Even though this more of a PPV topic, I thought I’d start this thread in the General WWE section since it’s more of a theoretic discussion in which I will try to break down the possibilities available starting at the Rumble and moving towards Wrestlemania 32.
Starting with the Royal Rumble, I’ve come to realize that more and more people are jumping on the idea of Triple H being the last man standing and winner. This is an idea that I too pitched a while back and quite frankly, it’s one that makes a lot of sense in so many ways, mainly serving as a logical continuation to the current storyline leading to the long awaited Triple H vs Roman Reigns match at Wrestlemania. It’s just what’s best for business and it’s simply the best way to go for WWE in order to reach their ultimate goal. Granted, Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vol.2 also sounds just as appealing, however I don’t think it serves the greater purpose simply because with Lesnar on one corner, you’d have a big portion of the crowd cheering for him instead and we all know that WWE wants the direction to be focused on the other corner. With HHH instead, you know he’ll take all the heat and you’ll have a minimum 95% (if not 100% but, ok, there are plenty of Roman haters so being realistic) of the crowd and WWE universe in general behind Roman. It’s really that simple I think and that should pretty much cover it as far as the Wrestlemania main event goes.
Now, with the way things are being set up, this Royal Rumble has the potential of being really BIG. With the stakes even higher than usual, there is no doubt WWE will throw everything they’ve got in this event, from all the big names on the current roster to any possible returning superstars for surprise entries. It’s not just the hype of the Rumble itself folks because at the same time you’re looking to build and/or create feuds that will lead to Wrestlemania. So get everyone involved…except Daniel Bryan.
Ok, hold your fire!!! I’ve said it before, I too like everybody else want to see DB return but I also explained why I think WWE won’t bring him back just yet and at least not for the Rumble match. With DB in the Rumble, yes, the crowd will go bananas but at the same time they’ll be cheering for him to win and that a) will take the focus off Reigns b) could mean another trashing of the show; for the past two years, the Rumble has received major booing so one would think WWE have learned their lesson. Taking it a step further, this perhaps could be the reason as to why WWE are so persistent on holding off this long awaited return and using the health issue as an excuse. Therefore, no Daniel Bryan at the Royal Rumble but that doesn't mean no retuen at all. Be patient and continue reading…
Now, as noted above, I have HHH locked in as this year’s Royal Rumble winner so everything that follows is based upon that scenario:
Brock Lesnar: Well, if he ain’t winning the RR, who will eliminate him? In my opinion, there’s three ways to go: you either give Kevin Owens or Bray Wyatt that rub, or you have a returning Batista do it. The way I see it, these ar three viable options WWE has in order to make it, say, believable that the beast got eliminated and it also gives us some interesting opportunities for Wrestlemania. If the latter were to happen, you could have the Beast vs Animal type angle. If not, Kevin Owens vs Brock Lesnar or Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar also sound just as good, the common denominator in all three cases being they are fresh ideas and stuff we definitely haven’t seen. Though my initial idea was Brock vs KO, the more I think about it these days, the more Bray Wyatt (and the whole family for that matter) seems to fit better in this picture and especially from a promotional standpoint, it certainly has the potential of a moneymaker. If I were to agree with the opinion that KO hasn't been built for such a match and if Batista returning sounds like a long shot, then I guess Bray Wyatt sounds like the more realistic option for Lesnar.
Moving on to Kevin Owens, there’s of course the Intercontinental Championship storyline that he’s involved in and based upon the latest that took place on Smackdown, it seems like we are in for a Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens title match at the Royal Rumble with some kind of stipulation. Falls count anywhere? Maybe a Street Fight? Well, something along those lines and here comes the tricky part. What do you do with Owens in this match? I mean, it’s rather obvious what WWE are trying to do with him but at the same time, if you have him win, that would kill Dean Ambrose’s momentum, wouldn’t it? But if Dean Ambrose wins, the whole push KO is receiving lately, all that build up, goes down the toilet. So what can WWE do in order to preserve both Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose’s momentum and have both look strong at the same time? Well, one way to do it is through interference in their match and if that were the case, I see Y2J as the best candidate to do so. He goes after Ambrose (there’s some history already involving these individuals) and basically costs him the match, thus setting up their match at Wrestlemania. Jericho vs Ambrose sounds pretty darn good to me plus a nice way to have Ambrose eventually go over.
