Cordova’s Commentary: Just Wait Until Next Year

This is a new series that will be airing every Friday.  Eric Cordova is someone I’ve known for a long time and I’ve read and listened to his takes on wrestling for years.  He’s got a very good mind for this stuff and he’s worth checking out.  Every week he’ll be having a column here and I can highly recommend you check it out.  He’ll be around in the comments so please let us know what you think as he’ll be there to respond.

Just Wait Until Next Year

By Eric Cordova

Before we get started, I’m going to suck up a bit. My friend KB has allowed me to share some thoughts weekly on his site, and for that, I am grateful. So, every Friday, be on the lookout for some commentary and I look forward to interacting with the rabid KB fans I hear so much about. With that out of the way, let’s talk wrestling, shall we?

After last year’s Wrestlemania, two stars shone brighter than the rest. In one main event, Brock Lesnar captured the Universal Championship, while in the other, Roman Reigns retired the Undertaker (except if a man in jorts calls him out of course). With those two results, obviously the paths would have to clash at some point, perhaps in New Orleans at next year’s Wrestlemania?

And therein lies the problem.

Wrestling is a living, breathing thing. As a live show, it evolves by the second, adapting and catering to the will of the fans in attendance and adjusting weekly to the audience at home. A great and many times, the WWE has fully understood this and delivered upon it.

Remember back in 2014 when The Bella Twins wrestled Paige and Emma for a grand total of 30 seconds? Twitter does, as #givedivasachance became so popular that the WWE has completely altered the presentation of its female performers.

This has happened many times, but it seems more common these days for the WWE writers to have a long-term plan and refuse to deviate from it under any circumstance.

Consider 2012. On Raw 1000, The Rock shows up and lays out a challenge to CM Punk for the WWE title. Of course, that challenge wouldn’t be for that night, but for when The Rock felt like coming back, The Royal Rumble. So, from that night in July on, we knew not to invest in any CM Punk feud because no matter what, we were getting Punk/Rock in January. This was especially unfortunate for a certain cornfed meathead.

I must ask though, would CM Punk vs The Rock have held your attention less if say, Ryback, the superstar I alluded to, won the title for a brief time in the fall? Speaking only for myself, it wouldn’t have made a difference in that match, but it would have made a major difference in the career of Ryback. Instead, we saw Ryback face loss after loss, effectively killing his main event run because of the fear of deviation.

This year, we saw Roman Reigns take on Brock Lesnar in the main event of Wrestlemania, not because he was the most over superstar, the most successful superstar, or the superstar who had the best year. We saw that match because the writers decided in April of 2017 that it was going to happen no matter what. Here’s why this line of thinking doesn’t work.

At least year’s Wrestlemania, Braun Strowman was in the pre-show Battle Royale and eliminated early by a group of competitors. No writer, or fan for that matter, could have foresaw his meteoric rise to the top of the company that perhaps should have culminated in a main event slot at Wrestlemania.

And how about Samoa Joe? From Authority lackey to being the most believable superstar matched up with Brock Lesnar, he too could have slotted in nicely to that main event slot if not for injury.

It seems that, outside of 2014, which I’m not totally convinced was an actual deviation from the plan, lately the modus operandi of the WWE writers is to decide a year in advance who the main event next year will be and stick to it like a t-shirt to skin on a hot summer day.

But why bring it up now? Wrestlemania is over and there’s no reason to be bitter about Reigns and Lesnar, especially when a true curveball was thrown our way with the Lesnar win. That’s true, but remember, it’s April of 2018, so if you’re a WWE writer, you’re already thinking about Wrestlemania NEXT YEAR.

Almost immediately after this year’s edition ended, rumors started flying about next year’s show of shows. At the top of the rumor list was next year’s potential main event. After a stellar first showing, it has already been rumored that Ronda Rousey would main event next year’s show. Most thought Ronda’s submissions and striking would be a perfect match for the technical and physical prowess from Asuka, and with both potentially undefeated, you get the ultimate in “something’s got to give”. But this is WWE, where writers decide what’s best, not the fans.

The hot rumor now is Rousey vs. Charlotte in the main event of Wrestlemania 35, because what would any female accomplishment be without Charlotte Flair?

Either way, the bigger issue at play here is that I fully believe that this match will in fact close Wrestlemania 35. Whether it deserves it or not, its fate may have already been decided. And while the women main-eventing a Wrestlemania would truly be history-making, that slot should be decided based on what makes sense come next year. Heck, maybe Bayley or Becky Lynch, or even Ember Moon becomes the hottest thing in WWE by that time. Perhaps Nia fully gets over. Or maybe something happens in the men’s division that takes the wrestling world by storm and postpones the first female main event for reasons of merit.

None of the aforementioned scenarios would be a negative, but what would be is sticking to the plan laid out 12 months prior regardless of how things play out. The rigidity of WWE’s long term booking has been a writing crutch for far too long. It’s about time they embrace a little indecision and maybe, just maybe, a little bit of listening to its fans.

Eric Cordova is the host of the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show. The show airs live on Wednesday nights at 9pm at i95sportsnetwork.com and TuneInRadio (i95). Follow the show at the Mouth of the South Shore Radio Show page on Facebook and @motssradio on Twitter and Instagram.