How WWE Should Book WrestleMania 33.

How WWE should book WrestleMania 33 main event. 

Start by teasing a little dissension between the Club and AJ heading into MITB, still having a heel Rollins face Roman for the title. AJ wins the MITB match and Reigns looks to win only to have the lights go out and we have the debut of Finn Balor. That way Roman can retain over Rollins but the fans go nuts for that debut so it’s all good. Next night on RAW we get Rollins saying he deserves a rematch because of the shenanigans and Shane/Steph give it to him for the next PPV, but the main event for the next week is an 8-man tag between The Club against the Usos, Roman, and Rollins. At the next PPV, we get the Club taking on the Usos and Ambrose because he got involved on Smackdown at some point. Except for AJ, he takes on Dolph because the Corbin feud is over by this point. Enzo and Cass defeat the new Day for the titles. In the main event, Roman wins clean.

The next night on RAW, Rollins comes out and says, “I lost clean. I have no excuses the better man won.” AJ comes out and taunts the former Mr. MITB and the match is set AJ/Rollins for SummerSlam. The Club wins a number #1 contenders match for the tag titles at SummerSlam.  By this point, Cena has won the US Title and is doing the open challenge again, leading to Balor/Cena for the US Title at SummerSlam. RAW ends with Roman talking about I beat AJ, I beat Triple H, I beat Rollins, and I’m the guy. And I will take on anyone to prove it. Well here comes the pain, Lesnar and Heyman come out and you get the rematch of Lesnar/Reigns.

Also at this point, KO has won the IC title from the MIz, while Sami beat Cesaro at the last PPV. This leads to the match between KO and Sami for the title at SummerSlam. We will come back to this.

At SummerSlam, the Club loses to Enzo and Cass for the titles, AJ defeats Rollins, Sami wins the IC title, Balor beats Cena by count out, and Roman beats Lesnar clean except the Club jump him after the match leading to AJ cashing in and winning the title. I know this is a recurring thing at SummerSlam but it works.

The next PPV, Night of Champions, sees the rematches where Cena beats Balor, The Club win the titles; Sami beats KO again in a Ladder match, and AJ defeats Roman to retain due to the debut of Nakamura.   

This leads to the Club just dominating everyone on RAW, looking unstoppable.  Until the end of RAW when Cena help take out the Club with Roman and Ambrose. But the numbers game is too much until Rollins makes the save; leading to the him putting his fist out, Ambrose and Reigns put there’s in and the Shield is back.

Hell in a Cell looks like this the Club defend against the New Day, Nakamura defeats Sami for the IC title, Balor defends against Cena in HIAC, and AJ defends against Roman in the Cell. The show ends with the Club holding all the gold.

The match is set for Survivor Series, the only match that can contain all the chaos, WAR GAMES. They tease a growing rift with AJ and the Club. He costs them the tag titles on RAW and it looks like the Shield has the advantage. (Ambrose and Reigns win the belts).  Also on the card, you get KO vs Cesaro and finally get Wyatt vs Lesnar.  Lesnar and KO have a run in in the locker room after Owens wins his match over a former Heyman guy. In the main event, they tease again AJ turning on the Club but oh no it’s Rollins who turns on the Shield and joins the Club.

TLC looks like this, Reigns and Ambrose drop the belts back to the Club, Nakamura retains in a ladder match, Balor drops it to Cena in a chairs match, and Seth Rollins wins in a TLC between him, AJ, and Randy Orton. Orton has been feuding with Wyatts for the past few months.

Next night on RAW, Seth disbands the Club because he does not need anyone’s help.  AJ isn’t happy he wants his rematch at Royal Rumble in a LMS match. Gallows and Anderson go on to feud with the Vaudvillains, New Day and eventually American Aloha at Mania. Balor vs Orton is set for Rumble, and so is Nakamura vs Cena. Roman and Ambrose tease a feud over who will be the one to get revenge on Rollins.

At The Rumble, Nakamura beats Cena now holding both IC and US titles; Balor defeats Orton only to have the watts attack him after the match. Rollins retains over AJ. In the rumble match, KO eliminates Lesnar and Ambrose wins eliminating Roman.

