Lots of news and rumors out there this week. I’ll tackle some of those here!
***WARNING: This piece does contain some spoilers for the week ahead regarding TNA.***
Daniel Bryan’s Concussion Shouldn’t Effect His Wrestlemania Status
-If you haven’t read by now, Daniel Bryan suffered a pretty serious concussion at the end of RAW this past Monday. According to reports, Bryan didn’t remember a lot of what happened at the end of RAW once he got backstage. I’m not a concussion expert but that doesn’t sound good. Rumor has it that Vince McMahon LOVED the ending of RAW this past Monday. Now he has the idea of 70,000+ in the Superdome chanting YES with Daniel Bryan in unison in the ring.
It’s a shame that Vince finally just realized all of the potential Bryan had as a main eventer. The good news for him is that Bryan’s character hasn’t been ruined by the terrible booking of the WWE. It is clear evidence that the WWE Universe wants to get behind Bryan no matter how much the WWE has tried to keep him down. Maybe the WWE finally realized that Daniel Bryan can be the face of the company. There’s no reason Bryan could not be the top guy in the WWE. With the debut of the WWE Network, putting Bryan on top is even less of a risk now than it was before. PPV Buys are now not as big a concern with the WWE Network debuting in a month. Hopefully the WWE becomes willing to take a few more risks with pushing people to the top of the card.
Hopefully Bryan is medically cleared in time for the Royal Rumble match. If you ask any wrestling fan out there right now, I think they would rather have Daniel Bryan win the Royal Rumble over Batista. And I think you could throw Bryan out there against anyone and the match at Wrestlemania would be great. I would love to see Bryan take on Brock Lesnar. It’d be the ultimate underdog story with Bryan winning. I think Bryan/Orton could be done again too and the match would be good too. Daniel Bryan is so over right now I think he could main event Wrestlemania against Fandango and the crowd would love it. And if Bryan isn’t medically cleared for the Rumble, I would have no objection swapping Bryan and Punk on the card. You would then have Punk fight Orton for the Title and Bryan go up against HHH. Of course, in all of these scenarios, I would have Batista fight Brock Lesnar at Mania if Lesnar is not Champion. When you look at all these options, it is pretty clear that even Daniel Bryan isn’t cleared medically for the Royal Rumble, there are still a ton of options out there for him.
Sting Possibly Being In The WWE Is “Good For Business”
-It seems like every year around this time the “Will Sting Come To WWE” rumors start. The closest we got to it actually happening was in 2011 with those video promos airing of a cabin in the woods and a man in a dark trench coat. Those were made for Sting until he decided to stick with TNA. Sting is the one main eventer that the WWE has never gotten his hands on. In interviews Sting always seemed hesitant about how he would be booked if he came into the WWE. And he has good reason to believe that. The WWE doesn’t really have a good track record of booking guys the right way that aren’t their creation.
But it appears that Sting may have finally settled those differences. Rumors started heating up again last week when Dave Meltzer said that both sides are apparently still talking and a deal is imminent. Then to add fuel to the fire, Sting is facing Magnus this week on Impact and if he loses he doesn’t get a new contract. And if you have read the spoilers for Impact this week, you know that Sting loses to Magnus. There is just too much smoke around this fire if you ask me.
I myself am personally looking forward to Sting in the WWE. I probably have a little bias here because Sting is one of my Top 5 favorite wrestlers of all time (The list goes Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, CM Punk, Randy Savage and Sting if you’re wondering). I know Sting wrestles in a shirt now and isn’t his old self, but I have a feeling he would bust his ass to get in good shape for a WWE run. The dream match is Sting/Undertaker, but it might be cutting it too close for that to happen at this Wrestlemania. I could see Sting coming in and taking on Bray Wyatt. That’s just a hunch I have. I would assume Sting would sign a one, maybe two year deal. That leaves every option on the table for him as far as feuds go. Maybe I’m overly optimistic, but I think Sting in the WWE will end up working out best for both parties in the long run.
There’s A Spot For The Ultimate Warrior In The WWE Hall Of Fame
-My fellow HTCPulsecaster Matt Harrak might disagree with me and I’m sure a lot of you might too, but to me there is a spot for the Ultimate Warrior in the WWE Hall of Fame. There’s no denying that the Ultimate Warrior is one of the most popular wrestlers from the 1990s. He also held the WWF Championship for almost a full calendar year. Did business decline a little when Warrior was on top? Sure. But it did the same thing when Shawn Michaels was on top. Now of course Warrior is NOWHERE near the wrestler HBK was, but to use that comparison is just silly.
There are a handful of wrestlers in the WWE Hall of Fame that the Warrior is more deserving then. The Ultimate Warrior was the man in the WWF for a good amount of time. Plus, the WWE puts too many people in the Hall of Fame at one time. They should really have taken the approach the NFL does and only put in five people every year. That way we don’t get to the point where we debate if someone is Hall of Fame worthy.
Unifying The Intercontinental and United States Championships Inside The Elimination Chamber Is A Great Use of The Chamber
-Anyone who reads my columns on a regular basis knows that I’m not the biggest fan of gimmick PPVs. A lot of times they just don’t make sense with what is currently going on in the WWE at the moment. They’ve also ruined the Hell In A Cell gimmick with a PPV every year. This year, with the sudden unification of the WWE and World Titles, the Elimination Chamber PPV seems a bit out of place. They won’t use it for a #1 contender spot for whoever the Rumble winner doesn’t chose. With the hints that Brock Lesnar is getting a Title shot at the Elimination Chamber, I don’t think they will use the Chamber for the WWE Title.
The unifying of both mid-card Titles is the best way to use the Chamber this year. First off, it immediately adds more credibility to the Titles because they are being defended in such a huge match. This is the spot where the gimmick actually adds to the importance of the match, which it should always do. Not only that, but it allows wrestlers who wouldn’t normally get such an important spot to be highlighted. The match would obviously have Dean Ambrose and Big E Langston. My guess is that maybe Roman Reigns is involved, leading to a Shield break-up. This would be a great use of the actual Chamber for this PPV.
TNA Is On A Very Slippery Slope Right Now
-This company has been a giant mess the last few weeks. First, the Magnus/AJ Styles match looked like a Vince Russo wet dream. Magnus probably looked the weakest out of everyone involved in the match. And he’s the guy that left that match TNA Champion! Then they decide to make Genesis a two show special, which is fine, but they push back the advertised Angle/Roode match without notice. And the show begins with an almost 30 minute promo with commercial breaks.
If you read the spoilers for this week, Sting/Magnus is just as bad as Styles/Magnus was. TNA may be bringing in new talents, but they need to start getting their priorities in order. They have to be able to book clean finishes to their matches. They also need to start promoting their house shows better. Every house show over this past weekend apparently had less than 500 people at them. Part of the reason is because they do ZERO local promotion for them. You can bring in all the talent you want, but if you don’t promote the show no one will know about it. It seems like we say this all the time about TNA, but they are at a really dangerous place right now. AJ Styles is gone (for now), Sting is most likely out, Jeff Hardy is away for the time being. They are running out of top stars in the company. I have no problem with them bringing in new talent, but I fear the creative department of TNA will ruin them before they even get their feet off the ground.
Until Next Time,
Justin C
Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka
