5 Bold Predictions For 2017

[That N Word]

This has been a very unpredictable year for WWE. We saw the debut of TNA Legend AJ Styles and win the WWE Championship,Bullet Club (even a if it was a modified version) in WWE,Goldberg return,The return of the Brand Split,John Cena began semi-retirement,Shane McMahon return,Randy Orton join The Wyatt Family,the return of the Women's and Cruiserweight Division (and of course the championships.) Needless to say it's been a crazy year of surprises. This year has been unpredictable. We can expect 2017 may be even wilder. Here's my 5 Bold Predictions for 2017.

Roman Reigns will become "everybody's" favorite wrestler again- Back in 2014,Roman Reigns not only became the most popular member of The Shield. But after Daniel Bryan got injured,he became the most over Superstar in the roster. Majority of the WWE fans turned their back on Reigns,due to feeling he wasn't "ready." Which at that time he wasn't. As we got to 2015, Reigns improved upon his wrestling ability and stole the show at more Pay Per Views than almost anyone. Reigns however was still missing two things.... Charisma and Mic Skills. As we got 2016, Reigns slowly started to gain that swagger needed to be at the top. Truth be told he already had it,if you watch old footage. However,the responsibility he was being given was a bit much for the "Big Dog" causing him to nit be as good as he could've been. Keen on making Roman "THE Guy," WWE continued anyways...until Roman got suspended. Since coming back, Roman has improved in every step of the way. He's not even a bad talker anymore. He's no CM Punk..but then again..Who is? In 2017, I expect the WWE to better appreciate Roman Reigns and his willingness to improve and step up.

Kurt Angle will return to the WWE-Kurt Angle hasn't been seen in a WWE ring in a decade!! Can you believe it?! Angle left WWE and went onto to another (at that time) for another's Major Promotion...TNA Wrestling. Angle just like in WWE,would go on to be a TNA Legend. In fact he's one of the only members of the TNA Hall Of Fame. Angle left TNA back in 2014 and has been a Free Agent every since. With that being said, I think 2017 may be the year that we finally see Angle back. Word on the street is that both parties are on good terms and with Angle just recently turning 48. Its safe to say it's now or never. I think we may see Angle return in the 2017 Royal Rumble Match,or shortly thereafter.

WWE and CM Punk will work everything out- CM Punk left the WWE on the worst of terms in 2014. CM Punk would later state jokingly in a interview that he would never return to WWE. Punk then later went on to "mean it." Now while I don't see a CM Punk return to WWE in 2017, I see the two sides working things out at the very least. I think we could get the return of AJ Lee and eventually CM Punk in 2018. Impossible? Well I guess you haven't watched WWE TV in the last 4 years,

John Cena will turn heel and become a 16x World Champion- John Cena has been in the WWE for almost he better part of 2 decades. Cena has been billed by many "The Ultimate Babyface" or "The Ultimate Superman." For so many years, we've heard "He'll never turn heel." However, now we might just see that. Cena is no longer a Full-Time Performer and as JR stated,"John probably never will be again." I'd give it less than 4 years before Cena hangs up the boots due to the growing love for the Movie Scene. In 2017, not only do I see John Cena turning heel...but winning his 16th World Title on the process. The opponent? Finn Bálor for the soon to be renamed,WWE Universal Championship,or The Undertaker for the WWE Championship.

Randy Orton will retire-As with Cena, Orton has been in the WWE for nearly 20 years,15 to the exact come April. Over the past few years, we've seen Orton suffer injury after injury after injury. Injuries was once rare for Orton. But here lately, he seemingly f**ks up his shoulder or neck or a concussion. With that being said and as much as hate to see it happen. But I think Randys done in 2017. If he fucks up that shoulder one more time it's safe yo say he 's done. Whether that be by force from doctor or by WWE. Knocking on wood but next year could be the final year of the...R.K.O.

What's your bold predictions? I'm interested to see. Comment Below!!

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

1 - John Cena turns heel

2 - The Hardy Boys return to WWE

3 - Smackdown goes to 3 hours

4 - Undertakes loses at WrestleMania again

5 - Vince gives up full control to HHH & Stephanie

I'm not sure if any of these will happen, but they all make sense. Vince is 71, so how much longer will he want to be in control? Cena is part-time, and everyone turns eventually. The Hardys will eventually return, just like almost everyone. Also Raw went 3 hours, so you never know with Smackdown. Anyways 2017 should be a good year.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

1 - John Cena turns heel

2 - The Hardy Boys return to WWE

3 - Smackdown goes to 3 hours

4 - Undertakes loses at WrestleMania again

5 - Vince gives up full control to HHH & Stephanie

I'm not sure if any of these will happen, but they all make sense. Vince is 71, so how much longer will he want to be in control? Cena is part-time, and everyone turns eventually. The Hardys will eventually return, just like almost everyone. Also Raw went 3 hours, so you never know with Smackdown. Anyways 2017 should be a good year.

