Way back in 2015, people still weren’t giving John Cena the respect he deserved. Despite being at the top of the industry for well over a decade, the WWE Universe still couldn’t see the forest through the trees and decided to give him a lot of grief when it came to his weekly performances. So what did the company do? They turned his momentum completely on its head.
Cena put on a string of top quality US Title matches on free television, taking on several upcoming stars in the process. These bouts were honestly good enough to warrant a place on one of the big four PPV cards, with the Cesaro and Sami Zayn contests, in particular, proving just how good Big Match John truly is.
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So considering how successful this idea was, why not try and replicate it with someone else? Sure it wouldn’t have the same ‘veteran’ feel to it, but it would help a superstar immensely in terms of getting them over as a big time champion. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be with the US Championship either because the IC Belt holds just as much potential if not more.
With that being said, here are five superstars who should replicate John Cena’s Open Challenge.
Also read: An open letter to the Doctor of Thuganomics, John Cena
#1 Kevin Owens
This one is perhaps the most obvious, but it could also be the most effective. Kevin Owens is currently parading around as the new face of America, with his ‘old school’ gimmick proving to be quite the contrast from his former Prizefighter roots, so why not change things up in a way that will get both the belt and Owens more over.
Have KO destroy a series of jobbers over the course of a few weeks and maybe even months, eventually leading up to more mid card challengers. After all, SD Live is considered to be the land of opportunity, so what better opportunity is there for a young superstar than going up against a former Universal Champion for the second most prestigious title on the blue brand.
Let's go.
#2 Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn is the ultimate underdog, and we aren’t just saying that because it’s his given nickname in WWE. The guy has been scratching and clawing to reach the top of the mountain for months now, and it’s about time that the company rewards him with a title reign. Yes, we know this would involve another match against Owens, but it’d be worth it.
Sami has been in this business long enough to warrant being referred to as a veteran, even though he’s still got many years left to go. He could go up against guys of a similar quality to him in addition to those that are better, and the best part about this option would be that nobody can be 100% sure if he’s going to lose the strap or not. After all, this is Sami Zayn we’re talking about here.
Ten.
#3 Tye Dillinger
What better way to prove you’re the Perfect 10 than by racking up a string of consecutive title defences. Some may argue that this would be better suited towards a heel Tye, but over the last few weeks, we’ve seen more of an “I’ll fight anyone, anywhere, anytime” kind of mentality coming from the former NXT standout.
A lot of people don’t seem to rate Dillinger’s in ring work as opposed to his character development, which is an even bigger incentive for him to go out there and prove to the world just how good he really is. Give him the US Title to run with, and help to build the idea of him being a Perfect 10 inside the squared circle as well as out of it.
Warning: lunatic incoming.
#4 Dean Ambrose
We switch over to Monday Night Raw for this next selection, with The Lunatic Fringe aka the Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose. The former Shield member is in desperate need of something new and fresh on the red brand, with his current rivalry with The Miz feeling a bit stale considering they were doing something very similar on SmackDown Live just a few weeks prior.
Ambrose will literally fight anyone at any time, so there would be a certain unorganised feel to this that could work quite well. You could even have Dean add in certain stipulations to make things more interesting week in and week out, with Angle and Stephanie urging against it due to the risk of injury.
The King of Swing has arrived.
#5 Cesaro
This is something WWE should’ve done a long time ago: have Cesaro be the big strong man by winning what he describes as ‘exhibition matches’ on a weekly basis. First, we’d give him the Intercontinental Championship, and then week after week he can add another new layer to his character that we hadn’t seen before.
These segments (including the match) don’t have to go more than 20-25 minutes, but they’d get the job done in terms of getting Cesaro more over with the casual fans. Oh, and we’d also love it if the former Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner pointed to the camera as if he were talking directly to Vince after every triumph. That’s called realism, folks.
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