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

[XXJJ]

Potential Rumble winners would be Taker, Brock, Cena, Orton, Ryback and Sheamus. Whoever they want facing Rock at WM is who should win the Rumble. It looks like they are planning Cena vs Rock part 2. So if thats the case Cena should win.

If they are setting up Orton vs Sheamus for the World Title... they can save that for the Elimination Chamber ppv.

 

[mattmanRKO]

So we all fully expect The Royal Rumble to be headlined by CM Punk vs The Rock for the WWE Title. The 400+ day reign of Punk against The Peoples Champion!

Now what I want to know is, does anyone actually want The Rock to win the Title? I mean even if you think he will, do you WANT him to win it?

I for one certainly do not want Punks epic reign to end at the hands of someone who is not a full time, active member of the roster. It just doesn't seem right to me!

I'd much prefer it if someone broke out from the pack as a top face and beat Punk, not that anyone is near that level yet.

Thoughts?

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

So we all fully expect The Royal Rumble to be headlined by CM Punk vs The Rock for the WWE Title. The 400+ day reign of Punk against The Peoples Champion!

Now what I want to know is, does anyone actually want The Rock to win the Title? I mean even if you think he will, do you WANT him to win it?

I for one certainly do not want Punks epic reign to end at the hands of someone who is not a full time, active member of the roster. It just doesn't seem right to me!

I'd much prefer it if someone broke out from the pack as a top face and beat Punk, not that anyone is near that level yet.

Thoughts?

If that's what you're waiting for, seriously, stop holding your breath. You're going to die.

Yes, I want Rocky to end it. It's going to end at some point anyhow, so why not drop it to one of the five or ten best wrestlers of all time?

Also, it makes sense. Rocky vs. Cena II is the money match for WrestleMania, not CM Punk vs. whoever.

It's pro wrestling, which means it's all fake anyhow. Earning the strap doesn't mean anything because it's not real. This isn't real competition. Rocky makes the most sense.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

How do you all think WWE is going to handle where the WWE title match at the Rumble falls on the card?

If Rock is going to win the belt, I don't see how they can have the Rumble match itself as the last match. They'll want Rock celebrating as the new champion, to end the show. BUT, by having the WWE title match last, doesn't it make it obvious Rock is going to win the title?

If they have the title match right before the Rumble match itself, then the rumble match will be anti-climatic as nothing will be able to top Rock winning the belt.

If they're going to do Rock vs. Cena II at WM then if the WWE title match is last and Cena wins the Royal Rumble, everyone is going to know that Rock will win the belt. This leads me to believe that Cena will probably win the Raw Elimination Chamber to become #1 contender and the winner of the Rumble will go for the World title.


So, how do you think WWE will handle this?

 

[GeneralKarim]

Have to agree with Nick.Whatever people might think is better, at the end of the day its all about making dem $$$ and CM Punk vs someone is not gonna make buys.But Rock Cena with the strap involved is going to. - Even if for us its obvious that Cena will win at WM if that will be the situation -

Problem is there is no face that is credible at this point to beat CM Punk like that.

Dolph is gonna be World Heavyweight champion. Miz is irrelevant and he is the same person basically , only now he high fives a person or two in the crowd.So who is left?Del rio I dont know what they are doing with him. Ryback God only knows their plans for him.

So we arrive at Cena or Rock.And since Rock is gonna get his hands on him first, he will prolly win it.CM Punk will for sure despise this deep inside but what can you do.

I'm not stoked that CM Punk might lose to Rock, but someone has to beat him and with how the roster is right now I cant see nobody being relevant enough to beat him, besides Cena.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Have to agree with Nick.Whatever people might think is better, at the end of the day its all about making dem $$$ and CM Punk vs someone is not gonna make buys.But Rock Cena with the strap involved is going to. - Even if for us its obvious that Cena will win at WM if that will be the situation -

Problem is there is no face that is credible at this point to beat CM Punk like that.

Dolph is gonna be World Heavyweight champion. Miz is irrelevant and he is the same person basically , only now he high fives a person or two in the crowd.So who is left?Del rio I dont know what they are doing with him. Ryback God only knows their plans for him.

So we arrive at Cena or Rock.And since Rock is gonna get his hands on him first, he will prolly win it.CM Punk will for sure despise this deep inside but what can you do.

I'm not stoked that CM Punk might lose to Rock, but someone has to beat him and with how the roster is right now I cant see nobody being relevant enough to beat him, besides Cena.

