Report: Cena likely out for WrestleMania and longer

[lil steroid meat]

Taker vs. Kane. Loser (or both) retires and is never seen on WWE TV again in character.

Nobody wants to see this.

I'd rather them give Kevin Owens the old Randy Orton legend killer gimmick and give him the rub of being the guy who 'KO'd' Taker and set him up to take the title off Reigns by Summerslam, than see these old ass dudes go at it.

Quite frankly no one cares if Taker or Kane is never seen on WWE TV again in character or not.

 

[nightmare]

They would need a serious name to come in for this to work out well since Cena vs Taker is scrapped & if Cena was to be his opponent, signs point to this being Takers last hurrah. Shawn isnt really an option, Rock cant due to his movie deal, nobody cares to see Batista & Jericho vs Taker may be good, but not exactly a big deal. Long shot? Goldberg, but why go the returning loser route with him? Sting may not be stepping back in the ring again & surely not to lose.

Only real options besides someone on the active roster would be Bryan or Austin. My pick would be Steve because he is healthier then Daniel & probably would not mind doing the job to send Taker off in their home state. Get out that checkbook, Vince.

 

[BringThePain834]

Vince would probably consider Hogan as an option had not what went down did.

 

[BaconBits]

Nobody wants to see this.

I'd rather them give Kevin Owens the old Randy Orton legend killer gimmick and give him the rub of being the guy who 'KO'd' Taker and set him up to take the title off Reigns by Summerslam, than see these old ass dudes go at it.

Quite frankly no one cares if Taker or Kane is never seen on WWE TV again in character or not.

You need to take your smark glasses off when discussing Wrestlemania. The show has to appeal to a much wider audience. And lot of those casuals think that Taker/Kane are far more known than Owens at this point. Besides, Taker/Owens is an awful matchup stylistically.

And beating Taker isn't the rub it once was. Brock killed it.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

So Balor comes up to the main roster and immediately wins the WWE world title? Not a good idea

I don't 100% agree mate. This is actually one of the few times where it'd be good for a shotgun rookie champ. Star power is lacking on Mania, but this opportunity is a silver lining.

Still I understand your reservations.

 

[OYDK]

Time for them to start making some changes. I would make 4 simple decisions (well, simple to me) heading into Mania that may limit the effect of all these injuries.

1. Bring back Daniel Bryan. From what I've been hearing, he's ready to return.

2. STRONG pushes for Wyatt, Owens, and Ambrose. And I mean strong. All three are on the cusp of breaking out of their shells, and they seem to be who the fans are most invested in. Time to run with them.

3. Bring up one or two NXT guys who have the potential to draw eyes right away. I might go with Balor and Joe. Unless of course Styles and Nakamura could get here relatively soon.

4. Sign Goldberg. He's open to a return and he's your best bet at matching "Cena numbers" when it comes down to it.

They need name-power more than anything else if they want to keep selling tickets.

 

[Hyorinmaru]

I don't 100% agree mate. This is actually one of the few times where it'd be good for a shotgun rookie champ. Star power is lacking on Mania, but this opportunity is a silver lining.

Still I understand your reservations.

If this is the route they do go I hope they do it right.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Goldberg? Fuck that

 

[BringThePain834]

Goldberg's pretty much expected in the TNA locker room right about now.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Looks like SuperCena is not so(Horatio Kane puts down sunglasses) super.

Ok, now that the pun is out of the way, I am really sorry to hear that. Was hoping to finally see Cena/Taker at Mania. Big blow for the company for sure...

 

[Uncle Sam]

Time to harvest the NXT crop.

 

[Tastycles]

Lol at people thinking Finn Balor is a suitable replacement for John Cena. There is literally only one place they can turn, if the Rock isn't interested. And that's the bottom line, because marketing said so.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Vince: "Hey, Kurt...how ya doin' pal? Listen...about that part time contract you wanted..."

 

[OYDK]

Goldberg? Fuck that

Doesn't matter if we want to see him. He'll bring in numbers. Anyone who says differently is kidding themselves.

 

[Con T.]

So, are we really going to pretend like this is going to affect Wrestlemania, in the slightest?

