NJPW REPOTO: Road To Invasion Attack 2015

As Wrestlemania weekend took hold of sunny California, across the Pacific an NJPW event took place and was broadcast via the New Japan World streaming service. Not a mind blowing happening, but The Road to Invasion Attacks was a nice hint of the action that lay in wait 1 week later along with some nice development for its newer talent. Despite the show being in low broadcast production mode (no commentators, limited camera angles) a lot of the action spoke fine for itself and didn’t suffer as a result.

Here’s a rundown of the show.

Tiger Mask and Sho Tanaka VS The Young Bucks

This was another match pairing one of the young talents Tanaka with a veteran, Tiger Mask. The Young Bucks put Tanaka through his paces, hitting plenty of high spots. One involved a backbreaker on Tanaka, held in place while the other Buck slingshotted himself over the ropes to hit a leg drop. The Young Bucks ended the match by landing a tombstone piledriver assisted by an extra push after a leap off the top turnbuckle for the pin.

Mascara Dorada and Captain New Japan VS Cody Hall and Kenny “The Cleaner” Omega

This was a nice match featuring the two newest members of the Bullet Club, and a chance for Hall to get more experience of his own as opposed to being lost in the shuffle among a group of 3 or 4 Bullet Club members. It also featured the combatants who will compete in a singles match for the IGWP Jr. Heavyweight championship at Invasion Attack. Hall had an impressive outing, putting on an offensive that revolved around his size with lots of boots to his opponents. Captain New Japan seemed positioned to take the fall, but experience maintained its role as the determining factor and the babyfaces won when The Captain hit a sudden roll up on Hall from a downed position for the pin. He seemed more surprised than anyone else to get the victory.

Satoshi Kojima, Tenzan, and Ryohei Komatsu VS Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, and Ryusuke Taguchi

This multiman tag team match did not hold much perspective on the Invasion Attack card, but it did feature one of the other up and comers, Ryohei Komatsu in action. It also featured two tag teams with a classic feud going back to the early 2000’s in Kojima and Tenzan on one side, and Nagata and Nakanishi on the other. During the match, Nagata and Nakanishi brought back some nostalgic battle cries from their prime as a team. Kojima and Tenzan showed no signs of dissension following the verbal and physical hostility that arose between them during the New Japan Cup shows. At one point, Ryohei got Taguchi into a crab submission and when Nakanishi appeared on the ring apron to break things up, the rookie hit a running boot to knock the veteran down. Taguchi hit plenty of rear-end based offense, eventually landing a finishing maneuver in which he lifts Komatsu from behind with both arms hooked, and then plants him facedown with a sit out slam to pick up the pin fall victory.

INTERMISSION……

As intermission set in, a series of promotional videos ran on a wide screen suspended above the ring entrance, which a camera honed in on and remained settled for the duration of the break. Among the content was a commercial for the New Japan World service…still 999 yen per month; interesting to see how this indispensable product is advertised in its native environment. The videos began with a pre-taped clip of Bullet Club’s Anderson and Luke ‘Doc’ Gallows welcoming the challenge of The Kingdom, with the two teams facing off a week later at Invasion Attack. Anderson made some lewd references to Kingdom valet, and Mike Bennet’s wife, Maria, as Gallows made sufficiently creepy tongue gestures. The Kingdom, being the team of Bennet, Matt Taven, and Maria Kanelis, fired back with their own prerecorded promo, talking about the victories they have achieved in Ring of Honor over the Young Bucks and, at the ROH 13^th Anniversary Show, one half of the Bullet Club in a 3 way tag team match that included the Addiction (Anderson represented the Bullet Club on his own, as Gallows had flight troubles keeping him from the show. A Roppongi Vice video also played, with the duo speaking of their penchant for embracing the city’s night life. In fact, the details of these videos were hard to discern due to a rather lacking sound quality, but for the benefit of those in the arena, and as a plus for those practicing Japanese at home, the Caucasian promos were subtitled. There was also a commercial for a mobile phone NJPW game, trading card game sets (Goto was in a shop buying them from store clerk Taguchi), a NJPW theme song CD (I wonder if the fact that these could be played when the audio for ring entrances is yanked off World for copyright reasons was a selling point?), an animated commercial for NJPW themed collectible mame-shiba (which translates as something like mini bean puppies) figures featuring Tanahashi and Nakamura, an ad for NJPW themed stamps for the LINE social networking APP featuring Toru Yano…And in case you missed any of that, they cycled through the entire rundown at least once more.

