After being postponed last week due to snow, the good ole live, in-ring version of Raw was back last night, emanating from the Mile High City. The company was back in full force, with Triple H making a “major announcement” and a big main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from last night’s episode of Raw.
Pros
The clear highlight of the night was the main event between Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan. Anytime you get two guys with this type of talent in the same ring, you know you’re in for a treat. They certainly didn’t disappoint either, pulling off a number of impressive spots and exhibiting impeccable chemistry. The spot of the match was probably Rollins countering Bryan’s Running Knee finisher into a Powerbomb. In the end, Bryan picked up the win and will face Roman Reigns at Fast Lane for a chance to go to WrestleMania (more on this later).
The second best part of the night was probably the segment involving Curtis Axel and Dean Ambrose. It’s sad when the first thing Axel has to say when coming out is, “Don’t change the channel.” It’s like he’s a mind reader or something. Anyway, it was hilarious to see Ambrose quickly toss Axel over the top rope before telling him he’s now eliminated. Even more exciting was that Ambrose called out Bad News Barrett. This is a program that really needs to happen, as Ambrose is the type of guy who could bring some prestige back to the Intercontinental Title after the company has played hot potato with it over the past few years.
Bray Wyatt had a big night. His match with Dolph Ziggler was incredible, and it was nice to see two guys who don’t work together much get a chance to shine. Wyatt hit a devastating Sister Abigail that Ziggler sold better than anyone to end the match. Later in the night, he cut a promo saying things like, “I am the new face of fear” and, “We cannot wait to see you again.” It looks like they are going with the rumored Wyatt/Taker program for WrestleMania and I, for one, cannot wait. If only they had gone this route last year instead of wasting the streak on a part-timer…
Rusev’s beating of Rowan and post-match promo was money. I absolutely love this guy and he played off of the Russian flag miscue perfectly. Please push this guy to the top and don’t feed him to Cena.
Jimmy Uso and Cesaro looked great together. The highlights were a Cesaro Swing into a Half Crab and a brutal uppercut to end the contest. It was nice to see Cesaro pick up a victory, but the only downside was that they are already teasing tension between Cesaro and Kidd. I’d like to see these guys stick together for a while and get a run with the titles.
Finally, the Miz/Mizdow promo was absolutely hilarious. It was nice to see the Miz berate his now former stunt double and put the wheels in motion for a breakup. Here’s to hoping for a payoff at WrestleMania.
On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in Denver, Colorado, we saw the beginning of several programs leading into the first ever WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view, which emanates live from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee on Sunday, February 22, 2015.
Below are some confirmed and rumored matches for the show:
Confirmed
– John Cena vs. Rusev
– Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan (#1 Contendership Match)
– Nikki Bella (c) vs. Paige (WWE Divas Championship)
– Triple H and Sting face-to-face confrontation
Rumored
– Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
Make sure to visit us here on the website on Sunday, February 22, 2015 for the best WWE Fast Lane live results coverage on the web!
– The dark match main event after last night’s live editio of WWE SmackDown saw John Cena and Dean Ambrose defeat Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt in tag-team action.
– The first of a three-part SmackDown Fallout for this week, which you can watch below, features Goldust telling Stardust to get his head on straight. Whether or not this is the beginning of a Goldust vs. Stardust feud, which has been rumored for quite some time, remains to be seen.
– In part two of this week’s SmackDown Fallout, which you can see below, Seth Rollins complains about Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan getting into his business again.
– Finally, in the third and final portion of this week’s SmackDown Fallout, Kane rises from the casket after being defeated by Daniel Bryan.
On the live edition of WWE SmackDown on Thursday night, WWE announced a new title match for the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view, which is scheduled for Sunday, February 22nd.
Nikki Bella will be defending the WWE Divas Championship against Paige at the show, which is the final pay-per-view before this year’s WrestleMania 31 event in March.
