Reverse Hipster's Pitches

5. Xavier Woods Wins King of the Ring

Xavier Woods is a great wrestler, and he has a fantastic character. Xavier seems like a superstar whom I would get along with in real life. King of Ring is a great honor, but it is also a difficult gimmick to carry. If anyone could make King of the Ring exciting week after week, it is Xavier Woods. The most entertaining character to never get a singles entrance theme. Also, I imagine Xavier Woods already has some gimmicks planned as he talks about being King of the Ring on The New Day podcast all the time.

My pitch for Xavier, the most underrated member of The New Day, is to meet with Jey Uso in the final. Jey would have beaten Roman Reigns in the semifinal with a cheap trick exploiting a weakness he learned from being by Roman's side. This will lead to Roman vs. Jey Round 3, where Jey will break free. Jey is the perfect final opponent for Xavier because they know each other so well already from their tag matches, and Jey has been built up a lot from being with Roman. They could put on a fantastic match, and after Xavier won, he would be one the greatest characters to be King of the Ring, and he would have his moment of elevation like his New Day brothers.

4. Big E vs. John Cena

Big E is a tremendous talent, and I think the perfect way to elevate him as a singles competitor is to give him the Intercontinental Championship back. It does not have to be at WrestleMania Backlash, but it needs to be done by July. I would then have Big E go back to his open challenges, and he would defeat all his opponents in the open challenges. However, the last week of July or in August in Big E's SmackDown open challenge, John Cena comes out, preferably to his Dr. of Thuganomics song.

John Cena challenges Big E to a SummerSlam match for the IC Championship. John tells him he just cannot resist coming back for the one belt in WWE he never won. It be great to see Big E and John Cena going back and forth in promo segments with Cena as the heel, or at least an aggressive face, but preferably heel because of the Firefly Fun House match. They could even tag together on SmackDown against other IC roster members who are mad that John Cena has stopped the open challenges and is hogging the spotlight. At SummerSlam, Big E and "Big Match" John could have a great match, where Big E wins and is solidified as a singles star. Then, Big E can make a star when he passes on that belt on his way to the World Title picture down the road. Also, Cena hasn't won the IC championship and has a reputation of pretty much always overcoming adversity, making him the perfect threat to Big E at SummerSlam.

3. Ruby Riott to NXT

Ruby Riott has tremendous potential. She has a unique look. She is good in between the ropes and outside of them. You can watch her program with Nikki Cross and Sanity in NXT, as well as her triple threat at TakeOver: Chicago. She was popular in NXT and she still hangs on to a passionate amount of fans who root for her. However, for whatever reason, WWE has never given Ruby a fair shot on the main roster. She needs to do what Ember Moon and Finn Balor did, and go back to NXT to save her career. In NXT, she will actually be invested in and presented with an opportunity to show off her skills.

2. Queen of the Ring

This tournament should have already happened. I would love to see it happen on a future Evolution 2. It just makes too much sense, and it is by far the easiest to do of the women's first series. There are so many women being underutilized. Queen of the Ring would reinvigorate the entire division, and could easily spin off into singles feuds and help the WWE have other meaningful programs for women that do not involve the titles. As far as who would win, I would say you almost cannot go wrong as long as you use it to build a new star and not to bolster someone who does not need it. My picks for the Queen of the Ring would be Io Shirai, Mandy Rose, Eva Marie, or Shayna Baszler, but there are many good choices.

1. Cesaro as World Heavyweight Champion

Once again, this is something that should have happened already, but better late than never. I do not expect Cesaro to beat Roman Reigns this soon after he just stacked Daniel Bryan and Edge, but I think Cesaro should win Money in the Bank (MITB) and cash it in on Roman. I am following up on my number five pick (see above). Roman could defeat Jey in Roman vs. Jey Round 3. The battle could be so grueling that it leaves Roman vulnerable to the cash in by Cesaro, which could lead to a triple threat between Jey, Roman and Cesaro, where Cesaro wins and cements his title reign.

