Current storyline WITH Cena?

[victor kwon]

So I've been thinking...

Yeah, it's a big change, this storyline with Triple H and Steph keeping Daniel Bryan down and controlling all the other superstars. It's definitely fresh and welcome, considering the most recent previous storylines revolving around the WWE championship were pretty stale. And it's working: Big Show, Ziggler, Miz somewhat, and most recently Cody Rhodes have all benefited (with the crowd) from their involvement in Bryan getting screwed over.

But my question is: could this storyline have worked if Cena was still around?

I would have to say probably not. Cena would've never gone heel, and his character would've never stood by like all the other wrestlers. Even the fact that CM Punk is pretty much doing his own thing and oblivious to the main storyline feels a little strange.

Makes you wonder if the WWE would be better off without an incorruptible character like his...

 

[Aids Johnson]

nope, they wouldnt.

I am excited to see how this goes, but you can plan on Cena being back to WM, and im assuming this feud will still be relevant, even that far ahead.

 

[Snowman1]

It wouldn't have made sense. As you say Cena turning heel wouldn't have happened, and this thing about Randy Orton being "good for business" being an IWC philosophy about them holding Bryan down, having Cena on the face side would have ruined it. Also this works because it's fresh (although growing stale but an easy fix) and with Cena around much of the freshness would be gone.

As you say it's odd that Punk is ignoring the storyline altogether, especially given their history, and the new badass Punk drawing off that would be awesome.
"See, I told you all along this guy was nothing more than a tyrant" yadda yadda, but it helps his storyline with Heyman imo. "Hey, I hate this guy SO much that I'm willing to ignore all this evil shit around me because I'm too focused on getting my hands around this penguin's throat..."

 

[Farooq]

The interaction with Heyman and Triple H, maybe we'll see CM Punk come together in this storyline soon. I do expect to see Punk take part in this somehow though before it ends.

As for Cena, nope. He would still run off to the ring to save DB, despite what HHH says, and he would have to go through drastic changes to become a sudden heel, so it would be meh.

 

[Lockard 23]

It would have made sense if it had happened back in 2005 when Cena first became champion. Obviously, Triple H wouldn't be involved as he was still an active wrestler but Cena was a "wigger" back then, still doing the rap thing, wearing expensive jerseys, wearing a chain and gigantic padlock around his neck (he used to call his fans the "Chain Gang" back then lol... still better than CenaNation) and he even introduced the dreaded spinner belt for the sake of having a "bling bling" world title. Like with Austin, Vince of course would take a disliking to this version of Cena right away.

However, Cena/Vince would have been too similar to Austin/McMahon, even right down to both guys introducing their own custom made belt (Austin had the Smoking Skull belt.) The Bryan thing is different because it's based on reality in that Vince's philosophy has always been that you have to be a certain size and have a certain look before you can be considered possible top star material. The other difference is that Vince isn't the main enemy here, HHH and Stephanie are. Sure, it was agreeing with Vince's somewhat outdated views that was the catalyst for HHH's heel turn but Triple H and Steph are the future of the company so if they side with McMahon's way of seeing things, then that means trouble for wrestlers like Bryan for the next 20-30 years at least. That's why it's important for Bryan to fight against this perception now so that it could be better for the careers of people in the future.

Anyway, yeah, this angle as it's currently written wouldn't fit at all. For one, Cena as he is now IS the perfect representative of the company. You can't argue that he's not. They'd have to rewrite the angle so that it was just Cena vs Corporate Heel Group, with the Corporate honchos having some kind of irrational hate for Cena. Secondly, Cena is already hated by half the audience so good luck on getting much sympathy for being held down. And thirdly, Cena would never turn heel and I think him becoming a Corporate champion would be a pretty underwhelming way to go heel after all this time.

As for why Punk seems to be completely void of this whole angle, he'll get involved eventually after the Paul Heyman feud is over with. He's the most rebellious character in the WWE, there's no way he won't play an important part in the story later with opposing the new HHH power scheme, especially given their history from 2011. I'm also gonna assume that the moment Punk gets involved and speaks up is when the other superstars become no longer afraid to speak out themselves. Punk is the perfect person to rebel against the system here along with Bryan and lead the charge for others to follow.

 

[Nano]

I don't think it would have worked tbh. Cena wouldn't turn heel and he'd for sure do something like kicking Orton's ass and then going for the McMahon family and some shit like that.

 

[Leo C]

It's much better without him around, it wouldn't make much sense.

 

[victor kwon]

Well, would Punk getting involved make it look like he'd have to come to Daniel Bryan's rescue? Everyone's talking about how Daniel can establish himself as a threat, but needing Punk to help him would sort of be drawing away from that, no?

 

[Johnybig32]

It wlll all just end in a boring fashion at survivor series.

 

[Wacokid27]

No. This whole feud couldn't work with Cena around unless they had some kind of deep transformation of Cena's character.

As far as Punk getting involved (which he will) and that involvement killing Bryan's character because "Punk had to help Bryan out", there's something to remember: right now, there are really four storylines going through WWE right now that are actually separate and coherent:
(1) Daniel Bryan chasing Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
(2) Punk feuding with Heyman
(3) RVD (with Ricardo) chasing Del Rio for the WHC
(4) The WWE locker room being held down by HHH/Stephanie/the Corporation

There has been a solid bit of crossover between 1 and 4, with HHH using Orton and the Shield to make Bryan the example. On Smackdown, we saw the first sign of crossover between 3 and 4, with RVD having to face Orton for speaking up. So far, there's been no real crossover between the Punk storyline with the others. It's been mainly independent.

But, again on Smackdown, Curtis Axel was used, supposedly at least, to punish Kofi Kingston for speaking out (for those who didn't watch, Kingston won the match). This makes me think we will soon see some kind of alliance between HHH and Heyman (probably because it's "good for business"), which will necessitate Punk taking a role in the larger storyline of HHH/the Corporation versus the WWE "Superstars".

This won't hurt Bryan. Right now, nothing can really hurt Bryan short of discovering and publicizing photos of him having sex with farm animals, because the deck has been so stacked against him that you can still have him looking strong with a guy or two in his corner, watching his back. Pretty much, he's stayed above that particular storyline. Punk might provide an example for other guys to follow, but Bryan will still be the focal point of the feud, as he's the guy chasing the WWE Championship and, barring some outside force (like an injury), that's not going to change.

wk

 

[louissiscool]

No. This whole feud couldn't work with Cena around unless they had some kind of deep transformation of Cena's character.



But, again on Smackdown, Curtis Axel was used, supposedly at least, to punish Kofi Kingston for speaking out (for those who didn't watch, Kingston won the match). This makes me think we will soon see some kind of alliance between HHH and Heyman (probably because it's "good for business"), which will necessitate Punk taking a role in the larger storyline of HHH/the Corporation versus the WWE "Superstars".


wk

I think its obvious that the shield are going to come out on NOC and help heyman after punk elimates axel thus bringing him in to the story and making it all one big story/

 

[CFCrusader]

First of all, Cena would have taken out the Corporation already, Nexus style. But seriously, no it would not work with Cena.

Secondly, with Punk, no it won't hurt Bryan to have him come out to support him when the whole Heyman feud is over. Punk will be there to assist Bryan and get the likes of Ziggler, Big Show to finally speak out and Bryan will be able to fight Orton while the rest of them get rid of Triple H and the Shield.

 

[Wacokid27]

I think its obvious that the shield are going to come out on NOC and help heyman after punk elimates axel thus bringing him in to the story and making it all one big story/

I can see that happening, but that would be the easy way out. Lately, WWE's writing, for the most part, has been more creative than to take the obvious route.

Which, I guess, is my way of saying, yeah, that would be an obvious move, but I hope they do something more interesting.

wk