Who else?

[Big Nick Dudley]

Because he's 47-year old. That's why he didn't need to win the WWE Championship.

Owens, Ambrose, Wyatt, or Bryan would have been much better options.

At least stick to active wrestlers...

 

[Lee]

At least stick to active wrestlers...

Yeah, he missed the point of the thread.

 

[Skuzzy]

not even a fan of him but why not Ambrose?

 

[Lee]

not even a fan of him but why not Ambrose?

He was my initial only option when doing this thread but the more I think about it the more it doesn't make sense.

They want to make Reigns a massive face but Ambrose is white hot. They won't make Reigns heel and making Ambrose heel won't make sense.

Trips is the logical choice.

That or Reigns being a heel which they should have done at Survivor Series.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

Star power and narrative value don't have an age limit.

Bryan, Ambrose, Wyatt, and Owens all have star power and value, and they're not nearly 50.

BSE you need to read what Coco said again; he said narrative value, not "strong performances in the midcard" value.

Imagine if halfway through Titus Andronicus Titus got killed off and replaced with some other character because he's too old. Maybe the new character is interesting and charismatic, but he's still derailed the storyline. Your boys would be the other character in this situation.

 

[MrHashasheen]

... Honestly?

Triple H was a good shout.

But that doesn't mean I'd be happy with him.

I'd have much rather Owens win back the Intercontinental title from Ambrose, have Triple H throw out Reigns to make their match for Wrestlemania, do the Wyatt-Lesnar segment a little clearer in the match and have Ambrose or Styles win the title to feud with the other through to Wrestlemania.

Styles can get a pop, that's a fact. But he can also get heat, and he's no stranger to playing heel in either TNA or NJPW. Bring him in as the new face of the Authority, the big money signing they've been dreaming about for years in kayfabe and have him go to town with Dean. It sets up a story with Seth when he comes back, it sets up a hell of a lot of new fresh matches, and if you go long enough with him you can make a new star off of beating him like they should have done with Undertaker and Lesnar.

Top three matches at Mania would be Lesnar-Wyatt, Ambrose-Styles and HHH-Reigns, with the Intercontinental and World Heavyweight titles on the line for the first two while Reigns and HHH do some stipulation match. Undercard includes Owens-Zayn, Flair-Banks-Lynch, someone versus the Usos and then whatever you want with the League of Nations and the other mid-carders the WWE doesn't give a shit about.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

HHH was a perfectly fine choice, great seeing him with the belt again after 7 years. It made sense he would be the one to take the title off Reigns.

Surely his last title run though.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

At least stick to active wrestlers...

He has been cleared by every doctor except WWE's. There's no point at all of him not being active.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

BSE you need to read what Coco said again; he said narrative value, not "strong performances in the midcard" value.

All four of them are main eventers.

 

[Coco]

I'm not disputing that.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

He has been cleared by every doctor except WWE's. There's no point at all of him not being active.

I like how you present that as a fact, not just stuff we've read online. Truth is, he hasn't been cleared by the only doctor that matters, so he's 100% inactive.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

All four of them are main eventers.

Bryan is a consistent main eventer. The other three have only occasionally flirted with the main event, at least as far as WWE PPVs go. I would remind you that R-Truth main evented a PPV as well. Does he count as a "main eventer" in your mind?

It's still a pretty bad argument to claim that a man who is over, skilled in the ring, still in shape, and can tell an excellent story on all levels of the business, should not be WWE champ for the meagre reason that "he's 47 years old".

And all of that still has little to do with what Coco was saying about narrative value. Adding Wyatt or Owens to the title scene right now would derail several current storylines. Ambrose actually would not, based on the recent announcement of the Fastlane main event, so I'll concede you the point there. He has beef w/ the Authority and history of an alliance with Roman so he admittedly would not be out of place.

 

[Coco]

I didn't say Wyatt, Owens, Ambrose, or Bryan don't have narrative value at the top right now. Not at all.

Also, given the way that WWE books today, all of them are clearly headliners right now (sans Bryan due to medical reasons). Don't be dense, Ollie. They're not Triple H. But they're there.

Furthermore, WWE doesn't have a tonne of moving parts right now. Moving any one of them to a higher level isn't going to derail much of value, and could also create enough value to amount to a net positive.

But that's the point I'm making. The point is that age is the stupidest reason possible not to give someone a big time match or title. Hogan was 48 when he had his match with Rock at Rogers Centre and his subsequent title reign.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

No of course they're all good but I still don't see what argument there could be for randomly inserting Owens or Wyatt into the title picture at this particular time. As I said earlier I can buy Ambrose getting involved, because to a great extent he already is and has been involved w/ Authority storylines all the way through.

