Everyone’s so worked up about how Seth Rollins kept his Universal title due to what WWE is calling a “Match Stoppage” at Hell in a Cell last night (Sun., Oct. 6), it’s almost like we forgot Brock Lesnar took Kofi Kingston’s WWE championship in under ten seconds on SmackDown Friday night!
But when you think about it, are you really that surprised the company opted to head into the Fox era with Rollins, Lesnar, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair as their top singles champs?
On the post-PPV edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said he thinks that was always the plan. Meltzer was addressing Bayley losing to Flair in Sacramento, only a couple hours north of The Hugster’s hometown of San Jose, but his theory covers the booking of all four title matches since Oct. 4...
“The whole idea of this is they wanted to go into this Draft with Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch as the cornerstones. They’re the big stars.”
It’s informed speculation, but it tracks for me. And I don’t even know how many fans would argue with WWE’s alleged thinking - given the current landscape (which WWE controls almost entirely, so they’re the ones who conceivably could have orchestrated things differently, but that’s a whole ‘nother set of arguments), those are four of the biggest, most marketable Superstars they have.
In two, three, or even all four of those cases, depending on who you ask, it’s how WWE chose to make sure their four “cornerstones” were champion heading into the Draft that’s the issue.
There’s could be some cause for hope, however - depending on how generous you’re feeling about handing out fourth, fifth, sixth or _ insert big number here _ chances. Reporting from behind the paywall at Fightful Select, Sean Ross Sapp says his sources told him Vince McMahon personally decided on the amount of offense Bray Wyatt took in his Cell match with Rollins, and the ending. What’s more, most of Sapp’s contacts told him McMahon “knew he messed up” and was taking the negative feedback very seriously. One said Vince was laughing about the crowd reaction, but let’s focus on the positive...
Our first chance to see if McMahon and his team will alter course comes tonight, with Raw from Bakersfield, California. Don’t expect to see any different names or faces at the top of the card, but maybe there will be an effort to have their stories make more sense?
If you’re not taking a break from the WWE main roster’s brand of sports entertainment, join us in the live blog to find out.