January 12, 2020 - Evan Luebbe

Reigns Back on Top

January 12, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

It’s about time The Big Dog reclaimed his yard in WWE. Vince McMahon did not forget about Roman Reigns (his handpicked face of the company). Instead, he may have swallowed his pride and recognized that he elected to push Roman as a top babyface a little too early for the WWE universe to fully buy into. Now, after Reigns’ second successful triumph over leukemia, Vince spent 2019 building him up as a face in a believable manner.

Now that it’s 2020, Reigns is ready to face The Fiend at WrestleMania and probably defeat him. This time, The Big Dog deserves an extended run as Universal Champion, because unbelievably, he has not held a major championship for more than about two months.

The Miz’s heel turn is now in full swing, making him the fourth man The Fiend has changed as a person and the third man he has turned heel (the other three being Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and Daniel Bryan). The reason the storyline with The Fiend/Bray Wyatt is so intriguing is that there are so many different layers to it. John Morrison is also a de facto heel by association with Miz.

It certainly looks like we are headed towards a SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Lacey Evans and Bayley, who is working surprisingly well as a heel. I think it’s safe to say that no one was quite sure how, or if, she would be taken as a threat, but she is playing the role in a surprisingly believable manner.

The writing is on the wall for WWE to book an Intercontinental Championship match at Royal Rumble between the champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Braun Strowman. Strowman is pretty much guaranteed to win the recently redesigned IC Title and secure his first singles title in WWE (which is unbelievable). Maybe this could precipitate Nakamura undergoing a change of heart and switching his character to the babyface side of the equation.

In theory, Strowman should be taken way more seriously than he is today. One would think by default that he would be perceived as a major threat to win the men’s Royal Rumble match, but in reality, that idea would seem out of context with his character. It’s incredibly hard to believe, because The Monster Among Men should be (at least one would think) booked similarly to how Charlotte Flair is in Royal Rumble matches

Otis needs to become a major champion in WWE one day because he has money written all over him. It might take seven or eight years to build him as a legit title contender – but it will happen considering that he’s only 28 years old. He will be a force to be reckoned with in WWE for many years to come, but he will likely serve as a comedy act for the next several years.

His storyline with Mandy Rose is the best story going in WWE right now. The WWE universe resonates with it because there is some sort of unspoken quality about Otis that makes him very easy to root for. And the whole gimmick with the cakes is hilarious.

Lee’s Opportunity

January 12, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

Keith Lee more than deserved to be put over by Triple H and earn an NXT North American Championship match against Roderick Strong on January 22. Another side note from this match was the fact that Cameron Grimes is being elevated into the upper echelon of NXT.

The Johnny Gargano injury only serves to provide more back story to his rivalry with Finn Balor. This should be an epic confrontation at Takeover: Portland.

Triple H is in the process of adding yet another layer to NXT by incorporating the men and women of NXT UK. Perhaps this is one of his goals for 2020. I would imagine his ultimate vision is to establish NXT UK on the same footing as NXT currently is here in the States.

Austin Theory is undoubtedly the future of NXT. He is so young – barely into his 20s. And if you didn’t see the Evolve special on the WWE Network in July, you missed out, because Theory became the undisputed Evolve champion unifying two separate titles.

Attempted Wedding Salvage

January 12, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

It may be high time Brock Lesnar uses his nearly God-like status within WWE to be unselfish and ensure the future of the company by putting over a young star–it’s long overdue. Personally, I love Lesnar and the uncomfortable silence he generates from the WWE universe provides a feel to WWE events that no other superstar does. He just shouldn’t be a world champion and hold titles hostage if he is not going to defend them on a regular basis.

WWE keeps him around and featured to the degree that he is because Vince McMahon obviously views him as a major draw. Unfortunately, this does not show much in WWE’s key business metrics like TV ratings or WWE Network subscriber count. The faith from the company in Lesnar is certainly there, but hard evidence is lacking.

One must admit that WWE has exponentially grown as a company since the return of The Beast in 2012 with him being featured in a very prominent role during that entire period. Because of this, it’s reasonable to conclude that there’s some major mainstream appeal to his presence as much as some fans may not want to admit.

It’d be fantastic for WWE to book a Messiah vs. Messiah match at ‘Mania between the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins and the Messiah of the backbreaker Roderick Strong. These two men are fully capable of putting on an instant classic with just about anyone. The return of The Big Show was also a fantastic surprise, and he looks great.

Drew McIntyre is clearly letting loose with personality and is getting over with fans as a babyface in a major way. This is the one dimension of his personality that he has lacked over the years, and the sky is the limit in 2020 if he can continue to harness this element. The Claymore Kick while holding the mic on Monday was a nice touch as well.

It’s also worth noting that a face turn for McIntyre would make him a viable candidate to win the Royal Rumble and face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36. I not saying this will happen by any means – it probably won’t – but it’s a beautiful piece of fantasy booking.

The Women’s Division in WWE has lost a bit of steam since Ronda Rousey left the company after WrestleMania 35. She is due to return at any time after nine months away. Since then, Becky Lynch has been as hot as ever in terms of her character. She is deserving of every opportunity she gets as a result of finding the perfect gimmick.

