Wrestling Rumblings #80
July 16, 2010
By: Jose Marrero of Wrestleview.com
It’s no secret right now the biggest angle in wrestling is the storyline involving the NXT season 1 graduates now known as The Nexus. Whether you enjoy the storyline or you don’t everyone is talking about it and everyone has a theory as to how the angle should go. Such ideas of course involve the identity of the mystery GM, whether or not Wade Barrett or any of the other Nexus members should win championships or even if the group should do an invasion on Smackdown. I personally have opinions on all these things but the one concept that sticks with me is that I am just not sure if these 7 guys can carry this angle long term on their own. Many of you out there agree with me and have theorized that wrestlers such as HHH, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton or maybe even CEO Vince McMahon in a swerve will unite with these individuals as the mastermind behind this invasion. While I don’t think the plan involves any of these men or for that matter the man I am theorizing how great it could be if this group showcased the long awaited heel turn of John Cena…you’re reading “Wrestling Rumblings.”
This is not a prediction I really don’t think it would happen, I’ve been to enough shows and have seen the sea or orange and blue shirts amongst women and children and am smart enough to know that John Cena is the cash cow and as over as Randy Orton may be with older fans he is just not going to financially supplant John Cena for some time. Of course anything is possible and if you can elevate Cena as a heel and Orton as the top babyface in the right manner maybe both men can generate enough money together (hey heel merchandise sells too) where it won’t make a difference. There are very few acts out there that do not have to switch it up without becoming stale, even Hulk Hogan after a strong 14 year run as a babyface had to make a heel turn to reinvigorate himself, I don’t know if John Cena is proving to be stale with his fanbase but I do think he can use some re-invigoration and I do think a heel run cannot just re-energize himself but the whole WWE. So how do we do it?
After thinking about it I am not, I repeat I am not in favor of having John Cena come out as a guy who was the mastermind the whole time behind Nexus. When you think about it, it makes no sense since Nexus cost John Cena the WWE Championship and well why do that if he is the leader? While The Nexus is an invading faction I don’t want to have a storyline where they already devalue the championships in the company by making them unimportant so that just won’t work for me to have Cena spearhead it the whole time. I kept thinking and I realized counting this Sunday’s Money in the Bank PPV we have a mess of PPV’s before Wrestlemania and if I make Cena heel it’s with the idea that he would be main eventing against a babyface Randy Orton at Wrestlemania XXVII. So I kept thinking I don’t want Cena to come out and say he was behind it all but I do want him in and I want Orton to be his main event foil at Wrestlemania; how do I get them there?
Well I guess I have to start at Money in the Bank right? Cena vs. Sheamus in a steel cage should be very easy to fix as I would make this steel cage match end in as much chaos and confusion as possible. Sheamus would retain the championship here after Cena found himself distracted by The Nexus surrounding the cage trying to enter it and get the bicycle kick from Sheamus who would find himself in the position of being trapped with Cena in the cage against the invading Nexus. They would try to fend them off with the whole locker room clearing out and there being brawls in and out of the cage to end the PPV. If pulled off right fans would probably not crap all over the dirty finish and it would set up intrigue as to what happens next for this storyline.
So now we have to go into Summerslam, if WWE is still honoring it’s mystery GM’s decree that The Nexus cannot compete for any titles for 3 months that would mean this is month 2 where Wade Barrett can’t get his title shot and I want to see Nexus guys actually compete on the PPV even if it is in one match. They can’t just invade forever, of course I still can’t neglect the WWE Championship so I am going to have Sheamus take on Evan Bourne who I figure I would put to win the MITB briefcase and since Sheamus has been a bully to Evan since day one he is going to want to do the typical underdog storyline and take on the big Irishman at Summerslam. Would I put Evan to win? Of course not, but I’d let him look credible and give him the appearance of someone who while he may not be the biggest guy on the roster can beat anyone, anytime, anywhere. He will come close and Sheamus will be lucky enough to just escape with the title. I still have to do something with Randy Orton also since he is going to be my top babyface when I make Cena heel so I will have him take on Edge one more time to wrap up that program. There is so many stipulation matches I can use here and I am the first one to say that stipulations are overused, especially now with all the gimmick PPV’s but I would have this one be 2 out of 3 falls just because I haven’t seen a good 2 out of 3 falls match used in quite a while and these two might be able to pull it off. If I really want to push the envelope I could go for 3 Stages of Hell but I think 2 out of 3 falls is just fine. That brings me to John Cena who at this point has to be incensed about getting screwed out of the title again and not being granted another rematch against Sheamus goes after the only guys he can in The Nexus. The day after Money in the Bank Cena will come out and cut a promo about Wade Barrett saying how much of a man he is for repeatedly ganging up on Cena and how in the WWE things get proven in the ring one on one. Sounds pretty boring the way I am laying it out but Cena will throw some hard edged lines at Barrett that will get him to step up and accept Cena’s challenge of a one on one match at Summerslam with The Nexus banned from ringside. The mystery GM will come up with some hokey stipulation that if any Nexus member interferes for Barrett they will all be fired and if any WWE Superstar interferes for Cena they will be fired. That would lead to Chris Jericho interfering for Wade Barrett and Wade Barrett defeating Cena. Anyone who saw Raw this past week saw Jericho being the only one who had any positive interaction with any of the Nexus members and well at this point I might have Jericho interact a bit more where he starts to think he isn’t a target and can control this group and after the match with Cena he comes in to lift Barrett’s hand and the other Nexus members come out and destroy him showing that The Nexus truly has no allies.
