What went wrong?

[RedRegan1005]

Take a look at the recent Ambros/Cena vs The authority on paper. It makes sense. It should be a success. Ambrose is the hottest young rising star. His feud with Rollins has been the hottest feud sense the break up of the Shield. Cena is the top guy in the company, and The Authority has been the top heel group that has dominated WWE for over a year now. On paper it works, but as it has played out over the past month, it has seem to have fallen flat. The crowd is as hot for it as you would expect, and everything about the angle has felt very underwhelming over the past four weeks. Were about to have the longest, and hottest running feud of Ambrose vs Rollins culminate in a Hell in a Cell match, and it just doesn't feel as big as it should. So my question is simple what went wrong?

When I look at it, it seems to me that the center of the angle, Ambrose vs Rollins is working, but the supporting characters have bogged down this entire story line. The Authorities lackeys, Orton & Kane have never been so meaningless, and without any sort of momentum. They haven't done anything notable or interesting with them to further their part in the story line other than having them tag against the same people over and over. If you take some hot, and pair it with something that cold right now, its gonna smother the heat.

Then we have the Cena addition. It seemed it would work at the time, but as time has went on, its just felt forced, and simply like something for Cena to do because Lesnar wont be around for awhile. Now he's gonna face Orton in a Hell in a Cell match that just seem pointless. The Authority has been treading water, not developing, or changing. This last month stretch to get them to HIAC as felt like forever, because WWE is just trying to fill the time till the PPV, yet they seem to have nothing to really give us.

That's what I feel has gone wrong with a story line, that for all intents and purposes makes sense on paper, but has came across as less than important or entertaining. What do you think has gone wrong with this angle? Or do you think nothing has gone wrong and its going perfect?

 

[OYDK]

Honestly, I don't think anything went wrong with this angle. It started off hot and imo (it may not be a popular one) Cena elevated this feud to true main event status. With Rollins and Ambrose, we got to see the two young guys just beat the crap out of each other and that was awesome for 3 months. I think WWE was smart to get Cena involved after NOC because there wasn't much left to build with JUST Rollins and Ambrose. Also, I'll admit Cena and Ambrose were great entertainment together and believe it or not, it probably did a whole lot to get Ambrose over as a main event guy with the mundies (casuals).

Here's a guy who can not only compete with John Cena, but can get in his head, hold his own on the mic, one-up him, AND he went over him to win the main event spot at HIAC. Maybe I'm alone but I've wholeheartedly enjoyed this entire angle and am looking forward to what happens in HIAC between Rollins/Ambrose.

 

[Softcore Holly]

I think the only problem might be Rollins, the supposed main villain in this story, was getting lost in the background. The Authority ended up overshadowing him in their efforts to protect him and he's been moved down to the mid-card while getting less mic time as of late. Meanwhile Cena has become the guy people wants Ambrose to fight, which makes sense since it's been a while since two popular faces really went at it and this is as close to being in a heel role as Cena's ever going to get.

And of course the ever repeating pattern of Raw. Some form of Cena Ambrose vs some form of Orton, Kane and sometimes Rollins. Faces win by DQ, heels beatdown, rinse repeat. Also really doesn't help when they do almost the exact same thing on SD.

The Angle itself is fine, Rollins just needs to be featured more so he can draw more heat and people get more eager to see Ambrose finally kick his ass.

 

[Navi]

I kind of have to agree with the OP. When this feud started I was watching every week to see where and when Ambrose would strike next. It seemed that everywhere Rollins went, Ambrose was waiting in the shadows for him. After the addition of Cena, that sort of surprise just went away, and the whole thing seemed to centre around the two of them.

It was like which one will get Rollins? Rollins who should have been in the middle became for me an afterthought. I said it before there was no reason that Cena needed to be inserted into the middle of this, it just sucked all the air right out of it. Instead of Ambrose chasing Rollins into the crowd, Cena was the one who was chasing him out of the ring.