                                                                                                                     

Hiroki Goto and Kazuyori Shibata and Tomoaki Honma vs Karl Anderson and Luke ‘Doc’ Gallows and Toma Tonga

The announcement of this matchup held some promise of tension between Shibata and Honma, which was the story of their previous match on the last New Japan Cup show against Hall and Tonga. They remained on the same page throughout the match, though; perhaps Goto had sat them down and laid down some ground rules before the match. Tonga seemed like the ideal candidate for taking the loss, and he held true the role, although Honma could’ve also conceivably pinned to help make Anderson and Gallows look strong for their title defense against Ring Of Honor team The Kingdom at Invasion Attack.

The NJPW representatives got the advantage on Tonga. Honma went for his kokeshi headbutt off the top turnbuckle and missed, but Shibata followed up with the running penalty kick to a seated Tonga to pick up a pinfall victory for his team. During the match Honma had turned things around at one point with a crowd pleasing diving headbutt into Gallows, who was running off the ropes. There was also good chemistry between Honma and Anderson and it occurred that could be a very fun match; maybe during the next G1 Climax tournament. After the match tempers did flare between Shibata and Honma resulting in some shoving. Potential lies for the two of them to have a dynamic match as well.

Tomohiro Ishii, Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, and Ropongi Vice (Rocky Romero and Trent Barreta) Vs Togi Makabe, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Naito, and Time Splitters (KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley)

A couple of stories were unfolding amidst this rather packed multiman tag team match. The most tension would arise in the conflict between Ishii and Makabe, still feuding over the Never Openweight Title. Yano has gotten the better of Tanahashi, pinning him twice in a row in singles and tag team matches. And the match was an introduction to the newly formed tagteam of Romero formerly in Forever Hooligans) and Barreta, going under the name Ropongi Vice plus an official acknowledgment that the pair are wrestling as a part of the CHAOS faction. This was a very busy match, in which not a lot stood out. The lack of camera angles prevented lot of the action around the ring and outside of it from getting seen clearly. Ropongi Vice came to the ring to a funky hip hop tinged theme song that Romero apparently produced himself, previewing it earlier on the Talkin’ Shop podcast he hosts with Karl Anderson and ‘Doc’ Gallows. Yano pulled off a series of the irritating offensive on Tanahashi that has characterized their recent matches, namely grabbing Hiroshi’s hair from behind and yanking him to the mat when he attempted to run the ropes. Four of the members of CHAOS hit a powerful sequence of moves into Togi Makabe as the former Neverweight champion was in the corner, after which current champ Ishii hit him with a big powerbomb.

There was a lot of action between Time Splitters and Roppongi Vice featuring double teaming techniques. Things ended when Barreta held KUSHIDA in a suspended backdrop position, allowing Romero to hit a drop kick to KUSHIDA’s side, followed by Baretta dropping down and driving KUSHIDA’s head into the mat with legs hooked

 for the pinfall victory. Afterwards, Makabe and Ishii exploded into a physical confrontation that had to be broken up. Their feud will apparently continue into the foreseeable future, with both of them on either side of a six man tag team match on Invasion Attack.

Gedo, YOSHI HASHI, and Kazuchika Okada VS Yujiro Takahashi, ‘Bad Luck’ Fale, and AJ Styles

Here was a match-up between the two main factions of NJPW: CHAOS and the Bullet Club. It served as a precursor to Okada’s rematch against Fale, after losing to ‘Underboss’ in the opening round of the New Japan Cup ; that followed numerous interactions in tag team combinations, with Okada never managing to pin his towering adversary. It also gave a look at IWGP Heavyweight champion AJ Styles before he defends his title at Invasion Attack against Kota Ibushi. With Gedo having a far leser in-ring role than his partners, spending more time performing as a spokesman for Okada (and in the behind the scenes, determining the direction of the company) he was a shoe-in for the man to take the fall in this bout. Sure enough, Gedo took the Styles Clash from AJ for the Bullet Club to pick up the win and AJ to look strong heading toward his upcoming battle with Ibushi. Afterwards, AJ took the mic and asserted his, as well as Fale’s dominance at Invasion Attack. Often keeping a low profile as Anderson does the talking, this promo proved AJ to be quite assured and confident on the mic.

After Thoughts

Overall this was an entertaining show that moved at a brisker pace than many of the earlier ‘road to’ shows I’ve seen. The number of matches did not seem overwhelming, and there were not too any instances of matches being so overstuffed with wrestlers on either side that keeping track of who’s who becomes a nuisance. It was nice to have only one match with more than 3 wrestlers per team, and all of the matches contained one or more stories, thus a reason for happening.

