oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Yes, Rollins is by far the best bet. If they insist on going the direction they're going, a double-turn with Rollins and Reigns (and Rollins not actually winning the title but chasing Reigns and the authority) would get Rollins over huge as a face. Anyone handpicked is just going to run into the same problems Reigns has. But to be honest, I wouldn't trust them to make the next big star, so if I was them I wouldn't even bother. They were handed it on a silver platter with Bryan, and Punk before him, and even Ambrose (albeit for a much shorter window) last summer. All of those guys organically got to a point where they could have been huge if they went in even half as hard as they are with Reigns. Pretty much all the company guys over the last ten years have ended up in worse positions than if they had just been left alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Why not both? That's a bit of a problem with the whole there can be only One The Guy thing. But I agree with you that there should be larger than life characters, too. Is that Reigns? I don't think so. I do believe that the type of guy Bryan is (and Punk too) is what a lot of the audience gravitates towards today. And the mainstream media they so crave is seemingly the same. Those two guys have got them more mainstream press than anyone post-Cena. But what got them their press. Punk got press because his "contract ran out" while he was champion. Daniel Bryan got press because a university borrowed the Yes! chant and claimed they borrowed it from him. Then he got press because his local/favorite sports teams won championships (Seahawks/SF Giants), he beat up some jackasses trying to break into his house, and he befriended a dying boy. You want Roman Reigns to get press, have something happen that's "not part of the show" something that's believable. I highly doubt anyone from Florida's gonna win a championship soon and for some reason I can't see Believe That taking off (but who knows stranger things have happened) does it matter what got them press? it's like vince trying to think of excuses for someone being over so as not to push them. who cares? they're over, the crowd is cheering, people are paying attention, go with it. At the end of it all, Punk got people paying attention entirely due to a storyline, something no one had pulled off in years. It got people talking, there's no question, and if the follow up had been half as good... Bryan might have been more gimmicky but the thing with these guys is when they draw people in, people become fans and stick around. There may have been a lot of press almost entirely because of the Yes stuff, but you had things like rollingstone covering wrestlemania (and more specifically, Bryan's journey) last year. there seems to have been a lot more of that type of press in general since then. Not to mention the negative Rumble reaction which was everywhere last year. you can't manufacture that, which is apparently what you (and wwe) want to do with Reigns. If it's not real, it won't work, and that's the whole problem with this Reigns situation. He can't pull it off, and they can't pull it off. People see through that shit. Not to mention a key factor with both Bryan and Punk, like I said, was that they were likable enough, or simply good and interesting enough, that people stuck around afterwards. They took an interest in them. They were invested in Bryan's story like nothing i've seen in a decade. Punk's pipe bomb and then leaving with the title was genuinely a big moment that could have been huge. Once Reigns does... whatever it is they have him do... there's just nothing to fall back on, because people don't care and he's not very good. Even if he changes that, there's a section of the crowd that's probably lost for good. The best he can hope for is a poor-man's John Cena, and that's being really optimistic. You may as well say what can they do to get people talking about Baron Corbin. Reigns may as well be a name picked out of a hat as far as most of the fanbase is concered. Those cheering for him either seem to find him attractive or are kids/people who will simply cheer anyone in that position, be it Reigns, Bryan, Cena or Jimmy Uso. And even THEY don't seem to care that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 you can't manufacture that, which is apparently what you (and wwe) want to do with Reigns You're jumping to conclusions here. I think most of us are simply debating the pros and cons of each side, not necessarily looking at it from a personal POV. And while Bryan is likeable, Punk is REALLY debatable in that category. One could argue that his pipe bomb, while interesting in its moment, did more harm than good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Oh I agree, I meant Punk was interesting. And no, I was talking to Brysinner who said what can be done to get Reigns that type of press? And honestly, I don't think there's anything. If something were to happen, you can't create that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 If there's something that can be and is created all the time, it's pop culture--or something resembling it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 If anything, this shows that both Bryan and Reigns were brought back at the wrong time. If Reigns was always on tap to win RR, bring him back as a surprise entrant and let him wreck shop. Bring back Bryan on RAW following RR, have him ask Reigns for a championship match down the road should Reigns beat Lesnar at WM and then have someone confront Bryan about trying to cut line in order to get back the belt. Reigns moves on to Lesnar and Bryan can build a feud with whoever confronted him. You'd have to find Reigns something to do at Fastlane, but something could be whipped up. This seems like perfectly logical booking. I think both would have helped a lot. Reigns could have finished his feud with Big Show at Fastlane. I actually think the best thing for Bryan could have been the above booking, followed by Dolph Ziggler questioning him jumping in line after all Ziggles did at the end of the year, then do a "respect" match where both guys start to get heated the closer they get to WM and start cheap-shotting/cheating. Then give them a nice standout match in the middle of the show. They're kind of doing that now, but in the middle of a 7-man feud. There's nothing wrong