Night of Champions US Title going on last? (They Wouldn't Really Do this.... Would They? II)

[Red Rain]

Well, the theme of Night Of Champions is that all titles are on the line, so that's a big reason Seth is being forced to defend both titles at the PPV. I wouldn't expect him to start defending both championships on every PPV from now on, but I still can't see him carrying both titles for very long, since he'd still be obligated to defend both at some point and I don't see that as an act that carries on for very long.

I actually think Hell In A Cell could end up being a triple-threat between Rollins, Cena, and Sting for only the WWE Championship, regardless of who walks out with the US Title at the end of NOC, and the match concludes with Rollins pinning Sting to get his championship back. Not sure they'll go that route, since Rollins is a possible candidate for breaking Punk's 434 day title reign and dropping the title and then winning it back the next month anyway would disrupt that in a big way (as in, he's already about halfway there to matching and surpassing Punk's record), but it's an idea.

Another possible idea for Hell In A Cell is that the triple-threat match between Rollins, Cena, and Sting is actually for both championships, but it's dependent entirely on who pins which champion. Let's say this Sunday that Cena wins the US Championship and Sting wins the WWE Championship. At HIAC in the triple-threat, the stipulation is that if someone pins Cena to win the match, they become the United States Champion (and if Sting makes this pinfall, he retains the WWE Title as well, of course), or if someone pins Sting to win the match, they become the WWE Champion (and if Cena makes this pinfall, then he retains the US Title, too.) And the match concludes with Seth pinning Sting to become the WWE Champion again while Cena gets to walk away still holding the US strap and without having to take another direct pinfall loss.

Or, more predictably, they just go with Sheamus vs Sting (if Sheamus does cash in on Sting, should he win the title) for the WWE Championship and Cena vs Rollins for the United States Championship in separate matches.

The dialogue between the Authority and Rollins seem to be heading in the direction of a face turn, but I hope it dies down.
Should HHH and Rollins square off, the former will insist on looking relatively strong against the latter heading into Wrestlemania.
If Rollins turned face anytime before Mania, the plethora of heels for the main event match at Mania will be dim.
For this reason, I believe the writing team ought to cut back on the tension they seem to be creating between Rollins and the Authority.

As for your theories, they seem pretty sound though HHH is a huge proponent of lengthy title reigns (unless you're an absurdly popular 'B+ player').
Of course, Sting's loss at Mania and subsequent handshake may, indeed, have been a gentleman's agreement for him to win the WWE championship at some point.

I can't tell how serious WWE is about Sheamus. I'm somewhere between mildly serious and completely laughable.
It wasn't so much Sheamus was hand picked to win MITB as much as WWE has chosen to book Roman Reigns from the ground up.

 

[Wacokid27]

I hadn't thought about them setting Rollins up to have a longer reign than Punk did. I know they seemed dead-set on Nikki eclipsing A.J.'s longest reign (even though she's still nowhere near having held the title for the cumulative length of time A.J. did over the course of all of her reigns). If they've decided that it's time for Punk to get knocked off of that list, then I can see Rollins being the guy they'd pick for that.

As for your theories, they seem pretty sound though HHH is a huge proponent of lengthy title reigns (unless you're an absurdly popular 'B+ player').

In all fairness, we don't really know how long DBD's big post-Mania reign was going to be (or, for that matter, how long his IC reign would have been). He lost the titles after injuries forced him to give up the belts. From much of what I've heard (and the evidence I've seen in NXT, where "indy guys" that are somewhat in the same mold of Bryan Danielson seem to be the "in-thing"), HHH is a fan of Bryan's and feels he's got a lot going for him.

wk

 

[Snowman1]

The dialogue between the Authority and Rollins seem to be heading in the direction of a face turn, but I hope it dies down.
Should HHH and Rollins square off, the former will insist on looking relatively strong against the latter heading into Wrestlemania.
If Rollins turned face anytime before Mania, the plethora of heels for the main event match at Mania will be dim.
For this reason, I believe the writing team ought to cut back on the tension they seem to be creating between Rollins and the Authority.

As for your theories, they seem pretty sound though HHH is a huge proponent of lengthy title reigns (unless you're an absurdly popular 'B+ player').
Of course, Sting's loss at Mania and subsequent handshake may, indeed, have been a gentleman's agreement for him to win the WWE championship at some point.

I can't tell how serious WWE is about Sheamus. I'm somewhere between mildly serious and completely laughable.
It wasn't so much Sheamus was hand picked to win MITB as much as WWE has chosen to book Roman Reigns from the ground up.

Yeah it's kinda weird to see how the story of the MITB match seems to be as much about a story of another guy than the winner itself, much like when Sandow won the briefcase it was just to get Rhodes over to the babyface side. Really cool when you think about it.

