**MERGED** Royal Rumble 2013 & Aftermath Discussion (Keep it in here!!!!)

[MITB]

1. No. Saw him this year at a meet and greet and during his comedy show and the guy can barely walk, so competing in a match? No.
2. Why would he hold the title? Punk has it and is building momentum. Foley has nothing to gain from being WWE champion any longer. He can't wrestle, he's less good in giving a promo, so no.
3. No. Maybe 9 years ago. Now; no.
4. No. Foley doesn't belong in the ring anymore.

Stupid idea.

 

[ImTrending2]

I mean no disrespect, but this is a ridiculous question.

If Foley does wrestle again in the 'E, it certainly wouldn't be in a title match. Considering the man is out of shape and has terrible knees, I would hate to watch him lumber around the ring. There is zero entertainment value in that. As a matter of fact, the only role Foley should have is as a personality. His in-ring wrestling days should be over, unless he wrestles in an attempt to put young talent over.

Your hypothetical question ruined any credibility you may have had. I wish I had never opened this thread because now I'm just irritated at the thought of a Foley/Rock match for the title. 13 years ago, yes. But in 2013, I'd rather suffer through and episode of Glee.

 

[The Golden Sledgehammer]

It should be Punk vs Rock at Mania, it would be unfortunate if they scrapped that and went with Rock vs Cena, but it would be criminal if they robbed Punk of a program with The Rock altogether. I know you mentioned a triple threat at Rumble so technically Punk would still be involved but after all this time as champ he deserves a one-on-one feud.

now MAYBE Foley beats Punk somehow at TLC, Punk's whole respect thing blows up the following night on RAW and he leaves the company, Rock then beats Foley at Royal Rumble and they do the handshake etc., Punk comes back as the 'surprise' 30th entrant in the Rumble and wins it.

Following night on RAW Punk challenges Rock for Mania at the start of the night and (PG) destroys Foley at the end of the night, getting their feud off to a good personal start, better that than being the same as last years feud only with Punk rather than Cena.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Before the heart attack, I think this angle was Jerry Lawler's. They were clearly building to something with Punk, maybe even a shock WWE title win for The King ala Backlund. TLC does make some sense but the Rumble I think is nearer the right time for something to happen.

Only this time Foley (or King if he is able) wins the belt when Ryback screws Punk.

AJ tries some more shenanigans to please her "coach" which end with the vacant belt up at the Rumble, that pisses Rock off and Vince has to clean it up/fire AJ and force the new champ to face the Rock the same night.

This would be interesting as you could have Foley or Cena winning the Rumble/Belt then losing to the Rock, Cena going over and setting the rubber match for the belt at Mania... Punk could win his belt back that night and lose it straight to Rock go over and have Rocky chasing for Mania or it could be Brock Lesnar who wins and shocks Rocky.

I think one of these Legends will end up winning the title. Ideally it's King if he's able (the "match" would be barely anything. But in Foley's case it could certainly pop a buy rate or more importantly a RAW rating. I am sure Rock n Sock will team at least once before The Rumble and it would be great TV if Foley "did the impossible" only for Rock's hissy fitting over his title shot meant Foley lost out himself on his "last run".

 

[Terry Gyimah]

As for the Rumble pay per view itself, I honestly see John Cena as WWE Champion heading into the PPV where he ends up facing The Rock in a WrestleMania 28 re-match, a Once In a Lifetime Rematch but this time at the Royal Rumble with The Rock winning due to Punk somehow screwing Cena costing him the match, and Punk ends up going into the Royal Rumble Match where he ends up winning it

 

[Terry Gyimah]

As for who I see winning the Royal Rumble Match, my pick is either Cody Rhodes or Wade Barrett to walk out of the Royal Rumble the winner because either men really deserve to win the Rumble when you really think about it and plus the last time a heel won the Rumble was 2011 when Del Rio won it, so to see the trend of a heel winning would be nice

 

[XXJJ]

Punk vs Ryback for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania.

Punk continues to avoid Ryback and he actually beats Rock at RR and Ryback wins the Rumble. Finally setting up a match between the two and Ryback ends Punk title reign.

I doubt that would ever happen because Punk carrying the title into Wrestlemania would make his title reign almost ridiculousy long, but that would be a great way to turn Ryback into a legit main event star. Just a thought.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

The idea that has been floting around my mind lately is this:

Punk chooses Cena to take on at Hell in a Cell at which time Cena beats Punk and ends his near year long reign as champ. The fallout would be Cena and Punk still involved in some sort of a program heading into Survivor Series. While there are numerous plays, I would approach it like this:

After HIAC, Punk is informed that he will not just recieve a automatic rematch and instead has to earn it. Punk is advised that he has to assemble a team for Survivor Series to take on a team assembled by Cena. If Punks team wins than he gets a title shot. They pick their squads and Cena's team prevails and thus Punk doesn't get his match.

