Wildcat Centerpiece In The Men's Division

I talked about how a "wildcat" centerpiece would work in the diva division yesterday. Today belongs to the men's division. Why might this be appealing? You have had a centerpiece for almost a decade now that has trouble properly connecting with the fans. Instead of the WWE addressing the problem in a manner to try to please their fans and run an efficient product, they have taken advantage of that hate John Cena gets for the sake of storylines, which often fail to do too much. On the other side of that, you have some guys that the fans want to see get pushed that often get buried or used to put over Cena, then get buried. If the WWE utilized some sort of wildcat strategy, that might give Cena more of a rest, have a variety of other guys pushed well, and create storylines and feuds that can really excite the fans. The WWE does rest John Cena from the title scene and main-event scene at times, but not enough to please fans. So more must be done.

Wildcat. Bray Wyatt. He was the first guy that came to mind when I thought about talking about this. Does he have a "wildcat" gimmick? Deranged cult leader? Yeah, I think that counts. He had a shot at winning the World title a few months ago. I remember thinking back then how interesting a title reign with him would have been. Don't just let him have the title, but push him as the top guy for a few months. Don't just use him as a jobber to the centerpiece, but develop a few successful title defenses for him against other guys. I felt like TNA would be more likely to do that kind of thing, not the WWE. With a creepy guy like that as the top star for a while, things would surely be shaken up.

A lot of fans say the WWE botched the Nexus angle a few years ago. They really didn't. They weren't trying to create stars out of all those guys. It was a storyline designed to put over Cena. It did that. They then moved on, slowly letting the air out of the angle. But the WWE could have done better. Wade Barrett could have legitimately won the WWE title back then. But what would the WWE likely have done? Probably have him drop it to Cena. Let's say they gave Barrett the title and actually let him run with it. Have him defend against both faces and heels, since his group was attacking both sides. Keep Cena away from Barrett, at least for a while. Have Cena feud with the other members of the group. How much better would that storyline have been if the leader of these rookie rebels was pushed as top guy in the company for a while? That would be a wildcat centerpiece. And I think a lot of fans unhappy with how the WWE handled the storyline would be more content with this.

CM Punk held the WWE Championship for over a year. For most of that time, however, he was still being overshadowed by John Cena. CM Punk was never the centerpiece. Could they have done a better job with him? I think so. They could have pushed him as the wildcat centerpiece. You have a controversial figure that drops pipe bombs and stands up to those trying to maintain the status quo so many fans are sick of. Unlike the previous two examples I gave, you could have CM Punk as wildcat centerpiece without having him be heel. Fans loved him and what he was doing could work well as a face. He should have been the guy that put John Laurinaitis out of business. And aside from that, I am sure there are other ways to keep his anti-establishment character going for a few more months in the main spotlight. John Cena doing these things is not fresh. Besides, CM Punk could have brought more edge to these type of storylines.

Just to reiterate a main point, why is it important that the wildcat centerpiece have some type of wild gimmick? I talked about a deranged cult leader, a leader of a rebel group, and quite possibly the most controversial superstar the WWE has had this decade. You are not just replacing John Cena with a guy that is going to do exactly what he does in the main spotlight. You are replacing John Cena with a guy that can really shake things up. You look at Randy Orton. You can say they have pushed him in Cena's spot for a while over the years, but he doesn't really bring a change in the title feuds and the main-event scene like certain guys with unique characters could bring. The wildcat centerpiece is supposed to shake things up when he gets pushed in that position. That's why you bother doing it. Eliminate some of that staleness from too much Cena.