Fastlane gives us Cena defeating Nakamura to regain the US title, Balor and Orton beat two of the Wyatts but not Bray, KO beats Curtis Axel (the whole time taunting he beat another Heyman guy) leading to Lesnar hitting the ring and dropping him with an F5. Rollins defends against Dolph because why not. AJ vs Roman vs Ambrose with the stipulation that if AJ or Roman wins it becomes a Triple Threat at Mania. Roman wins.

Mania looks like this, Nakamura putting IC title up in a ladder match, Cena vs AJ for the US title, Balor vs Wyatt, Cesaro vs Triple H (because I’d like to see that match and Trips has to be there somewhere). KO vs Lesnar, and main event of Rollins vs Ambrose vs Reigns for the title with Ambrose finally winning the big one.

Credit to Adam from WhatCultureWrestling for his how they should book series.

-Kyle

In Tonight's Main Event

Last night’s main event of Monday Night RAW was incredible, plain and simple. The match pitted US Champion John Cena defending the belt against challenger Cesaro. Now Cena and Cesaro always have amazing chemistry in the ring together, facing off on RAW in February and July of 2014 as well as having a match on the previous RAW that ended in a disqualification when then NXT champion Kevin Steen interfered attacking both men. This match outperformed all of the previous Cena/Cesaro encounters. Every single thing about this match was done to perfection. The set up saw Owens fresh off his recent loss of the NXT title in Japan, try and accept Cena’s open challenge only to have Cesaro interrupt him and claim his right to a rematch. This furthered the Cena/Owen’s feud as well as set up Cesaro’s legitimacy to challenge Cena (something I will get back to). In looking at the Cena/Owen’s feud, both men own a victory over the other in Champion vs Champion matches at the previous two pay-per-views. The formulaic rubber match is set to take place in two weeks at WWE Battleground. While both matches were rightfully hailed as great matches, most could sense that it would go to an inevitable rubber match. With rumors that Owens will become a top heel, expectations are that he will defeat Cena for the title, however this past Monday really shook me of that expectation.  Cesaro really needs something right now, after last year’s highlight of winning the first ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30, he became the newest Paul Heyman guy only to quickly lose momentum and become lost in the shuffle until teaming with Tyson Kidd to former the affection ally named Uppercats. The duo won the Tag Team titles earlier this year but lost them to the New Day and unfortunately Tyson suffered an injury that will have him out for several months, maybe a year. This left Cesaro with nothing again, however after Monday’s RAW; he could be back to an elevated level. This is part of why I love this match so much; it put Cesaro over despite a clean finish. This really is the story of the John Cena US Open Challenge, John is winning sure but he is putting over younger talent in the process. That is the mark of a great champion and what I think really separates this Cena title reign from his others. Going back to the heyday of Super Cena, the focus was build up a monster heel, Cena beats them, and then monster heel is forgotten. Look at Umaga, Khali, Kozlov, etc. Many feared Rusev would suffer the same fate after losing to Cena at WrestleMania this year; unfortunately injury took him out of action for a good while following a series of rematches against Cena. Those matches put Rusev over while simultaneously elevating the status of the US title. But unlike Super Cena, Rusev was still a mid-career; he was never the main event threat that Khali or Umaga was booked as, if anything Cena was dropped to a mid-card role instead of pushing Rusev up. To his credit all of the men Cena have faced, he has put over despite Cena wins over most. Neville gained a huge rub by facing Cena, this reminds me a lot of 02 when Cena debuted against Kurt Angle during Angle’s open challenge. That match, Cena’s first in WWE, was just as star making as Cena/Owens I. Yet the Cesaro/Cena match was something different, it took Cesaro and made him an instant threat again, not star making but main even cementing. This match was more akin to Cena/Taker from Vengeance 03 in which Taker may have won the match but Cena won respect.  