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July Wrasslin’ |OT| The Ring’s a Field, the Field of War, That’s Where We Lay the Law

Big One

Banned
With that being said, when Bryan gets back there's no way they're going to put him back on top when he returns, even if he gets the biggest pop ever I'm seeing Bryan as more of a utility guy kind of like Jericho where Vince is just going to shove him into random feuds and programs and make them work. Bryan has always made the programs he's in work really well, so this is the future I'm seeing for him. That is until the fans put Vince on hostage again and demand DB to be the only program on the show.
 
Today was my daughter's birthday so I was offline pretty much the whole day, but imagine my surprise when the first headline I saw on a Twitter was "WWE Diva Emma reinstated". I'm glad she's still around. EmmaDance.gif
 
With that being said, when Bryan gets back there's no way they're going to put him back on top when he returns, even if he gets the biggest pop ever I'm seeing Bryan as more of a utility guy kind of like Jericho where Vince is just going to shove him into random feuds and programs and make them work. Bryan has always made the programs he's in work really well, so this is the future I'm seeing for him. That is until the fans put Vince on hostage again and demand DB to be the only program on the show.

The difference that you guys aren't paying attention to, and missing a lot of the point of why they didn't put him in a top spot in the first place, is that they thought he couldn't draw money.

When they finally put him into a top spot because of insane crowd support not seen this side of the attitude era, Bryan began to become a draw. He was doing better quarter hour ratings than Cena most weeks, sold merch only behind Cena, and his house show numbers were picking up (and they're now in the complete pits without him).

That's why they're going to give him that opportunity again. He's proven he can do business.
 

Verendus

Banned
no way Reigns is going to become the new top star. He doesn't even have a gimmick yet to get over. Reigns will end up being a Randy Orton/Batista kind of guy at best, but we already have both available for that role anyway.
Considering Batista was bigger than Cena between 2005-2006, I think that'd be a good accomplishment. Still a failure overall if only because he wouldn't be the 'top guy' but I think he will be it. Cena sure as hell didn't feel like the 'top guy' back in 2005/2006. Dude was getting shit on and Batista was easily more over. They still pushed him above and beyond infinity until people were forced to accept it. I see no reason why they wouldn't do the same for Reigns. If they want him to be the top star, they'll make him the top star.

Folks may not feel it in 2015, but by 2016/2017, you'll accept Reigns as the top star regardless.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
why would the crowd turn against Reigns? dude gets like 10 minutes of airtime in a 3 hour show. it's been building up perfectly. just add a pumphandle slam, butterfly suplex and a couple of subs and he's set.

Green in the ring, green on the mic, no real character at all. I guess it's possible for him to be the next Goldberg and be over huge despite all of that but it seems like a recipe to have half the crowd turn on him.
 

SoulPlaya

more money than God
Vinny Mac, do not worry baby girl. Mania can always be saved. Remember:

gobryani17a0.gif
Dude, it's over. He'll beat Kane, and that's it.

Back to the US title or something.
 
Green in the ring, green on the mic, no real character at all. I guess it's possible for him to be the next Goldberg and be over huge despite all of that but it seems like a recipe to have half the crowd turn on him.

just ape big Bill's huge moveset, i assume Reigns can do most of it safely:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Goldberg#In_wrestling

as far as mic skills, his character right now is "good looking renegade of few words" so his mic work is passable. at least he doesn't corpse like the midget.
 
i'm just gonna say it, i fucking hate the wet hair on roman reigns. i hate the wet hair look in general. i bet you he'd look x1000 better if he cut it. part of why i give bryan a pass is that atleast he didn't come back from a birth canal. a whole foods, yes, but not a birth canal.

make him have nathan drake's haircut and maybe i'd get behind him more.

yeah yeah yeah, a daniel bryan fan criticizing another person's looks, yadda yadda yadda.

Dude, it's over. He'll beat Kane, and that's it.

Back to the US title or something.

all thanks to your baby boy nonetheless. the straws you must grasp every time loud pyro kills the crowd.
 

