Can They Be Champ? 7.31.07: The Injured List
Posted by Mike Minotti on 07.31.2007
With HHH and Rey Mysterio soon to be returning, Mike Minotti looks at the biggest names currently on the WWE's injured list, and asks whether they can be world champion again.
Hello and welcome to another Can They Be Champ?
Before we begin, I just want to say how happy I was to see Mr. Kennedy and Carlito get some big wins on Raw last night. Mr .Kennedy hasn't had a big win since coming back from injury, and Carlito hasn't gotten one since… christ, I don't even know.
Speaking of coming back from injury, HHH and Rey Mysterio are both set to make their WWE comebacks pretty soon. Looking further into the future, there are actually quite a lot of people who will be making comebacks from the injured list this year. Injury is never good, but a comeback, if promoted well, can do a lot of good for a wrestler. Just at look at the hype HHH's return is getting. He's sure to be as hot as he ever has been when he comes back at Summerslam.
Will the currently injured be able to take advantage of that comeback push? And who among them can once again become a world champion?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
Can Triple H be champ?
HHH's injury earlier this January was a big blow to the WWE. They had to reorganize their WM23 main event and other plans they may have made that year. Now that he's soon to return, the WWE is doing everything it can to hype him up, running multiple vignettes every show. No doubt, HHH's return is going to be huge. It may single handedly increase the SummerSlam buy rates.
But, will HHH be winning the WWE championship anytime soon upon his return? Before his injury, he lost his last championship to Batista at WM21. That's quite a long time for a person who had been a world champion on and off for such a long time. Perhaps the current title scene is simply so crowded with up-and-comers who need time with the belt to establish themselves that it seems like a waste to put the belt on HHH. I mean, people already know he's the real deal.
At the same time, HHH being champion could do huge business for the WWE. There are a bunch of new guys on Raw that HHH never really feuded with, including Lashley and Mr. Kennedy. Besides that, King Booker and Orton feuds seem like no brainers. HHH could have enough title feuds to last awhile.
Besides, after Cena (and maybe even before him), he's the most over face on Raw. The audience wants to see him become an 11 time champion. And if HHH is champ again, come WM24, the WWE can have that Cena vs. HHH 2 match they wanted for WM23.
So, can he be champ?
The man is so popular; it's hard to see it not happening. So I'll say yes, and probably sometime this year.
Can Rey Mysterio be champ?
You know, I was actually excited for Rey's first world title run last year. I like Rey, thought it was cool that such a hard worker was getting rewarded with a world title, and thought he could have some good world title matches. But the WWE royally screwed up his title reign. Any, and I mean any match that wasn't a title match saw Rey lose. They'd have him fight giant like Khali and Makr Henry, who would just destroy Rey. It made his whole reign look like a joke, like some kind of accident.
Still, Rey never fairly lost his world title. Booker won it from him after Chavo hit Rey with a chair. So at least he has that.
Anyways, does Rey have a chance of being a world champ again. You know, if Smackdown had the roster it had six months ago, I would of said no. Why give the belt to Rey when you could just keep it on Edge, Undertaker, or put it on a new guy like Mr. Kennedy. But now all of those people are no longer on Smackdown, and when Rey comes back, he will be the most over face on that show. The WWE really has three choices for the World Heavyweight Championship for the rest of this year:
1. Keep the belt on Khali.
2. Have Batista win it (which may be hard to buy after his incredibly large number of unsuccessful title shots this year).
3. Have Rey win it.
Seeing Rey win the belt in a match against the Great Khali definitely has some appeal. A lot of people cheer to see Rey overcome the odds, and if booked properly, it could be believable.
So, can he be champ?
Maybe. This will be Rey's best shot at the title for quite some time.
Can Shawn Michaels be champ
This will be more like fantasy booking, but here's what I would for Shawn Michael's return. I would hype it at all. I would suddenly have him come out of nowhere and do something extremely heelish, like cost HHH a match or something. That way, we could set up another HHH/HBK feud, this time with HHH being the heel.
Ok, now that I got that out of my system, I'd love to think HBK will get another run with the WWE title, but the fact that it hasn't happened yet is a bit concerning. Ever since returning to the WWE the man has been performing at an insane level, but only has one short WHC reign to show for it. And once again, the issue of the crowded roster comes up. And who knows, maybe the greedy merchandise bug will hit the WWE, and they'll reform DX in hopes of selling shirts, which didn't exactly do wonders for Shawn's singles career last time.
So, can he be champ?
It definitely can happen, and I'd like to think it will sometime before HBK retires for good. Still, with so many guys seemingly in line for some time with the title, it's hard to see when Shawn may get some time with the belt.
Can the Undertaker be champ?
It's a shame that the Undertaker's last reign, which was supposed to last for some time, got cut short. Still, the Undertaker has been over with the WWE for a long time, and I think it's safe to say that he'll take his spot at the top of the card back when he returns this fall.
But will the WWE want to give him the title again? They may think twice about it after his last reign. The Undertaker, somewhat old and beaten up, may be looked at as a bit of a liability. Maybe the WWE fears that he's too likely to be injured to be given the belt. Remember, before his feud with Batista, the Undertaker wasn't really a fulltime worker. And who can blame the man, he's been wrestling for so long and still does so at an incredibly high level, it's hard to blame him for taking some time off.
