Austin to Cena to ...Ambrose? Chances the Golden boy is unseated

[Red Rain]

History indicates that just when WWE was fit to proclaim their 'Golden Boy' a wrench is thrown into those plans.

In 1996, it was Helmsley was to win King of the Ring and Rocky Maivia was to @ debut Survivor Series.
Rocky was to be the clean cut babyface and Hunter Hearst Helmsley would be his nemesis.

In 2002, Brock Lesnar was to replace Steve Austin as the 'Golden Boy' (for SD! in particular).
By the end of that same year, it was clear that Edge would be a wonderful #2 option for the SD! brand.
Randy Orton was called to RAW in 2003 and by Survivor Series, it was clear he would be the 'Golden Boy' (for RAW).

Smiling babyface Rocky never caught on and Helmsley broke kayfabe a month prior to KOTR '96.

Lesnar quit. Edge broke his neck and became a natural heel. Randy Orton was void of charisma.

Long story short: What are the chances history repeats itself? Will Reigns and Daniel Bryan reclaim their momentum or will Dean Ambrose run with it and become the leader of this next era?

 

[Prince Bálor]

I'm cool with both Bryan and Ambrose, Rollins as well. Anyone but Reigns, really. I'm kinda getting sick of this guy being Cena 2.0, when I'm pretty sure he could do much better.

If I had to choose only 1, it'd be Bryan.

 

[Red Rain]

To be honest, I have no problem with Reigns. He's limited in personality. It's difficult to do much. He's likely already peaked, but will peak again as Orton/Nash did.
Bryan has the personality and the talent to do Kurt Angle-esque work. It's not a bad deal.
Ambrose, in Vince's ideal format doesn't work, but he has the best combination of superstar qualities I've seen in sometime.

Society is good and ready for a slightly unhinged character as opposed to a post 9/11 super hero.

 

[The GOAT]

It happened in the mid-90's, too. They wanted Lex Luger to be the next Hogan, but the fans said Bret was their guy. They then tried pushing Diesel as the next Hogan, but the fans ended up turning Shawn Michaels into the bigger star. They wanted Steve Austin as the company's next top heel, but the fans decided differently and ended up turning him into one of the most red-hot superstars of all time instead. As duly noted, they wanted Randy Orton as the breakout star of Raw in 2004/2005 in his fight against HHH and Evolution, but his babyface run flopped and the fans organically rallied behind Batista instead (and then Cena, whom they never wanted as the face of their company, ended up surpassing both.) I've been seeing signs for awhile that history will probably repeat itself with Ambrose and Reigns, where they intend to build Reigns up as their next top guy but the fans end up choosing Ambrose instead.

I never thought Bryan had a chance of being the #1 face of the company in anything but the short-term. And if he does indeed have to get the Tommy John surgery and has to stay out until late spring of 2015, I wouldn't be surprised if the fans had already stopped caring as much about him by then.

 

[Red Rain]

It happened in the mid-90's, too. They wanted Lex Luger to be the next Hogan, but the fans said Bret was their guy. They then tried pushing Diesel as the next Hogan, but the fans ended up turning Shawn Michaels into the bigger star. They wanted Steve Austin as the company's next top heel, but the fans decided differently and ended up turning him into one of the most red-hot superstars of all time instead. As duly noted, they wanted Randy Orton as the breakout star of Raw in 2004/2005 in his fight against HHH and Evolution, but his babyface run flopped and the fans organically rallied behind Batista instead (and then Cena, whom they never wanted as the face of their company, ended up surpassing both.) I've been seeing signs for awhile that history will probably repeat itself with Ambrose and Reigns, where they intend to build Reigns up as their next top guy but the fans end up choosing Ambrose instead.

I never thought Bryan had a chance of being the #1 face of the company in anything but the short-term. And if he does indeed have to get the Tommy John surgery and has to stay out until late spring of 2015, I wouldn't be surprised if the fans had already stopped caring as much about him by then.

Good points. I'd actually forgotten about the post-Hogan and pre-Austin era.
Austin and Cena carry a bigger buzz and really hit the point of my argument.... however, your evidence just drives the point home.
Ultimately, its up to the WWE Universe (well, to an extent I suppose) in a time where WWE is publicly traded and WWE treads lightly.
Daniel Bryan does great heel work, but he's also very fan-friendly in ways Reigns and even Ambrose are not.

Bret Hart is the only introvert I've ever seen make it to THE top in WWE. Ambrose and Bryan are both extroverts, who tend to make the most compelling characters overall.
I'm still amazed Hart succeeded as he did (he's my favorite ironically), but the in-ring quality of that day was top notch.
If everything happens for a reason, we may be watching history unfold for an unlikely hero.

