US Championship Open Challenge

[TheICChampion]

On SmackDown, we saw Cena say that he would be defending the US title on a weekly basis in an Open Challenge, meaning anyone who wants a shot can have it. Forget for a second that we essentially know he'll beat just about anyone WWE sends out there, and that Rusev has his rematch at Extreme Rules. Do you think they will keep the concept and do it week after week at least as long as Cena holds the belt or will it drop off fairly quickly? Is it something you want to see? Is this a good way to re-build the US title by giving Cena a different challenger every week, thereby making it seem everyone in the back wants that championship? Again, I know Rusev has his rematch, which means, for now, that we pretty much KNOW Cena won't be losing the title until their program is over. I personally like the idea and feel, for now, it's a good start. I just wish they had waited until Rusev and Cena finished their program first. So, what do you think?

 

[Navi]

On SmackDown, we saw Cena say that he would be defending the US title on a weekly basis in an Open Challenge, meaning anyone who wants a shot can have it. Forget for a second that we essentially know he'll beat just about anyone WWE sends out there, and that Rusev has his rematch at Extreme Rules. Do you think they will keep the concept and do it week after week at least as long as Cena holds the belt or will it drop off fairly quickly? Is it something you want to see? Is this a good way to re-build the US title by giving Cena a different challenger every week, thereby making it seem everyone in the back wants that championship? Again, I know Rusev has his rematch, which means, for now, that we pretty much KNOW Cena won't be losing the title until their program is over. I personally like the idea and feel, for now, it's a good start. I just wish they had waited until Rusev and Cena finished their program first. So, what do you think?

It's great to see the title defended, but do we really want to see going over everyone on the roster? My guess is we'll see people like Heath Slater, Titus O'Neal, you know wrestler's that are basically mid card jobbers going for it. We got Ambrose the other night, but we won't see Reigns, Ziggler or any other upper mid card or main event talent. That was a one of.

After Rusev gets his rematch win or lose, then you might see someone like Reigns either answer the challenge and beat Cena for it. If Rusev wins it back, then the same, Reigns will start up a feud with him and eventually win the title at Summerslam or something like that. He can hold onto it for awhile gaining the experience he needs for another main event shot.

 

[LuckyLouie]

Im hoping it would be an open to a new guy just like Cena came into the WWE. Can you imagine Balor, Itami, Owens, Zyan come out to Cena and give him some ruthless aggression of their own. Kurt Angle put over Cena big time on his debut, now Cena is in thesame shoes. He will start to make or break careers.

 

[Hem]

I'm not into the whole concept of defending the title every week. Last time I heard that, Devon was saying it in TNA and now the title isn't even on TV!

While I'm sure WWE has a plan with this whole thing but I don't see it working out for a period longer than maybe 2 months, at max.

How about instead of Cena defending the title every week - theres a tournament.

Once a week 3 matches (one on Raw, Smackdown & Main Event). The tournament happens for three weeks a month meaning there will be 9 matches or 18 contenders. The winners of these matches face off against each other on the last week on Raw, SD, and Main Event. That leaves a total of 3 contenders for Cena come the PPV on week four. The three contenders and John Cena can go at it every month in a different match up, the people choose that.

This gives an opportunity to use all of the talents without having them all face John Cena. It may provide fresh match ups. Gives a consistent storyline. Offers different match ups like Championship Scramble, Hardcore, Elimination, Ladder, Tables, Steel Cage and so on so forth.

Every month you reshuffle the matches, add new people in, give a fresh taste of match ups and showcase a lot of people who don't get a chance otherwise.

My idea appeals to me but I'm sure many people would be against it as it doesn't give one a personal feud and is just more of the I want to be a champion so I'll beat everyone.

 

[TheICChampion]

I'm not into the whole concept of defending the title every week. Last time I heard that, Devon was saying it in TNA and now the title isn't even on TV!

While I'm sure WWE has a plan with this whole thing but I don't see it working out for a period longer than maybe 2 months, at max.

How about instead of Cena defending the title every week - theres a tournament.

Once a week 3 matches (one on Raw, Smackdown & Main Event). The tournament happens for three weeks a month meaning there will be 9 matches or 18 contenders. The winners of these matches face off against each other on the last week on Raw, SD, and Main Event. That leaves a total of 3 contenders for Cena come the PPV on week four. The three contenders and John Cena can go at it every month in a different match up, the people choose that.