A more clearly defined landscape has been emerging, in which you have NJPW talent and the two factions of the Bullet Club and CHAOS. Bullet Club is still the out and out heel group with CHAOS embracing some ‘in between’ tendencies. Yano, Nakamura, and the added CHAOS all have some heelish-ness to their tactics, to varying degrees, although the members of the group are too beloved to be booed. There is an interesting triangular dynamic of all 3 of these groups being embroiled with 1 another: Okada (CHAOS) going at it with Fale (Bullet Club), Tanahashi (NJPW) and Yano (CHAOS), and the teams of Goto/Shibata (NJPW) and Anderson/Gallows (Bullet Club).

It is interesting to see the ‘special attraction’ effect with wrestlers like Ibushi and Sakuraba not appearing regularly. In the case of Ibushi, though, if his other gig is the extreme wrestling based DDT promotion, I would much rather see him focusing his energy on NJPW so he could attain the greatest heights possible and reduce risk of injury.

I wonder about Nakamura and the apparent lack of a one-on-one program going into Invasion Attack. At once Ibushi seemed as though he would challenge for a rematch until he chose to use his New Japan Cup win to challenge Styles. With Okada taking on a diminished status coming out of Wrestle Kingdom, I wondered if Nakamura may be suited to lead a charge against the Bullet Club in a contest between the two factions to wipe the other out. Perhaps Naito will step up as the next challenger to Nakamura’s Intercontinental title. Both of them were on opposing sides of a match tonight and will face each other in the six man tag team match at Invasion Attacks. Naito seems to need a bit of something to make him feel like a truly major player, but he definitely has the potential, with a little tweeking, to challenge for a major title again.

Stay tuned for a preview of the Invasion Attack show April 5 and a report following the event.

Twitter: @MondocurryMARK

The Good, The Bad, The Weird: Wrestlemania 31

Let’s try something new, a format that I’ve been meaning to give a go in some form or other: relatively rapidfire rundowns of shows divided into sections representing what was good, what was not, and what was weird, which in the pro wrestling game can translate to anything from transcendent to terrible. It is hard, after all, not to comment on the  rather memorable show that was this year’s Wrestlemania.

THE GOOD

Kidd and Cesaro VS The Usos VS Los Matadores VS The New Day

This was an OK way to start the show, and by that I mean kick off the pre-show. There was noticeably less production on this than during Wrestlemania proper. There were a lot of well put-together spots and Cesaro really looked impressive with very strong looking offense (no Giant Swing though), picking up the pin for his team.

7 Man Ladder match for the intercontinental Chanmpionship

There were no problems here as everyone worked cohesively to put together a match filled with impressive spots. Cody Rhodes is really coming to own the Stardust gimmick and knows how to work the over the top spaceman character. I am coming to see the case for him being distanced from Gold Dust and taking over the role.  After weeks and weeks of damage, Bad News Barrett finally got a good showing, batting opponents around with a broken off part of an outside ladder and later, landing impressive looking Bullhammer forearm shots to knock Bryan and Ziggler off course from picking up the belt. The end sequence of Bryan being faced by a possessed Ziggler that had raced up the ladder to engage the fan favorite in an intense headbutt battle (inspiration from Ishii, Makabe, and Honma of NJPW?) was quitethe amazing visual. Bryan coming out on top felt just right, in a move that will hopefully give some stability and stature to the title.

Randy Orton VS Seth Rollins

This was an extremely athletic exhibition. The first big spot of the match was one of my favorites, in which Orton performed a double draping DDT onto J and J Security from the ring apron onto the floor. Rollins’ aerial maneuvers were second to none. The final spot in which Orton popped up from a Curb Stomp attempt and RKO’d Rollins in the air for the win was amazing, but almost looked too unreal for me. While it was good, I thought the bout with the most pent up aggression leading up to it should have been longer and filled with more grueling exchanges between the two opponents.

AJ Lee and Paige VS The Nikki Bella and Brie Bella

This was an OK match that I didn’t have much to say about. It was good to see AJ and Paige stay on the same…you know, as they make more sense as allies than opponents. Not much time was given to this match and it still paled in comparison to the hard fought battles being shown in the women’s division of NXT.  On the other hand, it seemed like there could be a tease of some tension between the Bellas, with Brie being knocked to the floor and unable to make a save when AJ put the Black Widow submission on Nikki and got the tap out victory for her team.

John Cena VS Rusev

This was a good match. There were a lot of impressive moves and the pacing was better than some of the other big matches on the card. Lana worked some subtle comedy heel moves with her high...heels being tossed in the vicinity of the wrestlers as Cena had a submission locked on Rusev. Rusev’s entrance props were great, particularly the tank. The video before Cena came out was pretty ham-fisted and the fact that Cena still couldn’t shake the widespread boo’s despite the patriotic backdrop seemed to discourage him before the match, or maybe that was just my imagination. I really think it’s time for WWE to start thinking of moving him out to a lighter schedule, special occasion status as other wrestlers move up the roster. In the meantime, his win over Rusev with an FU after Rusev collided with Lana who was up on the ring apron teases at the possibility of Rusev going solo, perhaps taking on a more serious demeanor while Cena could also bring some stability to the US championship.

