Raw

his suplexes are a lot cleaner, also he actually looks like he wants matches to tell a story

To be fair to him around 2012 the fact he was even in WWE was a story in of itself. That surreal aura (which has now been transferred to Sting) carried him through that first year where he was raw as hell. The calibre of talent he was in his first run suggested it was only a matter of time before he re-discovered his wrestling nous.

The great thing about Lesnar is every match of his since he's comeback has been better than his last - minus the Taker match. You can see it gradually returning to him in the ring, his name and association with Paul Heyman take care of the rest

Like or loathe the US title is in someways being booked as big as the WWE Championship belt itself. Which still points to an over reliance on Cena, so if we assume that the U,S title is a better way of presenting Cena, where does that leave the IC title?

Imo the IC title is akin to being number 1 contender for the big one. Historically it has been held by some major talents. By pushing the US title so much harder than the IC, it feels like it would take a main eventer to legitimize the belt (i.c).

Lets say Randy takes the belt and they build up both titles around them, and indeed unify at WM. You have a new belt with a new identity, but a fully restructured roster as a result. But will the E do it?

Theoretically I'm guessing the plan was having Cena & Bryan as their mid-card champions was going to force them to book the titles properly. Course in practice even if Bryan hadn't of been sidelined he inevitably would've taken a backseat to Cena - and thus the IC Title would've taken a backseat to the U.S Title.

I get the sentimental value of the IC Title, and in giving that belt to Bryan instead of Cena they showed how little they value it's importance anymore. The way WWE is so quick to deride anything associated with WCW, you'd think in that situation Vince would demand Cena be the IC Champion and Bryan the US Champion. The ironic thing is it works a lot better creativity the direction they went - have the patriotic American hold the US Title - have the workhorse hold the IC Title, booking for dummies yet in WWE's case it's worth applauded sadly.

I can damn near guarantee WWE would love nothing more than to do Cena vs. Orton to unify the US & IC Titles. And the unfortunate thing from their prospective, if they hadn't had their pieces of business on and off throughout 2014, they could've probably squeezed that match into the WM32 mid-card and it might've worked. I wouldn't mind see it, I've never disliked that rivalry as much as others, but they'd just be risking a crowd takeover which you don't want at WM.

So Kevin Owens vs John Cena at Elimination Chamber? By Gawd I don't believe this!

The rivalry is perfect IMO. You have the sociopath who fights for cathartic reasons and the altruist.

The translation of that between the belts is poignant and achievable creatively.

The IC title is IMO the most important belt, especially in this reality era!

I do understand why people have grown to resent the Cena/Orton rivalry. These 'best of the generation' rivalries can't be overplayed because the characters are inevitably doomed to play the same creative roles in them.

For me it's always been very simple with these two in the ring. In an era polluted with corny, overzealous, bland looking talents - when I see Cena & Orton sizing up each other (once Cena's taken his rainbow shirt off) I get a fantastic sensation of star power clashing with star power that wrestling used to thrive on. Both decent sized guys, clean shaven, polar opposites in motivation and morality...... this is what wrestling used to be man. WWE can give me this match 100 more times and I couldn't care less. That image of two genuine stars occupying the ring is worth it every time.

Btw. Adore your description of Orton as cathartic. Perfect

Sadly now after 25years(I'm 31) I've given up on wrestling, just can't get up for it anymore,

for years I wished and prayed for a return to the attitude era which never will return, the last few years I've generally just recorded the shows and watched them fast forward and only purchased wm without fail since I could pay for it, but now the storylines and characters Imo are dull nothing there now that wants me to watch raw again next week, I can remember watching raw at school and when it finished with a amazing show thinking about it all week until next friday(I think that was the day it was on)

I will always defend the people who watch it against the idiots who say, how old are you? do you know it's fake, then those same people going to the betting shop to put money on who Lucy beales killer was

Anyway felt abit emotional writing that, probably will crumble and get wm next year, we'll see

I will always defend the people who watch it against the idiots who say, how old are you? do you know it's fake, then those same people going to the betting shop to put money on who Lucy beales killer was
-------------------------------------------------------------
If you haven't already, watch the parody video "Wrestling isn't Wrestling". Cripples that argument splendidly and will get you feeling nicely nostalgic

is a good video, with how many actual wrestlers involved in it, it was always going to be good