Fastlane Tonight - in Cleveland!

[MoFlo]

Not saying it's bad to give the people what they want at all. However, they also accomplished that (as you said, it was "not giving the belt to Reigns") by having Sheamus be the temporary champ instead of a very talented Owens, who deserves to have his first reign as champ be more than just a month or two due to an injury.

I'm definitely not excited to see Sheamus as champ, either, but I'd rather them give him to it now, since he'll only have it for a month or two. Plus, it finally gets that stupid briefcase off of him and, once he loses it, we know he's not in the title picture until at least June (If he loses it at Rumble, MAYBE he gets a rematch at Fastlane, but then you have Mania and the usual Mania rematch the next month).

They're not going to go into Mania with Owens as champ. Would I love to see it? Absolutely. But they're going to go into Mania with, as you've pointed out, an unknown. We all know that. Now, Reigns is certainly an unknown as well in that regard, but we've known they've targeted him as the next big face for like, over a year now. And it's already been established nobody is a fan of him getting it, so I'm not arguing he should and certainly see the hypocrisy by them there.

One of the reasons WWE is so hesitant to push some guys (Bryan, Dolph for example) is they're somewhat injury prone and there's a good possibility (as we've seen with both already in their title reigns) that they'll be painted into a corner. And in both guys' cases, word is they refuse to change their style.

Do I agree with their hesitation to push those guys? Of course not. However, I can see where they're coming from.

Now, you can also argue that WWE paints themselves into a corner by not pushing more talent to that main event level, and I agree completely, but that's another issue.

Another big problem is that there's too many hours of wrestling on each week and it forces us to get tired of wrestlers, matches, etc quickly. But again, that's another thing entirely.

I'm not absolving Vince of any blame here, the product is absolutely terrible aside from a few exceptions. I'm just saying I can see the logic behind a short Sheamus run.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Honestly, I'm kind of surprised that Sheamus even won the title when he cashed in. I know the briefcase is effectively a guaranteed title, or at least that's how the WWE has booked it, but he seemed to be a perfect candidate to cash in and fail. Of course, if that had happened tonight I think it would have been met with a collective eye roll after seeing the lengths the WWE has gone to to book Reigns strong in recent months, but that's neither here nor there. That's basically why I came up with that alternative heel win in my previous post which would establish a new corporate champ and remove the briefcase from the equation in one move while giving the fans something approximating what they want.

I don't really see, though, why going into 'Mania with Owens as the champ would be so ridiculous. What you need in the 'Mania main event is at least one guy who is over, and Owens is certainly that. I actually think it's much less ridiculous for the WWE to go into it with Owens as the champ than Reigns. We know that Reigns will get booed. We know that for a fact. And you can't have your face getting booed in the main event at Wrestlemania. It makes everyone look bad. They've had to call audibles the past two years because they were worried about the main event getting booed out at 'Mania. You'd think they'd come up with a smarter plan this year and, you know, make the main event something the fans actually want to see.

To me, if I was booking things, Owens and Ambrose would be the top two candidates to go into the main event of 'Mania with Rollins shelved. Both guys are over with the fans, and given that 'Mania is traditionally a smarter crowd, they'd be white hot heading to the ring for the main event. You can't say the same about Reigns. Wrestlemania's main event is traditionally about giving the fans what they want, and the fans have been adamant that they don't want Roman Reigns. As such, the WWE should turn to someone that they do want.

It's also worth noting that, while Owens may not look like the ideal superstar, he moves merchandise. Does Reigns? I see tons of KO shirts in the crowd at every live event, but I never see much Reigns gear. I'd imagine that's because the people that typically support Reigns (kids and women, generally) opt for Cena gear instead.

I agree that there are too many hours of WWE content on every week, and that's made worse by the fact that basically all of those hours are terrible. Still, I think that, if WWE creative were better, those hours wouldn't have to be uniformly terrible. The problem is that WWE creative sucks, or at least Vince having the final say makes them suck. There's no reason that NXT should consistently be a better product than Raw or Smackdown, but yet it always is.

And Vince certainly shouldn't be absolved of blame. I think he's the main problem with the WWE right now. He's more concerned with what he wants than what the fans want. He's also far too prone to rely on short term pop over long-term planning, which is why the WWE has failed so horribly at creating any new stars the past decade. They've been too reliant on Cena, and as a result have put him up on a pedestal that no one else can hope to match. Further, instead of letting a guy like Reigns be himself and get over on his own merits (you know, like Cena did originally), they've tried to turn him into what Cena is now without the work to get there, and the fans have understandably rebelled.

Reigns is in desperate need of a heel turn. I feel like most megastars get to that position by first having a good heel run to find their character, and slowly winning over the crowd with their work. Reigns isn't getting over as a face, so naturally you'd think the smart move would be to feed into those boos, turn him heel, and let him gradually get over based on his work.

