A WWE tournament

[healyz84]

This is just an idea I have had floating around for some time, and I thought it best now to share it. I think that the wwe needs to have a major tournament. Besides the KotR, which has not been around for a long time(expect if you count that event a few years ago), the wwe has not had a real good tournament since survivor series 98 to crown a new champion. And while some of you may think that this was a terrible tourney, I don't think it was at all. A good 16 wrestler tourney on one show, where really unless you were psychic you had no idea that the Rock was going to win the tourney and as a result create alongside McMahon the Corporation. This was a compelling tournament that had many good matches on the card.

Anyways my idea for a tournament is a little bit different. You realistically cannot have a major tournament on one show like this in the wwe at this time, and this in large part due to injuries(which will definitely happen). So my idea is to have a 32 man tournament which will encompass all 3 brands, and it will pit all the top superstars against one another to find out who is the best in the wwe. The winner of this tournament as well will get a guaranteed title match against the champion of their choosing, and if it is a champion who wins the tournament, then they still get a shot at another title, add some old school wrestling where champions could hold more than one major title at a time(brands are almost like different promotions, so that would work). This is the perfect time for a tourney such as this because for the most part, every major wwe superstar is not on the injured list(well except for Mysterio). You have returns from Big Show, Jericho, JBL, to go along with superstars such as Taker, Batista, HBK, Cena, HHH, Jeff Hardy, MVP and so on. Never again I think will you have an opportunity such as this. Anyway my idea is that this tournament begins in June(when generally the ratings are lower, so its a chance to raise the ratings). The announcement for the tournament could be made after the June ppv(vengeance I believe). Anyway the tournament will begin after the June ppv and continue on until Summerslam, where the semi-finals and the finals will be held. So between these 2 ppv's, you would have the round of 32, 16, and the quarters, held on all 3 television shows(about 1-2 matches per show). I think this would be excellent because it would get the fans interested a lot(tournaments tend to do this) will create unpredictability(when you have the best fight against the best, going to be hard to see who will win. Ie. Cena vs HHH, HBK vs Taker ect.) It would be a chance for an up and coming superstar to add a lot of credibility(ie Hardy making it to at least the semi's would cement his status as a main eventer). It would also be a good chance to start up new feuds, maybe even create some sort of stable ala 98. Of course there would be some disputed finishes, but this only helps to create some feuds, in that their are screwjobs followed by worse screwjobs. At the summerslam ppv, you begin the show with the 2 semi final matches, and then the main event being the finals. And then of course the winner is crowned the best wrestler in the wwe and gets a title shot against whomever they want.

So what are your thoughts on this, would this work, would this not. Is it a completely insane idea that should be buried. Is there ways to tweak this idea to make it that much better, and so on.

[HartsyThaiFood]

I agree a nice, unpredictable tournament would add a little something to WWE programing. Especially if it were to have major implications, such as eliminating the MitB match at Wrestlemania and rather having a tournament where the winner gets a guaranteed title shot whenever at any point in the next calendar year. This would help create a new star in many ways and also give the viewers the chance to see some new, interesting feuds we may otherwise never have seen.

Shame, though, that if this were to come to fruition, odds are we would see the same old crap as we do now, only in a tournament setting. I mean, do we really need to see HHH vs Snitsky AGAIN and have it mean something? Bleh. If they could shake things up, I am totally in favor (eg; Jericho versus 'Taker 'er something).

[healyz84]

Your more than likely going to see dumb matches like Snitsky vs HHH, but for the most part that should only be in the first round. This would be because if there is going to be all the top superstars, there is enough so that 16 real good main eventers should be in the tourney. I wanted to be a 32 round tourney just so that some of the up and comers could have more credibility, say, finishing top 4 in a 32 man tourney as opposed to top 4 in a 16 man tourney.

[Siege27]

I think its a great idea healyz84. Everything is in your idea to make it a great tourney, but the only thing I would say is that it really wouldnt have any suspense. This is only because there are going to be the odd few wrestlers who arent gonna wanna lose. for example, if HHH was to compete against say, Umaga, HHH wouldnt want to lose that match. He would do everything he can to get to the finals.
So if the pickings for who will fight who were totally random, then it would be a great thing, for example - Jericho against Undertaker, as someone said earlier. But there would be too much match fixing and I think the outcome of each match would be too predictable.
Maybe im thinking too deep on this one, but otherwise, great idea.
just a thought.

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Hell, man, I'd be perfectly fine with another King of the Ring tournament lol.

But yeah, the tournaments are much better than the quick "Beat the Clock" competitions when the outcomes are even more than the standard level of "predictable".

HartsyThaiFood has a good point, though. Snitsky and the other "write off"s would have to be in the first round. We know Hardy wouldn't lose to Super Crazy, Batista wouldn't lose to Chuck Palumbo, and CM Punk wouldn't lose to Steve Richards. It'd be interesting to see a full-roster tournament, though, so we can get some fun matches like HBK/MVP, Carlito/Punk, Umaga/Undertaker, etc.

