Rusev wins the 30-man battle royal in an attempt to debut him hot.

 

This will unfortunately happen, and the crowd will shit on it. Nobody called Alexander Rusev and debuting this way is going to get over in 2014. He will steamroll a load of jobbers every week on Raw to a deathly silence (Michael Cole: "the crowd are hushed, they don't know what to make of this"), wrestle Kofi Kingston about ten times, and then start jobbing when they realise he isn't popular and can't talk. By the end of 2014 he will be wrestling as merely 'Rusev', and by 2015 he'll be a comedy character.

 

Why do they insist on terrible vignettes everytime they debut someone?

I initially had Rusev winning the Battle Royal but I agree with whoever said that Shemus will win it. I think Rusev and Big Show eliminate each other opening the door for Sheamus as a consolation prize for having his program with Bryan put on ice.

I wish they'd done the battle royal a few years ago so heel Bryan could've won it. Him carrying an oversized Andre trophy everywhere like Owen with his slammys would've ruled.

 

Rusev wins the 30-man battle royal in an attempt to debut him hot.

 

This will unfortunately happen, and the crowd will shit on it. Nobody called Alexander Rusev and debuting this way is going to get over in 2014. He will steamroll a load of jobbers every week on Raw to a deathly silence (Michael Cole: "the crowd are hushed, they don't know what to make of this"), wrestle Kofi Kingston about ten times, and then start jobbing when they realise he isn't popular and can't talk. By the end of 2014 he will be wrestling as merely 'Rusev', and by 2015 he'll be a comedy character.

 

Why do they insist on terrible vignettes everytime they debut someone?

 

I have a suspicion that this is eerily accurate. My only counter (and hope) is that they're more focused on really giving people a chance after call ups, but the recent track records are spotty.

I wish they'd done the battle royal a few years ago so heel Bryan could've won it. Him carrying an oversized Andre trophy everywhere like Owen with his slammys would've ruled.

 

Great thought.

 

I'd like to see Big Show holding a giant Andre statue, it would make a nice visual at Mania and you know it would mean a lot to the bloke. It would be a nice nod to him being THE giant of the best part 20 years.

 

I'm all for making new stars, but some guy from NXT coming in at Wrestlemania and winning a battle royal is not the way to go.

I wonder if they realize that these days, a new guy gets over not just by winning, but by winning while also looking impressive as a performer. The Shield would not have worked as well had they not had great matches all the time. Bray Wyatt wouldn't have gotten as over without the cool, unique promos. Winning a schmozzy battle royal does nothing to get a new guy over because it's hard to give an impressive performance in one.

If Punk had stayed the promos would have been real interesting. I can't see Punk being happy with Hunter and .Steph constantly one upping him on the mic. How much would Punk been allowed to say?

 

I don't know but I'm glad I didn't get to watch and listen another "this is Phil Brooks talking to Paul Levesque" kinda promo.

Will anyone else find it hilarious if Brie Bella starts getting billed as Brie Bryan? Brie Bella Bryan would be even funnier. Triple B!

Will anyone else find it hilarious if Brie Bella starts getting billed as Brie Bryan? Brie Bella Bryan would be even funnier. Triple B!

Byran & Brie vs. Steph and Trips, with use of initials on the line.

If Austin is right about Punk returing, the only way it can go down without overshadowing Daniel Bryan is something like:

 

 

- Triple H comes out and decks the in-control Bryan with a Pedigree, places Orton or Batista over Bryan and demands the referee counts the fall. After arguing, the referee has no choice, but Bryan kicks out at two. Triple H KO's the referee, dons a referee shirt and goes to fetch his Sledgehammer, presumably with the intent of destroying Daniel Bryan.

 

- Punk runs in through the crowd and beats the holy hell out of Triple H, taking him out of the equation and allowing Bryan the chance to have his moment. A new referee runs out as the three men in the match recover., Orton decks Bryan before falling victim to a Batista Spinebuster. Batista makes his typical comeback and sets the weakened Bryan up for a Batista Bomb.

