TJR Q&A #55: Becky Lynch Win Streak Leading to WWE SD Women’s Title? Fave Triple Threat Matches? and More
It’s a holiday week for those of us in Canada (Happy Canada Day on July 1) and the United States (Happy Independence Day on the 4th of July). It’s also a good time to bring back the TJRWrestling Q&A that I haven’t done for over one month. My bad on that. As always, the questions come from my Facebook page. Here are 30 of them.
1. Joe Sondag
How if the story is true that Lesnar isn’t wrestling at SummerSlam how or when will WWE get the Universal Championship off of Lesnar?
I don’t think it’s true, which is why I have not posted about it on TJRWrestling. Just to add to that, I think Brock wrestles at SSlam and drops the title to Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins. I think it’s going to be Reigns, but if it was up to me it would be Strowman.
2. Andy Mullen
Do you think Adam Cole (bay bay) has a main roster future?
It’s like anybody in WWE that’s 6’0 200 pounds like him. It’s harder to get a big push due to the guy’s size, but I hope he gets a shot because he is a great all around performer with a lot of charisma. The problem is he doesn’t stand out with this look at all, so that may make it hard for him to really get a big push. I hope so, though.
3. Daniel Hill
Is the main reason Daniel Bryan isn’t in the title picture the fact he hasn’t signed a new contract or WWE simply just want to get him back up to speed with Wrestling again I.e schedule, taking bumps regularly and see how it goes from there?
I just think it’s a matter of they already have a face like AJ Styles there, so putting Bryan there at the same time isn’t the wisest idea. They are probably doing it to save him for WrestleMania season.
He’s been wrestling a full time schedule since he started back in April. They booked him for 70 minutes in the Rumble. He worked about 40 minutes on Smackdown two weeks ago and took a beating. It’s not like they easing him into it.
I expect Bryan to re-sign and he might have already, but it’s not like we have to know if he does or not.
4. Brandon Gulledge
What are your early match predictions for Wrestlemania next year?
It’s way too early to venture a guess for it. Bryan vs. Miz if they can wait for it is something that they should do.
I would do the Shield triple threat Rollins vs. Reigns vs. Ambrose just because it would be a big match at a Mania. I know it was done two years ago, but do it at a Mania, not a Battleground.
5. Mike Anderson
How far do you think Vader would have gone if Shawn Michaels hadn’t kiboshed his push? Multiple time champ? More of a legacy in WWE?
I think he could have been a top heel for two or three years for sure. One of the issues is that he was 41 when he signed with WWE in 1996 (I looked it up), so that’s when he was past his prime. If he got there five years earlier he would have thrived for sure. I think being 41 and working the WWE schedule at his size (a legit 400 pounds) is difficult, so that’s why he wasn’t the Vader in the early 1990s. In a perfect world, he should have had 2 or 3 World Title runs in WWE.
6. Jared Jackson-Ferrans
In honour of Canada day, how could WWE have used Lance Storm better after the Invasion happened?
I don’t think they could have done more with him. He was a good performer, but personality wise it was hard for him to stand out with some of the guys WWE had. I don’t see how you could have pushed him more. He just wasn’t that big of a name.
Think about it this way. If you have an Austin, Rock, Angle, Jericho and those types on the show, how is a crowd going to get excited for Lance Storm? It’s tough.
7. Van Wilhoite
How do you think the Bayley/Sasha situation will play out?
I think Banks will be the heel in the feud and they’ll probably get two PPV matches out of it. It has gone on for way too long. Slow build is fine in some cases, but this feud is not going well.
8. Roderick Walker
Whos the better performer: Charlotte or Sasha?
I think Charlotte’s better overall, but if Banks was in a heel role she’s as good as any woman in WWE. Both of them are better as heels.
9. JD Robert
What was the point of having Asuka and Nakamura winning the Royal Rumble and not the titles at Wrestlemania?
I don’t know. That’s up to Vince. I don’t really see the point of it even though they were the right booking moves at the time. The booking of Asuka this year has been bad.
10. Daniel Mount
Is Becky Lynch going to get a run with a title at some point? She’s one of the most over women on the roster if you ask me.
I think so. They are building her up again with wins over most of the Smackdown women (I think 4 in a row) so she might be the one to end Carmella’s reign perhaps at SummerSlam. That could lead to Lynch vs. Charlotte as best friends fighting over the title.
11. Mark Tallentire
Marks out of 10 for how Paige is doing as Smackdown GM and one or two pros and cons of her performance so far?