So that brings us to Night of Champions. Sheamus is still the champion, Cena has now jobbed on 3 consecutive PPV’s so fans can’t say that he is not doing his part to put people over and Randy Orton is finished with Edge. This is also the last month where no Nexus member can challenge for a title. Since every match on Night of Champions is supposed to be a championship match this provides an interesting dilemma for me, one that I will rectify by having the mystery GM say how after this month is over Wade Barrett does have a PPV shot of his choosing, however he will have to defend that shot at Night of Champions against Chris Jericho and John Cena which through the interference of the returning Daniel Bryan Barrett will somehow retain. For those who are going to tell me that Bryan should be a babyface because of the promo Barrett cut on him I would just rectify that by saying it was all part of the plan and how WWE management got rid of Bryan so he had to get on their good side to come back. Sheamus will take on Randy Orton for the title and will lose the title to Randy Orton as I don’t need him as the champion anymore and that takes us through September straight on till Hell in a Cell.
After losing again on PPV John Cena needs to get some momentum back and has decided that he needs to go after Nexus members one at a time, the build up to Hell in a Cell has Cena fighting various Nexus members in singles and tag team matches on Raw with him taking on Daniel Bryan at the Hell in a Cell PPV in a match where Cena win. Randy Orton will rematch Sheamus in a Hell in a Cell match which he of course will win and then Wade Barrett will choose that moment to exercise his PPV main event title shot and easily defeat Randy Orton to become WWE Champion to end the show.
This brings us to Bragging Rights, I think I will keep it Raw vs. Smackdown and have several interbrand matches on the card with the big Bragging Rights main event match and Team Raw would be captained this year by John Cena so that’s my involvement for him on that show. The other Nexus members other than Wade Barrett would interfere in the big Bragging Rights match up and that match would end in a no contest. Randy Orton of course would have to rematch Wade Barrett for the WWE title and would lose that match due to the mistimed interference of John Cena. This of course foreshadows the tension between Cena and Orton as I would have Orton RKO Cena in the ring to end the PPV.
At this point I would say heels and babyfaces alike start uniting and see that The Nexus is a threat to everyone which is great as I would have a Survivor Series match that would have a 7 on 7 elimination which would involve all The Nexus members sans Wade Barrett vs. CM Punk, Edge, John Morrison, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Chris Jericho and the returning HHH. I have to start giving WWE as a whole some momentum here so HHH would get the win here in the match for his team giving WWE the win. Main event of this PPV would wind up being John Cena vs. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett in a Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Championship. I figure it’s been 5 months since the last Fatal 4 Way match up so I can do it again here at Survivor Series. Somehow Cena manages to steal a pin on Sheamus away from Randy Orton and becomes WWE Champion again which again leaves more tension between Cena and Orton and could be interpreted by the announcers as Cena backing his way into the title.
I think at this point I would have some sort of storyline where Wade Barrett wants his rematch but Randy Orton also wants a rematch and so do a variety of other wrestlers who would complain that it has been the same people in the main event over and over again. There would be some sort of contenders match on Raw which would lead to Sheamus winning and taking on John Cena at the TLC PPV in a rematch of their Tables match from a year ago. During the whole build up you can pretty much say over and over again how Cena has never defeated Sheamus in a meaningful match and ask the question if Cena can really defeat Sheamus? Of course Cena guts it out and puts Sheamus through a table in convincing fashion to retain his title at the PPV. Now what do we do with Randy Orton and The Nexus? Simple enough we have them involved in a match on the PPV which after much struggle in which Barrett really takes Orton to the limit Orton gets the win over Barrett. So we have Cena still the champion and still a babyface and Orton regaining his momentum with a win over the man who defeated him for the title in Wade Barrett.
