WWE would be better now if 2005 was different

[rapidfire187]

I wouldn't exactly say it was my favorite year of wrestling ever, but Raw was really good at that time. There was always at least one or two very good matches that got two or three commercial breaks. The roster was packed with some really good workers, and aside from the typical wrestlecrap, everything was interesting. Some of the booking decisions were questionable though. With a little more common sense implemented in this time period, WWE would be a lot better at the moment.

I mean, Cena was over huge when he won the title about two months prior to his Raw debut. Some people started bitching about how the Mania match with JBL was bad, but the next month they had a (by all accounts..I've never seen it) really good I Quit Match. Meanwhile, Christian is on Raw every week dissing John Cena.

Cena gets drafted to Raw, and in the beginning it was great. The whole Christian, Jericho, Cena thing was gold until they just elminated Christian from the whole thing. A lot of fans started rooting for Jericho, and then Cena ends up retiring him (kayfabe I know) which did him no favors with Jericho fans. Cena was also beginning to stop being a rapper around this time.

Then they decide to put him against Angle. The matches were fine, the promos started getting a little silly though. The fans were obviously cheering for Angle and WWE basically chose to ignore it.I know about Angle's promo, but it was a one time thing on PPV not USA. After Cena kept beating Angle, people really started dismaying the guy. Ironically, by this time Cena had nearly completely broke away from the rapper gimmick.

Anyway we all know the rest. If WWE had simply given Cena a few good losses during that time to help make some new main eventers, he could've still been supercena later, but the people he'd be facing would be so much more of a threat.

The simplest way I can explain this is with this example. When Carlito debuted on Smackdown, he won the US title from John Cena. Cena goes on to win the WWE Title, and some time later Carlito gets traded to Raw and wins the IC title off of Shelton in his first match. At this point, Cena's a world champ and Carlito's doing some impressive stuff. The potential for a feud between them for the WWE title was right there. The fans would've had no problem cheering for Cena over Carlito, and the angle practically wrote itself.

Opinions? TLDR?? lol

[rnrk supports BLM]

While there are certainly booking decisions that seem poor when looking back on them years later, the fact that Carlito never got pushed into the world title scene is not one of them.

[slickster]

[BorneAgain]

Its funny how different 2006 could have been had certain things not happened the year previous. In a span of about nine months...

-Jericho takes a break from wrestling
-Christian quits the company
-Eddie Guerrero dies
-Ken Kennedy's heavy push is derailed by injury
-Batista suffers an injury knocking him out of action for 7 months
-Randy Orton is suspended and taken off the road
-JBL retires from wrestling for the first time

On wonders how different the scene would have been if any of these hadn't occured

[MichaelMartini]

I totally agree. Turning Cena invincible was a horrible idea. Beating JBL was fine, he was never that credible as a main eventer. I could see a powerhouse rookie like Cena being able to beat him, bet then to transition to Raw and immediately beat two of the best workers ever, when Cena was obviously still a little green was beyond stupid. It turned off so many fans. There's nothing wrong with losing to a Jericho, or especially Angle. Austin couldn't get a win against Bret when he was red hot and it didn't hurt him.

I really liked Cena when he was on Smackdown. He was booked perfectly. His fueds with Benoit, Booker, Eddie, Brock, Taker, JBL, etc. were all great. It should've taken him at least year to get the Raw title.

[luiscurse]

Agree with everything above

[navajomartian]

If Eddie lived (2 more years was probably all his body could handle) I could of seen him being the one to get the ECW title off RVD during the suspension period.


Also, if Eddie lived for exactly 2 years, the Benoit thing wouldn't of happened when it did. If history still ran it's course with Benoit going down in the summer of 2007, THEN Eddie dying in Novemer of that same year, the government would of been up their asses alot further than they initially went.


Honestly, the only way Eddie would have lived is if he had somebody in the room with him and hitting 911 as soon as he collapsed.

[rapidfire187]

Apr 28, 2010 23:15:55 GMT -5 rnrk supports BLM said:

While there are certainly booking decisions that seem poor when looking back on them years later, the fact that Carlito never got pushed into the world title scene is not one of them.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to sound like Carlito not getting a push was the worst thing to happen or anything. I meant it like this...

In 1997 The Rock and Steve Austin feuded over the Intercontinental title, and then Austin became the face of the company the next year.

In 1998 The Rock and HHH feuded over the IC title (among other things) and The Rock ended up becoming a main eventer in late 98. He went on to feud with Foley, which cemented Foley as a main eventer by giving him a world title finally.

In 1999 HHH won the title from Foley, and Foley was the one that really cemented HHH as a main eventer.

My point is that when two guys feuded in the midcard and one moved up, the other was usually not too far behind. If Carlito could beat Cena before he was the face of the company, why can't he even come close to it now? I think if Carlito had been booked to look strong against Cena in 2005, we'd have at least on more main eventer on our hands. From there, we'd get even more stars. It wouldn't necessarily have to have been Carlito, but he's the best example I could think of.