Christian Returns

[jameswalsh292]

Since Raw this past Monday, I have been waiting for a thread regarding Christians return to read what you lot have to say about it. It's still not here so im taking on the responsibility of creating one.

Maybe you missed it. Maybe I was just dreaming that it happened or that so much went on this week that it went over everyones head. Well its not good enough, Christian deserves more then that.

I have two questions.

1) What do you think WWE has planned for Christian?

2) What would YOU personally like Christian to be doing?

I think WWE will have him play around in the mid card. Maybe feud with Fandango (Christian could be funny taking the piss out of him) or Wade. I could also see a brief teaming with miz to take on swagger and cesaro. I think they will pop him into mitb and highlight the fact that he is a vet in ladder matches. I see him being lost in the build to Summerslam and being on the pre show.

What I would like to see is a feud with CM Punk. Punk just started a feud with brock so I know its not going to happen, but its what id like. More then anything I would like focus and direction for christian, a reason for the fans to get behind him. Christian has the ability to connect with the crowd so give him another opportunity.

If you dont give a toss about Christian you can do so by not commenting, as thats the most powerful thing you can do to reinforce your non tossing.

 

[Dagger Dias]

1) What do you think WWE has planned for Christian?

I think he will be helping out in the midcard. Goodness knows both the Intercontinental and US Championships need more strong matches to help make the belts important again. Christian feuding with either Axel or Ambrose would be fantastic. He would make them look like true champions, which is good considering they already both have more than enough in-ring ability to put on matches worth watching. I can see him feuding with both midcard title champions at some point and both feuds have a ton of potential. If WWE want to make those belts important again this would be a step in the right direction.

2) What would YOU personally like Christian to be doing?

What I would LIKE to see is Christian get ONE MORE MATCH (you know those promos are coming) for the World Heavyweight Championship and go on to win it once more. I loved his run with the belt, it was much deserved and he had such a good feud with Randy Orton. The best would be if he got to have another world title run while feuding with guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Alberto Del Rio, or even Dolph Ziggler. If he doesn't get another title run then I at least hope to see him get a title shot against one of the above for one of the world titles. That would be a show-stealer easily.

 

[Diet Soda]

It won't be long before Chris Jericho once again departs WWE to embark on another tour with his extraordinarily average rock band, and I expect Christian to fill the void that Y2J leaves behind. Sure, Captain Charisma may not have the accolades or the drawing power that Jericho can gloat about but as far as an Attitude Era veteran sticking around to put the constant influx of younger talent over, Christian is a fairly solid go-to guy. Until, of course, he gets injured again.

I'd have him float around the mid-card scene, maybe mingle with Curtis Axel and Fandango, or perhaps use him as part of a new 3-man combo to rustle with the Shield.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

I'd like to see him feud with main eventers but I just don't think WWE is that high on him right now. So, how about feuding with Swagger, and Cesaro? Zeb Coulter can bash him for being Canadian. Christian is good on the mic so he should be in a feud where he has to talk.

 

[wrestler36]

Funny, Fandango and Barrett were the first people I thought of Christian working with, just like you said. I agree, I think he'll be in the midcard working with younger talent and helping them get over. He's a ring general, gets a solid pop and keeps people interested in his matches.

 

[MCMG]

It was great to see Christian return and I am intrigued to see what the WWE does with him. There are effectively two ways to go about it: putting over younger talent or "one more match".

ADR v Christian is a real possibility if Ziggler isn't cleared for MITB. It is a quick-fix but still keeps viewers interested because Christian is loved by the fans.

I think the immediate future sees him in a MITB match before heading into SummerSlam to be paired with a younger superstar. My guess would be either Fandango or Curtis Axel. They mentioned that he previously held the IC belt and that sets up the feud with Axel. Fandango is simply because he needs someone to feud with and they would be a good fit- I reckon a match between the two would be fantastic.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I fully expect Christian to immediately jump into the midcard title picture as Dagger said. Either Ambrose or Axel. Now it might not be a coincidence that his return match was against the former IC champ, Wade Barrett. That's an easy way for Christian to maintain that he should be involved in the IC Title picture. As another poster already pointed out, Christian has no problems putting people over, so him losing to Axel is completely forseeable.

What would I like for him to do? I'd like him to get back into the WHC picture. That's just unlikely since it's currently filled by ADR and Ziggler. Not to mention, Christian just doesn't have any real drawing power.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

Personally, I don't see the big deal. I like Christian, I think he's very entertaining on the mic and in the ring, but I don't understand why people are so demanding that he be given the World Title. I guess because you're sick of Del Rio, Sheamus and Big Show? Yeah I can see that I suppose.

