It appears that Samoa Joe is no longer with TNA. Probably too late for him to go to NXT, and while he probably could jump to the main roster pretty fast, I can’t imagine what Vince would do with him.
Well, he’ll be 36 next month, so I don’t think they’d see him as viable. Even though, you know, Dave Bautista is 46…
Samoa Joe could wind up in RoH like a few other TNA alums have done, but they probably don’t have the money to pay him. Sinclair broadcasting won’t front them any extra dough, and some of their roster are getting paid by event. I don’t think he’s part of the Anoa’i family either, so he doesn’t have that blood tie to WWE. Maybe New Japan or AAA/LU?
So are we digging Cena as the US champ? He seems pretty pumped up about it, which I like since it makes the US title a bit more relevant.
Let’s hope he wins it and shows it off like an actual accomplishment
I don’t think he’ll win it. Too much of a step down from being 15-time WWE/World champ. The US belt was just an extra prop from when WWE bought out WCW that somehow didn’t get phased out like the ECW belt did. It’s hot now because an anti-American is wearing it. When Rusev moves on, it will probably be put back in storage.
Fast Lane seems to be shaping up to the event of non-finishes (or matches that should be non-finishes).
Cena v Rusev - seems like something that should be extended to WM, with Rusev going in as undefeated.
Goldust v Stardust - announced for Fast Lane, I think it should go to WM.
Bryan vs Reigns - reports are they’re planning a triple threat, so again probably some sort of non-finish.
FWIW, Brandon Stroud suggested that it’d make sense for Cena to go over Rusev at the Lane of Fastness. He gets to parade around w/ the US strap for a month, then Rusev wins it back at Wrestlemania. After all, who needs the Wrestlemania rub–John “Ossified Face of the Company, Then, Now, Forever” or the young up-and-comer?
That said, I don’t trust WWE to book that. It’s a shame–Rusev is really good at pro wrestling, and he’s been entertaining as a crypto-babyface. Oh well. I’m not sure if there’s room for a Bulgarian on Lucha Underground, but if there’s room for a dragon and a man who literally cannot die (not to mention a possible cyborg, an undead whatzis, a mysterious thing in a cage, ALBERTO EL PATRON!..), then maybe there’s room for a Bulgarian Brute.
Neither. The answer is that neither need a rub because they’re both popular in their own way.
It’s probably just because I cannot stand Rusev’s character and the booking he has, but this stupid/pointless rivalry is a lose-lose:
Cena can’t lose at Fastlane cuz it’s a PPV and Cena always wins, plus it does kind of make him look weak, but he can’t win at Fastlane either because he’s apparently “too big” for the US title (which is a valid argument but…eh). To which then he would eventually have to lose the title to someone (probably Rusev again) to which makes the whole thing utterly pointless.
Rusev can’t lose at Fastlane because then he loses the title for no good reason, breaks his streak, and sets up a pointless match at 'Mania. Rusev winning is about the only option here, but it’s stupid for him to win because then it just sets up an obvious 'Mania match that no one cares about where he will obviously lose…which then sets up the “Cena has the US Title” situation again.
Just think, this ALL could have been avoided if they just gave the rivalry to Ryback (who currently is doing nothing) and make The Big Guy look strong and put a belt on a popular face.
Rusev losing his streak to Cena, whether Sunday or at 'Mania is stupid and pointless, and it’s all because they gave him a belt and gave him a stupid rivalry
I can see another way out of this; Cena has Rusev in the STF, and just as he’s about to tap, the lights go out, the fireflies light up, Wyatt makes an appearance, and from there, he attacks Cena, causing a DQ; Cena wins, Rusev keeps the belt, and Cena vs. Wyatt is set up for WrestleMaina.
Either that, or Cena being U.S. Champion would be an interim thing, but losing that belt to Wyatt at WM makes less sense than losing to Rusev, especially as he needs one more world title to tie Flair’s record.
Except that Wyatt is fishing for Undertaker. I don’t think they’d spend so much energy on that one if they were going with Cena.
I expect a double count-out to save face for both of them and carry them to Wrestlemania.
