Lets Discuss All Things Wrestling - Even The T-Shirt Company AEW!

[beekay414]

Just now, Mox said:

Clearly they want to give someone a push without taking away from Roman's reign.

[Mox]

7 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

He's the guy I'd pick too.

Think it will probably be Cody or Rollins though.

[beekay414]

1 minute ago, Mox said:

He's the guy I'd pick too.

Think it will probably be Cody or Rollins though.

Hope they save Cody to end Reigns run. 

[Mox]

16 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Hope they save Cody to end Reigns run. 

Kinda doubt they have any plans on Reigns losing to anyone established already if they are introducing a new world title. Though knowing WWE Brock will win it and Roman will have it by 2024.

[StLunatic88]

19 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

You know who I'd really like to get their hands on this new BGB first? Hear me out...

Gunther

He puts on banger after banger after banger and HHH mentioned someone that would earn your respect and acknowledgment while defending the belt all over the world. 

He’d be a great choice. And I think he’s likely headed for one of the main straps soon enough, although I think they want him to break Honky Tonk’s record at this point (feels like they have been over him in the record books for a while now)

But day 455/456 of Gunther’s reign lands on a Friday. So feels like they keep all the belts where they are, giving him a grand coronation, and give the new WHC to Raw (seems like Fox would demand to keep Roman)

-As stated, the obvious choice is Rollins.

-But Bobby would make sense, especially after they screwed up his WrestleMania

-a returning Orton would give the a huge baby face with a top title

-Maybe a returning AJ is similar, would he be ready?

-I’d say this is the spot to give Finn a belt, but unless they flip entire Women’s Division’s in the Draft, feels like JD is headed to Smack Down.

-Is it time to push Theory?

-A makeup for McIntyre?

-Shinsuke is a solid hand to restart with

-If they emphasize “heavyweight” Braun needs to have a run at some point (although they really haven’t before, i.e. Rey)

-Or could this be where they send off Jey Uso? (Would have to accelerate the Bloodline stuff)

-Speaking of, I’d love to watch KO and Sami fight over it. 

-They could always smash the Brock button

But in the end, I’d love to see them strap a rocket to him and give it to Montez Ford. Dude deserves it, he would be a great champion, and it would be a bit surprising to see him go straight from the Tag Division to WHC, without the standard middle step (IC/US) But not unbelievable, especially if they do It as a tournament as they should (since they axed King/Queen of the Ring) and you can build the story through 3/4 rounds. Honestly I’d use this as the breakup of the Tag Team, having them match up in the Finals (unlikely) or Semis. Plus with the Bianca/Montez show shooting, or about to, would look good with both of them carrying around Gold
 

 

I’d be willing to bet this was Hunters original plan for Jay White before Vince/the sale messed all that up

(Please just don’t give it to Edge, Rey, Bray, Corbin, Gargano or Omos)

[StLunatic88]

17 minutes ago, Mox said:

Kinda doubt they have any plans on Reigns losing to anyone established already if they are introducing a new world title. Though knowing WWE Brock will win it and Roman will have it by 2024.

They are clearly holding out till he hits 1000 days on the Universal Title (honestly it’s the only good reason I can come up with why they didn’t pull the trigger at Mania) because Night of Champions falls exactly on 1000 days of his Reign. (Or 1001, depending on how you count the day he won it). 

Wouldn’t be shocked to see them Retire the Universal title on that night, in some Ceremony to Roman, as no one can/has beaten the Tribal Chief for it. It’s a good way to get rid of that title while brining in the new WHC. In a very Territories type way, retiring it as “Roman’s Belt” leaves it with even more prestige than if he drops them and they Unify the two, and also opens it up for anyone to take the WWE Title off of him without this massive streak attached to it (still very long though)

The Universal could also then be another MacGuffin, on top of the Bloodline, to dig up for the eventual Rock/Roman Mania match if they want to (since it’s really always been about that belt, than the actual Bloodline for Roman)

[Dr LBC]

14 hours ago, beekay414 said:

Hope they save Cody to end Reigns run. 

If they want to actually bury Cody, they'll give him that belt.  The belt should either go to someone who Roman hasn't already beaten or did so so long ago that the program has damn near been forgotten.  Honestly, the safest bet may be to almost take it to a reboot of when the Universal Championship was introduced and just end up with the final match for the new belt being Rollins v Finn (except you've got juxtaposed alignments this time).  Of course, with Vince being the one calling the shots (and if Endeavour is willing to put up the money to have him there more often - though it literally makes Haytch promo about having the belt defended more often and not by a part-timer), watch him put it on Lesnar.  SMH  

If Cody gets it, it will cheapen him, the belt... and honestly Roman by knock-on effect, because the whole of Roman's story arch (achieving all this as record-setting heel champion) is only properly paid off by having him falling from grace.  But, of course, Vince wanted "the record," when - in reality and with all due respect to Roman and the massive development he's shown since Vince was shoving him down everyone's throats at the babyface "Big Dog" champion - in the annals of wrestling history, he's not going to be mentioned in the same breath as Hogan or Sammartino, probably more in the Pedro Morales mold (but extrapolate to now from when Morales was one that championship run, and most modern fans have no idea who the hell Pedro Morales was and can't recall a single Morales match).