With the Bella-Paige match announced, below is the latest official lineup for the first-ever WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view event:
– John Cena vs. Rusev
– Triple H and Sting face-to-face confrontation
– Nikki Bella (c) vs. Paige (WWE Divas Championship)
Make sure to join us here on Sunday, Feb. 22nd for the best WWE Fast Lane live results coverage on the web.
All the signs were there, yet somehow WWE didn’t see it coming.
At the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Sunday night, the rabid, passionate fans in Philadelphia completely turned on what is generally a very popular, fun, 30-man annual match.
Things started off just fine. The momentum was great coming out of what was an excellent triple-threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins. Everything was in place. One left turn when WWE should have gone right, however, and everything could potentially fall apart.
WWE went left.
The match began like every other year. Out first comes The Miz, followed by R-Truth.
Whatever.
But then the countdown clock hit, the fans counted from ten to one and we had our first surprise of the night. Bubba Ray Dudley, the former “Bully Ray” in TNA Wrestling, was our first unexpected entrant of the match.
The fans were hot in Philly for their former ECW original. Dudley borrowed R-Truth for a few minutes, turning him into his own personal D-Von Dudley replacement, and the fun began.
“Wazzupp?!”
“Truth! …Get the tables!”
“3-D!”
The match was going along smoothly.
Dudley was eliminated a few minutes after popping up in WWE for the first time in ten years.
That was their first big mistake.
Seven entrants later — enter the leader of the “Yes! Movement.” Straight out of the gate it was clear — Philadelphia came to see Daniel Bryan win the match that he wasn’t even entered in last year.
It was going to be an ugly night.
Daniel Bryan was only in the match for a few minutes before being eliminated by Bray Wyatt. He was the eleventh Royal Rumble entrant to be eliminated this year. From there, the rest of the show completely fell apart.
WWE clearly had a game plan. Get Bryan’s elimination out of the way early, give the fans time to get the “boo’ing” out of their system, and then hopefully we’ll go along with our business.
Well, that didn’t exactly happen, did it?
What in the world did WWE expect to happen? Did they learn nothing from 2014?
Apparently not.
I’m assuming WWE was under the impression that once Bryan was out of the way, they would get behind Roman Reigns, and if they didn’t, when The Rock came out to endorse him and help him win, surely at that point the sheer excitement of seeing a big movie star for a few minutes would make them forget that they’re favorite wrestler had been screwed for the second year in a row.
Right?
Wrong!
Of course that wasn’t going to work. There were many other options WWE could have tried that would have saved the show from completely falling apart. For those who missed it, from the point Bryan was eliminated, throughout the rest of the entire match, except a couple of pops here and there, the rabid Philly fans boo’d the living crap out of everything that was happening.
Bryan was only cleared to return to the ring a few weeks ago. Knowing the Royal Rumble was coming up, if you’re not planning on having him win the match, why even have him return? Why not wait until after the Royal Rumble to bring him back?
Well, they had already brought him back, so that’s out. Knowing he’s back, however, why not save him for the final two? If you’re hell bent on having Reigns win the match, at least you have the fans turn on him at the very end of the match. They boo the finish. It sucks, but it’s better than 20-30 minutes of guttural boo’ing and madness.
Going forward, Roman Reigns is expected to be “the guy.” The next John Cena, if you will. If this is his launching off point, they better have their writers quickly figure out a way to turn him heel and capitalize on momentum that is already in place, because if they think that was a one time thing, they’ve got a rude awakening coming in their future.
Fans don’t forget. Reigns’ push had already peaked and started going down several weeks ago. His promo work isn’t there yet. His matches, while good, are not so good that fans will overlook the rest of the missing pieces of the puzzle. He’s simply not going to work as the top babyface superstar in the company. It’s not going to happen. Not yet, at least.
Regardless, another Royal Rumble is in the books. Another year of fans completely turning on WWE and crapping on their choice for a top guy, or a top match for WrestleMania, and they let it be known. Now, all that’s left is to wait and see if WWE smartens up and finds a way to give them what they want.
