Here's How the Battle Royal on Monday should have gone

[Thriller Ant]

I for one, was very happy to see new faces in the contender's battle royal on Raw yesterday. Everyone knew Triple H was going to win, but it was good to see Regal, Miz, Kofi, Hardy, and MVP in there. This isn't a thread to bash Trips vs. Orton round 274 (This time, it's still personal), this is to show how a couple of the guys I mentioned before could have gotten a huge rub from the match.

1. Kofi Kingston: There have been a lot of complaints about the prestige of the midcard titles going downhill in recent years. Last night was a perfect chance to make the United States Champion look very strong, especially against 3 men who had competed earlier in the evening to become WWE Champion. Instead, what we got was Kofi getting his ass kicked most of the match, but surviving longer than 3 other guys (Show, MVP, and Matt Hardy). He got little to no offense in, and the only time they really showed him during the match is when he got a little offense in on Legacy before being eliminated. A performance in which Kofi dominated at least 1 of the other midcarders before being eliminated would have done wonders for him. Instead, my reaction to his screen time at the end was, "I forgot he was even in this match."

2. MVP: You may disagree with me about Kofi, but you cannot deny that MVP was screwed. He has been built up into the upper midcard, just waiting to bust into the main event. He called out Orton his first night on Raw, and even lost his U.S. Title to get rid of his midcard ties. So what do they do with MVP in the battle royal? They have him eliminated second. William Fucking Regal lasted longer in the match than he did. This was WWE's chance to prove that MVP could hang with Show, Cena, and Trips, but instead they forgot about him and worried instead about Legacy, Cena, and Trips being the last 4 men. You can debate whether or not MVP could have been the one to face Orton at the bash (why not save Trips/Orton for Night of Champions or Summerslam? Although I'm sure we'll see it on at least one of those two also), but he definitely deserved a stronger showing in this match.

3. The Miz: The Miz is playing a cowardly, smarky tweener/heel beautifly right now. He calls out Cena, talks shit to Big Show, and all the while, thinks he wins all of the exchanges. This was the chance to actually have Miz get that one-up on Cena. When he snuck back into the ring, have him eliminate Cena, and either also eliminate himself or have Triple H do the honor. The Miz is doing great on the mic, why not give him a chance to get at Cena in the ring. This could have been a perfect start to a great feud to give Miz the rub to become the number 2 or 3 heel it desperately needs. Big Show getting beaten by Cena definitely isn't doing him any favors on the depth chart, so why not give the Miz a chance?

What do you guys think?

 

[S.K. Cid]

Eh, you make some good points, but I think it's a case of overanalysis. First of all, I don't think Kofi looked bad. He hung in there, and that's really what matters. I don't think many people are going to remember how much offense he got in, but about how he stayed in until close to the end. I thought he ended up looking pretty good in the Royal.

MVP did get screwed. As did Matt Hardy. Which leads be to one of the main issues. The Battle Royal was GOOD for once, but do they HAVE to have a monster heel clean house all the time just for unlikely allies to unite to eliminate him? Seriously. Every damned time. And MVP and Matt Hardy had to pay the price just to be fed to the Big Show. It is SO tired.

And lastly, I think people need to calm down about The Miz. He looked great last night. When everyone saw him creep up, the arena and IWC erupted. He's really making his mark on RAW, and I think his spot did more for him than people think. More than likely, he'll be in the Main Event before too long. The fact that they didn't want to begin a Cena/Miz feud BUT STILL put him with the almost-win at the end shows that he is getting recognized. Don't lose hope.

 

[Zeedeevel]

For the Miz i was actually thinking of having him eliminate cena and then have him eliminated by hhh. They need to get that feud with him and cena going so Miz gets that push.

As for Kofi, his time to shine wasnt in that match. While I agree that he should have lasted longer than Regal, keep in mind that he was double teamed and eliminated by Priceless. Other than that I really have no opinion on Kofi

MVP was my pick to win it if Triple H wasnt going to. IMO he was eliminated a little too early, but thats really it.

When you think about it the only way to bring closure to the feud with Triple H and Orton is to have a major match that leaves Orton destroyed. I was hoping the title wouldnt be involved but w/e it can still work. I'm thinking that after the LMS match on Raw that a match with multiple guys will be made for the Bash.

