Angle/Lesnar is in the works, and it looks like Lesnar is the shoe in to win in what promises to be an awesome match. Since I did it with Raw, I'll run down the other options. First, other heel champs (not that Angle isn't the best choice).
Big Show: At least he's not HHH.
Matt Hardy: Needs to cook. Doesn't have outstanding anything, really, except for a really good character. Remember, at one time, The Rock's and Austin's characters were too new for them, not to say Matt Hardy will be the next one of them.
John Cena: Too much gimmick on the man. Same reason Doink never held a title.
Nunzio: Only by fluke victory and he proclaims himself the next Bruno Sammartino, only to lose the belt a day later.
Bill DeMott: Has talent for a big man, but talented big guys are on the way out (Buchanan).
Rock: Well, yeah, he's hated and he's the Rock, knows how to, but won't have the time.
A-Train: Uh, at least he isn't HHH.
Now, for the babyface side.
Lesnar: In line, can still work a pretty good match and get this; he's green and will get only better, barring injuries.
Undertaker: Never really set well as champ. Again, too gimmicky at first, now too dominant.
Rikishi: Not over enough.
Rey Mysterio: Mask Gimmick. Mankind was the exception because we all know who Mick looks like. The General WWE audience isn't expected to know what Rey looks like.
Edge: Needs that "something" to push him over the hump. Heel turn.
Benoit: I take a stand on this and simply say; the man does his job best when he's doing the job. There is nobody else in wrestling that can put you over like Benoit can.
Kidman: Personality of a stick.
In the name of good taste, I will no longer say anything about people who run wrestling websites and cats.
John Cena: Too much gimmick on the man. Same reason Doink never held a title.
You're going to eat your words someday.
John Cena is going to be something special. He's got an unbelievably charisma along with the look. They hit the right feud and they've got a star on their hands.
Whether Vince ultimately decides to push him, or the fans do, he's so good he's going to decide his own fate in the end.
Matthew: You would've loved it, David. A week in a foreign country, strange people, strange customs... Dave: Oh, I know what you mean. I've been to Canada.
Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff"Ja-mie Kno-ble!" ::clap clap clapclapclap::
*I'd* mark out.
Seriously- for Champ? The guy's a freaking midget. I at least want someone who I don't think I'd have a prayer of beating - and Jamie ain't it.
There are many on Smackdown who qualify. Brock, 'Taker, Angle, Haas, Benjamin, Benoit, That big hairy dude (I forget his name, but he looks like he could kick my butt), and of course Rock and Hogan. And others, no doubt.
Now, that's not saying Jamie (and Rey-rey, and Kidman and Matt) and the other smaller wrestler's couldn't kick my butt. I am 45, but I am 6'5" with lots of muscle and about 290lbs. I would feel like I had a chance, weight-wise against those guys. Not against Brock. Not even against the ancient Mr. Hogan. But let's just say I was stuck in a bar with the smackdown roster and a battle royal erupted spontaneously: Would you go after Brock or Jamie?
I know my answer. (actually, I believe I'd go after Torrie, but that's another issue entirely...)
Originally posted by cfgbJohn Cena: Too much gimmick on the man. Same reason Doink never held a title.
You're going to eat your words someday.
John Cena is going to be something special. He's got an unbelievably charisma along with the look. They hit the right feud and they've got a star on their hands.
Whether Vince ultimately decides to push him, or the fans do, he's so good he's going to decide his own fate in the end.
i was thinking that too. the teased lesnar-cena feud down the road is a pretty sweet prospect. two things need to happen, though: brock needs to turn heel, and cena needs a cool finisher. you can't be a threat without a cool finisher, and you can't come back with a revenge angle unless you're a face. i personally think his current character would work as a face, since they haven't gone totally over-the-top with his hip hop persona (thus, he's not completely ridiculous).
Are you people crazy!? YOu left out the best choice outside of Lesnar and Angle (and I guess The Rock too). That's Eddie Guerrero. The guy gets heat for breathing. If he were ever to win the Championship he has the potential to be the most hated heel in years.
