TJR Q&A #39: John Cena’s Best Year in WWE, Best Wrestler Books & More!

More questions and answers. As always, they come from my Facebook page and it’s a follow up to what I posted late Friday night. Here are 25 more questions and answers.

1. Charlie Pérez
A few weeks ago on Talking Smack, AJ Styles said, ‘Smackdown makes them Raw takes them’ what’s your take on that?

He’s a character on a television show that is a face on Smackdown so he’s just trying to put over his show. There is some truth to it since Smackdown lost impressive talent like The Miz and Alexa Bliss, but they also got Charlotte back, who was built up on Raw.

2. Jamie Nottage
Very early I know John but early Rumble thoughts?

Nakamura wins and Styles has the WWE Title so that’s WM match. I think Nakamura is going to be a WWE Champion and the right way to get him there is the Royal Rumble win.

3. Nate Kuhl
What is more likely to happen? Jinder loses the title to the Money in the Bank winner or does he lose it to someone else.

Your guess is as good as mine. I would say loses to MITB winner is the better route and we’ve seen so many MITB winners because it elevates the prize that is the briefcase.

4. Nate Kuhl
Could the person who beats Jinder hold the title until WrestleMania? If Jinder has a short reign, which I think he might that would make 3 consecutive short title reigns.

Four WWE Title changes in four months means it could be really short for him too. No idea how to predict it.

5. Shane McCulley
Do you think territories are coming back? On a global scale.

No because WWE will f**k them over. I know WWE can say they are doing the WWE UK deal to expand the business over there, but it’s also to hurt other companies in the UK. I don’t see territories existing in 2017 the way they did 35 years ago. The business has changed too much.

6. Quincy Waycoolq Rich
Who do you think is the top heel of the future? I think Corbin.

Braun Strowman is a super duper star to me. He comes to mind first. I think Corbin will be pushed like it at some point, but don’t think he’ll ever get super hot.

7. Lonnie Nawrot
So with WWE being interested in bringing in Crazy Steve, where do you think he will fit in on the roster?

Maybe a part of Sanity he would fit that group well. If not then somewhere in NXT perhaps a tag or something on his own maybe. Pretty good worker from what I could tell from Impact Wrestling when he was there.

8. Jimmy-Lee Ifrene
Who do you think was the MVP of the WWE in 1992? Ric Flair, Randy Savage, or Bret Hart?

I think Bret Hart was just because he was able to have some breakout matches early in the year, then the SummerSlam match with Bulldog and winning the title from Flair. It was a good year for Flair too, but Bret was better.

9. Ryan Charles Johnston
I’m getting a revival of the full Club gimmick on Raw. They’ve been teasing 4 of the five guys against each other and had Heyman single out Balor this week. Balor went on to face Karl with Luke at ringside. They’re playing up the Balor Club name a lot more. I think Balor is going to win the next shot at Lesnar and he’s going to top Lesnar with help from the Club . . . legitimately making a Balor Club stable. Thoughts?

I don’t see it happening because they probably want Finn as a face and having G&A watch his back doesn’t really work. If they had Finn turn heel after losing that could work, but I think it’s more likely that Finn stays face. Lesnar will probably retain too.

10. Ryan Petrynka
With RAW, Smackdown, NXT, 205 Live and now the UK Championship, do you think WWE has too much talent on the roster? If yes, what wrestlers would you Future Endeavour?

Yes they have too much talent, but it’s not my money or your money, so why would we want people fired? I want people to have jobs and be happy in their life, so I’m glad they have those opportunities. Fire nobody. I don’t want people fired.

11. Chris Young
If WWE does the ‘Broken Hardy’ gimmick do you think it will just be Matt, which would probably require them to split up or do you think both Hardys will be ‘Broken’?

I think it might be both guys, but I can see Vince wanting to do his own thing with Jeff like he did before. Jeff was a huge singles star before in WWE and can be again. Matt never got over to his level, but maybe with the “Broken” gimmick he will.

12. Ed Eastin Jr
Considering booking (or lack thereof) that lead both men to their world championships, who was a worse champ: Jinder Mahal or David Arquette?

Has to be Arquette or even worse, Vince Russo. As a full time wrestler, probably go with Great Khali.

13. Tom Robinson
I have a question .. WWE is in Manchester in November. The same arena from the other nights incident. Would you be put off going?

