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 following are highlights of a new WNS Podcast interview with Roman Reigns:
ON RETURNING TO IN-RING ACTION: “Man, I’m happy to do a lot of things. Having that hernia surgery and the first couple of weeks of recovery was something I had never experienced before. I’ve had some injuries in my day and I’ve been able to work through the rehab process but I mean the requirements for hernia surgery is sit on the couch and do nothing. Which you know, it sounds like what’s he complaining about? But for the first couple of weeks it was pretty cool. I’m not going to lie I did some pretty good couch work. Til about two and a half, three weeks oh man. You start getting so antsy you just want to get out. I want to get in the gym and I want to work ad sweat and I just couldn’t do anything like that. It’s nice to be able to move around. run, jump, wrestle, everything man. I’m very fortunate.”
ON WETHER OR NOT 2015 WILL BE HIS YEAR: “I think so. I think everyone’s thinking that. I think everybody goes into these type of matches thinking they’re going to be the guy. It can happen. Whether it’s 30, 40, 100 people in this match. Everybody should be going in with that mindset. “I’m the guy. I can change my whole career. I can change my whole life if I just dominate tonight and that’s what I’m going to do. Fortunately for me I have some experience with this match. I have a record of eliminations and I’m taking last year making it all the way to the end and coming up short as a mistake I can learn from. As a good experience. Hopefully, I can capitalize on it this year and correct that wrong and go onto the big one.”
ON BEING COMPARED TO JOHN CENA: “When I first started wrestling, I got a lot of comparisons to a lot of different people. Razor Ramon, The Rock. I had a bunch of different qualities and characteristics of former guys. I’m not trying to be the next anybody. I’m trying to be the very first Roman Reigns that’s all I can do. I’m not out to be somebody that I’m not. I know who I am and I know where I come from and I know where I want to go. It’s very flattering to be compared to someone who’s worked so hard and been so successful. I don’t want what he has, I want what I’m going to get.”
ON THE TRANSITION FROM BEING PART OF THE SHIELD TO SINGLES COMPETITION: “I was fine with it. People don’t realize that I was wrestling singles towards the end of The Shield’s run. I main evented a whole year of fighting Randy Orton while I was still in The Shield. I had multiple matches without the boys. It’s just one of those things, I’m a sports entertainer. I’m a wrestler. I’m a worker. I can wrestle in a team situation. Before I got in The Shield I was wrestling singles so you gie me a squared circle, ropes and someone to beat up and I can do it.”
ON ANY COUNTRY HE’S NOT YET GOT TO PERFORM IN BUT WOULD LIKE TO: “There’s quite a few places I’d like to go. I’ve been so lucky to go to so many different cool places all over the world. Places I never would have thought of going or even knew about. But I think the one continent that I haven’t been to would be South America. So, I would love to get down there and just do antour and go country to country and tear it up for the South American WWE Universe.”
ON THE MOST BIZARRE THING THAT’S HAPPENED WHEN HE’S WALKED OUT THROUGH THE CROWD: “There’s been a couple of situations. There’s one time a few months ago this little girl came out and wave slapped me. Just a big bear hug on me and I didn’t even notice. She was on me before I even knew so when I looked down this 7-8 year old little girl who was as cute as can be. Not too long ago, I think last week i saw those little short films they do on the internet some girl just feeling my arm up and holding my hand. There’s so many people and I’m trying to take in the crowd and see what I’m working with with the people that sometimes I don’t even notice things like that. We have an awesome job, they’re so fiesty and emotional and outspoken. But they’ve been awesome with me. They haven’t done anything too crazy to where we put the entrance in jeopardy.”
ON POSSIBLY BEING A COMIC BOOK FAN AND SOME OF HIS FAVOURITES: “As a younger kid, I’ve read comic books. I was really into the Spiderman vs Venom and the Superman comics and things like that. But I’m not one of those grown men comic book guys like a few people I know. I got a kid, I don’t do little kid stuff. I like to think I emulate a comic book character with the things that I do. My look, my gear, the moveset that I have. Try to emulate that of a Superman-Spiderman mix or something like that.”
ON FACING RUSEV IN BEAUMONT, TEXAS: “I think it’s a great opportunity. What better place to win the U.S Title then right there in Beaumont, Texas. I think he’s been on a bit of a hot streak. I don’t even think anyone’s beaten him thus far.”
ON THE EMOTIONS GOING THROUGH HIS DAY OF WRESTLEMANIA: “It’s unlike anything else in the world. Our first one one was in New York/New Jersey and last year down in N.O. and it was awesome and just the whole tour, the whole week we get to do a lot of different things at Axxess and do a lot of meet and greet and signings with the fans. So, to have. To be able to interact and hang out and have a lottle time not only with the fans but your family it’s almost like a bit of a vacation up until it’s time tomkind of get your game face on and remember why you’re there. To perform on the grandest stage of them all. For us it was cool because you can feel all those people and you know they’re out there. Fortunately for us, going through the crowd we legitimately got to walk through them.”
ON HIS FAVOURITE MATCH AND FANTASY OPPONENT HE’D LIKE TO FACE: “Yea, i’d have to say my favourite match wzas the first Wyatt match we had on pay per view. I still haven’t watched ot back. I want to leave it to what I remember. The vibe and the emotion we had out there. The reponse. The manipulation of the crowd just going in and out of stuff. All the different chants and things like that. It was an unbelievable match. Also, I gotta say for me personally. I really dig my match I had with Randy Orton at Summerslam. I thought we did some pretty cool stuff especially down towards the end of the match. Incredible exchanges, signature moves and stuff like that. He had an RKO caught me out of the Superman Punch no one’s ever done that and that just speaks to the type of competitor that guy is and not only that I had enough in me to beat a guy like that.”
