Royal Rumble is when a new champion should be decided

[LODemolition]

In my opinion, they are rushing the tournament and the crowning of the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Rollins' injury happened just weeks before Survivor Series, where I would argue that the title shouldn't necessarily be defended anyway. I've always thought this event was better when the entire card was elimination tag matches.

At TLC and in the following weeks, there could be matches to earn you one of the 30 entries into the Royal Rumble. If TLC were booked correctly, the fans wouldn't care about the lack of a title match if it meant seeing the Rumble become that much more important. It should also mean that the best 30 on the roster should be in the match instead of the standard 10 or so that they throw in every year who we all know don't stand a chance.

The 1992 Royal Rumble remains one of my favorite events of all-time. It's the one and only Rumble where the vacated championship would be decided, and that's why it has stood the test of time. 23 years later, they should do it a 2nd time around.

These would be my 30 participants from the WWE and NXT rosters, in no particular order.

Brock Lesnar
Daniel Bryan
Bray Wyatt
John Cena
Kevin Owens
Randy Orton
Sheamus
Roman Reigns
Rusev
The Undertaker
Dean Ambrose
Alberto Del Rio
Kane
King Barrett
Sting
Dolph Ziggler
The Miz
Cesaro
Stardust
Ryback
Big Show
Neville
Big E
Kofi Kingston
Xavier Woods
Sami Zayn
Finn Balor
Samoa Joe
Luke Harper
Bubba Ray Dudley

 

[Garak]

That's makes too much sense, and it would be too different. In other words, we'd love it, but they don't want to do it.

 

[BrutalBarrett]

If i was in creative and had a say in how the champ was decided, rather than a tournament of singles matches, I would of turned it into 10 man battle Royale at Survivor Series

I would have on the Raw and Smackdowns between Rollins injury and the PPV, singles matches to qualify for the battle royale, and have about 8-10 men compete in the royale.

Rather than a standard Over the top rope Battle Royale. I would turn it into a No DQ elimination match in which only Pinfall/Submission can eliminate an opponent.

Big matches with several competitors in it are a good way to start new rivalries.

I personally would have Reigns and Sheamus as the final two and have Reigns win only for Sheamus to roll out the ring while Reigns is celebrating and a hit him with the briefcase and proceed to cash in on Reigns.

 

[ShinChan]

If i was in creative and had a say in how the champ was decided, rather than a tournament of singles matches, I would of turned it into 10 man battle Royale at Survivor Series

I would have on the Raw and Smackdowns between Rollins injury and the PPV, singles matches to qualify for the battle royale, and have about 8-10 men compete in the royale.

Rather than a standard Over the top rope Battle Royale. I would turn it into a No DQ elimination match in which only Pinfall/Submission can eliminate an opponent.

Big matches with several competitors in it are a good way to start new rivalries.

I personally would have Reigns and Sheamus as the final two and have Reigns win only for Sheamus to roll out the ring while Reigns is celebrating and a hit him with the briefcase and proceed to cash in on Reigns.

Yeah you had an great idea and it also justifies the pay per view Survivor Series where the Survivor becomes the WWE World Heavyweight Champ.......

But i dont agree with the last two being Roman Reigns and Sheamus..... I am ok with Reigns but not Sheamus!

 

[Mustang Sally]

I've always thought this event was better when the entire card was elimination tag matches.

I agree with that, although it's been years since that was the format. Those early SS cards were so unique from everything else presented during the year.

Still, Seth Rollins injury throws a wrench into whatever WWE Creative had planned up to WM32. Before the fans start to realize how all-encompassing Seth's character was to the company, they feel they'd better get a new champion installed and get a new direction started.

The idea that there must be a champion at all times probably applies too, although it could be argued that keeping Brock Lesnar as the titleholder last year was almost the same as having no champion, right?

That's the big difference between Brock and Seth, imo. While Brock was rarely around, even as champ, Seth was always in the picture. His work rate was amazing.....and he's going to be missed more than we might think.

Yes, under normal circumstances, I'd rather not see a title change at Survivor Series.....because the card should consist of only elimination matches.

But these aren't normal circumstances.

 

[BrutalBarrett]

Yeah you had an great idea and it also justifies the pay per view Survivor Series where the Survivor becomes the WWE World Heavyweight Champ.......

But i dont agree with the last two being Roman Reigns and Sheamus..... I am ok with Reigns but not Sheamus!

Only chose them to kinda fit roughly the way wwe would of went. Either Roman v Sheamus or Ambrose.

If I could choose the final two it would of been Reigns v Barrett with Barrett picking up the title and sheamus betraying him and cashing in and have those two feud over the belt cause they put on great matches against eachother haha

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As with just about anything else, this would be a situation in which the WWE would and will be criticized regardless. For instance, they're being criticized that the tournament is being rushed, yet they'd be criticized for waiting too long if they went without having a WWE Champion until nearly the end of the first month of 2016. Remember all the griping that went with Brock Lesnar's title reign even though it was what some fans were clamoring for as long as it fit their fantasy scenarios? This would be no different.

From a personal standpoint, I can see the positives and negatives of both ideas. Right now, WWE is quite short on star power due to injuries or wrestlers taking needed time off; to be fair though, there's a very good possibility that it wouldn't be so bad if Vince wasn't so focused on keeping so very few stars as being main event ready while everyone else doesn't have the built up credibility. But, with so many guys out, this does potentially create an opportunity to establish some new stars, to elevate some guys who could genuinely benefit from everything that's going on provided that Vince doesn't sabotage those guys and essentially obliterate their momentum once Cena, Orton, etc. make their return.

