Who do you think John Cena's Mystery Opponent will be?
 

I keep thinking it maybe Daniel Bryan. It could be more hopeful thinking than anything but I have a feeling it might be and he can carry the torch while Super Cena is gone from the WWE.

Who I want: Joe, Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan

Who I expect: Big Show

Braun Stowman

Actually, change that, I think it will be a big surprise, gonna go for Alberto del Rio

I'd be ok with Alberto

Jeff Harvey

I could honestly see it being Alberto. MVP crossed my mind too. If they agree to pay him the money he wants, Carlito is another option.

I HOPE it is Samoa Joe. Something about Joe showing up to beat a man he started out with just seems right. If you're going to make money with Joe, you might as well put him out there now. His gimmick is as complete as it is going to be, and his ring work is as sharp as it's ever going to be. Why keep the guy back in NXT? Full Sail would rather see Breeze or Crews challenge Balor anyway.

Woods or big e

Have a feeling it will be Breeze. Carlito or Del Rio returning would be pretty cool though.

The more I think about it, the more I like it being Carlito. Lol if it's Baron Corbin.

Realistically I'm thinking Tyler Breeze, Xavier Woods or Chris Jericho. Nothing major.

Joe putting him out of action and just letting the heat built til Cena finally gets his hands on him WrestleMania would be the way to go though.

This Sunday....

Look everyone...It's Tyler!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5RmgWHsqomo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The US Champion will be...gorgeous!

I just can't see WWE putting Tyler Breeze over in his first match vs Cena ala Kevin Owens. I'm gonna go with Dean Ambrose for 2 reasons.

1. It gives him direction, which he kinda lacks at the moment other than being Reign's Lackey most the time.
2. Will put over Ambrose as a high card babyface which they will desperately need next month or so with Cena and Orton gone. Those 2 being gone also makes it a slight chance they let Bryan come back and into this slot but Ambrose is more likely.

I think Dolph tries to screw Breeze but costs Cena the belt. Then Cena is like wtf and Dolph superkicks him. Breeze is champ, Cena doesn't look like a tool and Dolph turns heel. Barney Stinson was was better when he was a womanizer.

Probably either Ambrose or Breeze. Ambrose mostly because he has nothing to do at HiaC since Orton's out and Breeze mostly because Cesaro and Ziggler are stuck in the tag match.

Breeze winning would at least give his feud with Ziggler a bit more meaning till Cena returns. Also lets the WWE get a do-over with someone getting the shock win for the belt.

Whatever it is, it will be disappointing.

<font color=goldenrod>I love Tyler Breeze but if it was going to be him why not have him make a surprise debut at HIAC? Why throw away his debut on a SmackDown of all things?<?font>

Bret The Hitman Clarke

Fixed for reality

The Miz

I'd be surprised if it's not Big E, Xavier Woods, Kofi or Dolph.

Pretty sure whether or not it's disappointing is a matter of opinion.

Finn Balor.... Jobs to Cena at HIAC, Cena cuts promo to open Raw about how great he was and he is giving Balor another shot, Balor wins, Cena raises his hand and rides off into sunset for however long, Balor carries on Cena Open Challenge out of respect for Cena (really an excuse to give him 20-minute matches every Raw)

I predict Tyler Breeze but I bet it will be someone we least expect or will Slater finally get his chance,lol.

If Slater beat Cena I would lose my shit.

The latest rumor is that it could be Bryan. If he's medically cleared, he would probably be the best choice. I love the Joe idea, but it would throw out NXT's continuity next week. It's a small thing, but I just don't think they'd do that.

Bryan answering the challenge would mean he'd beat Cena for a second time. That's pretty big. It also gives him a secondary belt, which was the direction they were going with him anyway. Winning a title his first match back also helps put some shine back on the rose. If Bryan actually made Cena submit to send him away? That would be fucking huge.

If Bryan is not cleared, I do agree with the mentality that it will be Ambrose. Without The Wyatt Family match, Ambrose has been left without much to do, and allegedly the company wants to give him a stronger position with the company while Cena is out. Ambrose beating Cena puts him in that position, and Reigns can move on to do whatever is next for him at Survivor Series (a Triple Threat vs. Brock and Rollins?) and Ambrose can defend the US Title against Jericho or Wyatt or something.

Breeze winning would give him a shot in the arm right out the gate, and it would give him and Ziggler something to fight over. There's something not quite believable about Breeze beating Cena, but I guess they might want to shatter those illusions right out the gate. Plus he's aligned with Summer Rae, so maybe they want to give her more spotlight too.