We still have 2 more PPV’s before Wrestlemania and still have not yet turned John Cena heel yet. I want everyone to realize that although I have not really expunged on it much because I am focusing more on the Cena heel turn than anything else that the other Nexus members have still been causing much chaos throughout Raw for heels and babyfaces alike on the show so this is not the Wade Barrett show, it’s just that he is the leader of Nexus and for right now I need him in the mix. If I had a whole lot of time and a whole lot more space I could probably tell you what each and every member of Nexus would be doing but this is just a column, not a book and booking 8 months of programming just won’t do in the space and time allotted here. The day after the TLC PPV I would have Cena come out on Raw and cut a promo about how he has been to hell and back the past few months and has finally got what he feels is rightfully his but he still has unfinished business. At that point Barrett comes out and says that while Cena did win the title back he didn’t beat him and Cena appears ready to accept that challenge when out comes Randy Orton who reminds Cena of how he cost him the title and Barrett of how he defeated him at the PPV the night before. Of course at this point the mystery GM who I still have chosen to remain a mystery which could backfire on me as fans may just not care anymore if I dragged it out that long decided to make a three way for the title on Raw. After 6 months of dealing with The Nexus this is where John Cena finally turns heel. At one point in the match I would have The Nexus come out and surround the ring as if they are going to beat up both Cena and Orton and have Cena turn around and nail Orton and all 9 guys just destroy Orton at that point. Cena and The Nexus embrace and that is how this particular edition of Raw ends.
The next week on Raw Cena comes out in his brand new Nexus John Cena shirt (boy they make those fast) and blames for the fans for his aligning with The Nexus. He says how from the day he first became WWE Champion, WWE management tried to make him into something he isn’t, he even mentions how they wouldn’t even let him rap anymore because of the “suggestive lyrics”. He goes onto say how all he ever tried to give the WWE Universe for 5 plus years was a champion they wanted only to get booed when the next cool bad guy like Randy Orton or Edge came along and he was sick of it. He aligned himself with The Nexus because he realized that they weren’t different at all but alike. They wanted the opportunity to be themselves, not a corporate puppet like he had been for so many years and like he will not be anymore. He then goes onto mention Randy Orton who in storyline would have been beaten so badly the previous week that he is not there at Raw and warns Orton of retaliation and suggests he even consider retirement. At this point HHH comes out and cuts a typical babyface promo against Cena which would lead to them having a match for the title at The Royal Rumble.
Not to be cold towards HHH but I am building towards the future here and the future right now isn’t HHH so I would have him lose to John Cena through some chicanery and Randy Orton would make his triumphant return from his beating at the hands of The Nexus to win the Royal Rumble. This of course leads us to the Elimination Chamber PPV which would be of course headlined by the Elimination Chamber match that would have Cena defending against HHH, Edge, Jericho, John Morrisson, and I’ll probably stick R Truth in the last spot for the match to keep it an even 3 heels and 3 babyfaces. At this point I think I would like to create some dissension in The Nexus between Daniel Bryan and Wade Barrett as now that John Cena is the leader of The Nexus there is a struggle for who is number 2. So after weeks of bickering between them over who can take out Randy Orton before Wrestlemania they both get to take on Randy Orton in a triple threat match on the PPV which of course would mean they fail to get along and Orton wins the match and stays strong going into Wrestlemania. Cena somehow retains the title when the mystery GM is revealed to be…Bret Hart who was in on the ruse the whole entire time.
Bret apparently had this all worked out from day one with The Nexus and Vince McMahon when he agreed to take the GM job and signed a contract so iron clad that Vince McMahon couldn’t fire him and gave him complete control over Raw. Of course Vince smugly thought Bret was on his side and he wasn’t which is why Vince got the beatdown so that Bret could “screw” Vince this time around. Bret announces on Raw that these 9 guys who now make up The Nexus are a part of something so much bigger and that this is only the beginning and the group now focuses on making sure John Cena stays the champion as he goes into Wrestlemania against Randy Orton.
At this point we can do a bunch of twists and turns one that I particularly enjoy is that while Vince can’t fire Bret as GM he can hire a Co GM for him and who would his Co GM be? None other than HBK himself Shawn Micheals who after a year of being gone from TV should be able to come back in this non wrestling role. Bret Hart would make the Randy Orton vs. John Cena match at the PPV no disqualification while Shawn Micheals would bar outside interference of any kind and that would be where we stand going into Wrestlemania. Randy Orton would somehow overcome all odds and defeat John Cena to become WWE Champion and well I can tell you where I would go from here but It would take up too much time and space and well I’ve already given WWE a lot to consider if they want more, pay me.
I really wish I could have given you more than a skeleton storyline since there is really so much more I would do with Raw and Smackdown involving the Nexus but that’s at least how I would book John Cena vs. Randy Orton for Wrestlemania. I actually do have ideas for feuds for several of the Nexus members during this time and even some non Nexus angles on the show but there just isn’t enough space to put it all here or enough time. So if this angle seems a bit anemic its cause it probably is but I tried my best with it. So before I wrap up I have to give the people something to do and of course that’s see where The Nexus storyline goes next as the Money in the Bank PPV is this Sunday and it ought to be interesting to see if Cena does in fact regain the championship from Sheamus and if not where do we go from here heading into Summerslam.
Of course I am always looking for feedback and ideas relating to the column and that feedback can be received and answered at wrestlingrumblings@hotmail.com and well that’s it for this week, next week I will try to do better and until then, I am out.