This topic came up on Rewind-a-Smackdown that the card for Stomping Grounds is particularly embarrassing because of what a huge roster WWE has. But what would a great card from the main roster even look like? What matches could they do that you would be excited about but haven’t already seen done 50 times?
So if I were fantasy booking a bigger show like Summerslam, my card would look something like:
Seth Rollins vs Daniel Bryan
Kofi Kingston vs Samoa Joe
AJ Styles vs Drew NcIntyre
Finn Balor vs Andrade
Aleister Black vs Brock Lesnar
Ricochet vs Randy Orton
Ali vs Shinsuke Nakamura
Usos vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Revival vs New Day
Bayley vs Charlotte
Becky vs Asuka
It definitely would not have Baron Corbin on the card.
The big issue for me is that they have done so much damage to so many people on the roster that there aren’t really match-ups I’m super excited about right now to build up feuds If I could book everything from now to say summerslam. I might go with the following (winners included where I think it matters)
IC championship ladder match - Balor, Andrade, Ricochet, Ali, Murphy - Put over Buddy Murphy for an IC run
Kofi beats Brock Lesner Clean to defend the WWE championship. Not my favorite as I’m not a huge Brock fan, but this would raise Kofi to the level of champion he needs to be.
Revival vs New Day to unify the tag belts
Sky Pirates (IO SHirai and Kairi Sane) defeat the Iconics to win the womens Tag belts.
Becky vs Shayna Baisler for the Raw womens title, Baisler debuts and wins, I think this would be a good storyline
Bayley vs Sasha for the Smackdown womens title 2 out of 3 falls
Samoa Joe defeats Roman Reigns to retain the US title, Joe needs some big wins to make the US title feel important again.
Drew McIntyre defeats Seth Rollins to win the Universal title (this needs to have drew built up say finally beating Roman clean)
Asuka Defeats Charlotte flair -finally getting her back for getting buried by Charlotte
At first I felt the same way. That the overall poor quality of WWE’s tv every week is dragging everyone down.
But when I started thinking about the actual wrestlers or potential matches, they haven’t really done much to damage many of their stars. Kofi and Rollins have been kept mostly pretty strong as champions. Samoa Joe is still a bad ass. And while they might have wasted Alisters, Ricochets and other call ups - they haven’t killed them as characters yet and we know they can go in the ring so there is still hope for them.
Except Samoa Joe isn’t still a bad ass. He is a bully which makes him look weak. He loses almost 70% of the time, he beats guys up between matches and talks a big game but then loses most feuds and big matches. I think Kofi has been booked well but there aren’t that many challengers I’m excited to see him face, the only match that would excite me (with the right outcome) is him facing Brock, or maybe Roman if Kofi were to win.
Seth has been booked poorly in his championship run. His AJ match was great, but had no real build up, I don’t care about a match with him and Brock, or Lashley etc as all the heels look terrible. Bryan could be an AJ like match with good in ring work, but there is no story there right now. They could build it up but there really aren’t that many matches I’m excited to see Seth in. I think he has been a poor universal champ thus far and part of that is how he won the title.
As to the call ups, sure they could go somewhere but right now they aren’t exciting outside of in ring work. I mean we are getting Ricochet vs Joe at Stomping Grounds. It could be a great match in ring, but I’m not excited for it. No build and Ricochet has been booked so-so.
For me it is the following’
IC title has been booked into obscurity
US title as well
Both Tag titles are lower card titles that few meaningful people are chasing (the women’s too really)
The Womens belts are on ok people but Wrestlemania buried the whole women’s division to set up the Triple threat.
When it feels like I’m meant to care more about who wins the 24/7 belt more than any tag belt, the IC, and US belts. The damage is pretty bad.
Triple H and Stephanie talk for 20 minutes
Shane talks for 27 minutes, with Elias doing a shitty song
Brock and Paul talking segment
Bury random tag team in a bad comedy spot
Undertaker vs. Bret Hart, 38 minute ladder match
Vince talking spot 80 minutes.
This. I just don’t care about any of these people. The biggest cause of the damage is the over exposure. Seeing the same people trade wins week after week, a lot of the times when there’s no real conflict between them, has drained any excitement or emotion from the shows. I don’t care to see any of the current roster go against anyone.
Brock Lesnar vs WALTER
Daniel Bryan vs Pete Dunne
Andrade vs Johnny Gargano
Seth Rollins vs Adam Cole
The Revival vs Fish and O’Reilly (2/3 Falls)
John Cena vs Velveteen Dream
Triple H vs Tommaso Ciampa (Falls Count Anywhere)
Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, and Bayley vs Ronda Rousey (not NXT, I know but fuck it), Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir (WAR GAMES!!!)
Main Event: Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins for the World Title (The only world title)
Bray Wyatt vs Braun Strowman after an extended feud where he blames Braun for destroying the wyatts.
A.Black vs Cesaro vs Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental Title
The Club - AJ, Balor, Gallows and Anderson vs Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Dawson and Wilder (who are a faction of spoilt guys who demand the limelight)
Ricochet vs Ali vs Gable vs Nakamura vs Metalik (Money in the Bank)
Owens vs Kofi after owens screws Kofi out of his chance for the new world champ belts.
Usos vs Ivar and Akum vs Big E & Woods for the new single Tag Team Champs
Becky vs Bayley for the new single belt.
Flair vs Asuka vs Moon vs Riot vs Sane (Womans Money in the Bank)
Reigns vs S.McMahon (If Roman wins McMahon retires…Roman wins)