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Who is winning the Royal Rumble?


Blehschmidt

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Mike Johnson said today the WM lineup is "set in stone" as:

 

Orton vs Batista (World title)

HHH vs Punk

Undertaker vs Lesnar

Cena vs Wyatt

Bryan vs Sheamus

 

This is hot garbage. If WWE really do that card...just wow. How out of touch are they!?

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Bryan is getting either Hunter, Batista or Brock in the main event of Mania for the title.

No chance. And it's not that the WWE is out of touch. It's that they put a bunch of shit in motion, and then while it was happening, Bryan got WAY more over than they thought, Batista jumped on, etc. So then they just moved the pieces accordingly.

 

The only true wild card is Reigns. He's the guy WWE is ready to strap the rocket to. But the combination of the huge ratings boost, people popping big for him live and him being one of Hunter's boys has Batista in the catbird seat.

 

And most likely, it'll be Brock vs. Batista at SummerSlam. So this pipe dream about Bryan being anywhere near the WWE title over the next eight months is just fanboy frustration. Bryan's popping crowds, selling merch, doing well in ratings and is slowly becoming a public figure. At some point, there will be no choice.

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I do feel for whoever wins the Rumble if it's not him and he doesn't find a way into the match. The crowd is going to be brutal.

 

Believe it or not, I'm not even sure he'll beat Bray Wyatt. The mindset could be that DB is over enough to absorb the loss and Bray needs to be built up for Cena.

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I believe Mike Johnson when he reports shit. MB, you think Vince is calling an audible on the Mania line-up?

No, I don't see why people put so much credit into reports. From what I usually see they aren't nearly as influential as they were 15 years ago.

 

And Timbo, had all of that shit been put into motion before Bryan beat Cena clean in August?

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Basically. Orton won the MITB and then it was pretty easy to see what would happen at that point. Cena was going to need some time off so they decided Orton should have the belt until Cena came back.

 

Then Batista decides to come back and they figure they have something easy to build to with him and Orton.

 

If there was any audible whatsoever, it would have been on Bryan/Wyatt. They decided on Wyatt/Cena before Bryan joined him.

 

Bryan is just stuck in the middle. Since they're prepping Wyatt for Cena, they'll need to put him over Bryan on Sunday. If they want a Brock/Batista money match, SummerSlam is the earliest. So then Bryan would be stuck facing Sheamus or Orton again or what have you. Maybe Reigns if they split him off.

 

That's what the plan is now. Bryan's stuck just below that top tier. Batista being in the fold and them putting Brock in WWE title story lines is going to keep him in that bottom tier unless they decide to give him a Giant Killer run, which isn't likely.

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I mean, hasn't Daniel Bryan been pretty much this over since the RAW after Wrestlemania when he lost in 18 seconds? His popularity hasn't really waned. He was mega-over during the Kane/Bryan hug it out stuff. He's been over ever sense.

 

I just don't buy the "he got more over than they thought" stuff. Unless they're all deaf & blind.

 

I mean, I'm not even a big Bryan fan and I think he looks odd in the main event, truthfully...but at some point, you gotta stop ignoring your paying audience.

 

Orton Vs. Batista is going to be Goldberg Vs. Lesnar all over again...

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Listening to Dave and Bryan live on WOR right now and Dave confirmed those 5 matches are set for WM and they have been the matches planned all along. Dave is also saying he spoke to people in WWE this week about Bryan and despite the crowd reactions - he doesn't move ratings, merchandise or tickets.

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well that confirms it. Again I can't reiterate how depressing this is. Wrestling should be fun. I feel like complete shit even thinking about it now.

 

anyone else think they believe announcing the network will stifle some of the backlash of bryan not winning and going to Mania? Get on the people's good side.

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Of course he doesn't move numbers. The whole idea behind listening to the audience is that when someone starts getting that type of superstar reaction, it's an indicator that it's time to groom them for a top spot where they eventually will move those numbers. It was several months before Steve Austin was anything more than a guy who got big pops too. But this is all a huge exercise in confirmation bias. It's almost never the case that a guy is a draw *before* he is pushed as a real top guy and WWE knows that.

 

Dave says this, but in the same breath has reported within the last two weeks that they didn't want to publicly announce his concussion because of the fear it would hurt walkup sales at house shows. So which is it?

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The reason Bryan doesn't sell tickets or move ratings is that WWE has plateaued. Old names pop numbers because they bring in lapsed fans. WWE is at the level they're going to be at, and there really isn't getting much bigger. Listen to that crowd, because they're there, and they're always gonna be there unless you burn them too many times.

 

The reason why Bryan doesn't sell much merch is that, well, his merch looks like shit. CM Punk's stuff looks like a punk band with good design sense. Roll in that direction, and you might see some results.

 

Bryan isn't going to get to that top spot without developing a "Fuck You" streak. He's gonna have to start playing politics. There was a very recent interview he did with a radio station in Grand Rapids. It was posted either here or on DVDVR. Basically, he laid it out that he's a really laid back guy and just does what he's told and makes the best of it.

