WWE's product has been peaking my interest recently by turning out some intriguing story lines, developing the future talent and putting on quality shows. Unfortunately, I am the type of fan that isn't going to leave the product; I have lived through way worse in wrestling and will probably live through it again. However, WWE has progressively lost viewership in the millions since the boom period 15 years ago (holy cow 15 years ago?) and the ratings have seemed to plateau to about 4 million per week. That number is half of what it was during the attitude era and the Monday night wars. Which means WWE needs to figure out how to do something to rekindle the fire for over 4 million jaded wrestling fans in order to create another wrestling boom time. The first question one has to ask is, can wrestling create another boom time and can it be done without direct competition? If you believe it can, what needs to happen to bring the pseudo-casual fans back to sports entertainment?
I, for one, believe wrestling can have another boom period and I think it can happen now. I believe there are enough key players on the wwe roster and being developed on the roster to appeal to everything wrestling needs catch fire. I believe that this boom period and take place without any major competition to the wwe reign over sports entertainment. WCW and Monday Nitro played a huge role in lighting the fuse for the wrestling explosion with the creation of the nWo. However, wwe maintained its popularity when wcw was taken over by wwe for a period of time. I also believe that this boom period can take place with the current product the way it is being presented currently; meaning the "pg style" that raw is being delivered. Everyone loved the attitude era but i don't believe it was because of the blood and guts style of wrestling, profane language or racy stories; those things may have not hurt but they were not the catalyst of the rise in popularity. WWE struck gold by pushing a blue collar tough guy giving his boss the treatment every blue collar guy wishes he could, fresh hip characters, compelling story and athletic wrestling matches. Steve Austin led the way of a roster that included The Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, Hardy's, Dudley's, Edge, Christian, Eddy Guerrero, and a myriad of secondary talent that made up a very talented roster of talent. All the while, The McMahon family played super villains and were able to turn the wrestling world upside down.
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So, what needs to happen now to relight that fuse? Can the wwe recreate an atmosphere that didn't allow its universe of fans to miss an episode of Raw? I believe that they can, but it is going to take some risks being taken to build that one defining moment that will get current fans talking and catch the eye of the fans that have left the wrestling world. Below is my fantasy booking, I do not expect it to happen, that may be some direction that would bring fans interest to wrestling back.
I fully expect Brock Lesnar to beat John Cena at night of champions, not like the manner he did at SummerSlam, but I still think Lesnar will win. I think that after Cena loses to Lesnar for a second straight time he should be off television for awhile, do a little soul searching before he makes another return. I also believe that this is the last pay per view that Lesnar will be on for a few months because wwe believes that the Hell in a Cell match can sell the next show and a title match is not necessary. So let's say at Hell in a Cell the main event resembles something like Seth Rollins and Randy Orton versus Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns in a Hell in a Cell match. It is an extreme battle that Reigns and Ambrose begin to get the advantage in and this leads to the Authority and Kane coming down to the ring and inserting themselves into the match. Kane, Orton and Rollins begin to get the advantage and they eliminate Ambrose from the match leaving a three on one situation with Reigns. As all three men have him cornered John Cena's music would hit and Cena triumphantly returns to help Reigns out and take out the bad guys. Cena and Reigns stand in the middle of the ring, back to back, challenging the Authority to attack. At which point Triple H would stand up on the apron and give his famous thumbs down motion and John Cena would turn around and lay out Roman Reigns with an attitude adjustment.
Cue the jaws dropping and the authority would pounce on Roman Reigns leaving him laying while Triple H stands tall raising the hands of Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Kane and John Cena! No one would believe that wwe was finally going to turn Cena bad and that moment would create a "wrestling moment" that would have the wrestling world a buzz. This would also create another gauntlet of wrestlers Roman Reigns would have to go through before getting to his new target of John Cena, allowing Reigns to hone his skills before he gets to the biggest stage of them all, wrestlemania. Cena could go on Raw and deliver a promo about how he wrestled for the people and they all turned on him now he is wrestling for himself and for the money. He could be arm in arm with his girlfriend Nikki Bella who is already with the Authority.