So, can he be champ?
It's probably best for him if he isn't. His body can't take that kind of schedule any more, and I'd rather not see the Undertaker suffer more injuries.
Can Edge be champ?
This one will be a bit short. Yes. Edge has been a great heel and top performer ever since he won his first title from Cena. As long as he recovers from injury well, he should have no problems getting his spot back on Smackdown.
So, can he… ahhh, screw it. Of course he can.
Hey Mike
I enjoyed your insight to the future of the WWE belts and the TNA
Heavyweight belt
I just wondering if you were going to update that column on how you
see the future of the World Heavyweight Championship since Edge is
now injured Khali has the belt.
Enjoy your columns .Keep up the good work!
E. Bradley
I'll definitely be taking a look at the WHC belt again sometime soon. Even if I don't directly look at the "next six months" or whatever, I'm always talking about champions and "who will be next" anyways, so the issue is bound to come up. Thanks for your kind words.
How about a Column about who's gonna break the Glass Ceiling in the next 6 months? it could be your first WWE/TNA column. their are a few guys i'd love to see in the Main Event, most noticably being Homicide of LAX I think he could easily hang with Angle and if your an ROH fan you've seen his awesome matches against Am Drag & Joe. another guy I'd like to see in the Main Event is my fellow Tar Heel Native, Matt Hardy although that already seems to be in the works.
-JBBTHWK
That's actually a pretty good idea, and one I may very well pursue. There are a lot of potential candidates, so I may split the column up. Do one for the WWE, and a separate one for TNA. Thanks for the suggestion.
This next email is in response to a reader from last week who called Khali the worst world champion of all time:
does he not remember David Arquette as WCW Champion???!!!??? I mean i hate Khali just as much as the rest of us...but this way he gets his one, and i hope one, dominant reign as champion, most likely then losing to Hogan, yes I dare dream, lol or Flair giving them one last reign as champion themselves.....my other response is how do they condone using wrestlers such as Jim Duggan, and such, when they obviously have no real marketability?
just wondering.
DT in stlouis
Good point, DT. At least Khali is, I some sense of the word, "a wrestler".
As for your question, guys like Dugan around to stick around because they do have a name, and that name can be exploited. You want to give an up and coming heel some quick heat, have them attack Dugan. Orton does it all the time with his Legend Killer gimmick. He just beats up some old guy and then the fans hate him more. Works like a charm.
The Hard Justice main event just sucks, 4 titles on the line in an one-on-one match? This is plainly stupid, who booked this match? I mean, you have to tell the world that your "World Heavyweight Title" is THE most prestigious thing to be achieved in pro wrestling, especially for their new TNA title. So what will the wrestler do now if they have all 4 titles? If thats me (non-kayfabely), I'll leave the company or retire from wrestling, since I just achieved ANYTHING at the same time. And if they are having Joe winning the TNA Title at Bound for Glory, wouldn't it be a bit meaningless, since he had a chance of having all 4 titles, but end up only having one.
Logically, would you need that 2 titles (Tag/X Division title) if you are the reigning World Champion? And here comes the IWGP World Championship held by Angle, why are you going to recognize that World title in your own promotion if you just made a new TNA World title? So which title is the more prestigious one really?
They start to make titles look like a joke. Holding 4 titles at the same time might be good if you won it from numerous indy promotions, but you have a wrestler winning ALL the titles in your promotion & still another World Title from Japan? Are you kidding me?
I'm not against title vs title matches, if you make it right. A simple X Division Champion Samoa Joe vs TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle at Hard Justice would be good enough, or if you look at WWE, they might have a US/IC/CW Champ (any 2) facing any of the tag team champions, winner take all the titles, that would be good enough in my opinion. What if they are having a tournament now, with the World Heavyweight Champion, WWE Champion, ECW World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, Cruiserweight Champion of the World, World Tag Team Champion and WWE Tag Team Champion (lets assume both tag titles are hold by one guy, like Joe in TNA) have a 8 man tournament like King of the Ring. You beat your opponent, win their title, then proceed to the next round. At the final, you have a wrestler with 4 title against ANOTHER wrestler with 4 title, the winner walks away with 8 titles. That would be a REAL "Night of Champions" isn't it? I think WWE should consider this concept for the whole Vengeance PPV next year, and it would be a "Night of Cena's" for sure.
- Wong Jun Yi
Yeah, the Hard Justice main event does reek a bit of "trying to hard" with its every title on the line main event. Still, I don't think the long term ramifications will be that devastating. If a wrestler won all the titles, they would want to hold onto those titles as long as possible. I don't think they would, as you suggest, want to retire.
It is going to be interesting to see how they get all of those titles off of the man. How can you make your world champion look credibly if he's slowly losing all of his titles? And you can't just let him keep them, because you need those titles to push the rest of your talent.
These are dangerous waters TNA is about to navigate. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it.
Well, that's it for this week. Be sure to e-mail me any questions, comments, or suggestions you might have. Have a good week.