 

[X]

...There are 29 guests viewing this thread. That's creepy.

You brought up several gold points Thrill, though I'll have to disagree on the Kofi Kingston one. I for one don't really understand all of the hoopla over Kofi, he's a good midcarder, nothing more. His gimmick is still too cartoonishly stereotypical for him to be taken serious as main eventer in my opinion.

I've been a fan of MVP ever since his series of matches with Hardy and feel that at the very least a title shot is long overdue. Give him a trial run, see how the crowd reacts to MVP being booked as a face against a guy like Orton. If it catches, run with it, if not, cut your losses and move on.

I'm also (begrudgingly) becoming a fan of The Miz. Despite how much I didn't like him in the beginning, he's starting to impress me. He cuts good promos and is above average in the ring. Last night he really won me over, I could not stop laughing when he shot Hornswoggle with the T-shirt cannon.

But yeah, Triple H winning was just lame. How can McMahon think people really want to see Orton vs. Triple H again?

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Would it have been too hard for them to just have a double finish, like the 1994 Royal Rumble? I mean, Triple H against Orton hasn't just been drove into the ground. That bitch has been driven so far underground, the Chinese Government think we've found new ways of bombing them.

Lets be honest here, the up-coming Pay per view isn't going to be a big one. It's not even going to be a traditional one, since they've just started calling it "The Bash". So what harm would it have truly done, to give someone like Kofi Kingston, M.V.P, or even a double dose of Orton v. Cena v. Triple H - with Orton winning, ala Wrestlemania from a year ago?

Right now, Randy Orton needs to go over someone at The Bash or else he's going to continue this ridiculous streak of Heavyweight Champions looking weak and undeserving.

Guys like M.V.P, Kingston & even The Miz have nothing to lose by losing to a Heavyweight Champion of Orton's abilities - but they have everything to gain, by just having that type of match on a Pay per view. (B-Show)

Shit, even as it stands. Triple H/Randy Orton - Last Man Standing on Raw next week is going to be bigger and better than a regular single's match between them on Pay per view. And I swear, if they up the stakes and change the p.p.v. match to a Hell in a Cell, without it being saved for Summerslam - I'm going to find Trump, McMahon and whatever head of Creative came up with this brilliant idea.. and shove all their heads' up the other's ass.

 

[Nate DaMac]

I'm with you. I was hoping Miz would somehow eliminate Cena, Priceless would eliminate HHH, and we would be left with Big Show and MVP. My hopes were dashed fairly quickly. I didn't hate it, as some fairly entertaining shit happened, but the finish was dissapointing.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Thats another thing that is beginning to piss me off about Groups. I understand why Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes were IN the Battle Royal, but why on earth do the individuals from a Champions' group always have to remain in the fricken match until right at the end?

No one believes they're actually going to accomplish their mission of eliminating who they're there to put out. So why not get it over with after they pick off some lesser names first? You know, like for example having Priceless drop out Regal, and then team up with some others to throw out Big Show, only to then get put out by Triple H, or whoever the main target is, when they try to double team that person?

Battle Royals have lost their appeal to me, like they once had, all because of this reason. You don't end them with 4 or 5 guys who all have a chance to win it. They end them now with the top 1, maybe 2 faces.. and the rest of the individuals from the Champion's faction. Thats stupid. (I never said I didn't understand why it happens like that, I just said its stupid that it does happen like that)

 

[RKO_me]

The whole battle royal seemed quite sloppy to me. Big Show eliminating Matt Hardy in that fasion was hilarious, but why WHY is there always the one superstar to leave the battle royal only to return in the end. Edge used to be the only one now it seems that every heel is going for the cowardly heel role. However, I completly marked out when he poked his head up. I was aware that he rolled out on his own but the announcers didn't even mention him still being in and I figured he came back in and got eliminated when I was making some pizza rolls. lol... Oh, and the best way for WWE to stretch out this orton vs trips fued is to NOT have them face at every PPV. It would have been a great posistion for MVP or Cena to win only to lose to Orton. MVP clean or John Cena after interferance from Priceless and eventually the Miz. Than a group beat down on Cena, with Trips making the save... Setting up an alliance between Legacy and the Miz vs Trips and Cena for the upcoming weeks.

