2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

John Cena reportedly suffered a potentially serious leg injury at a House Show Tuesday.

My wife's take:

"Time for Triple H to come back."

 

Saw that on Meltzer's site. Problem is, even if he's HHH is ready to come back, it's going to require massive rewrites to two major feuds that started (Cena-Punk/Nexus) or are about to resume (HHH-Sheamus).

I don't care for the Punk/Nexus pairing, because it's really hard to take Nexus seriously anymore, and I have a hard time imagining any of them getting past mid-card level in the near or mid-term future. Plus it seriously undercuts your hottest heel, Wade Barrett. He either gets overshadowed by Punk or, worse, is thrust into a face role that absolutely doesn't work for him.

However, if Cena can beat Punk in a relatively short feud, have Barrett come back on the Raw after the blow-off match, then have Nexus turn on Punk and reinstall Barrett as leader (or reveal that he never left, he was just in the background manipulating things), then that would have potential, because Punk can definitely be a face.

 

I haven't been following closely, so this may be common knowledge, but is Punk healed from his injury? Didn't he end up at the announcer's table because he was going to be out for an extended period of time (I thought I heard 4 to 6 months) and they wanted to keep him involved? Or has it been that long and I just haven't noticed? Or was I mistaken all together on the injury time line? How many questions can I fit into one paragraph?

I'm assuming he was starting to garner too much of a positive reaction from his commentary and the Powers That Be want to make sure he remains a top heel. So to get him off commentary (or at least take away the positive reaction), but keep him involved as a top heel, there's no better way to do that than to have him attack the No. 1 Superstar, then serve as a leader of a heel group. This way he doesn't need to actually wrestle a match for another month or two.

I'm trying to withhold judgment until I see what they do with Wade Barrett.

 

I believe Punk was expected to be out a few months if he elected to have surgery, but instead he rehabbed and was expected to be back in January, which would put him on track for a match with Cena at the Rumble. He's apparently working on the Smackdown tour; he teamed with Alberto Del Rio and lost to Rey Mysterio and someone else in Chicago.

 

Good info, thanks. That explains it.

FWIW, there's a YouTube video of Cena making a few remarks to the crowd last night, mentioning that he may have to take some time off. Obviously, this was right after the injury, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it first appeared, but reports from the arena said he was unable to put any weight on the injured leg.

 

If Cena has to miss any length of time, Raw could be very interesting.

Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch has a look for who could be elevated if Cena's out. It seems like his first thought is Triple H. Ho-hum:

http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/wadekellerdotcom/46383.shtml

As for me, if Cena's out any length of time, I'd think now would be a great time to elevate Morrison to the No. 2 spot with a strong series of matches with Miz for the belt. Heck, Trips can then come back, get revenge on Sheamus, then turn heel (again) and (hopefully) put over Morrison.

After that, Cena can come back ... trot down to the ring when Trips, Miz and Sheamus are beating on Orton and Morrison .... crowd goes crazy ... chase them out of the ring ... then give Attitude Adjustments to Orton and Morrison ... thousands of little kids give Angry Miz Girl faces.

One can dream.

Or, they can elevate Bryan, since he doesn't really seem to have anyone to face right now.

Or more likely, they'll just move someone over from Smackdown, further weakening that show. Yep, that's it.

 

As much as we'd all love to see Super Cena become Super Heel Cena, it ain't happenin'. It's a pipe dream at best. The ship has already sailed -- more than once -- on the writers turning Cena heel.

More than likely, here's what'll happen: Trips returns, feuds with Sheamus and becomes the "No. 2 contender" behind Morrison. Morrison and Miz have a couple of great matches, and eventually Morrison wins the belt. Trips turns heel, comes out and attacks Morrison, thus setting up a Morrison-Trips feud leading into the spring/summer.

Trips wins the belt at least once leading up to the Bash or whatever the first PPV after Mania is, where he proceeds to lose the strap back to Morrison. The Miz gets buried in the process, and fades out of the spotlight.

Then, just in time for spring, Cena returns and we get Cena-Trips part 2982409582049850294850928509285092850924385092.2, with Morrison and Sheamus involved. We get a fatal four way match at one of the PPVs in late spring/early summer, with Cena regaining the title.

After that, who the hell cares.

 

I wonder if they're kicking themselves for the Punk storyline the last two weeks. The way he was coming off as an announcer, he could have slid into a top face role. But with an absence of top contenders, this does seem to be a great time to elevate someone like Morrison into the role of a headlining good guy.

That said, maybe it's just me (seriously), but John Morrison bores me to death on the mic. Morrison is a hell of a performer and can put on a great match, but as soon as he opens his mouth...he's just so f-ing dull. I get that not having mic skills isn't a deterrent for everyone and that some can appreciate the pure skill in the ring, but for the most part, I can't. Without the entertainment value, I can't get invested. Who knows, maybe Morrison's been keeping it under wraps this whole time, and with Cena out, he can take this opportunity to shine. But I'm not betting on it. Of course, the only person I find less entertaining on the mic than Morrison is Daniel Bryan.

And since we're making predictions: if Cena's out, the guy to take his place as overall superstar is going to be Trips. Look for Sheamus to interfere against Morrison on Monday, setting up some kind of fatal 4-way with Orton, Miz, Morrison, Sheamus. Sheamus wins the match and the championship, setting up the return of HHH (just in time for a WrestleMania storyline) and the resumption of a feud that feels like it dates back to 2001. Miz and Morrison have their battle at above mid card/below main event level, Orton and Barrett (or Punk) feud for a while, and Cena makes a surprise come back at Summer Slam, gives an AA to every member on the Raw roster*, then stands on them all collectively, thus beating everyone at once, while winning every single title, and reclaiming his spot as the savior of wrestling.

*Trips will be mysteriously absent due to illness/injury and avoid the Cena beat down.

 

To me, here's what would have made sense if we have to re-write about a Cena absence due to injury ...

The Punk monologue from last Monday should be re-focused over his anger that Cena never went away. Not for stupid stuff like insulting Vickie, but for announcing his intention to get back into the title picture. Punk should be angry that because of Cena's return, it holds other wrestlers back, namely Punk. A nice, selfish, heelish motive that makes sense.

Now, with Cena out, Punk can claim a notch on his belt -- although he had nothing to do with it, it goes with the heel persona to claim a victory when there was no victory -- and then target another man who has declared he wants back in the title picture: Randy Orton. In Punk's mind, why should Orton get another shot? He's had his chances. This can also tie back to the fact that Punk never got revenge on Orton for costing him a spot in the championship scramble match two years ago. Remember, because of that pre-match interference, Punk had to forfeit his title and never lost it in competition. So, not complicated, but it makes sense.

Orton stays super-hot as a face, Punk and Nexus remain as heel and have a viable target, and we have a instant feud without having to complicate storylines. As for Sheamus, he can continue to feud with Morrison as Morrison chases Miz. Sheamus can play spoiler to Morrison's title ambitions and continue to give us a fresh feud with quality matches for at least two more months. Maybe even set up a triple-threat title match at some point.

Of course, that makes too much sense, so why the hell should the writers go for it?

 

Billikens, definitely agree with you on Morrison's mic work - it's normally pretty bad. However, his in-ring work is solid enough that I think you can just highlight that and he'll work as a transition champ. Heck, if you can credibly build up Jeff Hardy and Mysterio, why not John Morrison? Neither one of those guys were more than average on the mic either. Let them do their talking in the ring.

 

I don't know about yall, but Alberto Del Rio is growing on me.

 

I don't know about you, but the 2011 thread is growing on me.
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/81319/