The Rock and Ronda Rousey confront Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

This was a fantastic exchange. Matches should, as I’ll get into later, be serious for the most part. The bonus material is the chance to let it all hang out. Nobody is better at doing that than The Rock. I would much rather see The Rock in a periphery role that emphasizes his dynamic talking skills than a high profile match situation with current wrestlers who ought to be able to beat him. The involvement with Rousey was also great. As a non-follower of real fighting, I had not been all that familiar with the UFC star. She completely blew me away with her poise in the ring. Stephanie also played up her obnoxious ‘talk herself into a predicament’ persona and the interplay between her and Triple H was also very natural. Credit to Hunter, he seems to have a knack for this role where he plays the worn down, reluctant fighter who has to stand up for his wife even though he wishes she would stop getting them into these jams wit her unrelenting trash talk, although it may be a bit stereotypical. This opened the door to many future possibilities, including Triple H VS Rock at next year’s Wrestlemania, which would be just fine with me. Keep Rock out of an incredulous program with Lesnar and guarantee some great promos along the road to WM 32.

Bray Wyatt VS The Undertaker

This was good. Undertaker’s limitations are apparent, though. I don't think it was necessarily bad for Wyatt to lose, it all depends what they do with him afterwards. He needs a solid feud with a substantial back and forth in the main event picture. Something that extends beyond him doing abstract promos. As far as in-ring work, I feel like many have given up Wyatt but I still find him to be compelling in the ring as well as outside of it. Those quickly snapped off Sister Abigail’s looked just great. The Tombstone finish was a bit clunky but a decent enough finish. Perhaps a stiff looking punch before hitting it might’ve made it come off a bit more convincingly. I think the highlight of the match, aside from the Sit Up VS Handstand moment, was the exchange of punches between the two; looked very high impact.

Brock Lesnar VS Roman Reigns

The physicality in this match did not disappoint. Brock tossed Reigns around with the brutality that only he could bring. Reigns did a very good job in his own right selling an enormous beating and coming back in convincing fashion with a flurry of kicks and punches, plus the well placed Spears. I would have been disappointed with a Reigns victory but I would have taken it too after this display. I still think Reigns’ expressions are awkward. The laughing for instance…I get the idea, that the beating is so bad that all he could do is insanely laugh at the pain, but it looked detached. I didn’t really buy it at first. Now there is a chance to rebuild Reigns with a character better suited to him; hopefully the crowd pleasing jokester path is abandoned. The blood pouring from Lesnar’s head also added immense dramatic effect. As for Rollins’ involvement? A surprise, absolutely. Questionable for sure. But it did make for a compelling story with a very talented performer on top in the end and many possible programs coming out of it. I will talk about that a bit more below.

THE BAD

Not a lot to put in this category, which is a sign of a good show, but I will put one blatant offender squarely in this category.

Triple H VS Sting

This in my opinion was the worst! I am unwavering in my disappointment with this match and had an admittedly whiny twitfit about it right in the middle of the match. I will also acknowledge this match got a huge positive response with many in the crowd, but I will still break down why it had so many earmarks of bad wrestling.

1. This match was established long ago as the result of Sting playing the role of vigilante avenger, stopping Triple H and the Authority from abusing power and firing several wrestlers. This was completely ignored in the course of this match.

2. When Sting finally spoke, he disregarded the notion of this being about WWE against WCW, which truly is a dated and silly basis for a match. It was completely about WWE and WCW in the course of this match.

3. Convenient made up stipulations = they are just making this shit up as they go along. That’s my sentiment when DX shows up and the announcers play it off like ‘oh yeah, this is a no DQ match.’ Since when? I’m not sure, but I am fairly certain there had been no talk whatsoever of this match being no disqualification up until that point.

4. Characters who are great friends both in kayfabe AND storyline suddenly had a need to fight each other. People who don’t like each other are suddenly pals. When DX came out to support Hunter, it made sense. The NWO arriving made zero sense. Here comes the group that tried to run WCW into the ground out to stand in support of it, fifteen years later. Here’s Hogan who has been red and yellow since I don’t know how long suddenly just happens to be wearing his NOW t-shirt and hanging out with Hall and Nash. I understand the role of nostalgia, but not at the cost of any logic whatsoever, including the logic the match was initially built on.

