Looking at WWE’s World Title Tournament

“What a big letdown!” When I originally found out that Seth Rollins blew out his knee, and would be out of action for 6-9 months, I felt horrible for the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Despite the way the WWE has booked him since winning the title, Seth Rollins has proven time and again that he is currently the bet all around performer in the WWE. For Seth Rollins to miss the upcoming WrestleMania is a big blow to the WWE’s plans.

It didn’t take long for the WWE to announce post-Rollins plans regarding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. My feelings about Rollins’ injury aside, when I heard that the WWE would be holding a tournament for the vacant championship belt, I started to get excited. I thought a tournament was a great way to shake things up in what has been a lackluster product lately.

Leading up to Monday Night RAW, the rumor mill was running rampant that the WWE was contacting “big” names to appear due to Rollins being out of action. Visions of Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan, and the Undertaker danced in my head as possible entrants into the WWE’s latest World Heavyweight title tournament. Then on Monday, the brackets were released and disappointment set in from what I term a “big letdown.”

ANALYZING THE TOURNAMENT PARTICIPANTS

The match-ups were listed as follows for the first round
Roman Reigns vs. The Big Show
Sheamus vs. Cesaro
Alberto Del Rio vs. Starrdust
Kalisto vs. Ryback
Kevin Owens vs. Titus O’Neill
Neville vs. Wade Barrett
Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz
Tyler Breeze vs. Dean Ambrose

The WWE was severely exposed with these tournament pairings due to the lack of depth on their roster. To no fault of their own, the WWE is currently without John Cena (personal time), Brock Lesnar (limited dates), Rusev (injury), Randy Orton (injury), Seth Rollins (injury), and Daniel Bryan (injury). Five of those six names are bona fide main event level stars. However, due to the WWE’s incessant “even stevens” booking philosophy, the only credible World Title contender in that tournament is Roman Reigns. No one else in the brackets has been protected to be a performer that they can easily insert into the main event block of performers.

Roman Reigns is viewed as the future of the company, and was previously scheduled to face Seth Rollins for the WWE championship at the Survivor Series. He makes perfect sense to be in the tournament. The Big Show is in the “been in the main event/upper card scene for fifteen years” level, so it’s acceptable to put him in the tournament. Sheamus is “Mr. Money in the Bank,” and a former WWE World Champion, so his spot in the tournament is justified (even if he has been jobber to the stars lately). Cesaro has the makings of a guy, who if he won the tournament, could believably be pushed into the next level. However, here’s the trend you will notice through the wrestlers in the tournament, he’s been another jobber to the stars. Alberto Del Rio is a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He is the current United States Champion after pinning John Cena clean in a match at the Hell in a Cell pay per view. Plus, he returned after a year plus absence, so he is fresh and comes off as a main event star. Stardust is NOT a main event level character. He has mid-card written all over him. Now, Cody Rhodes, I can see in a tournament as a World title contender. Stardust, not so much. Ryback is the ex-Intercontinental Champion, and has been pushed as an upper mid-card wrestler, so he’s inclusion makes sense. Kalisto makes NO sense to be put into the tournament. Throughout his WWE career, he’s been a mid-card tag team competitor. He has no business being in the WWE World Heavyweight SINGLES Championship tournament. Kevin Owens is the current Intercontinental Champion. A tournament win, like Cesaro, would cement him as a main event player. If the WWE played their cards right in the Kevin Owens vs. John Cena feud, Owens would already have been at that level, and putting the World title strap on him would be an easy decision. Titus O’Neill, like Kalisto, is another entrant that makes no sense. He is primarily a tag team wrestler that has never done anything on the singles scene. Neville and Wade Barrett have both been jobbed out for so long, that you can’t take either as a serious contender in the tournament. If anything, they should be round one fodder to a serious contender instead of facing each other. Dolph Ziggler is a former World Champion, and is consistently in the upper mid-card mix, so his inclusion in the tournament is fine. He would also be a perfect wrestler to win the tournament if the WWE was serious about using the tournament to elevate new blood into the World title picture. The Miz is a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion, who main evented WrestleMania XXVII. There is no issue including him, except for the fact that he hasn’t done much in the ring lately after doing some of his best work as the ”Hollywood” Miz character. Tyler Breeze was an interesting inclusion into the tournament. An NXT wrestler who makes his debut in the World Title tournament could have made him an instant star IF they pushed him all the way to the tournament finals. Breeze didn’t even have to win the tournament. Just putting him in the finals would have given him instant credibility. Instead, he got jobbed out in his debut match, the first round tournament match. Welcome to the main roster, pal. Dean Ambrose, despite being another wrestler who jobs more than wins, has credibility in the eyes of the fans. They view him as someone who should break through the glass ceiling, so putting him in the tournament was a good choice.

