WWE News & Notes 2014: With Roman Reigns Injured, Which Stars Can Main Event?
Roman Reigns' injury prior to Night of Champions was a huge blow to the WWE. The former Shield member was taken to a hospital after complaining of severe stomach pains and was diagnosed with an incarcerated hernia a day prior to Sunday's live event televised on the WWE Network.
"I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I felt a really sharp pain right below my belly button in my bladder region," said Reigns in video posted after his emergency surgery. "[I] tried to gut it out but it just kept getting worse so I ended up calling 911. They sent an ambulance and once I got to the hospital, the doctor said I had a hernia and I needed to go into emergency surgery and here I am now."
With Reigns back home recuperating, he is estimated to be out of action for one-to-three months, three months being the more likely scenario, which delivers a huge blow for potential WWE plans.
It was no secret Reigns was getting a steady but huge push, with the potential of getting a main event slot at Wrestlemania 31 against current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on the horizon.
But Reigns may not be the only person out for a while. Lesnar has been the target of dirt sheet rumor regarding medicals woes, as Monday morning armchair quarterbacks with no doctor degrees question if Lesnar is healthy enough to compete in Hell In A Cell, forcing the WWE to release a statement this week that Lesnar is doing ok.
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The WWE is starting to run thin on main event talent with Reigns hurt down for a while, Daniel Bryan still recovering from neck surgery and CM Punk happily married and retired. With all this talent either sidelined or gone for good, someone in the roster has to step up and fill the void while things sort themselves out, since, much like Broadway, the show must go on.
These are a couple of names that may be in consideration for filling in the main event spots soon:
John Cena
Fans are probably cringing at seeing this name, but not many in the roster can step into the main event slot at such a short notice, put butts in the seats and move merchandise like Cena. Money talks and Cena's merchandise far outsells any other superstar on the roster while Cena-led events make an estimated $60,000 more than non-Cena shows in ticket sales. Such figures may hurt the feelings of Cena-haters, but sports entertainment is still a business and Cena is "what's best for business."
And despite the fact that fans say Cena matches are "boring," the man has a penchant for stepping up to the level of his competition, with his Night of Champions match against Lesnar a perfect example that he can throw a good bout when put in the right position.
Cena in the main event, while an annoyance to his haters, buys the WWE time to allow their roster to heal while keeping the money train rolling along.
Seth Rollins
The current Money In The Bank (MITB) suitcase-holder is in a perfect position to make a name for himself with the current depletion of the roster. MITB suitcase-holders have stepped up in the past when injuries have plagued the roster, and this may be the right time to push Rollins into a main event slot. Rollins was clearly the best technician in The Shield and his mic skills, which were better than Roman Reigns to begin with, have been improving leaps and bounds since separating himself from the "Hounds of Justice."
Having his former Shield stablemate Dean Ambrose put Rollins over, as well as a feud with Randy Orton -- who has been shown to be getting tired of bailing Rollins out of jams against "The Lunatic Fringe" -- could further enhance his push, though that would entail for Orton to make a face-turn.
The challenge lies in how do you have Rollins take the belt from "The Anomaly?" Lesnar is advertised as "The Beast Incarnate" who is rolling over much bigger wrestlers, but with the MITB suit-case in hand, WWE writers can get creative with finding a way to put Rollins into that main event slot.
Bray Wyatt
Although Wyatt was not used at Night of Champions, there is no denying that Wyatt is over with fans. Just take one look at the smartphones shining bright when Wyatt makes his entrance to the ring and you can certainly see fans are behind "The Man of 1000 Truths" despite his being a heel.
Wyatt was last seen battling the Big Show prior to Night of Champions after having him get buried by John Cena post-SummerSlam. But building him back up should not be a problem. A vile act against a major fan-favorite (maybe Dean Ambrose, post-Rollins feud?) as well as a renewed feud against Cena -- who does not have a problem putting other talent over -- could facilitate him sliding into a main event slot all over again, where he thrived working great matches when pit against Bryan.
While some may worry about the possibility of a heel-vs-heel feud between Lesnar and Wyatt, the fact is you do not have to change Wyatt into a face at all, especially with his literal cult-like following he seems to have everywhere he goes. Besides, the idea of Wyatt, who is easily one of the best new talents on the mic, and Paul Heyman doing promos is gold as far as pushing a feud between "The Beast Incarnate" and "The Eater of Worlds."
Rusev
Much like Reigns, it is pretty obvious the WWE is high on Rusev, having him steamroll through the strongmen in the company. Sure, the man says nothing on the mic, but that's what Lana is for, as she proved in Rusev's feud against Jack Swagger earlier in the year.
Rusev has already run through Mark Henry at both Night of Champions and the follow-up match on WWE Monday Night Raw, so having him take on Henry's current tag team partner, The Big Show, makes perfect sense in order to build him up into a main event monster.
Much like a potential Wyatt-Lesnar feud, a battle between Rusev and the current champion creates a heel-vs-heel conundrum. But with Heyman by Lesnar's side, it would not take much effort to make this a new-school Cold War battle of USA-vs-Russia without having to tweak Lesnar's mean-streak all that much.
Cesaro
Coming out of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 30, where Cesaro body-slammed The Big Show over the top rope to win the inaugural match, it seemed that Cesaro was headed towards a big push, having dumped his Real American tag team partner Jack Swagger and manager Zeb Colter to become a "Heyman Guy." Why not return to that and build him back up to take on his former manager and the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion?
Cesaro could be pushed into a main event slot with help, maybe building him up at the expense of Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler -- taking his title away from him in a short feud, on top of putting him over Mark Henry or The Big Show to re-enhance his strongman reputation, much like has been done for Rusev. Such chess moves could easily help Cesaro earn a main event slot.
A battle of European strongmen between Russia's "Super-Athlete" versus the "Swiss King of Swing" could help further push along a great feud between the former "Heyman Guy" against the man behind the man who put the "1" in The Undertaker's once-undefeated Wrestlemania record.
On top of his strength, Cesaro is easily one of the best technicians in the ring at the moment, having put on great matches with John Cena earlier in the year, proving he can certainly put on entertaining bouts when put in the ring with the bigger names in the industry.
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