The Man That Should Have Main Evented WM27

[The Brain]

I think it’s a popular opinion that the main event of WrestleMania 27 was pretty weak. A lot of people were underwhelmed with John Cena vs. The Miz at the biggest show of the year. I admit I don’t have an idea for a blockbuster main event for WM27 but I do think I have a better choice than what we got. What do you think of John Cena vs. Wade Barrett?

I know what you’re thinking. Wade Barrett isn’t exactly a mania main event name and isn’t all that much better than Miz. That seems true now but I think if WWE kept booking Barrett in 2011 like they did in 2010 he could have been a better choice for mania. I’m sure you remember Wade Barrett was booked incredibly strong in the second half of 2010. As the leader of Nexus Barrett made an immediate impact on WWE and was an instant main event player. He was a natural in that role and was a breath of fresh air in WWE. He spent months making life miserable for John Cena. It was strange to see someone so new be able to just step in and take it to Cena. I think at some point in late 2010 Barrett should have won the WWE title. He was hot enough at the time and had the natural look and aura of a champion.

With so many members of Nexus and all the twists in the angle Cena and Barrett didn’t have their first one on one match until months after the feud began. They finally had their match at TLC and after Barrett lost he lost all the momentum he had built. CM Punk took over Nexus and Wade Barrett moved to Smackdown. Cena went on to face Miz in the WM27 main event while Barrett was lost in the shuffle coming up on the losing end of an eight man tag that lasted three minutes. I believe if WWE put the belt on Barrett around Survivor Series and was able to hold off on the one on one match with Cena it could have been a decent mania main event. If Barrett would have continued to make Cena miserable while finding ways to avoid his challenge I think people would have been excited for the showdown at mania. I’m not saying it would have been Hogan vs. Warrior or Rock vs. Cena by any means but I think Barrett would have at least been better than Miz and maybe he would have been a consistent main eventer ever since. Ultimately it would have still been a weak main event compared to others but do you think Wade Barrett would have been a better choice than the Miz for the WM27 main event?

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Ultimately it would have still been a weak main event compared to others but do you think Wade Barrett would have been a better choice than the Miz for the WM27 main event?

Sorry, but at that time Miz vs Cena was better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDl4rV0fmQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVOb9AW76oE

had more sense and "The Corre" was almost irrelevant by that time. Barret is now > Miz but then Miz was bigger deal then Barret.

 

[Thriller Ant]

The only issue with that is time. Nexus debuted at the start of June, and WrestleMania didn't occur until 10 months later. The time factor doesn't make it completely impossible; as you said, they didn't face each other one-on-one for a long time. By the time they did face each other, however, the Nexus angle had already grown stale and had more than its fair share of issues, with injuries and the like.

Also, despite all of the build he was given, I never found Barrett interesting or considered him a real threat. Nexus as a group was main event level, but individually, they didn't have the same success.

Could Barrett have been built to face Cena at WrestleMania? Sure, but it would have taken a much better planned and executed Nexus storyline to succeed.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

Sorry, but at that time Miz vs Cena was better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDl4rV0fmQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVOb9AW76oE

had more sense and "The Corre" was almost irrelevant by that time. Barret is now > Miz but then Miz was bigger deal then Barret.

No... No it wasn't.

I have seen every single WrestleMania and I consider Miz vs Cena to be Bam Bam vs. LT bad. I think Wade vs. Cena (if booked right) would have been a much better match... if Wade was kept as the leader of The Nexus and they're battle at WM was the culmination of The Nexus Storyline, there's no doubt in my mind that it would have been both a bigger and better main event than the one we actually got.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Sorry, but at that time Miz vs Cena was better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDl4rV0fmQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVOb9AW76oE

had more sense and "The Corre" was almost irrelevant by that time. Barret is now > Miz but then Miz was bigger deal then Barret.

The Miz was the third wheel and it was all about Cena and Rock. Basically, Miz was 2002 Jericho. Barrett made Cena's life hell. The Nexus cost him the title, made him join Nexus, and cost him his job. It would have been cool for Cena to stay off the radar for a couple of months and have Barrett win the title and forget about Cena as a threat. All of a sudden, Cena returns and faces and eliminates Barrett and Nexus once and for all at Wrestlemania.

