WWE makes a year-long build up plan and the entire universe conspires against them

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

One year ago Brock Lesnar became the first man to beat The Undertaker at The Grandest Stage Of Them All. Then, the WWE comes up with the incredible idea to use Lesnar's heat in order to create the new mega babyface of wrestling, the man named Roman Reigns.

Theoretically, this plan had two parts and each part had some very easy steps.
Part I: My client Brock Lesnar killed wrestling
So, after beating Undertaker at Wrestlemania, Brock Lesnar was supposed to destroy the people's hero, Daniel Bryan at Summerslam and bring legitemacy back to the WWE Championship. Then, he was supposed to carry that title into Wrestlemania and possibly beating the hell out of our favourite babyfaces. Finally, he would drop the title to our new favourite hero, leader of The Roman Empire, Roman Reigns.

Part II: Rise of the Empire
After Shield's split, Roman Reigns was supposed to beat the crap out of The Authority and possibly end up facing Triple H in an ultimate showdown between good and evil before precceeding on to Wrestlemania to slay the beast. Fans would instantly get behind him and the WWE would make tons of cash out of his pretty face and the would live happily ever after.

However

Everything got screwed up to the maximum.

Here's the list of things that happened and turned WWE's dream into a nightmare.
1) Daniel Bryan gets injured and stays on the shelf for 9 months.
2) Instead of facing Bryan, Lesnar now faces a 15-time World Champ, John Cena, at Summerslam.
3) Brock Lesnar becomes WWE's #1 babyface by squashing Cena, something that many fans wanted to see happening for a long long time.
4) Lesnar's heat = gone after NoC, since the last "heelish" thing Lesnar did on TV was breaking HHH and HBK's arms 2 years ago.
5) Except from his heat, Lesnar is also, gone for 3 months.
6) Roman Reigns put on not one, not two, but three bad PPV perfomances (MITB, fatal 4-way at Battleground, vs Orton at Summerslam, a decent match, but not good enough)
7) Roman Reigns gets injured in the middle of his push.
8) He comes back, starts a feud with Big Show and cuts the worst written promos ever told in TV history.
9) Daniel Bryan comes back and the fans remember that the WWE owes him a Rumble victory and a decent title run.

This, seems to be, WWE's worst year, since 2010. Did Vince see a black cat? That was some really bad luck right there, or maybe is a sign from above telling them: Don't push Reignss!!!

Seriously though, fans had been begging the writers to have a long-term plan in place and when they did finally came up with that plan, all this weird stuff happens and this plan of theirs gets shuttered. Just like that.

I almost feel bad for them. Bad creative and bad luck are bad enough alone, but both?

P.S.: Oh and let's not forget CM Punk's walkout and the not so good start of the WWE network....

 

[MCMG]

It seems liked such a perfect plan and I do think Reigns' injury ruined it. Imagine if he spent those months wrestling guys like Orton, Rollins, Kane, Show, Cesaro and even Triple H. He would have improved plus taking acting classes and practising promos. He missed so much action but it is still being "reported" that he is going to win the Rumble. It's as if the WWE are saying we don't care if he isn't ready; he's winning anyway which was bound to piss people off.

Indeed, if he had been able to wrestle and work on his promos in that time he would possibly have gotten over in a more organic fashion. Or indeed, improved to a level where people would overwhelming accept him as the winner of the Rumble. Now, everything is on edge as I still don't really know what kind off promo's he can do. The topics given to him are often ridiculous but maybe that would change if he was feuding with Brock. Moreover, it is difficult to tell how his in-ring skills have developed. In that time we would have, I'm sure, seen some squash matches where he could show off a bit more.

The plan, in theory, was amazing. The Bryan thing screwed it up from the point that his return coincided with the Rumble. For what it's worth, I reckon Reigns should win the Rumble anyway. I think there is enough there to say he can be a star and the opportunity to beat Brock (after such an amazing year) would be too good to pass up. The fact the WWE are having to think of other options must really suck for Vince, HHH and co.

 

[Stan Hansen]

It's not bad luck, a lot of the issues WWE has had since Brock beat the streak have been nobody's fault but their own.

They CHOSE Cena to be beat by Brock (since you say it was because Bryan was out) instead of a guy like Ziggler.

