Let see here, the main story line in WWE has Daniel Bryan facing off against various members of the sheild every week, which includes Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. Orton and HHH are their as established players to help ease this transition of talent moving into the spot light. You also have Ziggler, and soon Rhodes getting a decent share of the spotlight in alternate forms outside of the main points of the storyline. How is that not elevating young talent?
Bingo. Do people not realize that this Rhodes family drama is going to push Cody into the stratusphere? Who else is going to benefit from that storyline? HHH and Orton are well-established, and Dusty nor Goldust is going to get another push at their ages. This is ultimately going to do one thing, and that's give Cody a push.
Let's then look at the last three Raw main events, shall we? We've had Bryan vs. Rollins, Bryan vs. Ambrose, and Bryan vs. Reigns, in that order. While he made Rollins tap, he beat Ambrose on a roll-up and Reigns by DQ. The Shield is being elevated by wrestling single's matches in the main events, and being protected in doing so. Then Ziggler, while not young, is also involved in the main event storyline, and feuding with Ambrose.
The other thing that's fun to speculate about: We have NO WWE Champion right now. While I'm not comfortable with the idea of the championship being held up, it opens up exciting possibilities. What if they through Bryan through the ringer, and make it an Elimination Chamber match at Battleground, with the other participants being Orton, The Shield members, and Ziggler? Regardless of who would win in that scenario, all of those guys would get a rub by participating. A ladder match isn't out of consideration either.
Curtis Axel holds the IC Title, Ambrose the US, Rollins and Reigns the tag titles, and Del Rio the World Championship. AJ is the Women's champion. 4 of the 6 weren't even on the roster last year. How can it be said that WWE isn't elevating new talent? And again, we have no idea what HHH is going to do with the WWE Title.
Ryback had just debuted about this time last year, and Damien Sandow shortly before him. Now Ryback is a "Paul Heyman guy", and Damien Sandow holds Money In The Bank. I realize neither are young, but they certainly are newer stars not far from their call-ups from NXT. Chalk up two more "newer" Superstars on the rise, although Sandow hasn't won since he won the case.
Honestly, I think by the time Sheamus comes back, people will have realized that he's not all that missed. As a heel or a face.
Sure he is. The problem with Sheamus isn't Sheamus, it's that he hasn't been given a true storyline to work with for some time. He's important, depth-wise, to the roster.
And even though WWE will throw Cena right back into title contention somehow, he's proving himself to be replaceable by DB. (Notice how you hear less kids and women screaming, and more men chanting on Raw?...what's that telling the brass about merchandise and viewership? Hopefully enough to throw Cena on SD).
You can't take 4 weeks and say the man who's been the face of the company for 9 years is simply replaceable by Daniel Bryan. Cena will be out 4-6 months, and that time won't be enough of a sample to tell. So far, Bryan is doing quite well and is being received like a true hero, as evidenced by the locker room hoisting Bryan on their shoulders. He's another guy that's getting over, but they're not going to "throw Cena to Smackdown" when he returns. He's the face of the company, no question, and he'll be in one of the Main Event storylines
on Raw. When he returns, he's an instant ratings booster. Why would you want to banish the top guy of the company who draws and sells merchandise far beyond anyone else to the 'B' show is beyond me.
It simply defies logic, my man.
Being put over now:
-DB
-Reigns
-Ambrose
-Rollins
-Ziggler (despite all the losses)
-Rhondes
even Ziggler is being protected in those losses. His losses to Ryback were as a result of distractions and pre-match attacks. And he did beat Ambrose on both Smackdown and Raw, earning himself another title shot.
-Sheamus/Cena for obvious reasons
Both are injured and won't be back until the Rumble.
-Christian (ever since he lost his last title shot)
Nope. He wrestled Orton on Raw and got a concussion. Hence why they ran the angle where he was "attacked backstage" by the Shield, and dragged out in front of Edge.
To be honest, and I don't like saying this because he's my favorite wrestler and a huge draw, but it's a blessing in disguise for WWE that John Cena got hurt. It's forcing their hand to rely on other wrestlers, some who have really taken advantage of their opportunities. That's not saying Night of Champions was good, it was, in fact, not a good PPV.
But WWE is working without Cena, Sheamus, Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio, and Christian right now, and I'm sure others as well that aren't springing to mind. It's allowing guys who might not have a chance otherwise to step up, such as Daniel Bryan, The Shield, and Dolph Ziggler. Will they be reliable, long-term draws?
They've got it right now, so
time will tell.