5. Sting lost. I would actually be OK with this if it was a decent match. But he loses after a joke of an interference-filled match and now you can do what with him? Plus he shakes the hand of the victor who blasted him with a sledgehammer. This may be viewed as an ode to WWE defeating WCW to please the megalomaniac Vince McMahon, but in fact it embodied the worst elements of WCW’s shoddy booking.

THE WEIRD

Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royale

This was OK but was peppered with some odd decisions. The sudden inclusion of all of the wrestlers who had JUST fought in the 4-way tag team match for one. Couldn’t six other guys have been found to put in this match, instead of making the tag team match seem like it was completely insignificant? It was great to see Hideo Itami in there. Even if he didn’t go all the way til the end, I was able to isolate him in the ring and see him pull off some tremendous kicks on several other entrants. Seeing him square off with Cesaro at the start hinted at a great potential match. The showdown between Miz and Mizdow was no surprise; it’s timing was what landed the match in this section. Why would they break down right before a final showdown with a huge obstacle like the Big Show? Well, OK, belief suspended, sometimes emotion overtakes logic. And Mizdow coming close to eliminating Big Show but not quite getting the job done was realistic. But why give Big Show the win among all these guys when he has not been doing anything noteworthy lately? Again, it’s disingenuous to suddenly tack on this story of The Big Show striving for his first battle Royale win when there was no mention of it on RAW or elsewhere leading up to the night. This could have been an opportunity to add prestige to a new star. Oh, and putting Big Show over Cesaro in the same spot as last year, only this time, Cesaro can’t lift up Big Show for the body slam? Sure, it may seem like a clever call back to last year’s battle royale, but it’s depressing when you think about it. Feels like we only go backwards.

Brock Lesnar VS Roman Reigns VS Seth Rollins (in Triple Threat Match after Money in the Bank briefcase is cashed in DURING the main event)

Although this was mentioned before as a highlight, the transformation of the match into a triple threat competition in the middle of it definitely wasn’t 100 percent kosher. In my last post exploring different possible outcomes of the main event, I mentioned this as one of them, kinda, imagining Rollins cashing in and taking title froma beaten up Lesnar after he had defeated Reigns. I suggested it could happen because of the novelty of being the first Money in the Bank cash in during a Wrestlemania, but considered it very unlikely because of it potentially devaluing the status of the Wrestlemania main event, and possibly the win itself. I guess WWE went with the former of those two thought processes. I could not foresee the briefcase coming into play during the match, and for good reason. It had never been done before. And in previous cash-in’s, the referee has checked on the champion to make sure they had some semblance of awareness before ringing the bell. That brings into question whether interrupting a match with the Money In The Bank Contract really makes sense. I think in the end, I could allow some room for creative license.

There are some other reasons the decision works for me. The way things are going for Rollins, it is conceivable that he will have more Wrestlemania main events in his future where he will be able to score a legitimate win. It also serves as a very crucial save from what seemed to be a very calculated campaign to put Reigns at the very top of the company, a position which he truly doesn’t seem cut out for, at least not yet. I acknowledge that WWE can’t come right out and say ‘we screwed up and we are going to change’ when these sorts of missteps take place, so I always appreciate seeing course correction when it is needed. This also keeps a very hot Brock Lesnar, whom fans have been bursting at the seams to get behind as an aggressive babyface, as a highly sought after attraction. He still has not been pinned and now he has been unjustly dethroned. This puts him on a path toward vengeance that fans, myself included, will absolutely clamor for. And without breaking up this very effective pair of Lesnar and Heymanm

 So there it is. Let me know what you think and throw down your own good, bad, and weird choices in the comments below.

twitter: @Mondocurrymark

Road to Wrestlemania SPECIAL UPDATE: Brock-a-Mania

Was going to let things ride til Wrestlemania but with the recent and somewhat surprising development of Brock Lesnar announcing his decision to re-sign his contract with the WWE, I’m going to devote some space to teasing out some different possible scenarios that could play out in the main event of Wrestlemania this coming Sunday, March 29.

But first, I’m going to draw a bit of attention to something I just did on here while this past Monday’s RAW was airing, which I think is pretty cool. A fantasy scenario struck in my mind that had Wrestlemania ending with Roman Reigns going over Lesnar to win the Heavyweight championship, but maintaining his currently questionable audience support by getting the win amid a surprise Shield reformation. The idea came off so clean in my head, my brain just kept on going, developing the events that would set this in motion, the reaction on the RAW after Wrestlemania, and some of the aftermath. It seems particularly unnecessary with Brock now a lock for WWE’s future, and the notion of WWE booking Reigns as the winner much less a certainty that it might’ve been before. Yet, I’m still fairly interested in seeing how people would react to these ideas, if others find them viable, and on par or perhaps even better than what the WWE’s creative department has been serving up. I wonder if some aspects of this lark, like the establishment of a new dominant heel faction to take the place of the tired Authority premise and a merging of two marginal titles, would speak to wrestling fans with the same likes and dislikes of the current programming.