This gives an opportunity to use all of the talents without having them all face John Cena. It may provide fresh match ups. Gives a consistent storyline. Offers different match ups like Championship Scramble, Hardcore, Elimination, Ladder, Tables, Steel Cage and so on so forth.

Every month you reshuffle the matches, add new people in, give a fresh taste of match ups and showcase a lot of people who don't get a chance otherwise.

My idea appeals to me but I'm sure many people would be against it as it doesn't give one a personal feud and is just more of the I want to be a champion so I'll beat everyone.

Good point, now that you mention it I remember that, only thing is it wasn't Devon who said the title was gonna be on the line every week it was Hogan. And I like the idea of a tournament, after all what makes a title more important than everyone wanting to go after it? And besides, they can always have a feud stem from the match. But if this is all for building the title itself, it makes sense that somebody would say that they don't care who's holding the belt, they just want it and they'll fight whoever they have to in order to get it. Sure, beating Cena would be huge, but it shouldn't be someone's main reason for challenging him. The main reason should be they want the US championship.

 

[kadroan]

It's great to see the US title being defended every week in an open challenge. It's different. I hope to not see him face jobbers. I rather see him face young talent and people lost in the shuffle like Ambrose to put on good matches.

 

[Prince Vee]

I really like this idea but its pretty obvious John Cena won't lose the title till Extreme Rules. But maybe after that? What if Adrian Neville or some new meat would come up to answer the challenge? Or it can make way for some legitimate buildup for the title match for every Pay per Views. But it's Cena's job to push talents now. But will he?

 

[OldSchoolWrestlingFan]

Im hoping it would be an open to a new guy just like Cena came into the WWE. Can you imagine Balor, Itami, Owens, Zyan come out to Cena and give him some ruthless aggression of their own. Kurt Angle put over Cena big time on his debut, now Cena is in thesame shoes. He will start to make or break careers.

When I first heard him talking about the Open Challenge this is exactly where my mind went - he showed up and punked Kurt it would be fantastic for him to pay it forward & do the same thing for an up & comer!

 

[MCMG]

It's definitely an interesting idea. Weekly might be overkill but monthly could definitely work. Or maybe once a fortnight but every single week could become tedious. I'm not sure there are enough guys on the roster for that to actually be a viable idea.

NXT should certainly play a part. Zayn, Owens and Balor are three very talented guys and could all accept the challenge. Zayn/Cena for 20 minutes could easily be one of the greatest Raw matches of all time. Cena wins and they shake hands at the end. Zayn would have instant credibility.

I would love this open challenge to set up a Cena/Owens feud. Maybe just before Sumemrslam with Owens coming out to accept the challenge but he takes out Cena. Cena v Owens at Summerslam for the belt could be fantastic and he is a worthy opponent to drop the belt too. Cena could then go forth and rejoin the WWE title picture.

The WWE trying to boost the interest in the US title is great news. It also gives Cena fresh opponents and makes each Raw unique. Guys like Harper, Ziggler, Stardust and the aforementioned NXT wrestles would be great opponents.

 

[Барбоса]

It is an idea that could go either way.

One of the best periods that the US Title had in recent years was when Cesaro was defending it regularly against various high-flyers and having tremendous contests. Cena is more than capable of performing a similar service for the US title and for the overall wrestling quality on the main shows. Having guys like Ambrose, Cesaro, Kofi, Ryback, Rowan, Harper etc. living with Cena in a range of matches in a variety of styles will do wonders for them and the title.

As already mentioned, it would also be an excellent way to bring up/showcase nXt talent. Cena vs Neville would be show-stopping, Balor/Itami could debut answering the challenge and take Cena to a draw and get a rematch at a PPV.

However, as with almost every good idea to emerge in WWE, there is always that seed of doubt of whether Vince and Creative will allow it to bloom as a positive idea, giving a positive rub to various layers of the roster or whether they will just start feeding numerous talents to Cena to banish in mere minutes for no real reason or under the misapprehension that Cena crushing the lower ranks at will would make the US title look good.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

No. I think it could do more harm than good. Over-saturation is rarely, if ever, a good thing.