 

[HBsam31]

This is a great thread as I just watched Night of Champions 2010 last night and I thought that would have been the perfect time for Barrett to win the title. Nexus stormed the ring and Barrett actually pinned Cena out of the six pack challenge only to be eliminated by Orton or Sheamus shortly there after. Orton ended up winning the title, and the first thought that crossed my mind was damn why didn't Barrett win this one. I think if they would have kept his push going he could have been a true star by now. He made Cena life hell for so long that had they kept it going a Mania 27 match btween the two could have been perfect. Miz was a third wheel to The Rock and Cena even though he got the win. I think Barrett/Cena could have been big.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The problem with either a Cena-Miz or Cena-Barrett, regardless of the quality of the pre match build, is this match was sacrificicial lamb material for the Cena vs Rock build up. Think Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage before WM 5, on paper at the time great potential, but everyone knew the real money was in pushing the recently heel turned Savage as World Champ vs his former partner and previous arch nemesis, Hulk Hogan, this time with Hogan as the challenger. Or Flair vs Sting. unifying the World and International Titles. On paper, great potential given their history and the specter of the unification, but in the end everyone knew Flair would win because Hogan had just signed with WCW and the big money was in putting Flair vs Hogan on PPV, With a title on the line. Those bouts in that time, Savage vs Warrior in 89, Flair vs Sting 94, suffered because any average fan knew the ultimate money match was different, and the winner was easy to predict.

Wether it was Miz or Barrett or someone else the bout vs Cena was always going to play 2nd fiddle to the build for Cena-Rock, the last "Dream Match" scenario left to play out with Austin retired and Hogan & Flair too old. Its not fair to Mizz really but he still could have done well if booked better coming out of WM 27.

 

[thebarber]

it would not have mattered who was in the main event,. Vince had a hard on to make the show about The Rock, and the WWE Title match and build up was disgraceful.
Vince does not give a shit about the storylines anymore, he will not let the storylines follow what the crowd reaction dictates, as he used to do.
Cena vs Miz would have been much better if Miz was booked as an equal, as the defending champion, he should have been elevated. Instead he looked out of his depth. Wade Barrett would not have fared any better

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Even if the Nexus angle had been handled better, having Barrett headline WrestleMania one-on-one against Cena would still have been a huge risk, as Barrett would've been on the roster for less than a year.

I think having CM Punk vs. John Cena could've worked, not with Punk as the leader of the Nexus or anything like that, but just as a standalone heel. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I think it's been shown that Punk and Cena work well together both in the ring and on the mic, and could definitely pull off a WrestleMania caliber build-up and match. Despite being built as a heel going into WrestleMania, Punk would get a huge face reaction from the Mania crowd, as internet favourites seem to do nowadays at big events (especially against Cena). The crowd was dead throughout most of Cena-Miz because a large segment of the audience didn't like either guy. Having Cena vs. Punk solves this problem. They could've then gone with Orton vs. the Miz on the undercard, or if they wanted to give Miz a push, have Cena vs. Punk vs. Miz in a triple threat main event instead. You'd have a guy that women and kids like, a guy that the older male audience likes, and a heel that everyone basically hates.

One other option I'll propose is a triple threat with Cena, Punk and Barrett. Having Barrett in a multi-man main event somewhat lessens the risk you are taking, as you have two other, well-established stars in the match with him. Barrett would still get a huge rub from being in that match and you could have an interesting storyline leading up to it involving the division of the Nexus, with some members staying loyal to Barrett and some following Punk. Barrett wouldn't necessarily have to go over in the match, but it would be best if he wasn't pinned since he's a rising star with the most to lose. Having Cena pin Punk or vice versa would be the best the best booking decision.

 

[XXJJ]

I think Barrett was suppose to wrestle Undertaker but Triple H ended up taking his spot. Poor guy went from possibly facing the Undertaker to a shitty 8 man tag.