 

He's gonna hafta forget all that. He doesn't need the "Being John Cena" spot, but he needs to be at the very top of the card consistently and he needs to be treated as such. You can roll out that he's headlined and been featured on Raw like crazy for the last six months or so, but the fans want the belt on him. The want him to win the Rumble. They want him to smoke someone waaaaay higher up the card than Sheamus, and this is the time to do it.

 

Regardless of his look or his size, he has the ability and the charisma to be at the very top of the company. He's been at the top of every company he's ever worked for, and there's a reason for that. He gets people invested in his matches like no one else on the roster can, and as a by-product, they're invested in him.

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To add onto what Loss said, if there's no bottom line support for him, why hotshot his face turn? Just to capitalize on a days old Sportscenter clip? That's buying a stock *after* it popped following great quarterly numbers and expecting you'll see the same jump the next day. That ship has sailed. Either you're in it for the long haul or you're not.

 

If he's not moving numbers and there's no confidence he will, then plug him into his role and stick to the plan so that the big picture product is consistent and follows a logical long-term path.

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It felt like people were starting to come to terms with his plight until that segment the week before TLC where he and Punk attacked HHH and Shawn when everyone was in the ring. At that moment, they made people think they really did have plans for him after all. So yeah, if they aren't going to push him, they should probably stop acting like they are going to push him.

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I think Punk will win the Rumble tonight but this morning I've been thinking way past that.... It will never happen but should.

 

I like the possibility of Brock winning the title at Chamber with Punk and Bryan somehow both being number one contenders but Heyman refusing to let his client defend in a triple threat because it is unbecoming of a WM Main (someone has to finally say it), so H or whatever contract makes a match between Bryan and Punk for the number one contendership at the top of the card at Mania with the winner. Bryan can go over Punk and then win the damn title and you have two HUGE matches and thing that people actually wanna see close the show.

 

Of course, since were talking about the Rumble i say Punk wins and then Bryan wins the Chamber? Of course, this leads to my next angle.

 

The Authority FUCKS UP in storyline by clamining that the chamber match will be for a title shot at Mania when the condender (Punk) is already set so Vince comes back and yells or whatever. The Wyatts kidnap Vince or something similar to what happens to Bryan and attempts to take the machine down. Vince is hypnotized and joins the Wyatts in his own weird way (bring back that Hawaiian shirt he wore one time). H has to save Vince. What does he do? Reform evolution. Its hard. Randys pissed cuz he lost the title at the Rumble to Cena who then dropped it to Brock at Chamber, Batista is mad cuz he was a moot point in the Rumble. They go ahead anyway. Flair comes back to control Dave like he used to. Wyatts w/ Vince vs. Evolution w/ Flair. The shit would be a shit show, the crowd would be hot for everyone in the match. Its for the fucking control of the company. Things can go well until Orton and Batista turn on eachother or whatever and battle to the back. The Wyatts are domitating H until Flair nails Bray with knucks or a chair or something and then disposes of Harper and Rowan with low blows. Flair at one point can do the flop. It would be great. Vince makes one last ditch effort to keep his company and gets in the ring, doesnt matter. Flair stomps him out, H hits the 'gree, Vince gets pissed at Bray, yells, Bray hits the move he does with the kiss, the crowd goes nuts and like six things happen. A fued between Orton and Batista is set up which Im pretty sure never happened before, H is definitively the boss, Flair is positioned in a regular role as the new Patterson, Arn can be Brisco, Vince puts over Wyatt and Wyatt turns face or something. Fucking fantastic man. Wrestle fucking Mania.

 

Of course this leaves room for Cena vs. Undertaker, which doesnt need explaining.

 

Thats four HUGE things that everyone wants to see happen.

 

Throw some Sheamus in there, have the Rhodes drop the tags back to Shield quick let them have a three on two match for the titles where both teams implode even though the match has a definitive ending, have AJ finally drop the divas to someone, unify the IC and US titles with Langston vs Henry, have Michaels pose, Warrior run out, Hogan give the big boot to the real Americans and there it is.

 

How hard is that?

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Regardless of what Mike Johnson or Dave Meltzer says, regardless of Bray Wyatt having a match with Daniel Bryan on the card, I'm not going to believe that someone other than Bryan is winning until I see it. It just doesn't make any sense to me. So I'm still taking a, probably naive, wait-and-see approach.

 

I think Bray beats Bryan & then Bryan enters the Rumble and wins.

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It's so puzzling that WWE seems hell bent on ignoring the fans with the excuse of "well Bryan doesn't move ratings/merch" when they've spent over a decade establishing that the WWE brand is bigger than any individual star. Cena was the last guy given the complete "this is the man" push, and the only others who actually pop a rating are returns of guys from before the current mindset.

 

If they don't want to make him a top guy, I agree with Loss in that they really should stop dicking the fans around.

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