Fantasy Booking

[HardGainer82]

Okay, first thing: this is gonna be a LONG post. So if you're too lazy to read, bail out now so I don't have to deal with the Colin Powell pic. That being said, I am officially lifting this from OnlineOnslaught.com, because I think it's awesome, and shows what a fan can do that the WWE booking team apparently can't.

"
Could I do better? Yeah, but not by much: it's just too damned late to get any of those "anticipation ratings" all up above 6-7 (which is where they should be for WM21), no matter how good the pairings are. Put me on the job in December, and it'd have been easy, though. I think the real problem is that WWE's tunnel vision had them locked on to some VERY ****ty ideas, ideas so ****ty that come January, they HAD to shift gears... except that once they decided to shift gears, they didn't have any good ideas for where to shift to. Orton was ejected from the World Title hunt, the Taker/Kane tag match was axed, and it probably didn't help that Lita got hurt and took away what I believe was gonna be a blow-off cage match in the women's division... with the exception of that last thing, though, not realizing until too late that your old ideas were crap is no excuse.

Off the top of my head, here's what I'd probably try to throw together in the next few weeks for WM21 if I instantly was handed The Book, and had to make do with the turds I'd been handed:

RAW
Batista vs. HHH (duh, nothing wrong here; just carefully map out a 20 minute match within Big Dave's capabilities, and this one's golden)
Orton vs. Flair (let Orton keep ramping up the Douchebag levels, let the fans align themselves how they want, likely backing Flair; and use this as a springboard match for Orton's jump to SD! where he'd be a heel; this is as close to "beating" Evolution as he'll get on his way out the door on RAW; also, as SOON as Orton ends up on SD!, I suggest that he ditch "The Theme From Dumb Guy" and dickishly declare that HE is Evolution, and he's starting his own version of Evolution on SD!; I would LOVE to have Luther be Batista to Orton's HHH; this could be mirrored with HHH's rebuilding of Evolution on RAW, and set-up any number of awesome crossbrand stories: are the two Evolution's friendly? if so, does Flair become a "roamer" who advises both groups? or is HHH's Evolution the only real one, and might be a tacit babyface in a later cross-brand feud against Orton's Evolution? Lots of cool stuff that beats the hell out of pulling an Orton/Taker match out of your ass)
Kane/Spaz vs. Matt Hardy/Trish (you can follow through on Spaz/Trish, while not completely eviscerating the legitimacy of the women's title this way, while also kicking the Kane/Lita story to the next level by having Matt come back as Trish's smitten little boy toy; Lita need not make an appearance here: one Red Headed Slut is enough... unless you're talking about the drink, in which case I need about a half-dozen before I get my buzz on)
Shelton vs. Snitsky vs. Hassan vs. Edge (IC Title Match; again, this way you get some play off of the Shelton/Snitsky crap while also hiding it behind more interesting stuff; Hassan can talk himself into this match as the undefeated superstar that he is; Edge can make a big Prickish show of "lowering" himself to the IC Title, and guaranteeing that he'll win it... three convincing heels versus one poor babyface could make for a nice Shelton vs. The World feel, which ties in nicely to his Open Contract gimmick)
William Regal/Tajiri (with Eugene making a surprise appearance in their corner) vs. Christian/Maven (with Tomko) (a tag title match that is the weakest of the RAW offerings, but which could deliver a feel good moment if Eugene can hobble his way out to ringside and lend a hand, and which I think could be the start of a useful full-time pairing if WWE wanted to put Christian and Maven together; either that, or Christian and Rhyno)

