Current WWE

[goc]

I don't see even WWE being as stupid as having Lesnar lose the title due to a MITB cash in immediately after winning it. Especially when they could spend all that time building tension with Heyman having one client who has the World Title and another client who has the MITB briefcase.

[Russellmania]

Part of me thinks if he can't wrestle at the PPV, a fan favorite babyface should at least be the one to win Money In The Bank so people don't feel completely and totally ripped off. So Ziggler came to mind, even if it's just for a short run. I think Dolph could make Brock look like a million bucks in dropping the title to him too, and it's not like they'd be sacrificing someone that's a key player in their future plans to do it either.

is that a real thing that happens anymore where fans feel ripped off just because a heel wins? If the MITB match itself was good but a heel came out on top, I'd have a hard time seeing the fans feeling like they didn't get their money's worth. Hell half their heels get cheered anyway. You really want people to feel ripped off, then have Cena win it.

[Russellmania]

I don't see even WWE being as stupid as having Lesnar lose the title due to a MITB cash in immediately after winning it. Especially when they could spend all that time building tension with Heyman having one client who has the World Title and another client who has the MITB briefcase.

yeah seriously that would be the dumbest thing they could possibly do (having him immediately lose the title).

[Loss]

 

Part of me thinks if he can't wrestle at the PPV, a fan favorite babyface should at least be the one to win Money In The Bank so people don't feel completely and totally ripped off. So Ziggler came to mind, even if it's just for a short run. I think Dolph could make Brock look like a million bucks in dropping the title to him too, and it's not like they'd be sacrificing someone that's a key player in their future plans to do it either.

is that a real thing that happens anymore where fans feel ripped off just because a heel wins? If the MITB match itself was good but a heel came out on top, I'd have a hard time seeing the fans feeling like they didn't get their money's worth. Hell half their heels get cheered anyway. You really want people to feel ripped off, then have Cena win it.

 

 

It's more that I think Bryan forfeiting the title will leave people a little deflated. So why not balance it out by giving them something else really great to take the sting off? That's how WWE thinks -- they usually try not to do double whammies when they're doing something that they think may be a downer.

 

And that's why I specifically said "fan favorite babyface". Of course Cena isn't the answer. Bray would be a better pick than Cena, sure, but if they are eventually building to a Brock title win, doesn't it make more sense to put the title on a babyface?

[Bierschwale]

Stripping him wouldn't have hurt him and it's actually undermining the whole authority angle because why the hell after months of trying to run him down would they not take the first opportunity to strip him?

 

They HAVE made the argument why Stephanie hasn't just stripped him because of the injury-- she wouldn't derive a hundredth of the satisfaction from taking it from him that she would get if he decided that he had to give it to her. Which isn't a bad way to do this holding pattern, but it's just been so fogged up beyond that basic premise.

[The Chief]

I have no clue who they could put the belt on if it has to be a babyface. Ziggler actually just lost a qualifying match clean to Del Rio, so I don't think he's in the equation. Below Bryan, it's a big step down on the babyface side. Ambrose and Reigns are probably the most important after Bryan, but they're tied up in other things right now. After that, it's guys like Big E, Big Show, Cody/Dustin, RVD and Sheamus. I can't realistically see any of those guys as champ right now. So it will probably have to be Cena.

[Bierschwale]

 

I don't see even WWE being as stupid as having Lesnar lose the title due to a MITB cash in immediately after winning it. Especially when they could spend all that time building tension with Heyman having one client who has the World Title and another client who has the MITB briefcase.

yeah seriously that would be the dumbest thing they could possibly do (having him immediately lose the title).

 

 

Also, aside from the cash-in clearly having hit its apex in 2013 (Ziggler's, which the live crowd was out and out DEMANDING happen, and Orton's because of the angle it launched), even if it's doing it to Brock, that's a shitty way to have someone turn face.

[Loss]

It just makes it weird that they aren't pushing Ziggler, when they have a spot he could easily slide into and fans love him so much.

