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DONOFRIO'S FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE: Lesnar's signing changes everything, Bryan Fans broken?, WM31 picks, more

Mar 26, 2015 - 10:03:55 AM
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Falls Count Anywhere - WrestleMania Week Edition
By Tony Donofrio, PWTorch specialist


LESNAR SIGNING CHANGES EVERYTHING

If I had written this column two days ago, I would have probably would have written about WWE booking itself into a corner starting a year ago with Brock Lesnar. How he never should have beaten The Streak. How he never should have been booked to win the WWE Title so convincingly from John Cena. How Vince McMahon threw all his eggs in the Lesnar basket and he may not be seen on WWE TV again past this Monday, the night after WrestleMania. No, that’s not the column I’m able to write about today.

The new multi-year deal that Lesnar signed opens up many avenues for WWE and puts a lot more excitement into Sundays annual spectacle; much more than WWE did itself in its two-month stretch run towards WrestleMania. Dealing with the event itself, I can’t see how Roman Reigns can now walk out of WrestleMania with the WWE Title this Sunday. With Lesnar locked in long-term now, there’s absolutely no reason to put the strap on a guy that almost no one feels is ready for it.

This gives WWE the "out" that they sorely need to cap off WrestleMania season. Going forward, there are so many fresh matches that WWE can explore with Lesnar including Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, and Rusev. Although, I see a huge Lesnar face turn coming, so I doubt we’ll see the match-up with Bryan any time soon.

Lesnar’s signing also puts a halt to the big Seth Rollins face turn I’ve been clamoring for lately on Twitter. Regardless, this deal was a huge win for WWE, Lesnar, and fans alike that should open up a plethora of new booking possibilities going forward.

BATTLE OF WILLS FINALLY SWINGING WWE’S WAY?

It can be argued that this past Monday, WWE finally made some headway and took a big step in breaking the wills of Daniel Bryan's hardcore fan base. The silence heard when Dolph Ziggler beat Bryan clean in the ring this past Monday may have been the hearts breaking of many of Bryan’s vocal fans. However, time will tell if that’s the case or it was just the end of another long three-hour Raw.

It could be argued that Ziggler’s win over Bryan didn’t really help elevate Ziggler, but rather pulled Bryan back closer to earth (something WWE has been trying to do since December 2013). The next months worth of booking could tell a lot of what WWE really feels about Daniel Bryan going forward.

MID-CARD TITLES MIGHT FINALLY BE ELEVATED…NO REALLY!

No matter the outcome of this Sunday’s WWE Title match, there is no more critical of a time to elevate the U.S. and Intercontinental Titles than right now. If Lesnar wins, he’s not around as much as we’d all like him to be. If Reigns wins, most agree he’s not ready to carry such a big load. So, secondary titles are going to be more important than they have in a very long time.

Currently, the U.S. Title is more respected of the two thanks to Rusev and his streak of dominance. At least he defends the title regularly and treats the title like it means something to him. I can’t say the same for the IC Title. Regardless of who wins the U.S. Title match, there’s no reason that the the U.S. Title cannot keep making strides towards the respectability that it deserves.

The IC Title, on the other hand, hasn’t been a respectable title in many years. Despite many “attempts” to give the title some credibility, WWE has continually dropped the ball by devaluing the title and its respective holder by allowing that wrestler to continually lose non-title matches until fans lose all interest in that wrestler and the title. That can all change on Sunday if Daniel Bryan is given the ball to run with and not treated like every IC Titleholder has been the past several years.

Bryan is the one wrestler on the roster who can reinvigorate this once proud title. The IC Title, once upon a time, was the workhorse title that great wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat, Curt Hennig, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage wore with pride. They also defended it with pride that there used to be enough steam behind them that its prestige would rival that of the WWE Title. The planets and stars have aligned and Daniel Bryan is the right guy in the right place at the right time to bring about a renaissance for this once valued title.

I mentioned earlier that we may see how much WWE really values and feels about Bryan in the coming months. If given this chance and booked properly, there’s no reason to believe that Bryan won’t hit a grand slam and help get the IC Title back to where it belongs.

PREDICTIONS

- WWE Title Match: Brock Lesnar beats Roman Reigns to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Title.

- U.S. Title Match: John Cena beats Rusev to win the U.S. Title.

- IC Title Ladder match: Daniel Bryan wins to become new Intercontinental champion.

- Seth Rollins beats Randy Orton.

- Triple H beats Sting. (Don’t ask me why - it's just a feeling, but right now the tally is something like Sting 4, Hunter 0.)

- The Undertaker beats Bray Wyatt.

- Bella Twins beat A.J. Lee & Paige.

- Andre the Giant Battle Royal: Damien Sandow (Mizdow) wins.

- Pre-show: WWE Tag Title Fatal Four-way: Kidd/Cesaro retain the Tag Team Titles.

Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for PWTorch covering a variety of topics and promotions. You can reach Tony at TonyDonofrio@icloud.com or follow him on Twitter @TonyDonofrio.

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