For one thing it is lazy booking. Sure it makes Cena look like a fighting champion, but we know that anyway. If the challengers aren't perceived by the crowd as viable - and there's not a lot who would be seen as such - then fans will lose interest very quickly.

What WWE - and many internet commentators - need to realise is that it is NOT the name on the belt that makes it more prestigious, it is how that title is booked. Dean Ambrose is a case in point: he held the US title for a year, as part of the best faction in over a decade. Yet his inherent lack of defences, or more specifically storylines, did more harm than good to the belt.

If Cena defended the title once a month, at the ppv events, but was given strong storylines - highly possible given who we are talking about - then the US title will return to its rightful pedestal; if Cena just beats streams of low- and mid-card wrestlers, then the US title will still be seen as a joke.

 

[Mustang Sally]

If the challengers aren't perceived by the crowd as viable - and there's not a lot who would be seen as such - then fans will lose interest very quickly.

A good point, yet it can be overcome by not allowing the booking to become lazy. If management can mix it up and occasionally have a top contender come running down the aisle, they might make it an anticipated weekly event, with the fans anxious to know who'll come running out. In addition to the complement of O'Neals and Slaters, why not have a main event guy come down once in a while?

Along with that, why not an occasional legend? What if the fans fall to silence doing their weekly wait to learn who will be announced as Cena's opponent.....and Kevin Nash comes down the ramp to do battle? Bubba Ray Dudley? Triple H, himself?

They shouldn't let it become a joke by sending down people like Hornswoggle; make it guys who can give Cena a battle. He seems able to work with anyone and make 'em look good.....here's a chance to use that ability.

Is it show business? Yeah, but if they can make it a program that fans look forward to every week, making Cena look like a strong champion while his foes are viable opposition, it could add spice to a show that many fans complain is overly predictable.

 

[Radical]

It's a good idea. It'll only be for another 3 weeks and I don't see him doing it on SmackDown so we are only talking probably 3 more opponents.

It'll give some guys with less exposure a good chance to get a boost. They won't win but Cena will let them throw him around for a while until he pops up with a AA and doesn't even cover the shoulders for the easy 1,2,3. But hey, that's the Cena formula so you can't expect much difference.

The open challenge will work best with at least one 'newbie' challenger. Someone from NXT like Zayn or Neville.

Certain guys should not go up against him like Ryback, Wyatt or Big Show (might still happen, just saying I don't think it should) since them losing to Cena again won't help them. As opposed to guys like Erick Rowan, Stardust, Adrian Neville could actually benefit from the exposure and chance to look good facing someone the caliber of Cena.

 

[Crispin Noir]

ive been thinking about who would be my ideal person to come up from NXT and challenge Cena as he did to Angle, and have settled on Kevin Owens. A Canadian coming up and doing what he's promised to do in NXT, take all opportunities to become great. However its not his size that would make him immedietly look like a threat to Cena, but if he walks down and talks crap to the point Cena gets so riled up he launches the offensive then Owens could do his whole 'roll out the ring' shtick and essentially use Cenas ruthless aggression against him, even citing how irate he got at rusev and saying he's not just a big guy who can fight, he can manipulate and read people.

so yes in answer to your question i do like the open challenge provided we get a big payoff and exciting debut for someon

 

[TempestH]

It's great to see the US title being defended every week in an open challenge. It's different. I hope to not see him face jobbers. I rather see him face young talent and people lost in the shuffle like Ambrose to put on good matches.

If Cena is going to be defending the title every week on RAW, he kind of needs to face "jobbers" and lower card level guys.

Bigger names should be saved for PPV matches and actual feuds

Plus, the U.S. Title is a midcard title. With Cena and Bryan holding onto the US and IC Titles, WWE basically has three "uppercard" titles and zero "midcard" titles. Cena needs to defend the belt against actual midcarders, not just the uppercard guys who have nothing better to do.

