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) What are your takeaways from Crown Jewel?
- You mean to tell me the FOURTH time they did this whole “Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar are going to go at it and it’s going to be epic” was still not enough, and they’re going to milk it for a FIFTH time? Stop that! Just do the damn match!
- I hate when they play hot potato with a title just to try to infuse some minimal interest in a dying storyline. The women’s tag titles are still such trash and the WarGames match is so tired to me at this point as these two groups of women have been at it for far too long.
- Good job balancing out Drew McIntyre’s win over Karrion Kross and Braun Strowman’s win over Omos without anyone looking weak.
- The O.C. vs. The Judgment Day has been one of the most one-note feuds that needs to have something happen to it asap. Stop with the “Rhea Ripley interferes and nobody knows what to do, so they just lose and learn no lessons” thing. You mean to tell me there’s not ONE woman on the roster willing to step in and help, or, at this point, when Ripley’s slamming Luke Gallows, that you’re going to continue to just stand there and look at her, bewildered, instead of fighting back or getting into one of the many shark cage type gimmicks WWE has to specifically keep people from interfering? Lazy dragged out storyline.
- Logan Paul needs to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania or SummerSlam in 2023, depending on when he’s healed up.
2) Who would you book to win this random SmackDown World Cup that is set to take place?
As far as I’m aware, they haven’t said that the Santos Escobar vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match is a World Cup match, right? That’s weird, isn’t it? Those two would be toward the top of my list to win it.
Since this ultimately doesn’t matter, WWE could literally give it to Jinder Mahal or Angel Garza and say “whatever” and just move on. But I would rather it be someone who can make something of it.
If you’re not going with Nakamura or Escobar, then there are three other people I think are the top choices.
This is a good means to get Sheamus or Drew McIntyre back on top without giving them an actual championship. Also, Sami Zayn could win it and use that as another means to get deeper into The Bloodline, proving his worth.
I’m still rooting that this can be an Escobar thing, though.
3) Speaking of tournaments, the bracket for AEW’s Full Gear eliminator is out. With those 8 wrestlers in mind, what do you think the finals will be and who will win?
Ethan Page beats Eddie Kingston. Bandido beats Rush. Page beats Bandido and gets to the finals.
Ricky Starks beats Lance Archer. Brian Cage beats Dante Martin. Starks beats Cage and gets to the finals.
Page vs. Starks depends on who is walking out of Full Gear with the title. If Jon Moxley is still champion (and I’m starting to assume that will be the case), I think Page wins. But if MJF wins the title and stays heel, somehow, Starks is someone he could beat to get some more heat.
4) Rumor has it Money in the Bank will join Hell in a Cell as no longer being a separate pay-per-view. Do you like that idea and would rather see it at WrestleMania, or do you think MITB should stay its own premium live event?
I understand the temptation to have MITB at WrestleMania, but I think that’s a mistake. It works so well as its own event like Royal Rumble. Plus, we’re ignoring the potential of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. I still think the women’s version should come back, too, and be renamed the Chyna Memorial Battle Royal. You’ve got the 8th and 9th Wonder of the World representatives there.
Put one battle royal on each night of WrestleMania. It gives the bulk of the roster a spot on the card and can lead to some good credibility boosts for people who you don’t want to give a title to at that particular moment. Then, keep Money in the Bank its own event.
I’m 100% on board with Hell in a Cell going away as an event. Those matches should happen only when a feud calls for it, rather than clockwork on the calendar. But Money in the Bank doesn’t require storylines. It works like Elimination Chamber or Royal Rumble in that you can just have people in the match because it’s that time of the year and it simply makes sense.
At most, I think Money in the Bank, if it has to go away, should be moved to SummerSlam to give that event its own means of cramming people on the card. I don’t want the WrestleMania battle royals to go away for that.
5) Before Raw starts to forge the teams, who do you think should be on the 5-on-5 WarGames matches for the men and women?
Assuming Jey Uso isn’t too injured to sit this out, The Bloodline has to be one of the men’s teams. Roman Reigns, The Usos, Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa.
You’re working with a list of over a dozen people I could imagine being their opponents with very little need for justification for most of them. The New Day and The Brawling Brutes already cover 5. But Kevin Owens has to be on that team. Matt Riddle, Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew McIntyre all could work. Even Ricochet or Madcap Moss, or Braun Strowman, for that matter, could be on the team.
For star power purposes, I would probably go with Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre and The Brawling Brutes, since it would be odd to have The New Day replace Butch and Ridge Holland just to get “only Sheamus” on there.
As far as the women’s match, I think we’re looking at Damage CTRL, Nikki Cross and a fifth. The name that stands out to me the quickest is Rhea Ripley, but she’s been completely separated from this story and is dealing with The Judgment Day stuff. I think it might make more sense to go in a different direction and have Damage CTRL recruit someone else with Doudrop just filling in a spot.
Their opponents are obviously Bianca Belair, Alexa Bliss, Asuka and two others, but you have a lot to choose from. Raquel Rodriguez takes priority over Aliyah and Shotzi. If Candice LeRae is back in the mix, I’d make her #5. But if Becky Lynch is able to return (no telling if that’s the case), she’d trump LeRae or Rodriguez.
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