 

[thegodfather]

I am a Triple H fan but i would of loved to see someone new going for the title. I also dont see why it has to be heel vs babyface for the title everytime it could add something different for a change if it was babyface vs babyface or heel vs heel.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

They put themselves in a bind when they announced the Last Man Standing match for next week. I'm tired of seeing Orton/HHH and they are going to have two matches in six days. I agree that it would be a great chance for Kingston, MVP, or The Miz to face Orton at The Bash to test them out. If they are going to end the feud at Summerslam, who will Orton face at Night of Champions. Either it's going to be somebody new, HHH, or a triple-threat match with HHH in it. I hope it's the first option but probably it will be the triple threat at NOC.

 

[Blade]

I agree that MVP should've gotten a better deal. He was eliminated like 3rd, which is ridiculous considering they're trying to build him into a legit main eventer.
It seems to me that they were going to have MVP be the hot new rising star, but then they saw how good Miz was, completely forgot about MVP's push, and put their focus on building The Miz.

I wouldn't have too much of a problem with that if The Miz had actually been booked properly in the battle royale. He should've eliminated Cena, everyone was calling for it, hoping for it. How many people thought "holy shit!" when we saw Miz poke him head up and look in the ring at the fallen Cena and Triple H. Eliminating Cena would've done wonders for him and would've made the feud legit, as well as making Miz look like he could actually back up those claims about him beating Cena.

But all hope is not lost. Trips won the match, not Cena. So Cena is staying away from the title for a bit longer and perhaps we can finally see the Miz/Cena feud finally blossom. And perhaps with Show in there somewhere, he's not really needed.

 

[Kingdoug]

triple h is my favorite wrestler of all time....but they should've let him and cena get eliminated and let mvp and the miz determine who will be number 1 contender..since the wwe does not believe in two heels fighting then mvp should've won and started his push...meanwhile have big show distract john cena and let the miz elimante him thus continue there 3 way fued....triple h should not have even come back so fast he should've waited and when cena wins the title again let him fued with him after him and randy finishes there fued...thus turning the Game heel and having them do a long fued which would end up at mania for the match we have been waiting on cena/triple h rematch....lets not forget triple h cuts his best promos of all time heel...lets not forget the fued with flair about how he had to put him down...that was truely priceless..... but mvp should've won with the miz coming in second

 

[The Palace of Wisdom]

I think I'll quote Ricky Bobby on this.

"If you ain't first, you're last."

In a 10-man TV Battle Royal, what does it matter who got eliminated when? Sure, upper mid-card guys like Kofi and MVP and Matt Hardy should have had better showings, but look at who they're in the ring with. John Cena, The Big Show, and HHH. All three guys who have main evented multiple Wrestlemania's.

Then you have Legacy, and had they not lasted long enough, everyone would have been upset about them looking weak again.

Then you have The Miz, who they are slow-burning a feud with JOHN CENA toward Summerslam. He is pretty much guaranteed a decent run in it.

So, that's 9 out of the 10 participants. Regal is the 10th, so he's a wild card. You have 9 out of 10 wrestlers in the match who people were probably expecting good showings from. It can't be done in a 10-man TV Battle Royal. Someone has to be eliminated first, and there isn't a lot of time to build comebacks and stuff.

The result to me was never in question. HHH was always going to win it (unfortunately), so what happens before isn't that important. The result is still the same.

 

[Wrestlefan27]

I think you guys are all over analyzing this battle royal. I admit, everything about it was completely predictable, but you have to see the naked truth-WWE does not write for smarks. Smarks are not the target demographic. I love wrestling, but I'm not going to buy any action figures or fake belts any time soon. That's who the WWE wants to capture. That demographic isn't going to complain about who lasted longer than whom, because to them it's all totally random. Many of them don't even know the show is a work.

Smark: Triple H wins again!? Another match with Orton? God that's stale! Why don't they do something new!??

WWE demographic: Triple H wins again?! Wow, what a great wrestler he is! This title match will be epic! He'll finally beat that low down, dirty, no good Randy Orton and embarras him and Legacy!!! I just hope it's over before my bedtime so I get to see it!!!

 

[Thriller Ant]

There are two problems with Triple H winning that don't even involve how badly him and Orton work together.