ON FEELING PRESSURE BEING THE AMBASSADORS FOR NXT ALONG WITH DEAN AMBROSE AND SETH ROLLINS: “I don’t know if it was extra pressure. There’s always pressure. Pressure almost becomes like another emotion. Most people are happy, sad, angry just all the different emotions you can feel and pressure is just one of them. That time I’m alive. If i’m not nervous or feeling butterflies then like what am I doing. For me, it was a cool responsibility to be given, to take on. I think that’s just part of the process. Being the first few to come out of NXT, we felt it but everyone behind us all the way from The Wyatts to Rusev and the list is just going to continue to go on. You’ve got great talent down there that are going to come up and make a big name for themselves. The Ascension, sami Zayn, Adrian Neville. There’s even newer guys,international stars from the independant scene so it’s a good time to be a wrestling fan.”
ON HIS REACTION TO BEING NAMED SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR: “To be honest I was shocked. I didn’t even look at it like I was going to win. I was in The Shield for a little bit of the year. When I came out of there, I came out with a rocket on me and I was able to do some cool stuff with the Rumble and Survivor Series. What you saw on live TV, was what I was going through at the time.”
As we noted recently, WWE will be releasing a new DVD and Blu-ray set called “The Destruction of The Shield” on February 17, 2015. According to WrestlingDVDNews.com, there will be a documentary, as well as an interview with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose airing before and after each match on the set.
The following matches are confirmed thus far for the project.
– Roman Reigns on FCW Triple Threat Match
– Triple Threat Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Leakee, FCW • February 5, 2012
– Dean Ambrose on United States Championship
– United States Championship Match: Dean Ambrose vs. Kofi Kingston, Extreme Rules • May 19, 2013
– Roman Reigns on WWE Tag Team Championship
– Tornado Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship: Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs. Team Hell No, Extreme Rules • May 19, 2013
As promised, here are the top pay-per-view events from 2014.
8. NXT Takeover
This event started off sluggish but certainly ended with a string of entertaining matches. In particular, the match between Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn featured solid in-ring work and highlighted why both of these guys could succeed if given the opportunity.
The real treat during this pay-per-view, however, was the final two matches of the evening. The match between Charlotte and Natalya for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship was probably the most technically sound women’s match I’ve ever seen, and the main event between Neville and Tyson Kidd was the perfect way to end the show. In my opinion, this was the event that made fans realize NXT is more than simply a developmental league for the main roster.
Worst Match: Adam Rose vs. Camacho
Best Match: Charlotte vs. Natalya
7. Payback
There was some worry heading into this one, largely due to the absence of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The event would carry on just fine without the title, however. It started off strong with a bruising contest between Sheamus and Cesaro.
From there, the Last Man Standing match was entertaining, even if it would have been nice to see Wyatt pick up the victory. With that said, this pay-per-view is all about the main event. It was an awesome 30-minute affair that featured memorable spots, brutal action, and a decisive Shield victory. This was also important because it would set up Seth Rollins’ heel turn the next night on Raw.
2014 is coming to a close. Aside from two episodes of Raw that most likely be forgettable, fans have seen everything the WWE has to offer this year. Here is a look back at all 16 pay-per-views (including NXT), with each event ranked and summarized.
16. Battleground
This event took place during July, and boy was it a hot mess. The opening contest between the Usos and Wyatt Family was money, but it was downhill from there, as fans were subjected to one dud contest after another.
The biggest mistakes involved advertising a Rollins/Ambrose match that didn’t take place, and using the same predictable ending sequence during the main event. Overall, this was completely forgettable and easily the worst pay-per-view of the year.
Worst Match: Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
Best Match: The Usos vs. The Wyatt Family
15. TLC
The final pay-per-view of the year was certainly not the best the company has to offer. Overall, this event suffered from a thin roster and overcomplicated booking. Like many pay-per-view events, it started off strong before derailing.
Ziggler and Harper stole the show during the opening contest. However, lame gimmicks (Stairs/Chairs Matches) and cheesy endings (Wyatt/Ambrose, Cena/Rollins) really held this event back and prevented it from being a success.
– NXT Diva Dasha Kuret did some of the ring announcing with former Total Divas star and fellow NXT Diva JoJo at the NXT live event in Tampa, Florida this past Friday night. Dasha signed with the company in late-2013 and recently recovered from knee surgery.
– WWE will be releasing “The Destruction Of The Shield” DVD and Blu-ray on February 17th. Below is the official synopsis for the project:
“For the first time ever, The Destruction of The Shield highlights The Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose, The Juggernaut Roman Reigns, and The Architect Seth Rollins as they join forces to lay down the law and dish out their own brand of personal justice in WWE. From The Shield s days as rookies in NXT, to their shocking debut, to the eventual destruction of The Shield, this set covers the entire journey of the most dominant trio in recent memory. With never before seen interviews and hard-hitting matchups from The Shield s illustrious run, you will bear witness to what happens when the Hounds of Justice are off their leash! PLUS BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE EXTRAS!”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t “Shockmaster” or “Gobbledy Gooker” level bad, but it was pretty damn bad.
Maybe the headline should read, “Worst Diva Debut In WWE Television History,” as now that I think about it, there’s been some stinkers throughout time to be calling this the worst in “history,” but good lord was it bad.
