I was going to write a column regarding the complete nightmare that was Monday Night RAW but after coming on to WrestleZone.com I couldn’t help but notice that Mark Madden had posted a new article with an idea heading into WrestleMania 29.
First off, that RAW was pants. Why did the main event consist of John Cena against a commentator? Why was a PPV headlined by Laurinaitis and Cena? Sure, they can be slightly entertaining but why didn’t this week’s actions happen over 12 months ago when the Michael Cole push was in its entirety?
Two more issues I had with RAW. 1) It was completely pointless. 2) It was already aired on Friday night last week and disguised as SmackDown!
The only part of RAW I could appreciate was the Punk/Bryan/Kane/AJ segment. Raw gained its worst rating in recent years last week and this week’s efforts have done nothing to spike interest. The only thing they could do was to announce that Vince McMahon will be returning next week. Which to be fair was even done on WWE.com rather than being an announcement on the show.
Anyway, back to my point. Mark Madden has posted his thoughts of the direction WWE should go in with Brock Lesnar and Steve Austin for WrestleMania 29. The article was interesting as when I was reading it I thought someone had hacked in to WrestleZone and pretended to be Madden.
Mark is an opinionated character within the world of professional wrestling and his words will always strike great meaning and response. Yet I couldn’t help but think that his ideas for WrestleMania 29 were mediocre? No offense is obviously meant in these comments but I couldn’t imagine what he said to ever play out on the screen. Not because WWE would refuse to do the sensible option but because I don’t think Mark’s layout IS the sensible option. Granted, Madden will never read this article and won’t care about my opinion but I cannot imagine that Zack Ryder would ever get involved in an angle between Lesnar and Austin. Even if you could magically turn creative’s head towards your way of thinking, this would likely be the last direction I would take.
The seeds are already planted for an Austin/Punk match and Steve Austin has even said that if he came back he would only want to wrestle him. Steve is a business man and he knows that whenever he gets back in to that ring he will be passing a legacy on to whomever he faces. Lesnar isn’t this man. He is already established. Punk is also established but Steve knows that a match with Punk will put Punk up to the same level as Cena within the company.
Zack Ryder seems to be WWE’s play toy these days and whenever they have given him the ball he seems to have dropped it like Rob Green did in the World Cup. I like the guy but even with the event being a year away, I cannot imagine WWE building Ryder up to this level.
Lesnar seems to be firmly rooted towards Undertaker. Yes the result is never in doubt but when is it ever? Plus from a wrestling standpoint I think if Lesnar were to face Austin, the match wouldn’t live up to its hype. Austin will have to be cautious on a return to the ring and CM Punk is more suited to a slow ground game with a few punches in. Lesnar on the other hand would look odd in the ring if he weren’t able to randomly use that burst of speed on his opponent. Undertaker and Lesnar have tangled before and from past encounters and the size comparison I think this more of a winner.
Austin/Punk and Taker/Lesnar are your safe bets. Of course we could just be living in dream world again as Austin may never return to the ring. We all got excited about 6 years ago at the thought of Austin facing Hulk Hogan, not for the match but just for that moment where two legends face each other. In some ways was it so bad that this match never took place? It could have done more harm than good to be fair.
Either way we will have to wait for quite some time to see how this pans out but one thing is for sure. Even if I don’t agree with Madden’s thoughts on this one, it couldn’t be any worse than what we watched on RAW could it?
Don’t forget to check out Virtually Reality where this week we discussed about the possibility of WrestleMania 30 being in London and CM Punk and Daniel Bryan forming to become the new Mega Powers. Get in touch on twitter at @VirtuallyR or on email at [email protected] and put your creative plans together for discussion on this Saturdays show!
