AT THE ROYAL RUMBLE, THE VIPER MUST BECOME A RATTLESNAKE
By Todd Oblak on 1/30/2010 1:23 AM
Booking The Rumble: It's time for the Viper to become the Rattlesnake
Here's a different spin than what I've been hearing about the projections for
the Royal Rumble's outcomes and how Wrestlemania will be booked. This is how
I would book the Royal Rumble to lead into Wrestlemania. Leading up to the
Rumble this week, I saw a spark and an opportunity for WWE to do something
over the top....something Vince would probably laugh at....but just might
work...see what you think...
I'd start the show with Christian vs Ezekiel Jackson. This match needs to
show off Zeke's power and he just needs to manhandle Christian all over the
ring. Christian needs to be on the run for a good bit of this match. A good
finish for this match could have Zeke go for his finisher but be a little too
close to the ropes and when he swings Christian, have his feet catch the rope
and he slides off Zeke's back into a killswitch for the pin. Christian goes
over clean because the big man made a mistake.
Maybe in between (just to change things up) have 5 rumble entrants come out to
the stage where the balls are in the hopper and have them choose
numbers.....the crowd could react accordingly. Jericho should choose #1.
I'd follow up with Taker vs Mysterio. The finish should see Batista walk out
to try to cost distract both men, but HBK runs out and takes out Batista.
Taker sees this and gets distracted for a moment, Rey drops him down for the
619 and as Rey runs the ropes, HBK yanks on the ropes and makes Mysterio fall
to help Taker win the match. Have the ref call for the DQ and have Taker see
this and get pissed, chasing HBK out of the arena and Mysterio gets a win by
DQ. Batista should then get up and pummel Rey some more until Cena comes out
to defend Mysterio.
Maybe another 5 entrants choose balls.....HBK comes out to choose his number
but gets chased away by Taker. Big Show should choose #30....just for fun.
McCool vs Mickie James.....I wish I could say something to make this match
more interesting but making fun of Mickie's weight....I say have her do the
old Yokozuna bit where he jumps and sits down on the guy....or better yet, the
Earthquake run-the-ropes jump and sit move.....make Mickie really milk the
overweight thing for kicks and beat McCool in the center of the
ring.....that'd be funny....
OK, here's the match I'm excited about.....Sheamus vs Orton. On Monday's RAW
I saw something in Randy Orton that could make him the next Steve
Austin.....why not turn Randy's dark heel persona into a cool cocky "I don't
need anyone" face/heel persona that could go over huge?!? When Orton sneaked
in on Sheamus and dropped him with the RKO, the crowd was electric. Then he
saw Cena and grabbed him too. I really like the idea of Orton not liking
anyone....I say he needs to break away from Legacy and never have another tag
match....."don't trust anybody" used to be Austin's line.....this character
tweak would be "don't trust Randy." Lay the groundwork for this at the
Rumble...
Have Orton tell Legacy before the match that he doesn't need their help to
beat Sheamus, they just need to concentrate on getting the Rumble down to the
two of them and then we get to see who's best between Rhodes & DiBiase.....he's
trying to pit them against each other...
During the Orton/Sheamus match, Rhodes walks out and sits down at ringside to
watch the match, Orton gets distracted and yells at Rhodes "what are you
doing?" Sheamus goes for the kick, misses and gets hit with a RKO. Sheamus
is down and Randy goes for the pin (near the ropes). Ted comes out of the
crowd and pulls Randy's foot out to break up the pin....Randy is
seething.....he begins to chase Ted back into the ring and gets nailed by a
big boot from Sheamus and the win. Ted and Cody go to the back together.
Rumble match time!
Jericho is out first...reason for this comes later......skip ahead to the last
4 entrants. Still in the ring are Jericho, Kane, HHH, HBK, Rhodes, DiBiase,
Miz, Kofi & MVP. 27 is Batista....he comes in fighting HBK and HHH.....28 is
Cena, who immediately comes in and beats on Batista for what he did to Rey
earlier and he and DX simultaneously dump Batista....then DX look at each
other and dump Cena too....just as quick as they came in, they're both
out.....Cena and Batista brawl to the back.
