Back in February, we made some predictions for what the WWE could expect in 2016. How do they look seven months later?
I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge. As such, I am comfortable making bold predictions within the very unpredictable world of professional wrestling. Scripting these shows week after week is undoubtedly a daunting task but hopefully, the WWE will realize that I’m basically a good idea machine and start paying me to write these shows. I’m up for the challenge.
Earlier this year I undertook another challenge and decided to put my pro wrestling acumen to the test by making some predictions for 2016. I mean, things couldn’t get any worse than 2015, amirite? Like many of you, I had high hopes for 2016 and was confident that WWE could turn things around and effectively use the wealth of talent bestowed upon them. As Journey famously said, “don’t stop believin'”
While I still have some time left, I thought it was only fair to see how I’m doing at this point in 2016. Summer is technically over and we all need something to raise our spirits. The good news is that the end of summer signals the official march towards WrestleMania. In the coming months, we will see new feuds begin to take shape and old rivals who decide to squash their beef on the grandest stage of them all. If we’re lucky, some of my predictions will be among these decisions and will practically guarantee a better show than we got at WrestleMania 32.
So let’s dive right in with my first (and easiest) prediction.
WWE.com
10. WrestleMania 32 Will Break the All-Time Attendance Record
Did it happen?: Yes
This was the easiest of the bunch since the venue in Texas lent itself to such a record. I’ve been to Jerry’s World and it is equal parts sports arena and Death Star. It is a phenomenal venue to watch any kind of athletic competition and the sheer size practically guaranteed a sellout crowd for Vince McMahon.The WWE finally had an uncontested attendance record and will undoubtedly seek bigger venues for WrestleManias to come such as 40 and especially for 50.
What is unfortunate is that show itself failed to live up to expectations. It was one of the worst overall WrestleMania shows in recent memory and was essentially a wasted opportunity for the brand. I sincerely hope Vince & Co. took an honest assessment of what went wrong vs. what went right and use these notes as we approach WrestleMania 33. The rise of NXT stars (which we’ll discuss later) gives the WWE a chance to redeem themselves in a spectacular fashion.
Vince is all about bigger and better for the “Granddaddy of Them All” and with the brand split, WrestleMania currently seems to be the only time the roster will be unified in competition against each other. This means that WWE will be looking for ways to turn their biggest show of the year up to 11.
In Vegas, they call this easy prediction a “push” because it was a win-win but this isn’t Vegas so for me it’s just a win.
Credit: WWE.com
9. John Cena Will Semi-Retire
Did it happen?: Yes
You might think this one is a stretch but think about the plethora of Cena’s outside engagements. While you certainly can’t call his injury earlier this year career-ending, Cena has been making more and more appearances in movies and on television, inking deals with media conglomerates and may even be groomed to formally co-host The Today Show. Seriously, he appears on that show so often that I think he was personally responsible for Matt Lauer’s recent emotional breakdown. The teen psychic bit was just a cover up.
Cena is an international celebrity. While it took The Rock years after his film debut as the Scorpion King to conquer Hollywood, Cena is poised to do so much quicker once he departs thanks to his years of groundwork in the entertainment business. Having a famous colleague who also happens to be the world’s highest paid actor definitely helps, but Cena has been smart and casual about his eventual exit. While I don’t see anyone dethroning The Rock from Hollywood Olympus, Cena will still make his presence felt in every aspect of the industry.
Cena’s official retirement is still years away, but his drafting to Smackdown and routine gigs outside the WWE point to his feet slowly stepping towards the door before it’s too late. We saw it with The Rock and we are seeing it with Cena. Couple all of this with statements like the one he recently made on Talking Smack when asked if he thought AJ Styles could take his spot in the company:
“This is… are your ready for the WWE Network to crash? I’m openly waiting for someone to step up and do that.”
You hear that, folks? Cena is just waiting for the right guy to take over so he can finally bounce. And let’s not forget his cryptic “Never Give Up” armband drop after being bested by Styles at SummerSlam. We need answers! What does it all mean? IS JOHN CENA BEING DELETED? This is a win for me. Don’t argue, just accept it.
Credit: WWE.com
8. Kevin Owens Will Be the Top Heel in WWE
Did it happen?: Yes.
If you don’t agree, then we have nothing in common and you should stop watching television forever. His “almost there” ending at MITB against Dean Ambrose and incredible match against Sami Zayn at Battleground proved that the WWE has plenty of faith in him as a heel who can effectively pester anyone on the roster and deliver high-quality matches time and time again.