First, it's lazy booking. Rather than try to build someone up to feud with Orton, like they were doing with MVP, they take the easy way out and repackage a feud we've seen plenty of times. This is one of the reasons WCW went under: the main event guys got older and wore out all of their feud opportunities, but the midcard was never built up to replace those guys. Give a guy like MVP or Kofi a title shot at The Bash. It builds them up as a contender, and Orton can get a solid PPV victory in defense of his title. It's not like this is Wrestlemania or Summerslam, they can give us what appears to be a lower quality main event on a lower quality PPV.

The other reason this is a bad idea is because even the non-smarks are getting tired of it. Cena got an absolutely ginormous reaction and MVP got a solid pop also. Meanwhile, if you listen both last night and in the weeks leading up to Backlash, Hunter's pops aren't as loud as they used to be. I don't know if they were pumping in sound while he was on SD, or if people just aren't as into him, but he definitely isn't as over anymore. Cena may be more over now than ever, but instead he has to overcome the odds against Big Show every month. (Personally, I want him to feud with the Miz, but you get my point) And MVP is stuck in some kind of limbo where he lost his U.S. Title, presumably to move up to the main event, but can't even get a sniff at the main event.

 

[Enigma]

The Miz should have eliminated Cena, to continue their feud. MVP should have WON the Battle Royal, It was utter crap they he got knocked out first.

But that's WWE For You.

 

[TheSportsGuy1014]

I didn't get the chance to see Raw this past monday, but in my opinion, it would have been nice to see someone new get an opportunity at the title. A guy like MVP, who in weeks prior has interrupted Orton's promo's. You can see them building a fued, why not push the fued, unless they are holding it off for night of champions.

In general I just see a lack of direction to WWE Programming. If Triple H, who happens to be my favorite Superstar, falls out of the title picture who does he have a fued with? He helped build up Jeff Hardy over the past couple of years, to the point where Jeff is a serious Title holder.

The WWE really needs to bring back HBK to RAW. He opens up a ton of doors for the WWE. They could put him in a program with just about anyone and make him look good. With Batista's injury WWE really only has 3 serious Championship contenters on RAW (Orton, John Cena, and Triple H). They have made Big Show look so terrible since they brought him back, the only thing he has going for him is he is a big 7 foot monster. If the WWE was smart they would have put the title on the Big Show on RAW and set up something with Orton and had a heel vs heel matchup at the Bash, you put Orton over then and set up something with MVP at NOC. As much I like Triple H, I really can't stand the thought of this Orton Fued going on any more, let Orton break away onto something new. If Triple H is going to remain a face they need a GM to come on and screw him over and then book him against some midcarders to help elevate them. Keep him busy for a while til the new year and then bring him back to the Championship level.

My main point is that they need to spice up storylines and fueds. Give the fans something new. Make fans want to watch.

 

[tLight]

If they would have done this right, they could have set aside the Orton/Triple H feud for a few months, but since Triple h is back, and ruining the summer for everyone we'll have to watch at least 4 more Triple H/Orton matches. I love Orton, but I’m sick of this feud, it lost his fire a long time ago and needs to end.

Big Show should have won the battle royal, while at the same time eliminating Triple H. The Miz should have finally got the 1 up on Cena and put him out. Thus moving Cena and Show into different Feuds. Either way two things on Raw need to end, Triple H vs. Orton, and Cena vs. Show these two feuds are boring beyond belief and I’m fairly certain most people would like to see them come to an end.

Or one of the mid carders should have got a chance at the WWE Title, just for something fresh. MVP or Kofi could have just as well gone into the Bash vs. Orton for the title; they could have still had the Last Man Standing match next week on Raw, just for the ratings.

 

[ratedrko13]

i think cena should have won, not that i like him at all! but this would have given the chance for orton and trips to cool down till summerslam and have a dman hell in a cell match or something. Mvp should turn heel and face cena...
just a thought!

orton and triple h needs to end and bigshow and cena need to end.
cena cant keep beating show either its looking show look like crap.
and triple h cant win the feud over orton or it will make him lose momentum.

people will question " well what was all the punting the mcmahons and batista flair and hhh for?"

they all need new feuds and hopefully with trump here, it might just happen.