After a lot of anticipation, or as much as a “Diva’s debut” can actually garner, current NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte finally made her main roster television debut this week on the Slammy Awards, TLC “go-home” edition of RAW.
It was a colossal flop — and not the entertaining “Flair-flop” either. Just a plain, old flop.
When you take into consideration the many factors playing into this one, it really looks awful in hindsight. And while hindsight is 20/20, this — even on paper — would had to of looked just as bad.
WWE RAW emanated from Greensboro, North Carolina, otherwise known as “Flair Country.”
Charlotte is the NXT Women’s Champion. She wore her belt to the ring. She’s defending it this week on a live NXT special on the WWE Network — and she loses her debut match in just over two minutes.
After going out of her way not to be a Ric Flair clone, or to use the Flair name or style, WWE agents booked Charlotte to do two things offensively in her WWE television debut — a chop and a figure-four leg lock (attempt).
Sound familiar?
It was outright atrocious watching that match play out on television last night. They aired the big video package to introduce her, she’s hyped up as a super-athlete, she marches down to the ring wearing a championship belt, and then does basically nothing before being pinned — clean — 1-2-3, right in the middle of the ring.
What in god’s name was the point of that?
There’s an old saying in pro wrestling when something sucks. It goes something like this — “Who books this crap?”
Whoever booked that crap deserves to be unemployed today. If not that person, then whoever gave it the “okay” certainly does.
How in the world do you expect someone to get over in modern WWE when this is how people are introduced? Look at Adam Rose and Bo Dallas. Those were the latest two NXT call-ups that come to mind, that were given the “vignette” treatment, only to be used as second-rate, mid-card, filler-comedy characters from that point on.
Why bother in the first place if that’s all they’re going to be?
Every once in a while they’ll get it right. Usually when it’s an obvious one. The Wyatt Family — obvious. The Shield — obvious. Unfortunately, Charlotte seemed like an obvious one in terms of a Diva that could actually matter. Another Trish Stratus type, or something along those lines.
But nope. The writing is already on the wall.
Anyone who is introduced the way she was last night should not expect much in her future. It’s pretty clear that WWE is not going to capitalize on a superb athlete with a legendary bloodline.
She’ll join the rest of the nothing-happening Divas and if she’s extremely lucky — could get a small gig as one of the characters on “Total Divas.”
Yippee!!
NXT: Takeover R Evolution is this Thursday, December 11th, live on the WWE Network. If you want to see what Charlotte is really all about — check it out.
Until then, have fun discussing the horrible main roster debut of Charlotte in the “Comments” section below. You can also follow me on social media for more news and views at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR, and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.
Next Sunday, the WWE will dust off the tables, ladders, chairs, and apparently stairs for its annual hardcore spectacular. This year’s event will be held in Cleveland, Ohio and will be the sixth incarnation of the pay-per-view.
This will be only the second TLC pay-per-view to not feature a WWE Championship match, as Brock Lesnar is still sitting at home collecting a paycheck. In the past, the WWE has used this event to lay the groundwork for the Road to WrestleMania while providing a sense of finality to various feuds with the hardcore element. With that said, here is a look back at the first five TLC pay-per-view events.
As part of their new distribution deal with WWE, Warner Bros. will be re-releasing over 150 past WWE DVD and Blu-ray titles in early January 2015. This is likely the reason that so many titles were taken out-of-print over the past few months.
Also as part of the new WWE/Warner Bros. deal, a number of new content is set for release, including the following projects:
January 13th – TLC 2014 DVD
February 3rd – Best of RAW and SmackDown 2014 DVD
February 17th – The Destruction of The Shield DVD and Blu-ray
February 24th – Royal Rumble 2015 DVD and Blu-ray
March 10th – Monday Night War Vol. 1: Shots Fired DVD and Blu-ray
During his 2-hour must-listen podcast interview with Colt Cabana, former WWE Superstar CM Punk reveals that The Shield faction was originally his idea.
Punk says WWE was discussing forming a new heel stable that would have him, Daniel Bryan, Big Show and Seth Rollins.
He had the idea to select three wrestlers from developmental who would be his “protectors.” Punk selected Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero). Triple H shot down Hero, who was replaced by “their guy,” Roman Reigns.
Punk was very frustrated at the time and wasn’t going to “go to war” for Hero to be part of the faction. He understood that WWE had big plans for Roman Reigns, who would learn a lot working with Rollins and Ambrose.
In 1987, WWE presented their first ever “Survivor Series” event, the first non-WrestleMania pay-per-view event, originally designed to steal viewers away from their main competition at the time, NWA’s “Starrcade,” which was the south’s version of “WrestleMania” (even though Starrcade came first) and was WWE’s attempt to throw down the gauntlet to the pay-per-view industry.
Basically put, if you were a pay-per-view provider and you decided to carry Starrcade, you would not be able to carry WrestleMania, a proven success in the pay-per-view industry.
That was the beginning.
From there, throughout the years, a number of historical events would take place at a Survivor Series event.
In no particular order, you can point to single Superstar debuts such as The Undertaker in 1990, which was also the debut of the infamous Gobbeldy Gooker. Which was the more famous of the two, well, I’ll let you decide.
1996 saw the debut of “Rocky Maivia,” to this day arguably the biggest cross-over name to ever emanate from the world of sports entertainment. At the time, while he was touted as being the first-ever third generation performer, and as “Good Ole’ JR” would say, “that’s gonna be the man, right there! That’s blue-chipper, right there!” with all of the enthusiasm the only Jim Ross could muster, oh how true those words would come to be as time went on.
