How do they save the main event?

[prophet]

What would you do to salvage the main event? At this point I think we're all in agreement that the main event is going to be fucking awful; the match itself will be okay but nobody cares about the feud, nobody cares about Reigns and nobody will care if he closes out the show holding the title aloft.

So what do you do? Do you try and solve it or at this point do you just fucking accept it and grin and bear it this year?

Honestly at this point I'd just throw Ambrose, Brock and Wyatt in the mix and do a big fun clusterfuck fatal 5-way to close the show because why the fuck not?

[Ali]

Fingerpoke of Doom.

Seriously.

The crowd hates Roman and can't stand the Authority, so why not use it? Have Triple H lay down for Roman, and Roman joins them, making them all Super Heels.

BUT THEN!

Have someone come out and call BS on it, and goad Roman into defending the title right then and there. Ambrose, AJ, maybe even a debut like Samoa Joe or Finn Balor. They pull the upset, the fans go home happy, and we have an instant new Top Storyline. Sure, it means the Authority sticks around a bit longer, but the new Champion can team with Shane McMahon and finally counter them for real.

[Str8Shooter]

They don't. They hope that Trips and Roman can put on a great match in ring and the crowd is hot either booing Reigns or cheering Trips or both. Roman wins clean and they shower confetti and blast pyro to drown out any booing or heckling.

It's week after week on Raw after Mania that's going to be the problem though.

[The Legend]

I don't agree that the main event is fucking awful and in all reality, I'm not going to come up with a way to "fix it" for someone that calls it that. If that's your feeling on it, there's no saving it, but don't paint everyone with a broad brush.

[SlightlyJames]

They could save it pretty easily on Saturday if they wanted to. But they won't.

[prophet]

I don't agree that the main event is fucking awful and in all reality, I'm not going to come up with a way to "fix it" for someone that calls it that.

Don't post in this thread then.

[The Legend]

I don't agree that the main event is fucking awful and in all reality, I'm not going to come up with a way to "fix it" for someone that calls it that.

Don't post in this thread then.

The reason I posted here was your notion that "well I feel this way so therefore everyone must feel this way".

[prophet]

I don't agree that the main event is fucking awful and in all reality, I'm not going to come up with a way to "fix it" for someone that calls it that.

Don't post in this thread then.

The reason I posted here was your notion that "well I feel this way so therefore everyone must feel this way".

Where did I say that everyone must feel this way?

[The Legend]

At this point I think we're all in agreement that the main event is going to be fucking awful; the match itself will be okay but nobody cares about the feud, nobody cares about Reigns and nobody will care if he closes out the show holding the title aloft.

This would be where.

[prophet]

At this point I think we're all in agreement that the main event is going to be fucking awful; the match itself will be okay but nobody cares about the feud, nobody cares about Reigns and nobody will care if he closes out the show holding the title aloft.

This would be where.

Nope. My opinion is that the majority of people think the main event is awful and don't care about it.

Never said you must agree with me.

[The Legend]

At this point I think we're all in agreement that the main event is going to be fucking awful; the match itself will be okay but nobody cares about the feud, nobody cares about Reigns and nobody will care if he closes out the show holding the title aloft.

This would be where.

Nope. My opinion is that the majority of people think the main event is awful and don't care about it.

Never said you must agree with me.

I'm not saying you are forcing your feelings on others, just saying that your generalization was incorrect. I provided an opposing opinion, what's so wrong with that?

[prophet]

At this point I think we're all in agreement that the main event is going to be fucking awful; the match itself will be okay but nobody cares about the feud, nobody cares about Reigns and nobody will care if he closes out the show holding the title aloft.

This would be where.

Nope. My opinion is that the majority of people think the main event is awful and don't care about it.

Never said you must agree with me.

I'm not saying you are forcing your feelings on others, just saying that your generalization was incorrect. I provided an opposing opinion, what's so wrong with that?

Nothing; I just found it to be a negative contribution to the thread, that's all.

[Hanley!]

I don't agree that the main event is fucking awful and in all reality, I'm not going to come up with a way to "fix it" for someone that calls it that. If that's your feeling on it, there's no saving it, but don't paint everyone with a broad brush.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if you're happy with the main event then that's great for you. Statistically, there are always going to be people out there who enjoy any given WWE storyline. They're never going to keep the entire audience happy, or piss the entire audience off. I'm sure all of us here have had a soft spot for a story that wasn't generally well received at some point or another.

Taking opinion out of the equation for a minute though, I think it's fair to say that this main event feud is a failure. That's not opinion by now, it's basically objective fact. They've spent two years trying to make Reigns work as the top guy and he's only getting further away from where he needs to be. They're barely focusing on him coming up to the show itself, to try and make sure he's not booed. Wrestlemania seems to be getting less buzz than ever. Fans aren't happy and are being very vocal about not wanting this main event. It really doesn't matter what they do at Wrestlemania or how good the match is, they've already failed by booking a headlining match that is alienating to so many of their fans.

As for how you fix it, I really agree with Brett on this one. There's no way to fix this. They have to go forward with things as planned and hope for the best. It's sad, but there you go. The only thing I'd say that they could do is to have Reigns turn heel on Ambrose after the match, because a heel turn is the best thing for him right now. But even that would work better on Raw the next night, where they'd have a little more time and freedom to give some proper context to the turn. Plus, on Wrestlemania they'll want the face to win in the main event ... ironically because they like the idea of sending the fans home happy.