One guy that I haven't seen mentioned, who I really don't think has a shot honestly, is Stardust. He appears to be moving into a feud with Cesaro, and while Stardust trumping Cena may not seem realistic, they might decide to give him a US Title run as a bit of a nod to the work he's been doing, and so that eventual Stardust vs. Cesaro match has something more to it than just a grudge.

If it is Bryan, Cena won't tap. Unless there's a planned heel turn coming, the chances of Cena tapping out are about as close to zero as it gets.

Bryan is the only choice that will not be anti clamatic.

99.999999999999999999999999999% chance it's not DB, unfortunately, as much as I would absolutely LOVE to see that...been a lot of talk that he might not be cleared until after WM 32, if ever.

Yeah, I know. Unless Cena really wants to leave Bryan looking super-strong in his absence so the company can relax a bit. If anyone could do it, Bryan would make sense. More than likely we just see The Knee That Beat Cena.

Random suggestion: Rob Van Dam

<font color=goldenrod>I want to say RVD is on bad terms with WWE right now. He hasn't been back for a year or so, he regularly talks shit about the creative team in interviews, and for what it's worth he wasn't included in WWE2k16 even though they ported over literally everybody from the last game including people no longer with the company EXCEPT those clearly on bad terms (Punk, Del Rio, Rey, etc.)</font>

Fair point. I haven't been keeping up with that. I wouldn't want to see RVD in that slot anyway.

I've convinced myself that it now has to be Bryan for me now. Shit.

Do you think Cena has sent nudes of Nikki to Vince?

Yes.

Ugh. Don't want to see Bryan anywhere near Cena if he's jobbing. If Bryan returns I'd rather him go back after the IC title and work with Kevin Owens. Feel that those two could put together a solid program.

Vince probably already has his own of her before she was with Cena that he replied back to him with.

I don't care about this ppv at all outside of Lesnar vs Taker but it would be funny to see the Wyatt family get their beards tied together like in the cartoons.

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com...tatanka/15.jpg

on behalf of Shishen's pick per this thread title.

This is the PG Era... and with Roman "Suckering Succotash" Reigns, I'd say the possibility is there.

Is Big Show doing anything tonight?

Big Show would be the very worst choice possible, especially if the plan is for the challenger to go over.

Bryan would be great because it would mean he somehow got fully cleared because they wouldn't do it surely if he was a risk...especially after being so careful up to now.

I think they have a surprise. This is on PPV, they know eyes will be tuned in with Taker/Lesnar. They will want to go all out I feel...

You know this is the WWE right?

May I present to you the number one contender and the lead performer for the night:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRsU_z4XAAAazgA.png

Oof Kane looks awful there.

At least they are advertised as built up matches with coherent stories.

A surprise mystery opponent who was completely destroyed in his last major outting would be soul crushing :$

Nice. :y:

Question...unless I missed something, why is Del Rio aligned with someone who hates immigrants?

I imagine he'll paint ADR as an upstanding legal immigrant as opposed to the drains on society that illegals are. All that stuff he specifically said about Del Rio in the past will just be heel flip flopping.

Makes ADR a heel to the Mexican people. Big pop when dumps Zeb and turns babyface and becomes the face of the WWE in Mexico.

Or he dumps Zeb tonight on RAW and leads to a reunion with Swagger and give ADR a quick program to dominate.

Shame it was Del Rio, I was enjoying him on Lucha Underground.

Anyone else think that since they really didn't write Cena off last night, he's gonna invoke his rematch tonight and end up "injured" in the cross-arm breaker?

That'd be really good if they want to get him back to that nasty mean streak space he was in. NOW BRING BACK FUCKING RICARDO.

Yeah the match last night definitely didn't do anything to write Cena off TV.

It's entirely possible they just had that match so Cena could move on to something else. Maybe Sheamus lays him out with Barrett. But i could also see ADR injuring Cena to put more heat on the rematch.

And I was right. I know people would think I am just being a pessimistic internet smark but truth is ADR was always a channel changer for me. I just can't stand him and always felt he was an xpac heat kind of guy.

I wonder what they do with swagger I hope he gets a good angle out of this.

Quick babyface promo and squashed by ADR would be the most logical.

LOL, OK Mr. Spock. :lol:

Well it is.

ADR is a star, Swagger is just above enhancement talent right now. You're not suggesting 50-50 booking between them are you?

I've been wanting a stable where Jack Swagger has grown to represent the failure of America in Zeb's eyes and he's gathered a group of foreigners to come in and make America great again.

But the explanationprobably won't be that in-depth.

Del Rio joining Sheamus, Barrett, and Rusev would be a good group.

since swagger did not show up on raw guess he is not in this story

Disco Inferno.

part of me wanted Bobby Lashley!!! Rey Mysterio's cousin!! Bah gawd save us Austin!

