▬▬w­w­w­.­r­e­v­i­e­w­s­­­-2­4­7­.­c­o­m

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