Scott,
Wouldn't the obvious feud to build to for WrestleMania 32, be Roman Reigns vs. The Rock. Reigns could go uber heel, blame the fans AND Rock for not supporting him, and dominantly plow through faces (including a Brock-style destroying of Cena at Summerslam), win the title mid year and lose it when Rock shows up to defend his and his family's honor. BOOM: WrestleMania match. That, plus Sting/Taker retirement is a pretty good double headliner. Throw in Brock/Bryan as an apology to the fans and Dallas has a Hell of a Show!
Dude, they need to sell ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND tickets for that show. Roman Reigns ain't gonna be anywhere near that main event. Put the names of Brock Lesnar, The Rock, HHH, John Cena, Undertaker and maybe even Shawn Michaels if you're desperate into a hat, pull out any combination of three matches with them, and that's your main card. Even then, I dunno.
So the answer to the crowds universally shitting on the idea of a guy as a top headliner are to spend the next 370 days building the entire company around him and giving him a second Mania to headline. Haha, no. He'll be lucky to be jerking the curtain next year in a tag match a la Lex from X-XI.
ReplyDeleteI guess folks have given up on Austin ever returning for a match and interest has died down since Punk left, but Austin/Cena or Austin/Lesnar would still sell a bucket-load of tickets.
ReplyDeleteI'll bite.
ReplyDeleteBrock vs. Rock
Hogan vs. Cena
HHH vs. HBK
Undertaker vs. Sting
Shield Triple Threat for WWE Championship
Unless a lot changes in the next year or so, then fuck Reigns.
ReplyDeleteBrock/Bryan would be good. Bryan/HBK would be even better.
I'd be good with Sting/Taker (10 years late but it works as a retirement match) and HHH/Rock.
I don't know who Cena should wrestle. If they really want to sell out Dallas - and I say this as a native Texan - then Vince will offer a dump truck of money for Austin to wrestle one more match.
Undertaker vs. John Cena is where my money is.
ReplyDeleteDammit, Scott, don't tease me with the thought of HBK vs. The Rock.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you don't have two wrestlers that are active to sell WM speaks volumes of the WWE's problem. Heck, a few years ago Cena/UT would have done it I bet. But today.....
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine that Rock's management would ever let him wrestle again.
ReplyDeletePeople who wear tapout shirts think wrestling is "gay fake shit"
ReplyDeletethis makes no sense to me
Earth to work rate nerds: WrestleMania is the sell, not the matches. Unless it's Hogan/Andre or Rock/Cena, the matches don't count.
ReplyDeleteAustin/Rock IV is the only thing that can fill that Cowboys stadium.
ReplyDeleteRock / Brock is a better option. I really hope HBK does not come back either.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think is enough money for Austin? He seems perfectly content with never wrestling again... and he doesn't seem like he's hurting for cash.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget In Your House: Rock Bottom!
ReplyDeleteIf there was ever a chance for Vince to convince Punk to return, early next year is it. Somehow get the belt onto HHH, have Punk make a surprise return and win the Rumble, and then do Punk/HHH as the headline match with Punk winning. Obviously, I'm not delusional enough to believe that will sell out the stadium, but it's an angle that inter-mixes kayfabe with real life that would get a lot of people talking even outside the realm of wrestling fans.
ReplyDelete-HHH/Punk (WWE Championship)
-Brock/Rock
-Undertaker/Sting
-Shield triple-threat
-Wyatt/Orton
-Cena/Bryan (IC and US Title unification match... not that I support unifying these two belts, but it's an idea)
-Tag Title match of some kind (how about mixing two modern-day teams with two veteran teams in a four-way... The Usos and someone else along with the Dudleyz and the New Age Outlaws)
-Maybe a Diva's Championship match of some kind... or just hire Ronda Rousey to wrestle one match where she's destroying Stephanie or something.
I have a couple of alternate ideas but this is a start.
No I'm just talking Wrestlemanias. A match at WM32 would be their fourth Wrestlemania match. Oh god including non-WM matches it'd be Austin/Rock 500 or so
ReplyDeleteFrom one Texan to another - I still think ppl put way too much stock in the fact that Austin/HBK/UT are all Texans and that will make a difference. First off, there is no way in hell they're coming close to selling 100K tix - they couldn't get that many people to attend a show for free let alone trying to profit from it. I just don't see a guy like Austin being any more of a draw in Dallas as he would be throughout the rest of the country.
