Why Seth Rollins vs Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania 36 is a bad idea
Many are calling the ending to this week's RAW one of the best in recent memory. Buddy Murphy joining forces with Seth Rollins and The Authors of Pain is something fans have been raving about ever since RAW went off-air on Monday. Following his third straight loss to Aleister Black, a dejected Murphy was sitting at the ringside barricade not knowing what to do for what seemed like an eternity.
The main event of the show saw Seth Rollins getting battered by The Big Show. After being chucked out of the ring by the world's largest athlete, Rollins would reach out to a despondent Murphy to help him. Murphy would answer the Messiah's call as he low-blowed Big Show. Following the match, Murphy and Rollins would embrace thereby solidifying their partnership. The final hour of RAW right from Black-Murphy to the final act of the show was wrestling storytelling at its best and most importantly it made you want to tune in next week for what happens next. Isn't that what an episodic show like RAW is supposed to be?
While many believe that this faction is going to take over the Red brand for the foreseeable future, there have been reports indicating that this might be leading to a match between Rollins and Murphy at WrestleMania 36. While the idea of a match between Rollins and Murphy is very tantalizing, doing it at WrestleMania 36 would be a disaster on multiple levels.
First off, it would kill off the huge wave of momentum that Rollins and AOP have been riding off on ever since they joined forces. Splitting up a faction or showing cracks within its members so early isn't a good look. It will completely undermine Rollins' heel turn and everything he has done and said since turning to the dark side.
Secondly, I don't think this match will do anything for either Rollins or Murphy at this point of time. Sure, a win over Rollins would propel Murphy to greater heights, but the association with Rollins and The AOP has the potential to be something which is even more special.
Third and most importantly, this would mean what we saw this week on RAW was complete hogwash. Murphy joining Rollins only to backstab him a few months later just doesn't still well.
This doesn't mean by any standards that I am shooting down the idea for a match between Rollins and Murphy because we would very much like to see it somewhere down the line. But, it has to be a long-drawn storyline that stretches out for at least a year or more. I believe that Rollins' new faction should be what Evolution was in the 2000s and should make stars out of Murphy and The AOP.
In the same vein, Murphy could be to Rollins what Batista and Randy Orton were to Triple H. A young upstart/rookie who is shot to prominence following his association with an established star is the story which the company can tell with Rollins and Murphy. To have them go up against one another at WrestleMania 36 would be a gigantic waste of a storyline that has the potential to main-event another WrestleMania down the line.
For the moment, I would like to see Murphy and Rollins run roughshod over the RAW locker room alongside AOP and establish dominance over the Red brand, together.