In yesterday's post, I once again wrote about my picks to win the 2019 Royal Rumble matches. This week's issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter may have ended any hope I had in my dark horse - John Cena - winning the men's battle royal.
Dave Meltzer reports - in an article concerning the Rumble and WrestleMania 35 matches - that one of the plans for Mania was to have Lars Sullivan take on John Cena in one of the bouts on the card.
The article notes that Sullivan was due to wrestle a dark match at this week's Raw taping but possibly suffered some sort of anxiety attack and left the building. He was then set to work another dark match before the Smackdown taping, but didn't. He is apparently back home in Colorado.
This obviously puts the Cena match in jeopardy. However, the newsletter's editor points out that the build would have started at the Royal Rumble. Therefore - if it is still on - a spot or angle at the Rumble could be the indicator.
Kambi had a market where customers could wager on who they believed would oppose Cena on April 7th. It last appeared on the sportsbooks' websites in mid-December. Sullivan was not an option.
Sullivan .vs. Cena being booked for WrestleMania, in what would be a battle of the free agents and could have been built across both Raw and Smackdown, evidently means there is a different plan for the WWE Championship and would therefore mean that the chase for Cena's seventeenth title win will happen at a later point.
More importantly, it means that he was unlikely to win the Royal Rumble.
As I've written in recent posts, the next opportunity for a Cena title chase - in my opinion - is once Smackdown is on Fox later this year.
I have a feeling that AJ vs Orton will be for the title after this news
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think ?
Still think Daniel Bryan shouldn’t drop the strap.
DeleteYeah but Smackdown doesn't have top babyfaces other than AJ.
DeleteMiz has his storyline with Shane, they aren't gonna push hardy or Mysterio
AJ vs Orton for the title is possible if AJ wins it at Royal Rumble and Orton wins inside Elimination chamber.
Or they can push Mustafa Ali and do Bryan vs Ali for the title
DeleteI agree with abraham, I think AJ is going to win the title back and Orton will face him for the title at Mania. If Bryan retains, the only real opponent I could see him having is Cena. Maybe Mysterio but I see him being in the US title match.
ReplyDelete