No one can tell me that the break up of the Shield and the way Rollins turned on his fellow Shield members, and the fact that he put Ambrose's head through cinderblocks equal Rollins maybe costing Cena the title at NOC.

Rollins and Ambrose should have been left alone to continue this feud and if they had played it right, they could have had it go all the way to the Rumble. As it is with all the supporting players that were added to this storyline, it became muddled and a lot of it was unnecessary.

This feud was about revenge and payback simple and easy to follow, didn't end up that way, and I'm afraid that they took one of the best things going this year and almost destroyed it. Thank God they've seen the light, and Ambrose will finally get his hands on Rollins at HIAC. It could have gone on longer though, and that's the sad part.

 

[Mudlup50]

I don't really agree. For starters, I don't think the feud ends at HiaC. I can see WWE keeping this going till TLC. Not even a bad thing in my opinion. Ambrose wins at HiaC. At Survivor Series we see a traditional tag match. TLC we see the conclusion. Rollins does seem like an afterthought, but the entire first few months of the feud Kane was attached to his hip.

I think the original plan was to have Cena v Rollins and Ambrose v Orton. Cena most likely going over, Ambrose maybe going over. I think the reaction caused them to change the plans. And it makes sense. Some people seem mad but this is the perfect time for Rollins/Ambrose to steal the show. Lesnar is gone, Cena and Orton are fighting again, the crowd probably won't be into it(they have no reason to be, there's zero feud there), the only match I see that could take the show aside from Seth/Dean is Dolph/Cesaro.

What I'm saying is, this is perfect for them. And the WWE, they're going to their old standby Cena/Orton. I won't watch that match, but if the WWE feels safer good. Better than ending some feud prematurely to stick Orton in a match at the PPV

 

[MERPER]

what went wrong, IMHO, is simply a numbers game.

Daniel Bryan went down, Reigns went down, Jericho went on tour...

So, you have 2 "a-list" faces right now and the authority, at any given time if you include Triple H, has 4 heels... plus, it was hard to convince everyone that ambrose and cena could really get along... so you just couldn't continue on the current path. Or at least I didn't think you can.

I think blame also falls on writers for continuously fail to develop more than like 5-10 characters at a time. If they had developed some mid-card guys well enough maybe 1 or 2 could make the face jump to the main card to help the feud, but they are simply unable to write compelling enough scripts/characters to turn anyone from a middling star into a superstar.

 

[CyberPunk]

IMO, this feud didn't need Cena. It was simple feud to begin with. Rollins stabbed Ambrose in the back, Ambrose seeks revenge and Authority gets in the way everytime he gets close to Rollins. It was working. Then enters Cena. His peeve with Rollins is understandable; Rollins cost him the championship. However, him seeking revenge for it just doesn't make sense. Cena is supposedly mad because he had Lesnar beat but couldn't do it because Rollins interfered. However, in the grand scheme of things, Rollins was within his right to do so being the MITB briefcase holder. So while Ambrose and Rollins is a very simple but personal feud, Cena is there just because Rollins tried cashing in on Lesnar instead of on Cena. Cena's role so far has been devoid of any real emotion. His promos against Ambrose have seemed forced. And then there is Authority. Constant tag match ups against same opponents for god knows what. Authority has had no real development during this period as someone pointed out. And Rollins became an afterthought to all this. He carries the MITB briefcase around with no champion to cash in on.

I am still hoping that HIAC turns out to be good but another Cena vs Orton match? Thank god it's not the main event. I am really looking forward to Rollins vs Ambrose. Hope is there for a fresh main event match up.

 

[Mudlup50]

Cena's role so far has been devoid of any real emotion. His promos against Ambrose have seemed forced.

I 100% agree with this, it seems like all of this promos with Ambrose has been repeating what Ambrose said except madder.

"I'll beat your ass." Check.
"Don't give me a reason to dislike you." Check

And I think that's the idea but I still hate it. Dean is getting hot and John's promos are so bland.

 

[MERPER]

IMO, this feud didn't need Cena.

This is really the issue with it... it was god awful writing from the start.