He essentially would become Hollywood Hogan and could revitalize his career as a heel and he would become the top heel immediately. Dean Ambrose would still have his feud with Seth Rollins going that could lead them into the royal rumble and while he doesn't have to team with Roman Reigns they would have common enemies. I think after Ambrose has finished with Rollins he could set his sights on The Authority as a whole because he is so anti establishment and the rivalry he has with the Authority might look very similar to an Austin versus McMahon feud with Ambrose ultimately going after Triple H, who would hold him down because of his instability and non-corporate attitude. Triple H would clearly not think Dean Ambrose is best for business.
Survivor Series would lead to the perfect set up of Authority versus Reigns, Ambrose, and say, the Uso's in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match where after Ambrose and Rollins eliminated themselves it would come down to John Cena versus Roman Reigns as the last two men where John Cena would simply walk away, like a coward. This would cement him as the top heel in the business and would only make the fans want to see Roman Reigns get his hands on John Cena even more. While this is going on I would pair Brock Lesnar up against someone like Sheamus, who can afford to get the tar beat out of him and still make Lesnar look like a beast.
The storyline going into royal rumble would be that the Authority is going to set up the match so that John Cena wins the rumble match so that he can recapture the wwe world heavyweight title at Wrestlemania with the help of the Authority, because John Cena can beat Lesnar if he is with the Authority and become the corporate champion. Fast forward to the end of the Royal Rumble match itself; final four men could be Randy Orton, John Cena, Roman Reigns and Cesaro and Triple H finds his way to ringside. Like every year the four men stand in separate corners as the match resets, Orton and Cena are clearly working together toward the same goal until the sheep mask appears and the lights go out. Lights return on and the Wyatt family appears in the ring and they attack Randy Orton. As the three Wyatts are beating on Orton; Cena, Reigns and Cesaro attack each other. Triple H is livid at ringside because he doesn't know why the Wyatt's appeared and what is going on and he gets attacked from out of no where by Dean Ambrose. The Wyatt's could eliminate Orton totally screwing up the plans of the Authority which gives Roman Reigns the opportunity to eliminate John Cena from the rumble. The crowd would go nuts for the elimination and certainly think Reigns is going on to wrestlemania to win the title he is being groomed to win. However, after a major Cena distraction Cesaro eliminates Roman Reigns and achieves the ability to challenge the champion at wrestlemania.
Cesaro winning would get a huge reaction for two reasons, first, it would be a huge royal rumble upset and second, the crowd can easily get behind Cesaro; but most importantly, Paul Heyman would be shocked because Cesaro was a "Heyman Guy" so why would he want to challenge another "Heyman guy" for the championship. Paul Heyman will have the ability to make Cesaro a huge babyface with his promos and Cesaro could do some spectacular power moves against someone the size of Brock Lesnar.
The top of my Wrestlemania card would look something like this:
Brock Lesnar (champion) vs. Cesaro
Roman Reigns vs. John Cena
Dean Ambrose vs. Triple H
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton or Wyatt Family vs. Orton, Rollins and Kane
In these four matches you would be creating a new and refreshing world heavyweight champion in Cesaro who would get a huge rub from beating the unbeatable Brock Lesnar. Roman Reigns is made as top star of the company when he defeats the dastardly John Cena. Dean Ambrose becomes "the peoples champion" as he challenges the head of the Authority and his boss Triple H. The Wyatt family is officially turned good, which I believe is what wwe wants, but officially going after the Authority. So coming out of wrestlemania you have established four major babyfaces of wwe for the foreseeable future and still maintain three top heels (i don't count Kane).
While all these main story lines are taking place I am building the next tier ready to propel into the main events. I would focus on the wrestling talent of a lot of these guys to help get them over. I would turn Dolph Ziggler back to being a bad guy and utilize the return of Daniel Bryan to solidify this switch and simply have them feud over who is the best wrestler in the business. Continue to showcase the tag team division wwe is so afraid to focus on and allow the middle of the card guys to position themselves. Mix that in with the expected Undertaker return and a few other surprises my wrestlemania looks pretty good and really features the next wave of wwe and could build a real boom period in wrestling using the extremely talented roster of personalities they have. My full wrestlemania card, as of now would be:
John Cena of the Authority vs. Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar vs. Cesaro
Triple H vs. Dean Ambrose
Wyatt Family vs. The Authority
The Undertaker vs. Sting
Rusev vs. Hulk Hogan (or Kurt Angle)
Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan
The Uso's vs. Big E and Kofi Kingston
Sheamus vs. Bad News Barrett
Rhodes Brothers vs. Big Show & Mark Henry vs. Rybaxel
Paige vs. Natalya
some match involving nxt.
