TJR Q&A #7: Dolph Ziggler Main Eventer? Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan Future & More!
It’s time for another Q&A session here on TJRWrestling as we delve into the world of WWE to talk about current happenings, things from the past and as always some predictions for the future.
Since I chose to walk away from writing at WhatCulture (will write more about that soon), I’m going to have a lot more time to produce content for TJRWrestling, which means I’ll try to make the Q&A feature a weekly thing. I’m not sure what day of the week I’ll do it on, but I want it to be weekly.
All of this week’s questions come from my Facebook page and we also talked about some of them at length on the TJRWrestling Podcast as well.
1. Brigid Martinez
How would you book the main event/title picture between now and the Rumble?
I think WWE will have Reigns win WWE Title at Rumble, Lesnar wins the Rumble and you do the WM31 rematch for the title in the main event and Reigns win. I think Cena vs. Taker in another match. If it was up to me, I’d have Kevin Owens as heel WWE Champion against Lesnar. But I doubt Vince is gonna ask for my input lol.
2. Michael Franks
If you had to pick Samoa Joe or Kevin Owens to face Brock Lesnar at WM32 who would you chose?
Owens because I think he’s better all around. Joe was great all around, but was better 7-8 years ago. Then again, I absolutely loved Joe’s NXT match this week. He’s in great shape.
3. Jake Pumfleet
Does Christian deserve ‘one more match’?
Probably not. I think he’s content in retirement and being a dad, so good for him. I was a huge fan of him. Not everybody gets the big sendoff, sadly.
4. Steve Weiland McInnes
Do you think the viewer numbers are inaccurately low due to pirate streaming?
I think the viewing numbers don’t matter as much as they used to. WWE clips on Youtube and Facebook do huge numbers. Some people watch the show that way.
5. Joe Sondag
Do you think if WWE does follow through with Charlotte’s heel turn does it lessen the impact of her feud with Paige or Paige’s heel turn?
Yes it does, but they probably realize she wasn’t going to connect as a face and want to get her over any way possible. They’ll have enough faces for Charlotte to wrestle that it should be fine. Banks will be face early next year I think.
6. Ed Eastin Jr
Do you think the Meximerica angle will be dropped due to Zeb not being on Raw and Del Rio joining the League of Nations?
Zeb was on Raw, but the flag was not. Yeah the Mexamerica angle is likely done. I ripped it last week big time because it’s not helping anybody and I’m glad it’s probably over. (Ed later told me that Zeb wasn’t on the Hulu version of Raw.)
7. J.b. McMurtry
Do you think WWE will ever go back to the basics of good storytelling, compelling feuds and, as several others such as Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Jim Ross and Jim Cornette agree, get away from this, “50/50” booking where the heels can’t any real heat?
I don’t see a change in booking philosophy any time soon. Vince will be there and nobody is gonna get him to change things drastically. The 50/50 booking sucks and does more harm than good.
8. Brian Wallace
How long until Vince kills off the New Day (because, it’s Vince)? And do you think before it happens either of them hold individual gold?
I hope it’s a few years, but as I have said a few times I can see them getting behind Big E on a singles push. They may end it next year by the summer. It would be too soon. I doubt any of them have a singles title while they are teaming.
9. Jay A Jackson-Ferrans
Serious question: favourite wrestler guest appearance on a TV show?
Bret Hart on the Simpsons for sure. I marked out huge. Also King Kong Bundy on Married With Children!
10. Bobby Monroe
What THE HELL does Dolph Ziggler have to do to finally get elevated to back to the Main Event picture where he belongs?
I doubt he’ll ever get a huge push again, which sucks. They should have turned him heel a few months ago. This hasn’t been a good year for him in terms of storylines and I’m not sure what he’s trying to do as far as his look.
11. Van Wilhoite
Right now who are your top 3 candidates to win the Royal Rumble?
Lesnar, Cena and Ambrose. I would say Reigns, but I think he wins WWE Title that night.
12. Eric Hay
How would you book the story leading up to a WrestleMania match between John Cena and Undertaker?
They don’t need to do that much. Cena stands in the ring, says I’ve done it all except wrestle The Undertaker at a WrestleMania. Say that he respects him, but he wants to be put to the test and see if he can beat him. Undertaker replies a week later. Then it’s on.
13. Justin Irok
Do you ever go full on mark during shows? Just forget everything you know and try to pretend the show is real and you have your personal prediction for the outcome rather than what you believe booking will do?
Not really. Only time I can do that is at live events and just having fun at the shows. Watching on TV I’ll never pretend that it’s real or escape in the zone in like that. Too hard to do. I’ve been to 3 of the last 5 WMs and I did mark out a few times at WM30 for sure.
14. Larry Yadao
If you could change the outcome of a match or angle, what would it be and why?
I would have had the WCW team beat the WWE team at the Survivor Series 2001 show in the main event. Then had the WWE/WCW story last a year or two. So much wasted potential. Slowly bring in the WCW guys every month or so to get them stronger. It would have been awesome.
15. Ed Luis Valentin
Do you think it would have been a good idea to nix the whole Wyatt Family/BoDs feud on SS and have Bray win the tourney? Or maybe have Bray take part in both the tourney and the Taker feud?
That would have been interesting. I think Bray as champ with his buddies protecting him would be fun. However, they had to roll with the Undertaker thing because it was 25 years for him. So I get why they did what they did.
16. Daniel BamaDan Ferguson
Should the Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer bring in Terry Funk to give them a 4th member to fight the Wyatt family?
Not Funk. Too old. I’d say RVD or Rhyno. Pretty sure Spike retired a while ago.
17. Josh Richey
Most likely to come to WWE full time: Punk or AJ Styles?
AJ Styles because I think CM Punk is actually done with WWE although maybe in 5-10 years that changes. I think Styles could go there next year. It might be the right time.
18. Josh Martinez
Favorite tag team finisher? Mine would be Doomsday Device (Road Warriors), 3D (Dudley Boys) and K.R.S. O.N.E (Kings of Wrestling).
Yeah I think 3D is my favorite. Just looks cool. LOD’s is great too. Hart Foundation because I’m a mark for them lol.
19. Jorge Palacios Jr.
If Daniel Bryan gets the green light to come back and wrestle full time, does he get a push back to the top and contend for the wwe title? Or will they be too worried if he does that he will get hurt again and have to forfeit the title for 3rd time?
I doubt they push him to a title ever again. Too much risk. It pains me to say that, but that’s what I believe.
20. Aaran Kirk
You have the power, John. What are three simple changes WWE needs to make right now?
1. Make Raw two hours.
2. Completely revamp the format of Raw.
3. Fire writers, let wrestlers do their own promos more freelance and hire more wrestling people for creative. That’s long but counts as one point!
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That’s all for this one. I asked for questions really late on a weeknight and there weren’t that many compared to when I do it during the day. Next time there will be more.
If you have a question for a future, just put it in the comments below.