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Undertaker and Sting to work Summerslam


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I’ve never bought the Reigns conspiracy theory. Let’s hold three thoughts in our heads at the same time.

1) They’re usually lousy at booking, even though they’ve proven they can at times be good at it. In their minds, Reigns going a win streak and having months of good matches doesn’t count as “a storyline”. Hence indulging Vince’s creepy child stalker obsessions.

 

2) They don’t want anyone on their roster - even the top babyface of the future - to get “too big”. “Too big” meaning he develops any sort of ego/backbone/resistance to what the company wants. Loss described this beautifully on a Good Will Wrestling about “fixing the WWE”. Vince/HHH are trying to prevent ever having to again deal with another Punk, or Lesnar, or even another post-2001 Austin. Recognizing their resentment of having to treat their workers like valued adults is crucial to understanding why “no one’s over” right now. "No one getting over" is entirely intentional.

 

3) Vince and co. are of the impression - wrongly - that in the ‘7 hrs of TV’ era, it’s impossible to book a title chase for longer than say… three months? And that those three months should always be Rumble to Mania? They feel the need to turn the burner down on Reigns until the end of the year. Barring disaster, they’re almost certainly leading to him winning the title in Cowboy Stadium. Possibly against Rollins, which is actually a pretty great culmination of a 1-2 year storyline (albeit one that would have been better if they hadn’t already wrestled in so many meaningless RAW matches). And helps legitimize Rollins as the top heel whose year-long title reign is ended in dramatic fashion by the new company ace/guy he screwed to win the title in the first place. It would have been better if they’d booked the Authority to be dodging Reigns all year and have him climb the ladder/seek revenge, but that may still happen post-Summerslam. And if they hadn't already wrestled so many meaningless singles against each on TV, but this company's hopeless in that regard and can't help but hotshot every viable match they've got (save the programs of part-timers like Lesnar, HHH, Taker, Sting). Only problem is that it would require Steph/HHH to depict at least some intimidation/fear of Reigns, which they've been unwilling to offer any babyface for years.

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Did I say that? I don't remember saying that, but thank you. Anyway, I think if they don't want anyone getting "too big", it's a subconscious thing. I don't picture Vince and HHH discussing how guys are starting to get a little too over and need to be humbled so much as I do them being cautious and overlearning lessons of the past. The funny thing is that having guys who were "too big" wasn't really hugely detrimental to the company. Punk walked and aside from the chants, they went on without a beat, and the salvaged storyline was way better than the original plan. Brock had just put over Eddy and his next scheduled feud was one where he'd put Undertaker over. Brock in 2004 was not at all Brock now in terms of how hot he is.

 

Still, the overall point is correct. Forget Austin or Rock or Cena, they can't even create a new Chris Jericho, Edge or Randy Orton.

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Roman is still supposedly the guy they want in that spot long-term. It's not working, but I think in their minds, they are trying to make it seem like he's not a hand-picked star so that people stop resenting him.

I think this is likely it. I hope they still see him as the next top guy, because I think he is that guy. It's not like Rollins has done anything to make a case for himself.

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Roman is still supposedly the guy they want in that spot long-term. It's not working, but I think in their minds, they are trying to make it seem like he's not a hand-picked star so that people stop resenting him.

 

What they don't realize is that everyone is comparing Roman's push to Dean's. Roman is booked on every PPV. Dean isn't. Roman wins the majority of his PPV matches. Dean doesn't.

 

 

Roman is still supposedly the guy they want in that spot long-term. It's not working, but I think in their minds, they are trying to make it seem like he's not a hand-picked star so that people stop resenting him.

I think this is likely it. I hope they still see him as the next top guy, because I think he is that guy. It's not like Rollins has done anything to make a case for himself.

 

 

I disagree wholeheartedly. Rollins went from being a plucky, high-flying, nice guy babyface with crowd-pleasing moves to a smarmy, shit-eating, cowardly heel. That kind of versatility and range, I'd say, more than makes a case for him to be a top guy for years to come. There's a reason he was the first Shield member to win the big one. True, he's probably smarter politically than the others (and someone else even said that - I wish I could remember who and where), but that would mean nothing if he didn't make the most of the opportunity he was given - and he has!

 

P.S. I really can't stand how this board handles quotes. If I'm trying to quote Zoo Enthusiast, is there any way that can be done without also quoting Loss, just because Zoo did that in his previous post? Maybe there's a setting one of the admins can check into? I really hope so! If it's an easy fix, I'd love to see it implemented! Thanks.

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I have things set so I can see the HTML codes and manually take out the quote tags.

 

I can't stand posting without full control of the tags myself.

 

Little switch in top left. I can't imagine quoting without that turned off.

Let's try this...