The fallout here is that Punk and Cena are done with their fued. Cena moves on to the Rock and their showdown at the Rumble, and Punk starts to concentrate on the Rumble as his chance to get a title shot. At the Rumble, Cena would lose the title to Rock and Punk would win the Rumble.

Following the Rumble, Cena not sure about his future after losing to the Rock again eventually comes up with an idea to get over it. He would decide that if he could beat the Undertaker at Mania it would make up for his defeats at the hands of The Rock. So Cena begins the process of calling out Taker and getting his match for Mania. On the other side Punk with his Rumble win is set to face Rock at Mania for the title. This program would begin slowly and focus on Punk getting no respect. Rock would not begin to focus on Punk until Punk attacks him at a Raw to get his attention. Punk would justify his attack by talking about the lack of respect he gets. He would bring up his interaction on Raw 1000 with Rock, having to face Cena numerous times even though he kept beating him, having to earn a rematch once he lost his title of nearly a year, and possibly being entered #1 and having to win the Rumble while being in that match for the entire duration. After the attack and Punks revelation on how he has been overlooked, Rock would take him serious and the real road to Mania would begin.

For the Rumble I would have a champion Cena lose to Rock and Punk win the Rumble.

And the end game for Mania would be a double main event with Cena v Taker, and a champion Rock v Punk.

 

[suleman09]

Basically the title says it all but it'll get more detailed.

With The Rock having a WWE title match at Royal Rumble and most likely he will face off against CM Punk because WWE wants CM Punk to pass the 1 year mark which is the day after Survivor Series. And he can't drop it to Cena or Ryback only to lose it a month or two later to Rock.

So most likely at Royal Rumble we will have

WWE Championship:
The Rock vs (c) CM Punk

and most likely The Rock will win, because well, because I have a gripe against him I think he isn't willing to lose to younger talent because of his ego. If Punk beat Rock, that would take him to levels he couldn't imagine!

But if The Rock beats CM Punk that kind of ruins his whole 1+ year reign as WWE Champion with all the talks of "Best in the world" "no one can take this from me" only for a semi-part-time guy comes to beat him. A guy who in the last 8 years has only had 2 matches. Beating Cena at WM didn't hurt Cena as much as it would hurt Punk, unless Punk comes back to beat him at Mania.

Questions:
Do you think with the assumption of Rock beating Punk will hurt him a lot or no?

Should Punk beat Rock and then carry it into WM to lose to the winner of the Rumble or someone else?

 

[j2dlyc]

Losing to the Rock wont hurt CM Punk, it may hurt his ego a bit losing the strap to a bit-time player but it wont hurt his position. I see a lot of similarities between this and the Rock/Hogan feud a decade ago. My only worry is where Cena fits into all of this, I wouldnt want Rocky to pick up the title, just for Cena to butt in and steal the wrestlemania spotlight!

 

[Boxhead333]

As big a fan as I am of Punk, I can't see him going over the rock. Part time or no, the Rock is still a legend and if Cena couldn't do it, Punk can't. Cena is the WWE's top player and they wouldn't put him over the Rock at mania, mostly due to the hate they'd get.

 

[scomvp316]

The best way to book this is have Punk sneak out a win at SSeries. Foley wants to teach Punk respect but at TLC Punk defeats Foley in a No DQ match and make it a clean win. Punk drops the strap to Rock at the Rumble due to maybe VKM interference but not to help the Rock as well. At the EC a six way #1 contenders match Punk earns the victory as the last participant. Somehow VKM screws Punk at the title shot leading to a match at WM. Stipulation for their match at WM Punk can never ever be fired if he wins but if Punk loses he will never recieve any type of a championship match. Have the Rock be champ until SSlam when he loses to Punk but by that time Punk should be on his own again as the Heyman experiment fizzles out with Punk firing Heyman and setting up grueling matchs for a few months with Lesnar. WM should have Cena vs Ryback and the loser goes to SD and the winner gets a title match at the next PPV. Rock vs Lesnar should be the headliner because it seems more likely Taker won't physically be ready!

 

[George Steele's Barber]

If Rock beats Punk it won't hurt him nearly as much as it helps him by being in the main event of a PPV championship match after holding the title for over a year against the third biggest superstar in wrestling history and one of the biggest stars in the world. Punk's legacy will now have matches with Cena, Vince and Rock. If Rock holds the title going in to WM the buys will get bigger giving Punk a bigger pay day. If Punk doesn't have the title it gives him a chance to go after a bigger prize in wrestling, UT's WM streak. Losing to the Rock may also open the door up for Punk to compete in the ultimate IWC feud with Austin.