One year later, the most infamous moment perhaps in all of WWE would take place. A moment that certainly began the shift in the WWE vs. WCW “Monday Night Wars” would take place, as not only did Bret Hart get “screwed” in what would become known as “The Montreal Screwjob,” but in many ways, that became the birth of the “Mr. McMahon” character, one that without he, the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin character may have never reached the heights that he would go on to achieve throughout his illustrious career.
In 1999, WWE’s first ever Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, made his official in-ring pay-per-view debut, defeating Shawn Stasiak in the second match on the card.
In 2002, the Survivor Series featured another “first,” as this would be the first time that we were treated to a new gimmick match known as the “Elimination Chamber.” A man notorious among the wrestlers within the profession, just a few months ago the match concept was thrown out, large in part — according to various rumors — because of how unforgiving the structure was for those who had to actually compete inside it.
Most recently, the big “debut” of a match, concept or character took place at the November 18, 2012 edition of the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view, which took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, as three men who would become known as “The Shield” made their official WWE main roster debut. Those three men would become known as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
Just to show how important those three men are, one is involved (as a Team Captain, no less) in the main event of this year’s Survivor Series, which takes place tonight from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.
That man is Seth Rollins.
Another one of the former Shield members, Dean Ambrose, is in what is being billed as arguably the legitimate co-main event of the evening, as he collides with another rising up-and-comer, Bray Wyatt.
And that leaves Roman Reigns.
Well, while he’s not officially booked on the actual card for tonight’s show, let’s just say there are a lot of rumors going around that claim we just may see him involved on the show tonight in some form or fashion after all.
Finally, that leaves two other names.
First up, the hometown boy. St. Louis’ own “The Viper” Randy Orton is rumored to make his return to WWE, after taking a brief hiatus to film a WWE Studios project, “The Condemned 2.”
Last, and absolutely not least, is “The Icon.”
While yours truly is not holding his breath and is going to take a “wait and see” approach before getting overly excited, rumors on the internet over the past few days insist that a certain Crow-painted style performer will make his very, very highly-anticipated WWE pay-per-view debut tonight at the Scottrade Center.
That’s right, folks. “The man they call Sting” is rumored to make his WWE debut, after all these years, at the same show that has produced so many memorable debuts, characters, matches and moments. If, in fact, “The Stinger” does make his WWE debut on tonight’s show, this writer has his new favorite Survivor Series moment of all-time.
We’re just hours away! Make sure to keep it locked right here at SEScoops.com for the most extensive, in-depth, live results coverage of tonight’s WWE Survivor Series 2014 pay-per-view!
Until then, leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below, and don’t forget to add me as a friend on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or follow me on Twitter @MBoone420.
– The recent “Journey to SummerSlam” special that aired on the WWE Network focusing on Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins embarking on their first post-Shield journeys, is scheduled to be extended and released as a DVD/Blu-ray project next year.
– There’s been some talk recently that Finn Balor and Hideo Itami will be making a run as NXT Tag-Team Champions before having singles runs in NXT. While there is no word regarding when the two will be called up to the main roster, it is believed that part of Balor’s deal when he signed with WWE was that he would not stay in the developmental system for too long.
I’ve read a lot of feedback online over the past few weeks regarding WWE’s plans for Brock Lesnar at next year’s WrestleMania 31 event in Santa Clara, California.
For those who missed it, check out this article, which is a detailed update on WWE possibly making major changes to their original plans for Lesnar.
Back to the internet feedback.
Many, including WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross, have spoken out recently about how if WWE stays on track and has Lesnar stay untouchable leading up to WrestleMania 31, with Roman Reigns being the guy to finally end his reign of dominance and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion at the “show of shows,” that “everyone will see it coming.” Especially due to the belief that fans will know it’s Lesnar’s final match on his WWE contract.
So what?
Who didn’t see Daniel Bryan ending last year’s show by leading the fans inside the “Superdome” in one giant “Yes!” chant as the pay-per-view goes off the air with him finally “having his moment” and becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion?
The answer: no one. Everyone saw that coming and guess what? It was still awesome. It still felt special, and had Bryan not gotten injured, it still would have been an effective way to start his push as a legitimate WWE main event performer.
So my question is, how is next year’s WrestleMania any different?
Once again — it isn’t.
A good idea is a good idea, whether people see it coming or not. This isn’t 1998, we’re not in the midst of a vicious “Monday Night War” where you’ve got to use the “Attitude Era” formula of “shock television.”
Surprises are great, don’t get me wrong. They keep you on the edge of your seat and give you a reason to continue tuning into the product because you “never know what could happen.” But again, I say a good idea is a good idea, whether it’s a surprise or not.
The key factor, however, is that it has to be a good idea.
And that’s exactly what the rumored plans for WrestleMania 31 are — they’re a good idea.
Lesnar breaks The Undertaker’s legendary streak. He squashes WWE’s top Superstar in John Cena at a major pay-per-view event. He wreaks havoc on the entire WWE roster, with seemingly no end in sight. That is, however, until he meets that bad son of a bitch Roman Reigns.
No one can beat Lesnar. Hell, no one can touch him. And then comes the showdown with the “untouchable” bad ass on the other side of the fence. The “good guy” version of Lesnar. A beast of a different breed.
Here comes Roman Reigns.