[tigerpride]

He has a lot of heat on him

[Loss]

Did he do something new? Or are they still holding it against him that he dared get a concussion last year?

[Bierschwale]

How serious are the concussion and eye injury that Cena reportedly got on a house show over the weekend?

[Russellmania]

Did he do something new? Or are they still holding it against him that he dared get a concussion last year?

I always assumed he has heat on him because he's constantly taking subtle shots at the company on twitter and such.

[Loss]

I thought that was his gimmick. He's been booked to complain about his push quite a few times. Oh, how I love thee 2014 wrestling.

[The Man in Blak]

Smackdown thoughts:

 

- Hard to tell how much heat Rollins really had for his opening segment, since the Smackdown crowd mics seemed juiced in the mix, but he did well enough, considering the (lack of) storyline. His non-answer still sucks, but he presented that non-answer about as well as he could ("the only one he owes anything to is himself", etc.). Ziggler comes out to retort and, outside of a wink to the smarks about being pushed down the card, doesn't really add any value to the segment, outside of cueing up a "You Sold Out" chant.

 

- Rollins/Ziggler was a'ight. As someone who's just came back to WWE, I feel like I'm missing something with Ziggler: terrible name, looks like Billy Gunn (not a positive), and doesn't really do much in the ring, other than sweet dropkicks. But he seems to be over, at least. Both guys do a decent job of dressing up a your-turn-my-turn brawl, even pulling the crowd into a couple of close falls near the end. Comments overheard from Triple H during the match: "You know the best thing about [Rollins]? He can ADAPT to anything!" Um, okay. Rollins still needs to find his voice in-ring as a heel but, as it was mentioned earlier, having him be the every-card workhorse for Evolution isn't the worst idea ever, even if the turn itself still continues to make no sense.

 

- More awkwardness from Bad News Barrett on the mic, as he ends up delivering a subdued face-ish promo against Cesaro and RVD. Barrett has come across way too strongly as a jerk to earn any sort of sympathy, but that seems to be exactly what they're going for with this weird Cesaro/RVD/Barrett deal. I'm starting to feel like he's 1000% better when he can simply heel up his catchphrase, trash the face, and immediately get off the mic.

 

- Rollins shakes hands with Orton for the first time, which leads to a confrontation with the Big Show. I defended Orton in the Microscope thread, but his delivery of "welcome to the dark side" here was just corny. Of course, Triple H is turning into a comic book villain who's obsessed with anything and everything that adapts, so maybe it's only fitting that the rest of Evolution deliver their lines like rejects from the Sinister Six.

 

- The Usos beat Rybaxel (complete with jobber entrance, no intro) in a match that might have gone three minutes, tops. Rybaxel spends 75% of the match working double-team moves, then Axel takes a kick to the stomach while coming off the top, big splash, pin. Terrible layout, awful sequence to the finish, baffling booking decision.

 

- Didn't Xavier Woods already get squashed by Rusev? I guess WWE is fresh out of black wrestlers to feed to him, so it's time for re-runs.

 

- Cesaro/RVD/Barrett in a triple threat for the IC TItle seems like something that they could build towards on PPV, but here it is. There's some heat between Heyman and Cole that I don't have any history for, but it keeps Cole mostly quiet for the match, so that's a plus. Decent triple threat match that touches on a few of the usual triple threat novelty spots.

 

- Bray Wyatt says he's reborn. Not an especially memorable promo.

 

- Hey, a hype segment for Charlotte/Natalya on NXT! It leads into a Natalya/Alicia match, which starts to look like a good match until Alicia starts her mid-match freakout routine on the outside. Odd finish, as Alicia ends up tilt-a-whirling Natalya into a splash on top of herself for the pin, which leads directly into a post-match tantrum that feels like it goes on longer than the match. Pretty good showing for Natalya, on the whole.