Anyway, is right below in 3 parts, and I do appreciate you taking a few moments to check them out:

The Setup (mondomania version)

The Wrestlemania Show (mondomania version)

The Aftermath (mondomania version)

I’d like to think this little exercise in fantasy booking might get out there and garner some positive attention among wrestling fans, or even a slight bit of public ridicule would be cool, though I think it’s more realistic to think it amounts to a speck of spit being spinning in a typhoon.  Lord knows there are already more than enough things about wrestling already out there. Now this is a very crude not interesting to look at blog. It starts with the words alone. But if interest is out there, I’d like to think it could grow into something more.

On that note, I ask that if there is any aspect of the above that seemed cool, praiseworthy, or in any way amusing, please spread the word around with a tweet of a link or what have you. And of course, if you have your own thing going (blog, podcast, or what have you) there’s the tried and true ‘you shout out my thing, I’ll shout out yours’ deal.

So then, let’s talk about BROCK-A-MANIA…

Here are some things that we know, or think we know to be true, as we approach the main event of Wrestlemania: Brock Lesnar (champion) w/ Paul Heyman Vs Roman Reigns (challenger) for the WWE Heavyweight Championship.

1.     Brock Lesnar appeared on ESPN Tuesday and announced that he would re-sign his contract with the WWE and end his in ring endeavors as an MMA fighter. This came after a long bout of negotiations and, during this time, the UFC publicly expressed their interest in bringing Lesnar in to compete for them. At some point during these negotiations, Lesnar walked out on the middle of a RAW program following the most recent WWE special FAST LANE, which he was scheduled to appear on. This was attributed to a large dispute between him and Vince McMahon.

2.     Roman Reigns has been positioned to be the number 1 contender and challenger to Lesnar at Mania, a situation that was cemented with Reigns winning the 2015 Royal Rumble match. Reigns’ promotion to the top of the card has been met by criticism among fans and wrestling insiders alike, citing reasons such as Reigns lacking speaking skills, in ring ability, and generally being too green to be positioned at the highest point in the company. Reigns’ victory at the Rumble and subsequent appearances have bared the mark of very heavy handed direction from WWE creative and booking teams, and included bringing The Rock, Reigns’ real life cousin, to stand side by side with him during his Royal Rumble victory. Leading up to FASTLANE, at which the main event featured Reigns and Daniel Bryan facing each other for the opportunity to main event Wrestlemania, it was being reported among wrestling news outlets that the main event of Wrestlemania was going to be changed to a triple threat match between Lesnar, Reigns, and Bryan. Reigns won the match at Fastlane, though, and was once again placed as the sole challenger to Lesnar at Wrestlemania.

3.    The Rock has been contacted by the WWE in an effort to arrange for him to appear at Wrestlemania. It would entail The Rock flying to San Jose from New York after a scheduled appearance on Saturday Night Live the night before. This was reported days before Lesnar went on record to talk about re-signing his contract with WWE.

4.     Brock Lesnar has gained a steady following among fans. At the Royal Rumble, Lesnar’s performance in a triple threat match against John Cena and Seth Rollins made him look like a hardworking fighter. Since then Paul Heyman’s dynamic promos on behalf of the champion have positioned them as something of an antiauthority figure combination, with Heyman referencing the fact it would benefit the WWE to have the belt taken from Lesnar. These statements were made while Lesnar had still been suggesting the possibility of leaving WWE and returning to MMA. Now that Lesnar is with WWE, the situation may be different. But those edgy promos have still given Lesnar a significant groundswell in popularity.

--------------------------

OK, with these forces at play, let’s talk possible Wrestlemania main event scenarios, of which these are just a few.

1.     It’s all one big swerve and Brock Lesnar is heading to MMA. I’m starting with this one because I think it’s the least likely. I pretty much feel it’s out of the realm of possibility. But, this being pro wrestling, where reality and fiction has long been blurred, I don’t want to rule it out altogether. If it did happen, it would be one of the biggest misdirects in wrestling history and hands down the biggest in recent history. What keeps this from being likely is that the statement was made so publicly. Also, we are far from the days of Andy Kaufman and Jery ‘The King’ Lawler, purveyors of the long, straight-faced con. More than ever, the story of wrestling is talked about openly, like in the instances where Vince and Triple H were interviewed by Steve Austin on his podcast following RAW. This scenario would also only make sense if Brock left the WWE with the title, thus putting the company in a huge lurch, but why would they then publicly draw attention to this? On the other hand, if Reigns were to win, it would be a more suspenseful story to keep fans in the dark about Brock’s decision to stay or go away from the WWE.

