According to reports, WWE has an internal list circulating within the company that features the top five Superstars that they plan on pushing after WrestleMania XXX in April. Most of the guys on the list will come as no surprise to you and I, however one name stands out more than others, and the exclusion of a couple of guys leaves me scratching my head.
The list is as follows:
1. John Cena
2. Daniel Bryan
3. Randy Orton
4. Sheamus
5. Roman Reigns
John Cena should come as no surprise to anyone. He’s clearly their guy, and until he decides to hang up his jean shorts, he’s likely always going to be near or at the top of these kind of lists.
Seeing Daniel Bryan so high on the list is a good sign that they legitimately plan to get the machine behind the hottest act in the business right now. We’ll see if they pull the trigger at WrestleMania. Any person on the planet could book the finish to that main event without breaking a sweat. Let’s hope WWE doesn’t get too fancy, or make things too complicated. Bryan should get past Triple H and go on to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The last thing we should see as WrestleMania goes off the air is 70,000-plus fans chanting “Yes!” along with the new champ.
Randy Orton is the heel version of John Cena. He’s the darling of WWE management, so it shouldn’t be any major surprise that he’s still on the top of this type of list. The company needs top heels, and he’s as good or better than most that WWE has to offer right now, especially when you factor in how established he is with the fans as a top performer.
Sheamus?! Seriously?! This is once again proof that it pays to be friends with Mr. Helmsley. If you’re Triple H’s old workout buddy, and you get in good with “The Game,” you’re going to have a good career. Don’t get me wrong, Sheamus has been having good matches and is a solid performer, but is he really the fourth best guy in the company? The fact that Bray Wyatt isn’t on this list and Sheamus is, is really cause for confusion.
In my opinion Roman Reigns should be higher on the list. Maybe it’s good that they don’t rush him along too fast, but in my opinion, his ring work and microphone abilities, combined with his actual on-screen presence, have all come a long way. Basically put, the guy is ready to rock and roll right now if given the opportunity. I have mixed feelings in that, things could go one of two ways. If they keep putting it off, they might miss the opportunity to strike while the iron is at its’ hottest. They’ve done this in the past with a lot of guys, resulting in them missing their opportunity to truly get over at the level that they could have if they were pushed at the right time. At the same time, you don’t want to rush things because if you give him the shove and he’s not ready, then you could do more bad than good. You only get one chance to make a first impression, so it’s probably best that they continue the slow build in promoting Roman Reigns as a top-tier, main event level babyface.
While I’m not complaining by any means, as I’ve made my opinions about this guy clear on more than one occasion, I have to say I’m a bit surprised that Batista isn’t on this list. He came back, immediately won the Royal Rumble, will be headlining WrestleMania after only a few months back in the business, and yet after putting all that stock into “The Animal,” they don’t have him on their list of the top five guys they plan to push coming out of their biggest show of the year. Maybe it’s the part-time schedule? Maybe it’s the fact that he hasn’t connected with the fans. Well, unless you consider evoking guttural hatred by his mere presence alone a “connection.” Whatever the reason, it doesn’t look like we’re going to have to worry about too many more Batista-headlined pay-per-views. At least according to this list. Something tells me his name will be on the marquee on a few more pay-per-view shows in 2014. Call me crazy!
Obviously Brock Lesnar isn’t on the list because he’s only around part-time. Other than him, Batista, and Bray Wyatt, there aren’t too many glaring exclusions from the list. CM Punk is gone, so he shouldn’t be expected on the list. Cesaro is hot right now, but I’m not sure if he’s one of the top five guys in the company. Big E. hasn’t gotten over at the level that I would assume they hoped he’d be at by now. Maybe 2015 for Dolph Ziggler? (Yeah right. Poor guy).
Other than that, and the fact that Sheamus is on the list, there’s nothing too shocking here. The fans can always change things, so maybe in a few months we’ll re-visit this list and see how things turned out after some time passed.
What do you guys think? How would your top five list look? Share your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also hit me up directly at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR.