They could have built Ziggler up quicker, get the fans behind him (they already are) then have Brock tear him up once or twice. That would have gotten him more "heat" than any win over Cena ever would. I don't know if Vince's self-inflated ego lead him to believe Brock beating Super Cena would get him heat or what the reasoning behind that move was.

To make Brock look strong? Like Roman Reigns strong? That wasn't needed in having him beat Cena. Brock has looked strong all on his own, no need to have him destroy Cena. IF they were going to go the Cena route, it should have been later on after Brock already ran through a face Ziggler/Orton etc. Have Cena be the last stand before Mania, only to have Brock manhandle him like he did in their first bout (of this run) and have that be their only match. No need for a 2nd/3rd, there's no point to that.

If the WWE was going to put the belt on Brock they should have been prepared to pony up the money and have him appear more frequently. I'm not saying he would need to defend the title on a Raw or even every PPV. He should have defended it more. A few meaningless wins against Cena is all we get out of this title run thus far? Total poo booking any way you look at it.

The first win against Cena was great, that should have been the end of it. Instead they make a 2nd/3rd match and let Cena get in more offense in the 2nd. Stupid. It should have ended with Brock looking completely dominant.

Hell they could have thrown in a smaller match against a guy like Ryback, Ryback could have been booked hot enough to be put in a one PPV (B PPV) program with Lesnar.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In some ways, I think it's a combination of bad luck and poor creative decisions. Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett and Roman Reigns being injured are just examples of bad luck, it could happen to anybody at any given time.

As far as Brock Lesnar goes, I think it's mostly been a mistake on Vince's part because of how Lesnar's subsequent booking against John Cena has gone. I don't mind Cena coming close to beating Lesnar at NOC, the problem I have is that Vince has missed yet another perfect opportunity to expand and evolve John Cena as a character because he's simply too narrow minded in his views upon what a "hero" is supposed to be.

As far as Roman Reigns goes, I just keep getting the feeling that Vince wants to employ the same sort of formula with Roman Reigns he has with John Cena for the past 10 years. He hasn't put Reigns into full on Cena mode, by that I mean having him look like he's damn near unbeatable no matter what's put up against him. However, IF that's ultimately the direction Vince heads to, then I expect to see a LOT of fans turning on Reigns. Reigns gets good pops on TV and all, but I believe that'll change in a big way if Vince tries to make Reigns into, for all intents and purposes, a John Cena clone. Plus, tack onto that the fact that Reigns isn't remotely ready to be in the top spot, no matter how much Vince might want it & try to will it to happen, just makes for some trouble for Reigns in the future.

As for 2014 being WWE's worst year since 2010, I think WWE's worst year was back in 2009. The product was truly and clearly damn near unwatchable as a whole. There was almost nothing positive to be said about it, so 2014 doesn't come remotely close to 2009 in my eyes. I thought 2010 was a good growth year for WWE because we saw them start to move forward and they began cutting out a lot of the sports entertainment filler that made up much of the show. For me, the first 9 months or so of 2014 was flat out great. After SummerSlam, however, there were definite creative changes that suggested Vince himself was taking more of a hands on role again. I might be wrong, but it just seems to me that he stopped listening to others ideas, wouldn't be swayed from making certain choices and/or took to writing scripts himself.

I have a feeling that most of WWE's creative woes would be behind them if Vince genuinely allowed Triple H to make the final creative decisions and/or if Vince stepped down. Everyone from wrestlers to insiders to investors have lost a lot of faith in Vince because more and more people get the idea that he's out of touch.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

WWE always has long term plans that are subjected for change if something happens in meantime. Remember year long Rock/Cena, or Rock coming to RR and becoming champion? IF something happened in meantime, no doubt that would be changed in some way. Injuries can happen and screw up a lot with those plans. Bryan injured and screwed up title picture because he was undoubly deemed to have reign till Summerslam. On top of that, Reigns got injured and couln't play hero at Survivor Series. They used time to get some other Superstars spotlight so you saw rise of Rollins and Ambrose, at Survivor series Ryback and Ziggler emerged etc. So they always come up with the plan B that would cover their asses if something goes wrong. Let us not forget that Bryan wasnt supposed to get in that title match at Wrestlemania but Punk leaving(he was set to wrestle HHH) and Batista's bad reaction forced them to get Bryan title match(even Bryan admited in interview few days ago that he was supposed to wrestle Sheamus at Wrestlemania). So, you see, they have plans, but plans change all the time wheather from injuries or fan reaction or just Vince and co see something else as better option. Plans are never set in stones and always subjected to change.