The Miz vs Cena main event was just awful. Looking back it was the most meaningless WM main event ever. Miz was just the third wheel. They probably would of been better off making Rock the special guest ref instead of the guest host. The crowd didn't care about that match and were just waiting for The Rock to come out at the end. It was way too predictable.

I agree, Barrett vs Cena would of been a better choice. If the Nexus angle was done right.. WM should of been the big blowoff where Cena finally got his revenge and won the title from Wade.

I feel like Rock should of never cut promos about Cena before WM 27. They could of started their 1 year build the night after. They still could of used Rock as the guest host at WM 27 without him mentioning Cena.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Cena had already feuded with Barrett and beaten him. But assuming booking was different then, sure it would've been better. Almost any midcarder would've been better than Miz

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Barrett I think will get his Mania moment against Taker, and be the guy to end the streak - but WM27 was too early for it. As much as I would have liked to have seen him against Cena, he was still "a rookie" and it could have been too much too soon. That he missed WM28 thanks to Ziggler and missed the MITB moment was not good, but he has come back looking hungry.

Not sure if it'll be this year or next year, but I think Taker will pass the torch to him, he's the closest they have as a worker and his "vicious" gimmick fits well with how Taker is these days, more of a veteran tough guy fighter than deadman.

 

[CrissSpades]

I liked WrestleMania 27. I really did. I had zero problem with it, other than a couple matches. But, I think it would have been a little better if Triple H vs Undertaker main evented. That would have made it special. But Wade Barrett main eventing over Miz???? No. Barrett isn't even ready for the main event now as it is. He wasn't ready during the Nexus, and he isn't ready now. IMO.

 

[UltimateCMPunkMark]

Actually I have to disagree with you on one thing: The fact that Miz is better than Wade Barrett. Wade Barrett is true wrestling material. The guy has a broken nose and he wouldn't fix it in order to be a symbol of fighting and strength. Unlike the Miz who is not at all a wrestling material, the guy is actually more of an actor than a wrestler. He does a lot of media stuff, TMZ and a lot of other meaningless crap. The fact that he won the WWE championship title and Wade Barrett haven't yet is a joke. Wade Barrett is a bare knuckle champion. His style is unique. Dominant I would say. He also rarely botch which is something we hardly see in anyone nowadays. Unlike the Miz who is extremely weak inside the ring concerning his move set. Wade Barrett on the other hand has this leader ability thing that gives him this appeal of badass-ery. I am not saying the Miz sucks tho but still if you ask who is better, Barrett would take the green card for sure!

 

[The Hillside]

As a PPV, Wrestlemania 27 was weakened by the weak main event. Even though HHH/Taker and Punk/Orton looked big on the card and turned out to be very good matches, but the main event never looked big and the match itself was below average, even adding The Rock and Alex Riley to the feud/match did not help.

The Miz at that time was quite over, he had held the World Title for long and was quite over as a heel and had beaten Orton and Lawler in feuds. Wade Barrett was still new, even as a NXT winner or Nexus member he was still a new name in the industry and needed some work. They gave him Orton and Cena to feud with soon after his debut but he did not have any major wins. Cena vs. Barrett would have been worse then Cena vs. The Miz.

Anyways, I still think WWE should have put on a bigger match then Cena vs The Miz, Face Orton vs. Face Cena for the WWE Title with The Rock as a special guest referee or guest enforcer would have been awesome and the crowd would have totally supported the match. Cena vs The Miz was just all about The Rock to show up and do some action and fans hardly cared about The Miz as a Wrestlemania main-eventer.

Like many, I would have also changed my card:

Cena vs Orton for WWE Title
HHH vs Taker- No Holds Barred
Edge vs Punk- WHC Title
The Miz vs John Morrison- Grudge match
Alberto Del Rio vs Rey Mysterio

Del Rio was not ready to win the first ever 40 men Royal Rumble and I should have given the win to CM Punk who would have gone onto challenge Edge for the WHC and beaten him to get over.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Barrett was still too fresh but I would have rather seem him face Cena, over the Miz!

I thought they should have held the Cena/Barrett feud off a little and it would have made a solid grudge match for Mania 27.

This would just not be likely seeing as that would put Cena at about the 3rd Main Event on the Card.

My List of "Should have been" Mania 27 Main Event Matchs for the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP:

1 - CM Punk vs. Randy Orton: This match & feud were GREAT. Could have been ALOT better though, they deserved the main event IMO.

2 - John Cena vs. CM Punk: Punk should have won the rumble. And realistically with WWE always being so starstruck over Cena, this SHOULD have been the Mania 27 main event. But because we got screwed, we got Summer of Punk 2.0. So idk which was better?

3 - John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Randy Orton: Also would have been a solid main event. And never has happened to my knowledge.

4 - John Cena vs. Randy Orton: While this match has happened before, they haven't squared off at Mania one on one. It still would have beaten Miz/Cena.

5 - John Cena vs. Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk vs. Randy Orton: We haven't had a Fatal Four Way since Mania 2000. I would have also enjoyed this.


My Dream Wrestlemania 27 Card(Listed First Match of the Show to Last):

Pre-Show: Lumberjack Tag Match - Big Show & Kane vs. The Corre vs. The Nexus
1.) I.C. Title - Triple Threat - John Morrison(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz
2.) Alberto Del Rio w/Ricardo vs. Booker T
3.) U.S. Title - Sheamus(c) vs. Daniel Bryan
4.) Grudge Match - Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
5.) World Heavyweight Title - Ladder Match - Edge(c) vs. Christian
6.) Divas Title - Trish Stratus vs. Beth Phoenix vs. Melina vs. Natalya
7.) John Cena vs. Wade Barrett (w/ Special Guest Referee Stone Cold Steve Austin)
8.) WWE Title: Randy Orton(c) vs. CM Punk
9.) No Holds Barred - The Undertaker vs. Triple H

 

[Killercam]

Bottom line is the only way WM 27 could have been saved was have Taker-Sting, nothing else was interesting, Vince really let 27 slip. Worst WM ever and yes I've seen them all. They also should not have built up Rock for WM 27, I understand they needed ppv buys but how big of a pop would we have got if they didn't advertise Rock and opened Mania with Rocks entrance (they could have still followed the same plan). It would probably be the best start to a Mania ever, and lord knows that one needed something to be remembered for

 

[Trill Co$by]

What does it matter?! The event is over, stop bitching and move the fuck on! Seriously, why are people so butthurt over something that took place nearly TWO YEARS AGO! Two years ago, and even currently, The Miz is and was FAR better than Barrett. Barrett is nothing but another boring talker, only this time he's from Europe. Miz is far more entertaining and far more gifted in the ring. Now quit your bitching and move on.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

No... No it wasn't.

I have seen every single WrestleMania and I consider Miz vs Cena to be Bam Bam vs. LT bad. I think Wade vs. Cena (if booked right) would have been a much better match... if Wade was kept as the leader of The Nexus and they're battle at WM was the culmination of The Nexus Storyline, there's no doubt in my mind that it would have been both a bigger and better main event than the one we actually got.

It doesn't matter how good the match is when it's all about publicity. The Miz was everywhere before WrestleMania selling it. Barrett couldn't do that because no one knows him. The Miz has connections some wrestlers never have which is why he was in the match and deservedly so. Even if The Nexus stayed relevant Barrett didn't have the name to sell a WM ME.

Bottom line is the only way WM 27 could have been saved was have Taker-Sting, nothing else was interesting, Vince really let 27 slip. Worst WM ever and yes I've seen them all. They also should not have built up Rock for WM 27, I understand they needed ppv buys but how big of a pop would we have got if they didn't advertise Rock and opened Mania with Rocks entrance (they could have still followed the same plan). It would probably be the best start to a Mania ever, and lord knows that one needed something to be remembered for

Not even close to being the worst WM ever. Seriously. WrestleMania IX was a total shit fest. I can run off at least five or six more that were much worse.

Pops don't matter when you want PPV buys. Not letting the fans know that The Rock is going to be at WM would be stupid. A horrible business decision.

 

[The Brain]

What does it matter?! The event is over, stop bitching and move the fuck on! Seriously, why are people so butthurt over something that took place nearly TWO YEARS AGO! Two years ago, and even currently, The Miz is and was FAR better than Barrett. Barrett is nothing but another boring talker, only this time he's from Europe. Miz is far more entertaining and far more gifted in the ring. Now quit your bitching and move on.