She’s doing fine in terms of delivering the dialogue that she is handed several hours before the show. It’s not like she is really booking matches here. She looks great in the business suit outfits too.
12. Aldous Davidson
With the success of Ronda Rousey, what outside celebrities (sports or otherwise) could you see being potential outside cross over superstars in the WWE eventually?
Maybe JJ Watt of the Houston Texans and Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. They seem like naturals. I’m sure some UFC guys could do it too. Daniel Cormier maybe when he retires. Cormier may be too old for it.
13. Brian Coats
How long do you think the Ziggler/McIntyre pairing will continue? Feels like one of those pairings where one turns on the other eventually.
Maybe until the end of the year and then a split around the Rumble, but if it goes longer that’s fine with me. I am enjoying it so far.
14. Cory Andrew Bacon
We talk a lot about matches that stand the test of time, and always remain classics. Can you think of any matches that were amazing when you watched them initially, but aged horribly?
I don’t think so. It’s wrestling and anything in the last 30 years that I’d consider good would be good today too. I think if you went before our time to the 50s, 60s and 70s then the matches were different with long headlocks and stuff like that. But in the WrestleMania era, I think the good is still good.
I can do that with TV shows where there’s something I liked as a kid and then I try to watch it as an adult and it’s horrible. I doubt I could sit through five minutes of Growing Pains now, but 30 years ago it was cool to us.
15. Bob Stephen
If you could take anyone up from NXT at the moment who would it be,what would be the storyline be and who would you have them feud with?
There are so many: Velveteen Dream, EC3, Ricochet, Aleister Black, the Undisputed Era as a group. The storyline doesn’t matter that much – it’s more about presenting them as stars, booking them to win matches and hoping they can be big on the main roster. The NXT roster right now is as good as any NXT roster they have had including the best days in 2015 and into early 2016.
16. Matt Wayne Breeding
Who do you think Omega will work at All In?
Probably not Okada, but I’m sure people would like that. I don’t know. Maybe Naito or perhaps in a tag team. Maybe Okada/Omega can be in a tag team match of some kind. I don’t think NJPW would want them to do Omega vs. Okada at All In.
17. Drew Jefferson
What’s your favorite triple threat match in wrestling history?
A few come to mind like Rock vs. Angle vs. Taker at Vengeance 2002, WrestleMania 20 main event with Benoit winning and a TNA match with Daniels, Styles and Joe I think Unbreakable 2005 was the show.
18. Oscar Deejay O Valencia
Do you think when WWE finally splits Aiden English and Rusev up that it will affect the whole “Rusev day” gimmick and stop it from getting over or is it over enough that it won’t hurt it as a singles competitor?
I think it would hurt both guys if they split up. I wouldn’t do it any time soon. There’s a problem in WWE where they split up groups or teams way too soon. The New Day thankfully have been together for several years and I’m glad that they haven’t broken up. Keep Rusev Day a thing for Rusev and English. I think both guys would be hurt if they went their separate ways.
19. Andre Jones
Hey John! Logic is here! I’m on vacation until SummerSlam.. (or is it SummerFest?) Anyways, my question is what wrestling move would you like to see WWE unban?
Piledriver. Just let it used in a really big spot like a few times a year. People can do it safely and it would mean so much if somebody did it.
What’s a vacation? I need one of those.
20. David Harnick
Will The Miz get the main event push he deserves?
Most likely yes. I think he’ll be WWE Champion at some point before now and WrestleMania.
21. Matthew ‘Wolfman’ Walker
Do you see professional wrestling ever reaching the heights it did during the Attitude Era?
In terms of audience watching on TV? No. By that I mean I don’t see it coming close to doing 10 million viewers every Monday like it was in the Raw/Nitro days. Right now Raw is around 3 million viewers. I don’t see it changing significantly any time soon. With that said, they just got paid $2 billion for 5 years of US TV on USA Network and Fox, so they are reaching new heights in that regard. Money is more important than the TV audience.
22. Dangelino Ochoa I actually have two Shayna Baszler questions.
1) Who’s more likely to dethrone her? Kairi Sane or Candice LaRae?
2) Could you see a Ronda Rousey/Shayna Baszler feud on the main roster? Sort of like Baszler would be Stephanie’s badass to beat Rousey?
I hope it’s Kairi Sane. I like her and want her featured more. Nikki Cross would be cool too actually. I don’t think it will be Candice, but there’s a chance it may be Candice if her and husband Johnny Gargano win their respective titles on the same night.