WrestleMania 31 — Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan.
Personally speaking, I don’t like the sound of that. Another triple-threat main event for the title? I’m not into it. But it’s pretty clear that the fans are choosing Daniel Bryan as their guy. Why WWE is so dead set on fighting it is completely beyond me.
But hey, I guess there’s always next year!
What are your thoughts on this year’s Royal Rumble and the fan reaction to the match? Let us know by posting your feedback below. You can also add me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or follow me on Twitter @MBoone420.
Roman Reigns was the last man standing in the 2015 Royal Rumble match and earned a WrestleMania title shot against Brock Lesnar, who retained the World Heavyweight Championship in a phenominal 3-way match with John Cena and Seth Rollins.
During the WWE Royal Rumble Fallout post-show on the WWE Network, Rusev interrupted John Cena’s interview with Renee Young, leading to the two going nose-to-nose and being kept apart by other Superstars. This is the kickoff to a Cena vs. Rusev WrestleMania feud.
Former TNA star Bully Ray, know once again known as Bubba Ray Dudley, made a surprise return to WWE in the 2015 Royal Rumble match.
Bubba Ray entered the match at number three and got a huge reaction from the Philadelphia crowd. He last wrestled for the company 2005 and finished a 9-year run with TNA at Bound for Glory back in October. He tweeted after the Rumble:
A HUGE THANK YOU to @WWE, the @WWEUniverse and the fans of Philly for the INCREDIBLE reception. It was great to be back!!
The following is the final advertised lineup for tonight’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, which takes place from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and airs live on the WWE Network.
WWE Royal Rumble Kickoff Show
– Big E., Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods vs. Cesaro, Tyson Kidd & Adam Rose
– Booker T interviews Shawn Michaels
WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View
– The Bella Twins vs. Paige & Natalya
– The Ascension vs. New Age Outlaws
– The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow (WWE Tag-Team Championship)
– 30-man over-the-top Royal Rumble match
– Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins (WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
Make sure to join us here at the website tonight for the best WWE Royal Rumble live play-by-play results coverage on the web!
– There is speculation about a possible surprise appearance by Sean Waltman, the former X-Pac, in tonight’s 30-man Royal Rumble match. Waltman, who appeared at RAW Reunion this past Monday night, also made a surprise appearance at Jim Ross’ one-man show in Starland, New Jersey this weekend, which isn’t far away from the Rumble show tonight in Philadelphia.
– Paul Heyman posted the following on Twitter to hype tonight’s triple-threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins.
TONIGHT is 1 of those rare opportunities 2C a once in a lifetime athlete do what he does better than anyone else @WWEpic.twitter.com/2tjQ7pUGpc
WWE ran their final event ever at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Saturday night. As noted, the arena will be shut down before the end of March.
WWE aired a historical video package during the show, which featured Ron Simmons, The New Age Outlaws, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash sharing some of their memories and talking about their history in the venue.
The final match to ever be held in the venue saw John Cena defeat Seth Rollins in a steel cage match.
Below are comments from Cena and Bad News Barrett about the IZOD Center shutting down.
For the last time tonight, #WWELive performs at the @IzodCenter. Thank you to the fans that made each event here one of a kind. #NeverGiveUp
The following are highlights of a new interview with Seth Rollins from The Independent in the U.K.:
On facing John Cena and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on Sunday: “It is certainly in my plan to walk out as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion by hook or by crook. Things don’t always go according to plan, but I’ve been pretty successful in putting my plans into action over the course of the last few months, so yes I’m extremely excited for this opportunity.
If you look at the list of guys who have had matches with Brock Lesnar since his return it’s pretty small to say the least, so to be in that company is quite rewarding personally and professionally. To be on the marquee with Cena and Lesnar in such a high profile PPV is pretty awesome for me as well, and another feather in my cap for what has already been an incredible run over the last year.”