I'm all for the idea, but I doubt they'd do it. They're much more concerned with "how can we make both Cena AND Triple H a god amongst men?" Lol

[michaelj817]

I could stand a good tournament, but what is the storyline? Why are we having it? Did someone get stripped of the title? I don't want to see a tournament just for the hell of it. I want there to be some logic behind having it. At least from a wrestling perspective.

I know you said the winner is #1 contender for the title of their choosing, but I think that takes away from the Royal Rumble concept. If you are going to have a tournament, have it mean something by being about something. Nobody watches the NFL playoffs to see the winner challenge last year's Super Bowl champ at the beginning of the following season. As a fan, if I am going to invest my time into watching a tournament, I want it to pay off with a winner. Not a winner who will go on to challenge and possibly lose to the champion at a date in the possibly distant future.

I also doubt WWE would do anything at this point in the realm of having one man hold more than one major title, and risk possibly diminishing a single brand's title. RVD being the last, but the idea behind that was to get him over as ECW champ and try to build it up.

A tournament can only be done every so often, and it has to be very well thought out as to what it will accomplish for not only the winner, but everyone involved. I am not against the idea, but it needs a stronger foundation to really work. If done properly though, WWE could generate a year's worth of storylines out of it and its aftermath.

[C.M.V.P]

I think the only way a 32-man tournament would be good if WWE was only one brand & not 3 brands like they have now because for example if Smackdown wants to do a tournament for the World Heavyweight Championship, who's going to compete in the 1st round of the tournament? Festus vs Undertaker? Moore vs Batista? It wouldn't be as exciting if WWE was only one brand because it would be too predictable. If WWE was only one brand, you could have more exciting matches & more unpredictable matches like MVP/Kennedy or HBK/Batista

["Rush" GSP]

I love the idea alot to be honest. A big tournament like that would be a hell of an idea. I think one week on RAW Vince comes out and says he has an announcement next week that is going to rock the foundation of the entire WWE. He then comes out the next week and announce a 32-man tournament that will determine the best superstar in the WWE with the winner getting a title shot at a ppv or a time of their choosing. And have the final four at Summerslam. Have the two semi finals matches open the show and then have the final close the show. To me i think right now the final four would have to be John Cena, HHH, Jeff Hardy, and Edge. I think screw people over in the tournament on a couoplel of occassions would be good cause it would be really hard to get down to a final four without a couple guys getting screwed out of matches such as Undertaker, HBK, and Batista. Hell these guys getting screwed out of matches could lead to some good feuds maybe down the road. All in all i see a Cena, HHH, Hardy, Edge final four and in the end i think John Cena wins becuase they are trying to build him not only as a great but one of the top guys of all time.

[Rusty]

Yea I definately agree its a great idea. I think you could have 13 superstars from Raw, 11 from Smackdown! and 8 from ECW.

However I think in order for this to work, the first 2 rounds should be done like this: wrestlers must only face wrestlers from their own brand. That should get rid most of the midcarders.

Then when it gets to the quarter finals have the wrestlers face each other from different brands eg.. Batista vs CM Punk, Triple H vs Edge. Or in the final match there could be a triple threat match containing 1 participent from each brand.

I agree this has to happen in a few months when the WWE's ratings start to sink. Also I would have a few upsets in the round of 16 or quarter finals eg.. MVP beats Batista, Y2J beats HHH etc. I hope that if this tournament was to actually happen.. a world champion wouldnt win it since there will be no need.

Actually I wouldnt be against an ECW superstar winning it because heyy.. that belt needs more credibility and having an ECW superstar winning it could possibly get their ratings up a bit and could push a guy lyk Shelton Benjamin or Elijah Burke to near main event status.

[Davi323]

Obviously, a large scale tournament like that would need to have a really good reason for being around...that means at least one World belt would need to be vacated...(Like say a triple threat match at Wrestlemania having a no-contest type ending, with all three being unable to finish the match, or something like that. When they had the tournament in WMIV, it was because Andre won the belt, and gave it to Ted DiBiase, and then Jack Tunney (figurehead WWF President) declared that since Andre gave the belt up, he wasn't champion, but WWF rules prevent someone from being given a title, so DiBiase wasn't champion either, and the title was therefore vacated...It would take something like a vacated title to merit a tournament. I must say though, a tournament would be welcome viewing. I love them, because you end up getting surprise winners booked every now and then.

If we were to have a large scale tournament, company wide, I would want the 1st round matchups to be totally random. IE, draw ping pong balls out of a hopper to choose opponents. We might get a Mark Henry vs. Snitsky, which would be a great bathroom break match, or we could end up with Cena/Undertaker in round 1...that would be incentive to watch, wouldn't it? You simply can't seed wrestlers like you can in basketball, so you either have to be totally arbitrary, and plan every 1st round match ahead of time, or make it totally random. I like random, just for the surprise value.