One has to miss the time when Bobby Lashley was working with Lio Rush. The Man of the Hour significantly elevated Lashley’s status within WWE, compensating for his believability issue on the microphone.

Side Note: There was also a development in the “Eric Rowan – What’s in the Cage” storyline that creates intrigue and makes fans start to care about what’s in the cage. Now that Mojo Rawley (a superstar with slightly more credibility) freaked out over what was in the cage, this adds another key element to the story. Now people are now afraid of whatever is in there. This story might go somewhere rather than being just another time-filler on Raw.

WWE Championship Storyline Proposals Through SummerSlam 2020

January 12, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

One storyline proposal surrounding the WWE Championship that Paul Heyman could implement on Raw until SummerSlam involves:

Brock Lesnar losing the title at WrestleMania for the second straight year, and
Drew McIntyre walking out of SummerSlam as WWE Champion.

The era of part-timers being major champions in WWE will be over in the foreseeable future. And, the man who Monday Night Raw will be built around for seemingly the next several years in McIntyre could finally be coordinated.

So Lesnar lost the Universal Title last year at WrestleMania 35 to Seth Rollins. This year he could face The AOP, who are directly affiliated with Rollins at the moment. The AOP could defeat Lesnar in a heel vs. heel match to become Co-WWE Champions (kind of like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attempted to accomplish over WWE Champion AJ Styles at Royal Rumble 2018), terrorizing the entire men’s locker room on Raw.

I am fully aware that heel vs. heel rivalries are not the norm in WWE. But it has clearly been established over the years that it’s going to take a major force with a very aggressive demeanor to dethrone Lesnar. The AOP just might be the perfect match for the job, unleashing violence for the sake of violence.

Following ‘Mania, Seth Rollins could develop some deep-seated resentment towards his teammates because they would be holding the title he feels should be his by right. This could precipitate a face turn for Seth. He could cautiously form a tag team for a short time with Samoa Joe, who also has history with The AOP since they put him through the announcers’ table at Christmas time.

This alliance between Rollins and Joe could go on from say May – July, when the two men have a No. 1 contender’s match to see who faces the dominant tag team for the WWE Championship. Samoa Joe could beat Rollins to become number one contender and subsequently win the WWE Championship at the July Pay-Per-View event. He could subsequently use the catchphrase that he brought Christmas in July to the WWE universe.

However, Joe would only be a transitional champion considering his age (he would be 41 years old, which is a little advanced for wrestling). He’d be perfect to put over the 35-year-old Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam 2020 in Boston. There are few things in this business that McIntyre can’t do. He is clearly the future of the business, and Joe deserves the spotlight that would come with main-event-ing SummerSlam.

He and McIntyre could also cut some fantastic promos in a rivalry together since they are both such great mic workers. Going back to Drew McIntyre, another way the WWE universe could know without a doubt that he is the future of WWE is that Paul Heyman – Raw’s Executive Director – is extremely high on him.

Some Outside Candidates to Win the 2020 Royal Rumble Matches

January 12, 2020 by Evan Luebbe

On the latest edition of Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast, he made the bold prediction that Big E could be a candidate to win the men’s Royal Rumble and possibly go on to face The Fiend for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 36.

This is a fantastic idea. It makes total sense from a business standpoint. Big E’s New Day brother Kofi Kingston had one of the greatest moments in WrestleMania history just last year when he won the WWE Championship. It would make perfect sense for WWE to make an effort to take advantage of that and try to organically create a similar standout moment for another New Day team member.

Let’s not forget that Big E is a more than capable in-ring competitor. He held the NXT Championship for approximately five months and the Intercontinental Championship on the main roster about a year later for roughly six months before joining The New Day. People forget how good he is between the ropes because of his hips that do not lie.

Since Corey is an announcer with SmackDown on FOX, there is a very good chance he may have the inside scoop on what may transpire within the company for ‘Mania. Based on that, this very well may be the route that WWE decides to travel down heading into the biggest event of the year.

Another dark horse candidate to win the men’s Royal Rumble and go on to face The Fiend at WrestleMania 36 is The Demon Finn Balor. Perhaps this option would be a little more within context since he was the first man to ever face The Fiend at SummerSlam. He did not use his Demon persona (he obviously lost and underwent a transformation that culminated with moving back to NXT).

It would make for a great story if he were to return to Royal Rumble winning it so he can dethrone The Fiend at ‘Mania in Tampa Bay as The Demon.

Over to the women’s side, a great candidate to win the Women’s Royal Rumble is Shayna Baszler. She had to have lost the NXT Women’s Title for some reason. She would be guaranteed to not only have a great match with Becky Lynch but it could also serve as an avenue for WWE to integrate Ronda Rousey back into a major storyline in WWE since the two women are great friends.

A Finn Balor or Shayna Baszler victory would be a powerful step towards attracting more eyeballs to WWE on third brand NXT. Becky Lynch could make some appearances on NXT, as she did not too long ago, or the company could air some episodes of Firefly FunHouse.