There was ZERO need to involve Cena. Whoever wrote it should be fired.

You totally forced a rivalry while one already existed and for what? To ruin a good championship match on a "surprise" interference in which Rollins wound up not even actually using the money in the bank contract?

I mean gee, if he at least lost it in the attempt, it would have served a purpose, but he didn't even do that...

they inserted cena into it for absolutely no reason, forced a bad storyline and are left reeling from it

 

[Papa Pillman]

I don't find anything wrong with the Ambrose versus Cena versus Rollins and the Authority storyline, and I also think the fans dig it for the most part. The only issue casting any negativity on the top of the card is the fact that the company's best heel is world champion and his manager is the company's best talent on the mic, and neither is anywhere to be seen. But apart from that, which can't be helped, the trio of Cena and the healthy remainder of the former Shield guys as well as HHH and Stephanie(and Orton too to some degree) have all done their jobs making the top story interesting.

Its literally everything else that is happening on the show that is borderline unwatchable. If crowds aren't reacting to the main storyline well enough it is likely only because having to sit through the rest of the show is killing their interest level.

 

[Navi]

I don't really agree. For starters, I don't think the feud ends at HiaC. I can see WWE keeping this going till TLC. Not even a bad thing in my opinion. Ambrose wins at HiaC. At Survivor Series we see a traditional tag match. TLC we see the conclusion. Rollins does seem like an afterthought, but the entire first few months of the feud Kane was attached to his hip.

I would have agreed with you that this could have kept going till TLC or even longer. The fact that they put others into it and shifted the focus away from the original reason that this even started ruined what Ambrose and Rollins had created in the first place. So I think they have to finish it now.

If you remember the Shield break up, Ambrose was livid, he went after Rollins at every turn. He hid inside presents, car trunks, wherever Rollins was Ambrose wasn't far behind. Rollins couldn't even walk down a hallway without the threat of being attacked, and the guy looked scared shitless half the time. He was always complaining to HHH that Ambrose was unstable, unhinged and they had to do something about him, and they did. They got him out of the way for awhile anyway.

When Ambrose returned I expected the same thing to start up again, but no, they had decided to put Cena into the middle of it. Now the feud was revolving around Cena and Ambrose, why I've never figured that one out. All I do know is that Ambrose stopped stalking Rollins, and Rollins stopped looking over his shoulder. And that's when it stopped being the same. The intensity seemed to seep out of it and Ambrose became involved with Cena and in a way totally forgot about Rollins, who would now come to the ring wander around like everything was okay. He would never have done that a couple of months ago, he wouldn't go near Ambrose. The complaints to HHH stopped, and it looked like the threat was over.

That's what happened to this feud when Cena entered it. Does he have a beef with Rollins, maybe but Jesus, they could have kept him out of this one until it was finished. Or better yet, he could have gotten behind Ambrose egging him on making him more crazy and got him to do the job for him. No it didn't work that way, and I hope they can get it back, but sadly for me the factor that made this so special is gone.

 

[Nada]

Seth is the man that cost Cena the chance to EQUAL Ric Flair's championship title reigns. Think about that for a second.

Cena should be absolutely livid at him, yet when he lost to Dean, for a rematch against Seth, he just shrugged it off.

Can you imagine LeBron James failing to win a 6th championship to equal Jordan his idol, and just going "meh"?

We have gone from not caring about world titles as much because they split the belts in early 2000s, had far shorter runs, to undermining the IC and US titles, to now even undermining RECORDS, and not just any record. We arent talking about the record for wearing the most jorts in a ring, i am sure Cena has that on a lock, we are talking about the most impressive record in pro wrestling.

But its fake, who cares?

Its not fake, its a illusion, they arent the same things. If Cena does not care, why should we? If the Lost characters dont care about getting of the island, why should we? "Meh lets just chill out on the beach" yeah i am sure ratings would have been fantastic. Millions of people care about fictional characters in fictional storylines, why is WWE so scared of trying to make people care? I cared about Frodo Baggins and Sam, i wanted them to succeed. I am very well aware they arent real people. I still care, i am still emotionally invested.

