HYPOTHETICAL: Randy Orton and John Cena are out indefinitely

[Xero]

Let's play "HYPOTHETICAL". This week's edition deals with the possible but improbable scenario of both of WWE's top draws, Randy Orton and John Cena, being out for unknown amounts of time. Whether they are injured, released or whatever.

These two are essentially keeping WWE afloat at this point in terms of drawing faces. There are no other faces in the company, other than Triple H and Undertaker who are limited right now at best, who could take the ball and it would be realistic.

So, what would you do with your two top drawing stars out? Who takes the top spot(s)? And keep in mind that Undertaker and Triple H would likely not be working house shows if you used them, and Orton and Cena are major draws for the house shows.

Also, what do you think WWE would realistically do in that position, taking your own personal bias out of the equation?

[CSL]

Throw money at Big Dave

[RiX1024]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay........give Christian and The Miz the belt back. nuff said.

[Ermaximus]

Raw would likely be handed off to The Miz. He's already shown that he can hold the ball and run with it. Having him be your top Raw guy would work well. Other potential top spots who could run with it on Raw are CM Punk, Rey, and Del Rio.

Truth, Morrison, and Ziggler are all longshots, but it could happen.

Smackdown would be in a world of hurt in this case though. The only other "major" face they have is Kane so he'd likely take the title until Orton or someone else came back/took over. Kane seems to not mind being a transitional champ so I'm sure he'd shoulder the burden here. Christian could and should be the top guy and Sheamus could easily hold his own in the position. Sin Cara would likely be tossed up in the mix, but given that he has XERO charisma, I think it'd be a bad choice. Same goes for Big Zeke.

[RiX1024]

Exactly Smackdown are more screwed than RAW.

[CSL]

Throw money at Big Dave

And maybe have Trips go full time for a while

[MoFo]

Turn Sheamus face and give him a Lesnar-esque push.

[Xero]

Jericho's another name they can get in a situation like this.

But the terrible thing about this scenario is that no one is built up AS A FACE, on the current roster, who could take these guys' places realistically. Guys like Punk and Miz are/can be great draws as heels, but as we've seen in the past, Punk's face run was less than stellar and we haven't seen a Miz face run yet. They're gambles. Rey is a good option, though.

What I would do is use Rey and bring in names like Jericho and Batista to take over for the first month or so, and then start building up at least two guys per brand who could legitimately be plugged into the top of the brand as a face.

And I think that's what WWE would do, too. They would finally realize "fuck, we haven't made any faces except these two" and put the gears in motion into making new top faces.

[DLVH84]

Start trying to build new stars, something they really lack.

[Heisenberg]

Quick action would be to figure up a marketable guy that wouldn't stifle any profits that would be lost with Cena/Orton falling out of the targeted audience/adults who pay for their kids WWE mercs minds.

[James Steele]

Start trying to build new stars, something they really lack.

They have built up a shitload of new main event/upper midcard stars over the past 5-6 years, but they are all heels (Punk, Sheamus, Miz, Barrett, Ziggler, etc.). Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan, Kofi Kingston, Alex Riley, John Morrison, and Evan Bourne are really the only over babyfaces that could potentially be built to the main event in a relatively short time but they are still all midcarders at this point.

[Xero]

Yeah, the "new stars" argument holds little weight anymore, because there are a bunch of heels that, some despite being yo-yo'd, can be plugged into top main event programs who have been made in the past year or two. Sheamus, Del Rio, Miz and Truth come to mind. The problem now is really the face side of things.

And really, it makes sense for them to make the heels first, because the faces (John Cena) are/were so strong. And a good heel can potentially make a good face who isn't huge on his own.

[MikeyMike]

Yoshi Tatsu :shifty:

[Xero]

Yoshi Tatsu's figure will get a push before he does.

[Ruien]

Unite the titles since there will not be many faces ready to take over. When either John Cena or Randy Orton comes back, separate the titles again.

[Nicky Fives]

Miz & Christian..... everyone else bumps up a spot.....

[St. Jimmy]

Rey Rey on Raw (sells that merch), Sheamus on Smackdown (next best thing to Batista/Triple H) and nothing really changes.

[St. Jimmy]

If you injure everyone on the roster you may get the result of champions you want, other than that you won't.

[loopydate]

Rey Mysterio. Beyond him, you'd probably have to turn somebody like Sheamus.

[loopydate]

Or, essentially what St. Jimmy said one minute before me.

[Innovator]

Bring back the Latin fad...

CSL nailed it pretty much. Trips would come back on air and WWE would give a blank check to Dancing Dave. That and they'd really push for Punk to stay.

[Jordan]

I'd put Trips on Raw and probably rush the Sin Cara/Rey feud and put Rey on Smackdown!

[Corporate CockSnogger]

I'd probably re-hire Tiger Ali Singh

[Shisen Kopf]

Bring back JBL and have him feud with Del Rio over a parking spot. Ratings galore.

[XCaliber]

It would be risky but I would use the opportunity to push Kofi Kingston to the main event scene on RAW and bring back Triple H and send him over to SD as their roster lacks big name faces right now. So at least that way one brand would have an already very credible and proven champion. Also I would consider turning guys like Zack Ryder and Ted DiBiase thus bumping them up to at least to the midcard and have them in the respective IC/US hunt.

