Greetings, my Common DenomiNation. The Royal Rumble is oh so close, and as I have mentioned before, it’s my favorite pay-per-view of the year – even more than Wrestlemania. The next few months of WWE programming should be fun and exciting and full of twists and turns as we march toward ‘Mania.
Key emphasis on “should be.”
The picture will be a little bit clearer after the Royal Rumble. Will Punk retain? Will Alberto Del Rio’s newfound appeal as a face mean an extended run as World Heavyweight Champion? Who will win the Royal Rumble? Will Dolph ever cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase?
Of course, just about everyone who contributes to this site or comments on this site or whatever has weighed in on the card and what creative has in store. And the general consensus is that Rock will win, Cena will win, and we’ll get “Once in a Lifetime, Part II” at WM29. That’s the safe bet and for the sake of creative, it’s the easy road, and it just seems to be the vibe that everyone is getting.
Anything else would mean some serious outside the box thinking and I’m not sure that’s what Vince and Company are going for right now. If you go with Rock-Cena, ‘Taker-Punk, and HHH-Brock, you definitely get three big matches that will please the markish crowd that is Wrestlemania. It’s not a matter of financial success at this point. People have already bought their tickets, the fans who are going to order Wrestlemania have already decided to order it, and those are pretty much the six biggest names they could have in the three biggest matches at the biggest pay-per-view of the year. Outside of luring Steve Austin out of retirement or the ever-so-slim Undertaker-Sting fantasy match, this is it for the “Granddaddy of them All” (besides Starrcade).
And no offense to the ADR, Ziggler, Orton, Daniel Bryan, Sheamus and Big Show crowd. I like all of them as performers, but none of them are the reason anyone is ordering ‘Mania. I mean, leave out the first six guys I mentioned and picture your triple main event as, say, Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler for the World Title, Sheamus vs. Big Show in a Hell in a Cell match and Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title. Is that a pretty good line-up? Sure, but it’s not the top of the card at ‘Mania good.
Now, I’m not saying WWE should play it safe. I’m just saying they probably will, and when it comes down to it, it makes sense in a lot of ways. But eventually, and someday sooner rather than later, they are going to have to pull the trigger on the “next wave” of guys. The truth is we’ve already seen Rock-Cena. Putting the title on Rocky doesn’t really add much new to that feud. In all likelihood, Cena gets the belt back and Dwayne goes back to Hollywood. That puts us where, exactly? Who does Cena match up with going forward? The only one I can really think of that I’d like to see is Daniel Bryan, and I don’t see them letting DB even come close to going over Cena. Unless they’re ready to take a chance with Sandow or Cody, I’m not really sure where that’s heading. Ryback? I’m not sure turning him heel really works here either? The Shield? No, it’ll probably be Randy Orton. Potential there, sure, but nothing we haven’t already seen.
HHH-Brock is another match we have already seen. Are we still living in a world where Trips needs to get his win back? I don’t know. Is Brock going to be more of a fixture on WWE programming? Not likely, so this match, to me at least, has all the relevance of the “big” Lesnar-Goldberg showdown from WMXX. That is to say, not much. You remember this little gem, right? (Has it been 10 years already?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BXFVvUGkDw
So, the only really intriguing main event-caliber match is the likely “Battle for Respect” match between CM Punk and the Undertaker. The problem there is, no matter how good of a show they put on, there’s no way ‘Taker loses. It’s like in Mick Foley’s book when he jokingly tells Ole Anderson he might be able to beat Ron Simmons for the WCW title and Ole tells him something like “I don’t care if that man has a heart attack out there, you will pick him up and roll him on top of you.” I think the only man who might could have gotten away with beating ‘Taker at Wrestlemania was John Cena at his peak of popularity, and he didn’t need it.
And we’ll get some other matches worth seeing. The World Heavyweight Championship match may be their best opportunity to push someone to the next level. If Ziggler has the belt, maybe Dolph vs. Bryan, or Dolph vs. Ryback, or Dolph vs. Wade Barrett. Maybe a triple threat with some combination of these guys.
I still have high hopes for the Shield. I would imagine they will eventually go their separate ways, but for now, a solid upper-midcard feud will be fine. I am expecting them to make a big splash in the Royal Rumble. That would be a good spot for them to start an issue with someone new. I wish 3MB were more over and more of a threat, because a 3MB vs. The Shield match could be a fun way to get everyone on the card. Miz, Kofi, Cesaro, Rhodes and Sandow all need something to do here. And then there’s the wild cards like maybe a surprise return over the next several weeks, like Chris Jericho, Christian, Batista, or Mysterio.
Or maybe Big E. Langston will shock us all and win the Rumble.
I’m reminded of the post-Hulk Hogan era of the mid-1990s when there really wasn’t anyone left to pick up the ball and run with it. Flair, Savage, Hennig, Warrior and that whole generation was on its last legs, and while there was no real point when you can say the torch was officially passed, and there were definitely some bad times for the WWF during the transition, and that period was really the peak of the cartoonish gimmicks where being a WWF wrestler seemed to mean you also had a part-time job. You know, wrestler/accountant, wrestler/racecar driver, wrestler/dentist, etc. But eventually, with Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Undertaker serving as the superstars around which the rest of the roster was built, a whole new generation of stars was able to develop and emerge. The WWE has a chance to do that again over the next year. By the time Wrestlemania XXX rolls around, Dolph Ziggler needs to be the new face of the company, with Del Rio, Cody Rhodes, Antonio Cesaro and Daniel Bryan right there behind them. When Ziggler turns face, and you know he will, he has the potential to be the next Cena or Stone Cold. Well, maybe not quite there, but close. He has all the tools to be the new HBK or Bret Hart.
This is probably the third or fourth time I’ve mentioned this in a column, but I’ve been watching a lot of Netflix lately. And speaking of Bret and Shawn, their “Greatest Rivalries” DVD in on Netflix now, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. During the peak of their history, I was actually mostly only watching WCW, so I missed out on a lot of that as it as happening. I have always taken Bret’s side in the Montreal Screwjob and all of the things surrounding that situation, but I’m starting to see that Vince might have been pretty much in a corner there. Even my wife, who only knows what she knows about wrestling because I insist upon regaling her with all of this knowledge, watched the part of the DVD about Montreal and kind of shrugged and said, “You know, that Bret Hart sure does think a lot of himself.” She totally didn’t buy his “doing it for the guys in the locker room” angle he was offering.
I haven’t just been watching wrestling on Netflix either. I’m a comic book nerd, and there are a lot of DC and Marvel videos on there now. I have often thought of the parallels between comics and wrestling. I guess it goes back to Hulk Hogan having to strike some kind of deal to use the “Hulk” name, and the historically clearly defined hero/villain relationship so prevalent in both realms. Whoever coined the phrase “Super-Cena” certainly hit the nail on the head. Yes, Cena and Orton are Superman and Batman, and you know what, that’s fine (mostly). Someone has to be the best of the best, and Punk is, umm, Spider-Man, I guess…but the rest of the Justice League or the Avengers (and the Legion of Doom) are right there and they need a little screen time, too.
And “The Office”…Having never watched it before, I have been able to speed through the entire series (through season 8 anyway), and I can’t help wondering how awesome it would be to have the wrestlers utilize the cutaway “confession room” to comment about matches and angles. It wouldn’t work for live shows, but a taped show could easily insert those Reality TV-like snippets into the programming.
Anyway, here’s to a fun and exciting Royal Rumble. Thanks for reading.