WWE is too scared to take anything too seriously, otherwise people will point and go "lol rasslin its fake u guys kno dis rite?" who gives a shit?

 

[Mudlup50]

Seth is the man that cost Cena the chance to EQUAL Ric Flair's championship title reigns. Think about that for a second.

Cena should be absolutely livid at him, yet when he lost to Dean, for a rematch against Seth, he just shrugged it off.

To be honest I had kind of forgotten about that...very very good point. I think it would have helped build it up by Trips saying it would be Cena's last shot at the title, then Seth cost him before the match was over. Then I could see the anger, but even now. How many shots a year does Cena get? They should play this angle up way more. Again, I had forgotten.

 

[MartialHorror]

The only way there would be any pay-off for this storyline is if Cena won, had a match with Rollins and exited the feud so Ambrose/Rollins can have one final PPV match. The problem with that though is that it would get many complaining that Cena isn't putting Ambrose over...or putting Rollins over since the only way for him to get out of the picture is having him win. If Cena lost and just went on to the next story, it would be very OOC.

However, they had Cena lose, making his presence in this story totally meaningless and assuring that we'll get the same matches. Wow, I've never seen Cena Vs Orton before. Is this really the finale between Ambrose and Rollins, or is it going to end with Rollins fleeing or the authority interfering again.

A lack of foresight caused this feud to collapse...in my opinion. Plus, I feel Rollins has been booked as a weakling and it's made me start to lose interest in him. Im tired of seeing him run OVER and OVER again. Randy Orton also was booked this way late last year, but at least they made that part of the storyline. I also think Orton played the role better.

Ambrose is still cool, but once again, this feud- which was previously the best of the year- has become stale.

 

[L@RISANO]

To be honest I had kind of forgotten about that...very very good point. I think it would have helped build it up by Trips saying it would be Cena's last shot at the title, then Seth cost him before the match was over. Then I could see the anger, but even now. How many shots a year does Cena get? They should play this angle up way more. Again, I had forgotten.

My problem with the storyline has been more of how the no.1 contendership has been relegated to little importance such that there isnt anyone even attempting to put their hands up to be Brock Lesnar's next challenger.

Ok, Ambrose and Cena both have reasons for going after Seth. Whilst Cena 'won' his REmatch by dq, which means that there should be someone else asking for a title chance or a number of guys trying to get a title shot. I mean, Randy Orton still has his REmatch to do, doesnt he?

So basically, given the rumours, the WWE are basically saying that even though Cena failed in his rematch chance, he is basically going to be given another shot just like that whilst NOone else on the roster seems ready to step up.

 

[enviousdominous]

I'm sensing that backstage politics may be afoot in this harrowing caper.

Looking at how it was panning out; John Cena would face Dean Ambrose in a match at HIAC for the right to face Rollins in a Swell Hell Cell. That booking made me wonder in that denying Dean Ambrose a match against Rollins wouldn't have made much sense, and making Cena lose in any manner against a relative newcomer in anything except an *ugh* contract on a pole match would have made this entire forum implode.

They promised us an encounter between two unstoppable forces at HIAC, and from my perspective couldn't finalize the finish of the Cena vs Ambrose match. I realize that I'm assuming a lot here, but changing the script to have them just hack out a (fucking stupid) object on a pole match was odd, and then to put that match on RAW made it even more peculiar. HHH made the match so Dean and Cena would, as that idiot put it, "tear each other aparrrrt!". Right, good thinking H. They didn't tear each other apart because Randy and the rest got involved per HHH's instruction, there's also the fact that the fucking PPV is two weeks away. HHH wanted them to "tear each other aparrrt!" and have two weeks to recuperate as opposed to having them "tear each other aparrrt!" at the PPV right before having to face a fresh Rollins.

The blonde woman who broke up Van Halen has nothing on HHH.

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

I was thinking about this recently and you are perfectly correct.