But I feel Christian would be best in a feud with Curtis Axel to help get him some heat with the fans, because right now I don't think too many people care about Axel.

 

[Aquaman6686]

1 - Nothing special. Vince DESPISES Christian and always has, he refuses to put him on top of the card for any lengthy period of time, and sees him as nothing but a run-of-the-mill midcarder. At best he'll get a fifth Intercontinental Championship or finally win the United States Championship.

2 - I'd like to see Christian get back into the main event scene (as a face) where he is desperately needed. If it was up to me, I'd have Christian beat each member of The Shield in singles matches to build up momentum, then go after the WWE Championship. If Henry beats Cena for the title, I'd like to see him hold it for a few months, then have Christian beat him for the title at Survivor Series. Christian deserves to main event at least one WrestleMania in his career, and I'd love to see Christian headline WrestleMania 30 as the WWE Champion. But it will never happen in a million years, Vince has no faith in Christian and never has.

 

[rocksaviour]

Vince as we know isn't a fan of Christian so I believe he'll be kept in the same zone as he has been (when medically cleared) since his 2nd reign as World Champ ended, that is feuding with or having some sort of association with the Intercontinental Champ on the card, it maybe wrestling whomever the champ is or tagging with him or going against the next contender in waiting for that particular strap (if WWE are ever going to have that foresight again).

I would like to see him in more of a role like Jericho, just below the main event scene but appearing on pretty much every PPV in whatever role. Use the 'Peep Show' segments I believe Christian is a far better talker than Miz so in the void that is left when Jericho next goes, it should be Christian taking on that role. He is reliable enough in the ring to get a talent over, I must admit as a fan of his over the years he isn't going to be in a big spot on the card for very long, yes there he has had his solo high points in WWE like 2004-2005 and 2011. I maintain it was always a shame that his spot was taken by Matt Hardy in the conclusion of the Edge/Jeff match at the Rumble in 2009 and resultant feud. So wrapping up, I would want to see Christian some how be on RAW every week and have at least a minor feud going on all the time.

 

[JamJam]

Christian will probably be helping out the midcard since we all know how much Vince isn't a fan of Christian, which is ridiculous. How can you not like Christian? But anyway, I think he'll be in a feud with Curtis Axel tbh and I wouldn't mind that. Axel's been growing on me and him winning the IC Title has made me like him even more. There's just a lot they can do with a Christian/Axel feud, so I wouldn't be surprised if they went this route.

Like everyone said, I want to see Christian get one more run at the WHC at least. If that's the case, I think he gets into MITB. But I honestly don't see them giving him one last shot because of Vince's opinion on him, which is a shame.

 

[flawd101]

I haven't been a fan as long as most of you. what is christian's past with RVD like? I would be surprised if RVD has worked with a lot of the newer talent.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It's to Christian's advantage that he's coming back at a time when WWE has adopted the strategy of giving the old, familiar names their chance to run. I'm talking about Brock, Rock & RVD; old time names we knew and followed. Yes, unlike them, Christian has been with the company all along, but he's been out with injuries so much it's almost the same as when he came back from his time in TNA. I'm having a hard time remembering the last time we saw him in a WWE ring, although I do recall he was effectively functioning as a jobber.

WWE is doing two things simultaneously: bringing back old stars and trying to build new ones with pushes to "never-was" guys like Joe Hennig, Johnny Curtis and the Uso's.....and an unlikely (imo) title run for Dolph Ziggler. Of course, a good mix of old and new is always a good way to go. Whether the new guys will become the stars Vince McMahon wants them to be remains to be seen, but the time-tested strategy of featuring the old guard is always sound. In fact, Wrestlemania in the past couple years has been built around it.

The WWE future for Christian? Probably what it's been since his world title run ended; he'll contend for minor titles in the short run....and be a stepping stone for young bucks in the long run.

Hey, it's a living.

 

[Aquaman6686]

I haven't been a fan as long as most of you. what is christian's past with RVD like? I would be surprised if RVD has worked with a lot of the newer talent.