ReplyDeleteWarGames: HHH and the Shield vs. Cena, Lesnar, Bryan and Sting
ReplyDeleteI will make a prediction here and now on this thread, and in a year if I'm wrong feel free to tell me I know nothing about the wrestling business.
ReplyDelete1. Shawn Michaels will not wrestle next year at Mania
2. Steve Austin will not wrestle next year at Mania
Frankly I'd wager that neither of them will ever wrestle again, let alone in Dallas at Mania 32.
I never want to see HHH and HBK in a ring together again. And no one but Xavier is paying to see Hogan wrestle in 2016.
ReplyDeleteCena/orton still has them beat my a multiple of 100
ReplyDeleteAgreed, especially with Austin.
ReplyDeleteIt's cute you think the WM brand can sell out Dallas.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome, Scott.
ReplyDeleteCreative wise the company has never been worse. I don't think, no matter what they do, they'll be able to sell 100,000 tickets tho. You could have 1986 Hogan v 1999 Austin and you wouldn't sell that place out.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, but I think back to last year. No one paid for Taker/Brock but that match solidified Mania as the event of the year. Some years won't have that moment but it's an event now above everything.
ReplyDeleteBoth seem rather content with their legacies as they stand now, and have no reason to try and reclaim past glory. Plus, it'd be kind of sad ... in a Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler way.
ReplyDeleteOh totally. In fact, I think there's really six Austin/Rock PPV matches (the three Wrestlemanias, In Your House: DX '97, Backlash '99, and UK Rebellion '01). After that there's maybe less than five Raw or Smackdown matches and maybe a few dozen house show matches. It feels like Orton and Cena have wrestled on TV or PPV at least 30 times.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say that. 100,000 is too much but I do believe the event trumps any match except once in a lifetime, in quotes, matches.
ReplyDeleteAgree. It's possible that Shawn gets talked into it, but can't see Austin doing it.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Austin hasn't wrestled since Wrestlemania 19, and he's going to come back for 32? Why? He doesn't need money...his legacy as one of the Mt. Rushmore of Wrestling is secure. Same with Michaels...he just doesn't strike me as a guy who thinks he needs another match to add to his legacy as a wrestler. If he'd wanted to come back I think we'd have heard rumblings before now. He seems happy to be retired.
ReplyDeleteIt's Texas. They will sell more tickets than you think. Especially when they add Kevin von Erich vs Michael Hayes to the undercard.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing, but i guess an idea like that has to come from Vince or HHH for it to be taken seriously smh.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Scott, I'm getting the sense you're a bit down on Reigns as a draw. It's hard to tell as you can be so ambivalent in your words but you seem to be hinting that.
ReplyDeleteAlso to go to Mania this year is way more expensive for WWE's bread and butter, the east coast, because of travel costs. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'm frankly amazed Scott hasn't fixed his e-mail to automatically send anything regarding Reigns into his junk folder.
ReplyDeleteBrock vs Rock, Austin vs Cena, and Undertaker vs Sting. It'll be another year of shitting on the full-time guys, but that seems like a card that would come close to selling out.
ReplyDeleteSwagger vs. Rusev will main event WM32, also, every single Raw and Smackdown until then. Rusev will win every single match.
ReplyDeleteHogan probably won't ever wrestle again but if he were to have a hypothetical match, it'd have to be a tag match. Maybe as Cena's partner or something.
ReplyDeleteHBK also seems like the type that'd find it an insult to the Undertaker if he returned to the ring. Especially after Flair returned to wrestling in TNA.
ReplyDeleteYeah...you tell a guy "let's go tear it up on there, and it'll be the capstone on my career", and then oops, just kidding, that seems disrespectful. Old Shawn might do that...Christian Shawn I don't think would.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone actually interested in Brock vs. Rock? It's always brought up as this dream match deal, but why? The one match they had was good, but is there really any reason to do it again? What makes it a dream match? Not dissing anyone that thinks it is, just wondering why it's always mentioned as this big dream match.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying there's no interest in Orton vs. Cena part 8,092?
