I'm betting on Sheamus.
Look, I can see the reason for the optimism guys, but I can assure you no massive surprise is coming our way, and I doubt it's going to be Ziggler.
Let's just go ahead and nix out some of the names I've heard people mention:
Tyler Breeze: Right. Vince McMahon is going to let that gimmick go over his top superstar in his first match. Right.
John Cena isn't Chris Jericho, guys. He doesn't have John Cena lose to the guy that's (probably) going to become the comedy gimmick in WWE. I like Breeze as much as the next guy, but the truth is that he's small, and he's a fop gimmick. There is 0.0% chance Vince McMahon lets him go over John Cena in his first match.
Dolph Ziggler: Conventional Wisdom tells you that Ziggler beats Cena and turns heel. I guess Ziggler could beat Cena clean, but, lulz.
Logic and context also tells you that with Cena and Orton both gone, and Lesnar likely taking hiatus after HIAC, there's going to be a dearth of faces. It's going to be Reigns, Ambrose, and Kane. Slim fucking pickings, indeed, when you're relying on Kane in 2015 to be your #3 babyface.
Ziggler may turn heel eventually, but I doubt that comes until the roster can actually sustain it. And the roster's pretty thin when you're worried Dolph fucking Ziggler turning heel will be a problem.
Rusev: I doubt it. I doubt Rusev's getting buried, but I would bet you until Lana is ready to return, Rusev's going to be treading water for the next months. He's going to be at the "creative has nothing for you" phase of doing fuck all.
Or, the "creative refuses to do anything other than the angle TMZ blew" phase.
New Day: This is the one I would think makes the most logical sense. They've had the most involvement with Cena the past three weeks, and they've laid him out. But unless Xavier Woods is defending the tag titles at Hell in a Cell, I don't see who goes over Cena.
Logic would dictate Kofi, being the only one to not lose to Cena yet, would have his turn at the bat. But then, you have a team of Xavier Woods and Big E. As much as we laud WWE for using the Freebird Rule with the New Day, it's very rare to see Xavier actually defend the titles. In fact, has he ever defended the titles, at all?
Again, admittedly it would make a lot of sense for it to be New Day. I just don't think it would logistically work, if you're going to go the route that makes most sense. Otherwise, you have Xavier Woods going over Cena, which probably isn't happening.
Owens/Ryback: Already have a match.
Ambrose: Now with the Wyatt match off the show, you could theoretically have Dean accept the challenge. He was actually the first one to take the challenge, and there's a bit of a poetic note to have the open challenge end on the guy that started it. But I doubt he's done with the Wyatts, and now that there's four Wyatts, I would expect this feud to go to Survivor Series.
Samoa Joe/Anyone from NXT: Not unless you're planning on promoting to the main roster. You just debuted Breeze, you aren't debuting someone else from NXT right now.
Which brings us back to
Sheamus. Consider the following:
- Sheamus isn't booked on the card, nor has he even been.
- Sheamus already is a heel.
- Management is already high on Sheamus, and they're clearly grooming his main event push...again...
You have Cena taken out by Sheamus for the injury angle, because Sheamus is credible enough to hurt Cena. You have Cena take his time off, and Sheamus carrying both the US Title and MITB. You have Cena and Sheamus feud over the US Title when he comes back. Cena wins when Sheamus is ready to cash in his briefcase, or really whenever he comes back.
Sorry folks...I really think you're getting Sheamus.
Edit: Sheamus is on the pre-show. This entire post you read was pointless. Let's go with Dean, because now he makes the most sense.