As for all the wrestlers you mentioned, they will all be fine. Bryan has comed back and from reaction is still no1 face in fans eyes, Lesnar is still dominant force which was WWE's plan before he gets feed to Reigns or someone else and its still not late to build Reigns properly before Wrestlemania eventhough they got off bad with his feud with Big Show and his promos.

 

[kadroan]

One year ago Brock Lesnar became the first man to beat The Undertaker at The Grandest Stage Of Them All. Then, the WWE comes up with the incredible idea to use Lesnar's heat in order to create the new mega babyface of wrestling, the man named Roman Reigns.

Theoretically, this plan had two parts and each part had some very easy steps.
Part I: My client Brock Lesnar killed wrestling
So, after beating Undertaker at Wrestlemania, Brock Lesnar was supposed to destroy the people's hero, Daniel Bryan at Summerslam and bring legitemacy back to the WWE Championship. Then, he was supposed to carry that title into Wrestlemania and possibly beating the hell out of our favourite babyfaces. Finally, he would drop the title to our new favourite hero, leader of The Roman Empire, Roman Reigns.

Part II: Rise of the Empire
After Shield's split, Roman Reigns was supposed to beat the crap out of The Authority and possibly end up facing Triple H in an ultimate showdown between good and evil before precceeding on to Wrestlemania to slay the beast. Fans would instantly get behind him and the WWE would make tons of cash out of his pretty face and the would live happily ever after.

However

Everything got screwed up to the maximum.

Here's the list of things that happened and turned WWE's dream into a nightmare.
1) Daniel Bryan gets injured and stays on the shelf for 9 months.
2) Instead of facing Bryan, Lesnar now faces a 15-time World Champ, John Cena, at Summerslam.
3) Brock Lesnar becomes WWE's #1 babyface by squashing Cena, something that many fans wanted to see happening for a long long time.
4) Lesnar's heat = gone after NoC, since the last "heelish" thing Lesnar did on TV was breaking HHH and HBK's arms 2 years ago.
5) Except from his heat, Lesnar is also, gone for 3 months.
6) Roman Reigns put on not one, not two, but three bad PPV perfomances (MITB, fatal 4-way at Battleground, vs Orton at Summerslam, a decent match, but not good enough)
7) Roman Reigns gets injured in the middle of his push.
8) He comes back, starts a feud with Big Show and cuts the worst written promos ever told in TV history.
9) Daniel Bryan comes back and the fans remember that the WWE owes him a Rumble victory and a decent title run.

This, seems to be, WWE's worst year, since 2010. Did Vince see a black cat? That was some really bad luck right there, or maybe is a sign from above telling them: Don't push Reignss!!!

Seriously though, fans had been begging the writers to have a long-term plan in place and when they did finally came up with that plan, all this weird stuff happens and this plan of theirs gets shuttered. Just like that.

I almost feel bad for them. Bad creative and bad luck are bad enough alone, but both?

P.S.: Oh and let's not forget CM Punk's walkout and the not so good start of the WWE network....

It sucks. Injuries happen. Thankfully everybody is healthy going into Royal Rumble which is more important than every other PPV besides Summerslam and WrestleMania.

 

[BillAlfonsos_Whistle]

I completely agree with the OP except there is an incredibly easy fix to all their problems. The Shield guys are all awesome in their own right but none are ready to carry gold. So here is how it should be fixed in my opinion.


Step 1: Re-establish monster Heel
Lesnar needs to walk away from the Rumble with belt. I think their best option at this point is the have HHH and Stephanie strike up a deal with Heyman. They dupe Rollins into helping Lesnar destroy Cena and then there is a lot of one on one Lesnar vs. Rollins. Brock would have the upper hand until Cena came to and re-joined the match. Competitive juices flowing Rollins stops jobbing and it becomes a legit three way dance. At the end have Brock set up to pin Cena and Rollins about to break it up when HHH double crosses him and takes him out with a weapon to allow the pinfall. Brock retains. Everyone is stunned including Heyman.