Unfortunately for Reigns, an injury has put him on the sidelines, which hurt his momentum as a guy rising through the ranks. However, if he comes back in time for the Royal Rumble in January, where he arguably made his name earlier this year as an individual player, instead of just being “The Enforcer” of The Shield, then all the cards fall perfectly into place.
First off, fans can get their precious “surprise moment,” when the ten-count clock counts down and out comes Reigns for the first time in several months. From there, much like last year, he can eliminate Superstar after Superstar, possibly breaking his own record in the process. The only difference? This time he’s the last man standing. This time he wins the Royal Rumble, which of course sets him up for a title shot at WrestleMania 31.
On the same show, Lesnar destroys John Cena for the third straight time, remaining WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the process.
The stage is set.
Heading into WrestleMania 31, we have Brock Lesnar as an unbeatable monster on the heel side. We have Roman Reigns as an unbeatable monster on the babyface side.
We have our WrestleMania 31 main event is what we have.
During the build up to WrestleMania, we make sure to point out the streak of dominance both men are currently riding and we ponder which immovable force budges first at the biggest show of the year.
What’s wrong with that? Do we really need some kind of big elaborate “surprise” to make WrestleMania feel special? To have a satisfying climax to the biggest show of the year?
Of course not.
Good is good, whether you see it coming a mile away or it creeps up on you out of the blue. If the story is solid enough, which I feel Lesnar vs. Reigns is — or has the potential to be I should say (you never know how WWE will handle the booking) then you’ve got all the ingredients for a “Superstar-making performance” for Reigns, which unless I’m confused, is supposed to be the goal in all of this.
Check it out — I didn’t mean a word I just said! Are you surprised?! You shouldn’t be …because of course I’m joking.
The point?
I shouldn’t have to surprise you to entertain you with a solid editorial, I just need to tell a good story. Whether or not I accomplished that remains to be seen. You can let me know if I achieved my goal by posting your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also connect with me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR and/or on Twitter @MBoone420.
The following are highlights of a new interview with Seth Rollins:
On The Rock: “Uhhhh…I mean there’s a little bit of resentment there there’s gotta be, but it’s mostly envy because we all want to have the level of success that he has. We want to have the ability to walk into a room and um, ya know be as well received as he was. Although, he did take the cheap route I think by um just talking about all the boroughs and wearing his little Brooklyn jacket. But that’s the Rock, that’s how he does his thing.”
On the in-ring style in WWE changing lately: “The style is getting faster and faster. The athletes are getting better and better. The future is pretty bright for WWE.”
On how The Shield measures up against factions like the Four Horsemen and D-X: “The Shield was only around for..what? Two years? And we did A LOT in 2 years. I think the fact that people even take those 2 years and put them up against the reputations of those other groups really says a lot about what we were able to accomplish in that short period of time…It’s definitely something, two years I’m very proud of and I’m happy to say we certainly left a scar on WWE.
The following are highlights of a new The Rack interview with Kane:
What can we expect from Jacob Goodnight in ‘See No Evil 2’: “Well, this is going to be a little bit different than ‘See No Evil’; the girls who directed this film are twins, Jen and Sylvia Soska, and they have a huge following in the horror genre and are going to be the next big thing in horror. What’s really interesting about ‘See No Evil 2’ for me, and I just got to see the finished copy the other day, is the fact that despite the film is dealing with disturbing material, is a beautifully shot movie. It’s beautiful; the cinematography is awesome, and the soundtrack is great and it’s really a contrast as you are dealing with this disturbing material and violence and everything but also you’re going ‘Wow, this is really pretty’. What we also tried to do was to try and bring more depth to the characters and to actually have not to your stereotypical slasher movie; let’s make it a movie where you cared about the people in the movie and hopefully that brings about more emotional involvement and not just the visceral visual effects but the fact that you’re like ‘Oh, I really like that person’ and hopefully it makes it a little more scary that way.”
If he got more creative freedom in portraying Jacob Goodnight in the sequel: “Yes, I guess I did actually. There were a couple of scenes that were added to the movie, that weren’t in the original script, that me and the Soska sisters fought for that sort of rounded Jacob out, bringing him more to life and making him more of a human being than a character. I was really happy about that.
You still explore the relationship with his mother, even despite the fact that his mother is no longer with us, she still has a tremendous impact on his psychology and on his emotions. In fact, in the first movie ‘See No Evil’, the mother was the real villain, not Jacob. In this one, she’s still the dominant aspect of his life.”
What was it like working for the Soska Sisters, a set of female directors: “We meshed really well, because they are not your typical females; they are huge WWE fans and they’re probably into all the stuff us guys are into. So, they were really great and what was really interesting about working with them is despite the fact they are two people, at times it’s like you are dealing with one mind because Jen would often be on the floor and directing the action and Sylvia would be watching on the monitor and you’d go through a scene and they’d be tweaks and they wouldn’t talk to each other; Jen would just talk to you differently and you’d do the scene again and Sylvia would go ‘OK, that’s good.’ You’d be like, ‘wait a second, how… did they see through each other’s eyes, or what’s going on?!’
So, at first, I was worried, thinking how are you going to work with two directors? because the director is the boss, they’re the ones who have the final say in what’s going on and how are you going to do it if there’s two of them? But what was really cool about it was it was like you were still just working with one and instead of competing and butting heads, they actually augmented one another. So, it was really an interesting experience.”