You do realize this is the old school section, right? It's where we go to discuss past wrestling events. I figured you knew that since three months ago you created a thread about David Schultz and an incident that took place in 1984, TWENTY EIGHT YEARS AGO. Forgive me for bringing up something that happened TWO YEARS AGO. I don't think anyone is "bitching" or "butthurt" over anything. We are discussing wrestling on a wrestling discussion forum. What a concept.

I personally didn't think Miz was far more entertaining than Barrett. I wouldn't say Barrett was far better than Miz either but he had the better storyline. Mania is all about angles and the Nexus angle dominated the second half of 2010. I think they could have stretched it out longer and had the blowoff at mania. It would have made for a better story than Cena vs. Miz.

 

[fouldsy91]

Wade Barrett should not have main evented Wrestlemania 27. He just wasn't ready to be put into a big match like that then. A better choice would be CM Punk, now I know this was before CM Punk made it big so to speak, but he was feuding with Cena before that, which suddenly ended and he was placed into a feud with Orton. If Punk was big enough to face Orton at Wrestlemania he was big enough to face Cena as well.

 

[Dagger Dias]

If things had been booked properly, then Cena VS Barrett at Wrestlemania 27 could have been a good main event. I completely agree that the Cena VS Barrett match at TLC happened far too soon. Barrett would have needed to have won the WWE Championship at TLC or Survivor Series then held it until Wrestlemania. Cena could still have defeated him and thrown all of those chairs on him, which would have been a Wrestlemania moment for sure. The other members of Nexus could get involved in the match too giving Cena more trouble and larger odds to overcome. That way they do not need to book the pointless "match" where Barrett's underlings get defeated by Santino's APPLE stable in a match too short to even be considered a match.

This also makes it to where Nexus does not have to split up into two groups. The New Nexus was one of the worst stables in history and The Corre was booked so poorly. I would much rather have seen this any day compared to the garbage we got with Cena VS Miz. The only good thing we got out of that was Miz's video package before the match. This scenario leaves Miz without a match on the card, but that's not exactly a bad thing. He should never have been WWE Champion anyhow. While it would likely not have lived up to expectations, it would have been far better than the actual main event of that show. Nearly anything would have been better than Cena VS Miz.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I may be the only person in the world that feet that The Miz vs. John Cena was a good main event, because it was. They build that since probably Royal Rumble, John Cena was geating teased to be in the title picture and that was a big deal for Miz, and main eventing WrestleMania created a star, because believe it or not The Miz now is a draw, he is a name that people associate with WWE, without questioning it.

I for once loved his title reign, his annoying catchphrases and the whole thing with Michael Cole. I think it was something fresh in the main event and he was ready, he was getting over, he was getting a very good reaction from the crowd and in my mind the whole trio with Cena/Rock/Miz only made him look bigger. People were wondering about Cena/Rock, but Miz was there and he had a lot of interactions with those two guys, people just tend to be stupid and prove McMahon's theory that we have a short-term memory. It's gotta be it. Nothing in Miz's reign was boring, he lived up to the hype and I feel that the Internet is turning out to be the place where you have to be an outstanding thecnician to be considerer a good wrestler, and I have the old school mind where pshycology, characters are way more important. And in that place sirs, Miz does not fail, people love to hate him. And back there watching wrestling was a lot more fun, now it's getting boring and boring.

I wouldn't change a bit the main event, because Miz was the "hottest" thing going apart from Rock/Cena and the ratings prove that. He all by himself without no Cena or Rock had a segment known as "Miztory" that solely gained 1.000.000 viewers. This is a proof that he was getting over, the thing is that The Miz does have a lot of heat in the backstage, because he cares a whole lot more about his looks I guess than in the wrestling aspect, and ironic the fact that only good wrestlers hate him like Alberto del Rio or CM Punk (stated by themselves). I still feel to this day that WWE really failed with him, but well haters gonna hate and I also feel that WrestleMania XX7 was a good wrestling show in general.