Step II - YES! YES! YES!
Regardless of the fear of injury this guy is so friggin' over it's insane. I'm not even a big fan of his but Daniel Bryan has won me over. He should be one of the first five guys in the Rumble and make it the distance for the win. Setting up for the ultimate Underdog vs. Evil Beast main event at Wrestlemania.

 

[Navi]

To say that the WWE didn't have bad luck last year is the understatement of the century. Their luck was absolutely horrendous, and to make it worse, creative let everyone down.

Bryan, Barrett, Reigns and then Sheamus going out with injuries was bad news, but they have enough talent on that roster to have kept that ship afloat, they instead threw their hands up in the air and said "Fuck it we're not bailing anymore."

Now most of them are back and the pieces still aren't falling into place, and it's time to reset this puzzle. First of all stop pushing the hell out of Roman Reigns. He's shown that having a great look isn't all that it's cracked up to be. He needs time, a lot more time before he can be the number one face.

Start pushing guys like Ambrose. You know the guy who was white hot until his feud with Wyatt brought him crashing to earth. Keep Ziggler up there, the fans love him, and even although one day he will kill himself in the ring, he does put on one hell of a match.

Get the damm belt off Brock Lesnar. Don't have the Chairman of the Board go on the Network and tell fans that his roster "Doesn't reach for the brass ring". Meanwhile the brass ring isn't around for them to reach for.

I'm sure there is a lot more that they could've, should've and would've done if anyone had a pair of balls and stood up to Vince McMahon to tell him his ideas weren't working. When you have one guy making all the final decisions, and who is as out of touch as he is, this is what happens. I'm not even sure that even if we hadn't had any injuries this year, we wouldn't have had the same crap.

 

[MERPER]

It sucks and while true that it's a terrible run of negative issues it shined a great spotlight on the problems WWE has.

1) They simply fail time and time again to build up any characters and storylines outside of the "main event" guys/A-listers. Is it laziness? Is it they have poor writers? It blows my mind as to why this is so difficult. Why they can't build strong feuds throughout the roster?

With top guys and storylines going down they had nothing to fall back on.

2) Total failure to build divisions. Since they chose to let the tag team division and divas division turn to absolute trash, they were left with too much people don't care about. Had they kept these divisions strong they could have relied more on them to help in a time of need as they've had the past 6-9 months.

 

[WhiplashUnited]

For all their planning just shows they didn't have a worst case scenario plan which is extremely poor for such a monopolistic company.

Plenty of guys they could have put over like the aforementioned Ziggler. They didn't and chose to waste a year on the crap they have.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I have no sypmathy becasue the reality is they, in today's market should not be planning a year ahead or even in January for The Mania Main Event. We saw it last year, where from the moment Batista inked his deal he was winning the Rumble and going to Mania, despite all the "up in the air" reports for the card. They knew what THEY wanted and it bore no relation to what the paying customers and viewers wanted to see, it seemingly took a near miracle for Bryan to get into that match.

The biggest problem is the crazy notion of the Rumble winner headlining Mania, it sucked as a premise in 1993 and still does. It takes away any real incentive for talent once January is gone, particuarly now the payoffs are shot... If a talent suddenly gets a red hot Hogan style following in December, like he did... there is no chance of them capitalising because a) the main event of Mania etc is set and b) they have to manuever them as Rumble winner or have a "weak" angle to get them in there like Bryan.

Why would guys try this time of year if they KNOW Reigns is winning the Rumble? WWE tried to shoot down talk of the meeting, but it must have been had... you have at least 5 guys who have a fair and realistic chance of a main event match, All 3 Shield guys, Ziggler and Bray Wyatt who have never main evented a Mania... The right thing would be for all 3 Shield members to headline together, that way, whoever comes out on top wins... but they're intent on their path... and it'll suck... and it will put them further down in the fans estimation and backfire on Reigns...

The last time they truly "went with something" was the pipebomb...