Feud starts with Dean and Seth, while Roman focuses on Orton and HHH. At that time, Cena is feuding with Bray (completely irrelevant to Dean), Orton and Kane are basically doing nothing of interest. You have Reigns moving to the title picture, out of nowhere, along with Orton and Cena, and it seems like Dean and Seth are left alone to feud on their own, which is a good thing. They could have taken this feud and add small pieces to it to make it interesting each week, without having to involve 5 other people in it.

Then Cena becomes champion, Orton and Kane still doing nothing, Reigns is trying to go against the Authority by himself doing a program with Orton. Everything is still kinda good. Then Reigns gets injured and Orton and Kane shift their attention back to Ambrose and here is where it really gets messy.

We get the same thing every week: Rollins beating down Dean with the help of Orton and Kane, because they are doing nothing. Cena is feuding with Lesnar, but Lesnar is leaving. Something has to be done with Cena, so they obviously put him in the hottest feud going. Suddenly, the attention is taken off from Dean vs Seth and is shifted back to Cena. Now, oout of nowhere, Cena is feuding with both Dean and Seth, for no real reason and of course the spotlight will be on him. Dean vs Seth stopped being so personal because now you have Dean vs Cena and Cena wanting Seth himself too. Add in there the fact that Orton and Kane keep running in, feeling as irrelevant as ever,screwing every finish.

It doesn't feel as personal as it felt the first 2 months which is a shame, really. For some reason, we get Orton vs Cena, that will probably get a lot of spotlight and they are ven considering it as the main event, when the hottest thing is Dean vs Seth. I really don't know what they are thinking....

 

[sMark]

So my question is simple what went wrong?

Cena got involved and stole Rollins' thunder. I find myself much more interested in Ambrose/Cena 1 on 1 match than any of them going against Rollins. Orton saying that everyone can go through Rollins at HiaC doesn't help either. Rollins simply feel like a placeholder or poor replacement now.

But WWE can still make it work - make Cena vs Orton to go before Rollins/Ambrose and when the match is over, let Rollins take out both of them with Curb Stomp on MitB briefcase, "sending both to hospital" for the rest of the night. Then, when asked about helping him in HiaC by Authority, refuse it, saying that he will take out Ambrose on his own, making The Unstable One just another victim.
And in his HiaC, don't make him run around the ring from Ambrose, make him to start a match from succesfull briefcase attack on Dean and domination, then Ambrose will slowly build momentum and win in the very end - classic scenario.
Make the match bloody and brutal, go all the way oldschool, if you want to transform both guys into stars, you need to make it memorable, apologies later for it's brutality if needed.

 

[Mudlup50]

Cena got involved and stole Rollins' thunder. I find myself much more interested in Ambrose/Cena 1 on 1 match than any of them going against Rollins. Orton saying that everyone can go through Rollins at HiaC doesn't help either. Rollins simply feel like a placeholder or poor replacement now.

But WWE can still make it work - make Cena vs Orton to go before Rollins/Ambrose and when the match is over, let Rollins take out both of them with Curb Stomp on MitB briefcase, "sending both to hospital" for the rest of the night. Then, when asked about helping him in HiaC by Authority, refuse it, saying that he will take out Ambrose on his own, making The Unstable One just another victim.
And in his HiaC, don't make him run around the ring from Ambrose, make him to start a match from succesfull briefcase attack on Dean and domination, then Ambrose will slowly build momentum and win in the very end - classic scenario.
Make the match bloody and brutal, go all the way oldschool, if you want to transform both guys into stars, you need to make it memorable, apologies later for it's brutality if needed.

I hadn't even thought of your first paragraph xD I actually agree and I prefer Rollins over Cena to start. It was exciting to me at least to have 2 faces feuding. Seth has kinda just been there since

I like your scenario but they couldn't miss Raw the next night. By they I mean Cena and Orton. Could you imagine a Raw without either of them? WWE would be relying on B players and the 2 remaining Shield guys >< I could see that ending badly.