So KO is our new IC champ. He gets s his belt back and goes on to defeat Ambrose yet again at Fastlane because of course there has to be a rematch. They obviously do another great match but eventually KO will again stand tall. The following night on RAW, KO cuts a promo, he talks about himself, how life is good…whatever and concludes that basically there’s no one left capable enough to challenge him. This is MY title, blah blah blah and out comes…Daniel Bryan; see, I told you to hold your fire earlier. So there’s your big return of Daniel Bryan and it’s rather fitting that he returns now and goes after KO because let’s not forget, he never lost the IC belt, did he? And there you have it, another great Wrestlemania match. Good story and good timing as well for WWE because this way they avoid having DB in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture, thus avoiding any conflict of interest with Roman Reigns and, well, I’m sure the fans would dig it and be cool about it.
How about the Undertaker? Well, with Cena out of the picture, I feel there’s pretty much two routes WWE could take. Either a dream match with Sting if possible health wise or he goes against the Rock. As of now, the latter obviously seems more realistic and I for one don’t really care about what the talk is regarding the Great One and whether he’ll wrestle or not. With the potential of a 100.000+ capacity crowd, I’m pretty damn sure the Rock will be pumped to wear his wrestling gear and have a go just so he himself can claim he was actively part of the most historic Wrestlemania ever. As long as the booking is right, I see no reason it can’t happen and this is really why I am easily dismissing the Rock vs Brock scenario; not exactly safe to have Rock against Suplex City whereas an experienced and more slow paced Undertaker could work. Both are as experienced as it gets and could certainly work with one another to give us a good match plus you really don’t need too much of a story to make it happen. Now, if Sting was available, that would be just as awesome and pretty easy to do: just have Sting in the Rumble as a surprise entry and, well, he eliminates the Undertaker. But again, realistically, Taker vs Rock seems more likely to happen…
Then there’s the US title. Again, Cena’s injury changes everything and as of this writing, it appears that Kallisto will get a title shot. The question is, does he beat ADR and have a run or does ADR stay strong and retain? With Sincara out, Kallisto is going on a single’s run anyway so I guess it’s up to WWE to decide whether they give him a title reign or not and while I’m ok with it, I somehow feel that ADR will stay champion. If that were the case, going into Wrestlemania, why not have John Cena come out and challenge ADR yet again. Hold on, I know Cena is injured but him being on the DL doesn’t mean he can’t show up that night; it’s not like he’ll be all banged up and hospitalized at the time. Believe me, he’ll be there. So, how does Cena challenge ADR? Simply by convincing him to issue an open challenge of his own, similar to what happened recently on Smackdown, only this time it wouldn’t be any Kallisto answering the call. “Ok Juan, you think you’re better than me? You think I’m afraid? Let’s do this esse. I challenge anyone… ” And out comes…Kurt Angle. Now wouldn’t that be a moment? And wouldn’t that make for a very interesting match?
If not Kurt Angle, how about…MVP? Ok, this is really a long shot but I always felt this guy had great potential and WWE really dropped the ball with him so why not give him another opportunity?
Wrestlemania Host: Shawn Michaels
Card
Triple H vs Roman Reigns: WWE WHC
Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt (or Batista)
The Undertaker vs The Rock
Dean Ambrose vs Y2J Chris Jericho
Kevin Owens vs Daniel Bryan: IC
Alberto Del Rio vs Kurt Angle (or MVP): USC
Now, obviously that's not all and I haven't mentioned anything regarding potential NXT guys making their main roster debuts or the New Japan PW guys that are coming in (my only idea for now is that we may see the NXT boys getting involved in the Tag Team Championship matchup since as of now we're pretty much left with the USO's for New Day and that's gotten boring already). I also haven't mentioned anything about the members of the League of Nations or the Divas but my main focus for now was the big time matches that each and every one of us are anticipating for Wrestlemania and my goal was to try and utilize every big name available in order to create what I feel is a card with lots of potential. It's still a work in progress so I'll be updating it...