SD!
JBL vs. Cena (duh again, not much I can do about this one; all I can say is Cena would lose, if I'm booking it; but when he wins, I hope they vacate the US Title and that it's won by a healthy Carlito Cool)
Big Show vs. Luther Reigns (I see Luther's potential as a bad-ass babyface, but WWE's gonna want to get there another way: I say have Luther wipe the mat with MetroSexual Mark Jindrak, and set his sights on Show; I even say Luther wins this match, and as per my "New Evolution" theory above, when Orton comes to SD! and puts together his version of the group, their first feud would be with Show, as he'll want revenge on Luther and then will move his way up the ladder to deal with Orton)
Dudley Boyz vs. Orlando Jordan and the Bashams (probably shouldn't have taken the belts off the Bashams to begin with for this to work, but hey: all we need is for Eddie and Rey's miscommunication to reach a point where they drop the titles back to the Bashams in the next week or two, and they're KIND OF upset with each other; not enough for a blood feud of their own, but very prickly... meantime, the Duds return, and are immediately granted a tag title shot at WM21; the Bashams go to GM Teddy Long and say that isn't fair, since they haven't even been active for 5 months, so Teddy is strong armed into allowing OJ to help them defend the titles in a Handicap Match; should add some ambiguity... maybe the Duds will win, but maybe they'll get cheated and have to face the Bashams another time)
Paul London vs. Chavo Guerrero (CW Title Match; again, a "duh" since it just makes sense and should also be quite awesome if it gets 10-12 minutes of PPV time)
Booker T vs. Heidenreich (make this a No DQ match, following up on what happened at No Way Out; it'll still suck pretty bad, and isn't "WM worthy," but Booker deserves to be on the card, and this is the only current issue for him, so we gotta run with it; I say Booker wins it pretty easy, getting himself healthy in the eyes of the fans, and sets himself up to be the primary babyface foil for Carlito when the US Title Tourney takes shape)

CrossBrand
Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels (duh yet again, I'd just ramp up the intensity by having these guys show up on each others shows, instead of telling the story the way WWE's been doing so far)
Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho/Rey Mysterio (here, you build on tensions between the partners, and you have Eddie and Benoit starting to call each other on the phone and stuff, lamenting where they were a year ago versus where they are now, stuck in dead end tag teams; the friction isn't outright hatred, but it's enough for Jericho and Rey to both say, "Hey, if you love the other guy so much, why don't you form a tag team with him instead of me"... and out of that would come this cross-brand tag match of extreme awesomeness. My Masterstroke: you play it as face vs. face, with Benoit/Eddie at MOST leaning tweener. But the finish will be them winning cleanly over Jericho/Rey. And just when you think you're gonna get the four-way handshake of mutual respect, Benoit gives Eddie a look and nods "yes." Eddie looks unsure. But Benoit wants to execute the Secret Part B of the plan: and so Benoit clocks Jericho in the face. Eddie actually tries to pull Benoit off, but in the heat of the moment, Rey jumps onto Eddie, and Eddie reflexively defends himself. Benoit just beats the piss out of Jericho, locking him in the Crossface, while Eddie extricates himself from Rey by tossing Rey over the top rope. Eddie then tries to plead with Benoit, and eventually pries Benoit off of Jericho. Benoit gets up, yells at Eddie for being a puss, and shoves Eddie to the mat before leaving to a chorus of boos; meantime, Rey has gotten back in the ring, and is not happy with Eddie, either. Jericho's KO'ed, Eddie and Rey are staring each other down, and Benoit's overseeing the carnage he has wrought... this sets up Benoit to re-emerge as a main eventer, albeit as a heel; this is VITAL because he's the one guy who has dragged the best matches out of Batista, and can be used by WWE to make Batista look good over the summer. I envision Batista vs. HHH and Benoit vs. Jericho rematches to carry WWE through May and June, and then by SummerSlam, we turn a page, and it's Batista vs. Benoit. How awesome would that be? And meantime, Eddie and Rey can do their feud as a more tweener thing on SD!, and depending on crowd reactions during May and June, Eddie might go full heel, or they might blow it off by those two finally deciding to stay friends. So much good could come out of this WM21 pairing, not just at the show itself, but afterwards and through the entire summer... of course, this means WWE will not allow it to happen)
Some Kind of Diva Crap (because it's not a PPV if we don't take advantage of the chance to bust out the TV-14 thongs; and it could also be useful if they use it as a chance to get all the Useless Divas -- Stacy, Maria, Candice, Melina, Rochelle, Lauren, Joy, and whoever else I'm sure I'm forgetting -- in one place, and then letting Michelle McCool do something awesome to kick all their asses while also looking quite fetching in her thong. Whether or not you follow up on this by lotterying Michelle over to RAW is up in the air; she might take another year of training and standing head and shoulders above the SD! divas before jumping over to RAW, actually...)

