What's Next For The Champs?

[Jack-Hammer]

At the Survivor Series last night, John Cena & Randy Orton were both successful in retaining the WWE & World Heavyweight Championships against Alberto Del Rio & Big Show. Cena vs. Del Rio was a strong, well wrestled match while Orton vs. Show was kind of lukewarm. Neither challenger was the ideal opponent in the minds of a lot of fans. I think that Del Rio has been pushed for too long as he's not nearly as over as someone on that level should be. Big Show is pretty damn over, but people just aren't excited about seeing Orton vs. Show for the 1,000th time even if it is for the title. So, who's up next as the top contenders?

When it comes to Orton, I can see him ultimately going up against the returning Mark Henry. In 2011, Henry surprised a lot of people by not only being one of the year's best characters, but scored two clean wins over Randy Orton in matches for the World Heavyweight Championship. I don't see Henry taking the title because I don't see how WWE can have enough faith in him due to the fact he's been sidelined by injuries off & on for the past 1.5 years.

As for John Cena, I'm not really sure at this point. There just aren't that many heels in WWE that come off as genuine threats to Cena. Sandow is one option but, at this point in time, the feud would probably come off even more as a filler feud for Cena as Sandow certainly doesn't have the momentum. Roman Reigns is a possibility and one that could be used to break up The Shield. Tensions between The Shield can be on the rise, maybe with Rollins & Ambrose being jealous of Reigns' success but feeling that he's letting his ego get in the way of the group. During his bout with Cena, Reigns could have the match won cleanly but Rollins & Ambrose interfere. They beat him down after costing him the WHC. This sets him up as a threat to John Cena and that he can come back into the title picture after he settles the hash of Rollins & Ambrose.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

It's Orton vs. Cena next. Not for a title unification, but purely as a holding main event because they can coast on the reputations and drawing power of the Rumble & Mania straight after TLC.

A champion vs. champion match should get enough interest to placate fans for a PPV. It'll also help the World Heavyweight Championship when Cena beats Orton and aid The Authority storyline.

At the Rumble & Elimination Chamber you can pair those two aginst anybody. It doesn't really matter.

 

[ASKane]

I think Orton vs Henry works as a good match for TLC and only TLC but I am not sure how they would build the match because Henry has done nothing in this Authority storyline due to injuries, it would only work if Maddox hired him to get revenge on Orton.

Cena vs Sandow would be my pick but they would need to do a lot to build Sandows credibility as a main eventer as they have spent months showing us he isn't good enough because he cant steal a win since winning MITB.

Other names that could find there way their way to the main event
Christian (HHH had the Shield take him out when Edge returned so he might try and get revenge by trying to take the WWE title)
Ziggler (but probably a bit too much work needed to rebuild him)
Bray Wyatt (he needs someone to feud with and maybe adding Cena to Punk and Bryan is a good move)
Sheamus (A heel Sheamus vs Cena might work)
Kane (HHH might want all titles in the Authority so he could go after Cena)

 

[MCMG]

I feel that last night was merely a tease for Wrestlemania. I can't imagine them starting a proper, in ring feud just yet. People will lose interest by Mania and that isn't good for business.

TLC is a strong gimmick PPV and we will probably see another filler-type PPV. We still can have some great matches though. Orton could face someone like Ziggler in a one-off match that we know will deliver. Give them some tables or chairs and it will work. Big Show is a more likely option but surely they have more sense than that. What's Christian up to? We know they can work a great match. Mysterio likewise. Just not the Big Show.

As for Cena, I would be surprised to see him face Del Rio, again. A chairs match would be a logical ending to the feud but once more, there are other options. The Miz, Ryback or even Kane could all be decent options. One match that will deliver without pissing people off with bland rematches.

 

[The_Don]

The ones I see challenging Cena are Sandow & Bray, and it seems weird. Unless they keep riding Reigns.

Orton has more options, but Henry should be a good contender.

Another option is that neither defend their titles and go for a tag match like last year's Shield match. Idk really, it's hard to see what road WWE will go for.