Does he enjoy the fact that recently he’s been able to explore different aspects of the Kane Character (Team Hell No, Corporate Kane, The Big Red Machine): “No, absolutely; I’m having a lot of fun. The Team Hell No stuff with Daniel Bryan has probably been the most fun I’ve ever had in WWE because it was something complete different than anything I’d ever done before. I’d always been a very curious character and here we are providing the comic relief to the show. So, if you’d asked people before we did Team Hell No that Kane was going to be the guy you were laughing at, who would have said yes, right?
So, that was a lot of fun and with The Authority now, with Corporate Kane, it’s also very gratifying for me because now he’s sort of a normal person, but underneath it, you have that underlying fact he’s a monster and now he has political power, which is really scary. So, I do have a lot of fun doing different things because as a performer it gets stale when you’re doing just one thing for years and years and years. So, I’m grateful for the opportunity to do different characters.”
What does he think of the newer crop of Superstars like Bray Wyatt and The Shield: “I think they’re going to be great; I think they’re great now, you know? They provide a lot of energy, new ideas; they’re hungry. The thing I noticed when I worked against The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) was the fact that those guys were confident; they knew they were going to be successful, no matter what it took. That’s the kind of attitude you need. So, I’ve really enjoyed working with the younger guys because they have that freshness and that hungry that actually revitalizes me at times.
There’s all sorts of different dynamics going on now too and that’s what makes our product really interesting; when it’s not straight forward and there’s all sorts of different things going on between everybody and that’s what’s going on now. So I think, moving forward through Hell in a Cell and afterwards, it’s going to be quite interesting.”
His favorite Hell in a Cell moments: “Well, my favorite would have to be, of course, my debut and ripping the door off and going in and giving a tombstone piledriver to The Undertaker and having Vince (McMahon) screaming ‘That’s gotta be Kane!’; that would far and away have to be my favorite moment.
Even though it wasn’t at a Hell in a Cell PPV, I’ll never forget the match between Undertaker and Mankind at King of the Ring in Pittsburgh; when Mick went off the cell and then through the cell. That was one of those things that sort of rocketed the Attitude Era into the stratosphere.”
The weirdest thing he’s ever gotten from a fan: “I haven’t gotten a lot of weird stuff; I’ve gotten a lot of stuffed animals, which is different, but probably the weirdest thing that’s ever happened or the most uncomfortable thing that’s ever happened was I received a fan letter at my house. It was really, really nice and it was from a gentleman who was interested in promoting drug awareness and gang resistance and that sort of thing, and it was really great except the fact that he was going to do that once he got out of prison; so yeah, the letter had come from prison. I don’t get a whole lot of really weird stuff.”
Once an occasional treat for the WWE Universe, the Hell in a Cell match has become a yearly event since the introduction of the eponymous pay-per-view in 2009. Since its inception, the company has yet to truly knock it out of the park with Hell in a Cell, although fans have witnessed some memorable moments.
This year, it will be either John Cena or Dean Ambrose headlining the event against Seth Rollins inside the most ominous structure in sports entertainment. As the company builds up its next pay-per-view, here is a look back at the first five Hell in a Cell events.
5. 2012
This event really didn’t have a pay-per-view feel to it. The undercard was primarily filled with forgettable matches that had little impact on future storylines. The main event was also lacking due to injury.
It was clear that the company had no idea what to do after John Cena went down to injury, leading to Ryback receiving a premature main event push. From top to bottom, this event was lacking and easily locks up the honor of being the worst Hell in a Cell pay-per-view to date.
Main Event: CM Punk vs. Ryback (Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship)
Best Match: Big Show vs. Sheamus
Worst Match: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. The Prime Time Players
WWE Hall Of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland took a few questions from fans on his official Twitter account on Sunday night.
Edge noted that his favorite WWE Superstars are Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and also spoke about how he won’t be writing any “tell-all” books trashing WWE.
Below are some highlights.
Always @HEELZiggler and all three of the Shield guys “@timb0nic: @EdgeRatedR who is your favorite WWE superstar on the current roster?”
– On Wednesday, WWE will premiere their special, “The Shield: Journey to SummerSlam” on the WWE Network.
– The Los Angeles Times website currently features an interview with the cast of Total Divas. You can check that out at LATimes.com.
– The official WWE website has a new “WWE.com Exclusive” video interview with Rob Van Dam where he talks about his recent string of good luck. You can check that out at WWE.com.
– “Rowdy” Roddy Piper discusses his experience at last week’s RAW in Portland and also interviews “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan on the latest edition of his “Piper’s Pit” podcast. You can check that out at PodcastOne.com.
The following are highlights of a new Crave Online interview with Roman Reigns:
CraveOnline: You’re from the famous Anoa’i wrestling family. What were family get togethers like? Do you guys just talk wrestling all the time or is business just business and family time is just family time?
Roman Reigns: It’s a little bit of both. It just depends on who’s there. If I’m with my dad, yeah, he’s going to talk a good bit about the business. He just kind of mentors me and tells me what he’s thinking about my stuff. But growing up and all that, family barbecues, it was all family, man, ya know? You have to picture it. We always had so many kids in our family, running around the yard, sweaty little kids jumping in and out of the pool, the front door and back doors swinging open and shut, all of the parents getting pissed off telling us to stay outside. Always coolers and coolers of beers and soda and chicken being barbecued, burgers being barbecued, it was a good time. It brings me back, actually.
CraveOnline: What is your dream match? If you could face any wrestler from any era, whom is Roman Reigns taking on?