 

[Prince Bálor]

It happened in the mid-90's, too. They wanted Lex Luger to be the next Hogan, but the fans said Bret was their guy. They then tried pushing Diesel as the next Hogan, but the fans ended up turning Shawn Michaels into the bigger star. They wanted Steve Austin as the company's next top heel, but the fans decided differently and ended up turning him into one of the most red-hot superstars of all time instead. As duly noted, they wanted Randy Orton as the breakout star of Raw in 2004/2005 in his fight against HHH and Evolution, but his babyface run flopped and the fans organically rallied behind Batista instead (and then Cena, whom they never wanted as the face of their company, ended up surpassing both.) I've been seeing signs for awhile that history will probably repeat itself with Ambrose and Reigns, where they intend to build Reigns up as their next top guy but the fans end up choosing Ambrose instead.

I never thought Bryan had a chance of being the #1 face of the company in anything but the short-term. And if he does indeed have to get the Tommy John surgery and has to stay out until late spring of 2015, I wouldn't be surprised if the fans had already stopped caring as much about him by then.

- I'll be more than fine with that. Ambrose > Reigns all the way, any day. So far, Reigns has done absolutely nothing for me.

- I, for one, won't stop caring about Bryan at all. Don't know about the others, though. But, when he returns from injury and if he gets booed like Edge did back in 2004 (I think), then fuck it... I'd like to stay positive and not have that scenario happen.

 

[Leo C]

Great point, it's pretty much the gut feeling I have. Even though they got behind Bryan as much as they did (more towards WM obv) and gave him the big win and all, I really had a hard time seeing him as the long term top guy. I don't know if it's because of his size or his looks or whatever, or if I felt his overness would decay, idk. I just didn't see it. Reigns I felt had the IT factor that's talked about so much, but that was about it, to be honest. I like the guy, but I can't really say he'll deliver based on his skill set. The way Ambrose climbed the ranks organically really strikes me as an Austin thing, yeah. If I had to bet I'd say it's going to end up being Ambrose.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Great point, it's pretty much the gut feeling I have. Even though they got behind Bryan as much as they did (more towards WM obv) and gave him the big win and all, I really had a hard time seeing him as the long term top guy. I don't know if it's because of his size or his looks or whatever, or if I felt his overness would decay, idk. I just didn't see it. Reigns I felt had the IT factor that's talked about so much, but that was about it, to be honest. I like the guy, but I can't really say he'll deliver based on his skill set. The way Ambrose climbed the ranks organically really strikes me as an Austin thing, yeah. If I had to bet I'd say it's going to end up being Ambrose.

Right on point, with everything you said there. Especially about Reigns. It's not like I hate the guy, but he just doesn't do it for me.

In my opinion, you're right about Bryan to an extent. He would've stayed champion till SummerSlam where he'd drop it to Lesnar. But during that time, if he hadn't got injured, we could've gotten some quality program with DBry going against Bray Wyatt and Cesaro. But instead they gave him the shittiest guy they could've given him, bloody Kane. Fuck that shit, man!

 

[Red Rain]

Right on point, with everything you said there. Especially about Reigns. It's not like I hate the guy, but he just doesn't do it for me.

In my opinion, you're right about Bryan to an extent. He would've stayed champion till SummerSlam where he'd drop it to Lesnar. But during that time, if he hadn't got injured, we could've gotten some quality program with DBry going against Bray Wyatt and Cesaro. But instead they gave him the shittiest guy they could've given him, bloody Kane. Fuck that shit, man!

Kane is generally the rite of passage for all new champions. All new world champions go through Kane hot off their world championship reign.
You can't teach height and defeating the big, red machine gives you instant credibility.

If nothing else, Kane made Bryan his personal project. He deserves a match with the 'over' Bryan, considering Kane was given credit for making Bryan a star in the first place.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Kane is generally the rite of passage for all new champions. All new world champions go through Kane hot off their world championship reign.
You can't teach height and defeating the big, red machine gives you instant credibility.

If nothing else, Kane made Bryan his personal project. He deserves a match with the 'over' Bryan, considering Kane was given credit for making Bryan a star in the first place.

Yeah, I see the point... So, when the 'over as fuck' Bryan comes back, he'll be the one to actually bury Kane for what he did to him... Cool.

 

[Heyman guy]

Ambrose b/c he can cut top notch promos & actually wrestle. Roman Reigns is horrendous on the mic and can only pull off 3 moves in the ring, so, anyone but him.

 

[Leo C]

Right on point, with everything you said there. Especially about Reigns. It's not like I hate the guy, but he just doesn't do it for me.

In my opinion, you're right about Bryan to an extent. He would've stayed champion till SummerSlam where he'd drop it to Lesnar. But during that time, if he hadn't got injured, we could've gotten some quality program with DBry going against Bray Wyatt and Cesaro. But instead they gave him the shittiest guy they could've given him, bloody Kane. Fuck that shit, man!

I gotta say that Kane being on a WWE title program in 2014 is absurd, as is him being anywhere near the main event. But at first that program wasn't that bad; up until they started doing that horror movie trash with Brie it was cool, those Triple Tombstones and whatnot. Wasn't terrible.