On Daniel Bryan possibly winning the 30-man main event: “For this year, it’s an interesting situation, as there are so many possibilities. I wouldn’t mind Daniel Bryan winning the Royal Rumble and going on to face me for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania, because if you look at what Daniel Bryan did last year, what a tremendous story and if he does it again this year, I’d like to be the guy who stomps out his dream. I think that’s a great story, so it would be very interesting for me to be in that situation in the Wrestlemania main event with Daniel Bryan, considering we’ve had matches in much smaller venues in front of much less people.”
On NXT: “I watched the last Takeover special, R-Evolution, and I thought it was pretty awesome. It’s really cool to see guys I’m familiar with, my friends being shown as the stars that they are. Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Hideo Itami, these guys are people that I’ve worked with in different parts of the world or that I’ve watched and respected for years, so it’s great to see them get to enjoy that atmosphere that is NXT, and get to really capitalise on what NXT has to offer. I’m looking forward to seeing those guys on the main roster with me headlining PPVs, it’s a really cool time to be a part of our crew.”
– Heath Slater returns on the road with WWE at this weekend’s live events. As noted recently, all charges against Slater stemming from an alleged domestic violence incident at a 2011 WrestleMania after-party have been dropped.
– The latest edition of “WWE Top 10,” which you can view below, looks at the ten most dramatic endings to past Royal Rumble matches.
– Below is a video of Dolph Ziggler and Ryback “returning to work” after being re-hired thanks to Sting and John Cena on this past Monday’s RAW.
The official WWE website has a lengthy interview with Seth Rollins about being the future of WWE. In the interviews, Rollins commented on wanting to be WWE’s top performer.
“I want to be the top guy. I want to be the guy who’s hunted. It’s only going to push me and make me better than I already am. And that’s a scary thing to think about.”
Speaking of Rollins, WWE added the above video to their official YouTube channel, where Rollins talks about not being afraid of Brock Lesnar or John Cena heading into their triple-threat title match at this Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
– WWE is now advertising a Roman Reigns vs. Big Show in a “Last Man Standing” match for the upcoming Fast Lane pay-per-view on Sunday, February 22nd from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennesse.
Previously, the advertising listed Roman Reigns and John Cena vs. Big Show and Seth Rollins in a tag-team match.
– The Monday Night War debate between Eric Bischoff and Bruce Prichard, which will be moderated by Chris Jericho, takes place on Sunday at Dave & Buster’s on Columbus Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit RFVideo.com.
Tonight, fans will be treated to perhaps the most exciting sixty-plus minutes of action all year. Bodies will be flying, dreams will be shattered, and ultimately, one man will punch his ticket to WrestleMania. However, there are still many questions to be answered before we start discussing ‘Mania. Most importantly, here is how I believe this Sunday’s Royal Rumble will play out.
The New Day vs. Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, and Adam Rose
It’s sad to see Kidd and Cesaro once again relegated to the pre-show, but at least they are getting some airtime, I suppose. On one hand, I expect Adam Rose to find a way to screw things up and cost Kidd and Cesaro the match. With that said, the New Day got the upper hand on Raw by picking up a clean victory, so based on WWE logic, it’s Kidd and Cesaro’s turn to win.
Winners: Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, and Adam Rose by pinfall
The Usos (Tag Team Champions) vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow
Am I going crazy, or have we seen this matchup way too often in recent months? It seems unlikely that Miz and Mizdow would pick up the titles shortly after dropping them, especially as they continue to tease tension between the two. I think Miz once again tries to steal the show and refuses to tag Mizdow, eventually costing the team the match. This will further tension between the partners, eventually resulting in a breakup and payoff match at WrestleMania.
Winners: The Usos by pinfall
Paige and Natalya vs. The Bella Twins
This was basically slopped together so there’s not much to analyze or discuss. Either Paige or Natalya (whichever they want to challenge for the Divas Championship next month) forces Nikki to submit for the win.