 

[LODemolition]

Cena and Orton will be facing eachother, but if it's not going to be until Mania then why did they start to tease it already? Last night was way too soon to hint at a championship unification at WM30, which is still over 4 months away. That means we have ZERO suspense about whether a title will change hands at the next 3 ppv's: TLC, Rumble and EC. Now, if they had the match at the Rumble then last night was perfect timing. Cena and Orton should never be the main event for WM30. If there is in fact a unification match, then CM Punk or Daniel Bryan should be included to make it a triple threat or fatal 4-way (co-winners of the Rumble like Bret and Lex did back in '94 would be fine with me since they're equally deserving of the main event spotlight). So since Bryan and Punk are my choices for the contenders at Mania, I'll obviously leave them off the list for the ppv's leading up to it.

WWE Title Contenders:

At TLC, I think it's going to be Mark Henry. I look for it to end in controversial fashion so there can be a rematch at the Rumble. It would be amazing to see Henry win at TLC and get the much deserved first WWE Championship of his long career. They can have him drop the title back to Orton at the Rumble if they've made their minds up about Orton vs Cena at Mania. So many fans would love to see this happen, even if it would be a short-lived title reign for Henry.

I don't know when RVD is due to come back, but he's the only other option I see as far as legitimate contenders for Orton who the fans would get behind and give us some doubt as to whether Orton retains.

World Title Contenders:

They really could go quite a few directions here. Damien Sandow, The Miz, Sheamus (if he returns as a heel), or Bray Wyatt. I think with TLC being a filler ppv, they can afford to put Sandow or The Miz up against Cena at that event. I'd prefer Sandow because Miz absolutely bores me to death. Sandow lost to Ziggler however just last Monday, so I don't know how seriously he can be taken as #1 contender at the moment either. Now at the Rumble, they need to put Cena against someone fresh. Wyatt would be great in that spot, but do you want him losing his first really big match? No, because he has the potential to be one of your top guys in the future. So I'd save Wyatt's title hunt til the summer and throw Sheamus against Cena at RR. I'm no fan of his, but I didn't mind him when he was a heel. It was when he made the face turn that he got really annoying. He's just more natural and believable as the villain. He's been gone for what, 6 months? If he's medically cleared, I'd bring him back the night after TLC or the following week and get the ball rolling.

Then there's always the outside chance of Lesnar returning in December and going after Cena at the Rumble instead of being a "surprise" entrant in the Rumble match itself. Cena vs Lesnar for the WHC would of course help sell the ppv, but do you want to risk killing Lesnar's momentum leading up to Mania if he's going up against Taker like WZ has been reporting?

 

[Theo Mays]

I could honestly see WWE pulling a reverse for what they did last night. Say Cena confronts The Authority claiming to be the face and they give him the chance at TLC in the main event. Cena wins, Orton then comes out and we have a staredown. Thus setting up a title unification match at the Royal Rumble (or even just a champion vs. champion match). Add Big Show/Triple H to the card to get that out of the way and you have your two big matches for the Royal Rumble (aside from the Rumble match itself).

 

[Spidey Revivey]

If anything, the Unification talk is a hot button for fans to really get into, but was only teased to keep the fans at home from thinking this was one of the most predictable and boring pay per views. Now that the dust is cleared, I think it's time to change up opponents.

Oh dear gods I hope they change up opponents.

The World Championship is probably the easiest match to satisfy. Have John Cena take on maybe two opponents at once to give the air of possibility, even if his opponents don't stack up well against him one-on-one. Have Sandow win every match he's in til TLC to help his credibility, and have a fan favorite thrown in like Mysterio or Cody. Anybody but Del Rio at this point I would be okay with.

As for the WWE Championship, I think that'd be tougher to book, since that damn Law & Order bullshit took up most of Raw week by week giving no one else much time to shine. I see Show challenging again, but I'm hoping Triple H & Co. take him out. Maybe that draws the ire back out in Kane, who at this point has been a complete letdown of an authority figure. Or Roman, even though I would think it's too soon to drop him from Shield to face Orton. Tough call.

Either way I'm more interested to see Raw tonight. Not because SSeries was such a hit, but because I want to see who is next for the champs myself.