There is still some question around the twitter world on if the Seth Rollins injury is a shoot or a work, but it sure seems like a legit issue.
It would be devastating if Rollins, arguably the best pure wrestler and most over face on RAW right now, is forced to miss WrestleMania for a second year in a row.
The feud with HHH had been slowly gaining steam before Seth's appearance at NxT Takeover which was completely unexpected and took the rivalry to a whole other level.
Monday Night RAW saw HHH come out and cut a very intense and well performed promo before calling Rollins down to the ring to meet "his destroyer", which we all now know was the only and only Samoa Joe.
Unfortunately, as it seems at the time of this blog post, when Joe was taking him to the mat with the Coquina Clutch it looked as though Seth's leg buckled and, as we hear now, re-injured the right-knee of the "Architect".
If you haven't re-watched the slow-mo videos of this finish, you should. Pay close attention to the words exchanged between the two superstars.
Multiple reports are saying that it appears to go like this:
Joe: "Are you ok?"
Seth: "I hope so."
And with that, we now wait to find out how significant this injury will be and whether or not this takes Seth off of the card for the "Grand Daddy of them All" for the second consecutive year.
Now let me be honest, I have been and will always be a big HHH mark. I'm just a fan of his in-ring psychology as well as his "holier than thou" promos --- but I was torn about him working 'Mania this year.
On one side, the last time he worked this event it was a slow moving horrible match that needed several spots of outside interference to make it watchable.
That match was vs the Icon Sting, who was severely out of shape and really was showing his age.
This match would have been against one of the best in-ring technicians in the industry and likely could have been a high quality match with some incredible story telling.
One can only hope that this injury does not derail one of the sure fire main matches of WrestleMania.
That being said, I have a big of a problem with a few of the other rumored matches for the card.
First we'll go with Goldberg vs Lesnar.
In a vacuum this match would be fine for what it is. Two legends and two monsters facing off in what is sure to be a hard hitting and brutal fight that fans everywhere would like to see.
The problem is ... they've faced off twice now since November and Goldberg has bested The Beast both times without breaking a sweat.
If we are to believe that they are even attempting to make this believable, why would Goldberg agree to fight Brock again? What good would it do him?
This would be the definition of a match where "nothing to be gained". If Goldberg goes out and loses to Brock what does that prove? Brock was still manhandled twice previously (actually 3 times if you count that debacle of a match they had at WrestleMania 20) so what would this single victory really do to make up for those? If Goldberg wins how do they ever bring Lesnar's character back to the level of intimidation and dominance that he once was?
And without that gimmick, what is he exactly? If he's not the Beast, then he's just another guy...
The only way I can see this match making sense is the following:
Goldberg takes on Kevin Owens at Fastlane for the Universal Championship. We have all seen that Goldberg has his son and wife in the front row when he works during this most recent return.
We could see Lesnar come out during the title match, go over to Goldberg's son and flash that evil grin he's famous for, thus distracting the challenger and costing him his chance to win the belt while also goading him into the re-match?
That or the potential "career vs career" match that we sometimes see in these situations, but I can't imagine they'd have Goldberg end his career by losing on the grand stage of Mania.
Speaking of "why would wrestler A give wrestler B another chance", my other problem with the rumored card would be (c) Charlotte defending against everyone's favorite hugger Bayley.
If they were considering this match for WrestleMania then they maybe should have made Bayley look like a formidable opponent at the Royal Rumble.
Instead we got what might as well have been a squash match.
Bayley looked completely outmatched and dominated in a spot that they could have given her the chance to show her talents but come up just a little short.
Granted they did give her the pin the following night in the 6 person mixed tag match over the champ, but what does that prove? That she can steal a pin in a match with the assistance of other teammates?
I have to wonder .. are we all looking one way while the WWE plans something completely different for us?
If you pay attention to the commentary during the Royal Rumble Michael Cole and Corey Graves repeatedly mention how dominant Charlotte's been at PPVs and it is hard to ignore how strong she has been booked since first winning the title.
Yes, I know, she has lost the title on more than one occasion to Sasha Banks, but go back and watch those. Even when she lost it was usually because she became over-confident and lost focus, not because she was just beaten.
Are they building up the unbeatable champ for WrestleMania to have Bayley pin her clean and thus, in turn, make Bayley the new Daniel Bryan ...
or....
Are we as fans all looking towards that match when what we actually will see is a Bayley vs (heel) Sasha Banks at WrestleMania (in what could be a show stealing match) while the WWE is building towards a "unbeatable" Charlotte vs "unbeatable" Asuka program?
Could the two most dominant women in the WWE be on a collision course and meet each other in one of the main spots at the biggest show of the year?
As big as a Bayley fan as I am, a potential Charlotte v Asuka match has me very excited.
For those of you who do not know who Asuka is or have never seen her in action do yourself a favor and head over to youtube now and check out a few of her matches. You can thank me later.
