The WWE suffered a huge blow, losing champion Seth Rollins for six to nine months after he suffered right ACL/MCL/medial meniscus tears. Now WWE is holding a tournament at Survivor Series to crown a new champion. Being a big fan of the WWE, I decided to give my take on how the tournament should go.
The first thing WWE should do is hold qualifying matches to get into the tournament, and those should be held on Raw and Smackdown in the coming weeks. Roman Reigns is already entered into the tournament due to winning the number 1 contender’s Fatal 4 Way match.
Those matches would be:
–Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston (Dolph Ziggler wins)
–Alberto Del Rio vs Neville (Del Rio wins)
-Cesaro vs Big E (Cesaro wins)
–Dean Ambrose vs Xavier Woods (Dean Ambrose wins)
-Sheamus vs The Miz (Sheamus wins)
-Kevin Owens vs Ryback (Kevin Owens wins)
-King Barrett wins an over the top rope battle royal including every superstar that’s not already in the tournament.
The New Day are the hottest thing going on tv and deserve to at least be considered for the tournament. Nobody would buy them as champion, but they have been seriously entertaining as of late, and would provide some great matches with the guys they’re paired with. Alberto Del Rio has been on a roll since he came back and it’s obvious the WWE wants to push him. Also, having the United States Champion chase after the big one brings some prestige to the title. Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro have been putting on great matches and the crowd loves these guys. There is no way not to include them. Dean Ambrose has been included in some high profile feuds lately. Sheamus is the Money in the Bank holder, and it’s clear WWE has some big plans for him. King Barrett has been great since his return and can always be relied upon to have a great match. That’s why these guys, including Roman Reigns should be in this tournament.
The first match of the tournament would feature Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus. These two have put on great matches in the past, and this one wouldn’t be any different. Currently, Dolph Ziggler is feuding with Tyler Breeze, and that’s going to come into play here. Tyler Breeze comes out to ringside in his VIP section. After 12 minutes of hard hitting action, Sheamus has the referee’s attention. That’s when Tyler Breeze hits Dolph Ziggler with his selfie stick. Sheamus then hits Ziggler with a brogue kick, pins him and gets the win. Sheamus advances to the semifinals. Tyler Breeze and Dolph Ziggler continue their feud.
The next match will feature two guys who have plenty of chemistry together and always put on a great match. Those two guys would be Kevin Owens and Cesaro. These two guys are two of the best workers in the business today, and this would be a straight up wrestling match with no outside interference, no cheating, just plain good wrestling. After 15 minutes of action, Cesaro is charging Owens, but Owens is ready and hits Cesaro with a pop up power bomb for the win. Owens advances to the next round.
The following match will put Roman Reigns against King Barrett. It’s clear that Roman Reigns is being groomed to take over the top spot soon. He may have beaten Seth Rollins for the title, but I don’t think it was going to come this soon. However, he still gets the win here. King Barrett is able to get in a nice bit of offense early on, but after about 5 minutes, Roman Reigns makes a furious comeback and nails Barrett with a superman punch, spear, and pins him for the win. Reigns makes quick work of Barrett, showing that he’s serious about winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and looks like there is no one that can stop him.
The final match of the first round sees Dean Ambrose go up against Alberto Del Rio. This is a nice back and forth match as both guys get in some nice offense. Alberto Del Rio locks in the Cross Arm Breaker, but Ambrose is able to get out of it. They go back and forth a little bit more before Ambrose is able to get the win with a roll up. Dean Ambrose advances, but Alberto Del Rio looks extremely good in a losing effort.
The semi finals start with Roman Reigns vs Sheamus. These are two of the hardest hitting guys in the company today. The action spills to the outside early on. The two have a great match. Roman counters the Brogue Kick. Sheamus counters the spear and Superman punch. Finally, Roman Reigns and Sheamus are outside by the timekeepers area. Sheamus’ frustration gets the best of him, so he grabs his Money in the Bank briefcase and hits Roman Reigns with it. The referee is forced to disqualify Sheamus, but that doesn’t stop Sheamus from attacking him. He grabs a steel chair and hits Roman Reigns a dozen times before stopping. Sheamus then walks to the back holding up his Money in the Bank briefcase, pointing at his brain as if to say “I’ve got a plan.”
We then see Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens go to war in what should be an extremely entertaining match. These two guys would work very well together. Owens gets the upper hand early. He’s looking extremely strong. Kevin Owens nails Dean Ambrose with a right hand sending Ambrose to the ropes, but then we see “Vintage Ambrose” (thanks Michael Cole) bouncing off the ropes, back at Owens. Ambrose starts to go on a flurry. Ambrose is on the top rope, getting ready to drop an elbow before Owens moves out of the way. Ambrose gets up, a little wobbly, and Owens nails him with a right hand. Dean Ambrose goes down, Owens gets the pin, although his feet were on the ropes, and the referee missed it. Ambrose goes absolutely crazy on Kevin Owens. He’s beating him with punches. He takes him to the outside and throws him around. The referees finally restrain him and get Owens to the back.
So now we get to the finals of the tournament, and we have two guys who have been beaten and battered. They’re in terrible shape, but both of these guys still come out ready to do battle. Before the match, Triple H comes out and says that there must be a winner. It’s basically a No Holds Barred match, and the pin or submission must happen in the ring. Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens are very capable of bringing an intense match, full of hard hits and great action. Roman Reigns gets the upper hand early, hitting Owens with everything. But Owens refuses to stay down. Roman Reigns gets a look of disbelief. He reaches down to get Owens, and that’s when Owens tosses him out of the ring to get a little breather. Kevin Owens then goes out on the attack and starts tossing Reigns around. Kevin Owens thinks he has the upper hand, so he tosses Reigns back in the ring, but to make sure he stays down, Kevin Owens brings a steel chair in the ring with him. Just when Owens has the chair up and looks like he’s about to hit Roman Reigns with the chair, we hear Dean Ambrose’s music. Ambrose comes out on the ramp, and Owens walks to the ropes and just stares at him. Ambrose slowly walks down the ramp with the look of pure hatred on his face. When Ambrose is all the way down the ramp, Owens holds the steel chair up, daring Ambrose to get in the ring. Meanwhile, Roman Reigns has recovered and is up, but Kevin Owens is too focused on Ambrose. Dean Ambrose just tosses his hands in the air, and starts backing off. Kevin Owens turns around, right into a Superman punch. Reigns then hits the spear, and pins Owens to become the new champion.
At this point, Reigns is in terrible shape. He’s lying on the mat, motionless. Meanwhile, Dean Ambrose has grabbed Kevin Owens and starts attacking him all the way to the backstage area. That’s when we hear the music of Sheamus, who comes out with his Money in the Bank briefcase and a referee. He gives the briefcase to the referee and tells him to start the match. Roman Reigns is using the ropes to hold himself up and can barely move. The bell rings, and Sheamus plants Roman Reigns with a Brogue Kick. But Reigns kicks out at 2. The crowd can’t believe it, the announcers can’t believe it, Sheamus can’t believe it. So he backs up and gets ready to deliver a second one. However, instead of a Brogue Kick, Sheamus hits Reigns with a spear. Sheamus gets the pin and the win, becoming the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Survivor Series is a huge success. A new champion is crowned. The Tyler Breeze/Dolph Ziggler feud is continued. Two new feuds are started in Dean Ambrose/Kevin Owens and Sheamus/Roman Reigns. We’ve been treated to great wrestling matches, and the crowd goes home shocked at seeing a Sheamus cash in. What happens next?
