Seth Rollins out 6-9 months with torn ACL

[The Man Known as Dan]

The problem here is the statement of "If WWE were smart".

[Phantom Lord]

HHH trying and failing to mentor Dean because heel Dean is like heel Seth Rollins after 7 progressively more malfunctioning clone generations have been made would be pretty funny.

 

I just pictured them trying to make him wear a suit. Dean show's up in Bing Crosby's denim tuxedo and Triple H is like "ehh, close enough".

 

[The Nature Boy]

Dean would wear a tuxedo shirt and we all know it. 

[Josh Mann]

Dean would wear a tuxedo shirt and we all know it.

Observation, not complaint, I would hope.

Also, 9 months, let alone 6, is the wishiest of wishful thinking if his knee is even as remotely bad as reported.

[The Nature Boy]

 

Dean would wear a tuxedo shirt and we all know it.

Observation, not complaint, I would hope.

 

 

Total observation

[piranesi]

My wife's friend said Rollins' skin is the only thing keeping his upper/lower leg attached. YEESH. Does he come back from this at 100%?

 

He's been training the shit out of that skin though.

[Josh Mann]

My wife's friend said Rollins' skin is the only thing keeping his upper/lower leg attached. YEESH. Does he come back from this at 100%?

He's been training the shit out of that skin though.

As we found out last year, not EVERYWHERE.

I'll show myself out.

[Raziel]

C'mon guys, we know there's only one way this ends:

 

http://youtu.be/Am4oKAmc2To

[Brian Fowler]

Dean vs. Bray was bad as a midcard feud, why would be it good as a main event?

[The Nature Boy]

Dean vs. Bray was bad as a midcard feud, why would be it good as a main event?

 

It'll have fewer exploding TVs this time. 

[Charlie M.]

Owens is the best choice.

[J.H.]

Surprised so many people are fantasy booking Bray Wyatt. You're picking the wrong Rounda brother.

 

Ya gotta BO-lieve!

 

James

[Jiji]

While I think Dean has a long ways to go in the ring, he had two matches with Rollins in which I thought he looked like a complete star. The "lumberjack" match was all Dean, all day and a good match that captivated the audience. Better yet was the extreme rules match on Raw. That was a great match. Even saying that, I don't think he's quite where you'd want him to be just before you put the belt on him. Ideally, your champ can have good matches with most people on the roster and that isn't the case with Ambrose yet. He needs to cut some of the shtick out of his routine and come up with some new stuff. 

 

Charlie's right, Owens is way more polished for that position as either a face or (obviously) a heel.

[SirSmUgly]

Because Ambrose right now isn't a very good wrestler, let alone someone I'd pay to see wrestle PPV main events? 

 

This matters much less to the company right now. You're probably watching those PPV main events on the Network, and even if you don't like the champ, you'll probably stick around for some of the other content anyway. I know I did during these dreadful Rollins months because, hey, NXT and old Nitros.

 

This isn't to say that they should put the gold on Ambrose (though it wouldn't be the worst idea because he's legit over), but to say that they shouldn't be conservative because they really don't have to be. Cena's not going to be the guy that brings RAW ratings back up to 4.0s anyway, so might as well try to create a new star that hasn't plateaued with this opportunity.

 

Well, that, or put the belt on The Rock and milk the publicity as much as possible.  

[Greggulator]

Least flawed heroes in pop culture are popular now? I am sort of daft at that sort of thing. But it feels to me like the bad boy anti-hero thing is behind us.

Daniel Bryan wasn't an anti-hero. He was a formerly vegan vinyl collector who was the best but kept getting the rug pulled from under him. He's the first ever nerd -- I.e. the fan base -- champion.

Cena isn't an anti-hero. He may have had some inconsistencies but he's a military loving American Male who touts "never give up" and kisses babies. And he's one of the most popular wrestlers ever.

I think Dean should be the heel here. Make him a dastardly, conniving lunatic. Have Roman chase him. Bam.

[AxB]

Does Lesnar's contract specify how many dates he works, or how many matches he has? Because I can't see them using up a bunch of his handful of appearances in one night, plus they don't want him to be Champion (or he would be), and they don't want him to lose meaninglessly.

 

So basically, I don't think he'll be in it. Samoa Joe though... he's been in NXT long enough that he could be considered an NXT guy, rather than a TNA guy. And having him reach the finals and lose to Reigns on his first night could make him. The world needs a Samoan vs Samoan feud.

[HumanChessgame]

I'm hoping for a 16 person tournament (or an 8 man with "qualifying matches") with the first round playing out on the next two episodes of Raw.  The four first round matches can each go < 10 minutes, then be followed by the divas match, then the second round, then an elimination match before the final.  I think that could all fit on the show with relative ease, especially if you move the tag titles match, and maybe another 8 man elimination match with some of the other tag teams/midcard guys to the preshow. 

 

As much as I like the idea of Bray Wyatt going far, he and his crew are over enough and have a prominent enough position in this deal with Taker & company without being involved in the tournament.  Maybe one of them loses in the first round?  Perhaps they drag off another person or two (I'm thinking Big Show) in one of the opening rounds to continue to set up Team Wyatt vs Team Taker.  That can be a nice long elimination match to go on before the tournament finals. 

 

It would also be cool to have one NXT guy win a battle royale or something to get a spot in the tournament, even if they were to go out in the first round.  As far as the eventual winner, it seems like Reigns is the obvious choice.  I'd love to see Owens in the finals but since he and Del Rio have the secondary titles, neither of them need to go that far.  Owens losing to Reigns in the semis then dropping the IC belt later on, followed by winning the Rumble would be my preferred way to book him.