Starting with the Royal Rumble, I’ve come to realize that more and more people are jumping on the idea of Triple H being the last man standing and winner. This is an idea that I too pitched a while back and quite frankly, it’s one that makes a lot of sense in so many ways, mainly serving as a logical continuation to the current storyline leading to the long awaited Triple H vs Roman Reigns match at Wrestlemania. It’s just what’s best for business and it’s simply the best way to go for WWE in order to reach their ultimate goal. Granted, Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vol.2 also sounds just as appealing, however I don’t think it serves the greater purpose simply because with Lesnar on one corner, you’d have a big portion of the crowd cheering for him instead and we all know that WWE wants the direction to be focused on the other corner. With HHH instead, you know he’ll take all the heat and you’ll have a minimum 95% (if not 100% but, ok, there are plenty of Roman haters so being realistic) of the crowd and WWE universe in general behind Roman. It’s really that simple I think and that should pretty much cover it as far as the Wrestlemania main event goes.
Now, with the way things are being set up, this Royal Rumble has the potential of being really BIG. With the stakes even higher than usual, there is no doubt WWE will throw everything they’ve got in this event, from all the big names on the current roster to any possible returning superstars for surprise entries. It’s not just the hype of the Rumble itself folks because at the same time you’re looking to build and/or create feuds that will lead to Wrestlemania. So get everyone involved…except Daniel Bryan.
Ok, hold your fire!!! I’ve said it before, I too like everybody else want to see DB return but I also explained why I think WWE won’t bring him back just yet and at least not for the Rumble match. With DB in the Rumble, yes, the crowd will go bananas but at the same time they’ll be cheering for him to win and that a) will take the focus off Reigns b) could mean another trashing of the show; for the past two years, the Rumble has received major booing so one would think WWE have learned their lesson. Taking it a step further, this perhaps could be the reason as to why WWE are so persistent on holding off this long awaited return and using the health issue as an excuse. Therefore, no Daniel Bryan at the Royal Rumble but that doesn't mean no retuen at all. Be patient and continue reading…
Now, as noted above, I have HHH locked in as this year’s Royal Rumble winner so everything that follows is based upon that scenario:
Brock Lesnar: Well, if he ain’t winning the RR, who will eliminate him? In my opinion, there’s three ways to go: you either give Kevin Owens or Bray Wyatt that rub, or you have a returning Batista do it. The way I see it, these ar three viable options WWE has in order to make it, say, believable that the beast got eliminated and it also gives us some interesting opportunities for Wrestlemania. If the latter were to happen, you could have the Beast vs Animal type angle. If not, Kevin Owens vs Brock Lesnar or Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar also sound just as good, the common denominator in all three cases being they are fresh ideas and stuff we definitely haven’t seen. Though my initial idea was Brock vs KO, the more I think about it these days, the more Bray Wyatt (and the whole family for that matter) seems to fit better in this picture and especially from a promotional standpoint, it certainly has the potential of a moneymaker. If I were to agree with the opinion that KO hasn't been built for such a match and if Batista returning sounds like a long shot, then I guess Bray Wyatt sounds like the more realistic option for Lesnar.
Moving on to Kevin Owens, there’s of course the Intercontinental Championship storyline that he’s involved in and based upon the latest that took place on Smackdown, it seems like we are in for a Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens title match at the Royal Rumble with some kind of stipulation. Falls count anywhere? Maybe a Street Fight? Well, something along those lines and here comes the tricky part. What do you do with Owens in this match? I mean, it’s rather obvious what WWE are trying to do with him but at the same time, if you have him win, that would kill Dean Ambrose’s momentum, wouldn’t it? But if Dean Ambrose wins, the whole push KO is receiving lately, all that build up, goes down the toilet. So what can WWE do in order to preserve both Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose’s momentum and have both look strong at the same time? Well, one way to do it is through interference in their match and if that were the case, I see Y2J as the best candidate to do so. He goes after Ambrose (there’s some history already involving these individuals) and basically costs him the match, thus setting up their match at Wrestlemania. Jericho vs Ambrose sounds pretty darn good to me plus a nice way to have Ambrose eventually go over.
