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WrestleMania 32


TravJ1979

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They will have to sacrifice a Wrestlemania or three at some point built entirely around current talent to make bigger Wrestlemanias down the road.

 

They're getting to the point right now where they won't have a choice in the matter and I'm interested to see how they react.

 

Angle, Austin, Hogan, Flair and Foley probably couldn't get medical clearance. Sting was nearly crippled in his last match.

 

Goldberg hasn't wrestled in ten years. And he's pushing 50.

 

Undertaker has to be winding down. Rock already had his nostalgia run and quite frankly has better things to do. HBK shouldn't wrestle again and I honestly think he feels the same way.

 

Thankfully, we still have HHH.

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Vince still owns and runs the company. If Vince wanted or needed him, he would hire him.

Which he hasn't in 10 years....why would he now? Angle has pretty much made it clear since 2008 or even earlier he was game for a return so it's not like it is a desire to stay in TNA that's kept him away for so long. Vince can obviously overrule Triple H on things but Kurt Angle I don't think is gonna be one of them.

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The only potential matches I've been able to come up with are these (and I'm horrible at fantasy booking)...

 

Roman Reigns vs. Triple H, Brock Lesnar, or Kevin Owens(a definite dark horse).

 

Brock vs. Roman, Owens, Bray Wyatt, or Sheamus.

 

Undertaker vs. Owens, Sheamus, Kane, or a very dark horse Daniel Bryan.

 

some kind of 4 way ladder spot-fest for either the US or IC title featuring some combination of Kalisto, heel Sin Cara, Dean Ambrose, Owens, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, Tyler Breeze, Sheamus, Neville, or dark horses Finn Balor and Sami Zayn.

 

Tag titles with New Day vs Uso's, or two of the four LON, or maybe Big Cass and Enzo.

 

Divas title with Charlotte vs Becky Lynch, Paige, a Bella or two, Sasha Banks, or Natalya.

 

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (won by Mark Henry, or Neville).

 

No idea what they'll do with AJ Styles or Nakamura. The shock of all shocks would be ether of those guys in the man event vs Reigns, or facing off with Brock.

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Vince still owns and runs the company. If Vince wanted or needed him, he would hire him.

Which he hasn't in 10 years....why would he now? Angle has pretty much made it clear since 2008 or even earlier he was game for a return so it's not like it is a desire to stay in TNA that's kept him away for so long. Vince can obviously overrule Triple H on things but Kurt Angle I don't think is gonna be one of them.

 

 

I was responding to your point that HHH is the reason he isn't back. Meltzer recently said on a podcast that Vince doesn't want Angle back. This was after I posted this.

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Would they though? I don't know. My nephew is right around that age range, and I think it'd be a stretch for him to consider Owens at Brock's level right now.

 

Owens has been booked fairly well (only since TLC or so) as a wrecking ball, but it's not exciting enough. Nothing stands out or sticks with you. Plus, in his matches - they've JUST recently stopped doing the Even Steven 50/50 stuff with him.

 

It reminds me of how they thought they were REALLY heating up Bray last year in time for the Mania match with 'Taker. Maybe in their eyes it was heating him up. But really, they just put him over Bryan once and Dean Ambrose a bunch of times. The Bryan thing was slightly surprising, but it was more about Bryan coming back to lose than Bray getting over on him. And the Dean losses didn't feel like they really meant anything.

 

Fast forward to Owens now, and it feels very similar. Maybe they THINK they're strapping a rocket to him, but I don't get that impression at all. Doubt many of the younger fans would either.

Could it be done in time for Mania? Maybe. But this isn't the way to do it. It's a mild approach to a guy that could use a MAJOR overhaul. They need to go all-out and aim for another Henry Hall of Pain scenario. Have the guy just murder wrestlers and bystanders alike. Let him rack up a body count.

 

Struggling through 10 or 15 minute matches against Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler on TV every week - just to go to a bullshit finish so nobody looks worse (or better) by the end of it - isn't going to get him there.

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I'm thinking down the road, not for Mania. I agree a Brock match would come out of nowhere right now. But he will be perceived as formidable in the near future if he just stays the course he's on. He seems like he has a growing following.

 

Those 10 min matches with midcarders are the same matches everyone else has, so it comes down to the strength of his character. And it seems like he has more strength there than all those other guys that are in those same matches. There are a bunch more kids with his shirt and signs it's looked like.