Oh, and he’s our new/current Universal Champion.
Putting the belt on Owens was certainly best for business and confirmation of what fans have known for months; KO is main event material and more than capable of carrying the flagship program. While I’m not ready to make a bold prediction out of it, I would love to eventually see Owens and Zayn form a tag team. They have been friends, they have been enemies, and soon they can be frenemies who would absolutely tear the ring apart as a duo. You may not be ready to accept this, but it would work. You know it and I know it. We all know it. This is fun.
While I’m excited to see teams like American Alpha finally in action on the main roster, the tag team division is still in desperate need of new factions and I can think of no better team than The SamOwens* (*Trademark Pending). Seriously WWE, give me a call. This. Is. Gold. My idea is certainly better than bringing back The Headbangers.
Until that happens, we can all bask in the glow of a glorious Kevin Owens title reign. No, my feelings on this particular belt haven’t changed, but I’m ecstatic to see Owens throwing his weight around the locker room for awhile.
Photo Credit: WWE.com
7. The Shield Will Reunite
Did it happen?: No, but…
When Triple H hit the pedigree on Seth Rollins that allowed Kevin Owens to become our new Universal Champion, I took to Twitter and proclaimed that we had just witnessed the seeds of a Shield reunion.
An injury put a stop to his fantastic run as champion and much to the dismay of Roman Reigns, the return of Seth Rollins was met with epic pops across the WWE universe. Regardless of how great a heel he was, it would have been a mistake to throw Rollins back into his previous role of Authority-endorsed lapdog when Triple H inevitably returned and sure enough, WWE wisely went in the other direction.
Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose have proven they can work with as well as against each other. Few things satisfy fans better than a redemption story and with the proper angle, Rollins can be brought back into the fold with the added bonus of making fans actually care about Roman Reigns once more. He was no more loved than when he was the strong, silent muscle within The Shield. While Ambrose still maintains popularity, his title run is starting to lose its luster and a fresh angle would inject new life into his character.
The suspension of Reigns was not nearly as big of a deal as people thought and as our own Rob “Paul” Siemon wrote after the story broke, his absence may have been a good thing. As evidenced by his losses at Battleground, the first post-draft RAW and in his bid for the Universal Title, Reigns will have to eat crow for awhile until he’s back in Vince’s good graces.
Despite their split between RAW and Smackdown, I stand by my assertion that stars can align in the proper order for a formal Shield reunion later this year or possibly at WrestleMania 33. Team Shield vs. Team HHH? Yes, please.
WWE.com
6. NXT Stars Will Play a Larger Role
Did it happen?: Yes
Not just yes, but absolutely yes. Keep in mind that this prediction wasn’t just about NXT stars coming to RAW and Smackdown, but about them playing a larger role in general. The 5 star quality of the Sami Zayn / Shinsuke Nakamura match at NXT TakeOver Dallas put this one over the top and proved how well this talent can compare (or sometimes surpass) anyone on the main roster.
The recent debuts of NXT darlings Bayley, Finn Balor, and American Alpha prove that the NXT experiment has been a tremendous success and should help breathe new life into both RAW and Smackdown Live! What WWE will have to balance is not skyrocketing them too fast then leaving them no place to go afterward. After Kevin Owens had his matches against John Cena, he was relegated to mid-card purgatory for several months because there was nowhere for him to go after losing to the face that runs the place. We all know how this turned out – don’t we – but so much of that pain could have been avoided.
Despite his injury, I had no problem with pushing Balor into a championship run right away because why not? The IWC has been clamoring for months about getting something new and we got it. The man has the talent and he has the clout so he was a worthy risk. However, there’s no need to do too much too soon and by that, I mean calling up every popular NXT star right away and throwing them into a title match. I like the idea of the shows calling up “free agents” which will hopefully keep us guessing, unless WWE chooses to ruin the surprise as they did with Shelton Benjamin which ended up backfiring.
Seriously, WWE, when will you learn?
5. The RAW/SmackDown Women’s Division Will Get Stronger
Did it happen?: Yes
Keep in mind that my predictions were written before the new women’s championship was introduced. I’m not saying that I deserve the credit for it happening…but…well, you know…
The abandonment of the term “diva” and the introduction of their own belt were means to this exact end. We are seeing more serious attention being paid to women’s storylines and a greater interest in their long-term success. Charlotte has freed herself of the octagenarian albatross that was holding her back from singles greatness and she is poised to become a huge star once the WWE figures out how to properly utilize the talent they have. Eventually.