with Bryan being in the spot they are slotting him in. That's the thing nobody is seeing. Reigns has been keyed in as being the next Cena/Hogan since his first appearance in the WWE. There's nothing wrong with Bryan being in the CM Punk/Savage spot. That's a good spot, especially for a guy who spent the last year with a fucked up neck. Really, it might be the best thing for Bryan going ahead, to see how his neck holds up. I mean, imagine what his future career would look like if WWE programmed him to defeat Brock, but he hurts his neck in the match and has to relinquish the belt again. He would be dead in the water. Right now, he's a post-WM Raw interruption away from being in the main event again. That's not a bad place to be, at all. I think what people are upset about is that Bryan should have had the opportunity at being THE guy. I still don't get this line of thinking. He main-evented Summerslam, had a main event feud through the fall, was always in a high profile position (feud with the then-white hot Wyatt Family), then won the main event of Wrestlemania, after beating the gatekeeper of the previous era on the same show, then got hurt. He had a pretty solid run as THE guy. Cena stayed out of the way during these runs, and Bryan got hurt. It sucks for him, but it happens in all sports. Guy gets his chance to run with it, gets hurt, and the team moves on. Are you sure that wasn't the Miz? That actually would have been an amazing angle, Miz with a wig playing a Russian, then bragging afterwards about his acting skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 If there's something that can be and is created all the time, it's pop culture--or something resembling it. but with WWE or Vince McMahon as itS creator? They really don't have a good track record in the last decade. All the best moments have been presented to them and they still managed to blow it. Whatever they try to do with Reigns will just blow back up in their faces. If you want to talk about what we, or a competent booking team, could do to get him over then yes, I'm sure we could come up with something. But even the best booking and writing in the world can't mask what we're seeing; that, right now, Reigns just doesn't have it. And the cat's out of the bag. So even people with brains would have a really hard time getting him over to the level they expect. A large portion of the fanbase is going to reject it no matter what because, in their eyes, he's getting something he doesn't deserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 This isn't the NFL and Bryan is still the act that the paying customers want to see. I don't get why this is so hard to grasp and so many people are defending this awful, inorganic Roman Reigns push. If Daniel Bryan's injury is a concern, then putting him in the most dangerous match WWE runs is not the answer. That's a lame excuse and they've gone back to guys with far worse injuries in the past. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysynner Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Oh I agree, I meant Punk was interesting. And no, I was talking to Brysinner who said what can be done to get Reigns that type of press? And honestly, I don't think there's anything. If something were to happen, you can't create that. But you can create that somewhat. Punk got his press because the company let him give the "pipebomb" and let me "leave the company" as WWE champion. So it is possible for WWE to set up something for Reigns to get mainstream press. The question is will anyone follow. What helps Reigns out is he's seemingly well liked by the mainstream wrestling media (Grantland, Rolling Stone) so I think Reigns will be fine. Our disagreement is I think Reigns can have that moment and you don't 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Oh I agree, I meant Punk was interesting. And no, I was talking to Brysinner who said what can be done to get Reigns that type of press? And honestly, I don't think there's anything. If something were to happen, you can't create that. But you can create that somewhat. Punk got his press because the company let him give the "pipebomb" and let me "leave the company" as WWE champion. So it is possible for WWE to set up something for Reigns to get mainstream press. The question is will anyone follow. What helps Reigns out is he's seemingly well liked by the mainstream wrestling media (Grantland, Rolling Stone) so I think Reigns will be fine. Our disagreement is I think Reigns can have that moment and you don't fair enough, I guess we differ in our views on Reigns, which is fine. I just don't think the guy has it and even if he did, they've damaged him almost beyond repair with this ill-timed push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I still don't get this line of thinking. He main-evented Summerslam, had a main event feud through the fall, was always in a high profile position (feud with the then-white hot Wyatt Family), then won the main event of Wrestlemania, after beating the gatekeeper of the previous era on the same show, then got hurt. He had a pretty solid run as THE guy. Cena stayed out of the way during these runs, and Bryan got hurt. It sucks for him, but it happens in all sports. Guy gets his chance to run with it, gets hurt, and the team moves on. I guess it depends on your definition of The Guy. For me, a 6 month run from Summerslam through Mania (half of which was only due to a huge fan revolt) when he was the most popular guy by a million miles isn't it. Fair enough on the injury but he was already being pushed aside with the Kane feud and then the likely dropping of the title to Lesnar. At the end of it all, we're talking about a guy who's going to be in the 6th biggest match at this Wrestlemania, and was planned to be in the same last year right up until the fans basically decided to shit on everything. And even they did their hardest to find ways out of it. Yes he got the Mania win, but so did Benoit (and he also got the Rumble win). To say Cena stayed out of the way is a bit much, he was injured for two of Bryan's main events, returned to win the World title in the third, and was main eventing TLC and the Rumble while Bryan was jobbing to Bray. And I think the Wyatt's popularity really took off after/because of the Bryan feud, not before it. It definitely felt like a big step down for Bryan at the time. The most perplexing thing of the whole Bryan