That is long overdue. Vince passing the torch will only make WWE great again. I'm not saying WWE is bad, but with HHH/Steph at the helm, it could be great.

 

[#tamale]

Just a quick note on CM Punk. He will also need to publicly apologize to Dr. Amann. Now, on to the bold predictions.

Roman Reigns will face Lesnar again. These guys had good chemistry and a great match at Wrestlemania 31. It's just too good a formula for it to be wasted on just a one off match.

Undertaker will face AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 33 for the WWE World Championship. This is more wishful thinking on my part. I want to see this match. I also want to see Samoa Joe vs John Cena at Wrestlemania.

The Authors of Pain will dethrone The New Day. The problem with facing The New Day has been that their challengers always fall for their antics. The New Day's run has to be ended by a no nonsense powerhouse tag team. The Authors of Pain fit the bill.

Charlotte will continue to dominate the women's division. It doesn't seem like a stretch to state this, but I just don't see anyone in that division getting to her level. Not even Sasha or Bayley. I'm excited at the possibility of Charlotte vs Dana Brooke.

John Cena will not reach 16. It hurts me to predict that. I will love nothing more than seeing that record tied by Cena. It just seems that Cena will be too busy in 2017. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[LoveReignsO'erMe]

Not to nitpick, but a lot of these are not bold predictions. Many of the "bold predictions" being posted here are pretty popular rumors in the dirt sheets.

A bold prediction would be "No former shield member will hold either of the top 2 championships in the calendar year 2017". I'm not saying I am making that one of mine, but it has to be something that when you first hear it you say "nah, no way". That's what makes it bold.

Here's one: Rusev will be main eventing a PPV as a challenger for one of the two major world titles.

 

[MWRedskins]

1. Samoa Joe debuts at the Royal Rumble and either wins it or gets some type of major Wrestlemania match...my hope is vs. AJ Styles for WWE World title

2. Finn Balor returns at either Royal Rumble or sometime before Wrestlemania and challenges Kevin Owens for Universial Championship, Jericho will also be involved in a triple threat show stealer.

3. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar will be hyped up, Brock will win a match where he looks beaten down and sneaks out a win.

4. John Cena vs. Undertaker will be a good match, Undertaker will beat Cena, he'll go back into his part time WWE Wrestler/actor thing.

5. sometime this year, Roman Reigns will win a major title (WWE or Universial title) and the fans will still not give much of a care for him because we'll want to see someone else (like Cesaro or Zayn holding it).

 

[Mudlup50]

Again most of these predictions aren't that bold, they're legit rumors people have talked about already this year. So I'm gonna take a stab at this

1. Rusev will win the a world Championship- Rusev is criminally underrated and 2017 looks to be a year for that to change. He's been in a major spot for years now and really deserves to take that spot up, my guess is with the Money in the Bank Briefcase maybe even going to Smackdown to keep his feuds interesting.

2. Both World championships will change hands at Wrestlemania- I wanna say the only time this has happened is at Wrestlemania 21 but this year, it looks likely we'll see this again. With both world champions on long runs(especially for this year), WWE looks like they're booking both champs to lose it at Mania.

3. We'll have single digit world champs by the end of the year- Right away we have Owens, Styles but with the rumor that Taker takes the belt off Styles we'll be at 3. Then both titles swapping hands at Mania we're already at 5! Cena's record tying reign will most likely be a lengthy one going till at least Summerslam where whoever takes it off him will probably be booked pretty dominantly until the end of the year. Balor will most likely get the long run he was most likely going to have on Raw, before he drops it to AJ probably around July.

4. Cena and Orton will form a Modern 2 Man power Trip- I've been saying for years that these 2 should take over the tag division and with the way Smackdown has run it's tag division it could be likely next year after Cena drops his world title. Imagine the 2 biggest stars of the last decade as heels taking on American Alpha

5. Cesaro/Zayn/Crews and others return to the indies- I'm surprised there isn't more talk of this, the WWE has really dropped the ball on a lot of mid card guys. People like Crews and Zayn almost have nothing to do at points and with another influx of NXT talent they'll have even less to do. Maybe they'll take off and head to the indies to regain some value

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

I agree above, you can't be making a Bold prediction if you are the fourth person on this thread alone to predict Cena will win 16 titles or Taker will retire at WM.

