WrestleMania Can I Play Booker For A Moment?

[Kooldip]

I'm going to anyway.

So, old man dressed like a hot dog announced that Wrestlemania 30 will host a 30 man battle royal in honor of the late Andre the Giant. That's fine and dandy, but really? What does this do for anyone? Nothing.

Instead of having this massive battle royal that culminates in the winner receiving a statue that does nothing for their career, why not make this about titles? Honestly, sometimes I think WWE forgets they even have titles. Basically, on the pre-show, they can have a 15 man battle royal for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship later on the main card. Now, instead of just putting 15 randoms in, do qualifying matches over the next 3 episodes of RAW, Smackdown and even NXT so that everyone in the match has some kind of exposure going in. SOME MIGHT EVEN GET TO CUT A PROMO! Big E can even get some promo time talking about these chaps that want his white strap. Then at WM, the match can go 15-20, the winner hopefully gets some kind of build throughout the match so that the fans get behind them and then they can have a decent bout with Big E, hopefully a title change would be involved.

NEXT.

WWE has a PPV in May called Over The Limit, most of you probably forgot it even exists! Well, much like the battle royal for the IC title, lets create ourselves a Fatal Four Way. Now, I know what you're thinking, Fatal Four Way matches are terrible, I know, I know they are. HOWEVER. I do think there is potential for one that could honestly be good. Over the next 3 weeks, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow and Antonio Cesaro qualify for said Fatal Four Way, the winner gets a shot at the WWE World Heavyweight title at Over The Limit. Barrett and Sandow can beat whoever, Ziggler has to beat Miz and Cesaro has to beat Swagger. At Wrestlemania, Ziggler and Cesaro get screwed by Miz and Swagger which leads to either Sandow or Barrett winning the match. I'd go with Sandow personally because if he was to lose, he would have nothing to do afterwards. SO! Over the next month and a half, Barrett can keep his Bad News deal going, this way he can complain about losing and then he can go on some kind of winning streak to prove he is worth a title shot. Ziggler has Miz he can feud with for a little bit, Cesaro has Swagger he can feud with for a little bit and Sandow can be built as a quality opponent for Daniel Bryan over the next month and a half after Mania.

NOT DONE.

July. Money in the Bank. Still have two ladder matches, one for a shot at the IC and one for a shot at the WWEWHC. The final 4 from the battle royal at Mania and 2 surprise entrants (Evan Bourne, RVD, Jericho, Rey or NXT guy, take your pick) are in one Ladder Match for the IC briefcase and then Cesaro, Swagger, Ziggler, Miz, Sandow and Barrett all in the WWEWHC Ladder Match. WInner for the WWEWHC can be whomever you'd like.

AMIRITE?


What do you guys think?

 

[Kooldip]

Sorry, MAY I play booker for a moment. Where are my manners?

 

[Nero_x3]

There's no more Over The Limit for the record.

 

[TheArabHammer]

:

 

[Kooldip]

There's no more Over The Limit for the record.

Oh hah, they put Extreme Rules in May... oh well, this could still work.

 

[Wacokid27]

While the people you put in the matches would definitely please the IWC, most fans are going to want to know what happened to Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Bryan, Batista, and Christian.

In response to your actual points:

-- Several pro wrestling promotions in Japan, Mexico, etc., have tournaments for cups/trophies that don't lead directly to title shots. The WWE used to have two that I can think off of the top of my head (Royal Rumble and King of the Ring - as they were originally done, there was no guaranteed title shot tied to either one; now KotR is gone and the Rumble winner gets a title shot, but not as it was originally designed). This Andre Memorial Battle Royal could be something like that, but there's no saying that a shot at the WWEWHC couldn't be put on the line.