 

[OYDK]

I'm alright with Cena doing this, but it's kind of illogical to have Cena vs Rusev set for Extreme Rules, while at the same time having Cena call out "anybody" that wants a shot. Uh, hello? Why doesn't Rusev just come out every week... Like others, I think this would be more effective were it not a weekly thing. There have been some posters that believe Cena should face jobbers or mid-carders per week, but really what's the point of that? It does nothing for Cena, the person he's against, Rusev, or, most importantly, the US Title, and it takes up about 15 minutes a week for a rather uninteresting match.

Anyway, I can see this open challenge shtick lasting for a couple weeks after Extreme Rule and I assume it will be used to set-up a feud... I'm kind of hoping that this doesn't last past Payback as it seems a little too gimmicky for my liking. Also, I don't want to see John Cena in a heated feud with somebody over the US strap while defending the title every week... it makes no sense to me personally.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I am thinking Neville will be amongst the first to "take advantage" of this... not that he'd be the one to win but he's a perfect guy to benefit from the rub just as Cena did in his early matches with Angle and Jericho and a loss to Cena early won't hurt him as much as the standard "build a streak then lose" they use for new debutants.

Neville is someone who can have an "instant classic" with Cena, get some major credibility on the roster by pushing him close and can then be seen as a legit challenger for those mid card titles early on in his tenure. His reaction was pretty strong on Monday... so I can see him being the first or second to take advantage, almost a re-run of Cena's own debut...and if that match is good, I can see him challenging Bryan the same pretty soon afterwards too.

I can see actually Sandow and Miz both going for this too. It'd be interesting to see Sandow v Cena again in a few months, especially if they let him be the guy to take the title after losing his MITB match to him.

 

[enviousdominous]

For fucks sake. Why did they put the belt on Cena again?

John is what I call "make believe" over. Sure, he has a throng of fans that appreciate his hard work. They've been appreciating his hard work even though it's been the same redundant garbage since 2004. For them, you don't have to do some stupid invitational title defense angle to make his title reign interesting. He's still waving his hand in front of his face, so their ticket price was well compensated.

For the other 90% of planet Earth, to include remote island tribes untouched by modern society, John Cena is fucking boring unless he's doing something that draws our ridicule. Thus, you must put a belt on his bust if his presence is just.

So every week John is going to invite anybody to come to the ring and challenge him for the US title. That's so fucking interesting. He might have three takers up until Extreme Rules. Really shows how badly people want to challenge for the US Title. Say, maybe I could challenge for the... oh wait. Dean is already walking that way, I guess I'd rather finish this cup of coffee instead of share the ring with John Cena. John Cena is over, because that's what we're being told by the grandiose wizard behind the curtain.

Maybe, take some tv time away from John Cena jaw jacking out his ass in an attempt to rebut the "John Cena Suuuuuucks!" lyric and have a battle royal every week to determine who challenges John Cena for the US Title. The idea being; only the first thirty men to make it to the ring will participate. No entrances, no flair, no pageantry. They duke it out and immediately after John Cena comes out and the US Title match commences. Maybe then it would look like a few more people actually care about being US Champion.

 

[KromyD]

No doubt Cena will be used to push a couple midcarders after his fued with Rusev. Will probably see him up against Rowan, Stardust & Neville hopefully. Wouldn't mind him losing it to Reigns at Survivor Series/Summerslam in a fued around than, could really give him a good run with that title for now than build him up to the world title.

 

[MCMG]

NXT should certainly play a part. Zayn, Owens and Balor are three very talented guys and could all accept the challenge. Zayn/Cena for 20 minutes could easily be one of the greatest Raw matches of all time. Cena wins and they shake hands at the end. Zayn would have instant credibility.

So yeah, I never got one of the great Raw matches of all time. I didn't even get 20 minutes but it was enough. Zayn's debut was perfect and he is now exposed to a greater audience. It was probably my two favourite wrestlers and Zayn looked great (despite the injury) and Cena played his role to exception.

The open challenge has been great so far. Sure there have been too many kick-outs from the AA but that's a small note. The matches have been fun and different guys on the roster have received an opportunity.

There are still guys like Ziggler, Big E, Kidd, Harper and even Slater who may receive a match with Cena. As with Zayn, I'm looking forward to more NXT guys making their debut. Balor is the obvious names and it should be fantastic if/when it happens. Sami's injury might delay his progress a little but he will get there. Except from one match he is done with NXT and this was a fantastic way to start his career on the main-roster.