If you were going to concoct a worst-case scenario for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, it would look a lot like Thursday, when news broke that Seth Rollins has suffered meniscus tears during a match in Dublin and would be out for six to nine months.
Seth Rollins’ injury isn’t the end of the world for WWE
The world champion will be out at least half a year. Ratings are at an all-time low and WrestleMania season is about to begin. Somehow, now isn’t the time to panic.
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Bill Hanstock is a writer, author and Emmy Award-winning producer. He began writing for SB Nation in 2011.
The top of the card is looking grim in WWE. John Cena is out until late December working on a personal project. Randy Orton has suffered a shoulder injury and will also be out for up to six months. Brock Lesnar is currently off television after wrapping up his program with the Undertaker (although both Lesnar and assumedly Cena could be called back to TV if the company feels their back is against the wall).
Add to this that television ratings for RAW have been slipping for months are presently at an all-time low for the modern era. Rollins was just two weeks away from facing his arch-nemesis Roman Reigns for the world title at Survivor Series, presumably to lead to shenanigans and a rematch between the two at next year's WrestleMania 32 (which the company is hoping will become the biggest WrestleMania in history).
Now instead of Rollins potentially holding the title for an entire year before losing it to his greatest foe in the ultimate feel-good story at the biggest show of the year, he will be missing WrestleMania altogether.
But now isn’t the time to proclaim that the sky is falling.
Make no mistake: this is a huge blow to the championship and to the top of the card, particularly at a time when so many top stars are out of action. But right now, when the company has nothing to lose by mixing things up in earnest, is when they can -- and probably will -- go for broke.
WWE has vacated the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and will hold a tournament for the belt at Survivor Series on Nov. 22. This is uncannily similar to what happened at Survivor Series 1998, which also featured a tournament for the vacated WWF Championship. That evening ended with The Rock turning heel, aligning himself with Mr. McMahon and winning his first world title. History could repeat itself in two weeks.
No one ever wants to see a wrestler get injured ... especially the current world champ, who is just getting his first run on top. But there is a silver lining.
The low ratings are largely overblown, thanks to the new normal of DVR, online viewing and the balkanization of the current cable landscape -- not to mention the current business model and success of the WWE Network, which has begun turning a legitimate profit in a very short amount of time. But the uncertainty and tragic intrigue of the world title scene may result in people tuning in simply to see how WWE deals with this latest setback.
The worst-case scenario for Survivor Series and the vacant world title is that WWE will be forced to pull the trigger on elevating one of the many young stars that fans have been clamoring for to be elevated for years.
On the babyface side, you have perennial stepping stones Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro and the heavy favorite Roman Reigns waiting to take the crown. On the heel side, Kevin Owens winning the title might just break the Internet. Bray Wyatt could easily take a break from actively feuding with the Undertaker to snatch the world title, or any of the three members of the New Day could be elevated in an instant.
And if you really want to channel Survivor Series ‘98, there’s always the juicy possibility that Dean Ambrose could reach the tournament finals against his best buddy Reigns, just to turn on him and join the Authority, like Rollins did before him. Then you’ve got a Shield feud in the main event of WrestleMania, just with a different cast.
Of course, you could always just bring Lesnar back to wreck everybody in the world and take back the title.
On top of all this, the stage is now set for an emotional Seth Rollins return next year, where he comes back as a mega-babyface and lays waste to the Authority, which never believed in him and stripped him of his title the instant he was injured. Fans have been wanting to cheer him for a year. When he comes back, they’ll get to ... much like when his mentor Triple H returned from injury in 2002 after being out for eight months. Triple H got injured as a heel and came back as the biggest face in the company. I can see the same fate playing out for Rollins.
Yes, I’m trying to be optimistic. I’m trying to find the bright side to an awful injury that has derailed a year-long main-event storyline. But the stage is set for a new star to step up and try to save the WWE until its stars get healthy again.
Now let’s all prepare for John Cena’s dramatic 16th world title win at Survivor Series.
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