If the ultimate goal was to separate the belts again, the most logical way to do that is for a benevolent babyface to win them both (completing or catalyzing Roman's story-arc) and then "doing what he felt was right" and turning one of them over.  If you just tell a heel champion who has just built his entire last 3-year program off of being the guy that won and carried both belts that, well, we're just going to take away one of those belts from you and say it no longer counts, and he doesn't go ape-crap crazy management, you've just neutered your big heel champ's heat.  But there's one thing that Vince has shown he's extraordinarily good at the past decade: Tripping over his own johnson.

[StLunatic88]

40 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

If you just tell a heel champion who has just built his entire last 3-year program off of being the guy that won and carried both belts that, well, we're just going to take away one of those belts from you and say it no longer counts, and he doesn't go ape-crap crazy management, you've just neutered your big heel champ's heat.  But there's one thing that Vince has shown he's extraordinarily good at the past decade: Tripping over his own johnson.

This right here is why I think "retiring" the Universal Belt, with some big Acknowledgement ceremony for Roman, is the best way forward. If you just take it away from him, and shelve it, it really cheapens what he has done. But if you make it about his greatness, it feels more special. Possibly even making a (fake) decree, that anyone who holds a Belt for 1000 consecutive days, that they have the option to retire that belt as their own. (because its going to be so rare, they dont really need to worry about it)

I also say this as it would be a great piece for him to hold on to as he/the Bloodline falls apart. Even after the company says they are no longer recognizing it as an official Title Belt, he identifies so much with it that he keeps bringing it out. Maybe he even descends into a "mad king" era where he still wears it, or even makes Hayman carry it for him even after he loses the WWE title. Im just spit-balling there, but he needs something different if he's still going to be around (even as a part timer) And again, Rock trying to take that from him at Mania would be much more personal than any "right" to the Bloodline

Edited April 25, 2023 by StLunatic88

[Dr LBC]

49 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

This right here is why I think "retiring" the Universal Belt, with some big Acknowledgement ceremony for Roman, is the best way forward. If you just take it away from him, and shelve it, it really cheapens what he has done. But if you make it about his greatness, it feels more special. Possibly even making a (fake) decree, that anyone who holds a Belt for 1000 consecutive days, that they have the option to retire that belt as their own. (because its going to be so rare, they dont really need to worry about it)

I also say this as it would be a great piece for him to hold on to as he/the Bloodline falls apart. Even after the company says they are no longer recognizing it as an official Title Belt, he identifies so much with it that he keeps bringing it out. Maybe he even descends into a "mad king" era where he still wears it, or even makes Hayman carry it for him even after he loses the WWE title. Im just spit-balling there, but he needs something different if he's still going to be around (even as a part timer) And again, Rock trying to take that from him at Mania would be much more personal than any "right" to the Bloodline

Thing is, retiring that belt isn't happening as long as Vince has remotely any stroke because, you'll notice, they're bringing back the World Heavyweight Title... not the WWE title - the Universal title is becoming the WWE Universal Championship title - it's Vince's hamfisted 1990's branding (repeat the same catchphrase over and over and over again) encapsulated.

I like the idea in concept, because it elevates that title to something that's almost more than HOF status - it would be the equivalent of an Icon Title, where only guys that rise to a certain strata would even be remotely considered to have a crack at it (and ultimately no one would because by that point Roman would be too old to be deemed a reasonable challenge to defend it).  If you could confirm - and I don't think you could this far out - Rock for next year's Mania and were going to do Rock v Roman - with the other living Icons (guys of symbol of the WWE Universe value) in attendance ringside or part of the match, with the Champion of the WWE Universe status (and that still sounds so Saturday morning cartoonish it's hard to take it seriously) on the line... maybe.  But in that respect, the Universe's champion (which would be hard not to link back to the Rock being "the Peoples' Champion") should realistically be a babyface - and Rock's not working heel against Roman if they could even book the match.  So maybe that's the one instance where you have Rock (or Rock in cooperation with the likes of Austin, Cena, Taker, and Hogan - and this just got beyond convoluted) pulls out the win and has the "the champion doesn't make the universe, Roman; the WWE universe makes the champion" moment.  But that's so hokey it would - and would deserve to be - get utterly panned as a Mania finish.

So the only appropriate way to do that conclusion would be for Roman to legit go through hell to beat Rocky (and I don't have faith in Rocky being able to do a long match) and then having his own realization, come-to-Jesus revelation on the Raw after Mania wherein he chooses to retire the title and anoints the fans/WWE universe as the final/"real" Universal Champion.  Again, hokey, but at least you could probably get a workable Roman face-turn out of it - particularly if it coincided with him getting waxed over by a bunch of heels (not sure you can stretch it that long, but having the Bloodline as the heels that pull the hyenas on Scar moment from the end of Lion King would be fitting - and could cement Solo into Roman's spot).