 

[Saddler The Great]

For the Miz i was actually thinking of having him eliminate cena and then have him eliminated by hhh. They need to get that feud with him and cena going so Miz gets that push.

That's exactly wtf I was thinking...I like Miz but I'm not in love with him like many people are nowdays...but DAMN would it have killed Cena if they let Miz throw him out? This would've been a perfect opportunity to finally get the feud going, with Cena being all pissed off and calling Miz a coward for hiding the whole match then sneaking up and throwing him out...And the Miz bragging about how he threw him out so all the naysayers can stfu...

And MVP....pffft...I don't like him that much but wtf is the point of pushing him to be the next main eventer then making him last 2 milliseconds in the match? This was also another opportunity for a superstar that got wasted...would it hurt to make him like the 4th last person eliminated??? WWE writers are idiots nowdays...

Overall, these are 2 up and coming superstars that got screwed out of good opportunities...Like creative should have realized that they didn't have to win in order to be successful in the upcoming weeks...If they'd done this, then it would've been a win-win-win for MVP, Miz, and HHH...instead it's just a HHH victory like everyone knew was gonna happen...annoying as hell to see HHH win all the fucking time...

 

[ronthony717]

Ur right WWE did mess up on this battle royal cause a lot could of happened... There should of been the same partnership with regal and Hardy as there were with priceless cause recently they have been on the same page.. MVP could of won it to get the major push and a rub with the heavyweight fued with HHH and Orton.. Yeah he has nothing to do with that story line but he could of popped in and tell both of them that he doesn't care who did what to whoever but that title is what he wants and they r in the way of it.. Everyone along with myself is getting very tired of Orton and Triple H compteting over and over.. I like them both but to much of them is enough.. MVP could of refreshed that story.. And yes Miz should of eliminated Cena cause then he could of said he's 9-0 with him and would still be building this fued that has not taken off yet... Kingston should of taken someone out to begin a fued with them either Hardy or even Big Show.. Give the kid a shot... You have Cena Big Show Triple H and Randy Orton who all can face each mid weight to help them be built and help built the mid card as well.. Big Show and yes even Cena can pull off what Jericho and Mysterio are doing with the IC title over on the Blue Team... A lot could of happened but it didn't.. So now we just wait till bash is over and hope for something refreshing for night of Champions...

 

[TheGreatSPAMbino]

I don't think there should have been a battle royal in the first place. What was even worse is the fact that it was announced that Triple H will face Orton in a last man standing match for free next week on raw, SIX DAYS before the same two guys fight in a regular match at an event you need to pay for. What a business strategy. I don't know, maybe instead of having a battle royal with a one number one contender they could of had a scramble or some kind of multi-man match at the bash and had a series of qualifiers on the commercial free raw. They could throw Orton, triple h, john cena, the miz and MVP into a scramble and at least create some more intrigue and put some guys over while at the same time carrying on the hhh/orton feud (which really shouldn't be carried on at all, but if they INSISTED on doing so then they could do it this way).

 

[dberk17]

Here's what I wish would have happened... the battle royal winds down to 4 with both members of priceless, Cena and HHH... they square off and Cena attacks HHH and eliminates him... not joining with Legacy but to eliminate a returning top contender for the belt. Obviously this would never happen bc of merchandise sales, etc, but this would quickly make Cena a HUGE heel, and would shake things up in a HUGE way..I don't really have any interest in seeing Orton/Cena again, but it would be a different Cena and it would be interesting to see who the fans would root for, my feeling is that once they turn Cena heel, he will be HATED.. much like Hogan and Hitman before him..

 

[tLight]

I think another good idea would of been for Edge to somehow make his way into the Battle Royal and win, to go on to face Orton at the Bash, but that wouldnt of worked, due to Triple H being back, and ruining the summer for ever WWE wrestling fan.

and they need Edge on Smackdown in order for CM Punk and Hardy to get better, both in the ring and on the mic

 

[Rockafella]

Miz should have won hands down. When i saw him creep up from the side of the ring i marked out. Miz is one of the freshest things on Raw as of now. I don't wanna see Orton vs Triple H for the thirty sixth time. Even if the Miz didn't win the title match, the ability for him to tell everyone that he beat nine of raws "top competitors", in one match, would have skyrocketed his character.