At least in my opinion, this is a pretty effective card and could bring fans back to a product on the verge of breaking out. I don't expect any of this stuff to happen but I think it could work, fortunately, I believe there are many ways wwe can bring the fans back in droves, ways wwe may actual do. But for now the fans can only wait patiently, and blog their opinions, until wwe plans the next direction of its product and where they take the fans next. Based on the current product I think all fans should be optimistic about the future and prepare for wwe's next boom period. That is just this marks remarks.
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Brock Lesnar is a special attraction in professional wrestling. He is chiseled out of granite, he is a legit bad ass and his performances have a big event feel. Lesnar came on the scene destroying guys left and right throwing around massive men with cat like quickness. His meteoric rise within the ranks of wwe was that of no other man. Brock had the ncaa championship pedigree with Goliath like strength and a George Nada kick ass attitude. 
Lesnar tried football not playing since high school and was the final
cut player of the Minnesota Vikings. He wrestled in Japan with limited
motivation and won the iwgp title mainly because of his look and
reputation but wasn't long for trips to japan. Then brock lesnar found
ufc and even with a debut loss people were pretty certain this guy would
find some success inside of the octagon. Lesnar decimated heath
hearring, overwhelmed randy couture, destroyed frank mir and withstood
Shane carwin. Brock was chiseled out of granite could seemingly take
people down controlling them at will and becoming one of ufc's most
marketable stars. Unfortunately, a contest against Cain Velazquez and a
very dangerous life threatening battle with diverticulitis ended his mma
career. Immediately after brock announced his retirement after a loss
to Alistair overeem the buzz began about a wwe return. 
Lesnar made a triumphant return to wwe Monday night raw after wrestlemania 29 and has become a destroyer ever since. He has left superstars like John cena, triple h, the Undertaker, Roman Reigns and most recently randy Orton in a heap as lesnar stood victorious. In a typical brock lesnar match the crowd goes bananas for the spectacle that is the beast incarnate welcoming his prey to suplex city. Lesnar brings a real feel to each of his matches as was proven when he cut randy Orton wide open, hard way, with a stiff elbow shot. Lesnar, who tried his best to protect Orton left a gash in Randy's head that needed 10 staples to close up. However, the reaction I saw after the summerslam match was a need for something new from brock lesnar. It seemed like people are beginning to sour on the prototypical brock match of suplex, suplex, suplex, suplex, suplex, suplex, suplex, suplex and f5 for the win. Randy Orton is a top star representing one half of the newly separated brands and he got almost no offense what so ever and was made to look like a meager bum against raw's beast. Plus, lesnar then f5'ed the commissioner of the smackdown brand leaving raw to look far superior to the smackdown brand, which needs to appear strong.
The question has to be asked is brock lesnar's shelf life coming to an end? If the answer is yes then wwe has to use lesnar's next big time challenge (wrestlemania) as a means to create a new major star. Lesnar had to be signed by wwe with the intention to build a new big time guy, lesnar has been booked starting at wrestlemania when broke the streak to build a new big time guy and a win over lesnar would certainly build a new big time guy. Everyone has a suggestion as to who should receive the big win and I am no different. Seth Rollins is an established top guy, Roman Reigns is an established top guy and with Kevin owens just winning the universal championship he will quickly become an established top guy. I believe the win should be given to someone who can gain the most; a guy who has the experience to handle the big win but is also unestablished to the wwe universe while also being believable and real so that the wwe universe will accept as a legitimate entity.
Samoa joe is the best and most deserving challenger to defeat brock lesnar. A motivated joe can be credible, big enough and agile enough to match up with brock making it an epic battle. Samoa joe has the ability to handle the physicality of brock and believability to topple the conqueror. Samoa joe will step directly into the new monster role creating fresh match ups in the wwe with guys joe has already had high profile matches with on the independent and international level. Brock Lesnar does have a shelf life and I believe with his ped usage found in the ufc, the info of his special treatment being discovered as well as his act in wwe reaching a plateau the time to pull the trigger on a lesnar loss catapulting a challenger to the top of the card. Samoa joe is the guy, the time and venue is wrestlemania. The match would be a huge spectacle and the result would help change the landscape of the wwe for the future allowing samoa joe to end his career where he belongs: a top spot on the biggest professional wrestling promotion in the world; but, that's just this mark's remarks. 
