Reverse Hipster's List

5. AEW Brand Split

AEW desperately needs a brand split. They have so many superstars over there, and it's beginning to affect the company. New signings aren't even exciting. There are too many people there for fans to buy into the fact that the new wrestlers will change the landscape. Also, if Rampage were its own show, it would be a better show. Frankly, it should be a better show because of how many people are on the AEW roster, but a brand split would force the show to up its quality by forcing it to stand alone. Also, a brand split means you can have two real-world champions and more paths to success for more superstars. If AEW does that, they will be back on top of the world, and the free-agent market would flow even more instead of drying up.

4. Roman Reigns vs. The Rock

WWE needs to have a plan in place to elevate a superstar to the level of defeating Roman Reigns at some point, preferably SummerSlam. WWE needs to make new stars, and beating Roman Reigns for the title is a unique star-making opportunity that WWE can't waste. Also, it's important for Roman as it's part of his legacy. If he is defeated on a fluke and he doesn't actually anoint the next guy, it poisons his legacy. For 700+ days, wrestlers have put Roman over so that he could be the Tribal Chief, but if he doesn't return the favor and make a star, then what was the point? He continues his legacy with that person's success by giving the rub to someone else, but if he never puts anyone over, the reign dies with him.

Lastly, Roman and The Rock need to be a non-title match to prove Roman is a star. If this experiment is successful, Roman can face The Rock without a title, and the fight and story of the two stars colliding would be enough. Just like The Undertaker didn't need the title, neither should TheRock and Roman. Also, on top of a megastar match, there are still one to two world title matches to attract viewers. Also, involving the titles would ruin the match. The idea of The Rock winning the title is preposterous, and the idea of Roman retaining the title three consecutive times at WrestleMania is also ridiculous.

3. Charlotte Flair Going Into John Cena Mode

Charlotte is incredibly talented. She is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and only a hater would pretend otherwise. However, WWE and/or Charlotte have ruined her character and made her difficult to enjoy. She has beat everyone and won every title no matter if it made sense or not. When she first arrived in WWE as a talented underdog, fans ate her up. After she came into her own on the roster, she became a great heel. However, she has never been able to effectively go back to babyface because her character defies the story arc. The character of Charlotte is unbearable to watch because she always has to get the last laugh.

Charlotte doesn't just look strong. She makes all her opponents look terrible. Right now, Charlotte has a massive stack of personal accomplishments, but an equally enormous pile of ruined characters and people she held down. For example, Rhea Ripley's match history with Charlotte would make The Nexus burial look meek.

It seems like Charlotte and/or WWE don't realize that a part of being the best ever is making stars. When you look at the other three horsewomen (Bayley, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks), you can point to times when they made other stars. I can't point to a time when Charlotte made another star, where she let someone get the best of her and then let that person just win the feud to make a bigger star like Sasha Banks did with Bianca Belair. However, that's part of a superstar legacy as well. John Cena had a similar problem. It's why he got booed by half the audience. They felt he was holding talent down. Over time, Cena adapted and he became better in the ring. Cena recognized that he was so big he didn't need to win every time. You can't talk about any of the major stars of the last decade without talking about Cena. He put over Brock Lesnar, Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, and Roman Reigns. Cena never lost his credibility. He contributed to their legacies and purified his own, putting himself in rarified air. Charlotte could do the same thing as she has that level of credibility. If she did take the Cena route, her legacy would be untouchable. In fact, she would reinvigorate her career.

2. Queen's Crown

Last year, I asked for a Queen's Crown Tournament. I'm glad we got it, but it was subpar. Progress never felt so stagnant as the Queen's Crown Tournament was run in pre-Divas Revolution rules. WWE and the women of WWE have boasted that they have the best women's division. If that's true, then prove it and book a worthwhile Queen's Crown Tournament, where the women actually get to show off their in-ring skills with the end of the tournament meaning something.

1. The Women's Tag Division

Looking at the women's tag division right now feels like looking at a rundown property that you know you can flip for a big gain. If WWE actually develops women's tag team wrestling on the main roster, it will make their women's roster stronger than every other show. It will produce credible wrestlers away from the women's title scene while promoting more women on WWE TV and allowing them to grow into stars while simultaneously functioning as tag teams. Also, it is another block of time filled with telling stories on free TV leading up to PPVs. Women don't have a mid-card title, but they have the tag team belts. However, right now, the tag belts are the worst booked belts in the company and are treated more like the 24/7 belt than the Raw tag titles. Hopefully, by WrestleMania 39, WWE will flesh out their women's tag division, making the women's division and the WWE product better.

Rob's List

5. More special PPVs

With the partnership with Peacock, WWE has more space than ever to do creative tournaments and shows. I want to see the return of the Mixed Match Challenge, which gave us a unique scenario for WWE characters to intermingle. There is already the announced UK supershow, which should be one of the best crowds of all time and lead to an annual event. Finally, I want to see the return of the Mae Young Classic with a mix of underutilized main roster stars, NXT women, and inclusion of some indy wrestlers too. It should culminate in the return of the Evolution PPV, which was just getting its reputation prior to the pandemic. Now, we can have even more matches with the women’s tag division and continued depth of the division.

4. Randy Orton and Riddle Break Up

This was a hell of a detour for both stars. I’ll even admit they’ve won me back over into loving their team in recent weeks. But sometimes, the break-up is a better story than the getting together. In this case, I think Randy Orton and Riddle have such good chemistry that they can have each other’s best matches. In contrast to Orton's killer, Riddle’s character is goofy, but in the ring, they can have a role reversal where Orton is goofing around, and Riddle is the killer. It will make for a killer feud, and the win for Riddle should catapult him into the main event scene.

3. Becky Lynch Elevates Women’s Wrestling

I spent a lot of time thinking about what would truly elevate women’s wrestling. They’ve already main evented PPVs and had match of the night against the guys. Now, they need to build a division of comparable depth, where women can have featured singles matches on PPVs with no questions asked. Becky Lynch recently lost the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania, and I think she is the perfect character to do this. Think about stars like the Undertaker and John Cena: they never needed the title to sell a match. I think Lynch is starting to get comparably on that level. She can have feuds with women like Liv Morgan, Doudrop, or even new NXT callups. Just being in the ring with Lynch will elevate those women and elevate the division as a whole. Lynch has the right character and behind-the-scenes persona to make this happen too.

2. Roman Reigns Carries The Universal Championship Until WrestleMania

It doesn’t happen that often in the modern era that someone holds a World Championship for over a year. Roman Reigns is coming up on two years this summer, and I think he should go even further. He is in a league of his own on WWE TV. He wrestles a signature WWE main event style, and he’s doing some of the best character work of his career. Mainly, he is protected, unlike anyone else on the roster. For that reason alone, I’m rooting to see the Tribal Chief stay on top for another year. I think there are still feuds to be had and money matches. He can build a star now by losing the WWE Championship, but he should keep the same Universal Championship until at least WrestleMania.

1. Cody Rhodes Story

Cody Rhodes has already made it clear that he returned to WWE to win the WWE championship. I don’t think they should make it a linear story. Instead, I would have Rhodes quickly earn his way to a championship match and lose against Roman Reigns. He goes down a path that puts him in matches against WWE legends, going over past stories like Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, building new stories like Edge, and culminating in a match at a big PPV with John Cena. After winning against those legends, Rhodes builds his confidence and gets back to the main event scene just in time for WrestleMania. He falls just short in the Royal Rumble, even though he was the favorite going in, but he earns his way into a WWE Championship match at Elimination Chamber. Rhodes’s story culminates in winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania one year after returning. I think that would be quite the story.