Plus they already did a Wyatt interrupting someone for no goddamn reason angle, AND they’ve already had a Cena/Wyatt feud.
They’re basically giving this PPV away for free to sell the Network, so I’d expect pretty much any match that can have a non-finish, will have a non-finish so they can get you to buy the Network to watch WrestleMania where they’ll have the match that matters.
So Cena loses by DQ because Rusev refuses to acknowledge a rope break, Stardust wins by countout, etc.
I dunno if they’re going to carry all of them to Wrestlemania unless they’re going to be bumped and end up on the pre-show or the following night’s RAW.
Star/Gold Dust would be one of those, I expect. Either that or it’ll be 2 minutes long.
Well, I figure Nikki will go over Paige clean, because I think they still really want to do a Nikki/Brie title match at WrestleMania.
And Bad News Barrett will go over clean, because title defenses are the only time the IC champion is allowed to look strong, and because Ambrose isn’t allowed to go over until he stops being more popular than Roman Reigns.
And the Usos will go over because their destiny is to be fed to the Ascension.
Dear god, what do you have against Bray Wyatt? :eek: Hasn’t this last year been enough?
Of course, he’s probably jobbing out to a 50-year old dude, but that’s still better than a scene-for-scene remake Wyatt’s No Good, Very Bad Year.
Oh crap that’s good
Oh crap you’re probably right. Goldy and Starry deserve WAY more than that though.
Oh crap I LOVE that idea. Get the belts off the Boo-sos and let a heel team have it for a while.
I really hope they’re not building to another Undertaker match, because really - the man’s earned his retirement. Let him play with his choppers and go to his football games and bang his hot wife in peace.
If he does come back, though, I’d actually prefer if he didn’t dye his hair or shave his beard, and went with a Father Time sort of motif.
I don’t want to see the broken down 80 year old looking Mark Calaway come back at all, let alone either win or lose to Bray Wyatt. It just won’t have the same impact after last years embarrassing looking loss (obviously visibly out of it for most of the match).
So all in all, I’d rather this match didn’t happen.
Taker losing two years in a row doesn’t do much. It may help Bray a little, if they’re setting him up for a new streak or something. Bray losing doesn’t help anyone. Even a double count-out does nothing really, so I have no idea how they’re going to make this even remotely positive.
But any way it ends up, it has to end with Taker passing the torch, in an obvious manner, to Bray Wyatt.
So I’m going to call it like this: Bray and Taker beat the crap out of each other for 10 minutes. Then Kane comes down, attacks Bray and causes him to win by DQ. Both Taker and Bray beat down Kane and throw him out of the ring, then face off for a few tense moments before Taker drops to one knee and gives Bray the Urn Salute (since the match is already over and Bray won by DQ).
Move on to a Wyatt/Kane feud to retire Kane as well.
Bray and Kane already had a feud (though I don’t blame you for forgetting about it) which ended with Bray going over clean, symbolically decapitating Kane with the steel steps, and then he and the Family carrying Kane away after which he wasn’t seen or heard from for two months until he showed up as Corporate Kane for the first time and nobody mentioned the kidnapping angle ever again.
My theory is that it was Bray’s attempt at brainwashing an already completely-insane mind that turned him into a straight-laced white collar suckup. 
I think the Cena-Rusev feud will extend to WM somehow, so FL will end with a DQ/countout. Maybe they’ll have a flagpole-up-the-ass match then.
There haven’t been that many who’ve wrestled into their 50s… Ric Flair and Terry Funk come to mind… but UT definitely can. Steve Austin said you needed to be capable of high cardio to take on UT because he tired you out. Besides, he only wrestles 1 match a year anyway, so it’s not like he has to worry about old wrestling-related injuries to flare up. He may look old and ugly, but he knows how to package himself to look like The Grim Reaper, so the age will actually work in his favor.
One of my favorite lines is when the Wyatts jumped Kane and Bray told him “You ought not be calling yourself ‘The Devil’s Favorite Demon’ out loud. You never know who might be listening.” #ReuniteThe Wyatts DEPP!