This is where I must bring up my only gripe with the match, the fact Cesaro had to argue his case for a rematch in the first place. Back in the 90s, title usually followed a formula in which the challenger would have to defeat the champion in a non-title match in order to get a shot at the championship. In fact the US Title in WCW was originally meant to be the title of the #1 contender, it was this loophole that Goldberg used to defeat Scott Hall and then go on to “cash in” his US Title for a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight championship, defeating Hogan the same night on Nitro. While this formula is all but a relic of a bygone era, TNA tried to revive it with Plan C, allowing the X-Division champion to cash in his title for a shot the art World Title at Destination X. WWE in their infinite wisdom has ditched this in favor of only allowing the rematch clause if the champion loses, but the challengers right is all but out the window. I get why don’t get me wrong, it makes the champion look weak to lose a non-title match and they want to save the confrontations for that big match feel at a pay-per-view. However this is a major point, the PPV MATCH SHOULD BE WORTH THE PAYOFF. Look at the entirety of the Rollins title reign so far every single match ended in a screwy finish, now that works if you do it right and not that often but a constant stream is just nauseating. Rollins could have easily defeated Ambrose in the ladder match clean, then the next night Ambrose say, you beat me but that makes me want it more. However the “payoff” a screwy finish that leads to a Lesnar/Rollins match. How does that do anything for Ambrose except set up a potential match later on but months down the line? However consider the old school formula, champion faces challenger in a non-title match where the challenger wins setting up a match at the PPV, the next few weeks the challenger gains a tag team win over the champ, the champ beats down the challenger,  this leads to the go home show where they are both evenly matched. Then bam the PPV means something. Look at the Cesaro situation, two weeks ago his match ended in DQ, giving him a win over Cena with the champ keeping the title. Cesaro then has the right to have a rematch; he should not have to interrupt Owens.  That being said, my actually gripe is with the though process/booking style not with the fact it happened in fact it gave a brilliant way to set up a potential Cesaro/Owens feud. Now to the match it was an instant classic. Why? It was old school plain and simple. I felt as if I was watching RAW from 02-04, for a second, the main event was just that a main event. The show ended how it always should with a main event match that leaves no doubt what the main event was. I have ranted before about how Heath Slater has won a main event of RAW due to the fact he was in the last match of the show, a show which ended in a contract signing. The track record really since SummerSlam 2012 has been screwy finish or massive face beat down or contract signing every week, now I know there are a few exceptions but they truly are few and far between. This match had a big match feel by the end of it, not because of hype or promos or contracts but because it did what great wrestling does, it told a story. It was two men fighting for a title, fighting to be the best, fighting back and forth without trying to make anyone look good or strong. It was even ample time to showcase itself and for periods there I was really questioning my gut reaction that Cena would walk out champ. I was able to stop thinking about bookings and rumors and shut the smark out and just enjoy the match as it was intended. It wasn’t a spotfest but it wasn’t afraid to pull out the big moves of each competitor. Rather than no selling big moves, the impact was allowed to be felt with close kick outs. This same mentality has been in place for the Cena/Owens matches as well, and it makes the matches feel like big epic encounters. I’m constantly drawn back to the Triple H/Shawn Michaels feud or even the Michaels/Taker WrestleMania 25 match as a comparison. The ending was a clean finish and it did not hurt Cesaro at all, he gave Cena everything he had and it was a back and forth matches. Cena was able to hit an AA of the second rope but that was a reversal of Cesaro’s top rope Neutralizer. This just goes to show how one move makes the difference. If nothing else it’s a strong case for a Cesaro push or rematch down the road. The Owen’s sneak attack attempt was another brilliant spot as Cena anticipated it after weeks of Owen’s attacks. Just the visual of the show ending with a previously y extreme hostile Chi-Town crowd now opening applauding Cena’s effort made that match feel special. Cena’s off air speech and actions putting over Cesaro was just the icing on an amazing cake of professional wrestling at its finest.