It would be tough to go because of what happened this past week. At the same time, people will be encouraged to live a normal life and try to do fun things like attending a WWE show. I hope the people of Manchester support WWE as well as other artists that come there. We can’t live in fear.

14. Eric Hay
Who could they have turn, both face and heel, that would really shock the audience? Would they screw it up after turning them?

Roman would be a good choice, but I don’t see it happening because grandpa Vince is set in his ways. Cena is another although that’s even less likely. Dean Ambrose would thrive as a heel. As for guys going face, probably Braun Strowman in terms of having a big impact. I just think he has more heel value right now.

15. Brian Coats
Who would be the best candidate to hinder Jinder and be the next champion (provided MITB winner doesn’t win it from him)?

I think Styles is the best choice around SummerSlam time maybe. Maybe Nakamura, but I would wait until next year for him. Cena’s an option I guess.

16. Tim Scoleri
For the Mae Young classic wouldn’t it be nice to have a former Women’s wrestler do the commentary w JR and who would you think would be good fit for it?

The rumors are that it it may be Lita because she did some commentary the last few years. I actually think Madusa/Alundra Blayze would be the best at it because she’s well spoken and a much better worker.

17. Brett Beatty
Do you think ratings will ever reach as high as they did in the attitude era ever again?

Probably not, but I guess “never say never” applies too because you never know. In 1990 after Hogan’s peak died off they may have said no way, but it happened within the next decade in 1999.

18. Craig Blanchard
Do you think there will be any wrestlers from NXT that might get called up to the main rosters on Raw or Smackdown anytime soon thx?

Maybe after SummerSlam, but likely not before. Asuka makes a lot of sense after SummerSlam assuming she drops the title around there. I think Eric Young and Sanity should be on the main roster because they would work as a stable on either show.

19. John Marr
Will Finn Balor ever get a chance to be the face of Raw as long as Brock or Roman is in the picture?

It’s difficult to say for sure. Best thing I can say is he will be one of the top faces and that’s not a bad thing. He may get to hold the Universal Championship again. Also, he’s still going to main event some shows.

20. Joe Sondag
I may’ve asked this before but in your mind what was John Cena’s best year in WWE up until now?

I think the year he did the US Title open challenge was pretty awesome, so that was 2015. Also 2006 and 2007 thanks to HBK, Edge and Umaga matches were pretty good. Also, I liked 2011 a lot simply because of the CM Punk matches.

21. John C Hoddy
When do you think the Authors of Pain will debut on the main roster?

There’s no rush since they are both under 25 and still learning. Maybe next year. They impress me every time I see them.

22. Geoff Landtbom
What is the best wrestler autobiography ever written in your opinion? I’ve read all the major ones and for me the gold standard is Bret Harts which I recently finished.

I think Bret’s is my favorite followed by the multiple Jericho books and multiple Foley books. Also loved Daniel Bryan’s book. William Regal’s was pretty good too. Others like Jerry Lawler come to mind as well. I’ve read a lot of them.

23. Denny Hart
I know I’m a little late to the game here, but do you know of any updates on Emma’s injury status?

The latest update is it’s probably going to be mid-June when she returns so like a 6 week injury. Sounds like a shoulder sprain type of thing and not much more serious, so that’s good. With that said, I hope they actually push her when she’s healthy.

24. Anthony Fees
Hey John what did you think of Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE debut match? Do you think it should have been a squash or was it a good debut the way it was? I thought it was a very good match, but maybe he should have had a more impactful debut by beating Ziggler in a more dominant way.

I think if they shaved off five minutes and made it around 12 minutes instead of 17 it may have helped. It was good, but he was selling a lot and the crowd didn’t love it all. I would have put it later in the show too.

25. Ryan Mullins
Did WWE plan on doing Orton vs. Rusev for the title at MITB?? Rusev was demanding a title shot and said he’d be at Smackdown then the entire thing was dropped. Rusev would have been a much better choice than Mahal as a fresh guy to put the title on imo.

From what I understand, the plan was Rusev vs. Orton when they were going to put Orton over. Then Vince changed his mind and decided to put Jinder over, so poor Rusev is left looking like an idiot because creative changed their mind.

That’s all for now. Back with more Q&A in another week or two.