Verendus

Banned
Green in the ring, green on the mic, no real character at all. I guess it's possible for him to be the next Goldberg and be over huge despite all of that but it seems like a recipe to have half the crowd turn on him.
Reigns, with Bryan around, is basically Cena in 2005.

That is the perfect way to describe him. Cena was over with the crowds in early 2005. People weren't booing him.

Batista became more popular and headlined with Haitch. They killed it until June. He was the biggest star.

Then the switch happens. Cena comes to Raw, Batista goes to Smackdown.

Then a couple of weeks later throughout his fued with Chris Jericho, the fans just turn on Cena. It's like they just went, 'Fuck this guy, he's not who we want'. Against Jericho who was a glorified mid-carder at the time. Whether that's because the brand split had more effect back then with crowds, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty confident Batista wouldn't have run into that problem since he was still over even after the Cena backlash began.

If Bryan is around and still really over, Reigns will get a backlash if he's given precedence. Unless they somehow make Reigns even more beloved or beloved enough that fans are happy with him in that spot. But something tells me if Bryan is here in January, fans are going to shit on whoever stops him from winning. And if WWE are smart, they should run with it.

It's not going to kill them if they don't pull the trigger on Reigns for 31. He can still be booked strong and it's to their own benefit if they get a couple of big stars. He's still really green in the ring. And WWE has nothing but time. So they should use it in the right way to build up a proper roster of new stars.
 

Gorillaz

Member
Baby Girl(s), he just needs a few more months of work and adding some moves, and then he will be Champion material

Can't fuck with the hair doe, that's signature
tumblr_muldzxOQsN1qmc017o1_500.gif
 

Verendus

Banned
I have to say though, new attires for Reigns and Rollin suck. They look like some cheap shit.

If they were going to stop Rollins and Ambrose from using the Shield gear, they should have left Reigns alone. They made his worse too even though it's the same outfit just with a shitter design.
 

Alucard

Banned
So, will Reigns just fight in combat gear forever, or can we expect him shirtless and in tights in the future?

I like Roman. I think his character is just fine at the moment, although he'll need to feel more relatable at some point.
 
I have to say though, new attires for Reigns and Rollin suck. They look like some cheap shit.

If they were going to stop Rollins and Ambrose from using the Shield gear, they should have left Reigns alone. They made his worse too.
Agreed. Rollins' gear looks less stupid when he has on that jacket/vest or whatever. No clue why they thought adding reflective tape to Roman's gear.
 
I have to say though, new attires for Reigns and Rollin suck. They look like some cheap shit.

If they were going to stop Rollins and Ambrose from using the Shield gear, they should have left Reigns alone. They made his worse too even though it's the same outfit just with a shitter design.

Rollins should be in shinpads and purple shorts, wrist tape.

Reigns should be in shinpads and yellow shorts, wrist tape.

visual examples:

a0c5e8c7.jpg

AJPW031713fp5.png
 

XenoRaven

Member
I don't think Reigns needs more time. Once they have their guy they will just put him in the spot and give him all the highlight moments. It's 2014 and Cena still can't carry a lesser guy to a great match. It doesn't matter how green Reigns is. He will get the experience of being the top guy by being the top guy.

The problem to me is that I think Reigns is more Orton than Cena. So the current strategy of targeting kids and dangling carrots in front of smarks might not work. Something will have to change because I don't think Reigns is selling wristbands to lil Jimmy.

I hope I'm wrong though.
 
Bryan was never considered a long-term WWE champ until the fans pulled a once-in-a-lifetime mutiny at the Rumble, and even that didn't have any effect until 3 weeks before Mania. He gets the worst title reigns that aren't a Nash reign, yet he's still got to be put ahead of more deserving healthy people because if not waaaaaah we'll complain

A post-Bryan WWE can't come soon enough. Time to focus on the present and the future. #Cenation #AllAmbroseEverything
 
I don't think Reigns needs more time. Once they have their guy they will just put him in the spot and give him all the highlight moments. It's 2014 and Cena still can't carry a lesser guy to a great match. It doesn't matter how green Reigns is. He will get the experience of being the top guy by being the top guy.