I agree with this and the thing is, I'd rather have The Rock end Punk's streak as champion because it still keeps Punk legit. If he were to lose to some young guy or up and comer, while it would put that guy over, it would make Punk and his run look dumb. He beat Cena, Jericho, Daniel Bryan, etc. and now loses to some nobody? Better that he lose to The Rock, on of the all-time greats. Cena lost to Rock too so it's no big deal.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

My personal feelings about the whole Once in a Lifetime buildup they did at Mania last year aside, The Rock is one of the guys I'd put on the list of guys Punk could lose to and not lose much momentum. In the likely event he does lose, I will be a little bummed the same way I am anytime a guy I like drops the belt, but by RAW the next night I will be fine.

Yeah I do wish Rocky would come back full time, but honestly I'm just happy to see a guy I watched when I was a kid who can still go and not embarrass himself.

As much as I love Punk, the whole 400+ day title reign has been a mistake. His face character got stale, and his heel turn took too long to get over. He is a star, but the fact remains ratings are down in his time as champ. I'm not going to place any blame on him or anyone else, I'm just stating a fact. Some guys work better when chasing the belt, and since Punk established himself as a legit star, he hasn't really been in that position. Look at Austin, his storylines were always more interesting when he was chasing the title as opposed to holding it. Maybe Punk is going to be the same way.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

As much as I love Punk, the whole 400+ day title reign has been a mistake. His face character got stale, and his heel turn took too long to get over. He is a star, but the fact remains ratings are down in his time as champ. I'm not going to place any blame on him or anyone else, I'm just stating a fact. Some guys work better when chasing the belt, and since Punk established himself as a legit star, he hasn't really been in that position. Look at Austin, his storylines were always more interesting when he was chasing the title as opposed to holding it. Maybe Punk is going to be the same way.

Good point here. I like Punk but I do feel like he's a little stale even now as a heel but it really isn't his fault. It happens with almost any long title run. I think the way he really got over as a heel was with Heyman but now I think he needs to dump him and either side with the Shield and continue as a heel or dump Heyman and go back as a face.

If he does lose to the Rock, it will be interesting to see what direction they go with Punk from there.

 

[RJJ]

I do. At the end of the day, sooner or later, someone is going to end Punk's title reign. At this point no babyface is legit enough to end it other than Rock and Cena. Since Cena is going over Rock at mania, why not make it a title match, to make the rub even bigger. At the Rumle, wether Punk retain his title or lose it, he must come out (looking)strong.
..To be honest I'd rather see all three going at it at WM.

 

[berlinbrawler]

I have a hard time picking a Rumble winner this year. For a while there I figured it would surely be Wade Barret and he would face Sheamus at Wrestlemania.

Alas, I don't really see any signs recently that Barret is getting a significant push. Maybe he'll win Money in the Bank, but it doesn't look like he is heading for Wrestlemania.

I guess that leaves Ryback. But Ryback vs Sheamus? Nope. Don't see it. (I keep expecting Sheamus to win back the title from Show.) I guess this would indicate that Big Show would keep the title until Wrestlemania. Ryback vs Big Show at the big stage for the belt. Works for me. I would see the Internet fans passionately hating this. They hate Big Show. Undeservedly in my mind, but whatevs.

 

[i'm a cm punk girl]

Problem is there is no face that is credible at this point to beat CM Punk like that.

if someone has to be of a status of The Rock to take a title from Punk, then it'll stay in the same crowd for eternity because once Rock gets it, who is credible enough to take it from him? Cena or Punk. More likely Cena. Then who is more credible to take that from him? Punk. Who is more credible to take that from him? Cena. Then Punk. Then Cena. That notion is stupid...Ziggler is the next guy ready to be pushed - he gets that "credibility" when he takes the title away from whoever has it.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

if someone has to be of a status of The Rock to take a title from Punk, then it'll stay in the same crowd for eternity because once Rock gets it, who is credible enough to take it from him? Cena or Punk. More likely Cena. Then who is more credible to take that from him? Punk. Who is more credible to take that from him? Cena. Then Punk. Then Cena. That notion is stupid...Ziggler is the next guy ready to be pushed - he gets that "credibility" when he takes the title away from whoever has it.

In this instance, because of the really long title reign, WWE wants someone huge to snap the streak. Once it's snapped then they can have Cena put ziggler over since he won't be beating a champion that held the title for 400+ days. It's the same thing I try to tell people about Undertaker's streak when they mention an younger "unproven" guy snapping it. It's not going to happen and if it does at all, it's has to be a MAJOR superstar or else you just wasted 20 years of streak. Same holds true for Punk. You can't have "Joe Six Pack" beat him because then you just threw away a year long title reign. He could beat John Cena, Jericho, Daniel Bryan, etc. but couldn't beat Joe Six Pack? That's why Rock has to snap the streak. Once he does, then the Dolph Ziggler's of the world will get their chance.

 

[Da Solo]

Call me crazy, but does anyone else see Brad Maddox winning his contract and 1st match in the Royal Rumble? I'm not saying he'll main event WM, but can he win the match itself?