 

[Wald]

________________________________________
Honestly whilst they have been unlucky with injuries a lot of this is their own fault. I simply cannot understand why they had to give Cena his 'win' back against Brock at Night of Champions. What did it accomplish for Cena to be screwed out of beating him like that? I honestly couldn't tell you but what I can say did happen is that it completely destroyed what could have been a great angle and an easy story to tell heading in to Wrestlemania.

Imagine is Brock Lesnar had beaten Cena clean at Night of Champions. Now I'm not even saying he had to demolish him like he did at Summerslam, you could have Cena put up a good fight and come close but ultimately fall short. So your number one babyface now has to admit he couldn't beat Lesnar and get the belt off the beast that also ended the Undertaker's legendary Streak. Next night Brock and Heyman come out and say that that's pretty much it as far as they're concerned. They've done it all and Brock is now going to walk off in to the sunset with the WWE Title. Which he does.

In the coming weeks you have the Authority get panicked about the situation, you could have babyfaces and heels alike talking about how they'd like to take down Brock for what he's done and you could even use one of Brock's Raw appearances to have him take down a plucky underdog like Ziggler. I'm thinking a more babyface version of how Jericho used to call out Goldberg back in WCW. That would instantly boost Ziggler up the card if you allowed him get some decent offence in before going down in a hyped Raw main event.

So now Survivor Series has been and gone and Brock still has barely been seen and he still has the title, you could have Heyman show up every now and again to brag about it too or do a sit down interview with Brock where Cole or whoever begs him to give up the belt for the good of the company. You could even bring Vince back to tell the Authority to get his damn prized possession back at all costs and that if they can't then they'll be fired. This makes the Authority turn to the one guy they hate but who might able to do it, Daniel Bryan. Bryan vs Brock is set for Royal Rumble and the announcers hype that Bryan is coming back from major surgery and possibly too soon but that he is doing it for the good of the company. Couple that with the guy's size and you have the ultimate babyface making a sacrifice in a true David v Goliath match for the title.

The kicker is that I'd have Brock beat Bryan at the Rumble after targeting his neck and after a good showing by Bryan, I'd perhaps go with the referee stopping the fight after Brock looked to be trying to end Bryan's career. Bryan loses little in this scenario in my eyes and it paves the way for the WWE's newest hero and last shot at Brock to go to Wrestlemania to take on the beast, that of course is Roman Reigns fresh off his Rumble victory. I think the fans would be more behind Reigns in this scenario than they are right now but even if not there is an ace up the sleeve. If the rumours are true that Brock's last date is at Wrestlemania and that he's going back to the UFC afterwards I'd genuinely have him say that live on Raw in the build up. It would be similar to how Punk said he was leaving with the belt to go fight in New Japan or Ring of Honor. Hell I'd even go so far as to have Brock insinuate that he would bring the WWE Title to the UFC locker rooms, to the 'real athletes', so they could laugh at it and destroy it.

I know that sounds like madness, to basically tell everyone your champion could be off to your major competitor after he has destroyed all of your top babyfaces and that he will take the title and destroy it there, but keep in mind that your new hero will be beating this guy at Wrestlemania and saving the WWE Title and the entire industry from being mocked like that in UFC. I don't see any wrestling fan in the entire world not rooting for Reigns in that scenario. It plays in to all of the insults we all have taken throughout the years for being pro-wrestling fans and it makes Reigns our hero, the guy fighting on our side.

Sorry for the long post!

 

[noTORRIEus]

As far as Roman Reigns goes, I just keep getting the feeling that Vince wants to employ the same sort of formula with Roman Reigns he has with John Cena for the past 10 years. He hasn't put Reigns into full on Cena mode, by that I mean having him look like he's damn near unbeatable no matter what's put up against him. However, IF that's ultimately the direction Vince heads to, then I expect to see a LOT of fans turning on Reigns. Reigns gets good pops on TV and all, but I believe that'll change in a big way if Vince tries to make Reigns into, for all intents and purposes, a John Cena clone. Plus, tack onto that the fact that Reigns isn't remotely ready to be in the top spot, no matter how much Vince might want it & try to will it to happen, just makes for some trouble for Reigns in the future.

