It has been far too long, boys and girls. I do apologise, but life has been fairly hectic lately with college and a new writing medium, and several other changes in between but I won’t bore you with the details. Assuming you’re reading this the day it goes up, Hell in a Cell is tonight, and though I haven’t been watching Raw and Smackdown from cover to cover lately, I’m fairly up to speed with all of the goings-on in the WWE. I’ll leave it to my esteemed cast of colleagues here at SLTD Wrestling to bring you predictions, because I guarantee I’d make a right bugger’s muddle out of it if I tried (I feel genuinely un-Irish after typing that, I’m so sorry).
This week, something happened that I have been chomping at the bit to see for well over a year; Tyler Breeze made his debut on Friday Night Smackdown and tore Dolph Ziggler a new oesophagus, albeit as the new flavour of the month on Summer Rae’s palate. As a huge fan of Breeze and NXT, it upset me to see names like Neville, Kevin Owens, Adam Rose, Kalisto, The Ascension and even Sami Zayn get their main roster debuts when Tyler Breeze was still slumming it in the undercard of the developmental brand.
He’s here now though, and that’s all that matters, and I really hope that WWE have got something to keep him relevant for longer than they did with some of the more recent NXT acquisitions. A rivalry with Dolph Ziggler would be exquisite, considering the two men look alike, and showcase the same cockiness both in and out of the ring. It would also make Ziggler look like a top star if he was the one to break in the new breed. Similarly to how John Cena put over Kevin Owens in his debut.
The way I see it (and if you’re reading this after Hell in a Cell, I could be about to predict the future, go me), with John Cena taking time off, whether to pursue other entertainment means, enjoy some time off the road or simply to find out why every fucking vine he watches ends with his theme song and name being screamed at him, there’s going to be a void in the upper mid-card with the United States Championship in question.
Which is why Tyler Breeze should be the one to answer the open challenge at Hell in a Cell. It’s the only logical explanation, unless you want to really throw people for a loop and bring back the Brooklyn Brawler, but ratings are bad enough as it is. In all seriousness, it could easily be someone like Finn Bálor, but I personally think Bálor should stay as far away from John Cena as humanly possible for at least three quarters of a year after his debut.
WWE loves to rush things, establish someone in a few weeks and say “This guy is great! Let’s feed him to Cena immediately!” and let that be the end of it before booking Randy Orton vs. John Cena at the next Pay-Per-View, but in the interest of creating a future face of the WWE, Finn Bálor needs to get the fuck out of dodge if he even breathes the same air as John Cena until he’s at least captured a mid-card title or a big-time rivalry win or two.
It makes more sense for Cena to go toe-to-toe with Tyler Breeze. Dolph Ziggler was supposed to be feuding with Cena for the United States Title before rumours of the champ’s November absence hit the internet, so it would seem that Breeze was brought up to give Mr. Ziggles something to do in the meantime. In that case, put the title on Breeze and let their rivalry become more interesting. It could equally be Ziggler challenging Cena tonight, but it would do way more for a young upstart like Tyler Breeze to do what Kevin Owens did, and more in his debut, taking the US Title away from the biggest star in the industry.
Tyler Breeze brings something to the table that you don’t see every day. He’s got this incredibly outlandish gimmick that would naturally hinder a man’s career from propelling him to the top, but the toughness he brings to the ring is the antithesis of that, and those two contrasting personas just match together so well. Breeze has competed in some of NXT’s most jaw-dropping competitions, and while some will pin him as the love child of Billy Gunn and Dolph Ziggler himself, I personally look no further than the ‘Heartbreak Kid’ himself, Shawn Michaels, when looking for a comparison to Breeze. The only difference is decades from now, provided WWE doesn’t give him the shaft, people will look at new stars and say “that kid’s the next Tyler Breeze”. *drops the mic*
*awkwardly picks the mic back up* Thanks for reading, folks, it means a lot. If you could share this piece on Twitter and Facebook and the like, that’d be swell, and you can also join the conversation in the comments below.
Also, if you could check out some of my work on WhatCulture.com, that’d be amazing too, just click here. My future as a weekly writer for SLTD is up in the air at the moment, mostly due to college. I think I’ll just have to write as often as I can more than anything, which could occasionally be several weeks in between, unfortunately, but I’m still and admin and an editor, so I’m still an SLTD guy, don’t worry.
If you happen to want to speak with me personally, I’m on Twitter @AdamOB_UTS for all your wrestling, writing or general discussion queries if you want to give me a cheeky follow and start a conversation. Other than that, please do support the boys and girl here on the SLTD roster, because they’re a lovely bunch and they work hard.
Thanks for checking in!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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