So KO is our new IC champ. He gets s his belt back and goes on to defeat Ambrose yet again at Fastlane because of course there has to be a rematch. They obviously do another great match but eventually KO will again stand tall. The following night on RAW, KO cuts a promo, he talks about himself, how life is good…whatever and concludes that basically there’s no one left capable enough to challenge him. This is MY title, blah blah blah and out comes…Daniel Bryan; see, I told you to hold your fire earlier. So there’s your big return of Daniel Bryan and it’s rather fitting that he returns now and goes after KO because let’s not forget, he never lost the IC belt, did he? And there you have it, another great Wrestlemania match. Good story and good timing as well for WWE because this way they avoid having DB in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture, thus avoiding any conflict of interest with Roman Reigns and, well, I’m sure the fans would dig it and be cool about it.
How about the Undertaker? Well, with Cena out of the picture, I feel there’s pretty much two routes WWE could take. Either a dream match with Sting if possible health wise or he goes against the Rock. As of now, the latter obviously seems more realistic and I for one don’t really care about what the talk is regarding the Great One and whether he’ll wrestle or not. With the potential of a 100.000+ capacity crowd, I’m pretty damn sure the Rock will be pumped to wear his wrestling gear and have a go just so he himself can claim he was actively part of the most historic Wrestlemania ever. As long as the booking is right, I see no reason it can’t happen and this is really why I am easily dismissing the Rock vs Brock scenario; not exactly safe to have Rock against Suplex City whereas an experienced and more slow paced Undertaker could work. Both are as experienced as it gets and could certainly work with one another to give us a good match plus you really don’t need too much of a story to make it happen. Now, if Sting was available, that would be just as awesome and pretty easy to do: just have Sting in the Rumble as a surprise entry and, well, he eliminates the Undertaker. But again, realistically, Taker vs Rock seems more likely to happen…
Then there’s the US title. Again, Cena’s injury changes everything and as of this writing, it appears that Kallisto will get a title shot. The question is, does he beat ADR and have a run or does ADR stay strong and retain? With Sincara out, Kallisto is going on a single’s run anyway so I guess it’s up to WWE to decide whether they give him a title reign or not and while I’m ok with it, I somehow feel that ADR will stay champion. If that were the case, going into Wrestlemania, why not have John Cena come out and challenge ADR yet again. Hold on, I know Cena is injured but him being on the DL doesn’t mean he can’t show up that night; it’s not like he’ll be all banged up and hospitalized at the time. Believe me, he’ll be there. So, how does Cena challenge ADR? Simply by convincing him to issue an open challenge of his own, similar to what happened recently on Smackdown, only this time it wouldn’t be any Kallisto answering the call. “Ok Juan, you think you’re better than me? You think I’m afraid? Let’s do this esse. I challenge anyone… ” And out comes…Kurt Angle. Now wouldn’t that be a moment? And wouldn’t that make for a very interesting match?
If not Kurt Angle, how about…MVP? Ok, this is really a long shot but I always felt this guy had great potential and WWE really dropped the ball with him so why not give him another opportunity?
Wrestlemania Host: Shawn Michaels
Card
Triple H vs Roman Reigns: WWE WHC
Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt (or Batista)
The Undertaker vs The Rock
Dean Ambrose vs Y2J Chris Jericho
Kevin Owens vs Daniel Bryan: IC
Alberto Del Rio vs Kurt Angle (or MVP): USC
Now, obviously that's not all and I haven't mentioned anything regarding potential NXT guys making their main roster debuts or the New Japan PW guys that are coming in (my only idea for now is that we may see the NXT boys getting involved in the Tag Team Championship matchup since as of now we're pretty much left with the USO's for New Day and that's gotten boring already). I also haven't mentioned anything about the members of the League of Nations or the Divas but my main focus for now was the big time matches that each and every one of us are anticipating for Wrestlemania and my goal was to try and utilize every big name available in order to create what I feel is a card with lots of potential. It's still a work in progress so I'll be updating it...
