The OTTB Wrestling News thread

TheBoyRo wrote: »

If Seth can't go, then why not.......

The news that Seth Rollins has gone down to injury is one that sucks on a lot of levels. One, Rollins fought to return from 2015 knee injury and get back to form after having been in position as the top guy in the company. Two, it puts the planned Rollins-Triple H showdown at Wrestlemania at risk. Three, it casts at least a slight shadow over what was a tremendous and impressive debut angle for Samoa Joe on Raw.

Rollins has been in Birmingham, Alabama for the last day or so, getting his knee examined and waiting for an official diagnosis. As that process is ongoing, Joe has taken credit for taking Rollins out and WWE has acknowledged that the injury has happened, so it's at least serious enough to give the company some pause on a creative level.

So, if Rollins can't come back in time for Wrestlemania, what should the company do?

The first obviously choice is to slide Finn Balor, returning from injury in there, but there's no real issue between he and Triple H, although one could be created with Samoa Joe, based off their NXT history.

But, Triple H would need someone that would have a ready-made feud and would be able to provide some good mic work and that fans would believe in for a story that features two people that really hate each other.

If Rollins can't go, WWE needs to cut the ? , cut through the legal red tape, toss all egos aside and call CM Punk.

Three years ago, Punk was slated to wrestle Triple H at Wrestlemania 30 but instead walked out of the company for a myriad of reasons and after almost a year of silence, proceeded to destroy the company and Triple H personally on Colt Cabana's podcast. At least part of that venom spewed from the fact that the company, after realizing Punk wasn't coming back, sent him termination papers that just happened to show up on his wedding day to then-WWE star AJ Lee.

Vince McMahon did later apologize for that publicly, but the two sides have remained at odds for a lot of reasons that most of you likely already know about - the largest of which is a still ongoing lawsuit from Dr. Chris Amann against Punk and Cabana, claiming that they slandered his good name over the course of the podcast. Punk has gone on record in interviews and in legal filings as believing that the lawsuit is something WWE has funded in order to hurt him financially for walking out of the company. WWE has of course denied that on record to PWInsider.com, but did also post a video showcasing Punk's rear end to show proof that Punk's claim he had a lump that turned out to be an undiagnosed staph infection could not be true. There's a LOT of bad blood.

So, it's obvious none of the people involved truly like each other, but that doesn't mean they can't work together to make each other money for one big show.

Triple H may need an opponent. Punk certainly wants to get the hell out of that lawsuit, because, hey, who really wants to be sued? Even if you win, you are wasting your money away! Wrestling fans would certainly buy the idea that these two hate each other, especially if WWE plays on some of the real-life elements of what led to Punk leaving, the strife between the company, the wedding day termination letter, etc.

All Punk would need to do is show up and do what he's always done, cut a pipe-bomb promo that breaks the fourth wall. At the core of their hearts, wrestling fans want to believe and what's more believable than the guy who walked out and crapped all over the company and its officers returning to buck the establishment?

You can even book Stephanie to try to intercede and halt the Punk proceedings but BOOM - AJ Lee hops the rail and takes her out as Punk continue to rail away on the company that screwed him, didn't appreciate him and wanted to ruin him. So now Stephanie gets a role for Wrestlemania as well.

Such a such a story could serve all sides - Punk would get to make a big payday at Wrestlemania. WWE would certainly have a legitimate replacement for Rollins. Punk and Joe could revive their old ROH rivalry. AJ Lee, just by appearing on TV, could get a huge boost in interest for her upcoming memoir that comes out days after Wrestlemania.

WWE could even let Punk go off and say whatever the hell he wants online and to the media, throwing caution to the wind, because the idea is that he hates Triple H and the company. No one has to like each other, because that will give a potential showdown all that much more intensity and believability. The best matches are the ones where people believe there's a level of legitimate hatred between the two. Here, neither side needs to even pretend.

At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter who wins or loses, because the money is made in the hype and the story - and even if Punk ate a Pedigree and disappeared, never to be seen again, he could finally, finally go off to whatever the next stage of his life is, MMA or not, without the ghosts of WWE haunting him financially.

Meanwhile, WWE gets to put another fire out and quell some controversy while making cash - and they don't even need to put someone in the Hall of Fame to do it.

Sure, both these sides dislike each other, but Ultimate Warrior hated the hell out of WWE. I covered all of his lawsuits against the company and he certainly hated them. So did Bruno Sammartino. Look at any of his statements made over the years. Yet, at the end of the day, for their own reasons, they took a payday and returned for the WWE Hall of Fame - and very few begrudged them for it.

With that lawsuit end nowhere in sight, Punk has a pretty damn good reason for taking a payday.

Some will say Punk losing in his UFC debut ruins the potential of any return and to that, I call bullsh**. He drew money at that show and for all the strife Brock Lesnar has been through with the fallout of his UFC return, the one thing none of that hurt was fan interest in him. If Punk returned, fans would be so overwhelmed with excitement, anything that came before would be easily and immediately forgotten by the masses.

Certainly, there would be fans who knock Punk if a similar reconciliation ever took place, but chances are those would be the same fans that knocked Punk fighting for UFC, yet paid to see what happened. Fans would pay to see Punk walk the Wrestlemania aisle one more time, especially if they believed there was a chance he and Triple H might legitimately throw down. We know that wouldn't happen, but that doesn't mean WWE couldn't make some good money - and solve what could be a major problem if Rollins is legitimately down for the count - and tie up the CM Punk chapter once and for all in a neat little bow.

If Seth vs. HHH has to be scrapped, it's time for WWE to do the one thing that haven't done since Royal Rumble 2014 - call CM Punk.

Hey, it's pro wrestling - stranger things have certainly happened!