Punk should lose to Ryback at SS. He's been a good champion but his reign has slipped. There's not much of anyone left on the roster other than Cena (maybe HHH) that can put together much of a sellable main event. It also helps his heelishness to be able to bitch about how he was robbed by one day to have a year long reign and then he can cheat Ryback out of the title if we have to have a Rock-Punk main event at RR.

 

[Irig]

Rock gonna shoot for a movie around wrestlemania time so I'm wondering what will he gain by winning and losing even before Mania? So i guess Punk should win over Rock and continue his streak maybe his streak can end with match against Undertaker at Wrestlemania.

I'm sure it'll be lot better than Rock winning at Rumble just for his sake.

 

[#MrScissorsKick]

Punk has been on the low-key as of late so honestly the best in the world garbage motto is wearing off. Punk will still be relevant though no matter what happens after the Royal Rumble. If Punk wins? he wins. If he loses? he loses. Punk has had a very long and successful reign as WWE Champion. I'm not a Punk fan at all but i can honestly say he's brought back some legitimacy back to the WWE Championship that I didn't believe his predecessors did or have. After his match at the RR Punk will have much bigger options heading into Wrestlemania financially so it almost looks as if it would be better for him to lose it at the RR

 

[The Voice]

I remember early in CM Punks reign there was a lot of talk about the belt changing to a new model. Obviously nobody has been able to take the belt off of Punk for a while so the issue appears to have just gone.

However, a lot of people think that The Rock will win the belt at Rumble. And I for one can't see Rock carrying around Cena's silly spinner belt. Would it be the perfect time for The Rock to change the title belt?

If The Rock happened to be the first holder of the new model of WWE title, it might also bring back some legitimacy to the title for all the attitude era fanatics.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If the WWE Championship design doesn't change during Punk's reign, I believe it'll change if Rock wins the title at the Royal Rumble.

It's possible that the title's design could still change with Punk as champion. If Punk successfully defends the title at Survivor Series next week, the following Raw will mark 364 days with Punk as champion. Even though it'll be one day shy of a year, Punk might unveil a new championship design to celebrate the 1 year milestone. It's also possible that they could wait until the next Raw, after Punk's reign has officially passed the 1 year mark, to unveil a new championship.

If WWE does want Cena vs. Rock II to be for the WWE Championship, then Rock unveiling a new championship design to replace Cena's design could be viewed as another little slap in the face of Cena from The Rock.

Whether Punk or Rock, I believe we're ultimately approaching the final days of the spinner design for the WWE Championship.

If The Rock happened to be the first holder of the new model of WWE title, it might also bring back some legitimacy to the title for all the attitude era fanatics.

The AE marks will only be satisfied if WWE ever returns to an Attitude Era style format. Even if it happened, they'd still find something to gripe about. Personally, I'd rather The Rock didn't win the WWE Championship because of the simple fact that he doesn't need it. Having Cena vs. Rock II for the title, in my opinion, won't jack up interest in the match. If anything, I think it might hurt interest because it pretty much gives away the ending of the match before it's even officially announced. Besides that, it'll mean a couple of months in which the WWE Championship isn't defended at house shows. Given Rock's hectic schedule, including the fact that he's due to start filming a new Hercules movie next year, there might be periods of time in which the WWE Championship doesn't appear on television either. I just don't see The Rock having the title as being at all necessary.

 

[z MUFASA z]

I really dont think so and personally, the new belt looks worse than this one. At least this one has the WWE logo as the main centerpiece to distinguish what it is. But what I think would be really cool is to have CM Punk retain the title at Survivor Series, then on RAW the next night to celebrate his 1 year reign he announces that on Main Event he will unveil the title. It will further solidify that people should watch Main Event, bring ratings in, and since on RAW it will only be 364 it makes more sense to do it at a later date. However I dont think The Rock should even be champion for the reason being, he had his time he did it and its over with. Yes he brings ratings and yes hes entertaining but I think since they fucked up with Ryback they shouldnt make Punk lose. I think what they shouldve done with Ryback was to have him have Punk beat in like 5 minutes hes about to win, he has him up for shell shocked then the lights go out then we come back and see Ryback outcold with only Punk and Maddox in the ring, Maddox behind Punk with a chair lining up for a shot, Punk turns around and Maddox hits Punk with a chair and walks out with a smirk. That would have left some mystery to Brad Maddox and Ryback would still be a monster (without his undefeated streak I have no more interest in him, and the tights look ridiculous on him)

 

[RJJ]

These were the last words of bryan before he got rock bottomed at the 1000th episode of Raw.

I know most people believe that Rock pinning Punk at the rumble is a forgone conclusion. To me personally, I can't see Rock beating Punk in a head to head competition. Punk at this point of his career need the big rub, and there are only 2 people that can give him that rub, Taker and Rock.

IMO the only way for Rock to get the belt off Punk is by pinning someone else. Which means adding someone else to the mix and making it a triple threat match. That's the only logical way. Two people in mind, either Bryan(Most likley) or Miz.