A lot can change over the course of a year, especially in the WWE. At last year’s Royal Rumble, Batista earned the opportunity to headline WrestleMania, going from fan favorite to Bootista in a matter of moments.
It will be Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, and a whole slew of others hoping to earn that opportunity this time around, as the card for this Sunday’s Royal Rumble appears to be officially set. Here is a look at the superstars who have taken a leap forward over the past year, as well as those who have taken a step backward.
Progression
1. The Shield
Nobody has progressed over the past year more than the three men who formerly comprised The Shield. Roman Reigns set the record for the most eliminations at last year’s Rumble, although he was never really seen as a serious threat to win it all. This time around, he’s the odds-on favorite to win the Rumble and headline WrestleMania.
Reigns eliminated his former partners at last year’s event as a means to tease tension between the former Hounds of Justice. Both of those men have moved onto better things. Seth Rollins will be challenging for the title this time around, and Ambrose is seen as one of the most credible entrants in the Royal Rumble match. Believe that.
2. Brock Lesnar
Lesnar destroyed Big Show’s back at last year’s Rumble, walloping him with a chair about 50 times in a match that lasted two minutes. His character’s direction was unclear at the time, having engaged in various feuds in 2013 that didn’t really go anywhere, largely due to Lesnar’s limited schedule.
A few accomplishments have been added to his resume since last time around. Most importantly, he apparently broke some sort of WrestleMania undefeated streak that fans held dear to their hearts. Cena and Rollins will attempt to slay the Beast this year, as he comes in as WWE World Heavyweight Champion and undisputed top dog in the company.
– The advertised dark match main event for next week’s WWE SmackDown television taping, which takes place in Boston, is John Cena, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Kane, Seth Rollins, Big Show and Bray Wyatt.
– WWE returns to Austin, Texas, which was the site of this past Tuesday night’s SmackDown taping, on April 6th for a live RAW show. The pre-sale code for tickets to the event is WWEAUSTIN.
– Philly.com is reporting that the city of Philadelphia is still interested in hosting a future WrestleMania event. Philadelphia was unable to make a bid for WrestleMania 31 or WrestleMania 32 due to scheduling conflicts with local venues, but claims they will be bidding on future events.
Below are this week’s “RAW Fallout” videos. The first video shows The Authority, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, storming out of the arena after Sting showed up and helped John Cena win the main event, which allowed Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan to get their jobs back.
In the second video, the New Age Outlaws talk about The Ascension, who they will meet in the ring at this Sunday’s WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
And finally, here’s the third RAW Fallout video, which features Cena gloating about his friends getting their jobs back.
Last night’s Raw was held in Dallas, TX and was the final episode before the Royal Rumble. There were plenty of surprises, and after weeks of terrible programming, perhaps the biggest shocker was that the company put on an episode of Raw that wasn’t half bad. Without further ado, here are this week’s pros and cons.
Pros
There were a few highlights to choose from, but for me, the final segment easily takes the top spot. The action during the contest was commendable, but the real excitement occurred after the match. Sting’s appearance was completely unexpected, especially an in age where nearly everything is spoiled online beforehand. The Stinger looked great (much better than he did at Survivor Series, imo) and held the pose long enough to make everyone wonder if it was a picture to distract the Authority, or whether he was really in attendance.
Fans quickly found out the answer, making a match between Triple H and Sting at WrestleMania all but official. Sting’s appearance, followed by Lesnar’s destruction of everything in sight, was an amazing way to end the show and sell Sunday’s Rumble. Speaking of Lesnar, the crowd is dying to cheer this guy. He could have a monster face run if he decides to stick around after ‘Mania.