Roman Reigns: Oh, that’s an easy one. I’d have to go with Taker, man. It’s such an easy choice. I imagine just about everybody would say that. If you hear all the stories of him, man, he’s like a godfather or something. You know what I mean? You hear all of these really cool things about him out in the ring, in the back, and just with the boys and stuff. He legitimately doesn’t get enough credit for being a cornerstone of this business. That would be a dream come true to be in the ring with him.
CraveOnline: Any desire to have a triple threat match with your former Shield members, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins?
Roman Reigns: Right now, I’m biding my time. I promised Dean that he would have first crack at Seth. He told me he’d leave a little for me. The main part for me is Randy Orton has just been a pain in my ass. Even from when, that night we [The Shield] broke up, that piece of crap, Seth, handed him the chair and he wore me out with it. So I’m gonna take out Randy just by principle. I’m going to clean up the outside of the house first. I’m going to do some yard work and then I’m going to Seth and clean up the house. It’s an ‘in house’ situation.
CraveOnline: What can we expect from your match with Randy Orton at Summer Slam?
Roman Reigns: A lot of heavy hitting. The plan is to hit hard and more often and just to tear the house down. You can say a lot about Randy Orton but he’s a multi-time champion and one hell of a performer. When he’s on; he’s on. When The Viper is in the ring, you got to be careful cause he can strike. But let him strike first, I’ll be the one to strike last.
CraveOnline: How much influence do you have in deciding your wrestling gear?
Roman Reigns: As long as I don’t go crazy, its all me. What I’m wearing for Summer Slam, I’m pretty excited about. Its kind of the same template of vest. It’s just a different set up. Probably by Wrestlemania, I’ll debut a whole different type of vest. It’s really cool to have cool gear.
CraveOnline: Yeah, I’d say you have the coolest gear in the ring. Its not jean shorts… or underwear.
Roman Reigns: No offense to [John] Cena. To be honest, the cool thing about Cena is he’s just in his gear all the time. He doesn’t have to get dressed. He comes off his bus and he’s it. All he has to do is pull up his kneepads. You know who is kind of a new Cena is Ambrose. Ambrose can show up in his gear like he just changes his boots. He puts on a different set of combat boots and he’s ready to go. I always joke with him that he’s the new Cena as far as gear.
CraveOnline: How far in advance are you made aware of a wrestling angle or the direction creative is taking you?
Roman Reigns: It varies. Due to how brutal our jobs are, you just never know. If Daniel Bryan doesn’t go down, I may not have the opportunity that I have now. You just never know when an opportunity is going to change everything and completely derail what the timeline was. Sometimes you know but you can never stick to that. You’re only as good as your last performance so you just have to be on your toes.
CraveOnline: What’s the process you go through before a match to get amped up?
Roman Reigns: My process is walking down to the locker room, laying everything out to how I like it. I’m very particular about setting up my bags and my dressing situation. I love to pull out that portable speaker and blare music even if nobody else likes it. To me, its just keeping everything the same every single night.
The following are highlights of a new IGN interview with Roman Reigns:
IGN: And how about heading into your first-ever singles SummerSlam match?
Reigns: I’m excited, man. It’s a great opportunity to me. I have a really strong opponent in Randy Orton. A former multi-time world champion. He’s held just about every title under the sun. And he’s done it all in a major way. He’s basically wreaked havoc and ran roughshod over the WWE for quite some time. Some people might forget that. Not the Viper part, but that for many years he was running the show. The biggest bad guy in town. So I couldn’t have a better platform and a bigger stepping stone than I have at SummerSlam.
IGN: Over the past couple Pay-Per-Views, you’ve had world title opportunities. Some people say you’re not ready yet while others think you are. What do you have to say about that?
Reigns: Everyone has an opinion. That’s just a crazy part of this world now. You can type things on the internet. You can have no credentials in any area and just get on your smart phone and write whatever you want. For me, I know me. I know who I am. I know where I come from and where I want to go. I know I’m 100% ready.
Everyone else seems to have an opinion, and claim to know, whether I am or I’m not. I would love to see all the people who run their mouths try and do what I do. Because they can’t. I’m special and then men that I work with are extremely special. We were built, and I was born, to handle situations the way I do. I’ve always been the type who can be thrown in the fire and make it out. So I was ready six months ago. I was ready a year ago. Any time I’m given an opportunity, I feel I’m ready.
IGN: Your run with The Shield is done now, but you still have the Shield music and the entrance that takes you down through the crowd. Rollins and Ambrose got new theme music. Did you want a new track and a new entrance?
Reigns: No, I enjoy walking through the crowd. I think that’s a cool part of the show. And I think it’s become a bit of a signature trademark of the show. I would think now too that after my whole run with The Shield that the value of those seats have gone up. Before they were just seats. Now you can actually interact. When we would all walk down the steps, there were three guys there right up close. You could touch us. You could smell us. You know what I mean? We were right there. It’s not a common opportunity.
If there’s a certain Superstar who doesn’t want to touch hands, he can just walked down the middle of the entrance ramp and nobody’s close to him. When I’m walking down through the crowd, I have no choice. People are going to grab me. They’ll get a sense of me up close and my real size. So it’s a whole different experience. I’m very grateful to have kept that part. And for me it was an obvious choice. Because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Last night’s Raw was held in the supposedly great state of Texas. Fans in attendance were treated to the return of Mark Henry, as well as an entertaining contest between Dean Ambrose and Alberto Del Rio.
Although John Cena and Brock Lesnar were both notably absent on Sunday, the WWE did their best to promote the SummerSlam main event. As always, a few questions were answered on Monday, but many still remain. Here are five questions that need to be answered following Monday’s Raw.
