Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you all had a wonderful time with your friends and family over the festive period and that 2014 brings you everything you hope for!
Now with regards to WWE in 2014, this is the year that will be “epic” according to Triple H. We are now on the Road to WrestleMania and people’s expectations are at the highest. So how epic will 2014 be?
Let’s start with WrestleMania 30.
In reality the easiest way WWE can put on a good show is to be nostalgic. This will probably involve the much argued part-timers. There is a high chance of seeing Triple H, Undertaker, Batista, Brock Lesnar, The Rock, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho at this year’s event. This obviously leaves very little room for most of the full time roster. I’ve stated below that I don’t see this as a big problem purely because this year’s WrestleMania should be treated differently than others. It should be a show of nostalgia, a show looking at the people that brought you this far and one with a tease of where the company is headed in to the future and the talent that will be on display.
In reality using part time talent is the easiest way to generate some buzz and give the crowd a massive reaction. It works for the company and the talent. We all love a good return and this has been used so many times by WWE. Unfortunately, this also seems to be a trend which now means we get Brock Lesnar making a return to the company every 3 months. It will frustrate some but over the next 12 months the younger roster will be relied upon to start taking the reins. Yes Cena and Orton will be there to support them but Punk, Bryan, Ziggler, Langston, Rhodes, Barrett, Sheamus, Kingston, Ambrose, Rollins, Reigns, Cesaro, Swagger, Axel and Sandow will have a massive place in the future of the company. This year’s WrestleMania might not be their time but come WrestleMania 31 I would expect them all to be in the mix for big matches.
Once WrestleMania is finished and if booked correctly then the summer of 2014 should be very interesting as most of the part time talent takes their break and the younger roster is leaned on to move forward. However, if not dealt with and booked properly then WWE may be forced to make their seemingly usual knee jerk reaction and bring someone back from time off or use another older star to try and gain revenue again, either that or just have Cena crush half of the roster. It has to be dealt with better. There is only so many times you can bring injured talent back early or ask someone to try and work through their problems when they obviously need some time off the road. The time has arrived to start using your mid-card more effectively. The clock is ticking.
As for 2013, it has to be said that it has been the year of the tag team. It wasn’t too long ago that the IWC was calling the tag team division dead. 2013 has brought in a big effort to improve this with long reigns for The Shield and Cody Rhodes and Goldust as the champions. The division looks brighter than it has in the past few years and whilst it still has big improvements to make it is nice to see it get some attention.
2013 has also been the year of The Shield and towards the end also the Wyatt Family. Now, having two factions on the roster has brought with it an awful lot of 6 man tag action this year, to the point where I’ve lost the will to live at times. I do appreciate the big effort made to increase the popularity of these factions but I think even Theodore Long would have accelerated his chance of a second heart attack if he had to announce how many times 3 members of the roster was going to face The Shield or the Wyatt’s!
Daniel Bryan has finished 2013 with a semi-heel turn by joining the Wyatt Family. I personally don’t see it lasting long and put it in to the same category as when HBK had to do heel actions for JBL whilst he was ‘broke’. This will likely tie him over for a few months and lead to him probably shaving his beard in rebellion before his big match at WrestleMania.
Also on RAW, Brock Lesnar not only destroyed Mark Henry physically but also tried to burst his ear drums with a scream akin to Marv from Home Alone whilst having a spider put on his face! Twitter’s reaction to this was hilarious and a big thank you to the person who directed me to a YouTube video with Lesnar’s screams being inserted in to Taylor Swift’s music video. I highly suggest you check it out!
This week’s RAW showed potential of what could be around the corner and with Batista getting in to the mix in the next few weeks I’m looking forward to see what the first RAW of the New Year has in store.
So in closing, will 2014 just be an epic year because WWE may pull the trigger on the last chance they have to do some dream matches or do you think it is truly the starting point for something special? Let me know on Twitter @BeansOnToastUK, email me at beansontoastuk@msn.com or simply comment below.
