By the time you read this, I’ll be a year older. Yup. It’s my birthday today (29 December). I’m *cough*4 today. For 80-90% of my life, I’ve loved wrestling. So today, I’ll take a look at some of my hopes for WWE in 2017. Let’s get to it.
WrestleMania 33 is the last for the veterans
It’s sad to say, but there’s only so long that WWE can continue to rely on their legends and HOF’ers to sell Mania. However, that time might be coming close and there’s 2 reasons for that – the WWE Network and the fact that WrestleMania is now so huge that they don’t specifically need legends to sell the whole week’s festivities.
First off, let’s deal with the Network. Since its launch nearly 3 years ago, the vast percentage of WWE fans have watched PPVs via the Network. Less hardcore fans will buy the occasional PPV and for those who don’t fall into either category, they’ll continue to source their material by umm.. means which may stray on the wrong side of legal. We’ve all done it!
Because WWE already have the money from those who subscribe to the Network, they don’t really need to persuade people to buy a one-off PPV for £25/$60. They already have the money in the bank (no pun intended). So there’s less reason for them to rely on legends to “sell” the show.
Yes, it’s all well and good to see guys like H-B-Shizzle, Stone Cold, Mick Foley, The Rock etc. rolled out at the biggest show of the year, but there’s no REAL reason to be here. In fact, there’s even less reason for a couple of others to be there – specifically HHH and sadly, the Undertaker. Let’s deal with the beak first.
HHH – long-time readers will know my feelings on him. I even touched on it last week. What I’m trying to say here is that as prolonged and successful as his career has been, when it comes to WrestleMania, he just can’t quite cut it. His 15-minute entrances disguise the fact that aside from his trilogy with the Undertaker, he’s never had that “moment” at Mania and in my opinion, just isn’t a huge draw.
Since WrestleMania 12, H has appeared at virtually every other WrestleMania (injuries aside). If you discount every match with Taker, the others he’s had just haven’t been good enough – Batista, Orton, Cena, Bryan, Sting, Lesnar, Jericho etc. That’s shocking for a man who calls himself “The Game”.
This year, if he faces Rollins (as speculated), it should be his last. He should do the favours and call it a day at Mania. His focus should be on continuing to do the fantastic job he’s done with NXT so far.
And then there’s the Deadman. The ultimate legend. The man who JR (I think?!) named the conscience of the WWE. He’s now at a stage where it isn’t fair to expect a man of his age to put all his eggs in the Mania basket. He runs the risk of tarnishing his legacy if he continues to go when he can’t.
If, and it’s a big if, he comes back this year, that should be it. Retire at Survivor Series and be done with it. There’s a lot of talk about whether AJ Styles or John Cena would be the most appropriate opponent for him this year. If you judge a match purely by star power, then right now he should go against Cena.
However, if you’re talking about making someone and a match quality standpoint, it should only be Styles. At this stage in their WWE careers, Styles needs it more than Cena and to be honest, if it were Cena and Taker did the favours, it’d just be another stick for the Cena-haters to beat him with.
There are now enough guys on the roster who are good enough all-round performers where WWE shouldn’t feel the need (whether it’s driven by ego or loyalty) to roll these old guys out when to be honest, they should be focussing on new stars.
A post-WrestleMania draft
WrestleMania is traditionally the place where feuds end and the following night is where the year re-starts. In 2017, I’d like to see there be a WWE draft the night after WrestleMania. Yes, it’ll be on RAW but get all the wrestlers there and reboot the brands again to give both teams the year to work with their rosters and build towards next year’s show of shows.
For me, the majority of the brands should stay the same. Star NXT picks for the main roster would be (in no particular order) Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, The Revival and the Glorious One – Mr Robert Roode.
I’d put Roode, Nakamura and The Revival on SmackDown and position them as the new breed. Give the Revival the belts straight off, put Roode against Cena and Nakamura vs Styles.
Over on RAW, let Joe do what Joe does – kick f***ing ass. Don’t put him at the top of the card straight away. Just let him run roughshod through the roster to the point where the fans are DYING for him to get “that” shot.
Put Asuka in that women’s division on RAW and freshen things up. There’s only so long we can watch the Bayley/Sasha/Charlotte triumverate go at it before it gets old. Adding Asuka to the mix brings a different style to the main roster, and gives one of the other three the chance to take a sustained rest – specifically Charlotte. She’s been great but she’ll get burned out before long and it’d be best long-term.
Turn Roman Reigns Heel
I’ve gone on record before as saying that Roman Reigns gets a lot of s**t that he doesn’t deserve – especially from fans who like to model themselves as keyboard warriors and those who think it’s funny to boo him to get themselves over.Because there are so many people who seemingly want to boo him, maybe it’s time to give the clowns what they want and turn the big man heel. Maybe then people would get off his back?
To me, he’s a natural heel. The way he moves and carries himself lends him to being in that role. It would give him the freedom to learn his craft without the pressure of trying to force people to like him. Reigns will be a huge star – there’s no 2 ways about it. And the best way to ensure that long-term is to turn Reigns and just let him go.
Everything you see about Reigns makes you believe that, as s**t as his catchphrase is, he will be (and is in some people’s eyes) – the guy. If you want people to accept that, let it be natural. Give them what they want now and in time (like they did with the Rock), the people will turn Reigns and he will be a complete and utter megastar. He has it all. Get with the programme people.
Put the Cruiserweights on SmackDown
For me, if this division is to thrive whatsoever, then they need to be on SmackDown. It’s as simple as that.
The new 205 Live show is taped after SmackDown and knowing that, there’s been a wee bit of a disconnect for me with them currently being “showcased” on RAW. It’s just not the right fit.
Putting them on SmackDown would add to the blue brand’s resurgence over the summer and to be honest, they’d likely get more respect and appreciation on Tuesdays. It’d be a better fit all round, and easier to promote during SmackDown. They can build angles on SmackDown with the pay-offs on 205 Live, or vice versa.
Let’s be clear – SmackDown is the wrestling show, much like it was back in the day with Paul Heyman running things. To give the cruiserweights any chance whatsoever, they need to move to the blue brand.
That’ll wrap things up for this week, and for 2016. Have a brilliant, drunk New Year and we’ll see you back here on SLTD in 2017. Huge things are coming. Be prepared.
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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