situation to me is how strongly they put him over Cena when they didn't seem to have that much planned for him. I mean, to beat Cena, completely clean in your first match together; that is a huge, huge deal, bestowed on practically no one. And they were happy to give it to a guy they wanted curtain jerking at the next WrestleMania. How odd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Blue Sam Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Parts of Bryan's problem is that, by the time he returned from injury, a lot of the WM card was in place. Bear in mind he was only medically cleared the week before his first match back: at that point Sting/HHH and Rollins/Orton were both already started on-screen. At that point, the ball was already rolling on getting Reigns momentum, and they'd have been foolish to slow that down for a guy who'd been off TV half the year and they had no idea what level he'd be able to return at. Putting him with Rusev might have worked, but then what does Cena do? They may also see Bryan as being essentially bullet-proof, in that he can muck around for the third-tier title with Truth/Ziggler level workers at Mania, but can be put in position to headline a PPV at any time and people will accept it. The real question is whether or not it's wise putting two fragile workers like BNB and Bryan in a ladder match. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 The most perplexing thing of the whole Bryan situation to me is how strongly they put him over Cena when they didn't seem to have that much planned for him. I mean, to beat Cena, completely clean in your first match together; that is a huge, huge deal, bestowed on practically no one. And they were happy to give it to a guy they wanted curtain jerking at the next WrestleMania. How odd. Well, technically it wasn't their first match together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 This isn't the NFL and Bryan is still the act that the paying customers want to see. I don't get why this is so hard to grasp and so many people are defending this awful, inorganic Roman Reigns push. If Daniel Bryan's injury is a concern, then putting him in the most dangerous match WWE runs is not the answer. That's a lame excuse and they've gone back to guys with far worse injuries in the past. Second most dangerous match. Most dangerous match is a match against Brock Lesnar...just ask the Undertaker! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebbie Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You guys sure are wordy today. The Power of Da Bryan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brysynner Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Parts of Bryan's problem is that, by the time he returned from injury, a lot of the WM card was in place. Bear in mind he was only medically cleared the week before his first match back: at that point Sting/HHH and Rollins/Orton were both already started on-screen. At that point, the ball was already rolling on getting Reigns momentum, and they'd have been foolish to slow that down for a guy who'd been off TV half the year and they had no idea what level he'd be able to return at. Putting him with Rusev might have worked, but then what does Cena do? They may also see Bryan as being essentially bullet-proof, in that he can muck around for the third-tier title with Truth/Ziggler level workers at Mania, but can be put in position to headline a PPV at any time and people will accept it. The real question is whether or not it's wise putting two fragile workers like BNB and Bryan in a ladder match. I think you could add Bryan to the Orton/Rollins match under the guise of the winner gets a title shot the next night on RAW. Orton agrees to it because he still hasn't got his one on one shot, Bryan agrees to it because he hasn't got a shot since losing the belt, and Rollins agrees to it because he wants to have two shots at the title. You forgot to add Dolph Ziggler to your list of fragile workers. Barrett and Ziggler don't mix well in multiman matches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 On the bright side, at least Keanu Reeves' attempt to play an Englishman in Dracula is no longer the worst accent I've ever heard. I could not tell if Rusev's lawyer was trying to be Russian or a character from Fargo. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 So I've been home sick today and the wife wanted to watch the newest Hunger Games movie so I had to see the second one, and Bryan's 2015 is pretty much the plot of the second one. They've put him in the ladder match to kill Ziggler and Ambrose to turn the crowd and then to die himself. I'm pretty sure of this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 On the bright side, at least Keanu Reeves' attempt to play an Englishman in Dracula is no longer the worst accent I've ever heard. I could not tell if Rusev's lawyer was trying to be Russian or a character from Fargo. May I inquire as to where... Byudapest is, you bahstad!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Nothing will be greater than Keanu pronouncing Carfax Abbey "Cah-fecks Ehhbeeh". Nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nofuture Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Do Cena fans whine about him being buried and being reduced to the midcard for two Wrestlemania's in a row when he's arguable one of the biggest draws and merch sellers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHFP Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 That would be like Yankees fans whining about not making the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I actually want to see them bring back the lawyer as a regular part of Rusev's act. Trying to figure where his accent was going from sentence to sentence was an easy highlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh_tag Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Do Cena fans whine about him being buried and being reduced to the midcard for two Wrestlemania's in a row when he's arguable one of the biggest draws and merch sellers? do you honestly believe it's anything close to the same thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 That would be like Yankees fans whining about not making the playoffs. I'm a Yankees fan. I want them in the playoffs every year. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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