This time though, I'm not sure how much it's working with Reigns getting screwed over by Wyatt. Their singles feud flopped - shocker - but as you say they may be wanting to tear him down to build him back up again. Reigns has never been this cold as he's playing backseat to a very good hook about the dominance of Strowman and a mystery partner, while he's also rarely come across as cool and likable as he does now, either, and hasn't lost any credibility. If that's the case, you can't ask for a more perfect outcome to "tearing someone down", can you?

Still think the grand plan to set up a Bryan rumble victory to do the 18 second revenge match... but that's because there's literally nothing else interesting you can do with Sheamus on top, and there's no way he gets Sandowed. Sure we can fantasy book something - corporate Sheamus screwing over Rollins sounds fun in theory but I doubt it'll play out that well - but if he ever gets the title it'll have to be something clever because just "Sheamus as WWE Champion" sounds like they're begging for their ratings to be torn down to try to build back up again.

Actually, the corporate Sheamus idea could not be the worst thing in the world since I'm not sure how else you'd get Rollins on the babyface side for a feud with Triple H. Based on the storyline itself (and not how I feel about either performer) definitely drawn to be cheering for The Game-uhh in this one

 

[The GOAT]

In all fairness, we don't really know how long DBD's big post-Mania reign was going to be (or, for that matter, how long his IC reign would have been). He lost the titles after injuries forced him to give up the belts. From much of what I've heard (and the evidence I've seen in NXT, where "indy guys" that are somewhat in the same mold of Bryan Danielson seem to be the "in-thing"), HHH is a fan of Bryan's and feels he's got a lot going for him.

wk

It's pretty clear Bryan was gonna drop the championship to Lesnar at Summerslam (in likely the very same type of one-sided beating that Cena ended up receiving instead) and then job to him again at Night Of Champions. Brock vs Cena would have likely been a one-on-one encounter at the Royal Rumble, which means we'd miss out on a great triple-threat, but it would have been worth it to see two matches between Lesnar and Bryan.

 

[Solidus1]

Someone else probably said it, but it's clearly so Rollins can beat Sting and lose to Cena. If he lost to Cena FIRST and then beat Sting after, that's kinda silly.

 

[Wacokid27]

It's pretty clear Bryan was gonna drop the championship to Lesnar at Summerslam (in likely the very same type of one-sided beating that Cena ended up receiving instead) and then job to him again at Night Of Champions. Brock vs Cena would have likely been a one-on-one encounter at the Royal Rumble, which means we'd miss out on a great triple-threat, but it would have been worth it to see two matches between Lesnar and Bryan.

I don't really think that was "clear" for one huge reasons: Lesnar dominating Bryan like he did Cena would not have had the impact it did if it had been against Bryan. Bryan's ultimate underdog character could have been thrown around like a rag doll by Lesnar, but it wouldn't have been such a big deal whereas Cena looks like a physical equal to Lesnar. It would have been AE against Reality Era, whereas Lesnar-Cena was AE against Ten Years of Cena Dominance in the PG Era.

Now, I can agree that he likely would have lost to Lesnar if Lesnar had been his Summerslam opponent, which is probably the most likely scenario, but I also have a feeling it would have been a very different match (and I think Bryan might have gotten the title back at NOC).

Sadly, we'll never know for sure, because of the injury. The same goes for his IC title reign.

wk

 

[Prince Bálor]

Someone else probably said it, but it's clearly so Rollins can beat Sting and lose to Cena. If he lost to Cena FIRST and then beat Sting after, that's kinda silly.

Which is why we'll have shenanigans involved in both title matches and Rollins will retain.

I'm thinking both matches will end in a DQ, lame, I know, but at least Rollins keeps the titles.

Also, God forbid if Cena lost clean, the least they could do is have Cena win or lose via count-out, Rollins keeps the US title regardless in that scenario.

As far as the ME goes, they could have either Kane or Taker interfere in the match. If Kane was to interfere, he'd Chokeslam both men, presumably Rollins, that'd be a DQ and there you go. On the other hand, there is Taker who could save Rollins from losing the title again and have him attack Sting. And please, there shouldn't be a successful Sheamus cash-in.

 

[The GOAT]

I don't really think that was "clear" for one huge reasons: Lesnar dominating Bryan like he did Cena would not have had the impact it did if it had been against Bryan. Bryan's ultimate underdog character could have been thrown around like a rag doll by Lesnar, but it wouldn't have been such a big deal whereas Cena looks like a physical equal to Lesnar. It would have been AE against Reality Era, whereas Lesnar-Cena was AE against Ten Years of Cena Dominance in the PG Era.

Now, I can agree that he likely would have lost to Lesnar if Lesnar had been his Summerslam opponent, which is probably the most likely scenario, but I also have a feeling it would have been a very different match (and I think Bryan might have gotten the title back at NOC).