Here's the thing you have to understand about Vince, as Paul Heyman said in an Austin podcast, he is a babyface promoter who always books the good guys very strong aka SUPER. Look at Bruno, Hogan, Warrior, Austin, Taker, Cena etc. The heels always chase the good guy only to get turned away. Other successful bookers back in the day where heel promoters. Bad guys won the championship, a good guy came along, constantly got turned away until they overcame the odds and finally dethroned the heel. By that time, the face was adored by fans. People like seeing the underdog rise to the occasion, hence why D. Bry (as Booker T calls him) is so over. Not to mention that the IWC knows he is the underdog in real life because the company reluctantly pushes him and really thinks of him is a B+ superstar.

All in all, Vince needs to change his philosophy because he goes to the wishing well way too often (Super Baby Face, tyrant boss figure etc.) but as the saying goes, rarely you can you teach an old dog a new trick.

 

[MasterDebator]

I have no sypmathy becasue the reality is they, in today's market should not be planning a year ahead or even in January for The Mania Main Event. We saw it last year, where from the moment Batista inked his deal he was winning the Rumble and going to Mania, despite all the "up in the air" reports for the card. They knew what THEY wanted and it bore no relation to what the paying customers and viewers wanted to see, it seemingly took a near miracle for Bryan to get into that match.

The biggest problem is the crazy notion of the Rumble winner headlining Mania, it sucked as a premise in 1993 and still does. It takes away any real incentive for talent once January is gone, particuarly now the payoffs are shot... If a talent suddenly gets a red hot Hogan style following in December, like he did... there is no chance of them capitalising because a) the main event of Mania etc is set and b) they have to manuever them as Rumble winner or have a "weak" angle to get them in there like Bryan.

Why would guys try this time of year if they KNOW Reigns is winning the Rumble? WWE tried to shoot down talk of the meeting, but it must have been had... you have at least 5 guys who have a fair and realistic chance of a main event match, All 3 Shield guys, Ziggler and Bray Wyatt who have never main evented a Mania... The right thing would be for all 3 Shield members to headline together, that way, whoever comes out on top wins... but they're intent on their path... and it'll suck... and it will put them further down in the fans estimation and backfire on Reigns...

The last time they truly "went with something" was the pipebomb...

While this is a fair critique of logic, both kayfabe and not, I think that last year's groundswell for Bryan should prove to those on the roster that are within reach of winning the Rumble (Ambrose, Rollins, Bryan, Reigns, Ziggler, and maybe Wyatt) that putting on incredible performances could, in a long shot, propel you into a main event situation at Wrestlemania. Hell, Bryan didn't even win last year, but because he was SO good SO consistently, WWE had no choice.

Now, logically, let's think about this. If I'm Dean Ambrose, I'm not only making top-dollar in WWE for a pro-wrestler, but I'm close enough to the top to justify busting my ass, which he does, every night to ensure that, despite Reigns apparently being slated to win, perhaps next year could be my year. You, sir, are prescribing a petulant reaction to something that should inspire quite the opposite. Are other superstars supposed to simply wilt because Reigns is getting a shot and they're not? One can imagine the detrimental effect that'd have on one's future in WWE if that were the case. Sulking gets you nowhere.

Finally, despite my agreeing with you that if Reigns wins, WWE is leaving money on the table in the form of a short man with a magnificent beard, WWE superstars are, in large part, the "actors." They don't get to write the script, even if they think it sucks. Only the John Cena's of the world can do that, and for good reason, because if every superstar were expected to complain incessantly about the quality of "set-in-stone" storylines, wrestling would be even more convoluted than it already is.

In short, don't fret. If Reigns wins, which he won't, and it sucks, which it would, than WWE will find that out real soon and hopefully learn a lesson (not while Vince/Stalin is still around, though).

 

[BillAlfonsos_Whistle]

The biggest problem is the crazy notion of the Rumble winner headlining Mania, it sucked as a premise in 1993 and still does. It takes away any real incentive for talent once January is gone, particuarly now the payoffs are shot... If a talent suddenly gets a red hot Hogan style following in December, like he did... there is no chance of them capitalising because a) the main event of Mania etc is set and b) they have to manuever them as Rumble winner or have a "weak" angle to get them in there like Bryan.