Also, one thing to consider is how controversial the Rumble has been the past couple of years. In 2014, a significant majority of fans wanted Daniel Bryan pushed and hijacked the show when it became obvious he wasn't gonna be getting it. In 2015, the excitement for the entire Rumble match was obliterated when Bryan was eliminated, Reigns won and Vince tried to manipulate the emotions of the crowd by sending out The Rock to congratulate Reigns. As of right now, there's probably no clear, true consensus on who fans want as WWE World Heavyweight Champion as many fans are encouraged by Reigns' progress, many want to see Ambrose finally elevated to the main event level, Cesaro has his own supporters, Kevin Owens is a hot young heel on the rise, Dolph Ziggler has been perpetually victimized by stop & go pushes to such a degree that many wanna see him get the title just to finally see him get a sustained push, etc. If WWE waited until the Royal Rumble to crown a champ, they risk crowning a champ in front of a potentially hostile crowd and environment that could ultimately make the whole thing feel like a letdown.

One thing I wouldn't mind doing would be for them to wait until TLC, have a couple of TLC bouts featuring maybe 5 guys each with the winners of said bouts taking on each other in a singles TLC match to crown a new champion.

Personally, I'd also like to see Survivor Series go back to the tag team elimination matches being what makes up the card. It wouldn't be all that difficult to fill up the time if each of the matches were a good 30-40 minutes in length; besides, these matches could be used as a showcase for some wrestlers to be elevated and I'm of the opinion that a Team Taker vs. Team Wyatt main event would be more of a draw than simply having Taker & Kane face two Wyatt Family members in a tag bout.

 

[shafe_41]

They're damned if they do and damned if they don't. There's a tournament right now. Live with it. If they would have crowned a new champion during the Rumble like in 1992, they would have gotten crap about how there was no champion for almost three months and you can't have that. When Lesnar was champ, he wasn't there, the champ needs to be there, etc... blah blah blah. They need a champion that's on television. The product sucks without it. Yadda Yadda Yadda. They would have also gotten crap about "Oh they had to do what they did in 1992. That's so unoriginal. Can't they do a tournament or something? This is stupid."

This is the perfect opportunity for someone to "grab the brass ring." Sure it might end up being Reigns. But people need to quit bitching and moaning that he's only getting it because he's the hand-picked guy. He has to win a first championship somehow. He's going to win it at some point. Deal with it.

The TLC matches to win a spot in the Rumble wouldn't make sense. They already have MitB for that. To win MitB, you get a guaranteed title shot. But you have to compete in a TLC match. A potentially career threatening match... just to win one of 30 spots in a random clusterf*ck free for all? No. And how are you going to have 60 matches in the weeks between TLC and Rumble to determine 30 entrants? I'm not sure there's 60 guys on the non-injured active roster at the moment. Not including NXT of course. And how would one decide who competes at TLC... and who competes at a mid-Jan episode of Superstars? It has nothing to do with TLC not being booked correctly. It has to do with specifically themed PPVs instead of being used as blow-offs for feuds or big events. That's for another day though.

Right now... the tournament does feel rushed. I agree. But at this time of the year, there is no better option to crown a new champion. It makes Raw matches more important. Smackdown matches more important. And you don't have the same people competing 3-4 times a night like they would in a KotR type event and the crowd growing tired with hearing the same music 3-4 times a night.

 

[TDFG]

Waiting until the Royal Rumble to crown a new Champion would be a disaster, your talking something like 10-11 weeks and 2 PPV's down the line, not to mention after you crown a new World Champion how do you determine a number one contender for Fast Lane & WrestleMania?

 

[whoopin' ass]

The way they do stories today, they wouldn't be able to hold out that long. Besides, that is the point of having a 2 months tournament to crown a champ or just waiting that long to hit the Rumble and rush it there? Pick your top 16 guys, have 4 matches on Raw and Smackdown one week, take the 8 winners and do 4 matches on Raw, 2 on Smackdown the next week and have the finals on Raw. It doesn't make sense drawing it out any longer than that.

 

[Bowzer]

Waiting for the Rumble would have been a little to long to stretch it out. But Survivor Series itself is shaping up to be pretty disappointing. I don't understand why they didn't run a 1 night tournament, like Deadly Games years ago, instead of having only the finals at Survivor Series. And don't even get me started on Taker and Kane in a tag match against the Wyatts instead of a classic elimination match. What could have been a stellar Survivor Series seems to be heading the direction of a letdown. Maybe they run some sort of screwy finish and they do drag out the vacant title for a while. At least that will add some drama. But I think trying to make it all the way to the Rumble wouldn't work.

 

[Azane]

Every minute the WWE has no champion, is a minute they're losing money, advertising, ticket sales, other TV deals, and the publicity surrounding them.

I would almost argue they should have found a way to crown a champion that Monday, I would have had Sheamus cash in on Seth in Crutches (super protected pin etc...). the World Title draws, regardless of who wears it.

Going months without a face of the company is just ridiculous, giving the newer (not necessarily younger) stars a chance to shine and actually be relevant will help in the future, having former world champions like Jack Swagger, is something the IWC loves to crap all over, but being able to add "a former world champion" Moniker during random match ups can elevate a real lowercard match to at least midcard (for casual fans, the 95% that matter)

Winning "spots" in the rumble, Oh cool, Now when 70 year old legends and NXT jobbers come out a long side the people fighting for spots, will we suspend belief? Do we BELIEVE that someone like Dean Ambrose would miss the Rumble?

TLDR - Vacant World Champion is terrible, fill it immediately.