Cena’s Injury, Leadership of Nexus, and WrestleMania 27

With John Cena’s recent injury, plans for WrestleMania 27 may be changing. I am currently unaware of whether or not Cena will be able to return before WM27, but my impression is that it may be unlikely.

This year’s WM line-up may be much different than any WM line-up we have seen in the past few years. HBK’s retirement, HHH’s apparent hiatus from the ring, Undertaker’s potential sidelining injury, the possibility that Rey Mysterio could re-aggravate his current nagging injury, and the general absence of many of the big names that have headlined past WrestleManias all factor into what may be a very young and unique WM27.

Here are my suggestions and/or predictions for some angles we could see starting now and leading up to WM27.

CM Punk vs. Wade Barrett for leadership of Nexus:

Let’s face it, the Nexus angle was badly managed and poorly booked from the very beginning, but there may still be a marginal chance to save it. I had heard that WWE officials had considered moving Barrett to Smackdown after his recent loss to Cena. However, events on last week’s Raw, as well as Cena’s injury, make me think that it would be a bad decision. With Cena out of action, WWE will most likely orchestrate some Nexus beatdown on Cena that will keep him off camera for the next indeterminate period of time. It’s predictable, but has to be done.

The events involving Nexus and CM Punk on last week’s Raw could give the WWE and oppertunity to keep Wade Barrett at the forefront of the company, and also to build up some of the other Nexus talent in a way that they neglected to do in the Cena/Nexus angle. There may be hope for their WWE careers yet. Justin Gabriel and Michael “Don’t Call Me Joe Hennig” McGuillicutty have the most potential out of the Nexus members, but Slater, Otunga, and Huskie “Like Everybody Doesn’t Know I’m Mike Rotundo’s Son” Harris could also carve out places for themselves on the WWE roster.

My suggestion would be to capitalize on the situation by forming a rivalry that pits Barrett against Cena for the leadership of Nexus. Such a rivalry could cause a split in the faction. Again, not unpredictable, but at this point WWE needs to try to elevate some young stars, and this could be the way to do it. It would be fairly standard booking; a tag match between the two divisions of Nexus at Royal Rumble, Barrett and Punk involved in the Raw Elimination Chamber match at February’s PPV as well as some single’s matches between the others involved in the angle, all leading up to Punk vs. Barrett at WM27—maybe in a lumberjack match. I think after Barrett’s “destruction” at the hands of John Cena, he would have to come out on top of the WM27 match, just to give him back some of his credibility. This is the type of feud that would be better if it had five or six months to build up, but with things the way they are now, WWE needs some at least halfway compelling matches for WM27, and this could be one of them.

Tyson Kidd vs. Bryan Danielson )I refuse to call him Daniel Bryan) for the US Title:

Kidd vs. Danielson for the US Title is the kind of match that fans like myself haven’t seen in a good long time, not since the days before the Chris Benoit tragedy. It would be a solid technical wrestling match. While Kidd is advertised as a high-flyer of sorts, he has a solid technical background, what with being trained at the Hart Dungeon. Also, it could be a chance for WWE to showcase and build up Jackson Andrews, who is one of two men they are hoping could be the next Dave Batista—the other being FCW Champion Mason Ryan.

Danielson could align himself with David Hart Smith, thus giving WWE the oppertunity to showcase a great match at WM27, and further what could be a great midcard story in Smith vs. Kidd. It has the potential to be the type of midcard wrestling that we saw in the 1990’s, when even the midcard matches were built up strongly and had a good deal of significance to them. It might also do a bit to shake up the US Title picture and bring back some prestige to what is now a pretty unimportant belt. Danielson, Kidd, Smith, and maybe even Jackson Andrews are the type of young guys that could get great exposure and gain popularity through holding the US Title, the way wrestlers did in the past.

Ted DiBiase vs. Vladimir Koslov

I think WWE is doing both themselves and Ted DiBiase a great disservice by putting him in the angles that he’s been in for the last few months. First, he’s a second generation guy. Second, he’s a good wrestler. Third, he’s young, fresh, and marketable. He’s prime pop culture material. I understand that there needs to be a silly gimmick type match at WM27, but I don’t think DiBiase should be in it. If you want to put Santino in a goofy match, then throw him in the ring with Mark Henry, or continue the ridiculous Santino/Shaimus feud. DiBiase vs. Koslov could be a great pure wrestling match. What ever happened to the Russian monster they were grooming to be the next dominant champion? Oh, that’s right, he’s now one half of a meaningless tag team, holding a meaningless set of tag team titles. DiBiase can wrestle. Koslov can wrestle. Put them together and let them do what they do best. It would be a great match.

Miz vs. Morrison for the WWE Title:

Since it seems like no matter how much I kick and scream, Mike Mizanin will probably be the WWE Champion at WM27, then he should be going up against his former tag partner John Morrison. Morrison is young and marketable too. More than that, he’s a good wrestler. He and Miz have had plenty of experience in the ring with one another and I have no doubt that they could put together a great headliner match for WM27.