Sadly, we'll never know for sure, because of the injury. The same goes for his IC title reign.

wk

I think the differences in size or strength between Bryan and Cena would have meant very little to most people. Clearly, Cena is the bigger star and thus a one-sided beat down on him is a remarkably bigger deal in a certain sense, but Brock dismantling Bryan would still be him destroying a WWE Champion who, unlike Cena, was universally loved by pretty much everyone (in terms of being a crowd favorite.) Their long-term plan beginning with the end of the Streak was to build Brock into as much of a despised heel as possible so that Roman Reigns would get over huge when he defeated him at Wrestlemania 31. Taking the title from the most over star on the roster, especially in dominating fashion, would have been the most logical path to take (normally I wouldn't postulate that idea, but Cena being rag-dolled the way he was makes me believe that Lesnar would have certainly done the same to someone of Bryan's size as a way of making his championship victory as impressive as possible.)

I figure it would have followed the same story progression as Brock vs Cena did, with Bryan losing at Summerslam (one-sided beat down or not) and then coming back and putting on a much better performance at Night Of Champions and nearly pulling out a victory (although I think Bryan would have taken another clean loss... It would have fit the underdog nature of his character more, unlike Cena, who they try to protect as much as possible at all time, and who almost never takes two straight losses in a row, let alone clean ones.)

 

[Snowman1]

Also I wonder how the fans would have viewed Lesnar in this situation. Lesnar seemed pretty hated by the crowd as the guy who broke the Streak and had that awful series of matches with Hunter at the time, but after giving Cena the most one-sided asskicking of his life he wouldn't stay heel for long, lol. Had he destroyed a Daniel Bryan coming off the emotional Wrestlemania and being his first big challenge on top though, I could only imagine the emotion coming out of that match... it would certainly be different. And Bryan putting up any sort of fight at all at NoC would have come across a lot better than Cena doing so

Wondered for a while how a massively hated Lesnar (or Roman ousting the Authority instead of being out with a hernia) would have affected the Reigns backlash... it really wouldn't have, though.

Ooooh! Back on topic. How about the World Title match comes on first with Triple H is at ringside to watch Sting vs Seth, and the match ends in the Summerslam 2013 finish? Sheamus cashes in, Hunter Pedigrees Seth, Hunter and Sheamus celebrate... Seth walks backstage, Renee meets him and Seth cuts an incredibly angry promo about Triple H and the Authority and how he never needed their help and all this... just to be the mystery man in the six-man tag later on in the night? If they could tell the story of Seth reuniting with his Shield bros and how they wouldn't trust him or downright hated him, just for him to earn their trust halfway through?

wait crap that's cool and all but then there's the Cena match left and... idk ignore me

 

[The GOAT]

Also I wonder how the fans would have viewed Lesnar in this situation. Lesnar seemed pretty hated by the crowd as the guy who broke the Streak and had that awful series of matches with Hunter at the time, but after giving Cena the most one-sided asskicking of his life he wouldn't stay heel for long, lol. Had he destroyed a Daniel Bryan coming off the emotional Wrestlemania and being his first big challenge on top though, I could only imagine the emotion coming out of that match... it would certainly be different. And Bryan putting up any sort of fight at all at NoC would have come across a lot better than Cena doing so

Wondered for a while how a massively hated Lesnar (or Roman ousting the Authority instead of being out with a hernia) would have affected the Reigns backlash... it really wouldn't have, though.

Ooooh! Back on topic. How about the World Title match comes on first with Triple H is at ringside to watch Sting vs Seth, and the match ends in the Summerslam 2013 finish? Sheamus cashes in, Hunter Pedigrees Seth, Hunter and Sheamus celebrate... Seth walks backstage, Renee meets him and Seth cuts an incredibly angry promo about Triple H and the Authority and how he never needed their help and all this... just to be the mystery man in the six-man tag later on in the night? If they could tell the story of Seth reuniting with his Shield bros and how they wouldn't trust him or downright hated him, just for him to earn their trust halfway through?

wait crap that's cool and all but then there's the Cena match left and... idk ignore me

Well, he'd still have to get through Cena at some point (at the Rumble.) That might have still affected his heat a bit, even coming off a couple of victories over Bryan. And not that Reigns was really that over anyway, but I do wonder if the fans would have hated on him quite as hard at the Rumble and after if Bryan had never been injured. If an injury that forced him to vacate the title after only one measly title defense had never occurred, would Bryan getting a respectable four and a half month reign as champion have been enough for fans to get their frantic love for him out of their system enough to the point that they weren't prepared to shit on anyone who was being given opportunities that they feel he deserved, or would they still be so fired up to see Bryan eventually reclaim the title (even after two consecutive losses) that they would have still showered Reigns with the same amount of boos regardless?