 

- Bo Dallas squashes Santino. Some good comedy at the start, though, as Santino does his own victory lap around the ring after a couple of arm drags. This, of course, triggers Bo's mean streak, which isn't as fun or interesting as his delusional streak, but whatever.

 

- Orton/Big Show goes nowhere, outside of a funny spot where the draping DDT requires Big Show to be draped over the top rope. Rollins interferes and it looks like the crowd spends most of the beatdown looking up into the stands for a Shield run-in that doesn't happen. Kind of a blah finish.

[Fantastic]

 

I don't see even WWE being as stupid as having Lesnar lose the title due to a MITB cash in immediately after winning it. Especially when they could spend all that time building tension with Heyman having one client who has the World Title and another client who has the MITB briefcase.

yeah seriously that would be the dumbest thing they could possibly do (having him immediately lose the title).

 

 

I was thinking long term, giving a reason for Brock not to stick around (The Rock made several appearances and did far more PR work than Brock has ever done in this stint with WWE, during his 2013 reign, I doubt Brock is going to do the same) and to have a reason to battle Cesaro at a later date. Sure it would be terrible, but then, it creates the idea that the cash in might have been the only way anybody could ever have beaten Lesnar for the title.

 

And, the fans go home happy, given that in all likelyhood, Brock would be standing tall having utterly beaten Daniel Bryan into oblivion without the cash in. Four years in a row with a heel standing tall at the end of Summerslam?

[Fantastic]

Well, F4W just reported that Daniel Bryan won't be cleared for MITB, so they are probably going to strip him, and put the title(s) up for grabs in the MITB match.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I think they should hang two cases, one with the belt and one with the contract, for the MITB match. Then one wrestler could grab one case and another the other, and they could have a big reveal at the end when they open the cases.

[Blehschmidt]

That sounds way too much like that Feast or Fired thing that TNA does.

 

I'm guessing this means 2 ladder matches. Cesaro almost has to win the MITB contract. Who to put the title on is the big question.

 

Anyone think a call from Connecticut to Chicago may have been made today?

[rovert]

Well, F4W just reported that Daniel Bryan won't be cleared for MITB, so they are probably going to strip him, and put the title(s) up for grabs in the MITB match.

 

Saddened as a fan but it may be a positive in the long run for the Company if elevating someone new as Bryan is 4 years younger than Cena and likely in worse physical condition generally.

[Bierschwale]

This is an important question: Since they've never, ever been consistent about the amount of participants in an MITB match, how many should we expect? Last year had seven in the WHC match and six in the WWE match. 2012 had 8 and 5, 2011 had 8 and 8. There's pretty much no way of knowing.

 

We have one with ADR, but with three RAWs left (if they don't use either of the Tuesday taping shows, though I could see them sticking a lower-tier one on Main Event) to have qualifier matches/executive announcements, how many more qualifiers should we expect? Two matches tonight and two matches next week? Add Orton and Rollins as automatics and assume that the go-home won't have any?

 

Or will they just do a big stupid rundown announcement segment, which would be really stupid in this context, when the Authority are this EEEEEEVUUUUUL and the title being vacant without Bryan?

 

All five guys without the belts who were in the EC match this year had explicit qualifier matches, and if they've already done one, isn't that what we should expect for the rest?

[Strummer]

I'd hope they will keep Bryan on TV while he's injured but WWE seemingly has had this weird philosophy that they don't like having wrestlers that can't take bumps on TV

[Strummer]

Dave says they found out last Thurs or Friday that Bryan would not be able to compete

[Russellmania]

I'd hope they will keep Bryan on TV while he's injured but WWE seemingly has had this weird philosophy that they don't like having wrestlers that can't take bumps on TV

that's actually one of the few WWE quirks I agree with.

[Strummer]

They seem to be pushing that Bryan never knew about the decision

[Russellmania]

why the fuck wouldn't they take the title off him in person? The Beloved Champion relinquishing the titles is a heat magnet type of segment and they just squandered it for no apparent reason.