[bcb1213]

It might be going to solo.  Then it gives them a few months to build a roman vs solo match for the stupid brand vs brand survivor series crap without taking the strap off either

[Mox]

1 hour ago, StLunatic88 said:

I also say this as it would be a great piece for him to hold on to as he/the Bloodline falls apart. Even after the company says they are no longer recognizing it as an official Title Belt, he identifies so much with it that he keeps bringing it out. Maybe he even descends into a "mad king" era where he still wears it, or even makes Hayman carry it for him even after he loses the WWE title. Im just spit-balling there, but he needs something different if he's still going to be around (even as a part timer) And again, Rock trying to take that from him at Mania would be much more personal than any "right" to the Bloodline

This would be extremely interesting.

34 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

So the only appropriate way to do that conclusion would be for Roman to legit go through hell to beat Rocky (and I don't have faith in Rocky being able to do a long match) and then having his own realization, come-to-Jesus revelation on the Raw after Mania wherein he chooses to retire the title and anoints the fans/WWE universe as the final/"real" Universal Champion. 

This sounds terrible.

[Dr LBC]

4 hours ago, Mox said:

4 hours ago, Dr LBC said:

So the only appropriate way to do that conclusion would be for Roman to legit go through hell to beat Rocky (and I don't have faith in Rocky being able to do a long match) and then having his own realization, come-to-Jesus revelation on the Raw after Mania wherein he chooses to retire the title and anoints the fans/WWE universe as the final/"real" Universal Champion. 

This sounds terrible.

It honestly does, but it also sounds like some kind of crap Vince would fap over.    It could actually be salvageable in running that vein and having Roman pull that and then the other members of the BL pull a "WTF?!  It wasn't them that made that title, it was use that made it and kept it for you."  And then they beat the everlovin' excrement out of him.  He(Vince)'s painted himself into a corner wherein he doesn't do anywhere near the long-term planning that he used to (even in the early 90's when the gimmicks and what-not were horrible, at least the company came out of a Wrestlemania with a clear picture of where they wanted to be for the next year's WM - and it wasn't just Hogan goes over, it was Hogan goes over 1 or 2 specific guys they had in mind, plus at least 2 or 3 tertiary grand feuds intended to either build the following year's BBEG/rival for the top champ/Hogan or to build up the babyface who-in said BBEG would go over en route to Hogan).  Right now, we're lucky if Vince and the team even have their preferred Summer Slam main event pegged; Hunter had an idea going, whether or not Vince likes that - or will like it in 2-3 months whether or not he likes it presently, no one has the foggiest.

Honestly, in a way, I'm kind of hoping for Vince to do some shmaltzy stuff that will actually cause Ari Emanuel - or more specifically the other shareholders to whom Emanuel has a fiduciary responsibility - to have and express doubts in Vince as the guy with creative control.  I don't expect that the shareholders can actually stage a hostile takeover and oust Emanuel, but they do still hold a 49% share of TKO, so they can raise enough stink to potentially push McMahon out if they don't see the kind of ROI they believe they should be making.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Dr LBC

[Dr LBC]

4 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

It might be going to solo.  Then it gives them a few months to build a roman vs solo match for the stupid brand vs brand survivor series crap without taking the strap off either

This is hitting on something I'll be curious to see.  Tickets haven't gone on sale for Survivor Series yet, but at least initially, it's been to this point billed as being another Survivor Series: War Games.  And we all know how Vince was a stickler for hating using any concept that he didn't come up with him (or take credit for when someone like Patterson, Corny, Ross, etc. did).

Now, you could certainly still do brand vs brand WarGames; which takes the damn shine off the match, but it would be very Vince, especially since Endeavor has seen the success the one last year brought in terms of media attention, increased buy-rates for Peacock, etc. so they could still push to do that match.

Organically, Cody needs to be in the match and captaining one of the teams - for the most prominent reason because Dusty invented the match which was why Cody was originally trying to get the rights to it when he was with AEW and ended up birthing Blood & Guts instead.  Double-edge to that sword, if this happens, it gets acknowledged right out in the open that not only are they main eventing with a match Vince didn't come up with but the month-plus build up to the match will involved reminding people who actually did invent it.

[Jeezla]

I like it. Definite Big Gold belt vibes.
Walter would be great, but hard to see him losing the IC belt (before he passes Honky Tonk)
Cody will certainly wear it at some point, most likely be the first to hold it.
Hopefully Sami and Drew can get a run with it, but most likely Cody and Seth will be exchanging that prize over the next year. That belt belongs around the waist of Chad Gable, but that will never happen, unfortunately.
Austin Theory will wear it at some point. Steiner almost certainly will in 2 or 3 years.
Maybe Orton, once he's healthy. Have a feeling one of the WrestleMania main events will be Cody vs Seth vs Randy.
Sadly, I don't think I'll get to see KO or AJ get a run with that belt.
If Tony Khan is dumb enough to let MJF get away, MJF will wear that at some point, but I think Tony will pay whatever it takes to keep him there.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Jeezla

[Jeezla]

Could see a scenario where they have Walter as IC champ face Cody as the Heavyweight champ ala Warrior vs Hogan, with both titles on the line. Walter loses, and so they hold an IC title tournament for a new champ while Walter goes on to become a mainstay in the HW/Universal title picture.