2.     Reigns wins with an assist from Paul Heyman. Betrayal will always be a part of a good pro wrestling story. This outcome would allow for Reigns to be paired with someone who is very good at speaking, taking some of that pressure off the inexperienced star, and also let him ride some of the fan backlash that he has experienced. My problem with this possibility is the fact that it is hard to rationalize Heyman doing this. He has no reason to be upset with Lesnar and Brock has shown no signs of weakness. Why abandon a ship that isn’t sinking? Still, if the WWE and Heyman wanted to come up with a reason, they could come up with a reason: say, Heyman senses Brock’s shelf-life is getting shorter, or he sees Reigns as a more marketable commodity to attach himself too. It would also give the potentially popular Lesnar a chance to build toward a highly anticipated comeback for vengeance. Still, I think the successful team of Brock and Heyman is too special to cast away like that. If Brock was going to be turned into a face, it could be done with the Heyman still at his side, delivering dynamic antihero verbal campaigns.

3.     Lesnar retains the title and gets into confrontation with The Rock OR Lesnar loses the title and gets into confrontation with The Rock. After considering both of these, I realized they are pretty much the same. Simply the championship is in a different position, and the importance of the belt is largely debatable depending on how it is being cast in storyline. But, both these outcomes are what I would consider the WWE staying the course. They are the most obvious. Reigns winning would have been most likely before Lesnar re-signed with WWE, and now, Google ‘The Rock’ and ‘Wrestlemania’ and you get loads of reports on a rumored build toward Brock taking on The Rock in a rematch at Wrestlemania in 2016. While wrestling fans like surprises and outcomes that challenge expectations, WWE has been known to sometimes go with the philosophy that the most clear cut course is best. My issue here is that in either case, the supposed future star of Roman Reigns would be completely overshadowed. If he won, it would be a very slighted victory if moments later, the focus shifted to The Rock wanting a second chance at facing Lesnar. If Reigns lost, then the idea of The Rock stepping up to the challenge makes the idea of matches being a competition, even a fictional one, very hard to swallow. The Rock has been out of action for a while. He can come back sometimes, electrify the crowd, and even hit a rock bottom from out of nowhere, but that is far from being the key player in a main event program. His work with John Cena in 2012 and 2013 had drawn a lot of criticism from fans underwhelmed by the performance. While pro wrestling involves a LOT of suspension of disbelief, putting The Rock in a higher spot than the supposed future talents of the WWE, like Reigns, does nothing to sustain the show long term.

4.     Lesnar wins but Seth Rollins cashes in the Money In the Bank contract from out of nowhere and wins the title. On any other show, I could see this as a viable option. But at Wrestlemania, I put it in the next to impossible department. For one thing, it could be done on Raw the next day instead. The main event of Wrestlemania has been given enough prestige to the point that it is a big deal for the winner to be victorious on his own terms. With that in mind, a win like this would diminish Rollins as well who has potential to some day headline and win a Wrestlemania main event. Why make his first one a tainted victory like this? To play devil’s advocate, the fact that a cash-in victory has never happened at Wrestlemania does give it a certain novelty factor, the kind that makes wrestling history so maybe being the first and possibly only wrestler to cash in at Wrestlemania wouldn’t be so bad afterall?

5.     A defeated Reigns is consoled by his cousin The Rock but then suddenly turns on him. This is my favorite possibility, though at the same time, one I would deem pretty unlikely, if only because I don’t see WWE taking that many chances like they once did. The Roman t-shirts have been printed up, he has been branded a hero. But, since this is all speculation, allow me to explore this unlikely avenue…Ever since The Rock arrived at the Royal Rumble to help his younger cousin, things have seemed to shift away from Reigns’ favor. Boos got louder, his main event spot at Mania was no longer a certainty. Sure, in reality the slide began before the Royal Rumble happened. But a good heel always suffers from a delusional perspective. So with a lousy year ending in losing grasp of the ultimate prize, what better reaction to have than lash out? And what an amazingly dramatic story it would be, told simply and visually, as Reigns walked toward the rope and suddenly speared his unsuspecting older family member. Heel heat like nothing we have seen in a long time would instantly rain down (sorry) on Roman. Yes, a babyface hero’s rise to the top may be derailed. But the making of an extremely polarizing heel whom people would feel compelled to tune in to see week in and week out would be a worthy tradeoff.

Which scenario do you like or do you have your own in mind? Let me know what you think. Hit the comments!

