What If - Roman Reigns push as the next top star fails miserably
 

Who would likely be next in line to get the mega push and why?

Who would you prefer instead if its different than what the WWE would likely pick and why?

Plenty of obvious preferences like Barrett, Cesaro and Ziggler. If it fails it won't be for the same reason that recent Batista + CM Punk pushes failed(creative ineptitude and terrible use of the character by management) but more in line with the failures of Sheamus, Ryder and Del Rio--- the fans just don't want what they're selling even though management is breaking their balls to get the guy over.

My money's on Cesaro

Hopefully Ziggler. The man is incredible in the ring lately. And he gets some pretty big pops already.

I'll just answer the title of this thread, rather than the original post:

Can't happen. WON'T happen. #BetOnIt

I don't think that's fair on Sheamus. Had they kept him the badass Irishman who'd take on bullies like he was when he first started his face turn against Mark Henry I think he'd have gotten over extremely well. The reason he floundered is because WWE is trying to turn him into Irish Cena with their stupid "cousin in Ireland" and "potato eating" jokes.

On topic, I'd say the mega push would probably go to Ambrose at this point if Reigns failed. The dude is being shown off a lot now, and he's by far the most interesting of the 3 former Shield members. I almost said Bray Wyatt, but he's just far better suited to being a top heel for the company.

Ryback. Not even close.

I know this might be only half serious, but I would love to see him given another chance...he didn't do much wrong and was a victim of circumstances the first time around...

Ziggler is a personal favourite of mine, so I would love to see him as a top guy. Reminds me of HBK, but have heard WWE is wary of his concussion history and might not be pushing hm because of that. Barrett is another one that might never reach the top because he is injury prone.

It's not often cited as a reason for certain guys, but generally, WWE will take a guy who doesn't take time off. Cena's willingness to work with injuries and not take long periods out means they can rely on him to main event near enough every PPV

To be fair, have the fans shown a modicum of interest in the guy over the past year and a half? No chants, no grass roots support, he just kind of got hot for a time and faded away.

Honestly can't see Roman Reigns as a top star. Certainly he isn't that great on the mic, but neither was Batista. Difference was that Batista had a monster heel to go against and pretty much "make" him for the rest of his career.

For Roman Reigns to get truly over as a top star, he needs a monster heel to go up against.

Sheamus and Del Rio were definitely victims of mundane booking (Though I still maintain Del Rio's feud with Big Show and how he was handled during it was fucking great). And I'm not sure why Ryder was mentioned with them. The fans definitely "wanted what they were selling" with him. Management just didn't push him too hard because he was a guy who was a really over mid-carder and nothing more. They knew that.

I would say this but at this point, I don't know if he's even redeemable. He would have been perfect when he was the monster face everyone wanted to see give the heels their comeuppance. At this point it would be tough to bring him back to that level. And I don't think he works as an "overcoming the odds" face. They fucked up SO bad.

That being said, I guess I would give it a shot at least. See if you can regain SOME of that mystique he had.

My #1 pick right now actually would be someone WWE hasn't been grooming as the next big thing. Fandango. Obviously you'd have to tweak the character so it's less gimmicky or lose it altogether but I've said since NXT that Johnny Curtis is the guy WWE should have been grooming as the next big thing from day one. He's got the look, the size, the in-ring skills, the charisma, he's got an insanely likeable personality and he's naturally funny in a way that Cena has tried to force at times over the years that has made people cringe. Johnny Curtis getting pushed to the top and making the rounds on the talk show circuit representing the company with the title over his shoulder is like a license to print money.

Lesnar would fit perfectly assuming the dirtsheets are correct about next year's Mania.

Nah, beating Lesnar means nothing. He's not regular enough of a guy. It will for sure be a huge moment, but it won't be like Batista defeating Triple H's extended reign of terror.

I just wonder how long it will takes fans to turn on him as they did Cena. I think they will turn about 3 months after he gets the title.

re: Ryback

Fans really just like chanting stuff and feeling involved. The simpler the better though

Fandangoing < "Feed me more" < "Yes!"

He was getting pops outside of just people chanting his catchphrase when he was being booked as a force.

You already know everything about wrestling anyway so w/e

Forget it

No. I have ears.

But also, I know everything about wrestling.

Ambrose seems like he has purely organic face pops. Reigns seems like he has some organic pops, but some stuff that they're shoving down our throats.