The problem to me is that I think Reigns is more Orton than Cena. So the current strategy of targeting kids and dangling carrots in front of smarks might not work. Something will have to change because I don't think Reigns is selling wristbands to lil Jimmy.

I hope I'm wrong though.

Yeah, that is one of the areas I see a problem. What is Reigns merch going to look like?

One of the reasons Cena works so well as the "top guy" is because he's Mr. All American Fruity Pebble.
 

XenoRaven

Member
Yeah, that is one of the areas I see a problem. What is Reigns merch going to look like?

One of the reasons Cena works so well as the "top guy" is because he's Mr. All American Fruity Pebble.
Right. Reigns isn't going to be grinning from ear to ear on a cereal box. It doesn't fit.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
Yeah, that is one of the areas I see a problem. What is Reigns merch going to look like?

One of the reasons Cena works so well as the "top guy" is because he's Mr. All American Fruity Pebble.

Agree. Cena could weather half the crowd booing him because he's still selling the most merchandise and making money for the company. I'm not sure how Roman can pull that off.
 

Verendus

Banned
I don't think merchandise matters that much. It's likely a very small amount of money for the WWE. Most of their revenue likely comes from sponsorships, house shows, and licenses and so forth. Even if Reigns isn't selling the most merchandise, as long as he's keeping attendance good, amongst other things, it'll be fine.

I think merch is probably not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Plus, he does wolf howl thing. How hard can it be to start getting him some merchandise centred around a wolf? Shirts, masks, and any amount of crap.
 

Sblargh

Banned
Bryan was never considered a long-term WWE champ until the fans pulled a once-in-a-lifetime mutiny at the Rumble, and even that didn't have any effect until 3 weeks before Mania. He gets the worst title reigns that aren't a Nash reign, yet he's still got to be put ahead of more deserving healthy people because if not waaaaaah we'll complain

A post-Bryan WWE can't come soon enough. Time to focus on the present and the future. #Cenation #AllAmbroseEverything

"You people should like what WWE tells you to like and be happy, damn it!"
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
So going chronologically backwards in WCW I just got my first appearance of HHH (his last in WCW) and after being mentioned for months and on the pre show of a bunch of them finally got to my first Stunning Steve Austin match!

and it's versus Hacksaw....

Fuck.

Then I watched it...it's probably the best Hacksaw match ever! He's still terrible so it's all on Austin. Stro, you don't happen to have a gif of Austin bailing from the ring when Hacksaw swings his 2x4, do you? It's a thing of beauty.
 

XenoRaven

Member
I was a little wary of our Roman Reigns future, but I was thinking. If the former Shield members and the Wyatt family carry the company for the next 10 years then they are going to have to actually try to put out a bad product.
 
friends, keeping in line with the Goldberg comparisons, all the man did was scream at the camera

iNECz3w2TpNXJ.gif


and they still managed to make a shitload of merch out of him. Reigns will move merch, don't worry.
 
I was a little wary of our Roman Reigns future, but I was thinking. If the former Shield members and the Wyatt family carry the company for the next 10 years then they are going to have to actually try to put out a bad product.

A lot of people thought the same when Orton, Cena, Batista, Rey, and a ton of others were getting their due ten years ago.

Eventually you get sick of it.
 
friends, keeping in line with the Goldberg comparisons, all the man did was scream at the camera

iNECz3w2TpNXJ.gif


and they still managed to make a shitload of merch out of him. Reigns will move merch, don't worry.

Different era. Ryback sold merch at some point too. Characters like that have a short shelf life. Hell, Goldberg was never the same once he was beat either.
 

Man God

Non-Canon Member
Stro has the Hacksaw shaking his head gif from this match at Halloween Havoc 1994 but not Austin's awesome bailing from the ring.
 
I was a little wary of our Roman Reigns future, but I was thinking. If the former Shield members and the Wyatt family carry the company for the next 10 years then they are going to have to actually try to put out a bad product.
Most people don't see it like this though. They read that Roman is gonna be the next Cena and automatically think that Dean, Seth and The Wyatt Family are going to be ignored to focus 100% attention on Roman.
 
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