ReplyDeleteI'd be perfectly OK if Rock never wrestled
ReplyDeleteNo I'm not interested in it at all. Actually, other than the matches back in the day with Angle, I've never cared for Brock.
ReplyDeleteThis is the only Rock or HBK match I want them to return for.
ReplyDeleteI'm backing you up on this.
ReplyDeleteI don't care to see the match, but they're certainly the 2 guys that have mainstream appeal outside of wrestling. I understand why the company would want to put them together.
ReplyDeleteHBK vs Rock and Sting are probably my last two "dream matches" that could actually happen.
ReplyDeleteRock had even less reasons to return, and yet he did anyway and he's wrestled five matches since then.
ReplyDeleteIt's a perfectly acceptable undercard match for a big event.
ReplyDeleteBrock is one of those guys that's better in a video game than real life.
ReplyDeleteWell, it'd be a rematch to a really really good match, and it would feature WWE's two most marketable mainstream stars (sorry, John), and I will pay money to see Rock wrestle damn near anyone except Cena now.
ReplyDeleteTotally disagree. Dude has a legacy of great matches, an aura that cannot be taught, and a presence nobody on the current roster has.
ReplyDeleteVideo game Brock is unbeatable.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they'd put Punk/Triple H over Brock/Rock as the main event, but this is certainly a huge line-up.
ReplyDeleteDo you book for the WWE? Because you seem to want to actively alienate the fanbase.
ReplyDeleteI actually really want to see Rock vs. HHH one more time. Rock never really got his ultimate win in that feud, as Backlash was invalidated a month later.
ReplyDeleteI guess from that perspective it makes sense for why WWE wants it, but not sure about from a fan's perspective.
ReplyDeleteHere's a crazy idea I had...let me run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes:
ReplyDeleteRather than headline the card with part-timers and retirees, why don't they maybe build up some new stars and feature them in big matches? I mean, the first Mania didn't main event with Bob Backlund versus Bruno Sammartino, right? So bring up Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, build them up over the course of the year, have Owens beat Brock in a hellacious match at the Royal Rumble while Zayn wins the Rumble itself, and then have them headline the show. Fresh story, yonger guys, new faces.
Rock hasn't had nearly the amount of injuries as Austin. He is also 8 years younger than Austin. Plus, he seemed to take it personal when people insinuated that he turned his back on wrestling.
ReplyDeleteWhy has nobody mentioned a Mankind vs. Bray Wyatt match yet? I think it would have tremendous trainwreck appeal.
ReplyDeleteThat is weird how that feud went and they never really got put back together.
ReplyDeleteThat was a really long feud. You can say it started when Rock won his first IC title in 97. Even though HHH got the belt back after Backlash, I think that win was definitive enough.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, because in my area, guys who wear those shirts tend to be morbidly obese Republican (and PROUD...just check the bumper stickers on the tailgates of their MONSTROUSLY overcompensating pickups...right there above the Truck Nutz) types who will loudly question your sexual orientation if they see YOU wearing a wrestling or video game t-shirt.
ReplyDeleteFuck it, he'll probably be designing most of 'em.
ReplyDeleteRonda Rousey vs. Stephanie McMahon
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Backlund ever faced heel Hogan in the early 80s.
ReplyDeleteYes he did. Had a series of the standard DQ in first match to a solid Backlund win the next month in 80.
ReplyDeleteAnd a Daniel Bryan / Sheamus match!
ReplyDeleteI love how they used to do that. Run a DQ in the Boston Garden, then run DQ matches all around the horn, then when they came back around to the Garden they'd book a definitive finish.
ReplyDeleteDude failed their shitty concussion tests. He's done forever there
ReplyDeleteNow Bray Wyatt versus Dewey Foley might have some appeal...
ReplyDeleteFor WrestleMania 35? Definitely!
ReplyDeleteLikelihood of part-timers wrestling at Mania 32:
ReplyDeleteSteve Austin - Doesn't seem interested unless a dump truck of money is involved.
Bill Goldberg - Doesn't seem interested unless a dump truck of money is involved.
The Rock - Doesn't seem interested in doing anything but showing up to say hello. Law of diminishing returns means it won't be as big of a deal, too
Shawn Michaels - Doesn't seem interested, period.