-- I like the idea of having two MITB's even with only one "world champion". An IC MITB contract could be similar to the WHC MITB last year, where it was mainly up-and-comers and only one of the participants had ever held a world title in the WWE (Jack Swagger). Having an IC MITB that consisted of Sandow, Ziggler, Axel, Cesaro, Swagger, Ryback, Rollins, and Reigns (yeah, yeah, I know...Reigns is "beyond the IC"....sure), namely a couple of former world champs, a couple of former midcard and tag champs, etc., would set up the IC Title as a more prestigious championship. Plus, any of those guys carrying the title would help elevate it above where it is right now (okay.....maybe not Axel or Swagger as much as the others, but......still).

wk

 

[Kooldip]

While the people you put in the matches would definitely please the IWC, most fans are going to want to know what happened to Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Bryan, Batista, and Christian.

In response to your actual points:

-- Several pro wrestling promotions in Japan, Mexico, etc., have tournaments for cups/trophies that don't lead directly to title shots. The WWE used to have two that I can think off of the top of my head (Royal Rumble and King of the Ring - as they were originally done, there was no guaranteed title shot tied to either one; now KotR is gone and the Rumble winner gets a title shot, but not as it was originally designed). This Andre Memorial Battle Royal could be something like that, but there's no saying that a shot at the WWEWHC couldn't be put on the line.

-- I like the idea of having two MITB's even with only one "world champion". An IC MITB contract could be similar to the WHC MITB last year, where it was mainly up-and-comers and only one of the participants had ever held a world title in the WWE (Jack Swagger). Having an IC MITB that consisted of Sandow, Ziggler, Axel, Cesaro, Swagger, Ryback, Rollins, and Reigns (yeah, yeah, I know...Reigns is "beyond the IC"....sure), namely a couple of former world champs, a couple of former midcard and tag champs, etc., would set up the IC Title as a more prestigious championship. Plus, any of those guys carrying the title would help elevate it above where it is right now (okay.....maybe not Axel or Swagger as much as the others, but......still).

wk

Well, the main event guys (names you mentioned) can still be in main event feuds, but yeah, I suppose they would have to be in the WHC ladder match. I just figured they'd all be able to survive in singles feuds, but not having them in the ladder match would completely flood the main event scene.

 

[Roadster]

Actually OTL is not even on the line up after their mediocre buy rates in 2012.

 

[Wacokid27]

Well, the main event guys (names you mentioned) can still be in main event feuds, but yeah, I suppose they would have to be in the WHC ladder match. I just figured they'd all be able to survive in singles feuds, but not having them in the ladder match would completely flood the main event scene.

I just worry about having too many guys in the ME scene at any one time. In fact, I think it's a little crowded right now.

Orton, Cena, Bryan, Batista, Sheamus, and Christian (you could insert Lesnar, HHH, and Undertaker there, too) are the main event scene right now.

The secret is not having 12 guys in the ME scene. The whole point of the ME scene is that these are guys who could, at any point, be inserted into a feud for the world title. The trick is to have a key group of 12 to 16 (maybe even 20) guys who can rotate up to that main event picture, along with 6 or 8 guys who are basically "permanent" main eventers. Those guys should include a healthy dose of up-and-comers. Right now, the "permanent" ME guys are Cena, Orton, Sheamus, and Batista, and Bryan and Christian are the guys who can rotate up or down (although Bryan is arguably on the verge of being in that top 4 instead of Batista). The guys we're talking about (Ziggler, Cesaro, Sandow, etc.) are the current midcard/upper midcard, who are the guys who should be competing for the secondary title (in modern WWE terms, the IC). They're actually in a pretty good spot right now and there's room for the up-and-comers. They've just successfully pushed Bryan from a comedy tag team guy into a successful, serious main eventer (as I said, a possibly permanent figure in that scene).