Why won't the WWE go that blindingly obvious route?

 

[Thelorn]

WWE trollin, giving the belt to the second most hated guy behind Reigns.

 

[Jack Brickman]

WWE trollin, giving the belt to the second most hated guy behind Reigns.

The most hilarious part of it all is that the crowd was happier to see Sheamus win than Reigns. I think you really need to reevaluate the push you're giving a guy when he gets booed over the guy that literally no one wanted to see win the title. They made the tournament so boring that Sheamus winning looked like a gift from the gods. That's fucking sad.

 

[Tornicade]

I dont think a heel turn for reigns does much. he still has the same issues he does now.

At this point. Reigns vs Del Rio and Ambrose vs Owens seems like the next logical feuds considering both beat those respective title holders in the tournament.

The Wyatts should meanwhile take on the new day or go after the dudleys.

This opens the door for Orton, Lesnar,daniels or Cena (whoever comes back first) to take the belt away from Sheamus

Triple HHH could set this up by telling Ambrose and Reigns they have to earn their way back and have a title before they can compete for the heavyweight title

I think the window is close enough you can have Lesnar take the title.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I don't see Reigns Vs. Del Rio as a likely feud. It just doesn't make sense from a booking standpoint unless they have finally become convinced that Reigns needs to take a more permanent step back from the main event picture. Either way, Del Rio hasn't done anything since his return to show that he belongs in the main event picture. His match quality hasn't even warranted holding the US title thus far.

Lesnar very well might take the title, but I don't think he's coming back this year, so the real question is who Sheamus defends against at TLC. It would be nice if they mixed it up a bit and went to someone other than Reigns, but I don't have high hopes in that regard.

As far as the New Day go, they're pretty obviously going to be feuding with the Usos next. I have no idea what they'll do with the Wyatts. They've basically been so neutered at this point that I don't really care either.

Orton won't be back any time soon, by the way. Wasn't he being reported as being out eight months or so?

The main downside to Sheamus winning, by the way, is it effectively kills my Owens/Ambrose/Reigns triple threat ladder match idea at TLC. I thought that match would have been awesome.

 

[DJTJ]

Nothing funnier than when Vince's chosen next face of the company wins his first world title, gets quiet mixed reactions, gets cashed in on by who we are to believe is the new Authority heel, who then in turn gets absolutely no heel heat.

The show went off the air to no boos as your company heel stood on the biggest face.

Idiots.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Nothing funnier than when Vince's chosen next face of the company wins his first world title, gets quiet mixed reactions, gets cashed in on by who we are to believe is the new Authority heel, who then in turn gets absolutely no heel heat.

The show went off the air to no boos as your company heel stood on the biggest face.

Idiots.

It was even better after the show when Reigns was crying in the ring and the crowd was jeering him. That whole sequence was just baffling. The obvious character for Reigns is the badass, and you don't have your badass crying like a little girl after a loss. A better route would have been him tearing up the announce tables or something. Hell, we just saw Ambrose lose out on the title and he didn't cry like a baby. He gave his friend a hug and congratulated him.

On that note, where the fuck was Ambrose during all that? The Authority came out to put the screwjob to Reigns and Ambrose didn't help? It's not like he was injured or anything.

 

[DJTJ]

Nothing says Vince thinks he "got us" like Reigns winning the title at TLC.

 

[TheLand1287]

this ppv has the potential to be a first thirty last thirty ppv, which is AWFUL.

How does Survivor Series have ONE SS match?

There was technically a second Traditional SS match on the pre-show. Which was the better of the two since Goldust returned.

 

[bigfoot5415]

I honestly believe, in my heart of hearts, that Vince McMahon is suffering from some sort of senility. No way in hell a normal functioning adult thinks everything is ok.

 

[Kizzle]

This Raw has been amazing. Definitely gotta catch this on Hulu if you're missing it

 

[Jack Brickman]

This Raw has been amazing. Definitely gotta catch this on Hulu if you're missing it

This is sarcasm, right?

 

[Kizzle]

This is sarcasm, right?

What's been off about it?


Ryback just destroyed Heath Slater. That was a waste of time but everything else has been entertaining

 

[Jack Brickman]

What's been off about it?

Ryback just destroyed Heath Slater. That was a waste of time but everything else has been entertaining

Just like...nothing interesting has happened. The only really enjoyable thing was the New Day promo. Beyond that it's been a lot of talking and really short, unexciting matches.

The match with the best four performers (Owens, Ambrose, Ziggler, and Breeze) got about five minutes, had no big spots, and they didn't even show the entrances.

I was also really hoping that Slater bit would have led to someone new debuting. Instead we got boring Ryback. Ugh.