Undertaker - Likely, but depends if he's physically able
Chris Jericho - Possible, but depends if he's touring Finland with Fozzy
Batista - Too busy counting his Marvel and Bond money to give a fuck
Sting - Too busy not working out
CM Punk - Probably still under UFC contract, still angry
Brock Lesnar - Will be competing because he just signed a new deal
Hulk Hogan - Would do it if his body can take it, but it would be some kind of tag match
Ric Flair - Would do it if someone offered to pay his mortgage
Triple H - 100% will be wrestling
86 Hogan vs 99 Austin would sell out the Moon.
ReplyDeleteEDIT: BROTHER!!
There's a Backlund-Hogab match on one of the Hogan DVD sets they out out a few years ago. It's a good one, too.
ReplyDeleteTaker is definitely going in HOF next year. Match with Sting maybe, match with Cena maybe.
ReplyDeleteRock and Brock will be a lock...esp. if Rock is involved in the finish this Sunday (and I'm starting to think he might.)
If they want to really draw people, they should also have The Shield reunited by that time. They could take on DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER JUST REUNITE THE SHIELD.
Bryan vs. Sheamus. Tag team match on the undercard. Battle royal. Sister Abigail, pin.
As much as it pains me to say, nobody from this new generation outside of Daniel Bryan has the ability to draw money.
ReplyDeleteRock was also promoting his turn into more blockbuster-like movies instead of kiddie shit like The Tooth Fairy to WWE fans. And it worked. He had a huge 2013
ReplyDeleteIf anything gets one more match out of Michaels or Austin it's WM in Texas.
ReplyDeleteJR reported HBK's been offered something for WM. Those Texans love Texas, you never know.
ReplyDeleteFantasy booking is gay
ReplyDeleteThat would be hilarious
ReplyDeleteThey were just not in the "we love this guy as a face" way. It was more mocking.
ReplyDeleteFoggy, but didn't he pin show and Kane a few times?
ReplyDeleteNo, he was still a petulant heel and they were mocking his yes because he lost in 18 seconds...which made him respond with NO!
ReplyDeleteIt could have been worse. It could have been Affliction.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not 'sports' it's 'sport'!
ReplyDeleteI used to work with a guy who is semi pro in UK MMA and Ive never seen him wear a tapout shirt.
ReplyDeleteI have a Tapout shirt. It's a hoodie that is just the right thickness for the gym.
ReplyDeleteI said this in the other thread, but Tapout has been losing steam ever since Mask died. Now, with the UFC going legit in their deal with Reebok, other MMA clothing lines are going to be HURTING. Tapout was smart to get this done.
ReplyDeleteYep, and he also wanted to walk out with Chael Sonnen for one of his fights. He was denied...... and then HHH escorted Mayweather to the ring. Douche.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, you are a minority then
ReplyDeleteWrestling fans are mostly geeks. More likely to be in TRIFORCE shirts than TAPOUT shirts.
Now, this is based on the kinds of fans I've been exposed to at twenty, most people my age just stopped watching wrestling when they grew up because the WWE is wretched. Geeks just have a habit of leting their obsessions die hard, so here I am.
In all honesty, I don't really watch the product anymore. I read this blog, and if something cool (or awful) is talked about, I'll hunt it down online.
ReplyDeleteI always loved the technical wrestling aspect more than the soap opera storytelling, so once I got into MMA that kind of took over my fan interest.
I remember a few years ago there were a TON of douches in MMA shirts (though the really gaudy ones were Affliction, not Tapout), but I don't think that's much of a thing anymore.
Sufferin' Succotash, page clicks, son!
ReplyDeleteExactly. He still had that big superstar presence about him, even when working in the poorest production conditions imaginable.
ReplyDeleteOh good, the WWE has finally eliminated the last bit of individuality from their Superstars by giving them generic t-shirts to wear to the ring.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Tapout looked cool enough, but I play in a band that covers several Dave Matthews songs so i'm not sure im the guy to ask.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Having Heyman stay heel and manage The Shield would be the predictable cowards way out by WWE. They flirted with a tweener Heyman briefly with Cesaro last year and it was intriguing at least.
ReplyDeleteI'm someone who has no problems dressing like a douche but even I have limits.