I think that’s very likely since Shayna and Ronda are close friends. They could be a duo for a bit, then Baszler can turn heel and go against Rousey because Baszler is more of a natural heel.
23. Amber Stultz
Do you think Sasha Banks will ever get the long women’s title run she deserves?
Sure. The tough thing about that is there are so many women that deserve runs, so having a really long run gets boring because we want to see others get it. Banks is only in her mid-20s and has plenty of great years ahead. I just hope she’s smarter about some of her bumps because she’s like 110 pounds and I worry she may get hurt.
24. Geoff Landtbom
If WCW hadn’t had to answer to the Standards And Practices division of Turner Broadcasting could they have won the Monday Night War?
Probably not. Bischoff did not have enough good ideas. Creating Nitro was great, the formation of the NWO was revolutionary and developing Goldberg was awesome, but then what? They didn’t know how to develop people. Look at that period from 1996 to 1998 WWE developed Austin, Rock, Hunter, Mankind and Kane into top guys (along with Taker who already was) and that set them up well for the future. In WCW, they didn’t know how to do that.
WWE getting Mike Tyson in early 1998 was the game changer and WCW never recovered from that.
25. Marlon Nedd
Assuming reports are true, what are your thoughts on NXT moving to FS1? Do you think it is going to be an hour or a 2 hour show? Do you also think some of the wrestlers on NXT are ready for the prime time move?
There’s no FS1 in Canada, so hopefully Sportsnet carries it like the other shows. I would like it on WWE Network, but if WWE is going to make money from Fox on it then I don’t blame WWE for doing it.
I think it would stay one hour. Maybe 90 minutes because current NXT is nearly one hour without commercials, so if it was at 90 minutes they could keep it around the same length with the commercials added.
NXT wrestlers are ready. A lot of them have been wrestling for over a decade, so there’s a lot of experience there.
26. Chris Robertson
What, if anything, other than a heel turn, will save Roman Reigns? Obviously, he can’t be repackaged unless they do it on screen. Just curious on your thoughts on this.
It’s like a mouse running up the wheel that ends up in the same spot over and over again. I think he should have turned heel, but WWE is refusing to do it and they don’t even have to do it because of all the TV money they get now. I like him, but they need to do that heel turn soon.
27. Rik Shaw
What is your opinion about the current state of both the Raw and Smackdown brands? In terms of creative, star power etc.
I think Smackdown is better and much easier to watch most weeks, but Raw has been pretty good in terms of giving long matches to the best guys like Rollins.
Both shows are lacking in terms of really strong heels. They turned Nakamura heel and he lost to Styles repeatedly. I like Joe and Miz a lot as heels, but they don’t have a clear role at E Rules, which is bad. The biggest stars on Raw are Reigns, Strowman, Rollins, Balor and maybe Lashley – all faces. On the heel side it’s really just Owens and Corbin since Zayn is out. So that’s a big problem because wrestling shows need the villains to cause the heat to make things more interesting. WIthout those villains the product becomes boring.
I think the creative team overproduces every promo. They are also as lazy as ever in terms of trying to come up with creative ideas for feuds. It’s just not that interesting.
But like I say repeatedly, the company is getting paid over $2 billion in the next five years on their next TV deals in the US, so from WWE’s perspective things are going great.
I think things are fine, but hardly great. This year in WWE is like a 6 out of 10. They have the talent to be 8 out of 10 if it was booked better.
28. John C Hoddy
Do you see Matt Riddle in NXT any time soon?
Apparently, WWE doesn’t want to touch him due to his past history with marijuana. They have a lot of wrestlers that smoke pot, but he got fired from UFC for testing positive for marijuana so WWE is reluctant to get him. That’s the story from the Wrestling Observer for a few years now. WWE could change their tune. Riddle’s definitely talented enough to be a star in WWE.
29. Brian White
Do you see an African American winning the WWE or Universal title within the next 10 years? And if so, who?
Velveteen Dream in the next five years. Perhaps Big E could break through as well.
30. Jesse Ornelas
Are you disappointed that the Cruiserweight division was only popular when Enzo was champion?
I guess it was more popular with Enzo, but it’s better now without him. I didn’t think WWE should dedicate a show and a division to it, but they did. There’s too much content. I’d rather see a women’s only show because at least that would be a draw due to the good looking women on the show as well as female fans may be more inclined to check it out.
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That’s all for now. Thanks for those of you that asked the quesions. I’ll do it again soon. Check out our TJR Q&A section here if you want to read past editions of the Q&A. Have a great week.