A close second goes to the nWo reunion. The Ascension is completely laughable and unconvincing as intimating heels (Hall was straight-up laughing at them throughout the segment). I predict they will be dancing on the WWE comedy circuit within a year. With that said, it was awesome to see JBL finally take out his anger on these fools. It was hard not to mark out at the Clothesline From Hell, and it was pleasant to see actual planning and some sort of payoff for once.
The legends panel was decent, even if it’s the same three guys that are there every time a group of legends rolls into town. However, it was nice to see three Rumble winners talk about their victories, with Shawn Michaels saying, “There would be no Mr. WrestleMania without the Royal Rumble.” It was also humorous to watch Big Show bring up talking points from about two decades prior and refer to anyone as “three washed-up has-beens.”
In terms of wrestling action, the best match of the night, in my opinion, was Dean Ambrose and Bad News Barrett. These two had good chemistry and pulled off a number of impressive spots. In particular, Ambrose’s reversal of Wasteland into Dirty Deeds was an awesome way to end the match. I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys work a program for the IC Title at WrestleMania.
Finally, Sandow posing as X-Pac backstage was absolutely hilarious. This guy deserves bigger and better things. Hopefully the company comes to the same realization before it’s too late.
Sting made a surprise appearance at the end of Monday’s WWE RAW Reunion and once again stuck it to The Authority.
The 3-on-1 main event match featuring John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane. If Cena lost, he would be removed from the Royal Rumble title match this Sunday. If he won, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan get their jobs back.
When it looked like Cena on the verge of succumbing to the odds, Sting appeared on the big screen. He made his way to the stage and distracted Seth Rollins, allowing Cena to roll him up for the pin.
As a result, Ziggler, Ryback and Rowan get their jobs back.
Make sure to check back this Sunday for our WWE Royal Rumble Live Coverage play-by-play results.
There are a lot of words that could be used to describe WWE’s 2014 campaign, and some of them are better than others. While the 2014 year did give us some great moments, like Wrestlemania 30, or the squash of John Cena, it was also filled with moments that left us scratching our heads, and planting our faces in our hands. Understandably, not everything a major promotion like WWE does will be a success, but there’s a big difference between something failing, and something going neglected.
WWE had a number of chances to do big things last year, like pushing Cesaro to the main event, or building on the destruction of The Shield, that they simply did not capitalize on, or at least not to the level they were capable of doing. Because of this, a lot of people are afraid that WWE 2015 may suffer some of the same fates, and it very well could, if in the following year, some of the same decisions are made. If WWE wants to avoid the path of decline, and produce a gripping, fan-friendly product, than they must do the following five things:
5. WWE Must Improve Its Booking.
It was brought to my attention by Reddit’s top wrestling community, /r/SquaredCircle recently that, not counting battle royals or one on one matches, The Usos have faced the Rhodes Brothers over twenty times across the last year. To put that to scale, let’s say The Usos & The Rhodes Brothers have one tag match a week for twenty weeks. This means that, on RAW, you would see The Usos face The Rhodes Brothers from January to April / May every single week. That is almost half a year that you would see the same match over and over again. From a practical standpoint, let alone an entertainment standpoint, this is absolutely unacceptable. Putting the same four superstars in the same match over and over again is boring. Imagine if John Cena and Randy Orton fought every single week for almost half a year. Oh, wait…
You may also remember the stipulations leading up to Hell in a Cell; John Cena and Dean Ambrose had a match to determine who would get Seth Rollins, as each man felt like they had a legitimate quarrel to settle. Dean Ambrose ended up winning, and going on to Hell in a Cell to face Rollins, but the very next night on RAW, the main event was John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. Combined with the dirty finish at Hell in a Cell which set up an average-at-best feud between Ambrose and Bray Wyatt that also somehow erased that past number of months from Dean Ambrose’s head, John Cena circumventing the event and going right after Rollins the next night basically rendered all of October meaningless.