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

I'm certain one of Cena, Del Rio, Lesnar, Sheamus, or Reigns is walking out as champ, and honestly, Lesnar is the only one who I care about right now.

 

The guys that I would find interesting (Rusev, Cesaro, Ambrose, Owens, Wyatt, Bryan, Big E) are all hurt or have absolutely no shot.

 

Coming up next: Predicting what day of the week tomorrow will be.

[The Nature Boy]

 

I'm certain one of Cena, Del Rio, Lesnar, Sheamus, or Reigns is walking out as champ, and honestly, Lesnar is the only one who I care about right now.

 

The guys that I would find interesting (Rusev, Cesaro, Ambrose, Owens, Wyatt, Bryan, Big E) are all hurt or have absolutely no shot.

 

Coming up next: Predicting what day of the week tomorrow will be.

 

 

[Niners Fan in CT]

I laughed but why Orton

 

[brandonr4s]

I'd put the belt on Ambrose.

[w. josh]

Ambrose's in-ring work should be an easy fix, because he's pretty much devolved into his current state over the past year or so. He was doing all sorts of fun mat-based stuff in NXT with Regal and Rollins, was striking a better balance between tactical and crazed in The Shield, and was even a more well-rounded worker as Moxley working the garbage match circuit. He's seemingly gotten sloppier and schtickier since the first main event run against Rollins because someone decided at some point that he was their new Foley. I imagine if he was told to cut out the cutesy stuff and tighten up his strikes again, he'd be able to transition back to something more Top Level Guy worthy.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

A world were Triple H spends 40 minutes in the Rumble this year isn't a perfect world.

In that scenario though, once more, Cesaro seems like the good pick to make a run.

Just blatantly copy the 1999 Rumble and have Triple H leave for like 40 minutes after Dean gets taken out in an ambulance. Or just have Dean enter #1 and make a run through the Rumble without HHH's involvement.

I like Cesaro and a deep run in a tournament would be good for him but there's NO WAY I insert him into a World Title picture until after Mania. That needs to be all Dean and Roman. Unless of course you want Cesaro to play the Mankind role as the secondary babyface who is turned face by Roman's betrayal, but even that doesn't make much sense.

For what it's worth, I think just perfectly copying Reigns into Rocks role is a terrible decision. The best case scenario to me is still Wyatt walking away with the belt.

I think you have to do something with Reigns because Dean is the guy I'd push as the lead face in this era. He fits the whole rugged, bad boy, flawed hero dynamic that is popular in pop culture these days. Reigns as the kiss-ass, arrogant heel works. He's the perfect pretty boy and Ambrose is the kid from the other side of the tracks. It's a classic narrative.

Dean/Roman is money, it's a long standing friendship broken up because one guy sold out for the ultimate prize. It's a story that writes itself. The Authority can cut promos about how Dean is just some rugged kid from the streets and that people like him don't become World Champion while touting Reigns with his good looks and wrestling pedigree as the ultimate champion. To The Authority, Dean is worse than Daniel Bryan. Dean is from the streets, he's dirty, he's the opposite of what The Authority wants representing WWE.

We complain that WWE doesn't do stories any more. There's one right THERE that they could do. Cesaro or Bray with the belt doesn't get you an engaging angle.

God, I wish we could end up with a world champion and storyline that doesn't somehow involve The Authority. That dead horse has been decomposing on the side of the road for weeks when some hobo searching for bottles of trucker piss looking for a meth high decides, "What the hell? I might as well stick my dick in this rotting carcass. I've got nothing better to do."

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Good a time as any to take the piss out of the authority angles.

 

Have two duelling attempts from Vince and HHH to recreate Deadly Game. HHH bringing in and trying to help his NXT guys take over (Owens, Balor, Joe). Vince bringing back Cena, Big Show and Angle.

 

Everyone else involved are just happy to be there and wrestle for the title, and are largely apathetic to the mostly failed goings on and manoeuverings around them. By the night of the PPV, HHH and Vince are both convinced everyone involved are double agents just waiting to turn, and are so burned out in the space of 2-3 weeks of it, that they just don't care anymore, and let the better man win.

 

Wyatt then takes the title after a main event of 20 run ins, heel turns, lesbian reveals and a pregnancy.

[bink_winkleman]

Least flawed heroes in pop culture are popular now? I am sort of daft at that sort of thing. But it feels to me like the bad boy anti-hero thing is behind us.

Daniel Bryan wasn't an anti-hero. He was a formerly vegan vinyl collector who was the best but kept getting the rug pulled from under him. He's the first ever nerd -- I.e. the fan base -- champion.

Cena isn't an anti-hero. He may have had some inconsistencies but he's a military loving American Male who touts "never give up" and kisses babies. And he's one of the most popular wrestlers ever.

I think Dean should be the heel here. Make him a dastardly, conniving lunatic. Have Roman chase him. Bam.

 

The "action hero" thing is what's behind us, and that's what D-Bry and Punk both proved.  Like Orton years ago, Reigns' problem is that he looks exactly like what outsiders who look down on wrestling assume wrestling champ guy looks like, and he's too generic and scripted to really bring the fanatics in.  He also doesn't have the presence of a Cena, so any kid appeal is going to fizzle.

 

On the other hand...Rick Grimes is the most watched character on TV that isn't on The Big Bang Theory.  Suicide Squad is, like, a really shitty movie that's about to come out and do decent box office.  Anti-heroes are alive and well.  Dean needs to be the face and they need to abandon the Reigns-Top-Guy project before it's too late.

 

I'm an outlier, though.  I thought the sole, only, singular problem with Rollins' title run was The Authority.  It was no different than when the same group of assholes hijacked Jericho's first run all those years ago and fucked up his title reign and the ratings surrounding it.