Bold predictions have to be pretty far out there and slightly unpredictable.

1. Female division will have their own Royal Rumble match.

2. Nia Jax will be the next first time female champion

3. Big E leaves New Day, but Kofi and Xavier remain.

4. Sami Zayn wins the Royal Rumble

5. NXT becomes a weekly show on TV

 

[Navi]

I don't know if these are predictions but more of me wishful thinking.

1. Put all the women on the same roster, same with the tag team division. Example, put the women on RAW and the tag teams on SD. They have watered the divisions down by doing it the way they did.

2. Hopefully the rumour's aren't true and Styles will not to go RAW. According to the dirt sheets Vince loves the way he works and wants to move him to the flagship show. Keep him on SD for another year, and give him someone other than Ambrose and Ellsworth to feud with. That's where the draft is so important.

3. Send Rusev to SD to feud with Corbin. Rusev is doing nothing on RAW and Corbin needs a Rusev to show he can mix it up with the big guys.

4. If they don't trade Rusev, bring Joe up to the main roster and put him up against either Styles or Corbin. I have a feeling though Styles next feud will be either a returning John Cena or Taker.

5. This is a silly one. Just once can we see what Eva Marie can or can't do in the ring. Then she can go back to just doing her entrance and I'll be happy with that.

 

[Mudlup50]

I don't know if these are predictions but more of me wishful thinking.

1. Put all the women on the same roster, same with the tag team division. Example, put the women on RAW and the tag teams on SD. They have watered the divisions down by doing it the way they did.

I'm always confused by why people would want this so hopefully you can explain it to me. I get that currently there aren't enough women to run 2 divisions but wouldn't the simple solution be to expand the women's rosters of both shows? If the point of the whole Diva's/Women's revolution was to establish them as an integral part of the show and every bit as much a draw as the men, segregating them to one show would argue against that! I think the best thing to do is to actually build the women's divisions, being as the WWE doesn't seem to care how many programs they air why not have a weekly show for the Women wrestlers a la 205 Live? It can be a brandless show.

I also wanna say that the brand split has done wonders for the women of Smackdown, Becky Lynch was getting buried underneath Charlotte and Sasha like how Bayley is now, she goes to Smackdown and has really recovered her brand if you will. Alexa Bliss would not have gotten a shot either on Raw. One division would bury these women into the bottom of the card. Even Carmella has been built up by the brand split, the only women who haven't are Raw women, at least to me

 

[Navi]

I'm always confused by why people would want this so hopefully you can explain it to me. I get that currently there aren't enough women to run 2 divisions but wouldn't the simple solution be to expand the women's rosters of both shows? If the point of the whole Diva's/Women's revolution was to establish them as an integral part of the show and every bit as much a draw as the men, segregating them to one show would argue against that! I think the best thing to do is to actually build the women's divisions, being as the WWE doesn't seem to care how many programs they air why not have a weekly show for the Women wrestlers a la 205 Live? It can be a brandless show.

I also wanna say that the brand split has done wonders for the women of Smackdown, Becky Lynch was getting buried underneath Charlotte and Sasha like how Bayley is now, she goes to Smackdown and has really recovered her brand if you will. Alexa Bliss would not have gotten a shot either on Raw. One division would bury these women into the bottom of the card. Even Carmella has been built up by the brand split, the only women who haven't are Raw women, at least to me

In order to expand the rosters where do you get the wrestler's from. Last time they stripped NXT of most of their women, and had to bring in Mickie James to face Asuka at NXT Takeover Toronto. While that wasn't a bad thing, you need more than 6-8 women per roster to make up a good division.

Do you remember the tag team division of a couple of years ago. The Uso's carried that on their backs, as the WWE was down to scrambling to fit people together to face them. This is what we are seeing happen with the women's roster right now on both shows.

You have Tamina out with an injury, Eva Marie has been on suspension and even though it's up, where is she. Emma was supposed to be back and isn't. They don't know how to book Naomi for shit and Paige is out indefinitely. So right now you have Sasha and Charlotte on RAW, Becky and Alexa and Nikki and Carmela on SD in decent feuds. The rest are just sort of doing nothing.

So even with a smaller division they aren't booking them properly. Plus if you move the tag teams to SD and put all the women on RAW or vice versa, you will free up time on both shows to book more than a couple of decent feuds. We don't have to see Nikki and Carmella every week or Charlotte and Sasha do we? Seriously I have little confidence in the RAW creative team that they can do anything. Last night for the first time in a long time we got a decent RAW, usually it's the drizzling shits. SD viewer wise is a much more exciting show to watch.