Twitter: @mondocurrymark

Wrestlemania Rewrite part 3: The Aftermath, London Calling

Ok, now let’s look at where all that could lead. And ahead is not so much a strict timetable of events as a spread of possible programs and alliances coming out of a Wrestlemania  main event won by Roman Reigns, backed by a suddenly reformed Shield.

Just a quick recap of the Wrestlemania fantasy I’ve etched into my mind, which can be read in full here.

Wade Barrett retained the intercontinental championship title after interference from Sheamus.

The Authority disbanded after Sting defeated Triple H.

Cena won the US championship title from Rusev.

The Shield ostensibly reformed, with Rollins and Ambrose assisting Reigns in achieving victory over Lesnar.

Now then, let’s look at the opening moments of RAW that would follow all this.

The original Shield music hits and Roman Reigns comes out carrying the heavyweight title belt. He gets halfway down the ramp, then stops, looks back, and Rollins and Ambrose soon follow. The three make their way to the ring and pace the canvas. Reigns teases the buzz in the crowd. Says he promised he would win the title at Wrestlemania, but didn’t say how. Raises questions about there being possible premeditation, then gives the mic to Rollins. Rollins suggests the fans must have many questions. That they don’t owe an explanation to anyone, but will clear some things up. He made a mistake, bet on the wrong team. Talks trash about the Authority’s lack of organization. Asks if he would do it again? Says, maybe… Is he sorry? He apologizes for nothing. He simply saw the writing on the wall, realized it made sense in that moment to help return the most dominant team in WWE’s history to power, and yesterday is the result. Rollins teases talking about the Money In the Bank briefcase.

But first Ambrose takes the mic. Says the fans must wonder how he could possibly go along with this plan? Could he possibly trust Rollins? Like Rollins? Is he crazy? He says, you know I’m crazy. He doesn’t know if he will ever trust Rollins again and may go on continually watch his back. But he realizes the two have something in common, always have: The desire above all else to be the best. He also realized that the three men standing in the ring, when on the same page, are unstoppable.

Rollins says now about this briefcase. He does see a need to take some responsibility for his actions last year. So he will use the briefcase as an insurance policy. If someone comes after the title, somehow manages to get the belt through nefarious means, Rollins will be there to cash in and claim it back. But, in the more likely turn of events that Reigns and The Shield hold off all comers, then the day the briefcase run expires, he will cash in and make a match against Reigns in a match that, no matter the outcome The Shield wins. And it will be the most incredible title match  in WWE history.

Other gears set in motion…

A new heel faction rises to power, which Wade 'Bad News' Barrett assumes leadership of. At some point, he and Sheamus discuss a planned collusion between them. They complain about the lack of opportunity they have long experienced because of their proud European heritage, that out of jealousy they have been held back, and often distracted by being made to fight amongst themselves. But no more. The future is theirs and their name is the European Union (negotiable). Their ranks will be joined by Cesaro, and possibly Tyson Kidd because, Europe, Canada…close enough! Adrian Neville can join the RAW roster and quickly join them, adding a high flyer to the team. They can also get the allegiance of Rusev.

Does this seem too cliché? Is a nationalistic anti-American gimmick too passé in 2015? It’s one of the hottest going stories around Rusev’s run right now. And also, the sentiment can be made more subtle here. However, there could be a touch of reality lent to it when you consider the core among this group really haven’t had a lasting successful push. This is especially signified by Cesaro and those famous words directed his way when Vince McMahon went on the Stone Cold podcast.

The Shield could continue its dominant run as babyfaces with an edge, or a group that fights both heels and faces (what a concept). Reigns could contend with a round of top tier oponents like Rusev and Bray Wyatt. With momentum from Wrestlemania, Wyatt could win the title from Reigns by way of a lot of tricks and outside interference, perhaps 1-22 months after Wrestlemania. Rollins could cash in the briefcase the next day on RAW and win the title back for The Shield, giving him a boost of main event star power.

Rollins could also feud with Neville in competitive bouts of agility and high spot-filled matches.

Sheamus could feud with Bryan, or whomever he caused to lose the IC title match at Wrestlemania.

Cena could challenge the increasingly influential European Union heel faction. He and Barrett could have a match to unify the IC and US titles, with the winner’s title being the dominant one and the loser’s title being retired. And, with interference aplenty, Barrett could win that match, gaining a push for his group. Leading up to it, promos could be run emphasizing the prestigious history of both belts.

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There you  have it. A change in direction. A call back to a very successful faction that ended too soon. A fade away of ineffective characters like Big Show and Kane (what, you thought I forgot them?), and a rise to power of new stars.

What do you think??  Let me know in the comments. Or

Twitter: @MondoCurryMARK