Not Euro enough. Then it becomes an anti American group. I like keeping it Euro only. If anything they need another Eastern European guy to balance things out in case there is a split.

Why does it not being completely European make it anti-American?

This would be great. I don't think they even need to be foreigners, so much as he's just opened his minds to performers that are going to benefit him -- like he did with Cesaro. People could really get behind a "You failed me, Jack" babyface Swagger looking to prove himself. I'd have Swagger join forces with Cesaro, Ziggler, Neville & Ryback for an Elimination Match against Del Rio, Sheamus, Barrett, Rusev & Breeze for Survivor Series.

Well what do they have in common then?

I'll let you think about the xenophobic implications of what you just said.

Are you even serious? You might consider it Anti-American if all the guys were Russian or North Korean, but come on. How is Ireland or England Anti-American?

It just is. By themselves they don't have to be anti American. But in a faction with Euro and non Euros its different.

That's how sports entertainment works.

Hahahaha!

Seriously one of my nightmares is to be locked in a room with Cornette. Can't think of anyone's opinion I think less of.

I bet.

He managed Camp Cornette. A stable of one Japanese guy, one Canadian and one Brit. And they didn't shit on the US of A every week. The silly fuck.

HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?!?!

I think some random xenophobia is exactly what this CyNick gimmick needs to keep it from burning out already.

Fine, Del Rio could represent Spain.

:lol:

Yeah, what successful territory did he ever book?

Nothing in the last 20 years

KURT ANGLE.

Actually, that's wrong.

League of Nations should be interesting. Lana and Zeb could be entertaining together. To bad they couldn't find that Eastern European.

You giving him credit for stuff Vince did?

Adding to the bump of a thread where this exchange took place...

is probably not the best idea, CyNick.

cynick, send me pics

No, I'm giving him credit for his contributions to the WWE when he was there, as well as his work in OVW, which produced a lot of top quality WWE stars and was a successful promotion in its own right until he left in 2005.

CyNick will love League of Nations now because Vince is a genius.

I've been cold on Del Rio since he returned. He just doesn't fly for mainstream WWE audiences, despite being such an awesome wrestler. It's hard to get truly enthused about any potential feud for the guy.

Yeah, he's a great performer but I feel his matches with LU and ROH just had a different feel to them. Now that he's back in WWE he's lost some of that big feel presence. The MexAmerica thing hasn't gone over like I think it was intended to, and it had to be reworked and the best they came up with was "haters". Him and Zeb don't really click together either I don't think. I like him being in the League of Nations and that could be used to get him and Zeb apart.

I liked the idea of Del Rio with Colter originally. In the realm of wrestling, it makes sense for Colter and Del Rio to both sell out on their values in order to make money together. The "MexAmerica" thing is awful though. An unnecessary add-on to the pairing. As US Champion, I think Del Rio could have used more feeding after initially winning the title -- beating guys like Zack Ryder, Titus O'Neil, etc. Just have him obliterate guys and win matches with different moves -- the execution-style superkick, Cross Armbreaker, Warrior's Way, etc.

I think the only program that really jumps out to me is a feud with Chris Jericho. You just know those matches would be great, and Jericho and Colter riffing on the mic would be hot. Jericho could cut promos about the US Title being the only championship he hasn't won in WWE yet. Jericho could put Del Rio over in really heartbreaking fashion.

I like Jack Swagger as a face, but at this point, I'd rather he joined Colter and Del Rio and been the guy that warms up whoever faces Del Rio. It'd give Swagger more chance to work in the ring, and maybe he and Del Rio can team together to get some wins. Swagger is really good at heating up whoever his tag partner is.

Imagine Jericho & Neville vs. Del Rio & Swagger -- with singles match combinations possible. I like that much better than what they're doing now.

Biggest mistake was not continuing the Open Challenge in some sort of form once Cena left. Either with Del Rio or Owens being more cocky on how they treated it. It would allow either belt continue building up its value/prestige and provide quality matches in the mean time.

WWE just repeating the same mistakes with Del Rio's return also doesn't help. By week 2-3 the crowd went right back to not caring about Del Rio even thought he's a really good wrestler and talker when given the chance like with other companies.

I could see Swagger joining the League of Nations but I'm not sure they're a long term thing. I'd also take Axel as the American member of the League of Nations.

Jack Swagger can't join the League of Nations because he's not European. And thus it would have to become an anti-Canadian stable. Because... what else do they have in common?

After the Roman feud is done at TLC, Swags can join and they could turn League of Nations into an anti-Sami Zayn stable on NXT to keep it topical.