I know I sound like a Russo inspired fantasy armchair booker, but hear me out, I've run this in my head several times, and I think this is a possibility:

1. He's HHH pet project, so he has backstage support. Plus, the fans are giving him good heat and some sympathy cheers, so he's backed on both sides

2. It would shake things up major. WWE always does something crazy around the Road to WM up to the WM itself (prime examples: 18 Seconds, Orton kissing Stephany, punting Vince then getting his house busted into, Hardy's Swanton from the rafters in 08, Santino almost winning the RR in '11 and almost winning the chamber this year, etc), and what would be crazier than this kid jobber winning the RR?

3. Losing streaks are always followed by a huge win. What's huger than the RR, especially for Maddox?

4. It's still a big possibility that the Shield and Maddox are correlated, and I guarantee you the Shield, if not participating in the Rumble Match, will be involved somehow. Imagine the Final 5: Reigns, Rollins, Ambrose, Ryback and a lucky but dog-tired Maddox. The Shield jumps Ryback, who subsequently goes apeshit and eliminates Ambrose and Rollins. Reigns, the biggest of the three, give Ryback a hard time and gets eliminated, but not without getting Ryback onto the apron. Ryback, thinking every threat is eliminated, isn't aware of Maddox, who pushes him off and wins it all before revealing his involvement with the Shield.

It seems far-fetched, but seeing as how ratings are dipping and the Shield is the #1 threat in WWE, it seems very possible. He'll just somehow lose the WM headliner stipulation somewhere along the line.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

This would be a turrible, turrible, turrible idea. I mean, it's kind of funny but that would be the worst thing ever. Why make a mockery of the Rumble any further than what it is already? If you really wanna give him a rub, have him eliminate a legend. He better not win.

 

[Steve-O-Matt]

You're right, this is madness! LOL.

You've got to put yourself in the mindset of Vince and the writers throughout the entire process of this. Sure Maddox winning the rumble would be huge and shocking... But writers would be doing a 'Russo', LOL, short term shock, ignoring the long term.

Maddox is great, I'm loving him at the moment, I can't wait until he starts winning, I can see him being very similar to The Miz. The only difference being I couldn't stand Miz and no one did at first, but one by one he won us over. Maddox doesn't have that problem for the most part. If Miz has taught us anything, it's that a guy who everyone guarantees won't make it in this industry can turn around and main event WrestleMania as the champion of the entire company.

Why am I bringing up Miz? Well if it weren't for him, I think a LOT more people would find Maddox annoying and Maddox would have to take the same path as Miz to win them over. Now, I don't think he needs to win many people over, but his skills desire a similar path for him. A huge shock like that would only damage Maddox, the best thing for him to do is pick at it nice and slowly like Miz did, little by little, climbing the ladder annoying more and more people, but at the same time winning over more and more marks. A shock for Maddox would be like building a house of cards, if he had the jolt like you suggested then the house of cards would just be some cards delicately balanced on top of each other destined to fall. Whereas if he built it normally with support for the triangle shapes below, then everyone will see that house of cards and think "Wow, it looks great!"

 

[Mustang Sally]

Why make a mockery of the Rumble any further than what it is already?

The thing is, Brad Maddox could make an impact at the Rumble without making it a mockery; in other words, without winning the event. Wasn't there an instance years ago when Ric Flair entered the Rumble at #1 and lasted almost until the end, being in the ring for over an hour before being eliminated? The announcers lauded his performance even though he didn't wind up facing the champion at WM. Maddox could do that.....and Michael Cole could tell us that Brad had earned the admiration of the other wrestlers by performing valiantly, even though he didn't win. Brad can justify his contract even if spending his ring time in cowardly fashion, as long as he stays in there and possibly eliminates a couple of guys.

Only one guy can win the Rumble and, by definition, he has to be an important performer, but there are other ways to make your mark in the company and a major PPV would be a good place to do it, without upsetting the hierarchy.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

My money's on Sheamus or Cena to win the Rumble in 2013. Since moving past Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus' character has received a resurgence. His surprisingly good feud with Big Show (mainly on the wrestling side of things) was fun to watch, and Sheamus can still be a strong contender in the WHC picture on Smackdown.

I expect Cena to face The Rock again at Wrestlemania next year. WWE already went the route of having a "Once In A Lifetime" main event, so having both men face each other for the WWE Championship is the only logical route. Cena gains his redemption for losing the "most important match in his life" from Mania 28, and WWE delivers another high profiled match between the two.

