WWE: Fantasy Booking 5 Show-Stopping Matchups
By Evan Like
Regardless of your opinion on the current quality of the WWE product, there are still plenty of ways that the company could surprise us. What kinds of matchups lie in wait if the writing staff needs some new ideas?
The current direction of WWE is a hotly-debated topic in the internet wrestling community. However, there are plenty of new directions the company could potentially take to surprise us. So whether or love or hate where the company is headed, here are a few matchups that may pique your interest in the future.
Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar
This feud is already building, thanks to Seth making it clear that he wants to be a fighting champion unlike the current Universal champ. The question now is whether or not WWE is willing to push Seth to the top of the card to turn from Kingslayer to Beast Slayer. Unfortunately, this feud requires Seth to drop the strap he currently has, but that gives someone else an opportunity to grab the belt. The dynamic is already here: Rollins, the fighting champ, vs. Lesnar, the part-timer.
More and more superstars are noticing that Lesnar is given way too much leeway in terms of his contract. So, a significant portion of the locker room decides to turn against Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman, being the excellent businessman he is, decides to recruit a few people to stand against this locker room uprising. It’s a feud that could culminate in a Survivor Series match or something similar, with Rollins and Lesnar as captains of each team.
Somewhere in there, Rollins has to drop his belt. Let’s just say that one of Paul Heyman’s new guys takes it from him. The Universe is obviously upset, but Rollins shrugs it off and uses it as his opportunity to challenge Lesnar for the belt. It could almost be a Battleground 2015 rematch, but there’s a catch. It has to be clean. We can’t have dirty tactics or a bad ref call come into play. Rollins needs to win the belt fair and square.
Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns
The idea for this feud might make some people angry, because it requires Reigns to win the Money in the Bank contract this year. Don’t blow a gasket just yet, because everything it leads to will be a worthy payoff. But if you didn’t care for the last idea, then maybe there’s another way to put the Universal belt on Rollins. There are a lot of voices in the internet wrestling community that want Reigns to turn heel. There are also a lot of voices that want Rollins at the top. So why not handle both in one swoop?
So it starts after Roman Reigns wins the Money in the Bank contract next month. He comes out on Raw the next night and talks about how he’s gunning for the Universal belt, and he’ll cash in when the time comes. Meanwhile, Rollins is trying to prove himself to get a shot at Lesnar by fighting every week. Eventually, they give him that chance, let’s say at Summerslam, but that might be a bit early. Rollins and Lesnar go to war, but Rollins barely comes out on top. Reigns’ music hits. Cash-in. Reigns is the new Universal champion, and the WWE Universe is up-in-arms.
On Raw the next night, Reigns reveals that this is a hostile takeover (it is his yard, after all). He starts using his belt as leverage to get his way. The fans hate the power he now has over management. He books matches in favor of his allies. If anyone questions him, they get a beating. But finally, Rollins decides that enough is enough and it’s time for Reigns’ power trip to come to an end. Reigns and Rollins clash on a Raw episode, and Rollins tries to convince him to change, but Reigns isn’t buying it. Throw in a couple of dirty wins for Reigns, and you’ve created a pretty fired-up WWE Universe.
Let’s say they extend this Reigns takeover to Royal Rumble of next year. Rollins is on a hot streak, and management is willing to give him a shot at Reigns. Throw in a ‘no holds barred’ stipulation to settle this once and for all. They go out, have an absolutely killer match, and in the end, Rollins is the victor. It’s a fairly complex build-up, but it’s something that could easily carry us through the latter half of 2018. Plus, it’s a great way to crown a new Universal champion.