[legendkillerRKO]

Alex Riley is being pushed as the next big face of Raw, on Smackdown....bring back Jericho as happy, funny Jericho...

[Emperor Smeat]

Push Del Rio and Miz as heel champions and give either one a long reign to provide some time to build up new star face wrestlers. Miz-Riley feud could be developed into a nice short title feud while giving more time for Kofi to be developed into a serious star. It might sound like a joke but this would also be the best time to capitalize on Ryder since he already has his core base set and wouldn't need much to expand it to a star level.

Smackdown is a bit easier since Orton just started to be pushed as the main star and before him it was a variety of wrestlers. Let Christian be champion on Smackdown and have him turn face by saying the jealousy of loosing the title made him turn on his peeps. Give him a feud with Sheamus and make that into the new mega feud for Smackdown for at least the rest of the year. At the same time start seriously pushing Barrett, Zeke, Bryan, and a few others to give some good depth for both faces and heels in the main event scene.

WWE's problem is instead of doing what they did during the Attitude Era of multiple stars that were equally pushed as the stars of the WWF, they keep pushing Cena and been trying with Orton as the "Hogan" of a brand. Stone Cold was out for a whole year and yet the WWE didn't falter that year because they had The Rock and a few others seen as equal to Stone Cold filling his spot.

[Tommy Gunn]

Mark Henry wins the WHC, and I calmly switch off Smackdown and never download it again.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Raw could survive without Cena just fine. Although their other options might not get the draws, there are plenty of guys who could safely be elevated to the top face spot on an interim basis. Rey is the obvious choice for that, although Morrison could finally get a chance at it. Frankly I'd hate to see Morrison in a main event face spot since turning face sucked the charisma right out of him, but I have little doubt WWE could pull it off. Kofi's another option, although they dropped the ball on a main event run for him when he was getting fucking huge pops a couple years back.

As for SmackDown...yeah they'd be pretty much fucked. I can't take Kane seriously anymore, so in terms of guys on that show they'd probably turn Sheamus face. The idea of a Sheamus face run has always intrigued me, actually. I think it'd actually be more likely that they go ahead and move somebody from Raw over to SmackDown with no explanation. Morrison, Kofi, or even Riley - and whoever goes over competes for the top face spot with Sin Cara.

As far as bringing in other guys, I'd echo the sentiments of Jericho and Batista. I think Jericho will return as a face when he comes back, he even said in an interview that he has no desire to return as a guy who wears a suit and says long words again. Jericho's always been about reinventing himself, so proposing that he return as a face might appeal to him. Batista, on the other hand, I have no desire to see return as a face. Loved Heeltista so much. Maybe have Heeltista return on Raw and somehow use that to turn The Miz face.</font>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Honestly, I think The Miz could turn face. If you had a heel like CM Punk and his Nexus group put Cena out, then The Miz could come out and basically tell Punk that his usurping of RAW is being interrupted. The Miz becomes top face be default. Another option is Alberto Del Rio. Although such a heel, he's been presented as having skills and courage when need-be. I think he needs some time to earn his stripes a bit more, but it depends what the situation with him is when Cena is out.

Jack Swagger could turn face. All he needs to do is oppose the top heel. He won't carry the company for long, but as an interim guy, he'd work. You also have Big Show and Rey Mysterio there, and although they aren't "fresh," both are over enough to provide main event support in the absence of Cena.

Ziggler could turn face, dumping Vickie, being his own man, etc. Alex Riley is being groomed as a top face, and depending on how his feud with The Miz goes, he could really do it. CM Punk is also entertaining on the mic enough to be a babyface if he was positioned against a top heel.

Basically, I think RAW is fine. I really do. Are all the guys I listed completely ready to be the top stars? Perhaps not, but I don't think they'd stink up the joint. I haven't even mentioned John Morrison and Kofi Kingston.

SmackDown! seems like it'd be in a worse spot, but I think you could, again, just turn a top heel face. If you want a face on the rise, though -- go with Ezekiel Jackson. If he's not connecting well enough, then just push Daniel Bryan in the absence of Randy Orton. You might scoff, but all you need to do is have Shawn Michaels come out on SmackDown! and say he believes in Daniel Bryan, the top heel scoff, then get his fucking head kicked in. We're talking desperate times here.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Also, the WWE should be thinking about this already. John Cena and Randy Orton are the biggest stars in wrestling at the moment, but buyrates and ratings have been going down across the board for them. I think it's a case of the same thing for a prolonged period of time (no matter how good they are at their job), can get a bit stagnant.

[Phenomenal 1]

Thus the necessary need for wrestler or the wrestling company to reinvent their stars..something the WWE guys are bad at usually or just neglect to do Also, the WWE should be thinking about this already. John Cena and Randy Orton are the biggest stars in wrestling at the moment, but buyrates and ratings have been going down across the board for them. I think it's a case of the same thing for a prolonged period of time (no matter how good they are at their job), can get a bit stagnant.

[Phenomenal 1]

And to answer the question directly... mix and punk could carry raw with Christian sheamus and wade barred carrying smackdown

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wade Barrett has the charisma to turn face at the drop of a hat, in my opinion. Seriously, have Christian call him a punk for needing the Nexus and The Corre for as long as he did, and give Barrett a mic:

BARRETT: Do you honestly believe that? Give me a title shot and it won't take me 17 years to do what you did...