As far as I can remember, the only interactions Christian and RVD had was back in the fall of 2003, when Christian was in his third reign as Intercontinental Champion. Christian successfully defended the title against Chris Jericho and RVD in a Triple Threat Match at Unforgiven. Because Christian cheated to win, he was forced to defend the title against them again in singles matches on RAW. Christian beat Jericho but then lost the title to RVD the next week. As far as I know, Christian never even got his rematch (at least not on TV or PPV), and they never wrestled again to my knowledge.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

The problem I see with Christian in the WWe is that he doesn't have the ring style to overcome his (relative) small stature. The likes of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit got past this by looking legit bad asses, suplexing their much larger foes like it was nothing and CM Punk has overcame this with his stiff looking strikes. Even the likes of Y2J has the musculature to help us (somewhat) overlook being on the small side. Poor Christian (and I think Cody Rhodes will always suffer the same problem) just does not look intimidating and his ring style doesn't scream tough guy.

IMO, this is why he has never and will never be in the upper echelon of WWe superstars. As, to his return on Monday night, I enjoyed seeing him back in the ring but was much less impressed with Triple H pointing out that he'd been medically cleared for 5 weeks as if to say that RAW wasn't really worried about getting him back.

What will he do? Make MitB look good, make the Shield look good, make Fandango look good... basically what he's always done - make people (often, less talented people) look great.

 

[RedRegan1005]

I have always been a fan of Christians in ring work. Now that he's back i think they'll probably have do some pointless midcard feuds. Or maybe they'll move him into a program with the shield.
I would actually like to see him moved into a program with the Shield. I think he should team a younger wrestler and feud with Rollins/Riegns for the Tag Titles. Christian is a great tag wrestler and if he was teamed with a younger guy he could help him get over.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

The problem I see with Christian in the WWe is that he doesn't have the ring style to overcome his (relative) small stature. The likes of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit got past this by looking legit bad asses, suplexing their much larger foes like it was nothing and CM Punk has overcame this with his stiff looking strikes. Even the likes of Y2J has the musculature to help us (somewhat) overlook being on the small side. Poor Christian (and I think Cody Rhodes will always suffer the same problem) just does not look intimidating and his ring style doesn't scream tough guy.

IMO, this is why he has never and will never be in the upper echelon of WWe superstars. As, to his return on Monday night, I enjoyed seeing him back in the ring but was much less impressed with Triple H pointing out that he'd been medically cleared for 5 weeks as if to say that RAW wasn't really worried about getting him back.

What will he do? Make MitB look good, make the Shield look good, make Fandango look good... basically what he's always done - make people (often, less talented people) look great.

I somewhat agree although CM Punk looks like a homeless bum and Jericho with short hair looks like he's in a boy band. I agree about Christian's style though. That could somewhat be holding him back although he is good in the ring and good enough on the mic. I think his biggest problem is that he'll always be in Edge's shadow. In some ways Edge got Christian over but also, Christian has always been a poor man's Edge, IMO.

 

[JustAnotherJames]

I'd have prefered if Vickie never announced him and rather he just came out unannounced, I think that way it would have been a more exciting moment than it already was.


1) What do you think WWE has planned for Christian?
Well I think they'll use him to help out the mid card guys and help strengthen the US/IC Titles.


2) What would YOU personally like Christian to be doing?
I'd love to see Christian get a push towards one of the big titles because he sure does deserve it and has the potential to create an excellent feud with anyone who is holding either one of the titles [WWE, WHC Titles]

 

[HBsam31]

What do you think WWE has planned for Christian?

I would imagine that the WWE just has the usual plans for Christian. He will wrestle in the mid card possibly winning one of those titles, and they could possibly have him chasing the World title at some point. They never seemed to have faith in Christian as a main event star so I don't see much different from him this time around.

2) What would YOU personally like Christian to be doing?

I actually would like to see him bring some prestige back to a midcard title. I think he could really raise the stock of the IC and or the US titles. I would like to see Chirstian get one more shot at carrying the World title. He had a great program with Orton the last time around, and I think he could really help that title out a lot if he got a significant run with that title.

 

[M]

I don't think they've got anything planned with Christian currently other than being another number in the Money in the Bank ladder match, and just being there as a veteran who can pop up from time to time to give meaningless matches to break up the monotonous formula of chucking the same two people in a match 6 times a month. He'll probably end up holding a midcard title at one point but he won't do anything of note.

What I would like him to do would be filling in Jericho's shoes when he inevitably leaves again, i.e. an upper midcard guy who can consistently put over people while still keeping believable as a guy who could win bigger matches. I'd probably give him a feud with Cesaro or Del Rio or something to keep him occupied, or even a Fandango feud if they're still trying to get him over.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I would like to see Christian continue his hot streak and win a series of matches against all of his opponents, and then interject himself into the World Heavyweight Championship scene again. I'm not sure if he'll ever win it for a third time, but I wouldn't mind seeing him as a chaser. Christian still has a lot left in him and can still fluidly move in the ring. He's pretty significant as someone that can put over talent as well since he has the name value. Hopefully he doesn't get injured again and will be able to provide more entertaining promos where he makes fun of his opponents. That was one of the main elements of Christian that made him great to watch.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

1) What do you think WWE has planned for Christian?