At this point, the biggest draw for Wrestlemania is that it's Wrestlemania. If you really think this is going to impact the business of Mania all that much, I'm sad to say I expect you'll be sorely mistaken.

It's going to be the business post Mania that we all should be very worried about. If Roman doesn't stay over, then WWE has no one to turn to until Seth comes back.

And, I mean, did you guys see the shows when Cena left to do his reality show?

 

[M]

Isn't this the same injury as Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami, and Cesaro all had? That's scary. Rotator cuff is something really annoying to have hurt too, but this is mr 2008 royal rumble and señor softball sized elbow we're talking about. I wouldn't put WM out of the question.

There's a million ways they can elevate someone to a fan favourite at least temporarily as a flash in the pan. The rumble is soon and I wouldn't bet against WWE realising that and giving someone other than Reigns the star making performance for once. Long term it could be something great, or it could be something terrible.

 

[Pérez84]

So at this point the E is probably in panic mode....only thing left to do is Vince puts up whatever money it takes to buy out Punks UFC contract and hand him a blank check to come back.

CM Punk versus AJ Styles that right there would save Wrestlemania

Vince won't burn millions to bring Punk back just to have him facing AJ Styles. Punk must be in the main event in that scenario. He already has big money, the main event of WM is what he never had.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

What's the biggie? Cena usually has mid-card level/or feel Mania matches anyway.

The whole event just got more interesting.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Punk would also have to go over if there is any chance Dana White is going to let him do it. But i severely doubt it, like I could picture Cena beating the entire roster in under 20 minutes as the main event before punk comes back.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

So, are we really going to pretend like this is going to affect Wrestlemania, in the slightest?

At this point, the biggest draw for Wrestlemania is that it's Wrestlemania. If you really think this is going to impact the business of Mania all that much, I'm sad to say I expect you'll be sorely mistaken.

It's going to be the business post Mania that we all should be very worried about. If Roman doesn't stay over, then WWE has no one to turn to until Seth comes back.

And, I mean, did you guys see the shows when Cena left to do his reality show?

Exactly. Mania will be fine. It is the rest of the shows, especially the house show numbers that WWE needs to concern themselves with.

Merchandise sales probably will get hurt pretty bad too.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

CM Punk isn't coming back. Just forget about that.

I don't know how they could convince Austin to come back, but I'm guessing a shit ton of money wouldn't hurt.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Nah. its been said in various places by various people that he has more than enough money to not risk paralysis

 

[Blade]

So the updated Mania 32 card will be:

- Reigns vs. Lesnar in a 1 hour Iron Man match
- Triple H vs. Undertaker in the first ever 'Try not to die' 1 hour Iron Man match
- 45 minute promo by the Rock where he runs out of material after 15 minutes, and eventually just starts rehearsing new scenes from Ballers.
- The world's longest Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale.
- And 4 minutes for the Divas Title match.

10/10, best Mania ever.

 

[Vageena Hertz]

So the updated Mania 32 card will be:

- Reigns vs. Lesnar in a 1 hour Iron Man match
- Triple H vs. Undertaker in the first ever 'Try not to die' 1 hour Iron Man match
- 45 minute promo by the Rock where he runs out of material after 15 minutes, and eventually just starts rehearsing new scenes from Ballers.
- The world's longest Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale.
- And 4 minutes for the Divas Title match.

10/10, best Mania ever.

Can't wait to read kb's review for it.

 

[MERPER]

So, are we really going to pretend like this is going to affect Wrestlemania, in the slightest?

At this point, the biggest draw for Wrestlemania is that it's Wrestlemania. If you really think this is going to impact the business of Mania all that much, I'm sad to say I expect you'll be sorely mistaken.

It's going to be the business post Mania that we all should be very worried about. If Roman doesn't stay over, then WWE has no one to turn to until Seth comes back.

And, I mean, did you guys see the shows when Cena left to do his reality show?

Like him or not, Cena is the face of the company so him not being part of your biggest event of the year is bad for the company.

Add to his absence the fact that Rollins and Orton also won't be there and it's very unlikely Daniel Bryan won't be there and you lack superstar power.

Yes, WrestleMania can still have good matches, but the event is about superstars. A chance to see all the top guys perform at a high level in one night and this year's will lack that BIG time.