While most fans marked out for Bayley, I am more excited to see Nia Jax squash smaller opponents in the same way Braun Strowman is currently doing. I smell a power couple! The former plus-sized model certainly doesn’t fit the mold of traditional WWE female superstar and this should be celebrated. She brings a raw power combined with unique beauty that has been missing from this brand for quite some time. Such a strong and confident woman can be just as much of a role model for younger fans as Bayley.
Now we just need the WWE creative team to realize the goldmine they are sitting on and give these women some meaningful interactions and genuine storylines. Don’t relegate them to backstage slap fights or cheap heel heat. It’s insulting to us and them. You want us to take your women seriously? Show us why.
WWE.com
4. The Authority Will Disband
Did it happen?: Yes?
Did they officially disband? Meh. Has their power been neutered? Yes. The strange and unexplainable saga of how and why Shane was seemingly running WWE with Stephanie post-WrestleMania 32 may never be fully understood. The idea that “the internet made it happen” is completely insane yet WWE ran with it until the brand split. Regardless of their twisted logic, the power couple of Triple and Steph acting as The Authority hasn’t been seen in months.
Now that Triple H has returned, it will be interesting to see if the entire “Authority” concept is simply abandoned altogether as we get closer to WrestleMania 33 or if Triple H joins Stephanie in assuming control over RAW. This seems highly unlikely but thankfully, we still have Stephanie McMahon playing up her role as the Billion Dollar Princess we love to hate. At least some of the time. Seriously, can anyone explain her face turn?
I’m calling this a win for me because it cannot be denied that The Authority we loved (and quickly grew tired of) has yet to make an official reappearance in WWE and that means we may be done with this angle for good. This makes the most sense considering we now have established general managers and owners for the separate shows and even if Triple H were to proclaim himself co-co-owner of RAW he would have no control over the superstars of Smackdown which renders the entire “Authority” gimmick moot.
This was a lengthy way of me saying I was correct yet again.
WWE.com
3. Triple H Will Take Over the RAW Creative Team
Did it happen?: No
Few men have a more legitimate love for the pro wrestling business than Triple H. It seems that almost everyone has an opinion about him based on his tenured position within the company but his creative vision and dedication to improving the brand cannot be denied. A no-holds-barred ballbuster? Certainly. A tenacious businessman with a hunger for expansion? Absolutely. A loving father and dedicated family man? Definitely.
All that being said, it is clear that Triple H will one day take over the company for Vince McMahon. This much is true. If the ratings continue to slide and don’t stay up during the brand split, Vince may call for Triple H’s creative assistance sooner than he anticipated. Triple H has proven that he can take a project like NXT and the CWC from a simple idea to a full-fledged talent pipeline in just a few years. His history in the WWE gives him founding father status as one of the few men from a bygone era who has stuck with the company in the name of making it better for the next generation of superstars. The respect these men and women have for Triple H is unparalleled.
Any way you look at it, the WWE is in good hands.
WWE.com
2. The Undertaker Will Retire
Did it happen? No, but…
Each year we speculate about when the Undertaker will retire and the answer is always “when he feels like it” but as previously discussed by our very own Evan “Roy” Rogerson, WrestleMania 32 may have been Undertaker’s swan song.
The simple fact is that Undertaker has no legitimate reason to retire. He only makes a handful of appearances each year (with even fewer of those being actual in-ring competition) and yet he is still one of the highest paid superstars in the WWE. Don’t get me wrong, he has certainly earned such a unique place on the roster and his limited screen time means that fans are guaranteed to tune in each time his bell tolls.
Regardless of his status, Undertaker hasn’t had a good match in years. I was certainly not alone in my disappointment at his match against Shane at WrestleMania 32 and without the inevitable Shane-O-Mac bump the entire thing would have been a complete disaster. At this point, the Undertaker isn’t so much competing as he is going through the motions because that’s what fans have come to expect. His matches don’t carry any real significance as far as storylines go and his presence in the WWE is more tradition than anything else.
As we are wont to do, we will continue to wonder how many more years the Undertaker will feel like training hard for his yearly WrestleMania match. After all, the show can’t rightly be called “the showcase of the immortals” without a true immortal on the card.
1. Ric Flair Will Appear to be Drunk in Every Segment
Did it happen?: Yes…on and off television.
Ok folks, let’s tally up my scores.
Prediction Score: 7 / 10
If we’re using baseball rules, batting .700 at this point in the season is pretty impressive.
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