 

P.S. I really can't stand how this board handles quotes. If I'm trying to quote Zoo Enthusiast, is there any way that can be done without also quoting Loss, just because Zoo did that in his previous post? Maybe there's a setting one of the admins can check into? I really hope so! If it's an easy fix, I'd love to see it implemented! Thanks.

OH MY GOD...I LOVE YOU, JVK!!!

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Vince and co. are of the impression - wrongly - that in the ‘7 hrs of TV’ era, it’s impossible to book a title chase for longer than say… three months? And that those three months should always be Rumble to Mania?

Don't forget that the WWE is, and always has been, a babyface-based company. Bruno Sammartino played the heroic champion in front of the same crowds every month, while Lou Thesz was the travelling heel champ. Hulk Hogan was pinning all his opponents clean, while Ric Flair was holding onto his title with fuck-finishes. Stone Cold was confounding Mr. McMahon most weeks on Raw, while the NWO stood triumphant over the corpses of WCW's pathetic babyfaces most weeks on Nitro. This has always been a company which has had the general mindset of "our most popular star should hold the belt" (even when they didn't agree with the fans about which wrestler was most popular). They've never been subscribers to the old-school theory that The Money Is In The Chase; and considering that Vince is still in business while all his chase-based rivals are long gone, it's kinda hard to argue that point.
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There are of course exceptions to that:

 

- 2001 heel Austin

- HHH from 2002-2004

- Yokozuna holding the title for 9 months

- Punk as a heel for the last 6 months or so of his long run

 

It's rare, yes. But they have parked the belt on a heel when they felt it was the right decision. In fact, they have had it on one now for almost four months and there doesn't seem to be any plan in place that I can see to have him drop it anytime soon.

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What they don't realize is that everyone is comparing Roman's push to Dean's. Roman is booked on every PPV. Dean isn't. Roman wins the majority of his PPV matches. Dean doesn't.

This isn't even true. Ambrose wasn't on Battleground but Roman Reigns wasn't on the KOTR special or the Elimination Chamber. Ambrose main evented Elimination Chamber & MITB even if he lost. Ambrose has been given more to do since Mania than Roman really. The only match Roman has won on PPV since Mania was a match against Big Show, he lost at Payback, MITB & Battleground. If I wanted to waste my time looking up who has had more time on Raw I'd imagine it would probably be Dean Ambrose.

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I just want to show off the sheer brilliance and momentum kept up for the WWE title picture this year in one list:

 

Royal Rumble: Cena-Lesnar-Rollins for the title.

Fastlane: No Lesnar so no title match.

WrestleMania: Lesnar-Reigns-(Rollins) for the title.

Extreme Rules: Orton-Rollins for the title. No Lesnar.

Payback: Ambrose-Orton-Reigns-Rollins for the title.

Elimination Chamber: Ambrose-Rollins for the title. No Orton or Reigns.

Money in the Bank: Ambrose-Rollins for the title.

Battleground: Lesnar-Rollins for the title. No Ambrose.

 

Just phenomenal continuity.

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I'm bummed at no Sting for SummerSlam. Felt they might as well get some use out of him since they're going four hours, bringing Taker back, pushing the show as more like WrestleMania in the Summer. As others have said, I felt Sting could've had some fun interactions with Wyatt. Especially with the match being a six man tag, Sting wouldn't have had to do a ton but could've still added a bunch to the match.

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There are of course exceptions to that:

 

- 2001 heel Austin

- HHH from 2002-2004

- Yokozuna holding the title for 9 months

- Punk as a heel for the last 6 months or so of his long run

 

It's rare, yes. But they have parked the belt on a heel when they felt it was the right decision. In fact, they have had it on one now for almost four months and there doesn't seem to be any plan in place that I can see to have him drop it anytime soon.

You really don't see Cena winning at Summerslam?

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Cena isn't winning at Summerslam guys

To me it seems obvious he isn't winning either but I'm so tired of battling the "OMG WHY WON'T VINCE DIE SO SOMEONE OTHER THAN CENA CAN GET OVER!?" crowd on other boards I haven't bothered to point it out here.

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Where is this talk of Cena actually taking the belt coming from? Did I miss something? I mean, I could understand why they'd want to shake things up a bit for the Fall season lull, but the booking seems like the usual standard stuff.

 

The RAW match gave Cena a successful defense of his title over Rollins. Seems kind of obvious that the purpose of SummerSlam would be to give Seth the same with a win over Cena. Then maybe run a rubber match at NoC or even just on RAW to setup whatever main event they've got for NoC instead.

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Firstly, it's never a surprise when they put the belt back on Cena under any circumstances; by now, he's their go-to Plan B. Secondly, both the overall ratings and Cena's merch sales have been down recently, and it does make a certain kind of sense to re-push the proven commodity in Cena to try and fix that.

 

However, reports leaking out now say that Cena's nose might have him on the shelf past Summerslam, so who knows what the hell they're going to do.

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