Well, as we heard on Raw, Christian will be part of the WWE Championship MITB Ladder Match at the ppv. However, I think it's all but guaranteed that Christian will not be Mr. Money in the Bank, nor will he be a contender for the WWE Championship anytime soon. As a result, based on what we saw last Friday, I think WWE will put Christian into a feud with Dean Ambrose over the United States Championship. While I personally believe that Christian could have been a long term main event star for WWE, I think that ship has sailed. Christian turns 40 on November 30, so it's a safe bet that the best years of his career are behind him. Much like Chris Jericho, though not to as great of a degree, Christian is someone who can often look like a star while ultimately putting someone else over. If the past 7 months have been any indicator, Dean Ambrose, at 27 years of age, appears to be someone that WWE has long term plans for. Regardless of whether or not you feel Christian could have been a main eventer or not, it can't be argued that he's, at the very least, a top notch mid-card & tag team wrestler. With WWE having essentially buried the mid-card titles during WrestleMania season, having a top notch mid-carder like Christian feud with the much younger Dean Ambrose can only lead to good things in the US title scene.

2) What would YOU personally like Christian to be doing?

If this was 5 years ago, I'd have very much wanted to see Christian in the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship picture. If he did wind up there even now, I wouldn't complain. However, as I alluded to, I think the peak years of Christian's career are behind him and there are a lot of young & fresh talent on the roster or ready to be brought up to the roster at any given time. With younger guys like Bryan, Ziggler, Axel and Ambrose being pushed into significant spots; using established veterans like Christian to put over these younger wrestlers is probably the best use for him. Christian isn't the future of WWE, maybe he could have been 10-12 years ago, but that's just how it is.

 

[CMBielat]

Christian is a really good and entertaining Wrestler. He fits Perfect for the World Wrestling Entertainment. He gets the crowd on their feet and going! Christian and Edge were a perfect Tag Team, Probably one of the most entertaining Tag Team's Ever! I would really like it if Christian would be more of a role like CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Or like Ryback. What I mean by that is I want him to be in more Main Events, Cut Scenes, and more... Basically I really hope Christian gets more attention than he does now and play a bigger role in the future as his WWE career goes on. -CMBielat

 

[jameswalsh292]

Things have been looking up for Captain Charisma lately. This past RAW he pinned the World Heavyweight champion ADR and has had a couple of wins in recent weeks.

What do you see creative doing with Christian in the near future? Is there another push on the way? Will he be feuding with ADR?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Things have been looking up for Captain Charisma lately. This past RAW he pinned the World Heavyweight champion ADR and has had a couple of wins in recent weeks.

What do you see creative doing with Christian in the near future? Is there another push on the way? Will he be feuding with ADR?

It's possible. Last Monday's Raw was taped rather than being aired live so spoilers were available. I don't read spoilers and I think it helps keep my interest level up. As a result, I was surprised to see Christian score the pin on Del Rio. When you consider that Alberto Del Rio is supposed to name his own SummerSlam opponent on SmackDown! this Friday, it's tempting to think that it'd be Christian. However, as JBL mentioned on Raw, why would you pick someone who beat you? As Del Rio is a heel, I doubt he'd do something as heroic by picking Christian for a rematch to prove that he can beat him.

As Del Rio is a heel, it also wouldn't surprise me if he picked someone that was kind of ridiculous like the Brooklyn Brawler, Doink, Hornswoggle, etc. for his opponent. if that was to happen, then I think something would happen to muck up Del Rio's plans because, let's be honest, WWE isn't going to have the WHC defended at one of their big four ppvs against a gimmicked opponent. So we'll just have to see what happens.

With his win over Del Rio, it's hard not to picture Christian in the WHC at some point in the near future. With Damien Sandow holding the WHC MITB briefcase, I don't see him cashing in on Del Rio. It could happen, of course, but I don't think it's too likely. Del Rio could drop the title to his challenger at SummerSlam only for Sandow to cash in right then & there to become champ. But, with the rumor of a Sandow vs. Rhodes match for possession of the briefcase, a lot depends on whether or not Sandow retains if the match does go down.

Generally speaking, I think the odds of Del Rio leaving SummerSlam as World Heavyweight Champion aren't that good.