Also if you're going to talk about Nunzio, Big Show, and A-Train, then I think Kanyon should be considered too, although he wouldn't be on the level of Lesnar, Angle, Benoit, Edge, Eddie.
As for Cena, I think he has a lot of talent, and this current gimmick could get him popular, however, I think for him to actually win the title he has to drop the silly gimmick like Lexus said. But he can rid the gimmick until he gets to that point.
As for Cena, I think he has a lot of talent, and this current gimmick could get him popular, however, I think for him to actually win the title he has to drop the silly gimmick like Lexus said. But he can rid the gimmick until he gets to that point.
the problem with the idea of "dropping" his gimmick, as you suggest, is that he then joins all the other character-less wrestlers at or near the top of the wwe. this group includes edge (intense babyface), albert (mean heel), brock lesnar (mean babyface), chris benoit (mean babyface), etc. i agree he'd need to tone down the character a little bit to work as a legitimate title threat, but i don't think that abandoning it altogether would really be a good idea.
i'm not saying that everybody needs an over-the-top gimmick; actually, the latter two guys i named above seem fine without one. the problem is that cena was very vanilla without a gimmick, so i say keep him with it, just tone it down a bit eventually.
What about Nathan Jones? Even though he hasn't wrestled on TV yet, he's big and umm..."not HHH."
I'd think the general audience would know what Rey Mysterio looks like considering he wrestled for years without a mask on TV all they way up until the end of WCW. If you want to argue and say that in general fans don't know who Rey is fine, but admit it or not he's been a big part of mainstream wrestling for years and a good chunk of that time he was not wearing a mask on mainstream tv.
"I am many things Kal-El, but here I am god." -Darkseid
But how much of today's general audience was watching WCW in the 2 or so years that Rey wrestled without his mask? And how many would remember or care what his face looks like? And why does that matter as to whether he could be the champ? I say it doesn't, but the sad truth is Rey's too small to come too close to the world title.
Kanyon, while not world champion material, is deserving of being up there in the upper mid card with the likes of Edge, Eddie, Rey, and Benoit. He can do a spotfest just like the rest of them, his problem is not putting the 'spots' in a good order.
As much as I don't like him, Big Show DID make an ok champ while Brock was out of it. He 'looked' good, but then you saw him actually try to wrestle and it ruined him. Just like back when he was in WCW going against Flair and Hogan, shit, you know you suck when Hogan can out wrestle you.
Something in the back of my head tells me that Undertaker will not only become champ again by the end of the year, but after a mini feud with Nathan Jones, they will do a Tag run together. It's like what they did with him a Kane AND with Big Show in years past. Bring in a huge guy for a feud and them out of 'mutual respect' or something, give them a tag team run.
I would squeal like a little girl and piss my pants if Dawn Marie Wilson(I LOVE that!) wheeled out Al Wilson's coffin and drapped a world title belt over him saying it was to commemorate all that he had done for the company. That would mother fucking rule the fucking world!
(wc-135)
Cerebus: Barbarian, Prime Minister, Pope, Perfect House Guest.
"Graft is as necessary as throwing up when you drink too much."
As much as I don't like him, Big Show DID make an ok champ while Brock was out of it.
You're darn right he did! The Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show match from Survivor Series is one of my favorites ever...literally. (Favorite not to be misconscrued with best...) Fantastic booking all around. The swerve FELT predictable, but even up until the show I wasn't sure they had the balls to put the title on Big Show, and when they did I openly cheered louder than I have in YEARS.
the sad truth is Rey's too small to come too close to the world title.
I don't buy that...
I remember a Nitro from back in 1999, right after Rey had lost the mask. He was at the peak of his popularity, and nearly upended Ric Flair for the belt, if not for an Arn Anderson DQ. Trust me, I'd have bought it, and the fans would have gone for it. Even if a brief reign, Rey Jr. has always been different than most Cruiserweights and is capable of winning the belt.
Just do what they did in WCW during the mask storyline. Lex Luger during a match kept going for Rey's mask, and everytime he did, Rey went nuts and beat the fuck out of Luger. Luger could not put him down for the three, and everytime things looked good for Lex, he'd get cocky and go for the mask leading Rey to pound the crap out of him again. Finally Nash had to run in for the DQ because Rey was NOT losing that match - and even then Rey managed to beat up BOTH guys single handedly before the entire nWo put him down.