Cesaro is the perfect candidate for Money in the Bank. He would be excellent in the actual match, which he has been in before, and it helps him get into the title picture believably. Cesaro is the superstar the MITB was built for. It's not supposed to be for men and women who get millions of chances. It's meant to elevate superstars on the cusp, who might not have got that shot without MITB.

Also, once Cesaro is the champion, he can prove everybody right and have classic matches as the champion to beat in WWE. After Cesaro becomes champion in a moment, I predict to be at least as cathartic as Dolph Ziggler winning the title. The match/feud potential is endless. Cesaro has been pounding the pavement for years. The fans know how good he is. The wrestlers know how good he is. Now, it is time for the company to take advantage. It should be Cesaro's year.

Rob’s Pitches

5. WWE’s Backstage Team Gets a Facelift

I feel like this is a bum prediction that everyone makes every year, but it’s starting to finally feel like it could happen soon. WWE’s weekly TV shows are obviously stale, overproduced, and rewritten, and micromanaged to the point they make no sense. This is nothing new: it has been building to this point as weekly shows routinely set new lows for views and ratings. It seems evident that something fundamental needs to change backstage. I want to see WWE get new heads of creative that are more in touch with their current fan base and modern trends in entertainment. I do not foresee Vince McMahon ever giving up control until the day he dies, but I think we can see a product that looks more like NXT, guided by “younger,” more in-touch, recently-retired wrestlers like Triple H and his crew. It’s rumored that Tyson Kidd has been producing some of the amazing recent matches like Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair at WrestleMania. Recently, we saw them lay off the long-standing head of talent relations Mark Carrano, showing that a changing of the old guard is possible. Imagine a WWE where Vince takes a step back, and they get rid of producers like Kevin Dunn and Bruce Prichard. All due respect to Dunn and Prichard, but if the Tonight Show was still written by people who were born in the 1960s and started producing TV in the 1980s, I don’t think it would be popular at all in 2020’s culture. We could finally see the change in WWE we’ve wanted to see for years. Imagine a show that has a completely different feel, an unfamiliar jolt of energy, and consistently compelling storylines from creative. This is the biggest pitch that anyone could wish for, but I still put it last because it isn’t a new, unique, or inspired idea.

4. Paige Gets One Last Run

There have been some bittersweet moments in wrestling the past decade. Watching early retirements is one of the hardest things to see because it seems to always happen to superstars who love wrestling. Fortunately, we have seen happy endings to most of these stories. Daniel Bryan and Edge came back from injuries that were unimaginable returns at the time. I’d love to see this happen with Paige, who seems to be having problems shaking the injuries built up from her already long career at a young age. We could see her come back to have meaningful feuds to build talented young stars like Rhea Ripley, have new dream matches with women like Asuka, and renew some old feuds with stars like Charlotte. I just think that Paige deserves to write the end of her career the same way that Edge and Bryan did. While we’re at it, and since Eva Marie recently returned, is it too much to ask for more of the stars of the early women’s revolution to come back for some dream matches? We’ve seen a lot of men’s stars return like Batista, Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, and Rey Mysterio. AJ Lee, Emma, or Summer Rae, anyone?

3. Building a Women’s Tag Division

Week after week, we put the women’s tag division in the “What didn’t matter” section. That’s not because we don’t like women’s wrestling; on the contrary, we actually believe so much in the potential of the women’s division that it’s frustrating to see them underutilized and not given time. WWE has actually been pretty bad at booking tag divisions generally. They have been a weak point of the past decade. Even though the New Day are some of the best superstars of the decade, WWE has also scared away generational tag teams like The Revival.

What saves the WWE tag division is when actual teams step up and have great matches. Think about how important the titles were when the New Day and The Usos feuded. Both teams had insane chemistry within their team. Their matches utilized what makes tag team matches unique: they are chaotic, multi-superstar matches with lots of inherent stories built-in because of the dynamics both between partners and against opponents. I think this is what the women’s tag division is missing now.