If 2015 is going to be better than 2014, one thing that must change is bookings. New match-ups and match possibilities must be created. The same seven or eight people cannot be used week in and week out for main events. Titles cannot just go back and forth, especially between two or three people. WWE must take the time and seriously commit resources to increasing the depth of their show, and the number of people invested in the main angles of the product. Otherwise, we may see yet another Gold & Stardust vs. The Usos half-year battle.
4. John Cena Must Begin Playing A Smaller Role.
When Daniel Bryan was injured last May, John Cena stepped in and replaced him in the title picture. At the time, I was upset by this because it felt like they were trying to use Bryan’s popularity to push a stale product who was already over, but in retrospect it easily made the most sense; John Cena is a reliable, proven commodity, who can not only handle singles feuds, but carry them, and with the direction WWE was heading, there was no way they could have chanced that spot with an unproven rising star like Reigns or Wyatt.
However, as of Smackdown tonight, Daniel Bryan is back in action, and barring something like a re-aggravation of his injury or bad writing decisions, his rise to the top is almost guaranteed. The truth is, there is plenty of money to still be milked from the “Ultimate Underdog Daniel Bryan” angle, and only a fool would miss a chance to milk that cow while it’s prime. What that means is that Daniel Bryan must take back his spot from John Cena. Otherwise, it won’t feel authentic, and it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting or gripping as it needs to be. If Daniel Bryan stays in the shadow, there’s no sense of urgency, or worth. He’s just another name. An over name, but just a name all the same.
It was reported a while back that WWE officials were contemplating doing a John Cena vs. Rusev feud for WrestleMania 31. The idea at that time was to have Rusev cost Cena his chance at recapturing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
As of right now, WWE is advertising a tag-team main event of John Cena and Randy Orton vs. Rusev and Seth Rollins for the live event in Madison Square Garden on February 27th. Some view this as a possible sign that WWE is going forward with their original plans for Cena vs. Rusev at WrestleMania.
Thus far, there has been no interaction between Cena and Rusev that would indicate that match being booked. Some are of the opinion that Cena and Rusev is simply a live event program for WrestleMania season, possibly because Brock Lesnar doesn’t work non-televised events.
In related news, other matches advertised for the aforementioned 2/27 live event at MSG include Daniel Bryan vs. Kane, Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro and an appearance by Chris Jericho.
As things stand right now, aside from the 30-man over-the-top Royal Rumble match itself, there are only two matches that have been officially announced for the 2015 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, those being Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow for the WWE Tag-Team Championship.
It appears that Nikki Bella vs. Natalya for the WWE Divas Championship will be added, and with the Rumble match itself being such a lengthy match, and one with so many competitors involved, there’s a good possibility that only one or two additional matches will end up being added to the card.
Matches such as Roman Reigns vs. Big Show and Ryback vs. Rusev were being pushed, however three of those four are announced as Rumble participants, and nothing can be officially booked for Ryback until WWE wraps up the “firing” angle from last week’s RAW.
The latest edition of Michael Cole’s weekly WWE.com sit-down video interview, which features Triple H this week, is now online.
In this week’s interview, “The Game” talks to the WWE announcer about WWE SmackDown moving to Thursday night’s beginning this week on the SyFy Network, as well as the Daniel Bryan vs. Kane match scheduled for the show.
HHH also discusses Monday’s RAW, noting that Seth Rollins proved he belongs in the ring with the likes of John Cena and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, as his Curb Stomp of both men showed why he is referred to as the “undisputed future of the WWE.”
While HHH gave credit to Cena and Lesnar as two of WWE’s key players in the present day, he claimed that Rollins is “something different altogether.”
Triple H concluded the interview by reminding fans that Rollins is still in possession of the “Money in the Bank” briefcase, which ensures him a WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at any time of his choosing.
“If you don’t skin a cat one way, you’ve always got a briefcase in your hand that says you can skin them any time you want,” said Triple H.
You can check out the complete Michael Cole sit-down video interview with Triple H above.