ReplyDeleteSo they want their entertainers to look like the fighters they swear they pay no attention to?
ReplyDeleteYou have to tell Vince your idea and wait four years for him to remember it and think it's his own.
ReplyDelete"Heterosexually challenged" is the preferred term these days, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI heard that the Divas are wearing "Fapout" shirts.
ReplyDeletethat actually could work though i doubt it but ambrose coming down and acting like hes going to stop rollins from cashing in like he promised and instead helps him out would be one scenario.
ReplyDeleteI wore Tapout when it was the in thing about seven or eight years ago...
ReplyDeleteI'm rereading this and thinking about the bloated roster they had at this time... I wonder what this era would feel like if they booked it like they did the dying days in 2001. IE have Buff and Luger team up and dominate the non-existent tag division instead of clogging up the main event scene.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Steiner's back injury lead to a retirement swerve where he wound up joining the nWo?
I'm trying to remember. When Luger asked Sting to team with him for a shot at the tag titles, was that a backstage segment where they were being counted in from commercial, and Luger is staring at the camera with this big smile on his face waiting for his cue?
ReplyDeleteThat was hilarious for me at the time, for all the wrong reasons.
Until that goes out of style too. I aint getting on the euphemism treadmill yet.
ReplyDeletePretty sure this means Brock is tapping out in the main event while Reigns is where a Tap out shirt so Cole can scream how Brock tapped out to a guy in a tap out shirt. Then he'll say "VINTAGE SYNERGY!" and I wish my apartment was on the fourth four so I could jump out of it.
ReplyDelete""If only they could find a way to make Roman Reigns look like an even bigger douchebag." And they did! "
ReplyDeleteYou say that now, but wait until the WWE/Ed Hardy joint venture!
That would be the one.
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You want to know crazier? They actually paid for the entire roster to be flown to every Nitro even if they didn't use over half of them.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the shock isn't that they went out of business, it's that they lasted as long as they did.
I think that's actually PK Subban.....?
ReplyDeleteI'd probably say Rollins is better off, but yeah, Ambrose has fallen so far since the group broke up it's crazy.
ReplyDeleteI was gonna say...
ReplyDeleteHad an ex-girlfriend... But he has since turned face so it's all good.
ReplyDeleteShit! Hope he doesn't think I'm a racist.
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteI really don't think the crowd was going to shit all over it. This would not have been the same situation at all. WM 20 was a match featuring two guys who were both wrestling their last matches in the company. Brock leaving was a surprise, and at the time he was viewed as a top guy WWE devoted a lot of time to building up, and it seemed like a "betrayal". There was also a decent amount of good will toward WWE from the "smarkier" part of the crowd, with Benoit getting a huge push and Guerrero as champ.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, it would have been Brock, the part timer who had never made it a secret that he could leave at any time, wrestling against a guy who has been getting significant backlash from fans since the Rumble at a time when a lot of fans are unhappy with the direction of the product. It's just not the same thing. I'm not saying Brock would have gotten a hero's welcome, but I absolutely do not think it would have been a WM 20 situation.
Now, of course, Brock is probably the biggest babyface on the show and Reigns quite possibly gets the biggest heel reaction. I think Scott's idea is the right one. Alternatively, Brock retains and Rollins cashes in on Raw the next night without involving Roman, which doesn't solve the Reigns problem (since in that scenario he stays face) but still turns Brock face and gets the title onto Rollins. I like the idea of Reigns turning much more, but that could work somewhat too. The worst idea to me at this point is WWE stubbornly sticking to their guns and having "face" Roman beat Brock clean and end Wrestlemania as champ, without a heel turn or anything.
The only real "problem" with a heel Shield reunion is the crop of babyfaces is almost exactly the same as their last run. Subtract Kane and Big Show, add Brock and Big Show (he can do both!). If they reunited the Shield, I'd like to see them working more as individuals being supported by the rest of the Shield rather than a ton of six man tags. Obviously you still do the 6 man tags on Raw at times, but rather than doing The Shield VS Bryan, Cena, and Orton ten thousand times, have Reigns and Ambrose in undercard matches against those guys, with champ Rollins in one on one title defenses being supported by the Shield. Same great group, slightly different dynamic.