So, I wouldn't push too hard to "flood the main event scene". That's what leads to people being unhappy with the guys who are being "pushed down their throats" (witness the current situation with Batista).

wk

 

[Lockard 23]

I actually like the battle royal just being for the Andre trophy. Yeah, it's a useless accolade in the grand scheme of things, but I don't care because this year's Wrestlemania is an anniversary of the event and it's largely about celebrating the history of Mania and the legacy of some of the superstars who helped make it into a spectacle. Andre is one of the biggest names in the history of the 'sport' and him being body slammed by Hulk Hogan at WM3 (during what many still call the biggest match of all time) is the most replayed moment in WWE history, so I quite like the idea of Hogan awarding a trophy of his late great friend (and one time nemesis) Andre The Giant to the winner of the battle royal (I assume this battle royal is how the show will kick off.)

 

[Wacokid27]

I actually like the battle royal just being for the Andre trophy. Yeah, it's a useless accolade in the grand scheme of things, but I don't care because this year's Wrestlemania is an anniversary of the event and it's largely about celebrating the history of Mania and the legacy of some of the superstars who helped make it into a spectacle. Andre is one of the biggest names in the history of the 'sport' and him being body slammed by Hulk Hogan at WM3 (during what many still call the biggest match of all time) is the most replayed moment in WWE history, so I quite like the idea of Hogan awarding a trophy of his late great friend (and one time nemesis) Andre The Giant to the winner of the battle royal (I assume this battle royal is how the show will kick off.)

So, you don't think this should be an annual feature of Wrestlemania? (I ask because I saw that idea posted somewhere around here, I don't remember where)

wk

 

[Lockard 23]

So, you don't think this should be an annual feature of Wrestlemania? (I ask because I saw that idea posted somewhere around here, I don't remember where)

wk

People are speculating that this'll become an annual tradition but I like keeping it as a one-time thing. Then again, it may end up replacing MITB as the match they rely on every year to get as many people on the card as possible (though I'd expect it to end up on the pre-show every year if they keep it around after this one.)

 

[Wacokid27]

People are speculating that this'll become an annual tradition but I like keeping it as a one-time thing. Then again, it may end up replacing MITB as the match they rely on every year to get as many people on the card as possible (though I'd expect it to end up on the pre-show every year if they keep it around after this one.)

There's a big rumor that it'll end up on the pre-show this year, too. I wouldn't mind it, because I know they try to get everybody they can on the card somewhere. I mean, it's your biggest event of the year. For the price of a trophy, that seems a small thing.

wk

 

[Crayo]

I actually agree with the first point. Too many times does WWE host these "special matches" on a one-off basis, which is fine, but they don't think about building it on RAW instead of airing pointless Fandango matches or other filler segments. I understand 3 hours is a lot to fill and naturally filler segments are going to appear, but what you are suggesting would work wonderfully. It exposes young stars -- which is what 3 hour RAW was supposed to do -- and brings a level of interest into the midcard again. Furthermore, it means we get segments that actually mean something. I don't particularly care about the trophy but I understand why that is the prize and have no real issue with it, but I do care about the lack of build that will go into this match, which really only makes the trophy even more pointless.

 

[Wacokid27]

I actually agree with the first point. Too many times does WWE host these "special matches" on a one-off basis, which is fine, but they don't think about building it on RAW instead of airing pointless Fandango matches or other filler segments. I understand 3 hours is a lot to fill and naturally filler segments are going to appear, but what you are suggesting would work wonderfully. It exposes young stars -- which is what 3 hour RAW was supposed to do -- and brings a level of interest into the midcard again. Furthermore, it means we get segments that actually mean something. I don't particularly care about the trophy but I understand why that is the prize and have no real issue with it, but I do care about the lack of build that will go into this match, which really only makes the trophy even more pointless.

I agree with this.

Back to the OP with this comment also: they could easily "reserve" 5 (or however many) slots in the match for NXT wrestlers and have a series of "qualifying matches" on NXT broadcasts over the course of two or three shows for those 5 spots. It would give NXT a greater presence and a greater importance if people felt compelled to watch (not to mention the fact that they would need the WWEN to watch it, so more subscriptions to the Network) NXT to see which guys got brought in to get a Mania spot.

wk