WWE superstar Samoa Joe reportedly suffered a concussion on the episode of Raw after the Royal Rumble during a tag team title match. If he has to miss time, here are four wrestlers who could help Kevin Owens fight Seth Rollins’ stable in the meantime.
Wrestling fans expected Samoa Joe to have an awesome babyface run when 2019 closed with him being attacked by the Authors of Pain, at the behest of a heel Seth Rollins. Joe and Kevin Owens have become highlights in Raw’s main event scene, teaming together wonderfully as babyfaces who actually aren’t stupid. What a concept!
Sadly, Joe suffered a concussion, as per a report from the Wrestling Observer News’ Dave Meltzer, on Monday during a Raw Tag Team Title match against Buddy Murphy and Rollins.
WWE are wisely cautious with concussions, so Joe has entered the protocol and it’s anyone’s guess as to how much time he’ll miss.
That means Owens needs some more help by his side to fend off Rollins, Murphy, Rezar, and Akam in the coming weeks.
Here are four superstars on the Raw roster who could join Owens to form a stable once Joe makes his return from a brain injury. (Because remember, that’s what concussions are!)
Ricochet
Ricochet had brief encounters with Brock Lesnar both on the Raw before Royal Rumble and in the Royal Rumble match itself. He’s reportedly one of the wrestlers Paul Heyman is high on, though we’ve yet to see The One and Only booked as strongly as other wrestlers Heyman likes such as Drew McIntyre, Aleister Black, Charlotte Flair, and Murphy.
But it won’t be long before Ricochet gets some time to shine. Heyman likes to pick wrestlers he enjoys to have little moments with Lesnar and himself in the ring, and we certainly saw an example of that a couple of weeks ago on Raw.
Ricochet doesn’t currently have a rival in WWE and has simply been in a host of random matches, with the likes of Matt Hardy and Mojo Rawley as opponents.
Joining forces with Owens could do wonders for Ricochet’s profile in the Raw main event scene, and he’d certainly add more firepower to the matches. And with Owens, Ricochet can continue to improve his mic skills by working with one of the most expressive performers in WWE while he’s at the absolute top of his game.
And could you imagine the pop if Ricochet were to pin Rollins in a tag team title match? We saw that he’s capable of great things in a tag team environment last year when he was with Black.
Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio definitely has issues with Seth Rollins, as The Architect targeted him while he was the United States Champion in December. We haven’t seen Mysterio seek revenge on Rollins in 2020, as he was preoccupied with trying to regain the US Title from Andrade, whom Paul Heyman rightfully sees as the next top star on Raw.
Now that Humberto Carrillo has become Andrade’s primary challenger for the title, we should see Mysterio return to a different storyline. There’s no real need for him to jump back into the US Title picture, unless if WWE wants the interesting dynamic that a Triple Threat would present.
As a veteran wrestler with name recognition who immediately boosts the credibility of any program by mere association, Mysterio would make this main event program – with Rollins and Owens as the central characters – feel that much bigger.
It would be awesome to watch two athletes like Owens and Mysterio in the ring together against Murphy and Rollins in a series of Raw Tag Title matches. All four men leave it all in the ring when they wrestle, and Mysterio’s ability to craft matches could lead to some true television classics from the live audience to scream their lungs out for.
Cedric Alexander
Cedric Alexander is a bit of a longshot, but there were rumors several months ago that Paul Heyman wanted to push the former Cruiserweight Champion on Monday nights.
Nothing came out of it – probably because Vince McMahon had something against the former ROH star – and now Alexander is busy putting on bangers on Main Event.
But a wrestler with his skill-set and respect from the audience should be in a much bigger spot in the company. I’ll probably say this every year until someone finally pulls me off the site, but this should be a big year for Cedric Alexander.
Like, remember how amazing he was on 205 Live as the first champion under Triple Hs’ rebranded version of the show? 205 was the best weekly wrestling show with Alexander as a champion. He put on sensational matches with the likes of KENTA, Mustafa Ali, and Buddy Murphy.
And guess who is on Rollins’ stable?
The throwback staredowns and in-ring matchups between Murphy and Alexander in their tag team battles would be amazing, especially for fans who dutifully watched them on the purple-roped brand every week.
Alexander and Owens working together as two former ROH guys? I’d call that a dream!
Humberto Carrillo
Like Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, Humberto Carrillo is another up-and-coming star who could be a major part of Raw in 2020. Among these three wrestlers, Carrillo is in the best spot. He broke Andrade’s winning streak in December and has currently been pushing El Idolo to his limit as the United States Champion.
It’s possible Carrillo could beat Andrade for a huge babyface win, but it’s more likely he’ll end up falling short to the guy Heyman wants to push to the absolute moon.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. Carrillo already looks like a million bucks regardless of what happens, but what he needs next is a program where he can take his renewed aggression to another level. The main event level, to be precise.
Carrillo has it all. He’s great in the ring, he’s charismatic, and he’s quality on the mic. His strengths can be accentuated by working with Kevin Owens, and both men could work well together.
And once Samoa Joe returns from his concussion, the three of them could be a formidable, well-balanced duo to take on Rollins, AoP, and Murphy. And if another wrestler on this list joined them to make it four, such as Mysterio, then they would be simply unstoppable.