True Authority on Heel

First things first, I hate how RAW has ended the past few weeks. In my opinion, wrestling should always be the main event to close out a show. The best match of the card should go on last to send the crowd home happy with a good match regardless of the outcome. I mean  that’s the point of the dark match after the show but shows can still end with no dark match if the face or faces end up on top. What I have problem with is Stephanie and the Bellas ended the broadcast. Stephanie is without a doubt the top heel in the company now, which is not a bad thing. At the height of the Attitude Era, her father character the evil Mr. McMahon was the top heel at the time, quite possibly the greatest heel of my lifetime so far. What the WWE is trying to do is build Steph up to be Vince 2.0 which works to a point. I feel the Authority as a whole works best when it is the behind the scenes power player role. For example, calling Daniel Bryan a B plus player or the video of Triple H’s burials, or even tonight with the whole Seth Rollins versus RVD getting turned into Rollins versus Heath Slater. That sort of corporate, behind the curtain shenanigans make the sort of character work, this though the physicality of being a heel is not lost on that type of character. I have no problem with the Stephanie/Bella feud; it keeps the whole Authority/Daniel Bryan feud going despite Bryan not being there. What I have a problem with is the fact that the past two weeks have seen Stephanie/Bella match get a build the likes of Cena/Lesnar certainly a build far beyond Rollins/Ambrose.  I have a problem with contract signings and catfights getting a billing over great solid wrestlers. If the main event gets bumped back to the next to last segment people forget that there was even a main event. I can’t believe I am even typing this sentence but Heath Slater was the winner of the main event of RAW. HEATH SLATER! I mean props to him for it, but this is absurd to me. Rollins/RVD would have been a solid main event, so would ADR/Ambrose. Now that being said, my wife did tell me during the Rollins/Slater match that she was actually enjoying all the hijinks of Ambrose so I am completely ok with Slater winning., just not that main even of Monday Night RAW, the flagship of the WWE. But what can you do when the most over face in the company is injured, the part-time wrestlers only have limited dates to work with, you have cut most of the jobbers, and the top heel is Stephanie McMahon. It is no wonder that the crowd was very loudly and angrily chanting for a superstar who walked away from them. The voiceless are trying to make their voices heard. On a side note, major respect for both Bellas and Stephanie for that pair of Pedigrees, both moves looked very well done and sold excellently. Finally I must comment on the genius that is Triple H. Slowly he has been transferring his heat onto Steph. By announcing a DX panel for Axxess and taking a backseat in the feud, he is effectively distancing himself in the eyes of the WWE Universe. While he was the one keeping Brie pinned in the corner tonight, his entire $9.99 shtick was pure gold. By going after smarks he is playing them like fiddles. He follows up a great anti-smark promo with this throwback to DX and shills the Network. This not only makes him appear softer to the WWE Universe but is also legitimately best for business. Thus he kills two birds with one stone, making him more of tweener and giving Steph even more heat.   It is pure genius.  I guess that’s why he is the Game.

Until later,

Kyle

Genesis

Welcome to 4 Moves of Doom, our little blog on all things pro wrestling. Starting off our first post, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you enjoy. While this blog is a collection of four different writers each with their own style and backgrounds, we all have the shared love of wrestling in common. Even though that shared love can lead to some conflicts over who deserves a push (in our humble opinions) or who should be the rightful winner of our Royal Rumble pool (I drew Batista fair and square.) But one thing we can agree on this, we have a passion for sports entertainment. I should not have be that guy who points out the obvious but it’s the first post and my job so I'll be that guy. Yes we know wrestling is scripted. Yes, we know the matches are predetermined. Yes we know it is a soap opera for men about half naked men pinning each other to the mat. And frankly WE DO NOT CARE. It’s entertaining, it’s exciting, it’s action-packed, and it’s the greatest show on earth. I don't dislike ballet because it is rehearsed, I don't dislike opera because it is scripted, and as for the homo-eroticism, I think the Greeks and Romans have a few thousand year head start on that one. Now, I will put my soap box away for now and get back to the task at hand. I foresee this blog being a great place for people to come and read about wrestling whether they used to watch Hulk Hogan in the 80's but grew out of it or used to watch the Attitude Era and stopped for a while or are brand new to the wide, wacky, world of wrestling. Hopefully this blog will have a little bit of everything from podcasts to reviews to opinion pieces and any and everything in between. Anything can happen in the WWE, and anything can happen on 4 Moves of Doom.

Humbly,
Kyle.