The "Sliding Door" moments of a couple of WM participants

[d_henderson1810]

There have been at least two examples of people at this Wrestlemania, who, while they deserve their spot, it might not have happened if fate had not stepped in.

The first was Becky Lynch. If you remember, the original plan was Ronda v Charlotte at WM, and Ronda v Becky was scheduled for SS last year.

However, Becky got her nose broken by Nia Jax, and was out of the match at "Survivor Series", so they substituted her with Charlotte. WWE then swapped the matches around, and booked Ronda v Charlotte for SS, and Ronda v Becky for WM. Charlotte then got added to the WM match.

But, if not for her broken nose, Becky may have got her match against Ronda at SS, and may then not have been booked in the WM match, and they may have kept it Ronda v Charlotte one-on-one at WM.

So, those who were down on Nia Jax, she did the fans a favour. The broken nose made Becky look badass, and it delayed her match with Ronda until WM.

2) Kofi Kingston- The biggest opportunity in Kofi's career, but it may not have happened at all, if things had gone to script.

Don't forget, Kofi wasn't even in the Elimination Chamber originally, but only got in when Mustafa Ali got injured and withdrew from the match.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was meant to be Bryan v Ali as the last two in the Chamber, given the massive push WWE had given Ali in prior weeks, and his few interactions with Bryan leading up to it. I also wouldn't be surprised if Kofi followed the same script, more or less, of what Ali was meant to do in the Chamber (except that Kofi would do his own moves, not Ali's).

So Becky's chance was delayed because of someone injuring her, and Kofi's came from someone else's injury.

I'm not saying that neither deserve their WM spot, as they have run with the ball they have been given, and have made the most of the opportunity, but they are not just there through hard work and popularity, but a dash of luck and incidents which opened the door for them, and sometimes, you need to grab the opportunities that present themselves.

 

[Rossinater]

Kofi is the luckiest. The fans demanded this once he was finally booked to be in the main event at the Chamber. Ali would have had the same exact scenario as Kofi. Ali would be in the same B+ player storyline. I feel really bad for Ali- he really missed out on a huge push with a lot of momentum before he got injured. Then he came back at Fastlane but the Wrestlemania angles were already in the making. The momentum Ali had was demolished bc he would get no TV time until after Wrestlemania. Meanwhile before the injury he was the hottest thing on Smackdown and really brought a fresh feel to the show. He was at the start of a huge push leading into Wrestlemania. He was given the keys to the car but he got into an accident as soon as he pulled out the driveway. Thats the wrestling business for you. Snap decisions and untimely injuries can shatter the dreams of these future superstars. I am really pulling for Ciampa-he has a huge future ahead of him if he can recover from so many injuries.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The kofi thing is a weird scenario in my opinion. The guy was booked as a last minute replacement for ali and it pretty much change all the plans going into mania. The big loser in all of this is kevin owens who was supposed to get the mania spot against bryan and now he's not even booked for the show.

 

[Fryzie86]

Another guy enjoying a sliding door moment is Roman Reigns. As the Universal Champion he was widely disliked and the scourge of the IWC. After his promo before he left to get treatment for his illness and since his return, the guy is cheered by pretty much everyone. It's actually odd not hearing the chorus of boos when his theme hit.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

Another guy enjoying a sliding door moment is Roman Reigns. As the Universal Champion he was widely disliked and the scourge of the IWC. After his promo before he left to get treatment for his illness and since his return, the guy is cheered by pretty much everyone. It's actually odd not hearing the chorus of boos when his theme hit.

So, what I'm getting from you is, "if not for leukemia, Roman Reigns would still be booed." This is most likely true. It's also a situation where I'm pretty sure he'd prefer the latter. I'm doubting what goes through his mind is, "Boy I'm glad I have leukemia. Now more people cheer me." Gonna go out on a limb and say apples and oranges.

 

[Fryzie86]

At what point did I say Roman looks at it like that? Or if he had a choice, what he would do? Don't try pick a fight mate it was purely an observation, just different.

 

[Razz]

It's kind of funny that 2 of the biggest mania matches/main events they sort of lucked in to with Becky coming in to her own and catching fire and similar with Kofi. It just shows how mediocre and bad the long term start/stop booking is nowadays in WWE when Braun Strowman is back in a Battle Royale after that tag team ridiculousness of last mania.

 

[Fryzie86]

I think there was definitely a lack of a long term plan for this year's event, in the last couple of years there has been a certain main event to get to so the storytelling was always going in a certain direction, this year they listened to the reactions of the crowd and booked accordingly