 

[stingray11214]

1) The Royal Rumble: Shinsuke Nakamura comes in at #28. Samoa Joe comes in at #30. Joe will beat up Goldberg, and Nakamura will deliver the Kinshasa to Brock Lesnar, knocking him out of the RR. The Final Six will be Goldberg, Joe, Nakamura, Rusev, Chris Jericho, and....James Ellsworth. Ellsworth will get thrown around like a rag doll. Goldberg and Joe will be pounding each other...until Rusev comes in and knocks them both over the top. Jericho and Nakamura will be pounding each other. With Jericho down, Nakamura Kinshasas Rusev, but then Jericho attacks Nakamura. Rusev tries to dump both over the top, but goes over the top himself. Jericho and Nakamura wind up on the floor, but not over the top rope. So....James Ellsworth WINS the Royal Rumble....Or, so he thinks...Chris Jericho comes back into the ring and delivers the Codebreaker, and dumps Ellsworth over the top. Chris Jericho WINS the Royal Rumble...Or, so HE thinks....he turns around....and into a Kinshasa from Nakamura! Jericho gets dumped over the top and SHINSUKE NAKAMURA WINS THE 2017 ROYAL RUMBLE! He will face AJ Styles in the Main Event at Wrestlemania for the WWE Strap

2) Wrestlemania: Bayley is told she will have to go through the Winner of the Women's Classic for her shot at Charlotte's strap. Those plans are changed when Stephanie tells Bayley that if she wants to defeat Charlotte, she needs to defeat one of the greatest female wrestlers in history. SO, the buildup is Bayley is contacting everyone from Trish Stratus ("Bayley, I am done with wrestling! No, Bayley, I am not your opponent! I'm hanging up! Bye!") to Wendi Richter ("Are you for real?!? Stephanie's scumbag father screwed me!" "click") to Alundra Blayze (Bayley, I have not been in a ring in almost 20 years! I am not going back now!") So, at the going home RAW, Bayley defeats a local female. And is wondering out loud who this "legend" is. Then, the lights go out. When they come back on, and older Asian woman in black is standing in front of Bayley. And, proceeds to beat Bayley all over the ring. Stephanie comes out and says "Bayley, I did say you would be facing a legend. I did not say that it was a WWE legend. But, a legend in this business. Allow me to introduce to you your opponent at WrestleMania. The woman considered by many the greatest of all time. Bayley, meet Manami Toyota! Good luck at WrestleMania, Bayley." Stephanie then sneers, "You'll need it!"

3) In a match that will be considered one of the greatest WM matches in history (Meltzer, LaBar, Tokyo Sports and Slyfox will call it MOTY at the end of 2017) Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles will fight a 37 minute war in the Main Event. Kinshasas and Styles Clashes galore. Kicks, punches, chops, lots of strong stuff. Both men beat each other to within an inch of their lives. Kevin Dunn and VKM are having coronaries in the back. Shane, Trips and Stephanie are whooping it up like kids at the spectacle. The crowd has been going cuckoo the entire match. One final Kinshasa, and Shinsuke Nakamura defeats AJ Styles, at 37:25, and becomes the the first Asian to become the duly-recognized WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Be back later with 4 and 5. They will be doozies.

 

[Shocky]

1. Bobby Roode will be a World/Universal champion during the second half of the year.
2. The Revival will end the New Days record tag title reign.
3. John Cena will tie the world title record, and will not turn heel.
4. The Broken Hardy boys will appear on WWE programming.
5. The WWE Network will expand with its Indy territory programming. Either ROH will sell to the WWE or TNA will finally go under
6. NXT goes live on Wednesdays, goes 90 minutes, 205 Live moves to Wednesday nights following NXT and films from Full Sail.

The WWE is gonna be very unpredictable in 2017. The Network has changed the way we should think they do business. There is a real possibility the WWE will have at least 5 traveling brands (Raw,SD, 205 Live, NXT, WWE UK).

 

[Wald]

1. CM Punk will wrestle again....for New Japan Pro Wrestling

NJPW need a few major attractions, Punk could do with the payday and it keeps the idea that he's an outsider going for any eventual WWE comeback. Plus its an FU to Vince from Punk and from New Japan for poaching AJ and Nakamura

2. The Shield will reunite....as a heel stable with Triple H turning babyface

I think all of Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose could do with a character change so why not reunite them and switch things up by having Triple H as a babyface GM on Raw?