I would love to see WWE build the division more. They can invest more in the Riott Squad. In my opinion, the Riott Squad is the only true team they have (the Iiconics also would have fit this). There is a lot of potential in Natalya and Tamina, two second-generation women who have been largely overlooked in their careers.

I also think there is potential for Naomi and Lana, who enter together, have matching ring gear, and have worked on creative double-team moves. On NXT, the Ember Moon/Shotzi Blackheart and Candice Lerae/Indi Hartwell main event from this week was the talk of the internet. Bringing these teams in the mix and building their existing teams could create a women’s tag division that is as exciting as the world title picture. I’d love to see all of these teams develop characters, get storylines, and get time in the ring.

2. NXT at Survivor Series and Debuts

The three-way matches with NXT at Survivor Series in 2019 made for the most exciting brand crossover in recent memory. I think they weren’t included in 2020 because of COVID, but I want to see this return in 2021. NXT is building validity as the third brand, and Raw and SmackDown should seek revenge for losing in 2019. On top of that, I love seeing how superstars who feud year-round will co-exist to take on teams from other brands. There is also new intrigue because some NXT superstars like Riddle, Keith Lee, Damien Priest, and Rhea Ripley have made it to Raw. Will their attitude change now that they have made it to the “main roster.” All of this makes Survivor Series one of the most unique and exciting PPVs of the year, and NXT has to be included in 2021.

After Survivor Series, I think WWE should capitalize on the exposure for NXT by including them in the newest superstar shakeup. Struggling or underutilized superstars like Drew Gulak, Buddy Murphy, Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, Carmella, and Nikki Cross could go to NXT. We could finally see NXT stars of the past few years like Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Adam Cole, Io Shirai, and Candice Lerae go to Raw and SmackDown. The best part is that now that the door is open to go back and forth, they can always go back to NXT if they are underutilized or Vince McMahon doesn’t like them like Finn Balor, Tyler Breeze, and Ember Moon have done.

1. Rising Stars Win World Titles

Maybe it is just fresh in my mind with the Cesaro-Roman Reigns storyline since WrestleMania, but this is one of the main things I want for the next year. One of the most exciting things in WWE is seeing a rising star go from mid-card to the main event and claim their first world title. On SmackDown, I think this superstar should be Cesaro. For years, great wrestlers and fans alike have said that Cesaro is the one superstar they want to see win a world title. If the SmackDowns after WrestleMania is any indication, this could indeed be Cesaro’s year to do it. I don’t think he should win immediately. I want the storyline to be drawn out, so the moment is huge when he finally wins. Cesaro should lose to Reigns at Backlash in a good showing, staying around the main event until the summer. The summer is usually a great time to test newer main eventers with experimental storylines and keep hardcore fans engaged. If Cesaro bounced back to beat Reigns at Summerslam in front of live fans, the pop would be earth-shattering, and it would be one of the most deserved wins for a wrestler in recent memory. It would also be a good payoff to Reign’s dominant heel reign.

For Raw, I think this superstar should be Riddle. Riddle’s early career is an indication that he has won over Vince McMahon with his in-ring work and entertaining backstage character. Every story he has got, he has made work. Every match he’s been in, even on routine Raw matches, he has elevated everyone in the ring with him and had a good or great match. For Riddle, I would love to see him pull off a shock win at Money in the Bank or Royal Rumble to catapult him in the main event scene. With Money in the Bank soon, it could be really interesting to see the power dynamic change in the RKBro tag team when Randy Orton is a veteran former champion, and Riddle is the rising star with the briefcase. It could lead to a great feud over the briefcase when they break up, or maybe Orton could be Riddle’s first opponent. Alternatively, Riddle could win the Royal Rumble and face a dominant champion like Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. The only true rising star who has won in the past five or so years is McIntyre, so it could make a good story to see the roles reversed, and I think it is always exciting to see a rising star win the Rumble.

Question

Answer in the comments section or on social media: Which one of these do you want to see the most?

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