I dislike Miz, but not because he’s a poor wrestler. I dislike him because I don’t feel like he has the ability to create the proper kind of heat that a heel champion needs. He certainly doesn’t have what it takes to create HHH circa 2001 heat for himself. People dislike him not because he’s great at being a heel, but because he’s an annoying jackass, plain and simple. Even so, I’ll give him credit for getting to where he’s at now when nobody in their right mind ever thought he could. Of course, there was a lot of ass kissing involved, but there was also a significant amount of paying dues and hard work as well. In that way, he’s not a hell of a lot different than John Cena, and he probably is the next Hogan-esque star in WWE. There was Hogan, then Rock, then Cena, now Miz. Let’s face it, he ain’t nowhere near as good at selling himself to the fans as Hogan, he’s not as good a wrestler and performer as Dwayne Johnson was in his time in pro wrestling, he’s not anywhere near as likeable as Cena, but he’s the closest thing they’ve got to work with right now. Miz vs. Morrison would be a great match to push WWE into the future that they need to embrace before complete stagnation sets in.

Randy Orton:

Okay, where does Randy Orton fit into WM27? On the Smackdown side of the card. The biggest names Smackdown has right now are Edge, Kane, and Rey Mysterio. Edge is—I guess—a legitimate name to headline WM27. Kane...not so much. He never really was one of the company’s big stars, and I’m not sure he can really support that role. He’s probably the hardest worker in the company since the late 1990’s, but just not star material. He’s an old school kind of guy. He works hard, goes into the ring, and gives it his all. I think he has had and will continue to have some great matches, but I don’t think he’s what the WWE is looking for in a marketable champion. Rey Mysterio desperately needs yet more time off to rehab his nagging injuries. Rey is fast becoming the WWE’s second Undertaker. By that, I mean that he’s injured quite a bit and could probably make his money off wrestling only a few matches a year, if that’s the way he wants to end his career. It’s not the way I’d want to go out, but a paycheck is a paycheck I suppose.

With Undertaker injured again, and maybe not able to wrestle at WM27, WWE needs Randy on the Smackdown side of the company. I highly doubt that they can sustain the edge/Kane feud for another three months and expect people to give a shit about a Edge vs. Kane match at WM27, not unless they slap some ridiculous gimmick on it in lieu of good booking. Former WWE creative team member Rich Baker once had an idea for a Straight to hell match, in which the loser gets thrown into some sort of pit of fire. WWE might have to consider that idea. They pulled off the Kane/Shane flaming dumpster angle a few years ago, and it went over pretty well. Maybe they could pull off something similar for Edge vs. Kane. Sure, it’s not PG, but what else can they do with Edge and Kane? Here’s the point where you should realize that sarcasm doesn’t translate as well in writing as it does orally. A Straight to Hell match in the current WWE environment...yeah right. Either way, it would probably be as good as anything else Michael Hayes could come up with for the WM27 Smackdown main event.

Randy Orton vs. Edge is not original, and it didn’t go over great the first time, but maybe that’s the way they need to go.

Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler for the IC Title:

Again, here’s an oppertunity to showcase an amazing wrestling match. Ziggler has both flash and substance in the ring. Swagger is a throwback to the era of great pure wrestlers. Put these two together in the ring and let them wrestle. After all, isn’t that the optimum word in pro wrestling? Pardon me, I forgot WWE is sports entertainment. Well then, let Swagger and Ziggler showcase a little more of the sports side of the business and a little less of the ridiculous Eagle mascot/Vicki Guerrero bullshit entertainment part of the business.

Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto del Rio:

I don’t know one single person who would argue with me if I were to say that Kofi Kingston is talented and fun to watch. Kofi Kingston was well on his way to a huge push a while back...but then Randy Orton apparently got a bug up his ass and Kofi’s push went the way of the dodo, which of course, is just asinine. How the hell do you plan for the future if you nix the push of every bright young star when they show up one of the veterans? You don’t. You paint yourself into the kind of corner WWE officials currently find themselves in right now, with WM27 fast approaching and no bright young guys at the proper main event level to take the place of the older guys that have either retired, been injured, or just decided to take time off. Man could WWE use Chris Jericho back right now!

Alberto del Rio is a second generation wrestler from a great Mexican wrestling family. He is the nephew of the legendary former WWE star Mil Mascaras, the man who really first brought the lucha libre style into the world of United States wrestling. He is also the son of one of Mexico’s all-time best, Dos Caras. As Dos Caras Jr., del Rio made a name for himself in Mexico and has the talent to make himself a superstar in the WWE as well. It’s amazes me how well del Rio has transitioned from wrestling under a mask, to wrestling without one. He has learned very quickly how to sell his facial expressions in and out of the ring. He’s good on the mic. He has the proper swagger and arrogance to be a top heel, which is no surprise if the stories that I’ve heard about Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras are true. The attitude must run in the family. While del Rio is good, he still needs some time to gain experience in the WWE style of wrestling and putting him in a good midcard feud with another great young guy will give him continued exposure and build up his experience.

In truth, I think that either of the four names I’ve mentioned in the last two sections of this post—Swagger, Ziggler, del Rio, and Kingston—are interchangeable as far as IC Title feuds go. They’re all potential future superstars. Swagger has already held the top gold and any of the other three could do so as well.