So let me get this straight....
The BIGGEST PROBLEM is the legitimate prize at the end of the second biggest and most beloved PPV the company has? Maybe the Rumble should be for an Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy from now on LOLOLOLOL

 

[Navi]

So let me get this straight....
The BIGGEST PROBLEM is the legitimate prize at the end of the second biggest and most beloved PPV the company has? Maybe the Rumble should be for an Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy from now on LOLOLOLOL

I think what he means is it's too predictable. By the end of January we pretty much know the main event for Wrestlemania, so whatever happens during the month of February is all for second and third place.

With Lesnar leaving once Mania over, now we know whoever wins the Rumble will most likely be winning the main event match at Mania as well. It would be nice to have some surprises thrown in at the biggest show of the year. We got surprises last year, but this year doesn't look like it, unless Rollins wins the triple threat match at the Rumble then all bets are off.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Meh, while I think it is possible that there was hope Reigns could become a major face over the past two years and that they may have been trying things to get to that point for a while, I also think they knew the risk and have been ready for him to fail.

The Daniel Bryan injury and CM Punk departure on the other hand were really cruel jokes for the universe to play on Vince. Hopefully next time Vince will be smart and only push big muscular guys (I kid, I kid).

 

[wrestler36]

Depends. Everything looks horrible in the short term, but the ball keeps on rolling. I mean, look in '96, Diesel and Razor left, Bret was gone for 8 months. HHH was supposed to in King of the Ring and instead gets punished for his involvement in the MSG goodbye. Austin ends up winning KOR and Austin 3:16 is born.

In this case, it is unfortunate the Bryan was shelved for so long, but it made the Shield dissolve faster and we saw Rollins and Ambrose main event HOC. Ziggler ends up looking awesome in the Survivor Series Main Event and Ryback is getting a pretty big push after falling way off the ladder.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

So let me get this straight....
The BIGGEST PROBLEM is the legitimate prize at the end of the second biggest and most beloved PPV the company has? Maybe the Rumble should be for an Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy from now on LOLOLOLOL

Oh wow... you actually just called it a legitimate prize? In a scripted event?

There is no "prize" involved, if it was we'd have had in the 22 years that the title shot has been a feature and the one prior where the title was at stake, someone go into business for themselves and win the Rumble against the plan. If it were the prize you claim, then WWE would be painted into such a corner they'd have no choice but to honor that match.

It's a crock.

It is a lazy booking cliche that they use primarily to fast track wrestlers they have already determined are leaving the next Mania as champion along with the "Road To Wrestlemania" concept as a whole.

The Rumble as a concept worked fine for 4 years before this, the World champion would enter and win... it was changed to shortcut Ric Flair and Yokozuna initially and then rather than making it the one off it should have been blighted every year since with foreshadowing and poor stories. Part of Shawn's poor reception as challenger and champion was his 2 Rumble wins were not "classic" ones, in 95 it sucked and the following year the "Boyhood Dream" concept linked to his win was borderline idiotic.

Fast forward ten years and you have Batista winning the Rumble in perhaps the only ever "clever" use of the Rumble win to build an angle/turn... but to a man you can pretty much pick 2 or 3 memorable angles/Mania matchups to truly come out of the concept, maybe Mania X, Mania XX (now exorcised forever) and Austin's first win. Other wins always seem forced, with it being a guys "turn" rather than the right build for the biggest event of the year.

Give it a rest already, actually BOOK the mania main event for a change outside of the tired cliche... If fans will watch the Rumble to see a guy they don't want to win go to Mania, then they'll watch it if no one goes to the Mania main event, but the performances put in actually matter and help get guys on the card. This time a year ago there was only one man who should have been in/won that Rumble and one guy who should have taken that #30 in his place... if they didn't want Bryan then it needed Barrett to declare the "Bad News" that HE not Bryan was 30.... WWE didn't bother listening and the ONLY reason Bryan got into the Mania main event at all stemmed from the legit news coverage his NOT being in that match gained... Bryan was on BBC news twice in a week... for not being in a match and the fans reaction to it.

A lot needs to change in WWE for sure, but the easiest place to start is to actually look at how they put together the months of January through April and WHY it's getting harder to pop those buyrates/views. Best place to start... Make the Rumble it's own thing...and get guys to Mania in other ways... Why not have King of The Ring in Feb and the winner go to Mania instead of the Rumble?