And that, folks, is still not a great show, but it's one that would fire me up a bit more, and which squeezes the most lemonade out of the lemons WWE has currently stocked up on. I know this isn't any kind of a Dream Line-Up, but I also don't think anything in my scheme is unrealistic at all, which is what I set out to do: to fix the problem without resorting to fanastical crap. I think I come close. Throw in a few appearances by guys like Austin and the Hall of Famers, and it might even feel like WrestleMania...."

[vanillaicetk]

Great post. I really like the Benoit/Guerrero vs Jericho/Mysterio tag match idea, and that could be one hell of a match.

Only thing that I woud be a little iffy on is the Flair vs Orton match, if done right the all but announced Orton vs Taker match could be a lot more entertaining and a better way to turn Orton mega-heel again.

[HardGainer82]

Originally Posted by vanillaicetk

Great post. I really like the Benoit/Guerrero vs Jericho/Mysterio tag match idea, and that could be one hell of a match.

Only thing that I woud be a little iffy on is the Flair vs Orton match, if done right the all but announced Orton vs Taker match could be a lot more entertaining and a better way to turn Orton mega-heel again.

Yeah, but I'm scared ****less that they'd put the douchebag over Taker...

[vanillaicetk]

Originally Posted by HardGainer82

Yeah, but I'm scared ****less that they'd put the douchebag over Taker...

I don't think that they would disrupt Taker's streak at Wrestlemania, seeing as that is most likely the legacy he will leave behind. And with his backstage pull, I can't see him letting his character's integrity get into the hands of the writing staff.

[young wrestler]

Great post hardgainer! I'll rep you again as soon as I'm able to. I would love to see Orton go to Smackdown!

[1dayIWillBeBig]

Originally Posted by vanillaicetk

I don't think that they would disrupt Taker's streak at Wrestlemania, seeing as that is most likely the legacy he will leave behind. And with his backstage pull, I can't see him letting his character's integrity get into the hands of the writing staff.

true, but i think Taker's streak will end at Mania.....for some odd reason...the WWE doesnt like having "Records"...they like breaking them

Undertaker's legacy's is not dependant on his WM winning streak

His Legacy is the sheer fact that his character is one of, if not the greatest of all time........His Look over the years, presence, Performance.........That is the Undertaker's Legacy......there will never be another one like him, Ever!

[user625942484]

just bumpin this so i can reply when im allowed back on this sumbitch.

[Gradman]

hahahah nice work Hardgainer, i was actually gonna do a fantasty booking thread myself!!

I think i may just put the brakes on that tho because there's no way I'm taking on The Rick

Seriously tho, look how effortless he made that, and that's all it takes. All you need is a bit of good planning ahead and then making that goal happen to have good storylines that work. I think we need to make a petition. GET THE RICK A JOB IN WWE!! Seriously. The world would be a lot better for it.

[lionheart21]

That guy needs to be the head writer. All of those ideas would work.

[young wrestler]

Originally Posted by Gradman

hahahah nice work Hardgainer, i was actually gonna do a fantasty booking thread myself!!

I think i may just put the brakes on that tho because there's no way I'm taking on The Rick

Seriously tho, look how effortless he made that, and that's all it takes. All you need is a bit of good planning ahead and then making that goal happen to have good storylines that work. I think we need to make a petition. GET THE RICK A JOB IN WWE!! Seriously. The world would be a lot better for it.

Is that The Rick from the ESPN commercials?

[HardGainer82]

No, he's a guy named Rick Scaia. He used to work at Wrestleline.com with CRZ and Scott Keith before Sportsline shut it down. Now he runs OnlineOnslaught.com
I agree, he makes it look easy. The key (he even mentions this) is to know where you're going to end up ahead of time, even if it's only a few months. WWE has had so many aborted angles and changes in planning that they're forced to basically build up WM in 5 weeks... If you know what you want to have at WM, then you can work backwards, which is so much easier. I find it sad that it's March and matches for WM are still being "discussed" or "options.
Come on, **** or get off the pot...

[Gradman]

True, its almost inconceivable that they dont have more concrete ideas too, considering the one match that was a lock last year has already had enough time to change, have a great slow build up and a satisfying early climax before the match..... but they couldn't think of anything for benoit or jericho to do??

It really is bizarre... we do it for fun but these people get PAID to do it and mess it up.