Wwe.com recently posted on their website that John Cena was injured during the recent European tour. Today in Pro Wrestling Review I'm going to be talking about that big news and possible big problem for wwe.
I'm not sure how serious the injury is, the best case scenario for wwe here would be if it's a some what minor injury. The best case would be if he was still going to be ready for Extreme Rules against Ryback. I think if he has to skip extreme rules though wwe could probably manage. They already have Triple H and Brock Lesnar booked so they could use that to really sell the show. Then I would say have Undertaker, Kane, and Daniel Bryon vs The Shield but seeing as they already did that match on raw I don't it would as big but I think that it could still work. I would make it a street fight or tables match like they had at TLC last year. I think that would be a step up from the match on raw and would sell be able to the ppv. Luckily the only person or persons in this case that wwe has build up properly recently has been The Shield. I think that with them The Undertaker and HHH vs Brock they could sell this event without a wwe title match. It's also extreme rules so most the other matches should also be very good with the added stimulation.
It looked like on smackdown that that the shield had taken Undertaker out of the picture for a while but luckily for wwe it wasn't completely clear if that was the case or if it was just an attack, I think they could bring Undertaker back to sell one more ppv. I was originally thinking that a rematch from raw was where they were going with this story line anyway.
If they want to I think they could even make it a tag team title match as well. Judging from the shield's recent promos is looked like they were going to face Kane and Bryon for belts. They really need the Undertaker's name in the match so maybe it could be a six man TLC match. It would make since because The Undertaker doesn't want the group that layed him on smackdown to take the tag team belts from his brother Kane and Daniel Bryon. Then the Shield could win the match and lay out the Undertaker in a more destructive way. They would be able to do that easily in a way that wouldn't make him look bad, have Bryon and Kane layed out and then all three members of the shield could destroy Undertaker. What would be cool would be if they put him through a burning table but I don't see anything like that happening since Undertaker hasn't been in the best shape the last couple of years and they need him next year for wrestlemania. The ironic thing is this would be the second time that Ryback is pulled out of a wwe title match due to someone being injured.
So I think they can pull off Extreme Rules without Cena but what do they do if Cena is going to be out for a matter of months because of this injury. Then they're really in a bad position. Wwe hasn't really built anyone up this last year and the midcard currently looks like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. It looked like Wade Barrett and Miz were going to have feud and then it looked like Barrett would feud with R Truth and then Justin Gabriel. All of those not coming to pass. Same way on the U.S. Title side it looked like Antonio Cesaro was going to have a feud with Kofi Kingston but it never happened. It's like the creative team has no idea what feuds to make or just doesn't care. Well they should care because one they need to have a future of young superstars ready and not pass up any potential talents by not giving them the right build. Two they need to be prepared for a situation like this.
John Cena hadn't been wwe champion for over a year so I'm guessing this was going to be a long title reign for him, probably at least up to summerslam. Wwe really doesn't have any big faces that they can bring up and they probably planned their future storylines to have a face champion (John Cena) in them so it would be hard for them to use a heel as champ. Even if they did bring CM Punk back which I don't think they should do since he needs time off it would still be challenging because he is a heel.
Sheamus has had a terrible character with no development invested into him for the last year. Alberto Del Rio isn't in a much better state. I think that wwe cares about the wwe title enough that wouldn't put in on a character like Sheamus or Del Rio unlike the world heavyweight title where they really don't give two cents.
I could see Randy Orton being brought back as the top baby face of raw with the wwe title because even though he hasn't done much lately his character could still be salvaged. The only problem with that is that I think the reason Randy Orton hasn't been used very much lately is because of his recent wellness test failure back in July. If they put the wwe championship on him and then he gets another wellness test failure then they're back where they started because that would be his third time so according to the rule he would be released. In his dvd a few years ago he said that he had over come drugs so maybe last year was just a one time thing. You would think that if he was wwe champion he would be smart enough not to get another violation especially since he'd be released but then again when Jack Swagger was nearly world heavyweight champion earlier this year he was still found with drugs so you never know.
I don't think the Undertaker would be able to carry raw for the next few months considering he's already been doing more than he did last year post wrestlemania and they'll definitely need him for wrestlemania next year if they stay on the same road with not building any new stars. If they had to maybe Triple H could have one more title reign, I think he's in the shape to do it but he is very involved back stage and with how much he's already been doing on screen for wrestlemania I doubt he'd have time to be the top guy on raw again.
If they change their storylines around some for a heel champion then they could maybe give someone like Antonio Cesaro or Wade Barrett a rapid push and give them the wwe championship. As much as I would love to see Barrett or Cesaro as wwe champ their build up over the last couple months especially Wade Barrett's has been pretty much none existent so I think it would be pretty forced it they gave either of them the title now. I hope that they build both of them up a lot this year and this time next year maybe they will be ready.
A heel that they could put he title on fast would be Daniel Bryon. I don't think it would take too long to transition him from the tweener he is now back to the full fledged heel that he was last summer.
Another possibility that pops into my head is Christian. Now we haven't seen him since last summer and I would expect that he is healed up by now. As face or heel I think he would be a good choice if he is available. He's great in the ring and I think tons people me included would love to see Christian back and in the wwe title picture.
If Cena's injury is going to keep him out a while I'd say that their best options are to either put the title on Randy Orton and just hope that he doesn't get another violation. He still gets a very good pop and I think it wouldn't take long to establish him as a top face again. Or put it on Bryon, even though they would probably have to change their storylines around some I think it would be worth it. The last person would be Chris Jericho, he is on tour with fozzy a lot but if they had to they could the title on him. I'd love to see him have another title reign and it's not like wwe isn't used their champion being gone for a few weeks (The Rock) so I think Jericho would be OK as champion if they have to do that.
This is all the wwe's fault that they're in this position. They haven't build and maintained hardly anyone this past year and now they need another top person. They should build people up not only just to future top stars of the business but to also have people to take the place John Cena and CM Punk if needed.
Hopefully Cena's injury won't be too bad even though he could use a break just like Punk which I hope he gets soon wwe really doesn't have any backup guys. Hopefully he'll just be gone for maybe Extreme Rules and this can just be a wake up call to wwe that they need build up the rest of their roster and not just focus on the wwe championship picture. If not then they have a big problem on their hands.
Thanks for reading and be sure to tell me all of your thoughts on everything that I discussed in this article and tell me who you think could be the one to take the place of John Cena on Twitter: @ENC98 or on Pro Wrestling Review's on twitter account @PWReview. You can follow that account for updates and other things about this column. Also you check me out on Facebook Enc Wwe and on Instagram; ENC98 Until next time stay tuned for more Pro Wrestling Review.
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