SummerSlam XXVII

[Jenalysis]

 The thought of Reigns trying to carry a Mania main event build on his own makes me lol. They have no idea how to write promos for him, and if they let Orton beat him down for 10 minutes at Summer Slam they'll have shown they don't know how to book him either. I could maybe buy a Lesnar/Reigns clash of the titans match, but Reigns needs a Goldberg/Warrior style build until Mania.

 

He shouldn't have to- the ME should be a Shield face-off.  Have Reigns burn time until EC by squashing Miz for the IC belt on Raw, then defending against good credible heels like Cesaro/Big E/Harper for five months.

 

 

Have Ambrose win the Rumble, Reigns the EC, and have Rollins cash in at WM against HHH's wishes to get that WM main event.

[JCM]

There's no way Reigns winning the belt won't be at Mania. They have to get a big return out of Lesnar after ending the streak, and if they're sold on Reigns being the next guy then he has to beat either Brock or Cena to cement his status as the man. In a perfect world we'd get Bryan/Lesnar at Mania, but Bryan may not be ready, and Vince may not want to give him the ball again. I don't really want to see Brock jobbing a year after beating Taker, but who knows how long he wants to stick around.

[Brian Fowler]

Nobody has win their first world title at Mania since Rey almost a decade ago.

[Spontaneous]

The only scenario I see outside Lesnar beating Cena and holding it until Bryan/Reigns/whoever beats him is Cena somehow overcomes the odds only for Rollins to cash in, as Ambrose was ambushed by the lumberjacks earlier in the night and cannot interfere. That would make sense given the dark matches advertised as Cena vs Rollins for the belt. Either way, Cena cannot leave with the belt, that would be a major failure on their part to do something exciting going into these next two all so important shows.

I just want to state, I felt after The Shield break up, Reigns and Big E should have feuded over the IC title or something going into SummerSlam. Give them both something to do and they could have had low expectations, since it's the IC title.

[Jiji]

Yeah, the one problem with Brock winning is what the hell do they do with Rollins' Money in the Bank contract?

 

Lesnar losing to Cena after ending the streak would be hilarious.

[Niners Fan in CT]

They have a year to figure out what to do with Seth's contract, though. I imagine Lesnar would only be champion until around WM time.

[Brian Fowler]

What's the longest they've actually held off on someone cashing in?  Edge the first time?

[Niners Fan in CT]

I feel like Ziggler had it a while.. 

[JCM]

The only way Reigns wins the belt before Mania is if they turn him heel. I think it would definitely be beneficial to Reigns to have a heel run, and figure out his character as a heel similar to the way Rock, Austin, Cena and so many others have done. Reigns/Bryan is a big money program as is Ambrose coming after Reigns.

 

 Reigns corporate champ would interest me much more than Reigns Cena 2.0. There's things that have to fall into place like Ambrose continuing to get a strong push and Bryan's health, and the fans souring on Reigns(which could happen soon if the next few ppv matches tank).

[Brian Fowler]

I think Edge was about 10 months, and Ziggler about 9.

 

So, yeah, if they are that patient, Rollins could wait until post-WM.

 

If they showed an unprecedented level of patience, then they could push it all the way to next summer, but I don't think you'd want the briefcase still around when you start trying to build to next year's MITB.

[Brian Fowler]

Now that you mention it, JCM, who was the last guy to really become a majorly popular main event babyface without having the fans start to get behind him when he was a heel?

 

I'm drawing a blank on anyone after Bret...

[Niners Fan in CT]

Goldberg but I assume you mean WWE so I will think more..

[Brian Fowler]

Yeah, I did mean WWF/WWE.

 

But, yeah, even if Goldberg is the answer, that's still 16 years ago.

[mco543]

Does Rey count?

[Brian Fowler]

I know he's a three time world champion, but I don't personally feel like Rey was ever really a main event guy. 

 

Which is no slight on Rey, but I don't think he really reached that level.

[The Nature Boy]

You would think that by now WWE would know that all top faces got over as heels first.

[Spontaneous]

Seems like if Reigns was catching on then Reigns vs Rollins post-Mania could write itself. But this Orton match feels doomed to suck. Even if HHH drags a good match out of him, Rollins has to cash in and win right? Or would they really let him lose the cash in match? It killed Sandow.

[Jiji]

With one belt now, doesn't that mean it's likelier that the MitB cash-ins are less likely to succeed?

[Johnny Sorrow]

You would think that by now WWE would know that all top faces got over as heels first.

Well, not Bruno.

[BEN!]

You guys realize that Reigns was a heel with The Shield, right?

 

I think his pants look fucking stupid too but I really don't understand the hesitation regarding his rise to the top.  He's better prepared for the top spot than Cena was when he got it.

 

I just hope they don't have him selling for 20 minutes and instead he runs Orton like Mark Henry did.

[Kevin Wilson]

Probably a topic better for a different thread, but I don't understand the IWC seeming convinced that everything is setting up Lesnar/Reigns at WM  Reigns has not shown at all that he is ready for that yet.  I like Reigns but being in the main event at Wrestlemania isn't something he is ready for.  He could be in eight months but he'd have to progress not just in-ring, but he needs to keep the crowd for that time period as well.  If Bryan is back and deemed healthy I don't see how he doesn't take back his spot as top babyface in the promotion.

[Rehabilitated Rick]

I think it's more so Reign's artificial rise from an seemingly organic beginning, Reigns was picking up some organic steam because he was cool, you don't get genuinely cool guys in wrestling anymore. He wasn't the mouth piece in the Shield, he was the one liner, he finished off the Shields promos with a thunderbolt of a exclamation mark. He was the ass-kicking muscle man extremely effective in his role due to all his flaws being hidden. He isn't a singles guy, not yet. He's worked two years in a role of a three man unit where he was extremely good. Now the spotlight is being shown clearly on all his flaws, being thrown into 15 minute matches and having a microphone put into his hand every week attempting to cut a promo is the complete antithesis of what made him so organic in the first place. The backlash is inevitable at this point, but the way he's being booked shows he's the guy that they've chosen, and artificially or not, will be taking the title far sooner than he should.

[Matt D]

He was the guy who punched the ring and made the world shake.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Reigns is featured last on the Smackdown intro sequence - that's a pretty big clue that he is the guy they're pushing.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

For the record, the UK bookmakers predict:

 

Lesnar over Cena

Reigns over Orton

Stephanie over Brie

Rollins over Ambrose 

Wyatt over Jericho

Miz over Ziggler

Swagger over Rusev

AJ over Paige

 

That seems like too many heels going over in major matches, yet I think Paige has to go over if her feud is to continue with AJ and I don't see them running with anything else. 

 

I'll believe Cena's jobbing when I see it and not before. I'm not convinced they're going to put the belt on a part-timer, and I'm not sure you can have Rollins cash-in on Lesnar without one of them turning babyface - too soon for the former, not a good use of the latter (Heyman and Lesnar are awesome heel promos).