 

[nightmare]

Trips made the better choice storyline wise. Other people could have gotten the nod, but without a story to tell who would have cared? Giving the title to someone, new or not, has to mean something heading into WM. The other options either had no buildup that made sense or were clearly not ready to carry the strap.

Wyatt could have been that guy if WWE hadn't botched how he has been handled when facing bigger stars. A stable built like that should be dominating everything in their path building toward a big run for the leader & eventual fall at the hands of a hero. If he would have came out on top during some of those he would have been in a better spot for the honors. This 50/50 booking will not lead to guys truly breaking out to that upper tier. Without better booking this place is screwed when Cena, Taker, Orton, etc are gone or rarely seen.

WWE are treading close to the edge of the cliff. Stacking the rosters full of talent is great for fans, but it is going to take some creative work to make the stars that will carry the show into the next decade.

 

[Coco]

No of course they're all good but I still don't see what argument there could be for randomly inserting Owens or Wyatt into the title picture at this particular time. As I said earlier I can buy Ambrose getting involved, because to a great extent he already is and has been involved w/ Authority storylines all the way through.

They could have easily decided that Brock's sole motivation heading into Mania needs to the belt and thrown it on Bray.

Trips vs Roman could be a grudge match that functions without the belt.

Alternatively, Owens becomes the unlikely face of the company and choice of the authority. "Him over me?" cries an incredulous Reigns.

Even better, Trips loses his mind over a guy like Owens foiling his master plan. Face champ Owens defends against Triple H.

Any scenario that ends without Reigns in the title scene or fighting Triple H ends with him growing increasingly entitled and getting his attitude adjusted by Undertaker.

Trips didn't have to win. Age just isn't a disqualifying factor. Throwing the current story out the window could easily have amounted to a net positive if the replacement was good enough.

With two months to go, there are a handful of guys they could have done anything with.

Triple H having narrative value also doesn't make him the only choice. The current direction isn't good enough to get married to.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

They could have easily decided that Brock's sole motivation heading into Mania needs to the belt and thrown it on Bray.

Trips vs Roman could be a grudge match that functions without the belt.

Alternatively, Owens becomes the unlikely face of the company and choice of the authority. "Him over me?" cries an incredulous Reigns.

Even better, Trips loses his mind over a guy like Owens foiling his master plan. Face champ Owens defends against Triple H.

Any scenario that ends without Reigns in the title scene or fighting Triple H ends with him growing increasingly entitled and getting his attitude adjusted by Undertaker.

Trips didn't have to win. Age just isn't a disqualifying factor. Throwing the current story out the window could easily have amounted to a net positive if the replacement was good enough.

With two months to go, there are a handful of guys they could have done anything with.

Triple H having narrative value also doesn't make him the only choice. The current direction isn't good enough to get married to.

I'm prepared to concede that this plan would work for me.

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

They want to make Reigns a massive face but Ambrose is white hot. They won't make Reigns heel and making Ambrose heel won't make sense.

Which is stupid really. If Ambrose is hot then give him it. Let the fans boo RR if they want. When heels are getting cheered they turn them face quick enough.

Trips is the logical choice.

In their mission to get Reigns over.

 

[Барбоса]

In terms of the storyline narrative, there was probably only one other possible option in my mind and that would have been Bray Wyatt. Having him and the Family mow down the competition only for Brock to arrive, take out Harper, Rowan and Braun and then set to annihilating Bray, only for the Family to rise and take out Lesnar; Brock battles them to the back; Reigns eliminates HHH but is then eliminated by Bray, with an assist from HHH.

But then WWE had not done nearly a good enough job in building up Bray and his herd of monsters as a dominant threat since they were neutered by the Undertaker and Kane.

Someone like Ambrose might be popular enough but giving him the title this close to Wrestlemania would see the WWE title relegated in stature below HHH/Reigns and Brock/Bray.

 

[Skuzzy]

He was my initial only option when doing this thread but the more I think about it the more it doesn't make sense.

They want to make Reigns a massive face but Ambrose is white hot. They won't make Reigns heel and making Ambrose heel won't make sense.

Trips is the logical choice.

That or Reigns being a heel which they should have done at Survivor Series.

i dunno, the Autorithy does hate Dean as much as Roman...

what if Triple H eliminates Roman. Roman comes back and helps eliminate Triple H and Dean wins. next night Dean vs Triple H is announced for Fastlane while Triple H, Vince and Steph deny Roman's rematch clause. Dean wins so he makes Roman vs Dean at WM because Authority always wins and all that. weeks leading up to the show Dean and Roman refuse to fight but the tension builds little by little, so Trips makes himself ref, and Vince enforcer or whatever. WM Roman turns heel and betrays Dean, but doesnt join the Autorithy, like Rollins did and now you have 2 stars and then you can throw rollins in there when he comes back for the triple threat.

or something like that
or something like that