Reigns honestly bores the hell outta me

He shouldn't have gotten above the midcard. He could have at least become the next Santino if they would have booked him properly, but every story Cena is in just fucks over someone in the long run... most of the time.

I think the whole thing with Eve could have been booked better. They could have had him strike something up with another diva while Eve hooked up with a guy like The Miz and had a good WrestleMania mid-card match with an actual decent build instead of just throwing them in a 12-man tag match. That would have been Ryder's peak though. He didn't have the staying power of a Santino. Being able to participate in a storyline with Cena at all was a good thing for the guy.

If we are talking character tweaking, one man I see in nxt that could potentially do it is Aiden english. I know he is annoying now and his gimmick is awful.. but when he talks he reminds me of hbk. Obviously he needs more polishing in the ring, but to me he has the potential to be there biggest dark horse

I see Seth Rollins being a bigger star than Ambrose, unless the model Ambrose "crazy" gimmick in an anti-authority "Stone Cold-esque" gimmick.....

Between Ambrose or Cesaro.

Same here, although Ambrose does seem to get some pretty intense pops in situations where he's been getting involved in matches involving Rollins or attempting to save someone from a beatdown at the hands of Rollins. Whether or not that can be sustained outside of his current feud with Rollins remains to be seen before he'd be considered as a constant main-eventer.

Dean Ambrose is the obvious answer to give, but I feel if I give any other answer it'd be silly - he's the guy that feels like he's getting legitimately hot and has some real momentum.

They could thrust Cesaro into "top guy" position if they wanted, but to be effective I think he needs to add a bit more to his act. Heyman is awesome, in the ring Cesaro is fantastic, but that is absolutely not the be-all end-all, and that extra component, that star quality, isn't there with him yet.

I think for Rollins to be the top guy, he needs that kind of consistent strong booking for a while (think HHH in early 2000) to get people to believe that seeing him lose is a rarity you are dying to see.

Gimmick is awful? We have somebody who doesn't like the Vaudevillians? :rant:

Put up your dukes good sir.

As an addendum, I am a little concerned after reading in the Observer that they may fast track Reigns due to Bryan being out of all plans. Brock beats Cena at Summerslam, Reigns beats Brock in September?

Hate if they rush into that match.

You could literally say this after every #1-wwf-fan post and it would summarize the post perfectly lol.

Ahhh I forgot about that.. I actually do like that

To be fair to Ryder in your example, he was getting over IN SPITE OF not being pushed. At all. He built up a following over the internet at the tail end of the company still equating "internet" with "a grand total of 4 unwashed smark virgins" instead of every kid with a smartphone. And WWE didn't look to capitalize on that in the least. He got a US Title win, but then he was STILL barely on TV. He had no real feud. He was in no angle. In essence, he was being treated almost as poorly as MCMG in TNA (nobody realizes exactly how over they were because LOLTNA). Instead of rewarding the guy and building on the foundation he laid for himself, they ran crazy with the social media end of it and found a way to bury him again by overshadowing him down the path he trailblazed*.

But "not buying what the company is selling" has always been a huge point of contention. Even now. Do I have to bring up Rusev? Do I have to mention their whole idea for Batista's return was poo-poo'd because they severely underestimated how popular Daniel Bryan was?

Which brings us to the topic at hand: Roman, and if his push fails. Firstly, it shouldn't fail, because they shouldn't be trying to ratchet him up straight to champion status right away. The same people saying "strike while the iron's hot because he's over" are the same ones who discouraged the thought of someone like Punk or Danielson winning the title in the same ammount of time Reigns has been on the main roster. I wonder why that is? Secondly, and more importantly, they should KEEP TREATING HIM like a stoic badass who doesn't back down from a fight. They hopefully won't try to switch gears with him or change his character. Stick with what's working, and don't fucking rush it.

But, if it does fail (or more likely, WWE screws it up), they'll continue to bypass someone like Ziggler because of "concussion fears", and likely go with Cesaro. Not a bad thing, and I like Cesaro, but it's more because of him having "that look WWE likes" than anything else. I actually would have said that they'd try to build Thwagger back to prominence by having him leapfrog Rusev, BUT after hurting another guy, they may not bank on that.

*Credit where credit is due to Matt Hardy. Say what you want about he and his brothers' crazy ass antics, but in this instance, he was wayyy ahead of his time. Ryder came along at a point in history where it was ready to work.

Is Mr. "You're dumb if you think Triple H is going to lose to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam" calling someone else a wrestling know-it-all?

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