[58kcfan89]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Jericho would be putting Punk over. That's your fresh champion there.

Ron Killings is, literally, two years younger than Jericho. Maybe people don't realize that. But he's 40 years old. He doesn't belong in the main event, and even if he did, it wouldn't be doing anything for the future of the company.

Take him out of the picture, and you're talking about Ziggler, who isn't ready to main event, Kofi, who also isn't ready, and Miz, who's so far in the doghouse right now that he's probably never getting out. None of those guys belong in a main event program on any PPV at this point, much less wrestlemania. For that to happen, they'd need to be built up over the course of 2012 and then given the ball at the 2013 mania. But not now. None of them have been booked as championship material, and perception is reality. Main events are about moving money, and none of those guys can. Nobody in the world is going to purchase a PPV with the express intent of seeing any of them. Which is why you're seeing Cena/Rock, HHH/Undertaker (HBK reffing), Jericho/Punk and so on highlighting. They're the stars, like it or not.

I would hope it's Bryan and Sheamus, too. I just worry that Orton is lurking out there. In a perfect world Bryan wins sunday and that leads into mania.

I'd love for D-Bry to win Sunday. But I'd put the chances only slightly above zero. Agreed on the rest of this.

Originally Posted by keg in kc

You don't want Jericho winning the strip at mania. You want him winning it Sunday and then have Punk win it back at mania in a career-making moment. If the idea is making him one of the faces of the company moving forward (which it appears to be). You have months of build with Jericho holding the belt in his face, talking about being the best in the world, and then Punk wins in the end.

I agree that this is the ideal situation (I'd really like if Punk & Jericho don't even touch each other on Sunday TBH), but how is Punk winning the belt back from Jericho after a month & a half really career-defining? I'm all about cementing Punk as the #1 guy (**** you Cena), but I just don't see this being a career-defining thing. If Jericho had come back earlier and this feud had been going on longer, I could see it.

Then again, maybe they'll just have the ****ing amazing feud I hope they will & the rest will take care of itself...

Ziggler now is where Punk was a couple years back. You don't give him the ball yet, you build him for another year or two. At least that's the way they do things. You certainly don't have him lose a bunch and then just suddenly give him a mania match, which they're doing right now (jobbing him out a lot I mean). To move forward with him, I'd say give him money in the bank and then push him stronger over the next few months. He did okay working the main event with Punk, but it's going to take the crowd a while to get into him (same as it did with Punk, he was only over with the hardcores for a long time).

Agreed. Also are gunna have to get him away from Vickie eventually.

Although, I don't know that he ever was really a main eventer before 6/27/10. Sure, he was the WHC on Smackdown, was over with people who know WTF is going on and had a few big matches, but that shoot really put him over the top.

I don't think Kofi is ever going to get to that level. He's not a very good talker and while he's athletic as hell, he's just not a very good worker. I can't believe how bad he looked in the match with Jericho tonight.

Agreed. I see him as a more marketable Shelton Benjamin albeit a bit worse in the ring. Wonderful athlete, great for gimmick matches, but probably won't ever be a legit main-eventer.
/notracist

The talk is still that they're going to have Cena go over Rock at mania. I don't know how in the world they expect to get away with that in Miami. And everything they're doing is (in their minds, at least...) designed to get Cena over. I loved tonight, though, when the crowd was chanting "we all hate you". That Florida crowd is going to riot if he wins. They're so terrified of turning Cena because of his merch sales (and maybe there's a contractual thing with Hasbro, I don't know) that they're going to cost themselves in the long run. This feud could write itself if they'd let it. Turn him back immediately after Mania if you have to, but christ, the audience hates him at this point, and they're going to risk turning the crowd against the Rock, too, even in Miami, as crazy as that sounds. Cena's just going to kill this feud if they keep doing it the hogan superface way.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out starting next Monday when Rock returns.

I'm pretty sure the talk going into One Night Stand in '06 was to have Cena go over Rob Van Dam, but they changed the finish as soon as they saw crap like "If Cena wins we riot" signs and wasn't it the same with Money in the Bank last year in Chicago? I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Cena was supposed to go over in both of those matches. Maybe Miami just needs to get really violent.

As for the merchandise stuff, Miz's stuff sells really well. So did Edge's when he was a heel. But they were actually good characters (well, Edge was...) that adults could get behind. They're gunna have to book Cena the right way (winning every match isn't it), but it's very possible to move merchandise as a heel.

I've said it before, but I really can't wait until Punk & Jericho really get at it on the mic. And they better get plenty of time at Mania (unlike Jericho-Edge at WM 26, which could have been amazing).