There's lots of ways to work with Rey and a title run would be great.
Rey might have come close on a Nitro, but about the same time Taka was about to win the World's Title from Triple H. Neither were ever going to happen, or would have worked business-wise despite how much the fans were fooled.
A champion has to either be able to "scare" the opponents like Brock, or else have a "take on and defeat all comers" attitude like Bret Hart. Rey is a "get in a quick shot or two and fluke out a victory" type guy when in the ring with bigger guys. Could a guy his size win the title? Sure, but I doubt it'll ever happen in our lifetimes.
Tribal Prophet
Wrestling exists in the eternal present. What is, has always been, and when it no longer is, it never was. It has no past and no future, and sometimes even today is in question. - Madame Manga
Kurt Angle's the champion, Rey Mysterio Jr has been shown that he can hang with Kurt Angle. Therefore, Rey is a WWE Title contender.
I say Angle MUST retain the WWE Championship at Mania and Brock continues his hunt until SummerSlam. Kurt Angle needs to beat Brock Lesnar, a hell of a lot more then Lesnar needs to beat Kurt Angle. One day, Lesnar should be the guy to dethrone Angle but March 30th, 2003 isn't that day, IMO. If Angle loses he looks like such a worthless paper champion.
No he doesn't. Putting your personal like of Kurt Angle in front of actually following through a story to it's logical conclusion makes no sense; this entire feud revolves around Lesnar's need to beat Angle. Having them finally meet, only for Angle to walk away with the win, would make Lesnar look like a huge tool.
Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff"Ja-mie Kno-ble!" ::clap clap clapclapclap::
*I'd* mark out.
Seriously- for Champ? The guy's a freaking midget. I at least want someone who I don't think I'd have a prayer of beating - and Jamie ain't it.
Nah, I wasn't really serious, although I'd have a smile 5 miles wide on my face if he did win it. I think he was HWA Champ for a while, though, when they were still around as a WWE affiliate.
Matthew: You would've loved it, David. A week in a foreign country, strange people, strange customs... Dave: Oh, I know what you mean. I've been to Canada.
Why does the story have to end at WrestleMania? I'm not saying Angle goes over clean at all. Lesnar gets screwed again and goes continues the chase. You can drag this thing out to SummerSlam and have people really dieing to see Lesnar go over huge.
It's not my like for Angle at all, it's just looking at how to prolong this new, fresh Main Event feud. Lesnar has no heel challengers as the champion while Angle has loads of face challengers to keep him busy. Lesnar is much better chasing then defending, IMO.
Kurt Angle [to retain] Brock Lesnar Chris Benoit Hulk Hogan The Rock The Undertaker Charlie Haas Shelton Benjamin The Big Show Edge Rey Misterio John Cena Eddy Guerrero
Angle is over enough to draw well if he retains. Brock is over enough to draw well, and is also fresh and loved by the fans. Benoit is a GOD in the ring, and is now showing that he is loved by the fans and could draw well. Rock is Rock. Hogan is Hogan. Hogan is older than Rock. Rock is making movies. Hogan is old. Rock is not. Haas is young. Benjamin is young. Haas & Benjamin are fresh & have heat. Big Show is fairly heatless. Edge is injured. Edge is loved by fans when not injured. Misterio is small...but the Giant-Killer gimmick is SWANK when he uses it. Cena has lots of heat, as does Guerrero. Time will tell if they can draw.
"I know something that will cheer you up, Wesley" "Are you programmed to be thinking what I'm thinking?" "MAKEOVER!!" Princical Scudworth & Mr. Butlertron; Clone High
man to be honest with ya. id love to see rey win the big one. id shit a brick if that happened, but if he does id like it to be against some ome big and huge like lesnar or taker. like that old ecw spike dudley mike awesome match except with the lil guy going over. he could get his ass whooped the whole match then bust out with one of those out of nowhere moves where he wins, that would truly create that shocking upset feel.
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