I'm hesitant to go with one or the other, because besides Orton's win in 2009, WWE has done a good of throwing some curveballs for expected Rumble winners. A lot of us thought Chris Jericho was a surefire pick to win the Rumble this year. Instead, Sheamus won, and he followed up his Rumble win with a shocking and quick Wrestlemania victory over Bryan.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

My money's on Sheamus or Cena to win the Rumble in 2013. Since moving past Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus' character has received a resurgence. His surprisingly good feud with Big Show (mainly on the wrestling side of things) was fun to watch, and Sheamus can still be a strong contender in the WHC picture on Smackdown.

I expect Cena to face The Rock again at Wrestlemania next year. WWE already went the route of having a "Once In A Lifetime" main event, so having both men face each other for the WWE Championship is the only logical route. Cena gains his redemption for losing the "most important match in his life" from Mania 28, and WWE delivers another high profiled match between the two.

I'm hesitant to go with one or the other, because besides Orton's win in 2009, WWE has done a good of throwing some curveballs for expected Rumble winners. A lot of us thought Chris Jericho was a surefire pick to win the Rumble this year. Instead, Sheamus won, and he followed up his Rumble win with a shocking and quick Wrestlemania victory over Bryan.

While Sheamus is currently in a position where he could win the Rumble, I don't see it. I think he might be set up to win the WHC against Big Show so Ziggler has a face to cash in on. But then again, EC is a great spot to cash in on any winner. How do they justify keeping Ziggler out of the EC match in the first place though?

Anyways, I'd have a hard time seeing Sheamus win 2 years in a row. But I'm totally in agreement on Cena winning. My only issue there is EC. Rock defends against Punk. What does Raw do with the EC?

 

[The_Awesome_One]

I'd love to see The Miz win the rumble. While I don't really see it happening but if WWE wants The Miz to succeed as a face, I think he needs this win. Plus a Miz/Ziggler or a Miz/Punk match at Wrestlemania would be AWWWWESOME!

 

[WWEIsLife2]

I agree that Cena wins the Rumble while Rock wins the WWE Title from CM Punk. Rock retains in the EC and that sets up Rock/Cena II at WM 29 this time for the WWE Title.

I could see Sheamus winning back the World Heavyweight Title at EC either in the Chamber or in one more Match with Big Show. Randy Orton could win the SD Chamber also to become #1 Contender and face Sheamus at Mania.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

I'm having a hard time not waivering on my choice of Cena winning. There's no way Rock competes in an Elimination Chamber, so what would they do with the Raw EC match? If Cena wins the Rumble, that would set up Rock/Cena II. I see the only person possibly inserted in that match for a 3-way as Punk, so they couldn't make the Raw EC a #1 contenders match. Makes more sense for a WHC contender to win the Rumble. Then again, that would take away the huge moment of Cena winning the Rumble and the build up towards his rematch with Rock.

I'm overthinking this probably.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

This isn't that hard to figure out.

Rock wins the belt at the Rumble. Punk cries about a rematch and somehow gets a 1 on 1 rematch at the elimination chamber.

Smackdown star wins the Royal Rumble. Smackdown elimination chamber is for world title with the winner (world champion) facing Rumble winner at WM.

Raw Chamber is for #1 contendership to WWE title and winner faces WWE champion at WM. Cena will obviously win RAW chamber to set up Rock-Cena II for the belt at WM.


Some of you guys are overthinking this.

 

[SacredMesa]

So having just read Justin Lebars article about WWE brass and talent being concerned that a CM Punk vs The Rock match at the Royal Rumble would take the focus away from the Rumble itself I gotta ask....really?

They think The Rock is going to damage the Royal Rumble by having a title shot on the paper view, but having the winner constantly go on first at wrestlemania while competing for the companies B title hasn't done enough against it?

This really feels like an absolutely stupid excuse to potentially stop from giving us a dream match. Anyone else find this to be a complete load of crap?

 

[anvilx8]

There's NO WAY the WWE brass would think "hmmm.. punk vs. rock will take the focus away from the rumble". Why the hell would they care what match is the main focus as long as buyrates are up!? And thats what rock vs. punk will do

 

[jholcomb22]

I completely agree that WWE has done more damage to the rumble match than the prospect of Rock vs Punk. While the rumble usually sells itself, and I do enjoy the match, the last time a rumble was built storylinewise was when Orton was battling the McMahon family and had to win to keep his job.
The last time a rumble led to an original Wrestlemania moment was Rey mysterious in '05. After that veterans Taker, Cena, Orton and then Edge won it who all would have had their place at Mania with or without the rumble. Then you had Del Rio who had been built on destiny for a year only to lose in the opening match of mania in Edge's final match. Yet nobody talks about it, so if that was supposed to be the. Rub, rub failed. Then last year, sheamus, who again, was already a main eventer.
It's not about building main eventers anymore. It's not even about helping to setup mania anymore. By default, it has become the WHC #1 contender match because I highly doubt the rumble winner will challenge rock or punk whoever will be the champ at the time.