[DBSoT]

Fingerpoke of Doom.

Seriously.

The crowd hates Roman and can't stand the Authority, so why not use it? Have Triple H lay down for Roman, and Roman joins them, making them all Super Heels.

BUT THEN!

Have someone come out and call BS on it, and goad Roman into defending the title right then and there. Ambrose, AJ, maybe even a debut like Samoa Joe or Finn Balor. They pull the upset, the fans go home happy, and we have an instant new Top Storyline. Sure, it means the Authority sticks around a bit longer, but the new Champion can team with Shane McMahon and finally counter them for real.

As much as this would send people home happy, it wouldn't make sense in the course of the story. HHH has beaten Reigns down and (storyline) broken his nose. Him aligning himself with HHH would be a really odd choice. If they wanted to have it makes sense it would be better if Reigns just won the title and was celebrating with Ambrose. Reigns then turns heel and spears Ambrose for taking his moment. Reigns goes on Raw and explains that both Rollins and Ambrose tried to take his WM spotlight and he isn't having it anymore.

What happens in the main event will be continent on what happens in the Shane vs Taker match. If Shane has control of Raw, then you may see him make some late changes to the WWE title match. What I would prefer to happen is Reigns as a heel champion going against Shane as owner of Raw. What I would hate is if Shane and Reigns were both still faces. What heel would have any chance against the champion and owner of the main show?

[Everlong]

They managed to find a way to fix last year's main event that no one wanted, but that main event included the hugely over Brock Lesnar and had the added element of the hugely over Seth Rollins cashing in this year.

I don't know what they could possibly do this year to send the fans home happy. It sure as hell wouldn't be Reigns winning. They could have HHH retain and kill off Reigns's chances of ever again being looked at as a legitimate top face option (if there even is a chance of that any more... probably not). But they've made their bed, they have to lie in it now.

[KaiserGlider]

Pretty sure they'll bring The Rock out for a run-in to try to create some buzz, which is fine. At this point I don't think it's that big of a deal that Reigns wins. This is the longest-running storyline they've put together in a long time, might as well finish it to give Reigns his "due", then take the belt off him after a short reign and reshuffle the main event field post-Wrestlemania with guys like Ambrose and Styles.

The rest of the cards looks decent - if it's a good show, by the time we get to Reigns/Haitch it won't be that big of a deal that Reigns wins. I'm confident they'll have a good match - Haitch knows how to play the game (pun intended), and like I said before, Rock plus some other likely run-ins should make for a good final portion of the match. The best way to do it is to have it be as chaotic and action packed as possible, then have Reigns win out of nowhere before people get a chance to see the finish coming and boo it. Kinda like the triple threat at Fastlane.

We've seen Cena win in the main event of Wrestlemania a bunch of times, it's not like this would be the first time Wrestlemania doesn't end with a huge happy moment. The thing with last year was that Brock Lesnar WAS over as fuck and nobody wanted him to get pinned by Reigns. This year, I think it's fair to say that most people don't really care if Triple H is champion or not.

[Everlong]

Actually, @KaiserGlider gave me an idea.

We pretty much know the fans aren't going to go home happy no matter what. Neither Reigns nor HHH winning is exactly a positive outcome.

So if WWE could embrace a big heel moment rather than having their "top" face get booed out of the building after winning, they could still fix the ending and create a buzz moving forward. The solution: turn Reigns heel.

This is almost definitely not going to happen because Reigns is the next Cena and WWE has no balls. But here's how you do it:

Have the Rock run in at the end for a big pop, give Reigns the victory over HHH. Looks like we're going to have the face celebration that everyone is expecting but isn't exactly thrilled about. Then have Reigns beat the piss out of the Rock and close the show posing over his body.

In the following weeks, have Reigns cut promos about how he hated the idea that The Rock thought he (Reigns) needed his star power to get over with the fans, how he built himself up into the big time all by himself and didn't need a Hollywood star's help for people to like him. This is an easy segue into a feud that has someone (Ambrose? Someone else?) come out and shoot on Reigns about how the only reason he's in the position he is is because he's had corporate backing, and that the idea that he made it big all on his own is ridiculous.

Eventually this can lead to a Rock/Reigns showdown with Reigns as a full-blown heel at some summer PPV. Let Reigns hold on to the belt for most of the year, knocking off challengers left and right and giving more credence to the idea that maybe he really IS a self-made champion. Meanwhile, throughout all this time, WWE works on building up a new big-time face to ultimately be his foil and his demise late in the year.

Like I said, none of this is ever going to happen, but given the cards we've been dealt, that's exactly what I'd do.

[Hanley!]

That would work, Tim. It's not really a way to save the main event, so much, as it would be after the main event. But at least it would have people talking about something that worked and was exciting after the show ended, which would be a great result considering where they are now.

[The Legend]

Yeah, the main event is what it is and Mania will sell itself to a large extent. The best thing that could come out of this year's event is something that generates buzz and wonder about what's going to happen next, not just in the main event, but across multiple areas of the card to try and use Mania's popularity to build off of into the future.