Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.

This week, Robert DeFelice, Andy Sahadeo and Callum Wiggins will be giving their opinions on what they expect from team red coming off of WWE No Mercy 2017!

The Monday Night Raw crew is diving headfirst into a period of transition following WWE No Mercy 2017. Where does John Cena go from here? What's next for Brock and his Universal Championship? Which title holders could be used more prominently? Let's discuss...


DeFELICE: The problem with Brock Lesnar matches, especially this one, is that they're built to make you think somebody is actually going to die. However, without any special stipulation to increase intensity, you end up with a suplex fest. The problem here is that the matches and as quickly as they begin. Truthfully, I understand the reasoning behind all of this. Brock wasn't built to go 30 minutes with Braun and his matches are ending with one finish so that when somebody finally kicks out of one, it will be a big deal. With all that being said, I completely sympathize with the people who were chanting that they were bored during the match even if I don't echo those sentiments. I think Brock Lesnar matches should be No DQ. He appears scarcely enough that he's an attraction, so doing a stipulation match every time he appears isn't too much of a deal. This will allow he and his opponent to add an element of excitement and danger to match the intense build that Brock Lesnar matches always get.

As far as Braun, he survived losing the Andre The Giant battle royale that was tailor-made for him, so he'll be fine. They've already shown that this loss is going to make him more intense and destructive. A good way to rebound.

SAHADEO: Personally I don't think there's anything that can be done at this point to make a Brock Lesnar match exciting. We know what his deal is where he only shows up on a part-time basis only to destroy the full-time Superstars and then retreats back into obscurity until the next big event. This is all leading up to the ever predictable Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar main event at the next WrestleMania so I don't expect Lesnar to lose anytime soon. As for Braun Strowman, I don't think his momentum was killed. At this point, losing to Brock Lesnar is whatever––we already know who is going to be the one to dethrone him and that man is Roman Reigns. WWE will never change that. Braun Strowman, although losing to just one F5, will be just fine.

WIGGINS: If recent years have shown us anything, it is to make Brock Lesnar matches interesting you need to add more than one person. Think about it - it is arguably the two best matches he's been involved in since his 2012 return were the Triple Threat match at Royal Rumble 2015 and this SummerSlam's Fatal Four-Way. Lesnar is undoubtedly an attraction and can be explosively combative when he's motivated, but the booking of his title defenses has been lackluster, to say the least. In both the matches with Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, WWE has done an outstanding job building them as legitimate threats to Lesnar's reign, only to undo that entirely with decisive losses.

While Strowman will no doubt recover from this encounter and remain a main event fixture, this hurts his momentum significantly. He threw most of his big moves at Lesnar to no avail, only to fall after one F-5. Whoever is booking these matches seems to think it is enough to have Lesnar's opponent take the majority of a match only for the Beast to rally and overwhelm them. The problem lies in that Lesnar is so much more believable and engaging as the dominant aggressor, and it makes his opponents look somewhat incompetent and second-rate. Put it this way, after how quickly Lesnar dispatched of Strowman, why should we believe someone like Finn Balor or Seth Rollins could even scratch the Universal Champion?


SAHADEO: The Miz, no doubt about it. This man, although not the greatest technical wizard in the ring or anything of that sort, frequently puts on great matches and plays his role to a tee. Every single promo and every single match, this guy is just on absolute fire. Personally, I don't think he's being held back whatsoever because he basically is the face of the midcard and the face of the Intercontinental Championship of this era. Plus, you can't really give him Raw's world title for obvious reasons, so Miz is stuck taking second best. But that's the beauty of The Miz, he can take second best and somehow work it into a way in which whatever he's doing and whatever his opponent is doing can look like gold.

WIGGINS: The Miz. I will admit to being a fanboy for the most must-see Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, but I don't feel I'm alone in that or think it is unjustified. Everything The Miz is doing right now on Raw is exceptionally good, and he has constantly delivered both in the ring and on the microphone for well over a year. With Raw's Universal Championship scene a land for giants, Miz has claimed the Intercontinental Championship as the prize for rising stars and smaller superstars to aspire to and has made that belt more relevant than it has been in years. This historic and significant belt feels more important when it's on his shoulder, which is a testament to the A-Lister's outstanding performances.

Both Alexa Bliss and Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins have elevated their respective divisions also, but nobody can hold a candle to The Miz in my opinion for 2017. He can be involved in as many segments on the three-hour slog of a Raw show as he wants, because he makes it them so much more watchable. At his current level, you would be hard-pressed to think of a better IC Champion in the 21st century.

DeFELICE: I believe that the women have already ascended as high as they need to go for now, with Alexa Bliss even headlining Raw not too long ago. Instead, I'm going to focus on the stacked male champion lineup. Every male champion on the brand could easily be headlining WrestleMania. In fact, two of them already have. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose should be getting utilized better in my opinion. Both men are at the top of WWE's youth movement. In fact, it could be argued that The Shield ushered in the youth movement. More than that though, we need to talk about how good it can be for the company when there's a high-profile tag team of former World Champions holding the Tag Team Championship.

Look no further than Rated RKO in '06, or DX and JeriShow in '09, just to name a few examples. Pairings like this elevate the tag team division and can bring new dynamics into main event matches. Last week in this article, I suggested that Brock Lesnar would next defend his Universal Championship against Seth and Dean in a Triple Threat match at Survivor Series. This would be a good way for it to appear like the odds are stacked against the seemingly unbeatable champion and it's just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with a high-profile team. I like the direction they're going with them against Braun, but I hope it sticks and they don't get lost in the shuffle until they break up.


WIGGINS: I expect John Cena to be in the Royal Rumble, whether it's announced in advance or not. His movie commitments make it tricky to predict how much time he can afford to Raw or SmackDown Live, but I think it is a fair assumption he'll be a feature on the Road to WrestleMania. Who he feuds with is the real question, and that will either be determined by who eliminates him in the Rumble, or that long-anticipated match with The Undertaker on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

Of course, we're still waiting for that record-breaking 17th title reign for John Cena, so definitely don't believe we've seen the last of him in high-profile matches. But stretching the journey to that will make it worth waiting to see, even though some will be critical it is Super Cena being handed this accolade. Suffice to say, with Raw clearly heading for Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns and SmackDown's WWE Championship scene in complete disarray, I think Cena will be out of the title picture until well into 2018.

DeFELICE: First off, let me say that having watched and grown up with John's evolution from beginning to end, it wasn't easy for me to hear him basically say he was done being a full-time performer. No matter what, he deserves all the respect in the world and I'm truly sad to see this transition period arrive. I see John appearing next at the Royal Rumble to take on Lesnar and give the fight of his life but ultimately lose. Then, I see him appearing on Raw the next night to set up his feud for WrestleMania, and if I had to guess right now, I would put him against Samoa Joe.

All of that is a few months away unfortunately and for now, I would like to just remember his legendary full-time career. Although, I can't wait to see what he does next.

SAHADEO: I started watching wrestling in 2002 around the time John Cena made his debut. I've bared witness to all of Cena's accomplishments, from winning the U.S. Title at WrestleMania XX to the glorious match with CM Punk at Money in the Bank 2011 to the burial of Damien Sandow. Though I wasn't always a Cena fan, it truly was sad to see him go out in that fashion. As for where he'll show up next, that really leaves me clueless. I would've predicted a feud with Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship, but how does Cena challenge for a World Championship after such a big loss? My prediction is that we'll see him in some sort of capacity at Survivor Series, granted that it's a Big Four PPV. As for who he'll face, we shall see.