Jericho is fighting Kofi.....MVP and Miz are now fighting and DX, Kane and
Legacy are going at it....Jericho eliminates Kofi and the clock ends and 29 is
Edge! Edge walks out, Jericho loses it....the match basically stops, Edge
comes in and spears Jericho....takes him to the corner and is really beating
on him.....Big Show is 30 and he comes straight in and throws both Edge and
Jericho out...Jericho went from 1 to 29 and got eliminated....Jericho and Edge
keep fighting to the back....Miz and MVP are both eliminated by Show but Kane
dumps Show out and then DX goes to eliminate Show....while they are trying to
get Big Show out, Legacy stands back....waiting to dump DX out but Orton runs
in from outside and eliminates both Cody & Ted (the crowd would be really hot
at this point)....DX finally gets Big Show out, turn around and realize they
are all alone....they look at each other and immediately HBK tries to toss out
HHH, but they go back and forth and Shawn tells HHH how much this means to him
and HHH says "let's go" and they basically start a one-on-one match.....it
ends with many near eliminations, but in the end HHH eliminates HBK and
wins.....HBK looks pissed and upset....walks away while HHH celebrates....Sheamus
comes to the top of the ramp and stares at HHH.
Where do you go from here?
Ted needs to cut a post Rumble promo the next night on RAW saying they are
through with Orton and now Ted & Cody will take Legacy to new heights without
being held back by Orton....real heel stuff here....says they'll be waiting in
the parking lot to jump Orton when he arrives since he eliminated them last
night and finish the job they started...
Multiple times throughout the night show Legacy in the parking lot but no
Orton....they're starting to get frustrated....at the end of the night, the
camera would catch a shadow behind them and Orton comes up from behind and
drops them....
The next week, Orton walks straight to the ring and grabs a mic and tells
Legacy this is just begun....they cost him the belt at the Rumble, now they
are going to get punted...he promises that.
I would not have Orton on TV every week....I would keep his wrestling to a
minimum too....
A few weeks later, Legacy are looking for Orton and can't find him....they
split up (big mistake) and Rhodes gets jumped and punted.....just like Orton
promised....he has to be taken to the hospital....this leaves the build up for
Orton/DiBiase at Wrestlemania in a singles match.....
Orton already has that persona of "you can't trust me, I'll turn on anyone" so
why not turn him into a cool, cocky face/heel? The crowd needs someone to
root for....it's not Cena, the crowd is 50/50 on him.....it can be HHH but I
see one good heel run for him before it's all said and done.....there is
really no ONE worker that the crowd really is hot for right now....it's all
becoming a little overdone.....Edge and Orton both can turn face-ish and be
hot.....I think a few faces could turn heel and revitalize their
careers.....I'm mixed on the idea of turning Cena heel....it could either work
or really look bad.....I don't think Ted or Cody need to turn face anytime
soon.....more heel heat on them would be better for now...
If you couldn't tell, I was booking the Rumble as close to how WWE wants Mania
to shape up.....Cena vs Batista, Taker vs HBK, HHH vs Sheamus.....we'll see
how it works....maybe after Orton finishes up with Legacy, have them help the
Hart Dynasty win the tag titles and grow Legacy to a 4 man heel
faction.....give them a fighting chance to be something...
This is what WWE needs to do....trying to get everyone on every show every
week is ridiculous....keep storylines fresh by alternating characters and
dragging out the stories....don't rush the climax of a poorly written story
just to start another poorly written story....give them time to develop into
something the fans actually care about and can get behind......
Austin/McMahon wasn't a 2-3 month feud.....the nWo/Sting story wasn't 2-3
months....those were each developed over a year's time and were probably 2 of
the top wrestling stories ever! People talked about them all the
time...Tuesdays were great because you got to hear what everyone else
thought....it wasn't rushed into a PPV in 4 weeks.....it was developed over a
year before the matches actually happened...
What made RAW cool during the Attitude era? Austin not showing up until the
end of the show and doing something cool (he didn't even have to be in a
match, just developing the story by showing up). What made Nitro cool during
it's glory days? Sting dropping from the rafters at the end of the show and
doing something cool....he didn't wrestle 1 match for over a year!!! But it
was exciting when he showed up....
It's not the beer and profanity and women and sex that WWE needs....they can
stay PG-13 and still be exciting by just developing the stories and characters
with a little foresight....
Thoughts?