Can you imagine Rock, Punk ,and Bryan going at it for the title...That would be amazing.

Other wise, Punk will go over.


Any thoughts?

 

[Wald]

My thoughts are that Rock will face off against Punk at the Rumble and will lose due to outside help from Brock Lesnar. It's probably the real reason Heyman was brought back as this would make storyline sense.

That will set up Brock vs Rock at Wrestlemania, which is the most sensible option the WWE have for that event, it would draw huge mainstream attention.

I know people think that match will be for the title but I don't think it will be for two reasons. One, it doesn't need it and two you'd basically be saying two part time guys are better than your current roster.

 

[King of the Words]

I believe Punk will take on The Rock for the title at The Royal Rumble, 2013. But I find it hard to see Rock winning the title because if he does he would have to defend it at Elimination Chamber. With Rock's busy movie schedule I don't think he will be wrestling any more than 2 matches. One at the Rumble and one at Mania 29.

What I see happening is Rock winning by dq. over Punk at The Rumble, there for, earning a rematch against the WWEC. at Mania 29. I see punk holding the title til Mania 29, but Cena getting involved in the mix as well. Cena would either have to win the Rumble or the Raw Elimination Chamber match for the WWEC. I could see Punk and Cena pinning each other in the chamber like at Night of Champs, so that it ends in a draw. This way, at Mania 29, Punk would have 2 #1contenders, Rock and Cena. This would lead to a Triple Threat match for the WWEC. at Mania 29. ( WWEC. C.M. Punk vs. The Rock vs. John Cena)

This way Punk gets to main event Mania for the first time, Rock gets to be in the main event again and Cena sort of gets his Wrestlemania rematch with The Rock and it`s all for the WWEC.

As for Daniel Bryan, I see him and Kane splitting ways shortly before the Rumble. I can see Bryan winning the Rumble and going on to face WHC. Dolph Ziggler at Mania 29. I think that would be best for Bryan, and to not get involved in the whole Rock scenario.

That is the way I would book Rock`s and Bryan`s roles starting from the Rumble to Mania 29.

 

[justinsayne]

Rock doesn't NEED to defend anything at EC, they could easily just do a #1 contenders match at EC to determine Rocky's opponent for WM.

I could also see Rock losing to Punk then later that night being a surprise entrant in the RR, & winning it.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Rock wins the belt by pinning Punk cleanly in a 1 on 1 match, 100% guaranteed. Despite what most of the IWC thinks, Rock is far, far more over than Punk will EVER be so if anything, Punk is the one that wouldn't get a clean pin over Rock, not the other way around. I mean, Rock got a clean pin over Cena.

I think Rock hits a couple rock bottoms and punk kicks out, punk will hit a GTS or two and Rock will kick out but then after like 3 rock bottoms, he'll get the pin. There won't be any gimmicky ending or an ending with Punk losing the belt but not being pinned. That's what you do when you're putting an up and comer over, not when you have an established wrestler fighting the current top guy.

 

[j2dlyc]

As much as I dont like it, if it is Punk vs Rock for the title (assuming wwe dont cock up and give cena/ryback the belt before this) then the Rock will walk away champion. Punk is a top guy in the company now, but he cannot draw anywhere near as much money as the rock. Vince will see two options; keep the title on the guy who has had it over a year, or put it on the greatest champion his company ever made for one final run with the belt, leading up to the biggest wrestlemania of all time. Rocky takes the strap, there is far too much money in it for him to not.

 

[Chauncy Talon]

Rock doesn't NEED to defend anything at EC, they could easily just do a #1 contenders match at EC to determine Rocky's opponent for WM.

I could also see Rock losing to Punk then later that night being a surprise entrant in the RR, & winning it.

That what I was thinking right when I read this. Two scenarios will happen, CM Punk will wrestle the Rock at Mania, or John Cena. Daniel Bryan is great, but it's about ticket sales.

People my age will love to see the Rock vs CM Punk because it's Old vs New School. CM Punk is what a ton of kids are watching because they came in Post Attitude Era. Closet thing you will receive from that era. Also, the Rock help change the era. He wasn't the focal point of the evolution of that era but a major factor.

The Children willl love to see the Rock vs John Cena. Cena is what Hulk Hogan was to the 80's. He the guy the company knows he will put butts in their seat. You can say you hate him, despise him or can't stand him, but he's like a Champion that everybody hates. You will continue to watch him until he loses. When he loses, you will gloat about it!

Daniel Bryan is a great guy but isn't somebody you put the back of the company on. He's a great technical wrestler, you still hear Bryan Daniels chants are RoH events and he's can work the crowd Face/Heel. He just doesn't have the it factor. If this was Bizzaro's world, it would work but it's not.