3. WWE Raw will have an hour cut and become a two hour show again

The ratings aren't good, something needs to change to get the flagship show's numbers moving again and I think this will allow WWE negotiate the timing of the show.

4. WWE will trial and possibly launch a Network only women's wrestling show

They have the talent there and they need original content for the Network so why not try a Network show built around Asuka, Bayley, Charlotte etc. and see if the show can go from there similar to the 205Live show?

5. Daniel Bryan will wrestle against AJ Styles in 2017

Bryan v Miz is in the works for Mania and I think Bryan goes over and shows Vince he's not fully done yet. That leads to Daniel Bryan v AJ Styles in a dream match at Summerslam 2017.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Since when has Orton and Cena been a 20 year veteran? 15 years is nearer the mark!

Orton retiring doesn't make a lot of sense, but I can see him leaving WWE for a bit and maybe either heading to Japan or just taking a break. Whether it's wellness related remains to be seen... he tends to have a "blip" every few years where he does something stupid... but at this stage he really is the "lost in the shuffle" guy like Jericho was when he first left. 2 or 3 years away, for the fans to really miss him and he could come back for one last big run.

As for my bold predictions...

1) Nakamura vs The Miz at Wrestlemania...and they change places.. We're not getting Bryan, but I can see them using it to bring Shinsuke up with Bryan making the stip that if The Miz wins, he loses his GM job... but if Miz loses he has to go to NXT rather than RAW. That way you can have some way for Regal to be involved too with the negotiatons. Miz goes to NXT for 3 or 4 months (or takes a break while he "sues") and helps build some of the guys down there like Bobby Roode so that when they're on the main roster later in the year - they can go into the title picture quickly and have a ready built enemy.

2) Money in The Bank returns to Wrestlemania
The IC ladder match has run its course, it requires a direct equivalent on whichever brand doesn't get that PPV. So it makes more sense to bring it back to Mania and have 3 brands represented (maybe even 4 if you count 205) so theres a way to bring NXT talent up or move Neville etc. back into the top title picture.

3) Vince McMahon has a medical situation that takes him off TV permanently
Everytime I see Vince I get the sense something is gonna happen. His "not sleeping" mentality is gonna catch up with him...those bags under his eyes, the repeated quad injuries and yes, the roid use.

They're gonna catch up. Vince is the sort of guy that if ANYTHING happens that damages his look, he's gonna not be on TV. He'd hate having to use a cane or the like and "look" like an old man. There's been talk of sight issues in the last few years... I hope nothing bad happens, but I just get the feeling we and WWE are "due" a big problem and Vince is prime for it.

4) Shane McMahon is named Vince's Successor as Chairman
Whether the above happens or not, there clearly seems to be some succession planning going on. Shane is onscreen becoming the "more important" McMahon and will be having an impact backstage as well. With China opening up for WWE, Shane becoming the main man after Vince is more important than ever. He has the pedigree and experience of being in that market and many of the players will want to deal with him... not Steph or Trips. Add to this Linda's new responsibilities taking her away from the business... it means Steph is gonna be needed elsewhere and Vince needs to be out of the "firing line where he can damage her (or the administration).

Pretty much you'll end up with Shane in Vinces role, Steph in Lindas and Trips in charge of the wrestling product by the end of this year

5) CM Punk returns to WWE with Connor McGregor in tow.

I don't think he'll have to "apologise" although it might be a funny skit for them to run with he and Shane. They fell out, but lawsuits can be smoothed over. Ultimately Chris Annan isn't bigger than the company. If they need CM Punk back then it happens and he has to accept it or move on. Punk coming back makes sense if they can get Connor for an appearance in his corner to set something up with him/them for next Wrestlemania.

I could imagine a Summerslam appearance for Connor, where he gets in someones face and looks like he's gonna get overrun... very similar to Foley's "I didn't come alone" speech against Evolution that saw the Rock return... It would play well that to get Connor they had to let him bring someone with him they didn't want to etc... Cult of Personality hits and Punk and Connor do a 2-man Power Trip deal... Let's face it, once he gets his fight with Mayweather he's going to want to promote it everywhere... with Floyd being a WWE alumnus too, then he might come along too!

6) A Roster Member Passes Away
As with Vince, I get the sense we and WWE are "due" one - not seeing a Benoit type situation but an Eddie type death. There are a few guys who have done damage to themselves in the past or had issues. Someone like Regal who has had heart issues linked to his former drug use or someone who has clearly roided in the past. Of course accidents can happen too. Sadly I won my friends "Dead Pool" by calling Randy Savage and Amy Winehouse in the same year... I can see a very tragic one this year if 2016 was anything to go by.