WHO SHOULD BE IN?

My biggest problems centered around Stardust, Kalisto, Titus O’Niell, and Tyler Breeze. Some may argue, “how can the WWE elevate these mid-card wrestlers if you don’t put them in the tournament?” You would be right, IF the WWE was going to use a long run in the tournament to help elevate these wrestlers, then I’d be OK with it. However, each wrestler was one and done, so how is that helping to ascend any of them to the next level? It doesn’t do a thing to help them.

Instead, I think the WWE should have included Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt, the Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar into the tournament. The WWE now has a severe lack of star power. The long term injury faced by Seth Rollins gave the WWE the perfect opportunity to bring back Daniel Bryan. He received clearance from an independent doctor. It’s time to take Bryan off the shelf. The WWE could really use him. However, since they didn’t bring him back at this desperate time, I fear we will never see Daniel Bryan wrestle in a WWE ring again. No matter how many different independent doctors clear him, I don’t think the WWE ever will. In a time where the WWE is begging for main event talent, the office has decided to still not bring him back. They are “Christianizing” him by not letting him get back in the ring. While, from a selfish standpoint, I would love to see him back, I understand the WWE is looking out for the talent. I just believe if the wrestler is getting cleared by a reputable doctor, as Bryan had, the WWE should bring him back.

When this tournament was first announced, I thought the ENTIRE tournament would be held at the Survivor Series. I was excited for this, as I love one night tournaments. However, the WWE decided to have the first two rounds on RAW and SmackDown! over the next two weeks. I hate that, because that’s not a true tournament where one man needed to get through four grueling matches in one night. That’s why I loved the WrestleMania IV World Title Tournament. Randy Savage had to wrestle four times in one night, and at the end, it really felt like an accomplishment. Of course the folks in charge of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament would disagree with me, but I digress. The NCAA Tournament is awesome, but a professional wrestling tournament just feels more special if the entire tournament takes place in one night. It’s why the early King of the Ring pay per views seemed some much more exciting. After all, a “King of the Ring” isn’t someone who wins one or two ten minute matches at a pay per view. It’s about overcoming the odds and defeating four competitors in one night. It was this line of thinking that led me to believe the WWE could coax Brock Lesnar to come back to for a one-night appearance at the Survivor Series. However, since they decided to use RAW and SmackDown! to complete the early rounds of the tournament, having Lesnar come back before Survivor Series wasn’t going to happen after he just worked the Hell in a Cell show.

With the early rounds taking place on WWE television, there was absolutely no reason to NOT put Bray Wyatt and the Undertaker into the tournament. Both were at RAW and SmackDown! and both could have wrestled in the first round on either show. You could have had Bray Wyatt come out during the Undertaker’s match causing the “deadman” to get counted out or disqualified. Then, the Undertaker could return the favor in Bray Wyatt’s first round match. It’s not like the Undertaker is being kept off of television until the Survivor Series.

If you added these four names, the tournament would have included Roman Reigns, the Big Show, Sheamus, Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, Ryback, Kevin Owens, the Undertaker, Neville, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Bray Wyatt, and Dean Ambrose. That tournament sounds a lot more formidable than what the WWE laid out on this past Monday Night RAW.

WHO WILL WIN?

It looks like the WWE’s version of the Final Four should be Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens vs. either Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler (as I can see either advancing). However, for the sake of argument, I’ll say that Dean Ambrose will advance. The Finals should be Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens. This is an interesting case. The WWE could either elevate Kevin Owens as the undisputed top heel of the company, or start the Roman Empire. According to the rumors, the WWE was planning on giving the WWE title to Roman Reigns before Seth Rollins got injured. I think the WWE will stick with this plan. It’s the safest route for them. He is currently the biggest name in the tournament. Plus, the WWE will not need to worry about any WrestleMania fan backlash with his crowning moment if they do it now. Regardless of which wrestler the WWE goes with in the finals, I see the winter months filled with Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematches. The tournament may not be the tournament we wanted to see, but the end result should be pretty good. We’ll see in a couple of weeks.