 

It feels like they are heating him up in the sense that they are giving him the space to act fed up, whereas he never was after the Cena losses but should have been. Things have built from that. The way they shot the table powerbomb on Ambrose was a stand out moment I think. It was shot with the camera from the ground up. Just something different that added to it.

 

I could be wrong but I feel like the Wyatt return in the Rollins vs Ambrose hell in a cell did enough for Wyatts perception regardless of the matches themselves that followed. It was different too.

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Vince still owns and runs the company. If Vince wanted or needed him, he would hire him.

Which he hasn't in 10 years....why would he now? Angle has pretty much made it clear since 2008 or even earlier he was game for a return so it's not like it is a desire to stay in TNA that's kept him away for so long. Vince can obviously overrule Triple H on things but Kurt Angle I don't think is gonna be one of them.

I was responding to your point that HHH is the reason he isn't back. Meltzer recently said on a podcast that Vince doesn't want Angle back. This was after I posted this.

Obviously the actions or lack thereof has indicated as much but I'm surprised it is definitive enough that Dave stated it. I did think the situation was Vince didn't have any use for Angle but that it is Triple H who is driving the idea that he was to never come back. I didn't know Vince felt as strongly about it as he apparently does. So okay I concede it is a Vince thing, not just a Triple H thing.

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I would argue that it has slowly been "biting them" for the last couple of years by eating away at their growth potential. Their mentality for the last while has been that it's easier to pop a buy rate or whatever by throwing some part-timers out there, but they could have pulled in that crowd AND built up new guys in the process. It didn't have to be mutually exclusive. It's definitely catching up to them now that they actually need hot new acts though.

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It's hard to say whether they'll learn anything from this though. If looking to confirm their own biases, they'll paint this all as "We had the worst luck ever with injuries, but thankfully HHH saved the show by gifting us a credible main event and carrying Roman to such an epic match. Plus next year we'll have Cena, Orton and Rollins back!"

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They could always do the double duty thing to spread the talent out. WM 10 and 30 were more or less built on it. Doing a four man tournament for the belt or something could make the most of guys like Reigns and Brock, especially if Reigns is going to do the "Reigns takes a beating" all night. HHH vs Reigns and Brock vs ????? (Owens, Bryan [ideally], Seamus, etc), with Brock vs Reigns II likely for the main. They would have my attention with something like that. I would much rather see the main come down to Bryan vs Brock, but I don't think that is in the cards. Regardless, getting Brock out there twice could really make a difference in the show, especially if he has compelling opponents both times out.

 

 

Also, as has been mentioned before, HHH's being able to sell himself as drawing the biggest house in wrestling history is just terrible. We are going to have to hear about this so much.

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It's going to take Brock vs Nakamura to get me to care about a Mania with HHH vs Roman as the main event. I wonder if the international press they would get for Brock/Nak would make it a bigger deal than Lesnar facing someone like Bray or Sheamus. I'm leaning towards yes. Plus everyone knows those guys have no shot at beating Brock. If they build up Nakamura as the best wrestler from Japan, and make Mania his first WWE match it could at least make some casual fans interested to see what he can do. Plus it would be the best match on the show by a mile.

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I would obviously love to see that. Their match for the IWGP title a while back was a lot of fun and that was before Nakamura was the charismatic little bugger we all know and love today. I can't see this happening though. I think you are spot on that bringing Nakamura in as Nakamura and immediately trying to appeal to the international audience would be a great way to POSSIBLY bump Mania, but it would just seem so out of character for Vince, especially as a way of using Brock.

 

I am still kind of holding out a little hope for Bryan making a surprise return and facing Brock at mania in a "Shut up internet fans and leave me be" kind of gift match from Vince to us.

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So they've thrown in the towel on Brock and are going to spend his 7 figure payday keeping Bray busy for 20 minutes at Mania. Unbelievable. At another time him & Heyman may have walked out rather than even acknowledge such plans, but at this point they've earned their MBA from the Rasheed Wallace School of Business and will likely play along.

 

I'm a big believer in setting low expectations as it often leads to pleasant surprises, but personally, the potential for this show outside of Reigns/HHH is getting lower and lower as we get closer.

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