5. Did Fans Witness the Burial of Cesaro?
It is no secret that the WWE has no idea what to do with Cesaro right now. Once one of the most over superstars in the company, Cesaro has been relegated to minor roles since the return of Brock Lesnar. After failing to join the Authority a few weeks back, Cesaro has been in a slump, once again losing to Dolph Ziggler in a short match on Monday.
There are rumors that Cesaro’s push is being limited because the company wants to focus on pushing Roman Reigns. It makes sense to want to promote a young superstar, but others who got over on their own should not be punished as a result. Let us hope that the company soon finds something for Cesaro instead of wasting his talent.
4. Which Stipulation Will Dean Ambrose Choose?
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins competed in a beat the clock challenge last night, with the winner having the ability to choose the stipulation for their match at SummerSlam. Ambrose won after a long battle with Alberto Del Rio, and also assured Seth Rollins would not win his match with Heath Slater.
The Lunatic Fringe now gets to choose the stipulation at tonight’s SmackDown taping (check in tonight for spoilers if you’re too eager to wait until Friday). He will probably choose something typical like a no-holds barred match, but here’s to hoping he chooses a ladder match for the contract. Which stipulation do you think Ambrose will choose?
The following are highlights of a new Chad Dukes Wrestling Show interview with Batista:
On Roman Reigns and The Shield: “I thought they were pushing him a bit too soon. The guy’s obviously, he’s a huge star, he’s gonna be a huge star. I feel like if they push him out there before he’s ready, it’s gonna put a fizzle on everything, man, I’d just hate to see that. This is just my opinion, but I think they should have kept [the Shield] together a little bit longer. Let ’em have that babyface run just a little bit longer.”
On returning to WWE as a babyface: “I’ll be honest with you, I just don’t want it. I love being a heel, man, you know that. That’s what I love to do, man. I think I’m the guy that people love to boo and I’m okay with that and I love being heel.”
“I’m the worst babyface in the history of wrestling. [Laughs] I’m just not good at it. When you do promos sometimes you gotta say things that people wanna hear instead of telling them things they should hear. You know it’s hard for me to be that guy always saying the politically correct thing. I just don’t like it I’m not comfortable with it.”
Batista recently spoke to Digital Spy as part of his promotional tour for the upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie. During their discussion, Batista offered his comments on a potential return to WWE for CM Punk.
“I know for a fact that he loves professional wrestling. I couldn’t see him taking a step down and wrestling for a lesser organization. Unless he spent some time in Japan, I just don’t see it. I think eventually he’ll come back. I think he belongs there. I think the fans really love him and miss him. I think he loves it and misses it just as much. I’m really not sure why he left. He’ll be back, I would think that he would be back. I think it would be kind of crazy if he didn’t go back.”
Batista also predicted that Roman Reigns will be the first member of The Shield to capture a major title, and said he expects WWE to “push him to the sky.”
When Lebron James made the announcement that he was leaving the Miami Heat to rejoin his home state Cleveland Cavaliers, one couldn’t help but immediately make comparisons to Seth Rollins and WWE’s Shield faction.
James’ choice to leave the Miami Heat can be seen as a way of him turning his back and former teammates Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. In the four years the trio played together, they reached the NBA Finals every year, winning the championship on two occasions. All three took pay cuts in order for the Heat to be able to sign the trio in the summer of 2010. James made his decision then on an ESPN special that made him appear to be a villain, turning his back on Cleveland.
Meanwhile in WWE, fans witnessed the end of the trio of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, collectively known as The Shield. At the conclusion of Raw the night after Payback, Rollins turned his back on Reigns and Ambrose, attacking them with a chair. Rollins aligned himself with Triple H and the Authority. It turned out well for Rollins as he would go on to win the Money in the Bank briefcase at the end of June.
These two scenarios in pro basketball and wrestling are not as similar as the memes and GIFs suggest. In the GIF, James’ head is on Rollins’ body as he attacks Wade (whose face is on Reigns’ body) and Bosh (whose face is on Ambrose’s body) looks on in disgust.
In reality, Wade and Bosh are much more understanding than Reigns and Ambrose. Rightfully so too. Wade and Bosh have both made statements stating that they still consider themselves brothers. Both former teammates understood why James was returning to Cleveland. Not only is that where he began his career, but James is from Ohio. Every NBA player dreams of winning a championship with their home team.
On the other hand, Rollins left The Shield to join the bad guys. He turned heel. James was already a heel. If anything, James signing with the Cavaliers was a babyface turn. He took less money to go home. However, just like how Rollins won the Money in the Bank briefcase in hopes of becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion, James hopes his change leads to some gold as well.
So while the comparisons are fun to discuss and make memes and GIFs out of it, they were very different. James didn’t turn on Wade and Bosh. Rollins turned on Reigns and Ambrose. James, Wade and Bosh will all be happy next year. James will be starting on a team with three other former number one draft picks. Wade and Bosh will see their numbers go up with James out of the picture.
Rollins is going to go face to face against his former teammate, Ambrose, at WWE Battleground. Perhaps, we could see Heat versus Cavaliers during the NBA Playoffs in 2015. Until then, the comparisons will continue.
What are your thoughts on the comparison between Lebron James leaving the Heat and Seth Rollins turning on the Shield? Please share your comments in the section below.
Seth Guttenplan is a math and computer technology teacher for special education students in New Jersey. In his free time, Seth writes about wrestling for Camel Clutch Blog and SEScoops. Follow Seth on twitter @sethgutt