Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.
So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!
1) Who do you think should induct Rey Mysterio into the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame? Supposedly, it will be Konnan. But do you have any other ideas?
I would have thought Dominik, naturally, but since this is obviously not the time you could ever do that, Konnan makes sense. In fact, the whole reason I’m asking this question is because I honestly can’t think of anyone else who makes more sense than Konnan.
True, it could be Chavo Guerrero, or any number of people Rey is friends with. He’s tight with a ton of people, I’m sure. Edge, Batista and so on and so forth could be called on to do that. Even Santos Escobar could technically do it if WWE wanted to keep things in-house.
But since Eddie Guerrero isn’t around anymore, Konnan is definitely the best pick.
2) Saraya, Toni Storm and Ruby Soho are now apparently calling their group The Outsiders. What do you think of that name?
Considering the whole “us versus them” angle in general, along with the spray paint and now this name, I think this is kind of sad. This has been heading too much in the “blatant nWo ripoff” direction already. To just call your group the same name as Kevin Nash and Scott Hall would be absurdly uncreative.
I’m already not fond of Bullet Club and The Elite doing the “too sweet” gesture and all. Make up something of your own that similar if you want to have an homage. Don’t just out and out copy what you’re a fan of. At least get a thesaurus and use a synonym or put your own spin on it.
3) Speaking of AEW names, the Fight Forever game trademark is in dispute. If you had to rebrand the video game with some other title, what would you call it?
Fight Forever wasn’t a bad name, so I’m assuming they’ll pay GCW if need be in order to keep it. But let’s just say they can’t.
One of my first pitches probably would have been the super simple “AEW Game On” just because it is as easy as can be to market it as “this is a video game about AEW.” It would have also been very simple to call it AEW All Out Brawl or AEW Brawl Out, too. AEW All Out Assault? AEW All or Nothing could work, but it doesn’t have anything that screams “fighting game” in the name.
If they wanted something dynamite-related, they don’t have a ton of options I can imagine. AEW loves being meta, but AEW Banger After Banger is ridiculous. Thunder Struck is a potential other copyright nightmare. Kenny Omega does the whole “bang” thing, but you can’t have gun iconography in the title, necessarily. Blast Zone? AEW Ignition sounds so boring.
AEW: Light the Fuse could be my favorite title to go with something related to Dynamite. Bring the Boom is also part of their lyrics and could work.
4) Many are saying John Cena buried Austin Theory to the point he’ll not be able to bounce back. Do you think that is the case? How would you make sure Theory isn’t dead in the water (or, alternatively, do you think it’s okay if that happens)?
First off, Cena shouldn’t have added that bit in there about how even if Theory wins, he’ll still lose because he can’t live up to the hype. All of this just makes Theory look like he’s not ready to take the next step and that if he does win, it will be a fluke, rather than him proving Cena and his doubters wrong. That’s already a mistake they need to correct.
One absolute is that Theory MUST win that match, now. It was already on the table that he pretty much needed to, in order to not have the United States Championship stuck in a holding pattern or vacated or anything. But now, he has to beat Cena, and it has to be clean, too.
This isn’t a situation where the heel can hit a low blow, roll up the tights and then act like saying “I technically beat John Cena in the record books” will be written off as “boo this man as he ascends the hierarchy” like it usually is. It will come off more as “but that doesn’t really count, so you still need to prove yourself” yet again, and Theory will remain in this stagnant on the cusp level that he’s been at for years.
Theory wins clean. Then, I would honestly keep the United States Championship on him for quite a while so he can keep proving he’s worthy of that. There are 2 roads to go down past that point.
I would STRONGLY consider him for King of the Ring. He needs to get more personality beyond just “the next Cena” (especially since I see him more like Randy Orton) and the king gimmick, albeit done to death, could be a way to branch out. Then, he can drop the United States title and focus on that being his prominence.
Alternatively, I wouldn’t be opposed to having him win Money in the Bank again, but only if there are plans for him to actually be the one to cash in successfully and beat Cody Rhodes or whoever holds the other belt (as I’m hoping that gets split up again) down the line.
The point is, Theory needs to actually win in order to be taken seriously. Orton got over with The Legend Killer because he beat those people. Theory can’t just come up short and constantly say he’s got potential. That will turn him into another Dolph Ziggler, who doesn’t amount to as much as he could/should have.
5) What were your biggest takeaways from NXT Roadblock?
- Bron Breakker needs to turn heel, for sure. Carmelo Hayes should turn babyface as well. Double turn!
- Their segment talking about how they got pulled aside for a talk that they’re the top 2 prospects should have happened before The Grayson Waller Effect segment. That way, Waller could have mentioned that.
- Johnny Gargano vs. Waller will be fun at Stand & Deliver. Good choice.
- Dragon Lee sure was brought in with a dud, wasn’t he?
- Gigi Dolin beating Jacy Jayne was also a dud to me. The post-match attack didn’t reinvigorate me to want to see more.
- The Jailhouse Street Fight was surprisingly bland. It just ended and that’s it? Huh?
- Chase University continues to be one of the most entertaining aspects of NXT.
- Shawn Michaels really likes to book his old angles. Roxanne Perez collapsing is the Owen Hart enziguri situation again.
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