 

- Bryan turns it into the YES! Lock whilst Triple H tries desperately to get into the ring (held back by CM Punk) to prevent Bryan from getting the win. Batista taps out, Bryan is the champ, he and Punk hug, Punk leaves the ring and Bryan celebrates leading the crowd in a unison of Yes! chants..

 

...Or something to that effect.

 

The main point I'm making is that it would be shitty for Punk to return during Bryan's victory celebration. Everybody knows Triple H will interfere in this match in some fashion following his inevitable loss to Daniel Bryan in their match. The perfect comeback moment for Punk to return and for Daniel Bryan to get his big moment would be in the situation where he is preventing Triple H from manipulating the match and thus setting up a big feud between Hunter and Punk for the Summer.

From there, you have Bryan feud with Batista or Orton over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Cena feuds with the Wyatts and does some starmaking (hopefully) with Bray.

 

Despite the fact people are crying out for the return of Punk (as evidenced by the weekly chants), the only way I think he'll come back is if Vince basically bows to his demands, gives him a limited date contract (Michaels/Flair style), promises him the main event for the Summmer (without being buried and curbatailed by Triple H) and the headline of next year's Wrestlemania.

 

Stranger things have happened, after all, Vince is paying Brock Lesnar to show up less than a dozen times a year and wrestle 3-4 matches with a $5 million pay off.

 

Rusev wins the 30-man battle royal in an attempt to debut him hot.

 

This will unfortunately happen, and the crowd will shit on it. Nobody called Alexander Rusev and debuting this way is going to get over in 2014.

 

 

I think if Rusev was going to win the Battle Royal, they'd probably be advertising him as one of the participants. But so far he hasn't even been announced for the match.

Show's probably going to win for obvious reasons.

I'd like to see Big Show holding a giant Andre statue, it would make a nice visual at Mania and you know it would mean a lot to the bloke. It would be a nice nod to him being THE giant of the best part 20 years.

 

Plus it can give him an angle next year, wanting to keep the trophy.

Seems like a heel (or a soon turning face) would have to win just because that trophy is awesome enough that you'd want to keep it on TV for a while, but you can't have a face lugging around his giant trophy every week.

Show's probably going to win for obvious reasons.

 

Of course. He's Andre's son.

With Austin confirming his appearance, I wonder if they make him do something else than just a backstage cameo. I think he out pops D-Bry.

When they introduce the Hall of Fame inductees to the live crowd, Warrior has to run a lap around the ring like when Austin drove his four wheeler. That would be awesome.

Just watching Warrior interact with other human beings is going to be sort of surreal.

When they introduce the Hall of Fame inductees to the live crowd, Warrior has to run a lap around the ring like when Austin drove his four wheeler. That would be awesome.

 

Awesome as in seeing him accomplish it, or fail miserably as he's blown up by the time he makes it to the ring?

He'll be fine. Just seeing him come out and bow and wave would feel wrong.

I am now incredibly excited heading into the show. Coming out of the Rumble I wasn't loving the direction a whole lot, but the booking angles in Bryan's storyline have been great and I'm pretty confident that giving him close to an hour spotlight on the big show (hoping/expecting the entire last hour, but you never know) is essentially a no-lose proposition. The ending of the show should also be a legit, happy moment.

 

Its Mania. I love and watch wrestling all year. That entails a lot of complaining, what-iffing and monday morning QB'ing. Just like it does with my sports teams throughout the year. Some games during the regular season may feel big or exciting and trump anything in the playoffs, but this weekend is still your Super Bowl / NBA Finals, and unless I get crapped on I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it. I think the big 4 matches will all deliver, and frankly, as long the show closes with one dude smiling in the ring while 70,000 others chant along with him, there's not going to be much for me to pick at. For at least 24 hours.