As hard as it is to imagine, John Cenashould take the clean loss to Seth Rollins when he challenges for the United States Championship at the 2015 edition of Night of Champions in September.
Cena is a 15-time champion and one of the top stars in the history ofWWE. Any time he takes a clean loss to a Superstar, it has the ability to validate them in the eyes of the fans. Just ask Kevin Owens.
And Rollins needs validation. As the WWE World Heavyweight champion, WWE Creative has booked The Architect to look incredibly weak. From taking unnecessary clean losses to less-deserving challengers to retaining the title in fluke fashion almost every time, now is the time to legitimize his reign and set the tone for his character moving forward.
Beating Cena clean at Night of Champions would force the WWEUniverse to respect Rollins.
One of the most interesting aspects of the match at Night of Champions is that it will likely open the pay-per-view, making it one of the most anticipated curtain-jerkers in history. With both men proving at SummerSlam that they can put on a great match, the bout has the potential to be one of the best opening matches in PPV history. Cenalosing clean would ensure the moment—and this match—would never be forgotten.
The WWE Universe can’t forget Rollins will also be pulling double duty at the Sept. PPV, wrestling both Cena for the United States and Sting for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Starting the night with a clean pinfall victory over Cena would afford the writers the opportunity to come up with a monumental swerve to close the show.
With Rollins earning the win over Cena in the opening match, it would allow Rollins to take the pinfall against Sting, creating a huge moment in wrestling history as The Icon holds the WWE's highest honor. As Sting begins to celebrate, though, Sheamus would cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and win the world title.
Taking a loss to Sting and dropping the world title would be a devastating blow to Rollins at this point in his career, but successfully retaining the United States Championship by pinning a living legend like Cena earlier in the night would more than make up for it.
As Sheamus aligns with The Authority as their hand-chosen star, the newly face Rollins could use the U.S. title and the open challenge concept to continue getting over as a good guy. Cenadoesn’t need a championship to be relevant and can have quality feuds away from the company's main titles.
Cena understands the business as well as anyone, and after the way Rollins has been booked during his title reign thus far, taking a clean loss to the champion at the PPV would be best for business.
According to a new study, first-born women are more
likely to be overweight or obese than their younger sisters.
There’s a lot of research on the relationship between birth order, personality and health. It’s been linked with intelligence, political ideology and cardiovascular disease. For obvious reasons, many don’t hold up to further scrutiny and it’s probably best to take these findings with a pinch of salt. But what’s particularly interesting about this recent study is that it’s the largest of its kind and builds on previous research that reported similar findings.
The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, collected a range of data from the Swedish Birth Register, which included the weight and height of nearly 13,500 pairs of sisters. Researchers note that all large studies examining the effects of birth order on someone’s BMI – or body mass index – have previously been carried out on men, which prompted them to investigate whether there were similar patterns among women.
Researchers studied sibling pairs born between 1991 and 2009 to women who were at least 18 years old at the time of their first pregnancy. Twins were not included in the study.
They found that at birth first-born women weighed less than their siblings, but were more likely to be overweight or obese when they grew up. First-born women were 29% more likely to be overweight and 40% more likely to be obese, when compared with their second-born sisters. Also, the average BMI for first-borns was 2.4% greater than their second-born sisters.
“Our study corroborates other large studies on men, as we showed that firstborn women have greater BMI and are more likely to be overweight or obese than their second born sisters,” researchers note in the study.
“The steady reduction in family size may be a contributing factor to the observed increase in adult BMI worldwide, not only among men, but also among women,” they add.
It’s unclear why first-born women were more likely to be overweight. A co-author on the paper, Professor Wayne Cutfield from the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, speculates that this pattern could be partly down to a change in the amount of blood the placenta receives between first and later pregnancies. He told CBS News that blood vessels may be narrower in the first pregnancy, which could in turn reduce the nutrient supply; changing how fat and glucose is regulated in the body. First-born women could therefore at risk of storing more fat and have less effective insulin.
Researchers were, however, quick to point out this is an observational study and therefore no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. They also warn that although the research suggests birth order could be a risk factor for obesity, it’s clearly one of many and is probably only a small contributor.
The WWE writing staff has to be giddy: The Dudley Boyz are back, and suddenly booking the tag team division will be a lot more fun.
On an eventful Raw on Monday night, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley interrupted the New Day's latest celebration in violent fashion. Roaring Brooklyn fans welcomed back the former tag champs and watched on as the Dudley Boyz took their first WWE victims in 10 years.
To get the most from their current tenure with the company, WWE has to use them to showcase and elevate other teams.
There's a chance here to give several younger squads momentum, big victories and marquee matches. The division should be more thrilling with the Dudley Boyz around but also stronger after they leave.
Making sure to throw them into frays filled with tables, ladders and chairs is key as well. It's clear from their resume that it is in that kind of chaos they thrive.
WWE is already on the right path on both fronts. This latest chapter of the Dudley Boyz's story has them right where they should be: in the New Day's faces.
New Foes for the New Day
Thanks to an ever-evolving gimmick and a mastery of getting on the crowd's nerves, Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have been the highlight of the tag team scene for months. They overcelebrate and showboat extremely well. What's been missing, though, is a compelling rival.
Their feud with the Prime Time Players just hasn't caught fire.
That's where the Dudley Boyz come in. The goal in having these two teams battle should be to make them look more rugged and dangerous. If they can hang with brawlers such as D-Von and Bubba Ray, they will just feel like more legit threats and come off as more formidable champions.
Pit the Dudley Boyz against the New Day at Night of Champions.
Keep the Attitude era fan favorites undefeated until then. They can walk all over Los Matadores on Raw one night and beat down Adam Rose and Brad Maddox, who have been teaming together at house shows, doing to them what they did to the Ascension on Thursday's SmackDown.
That way, when the New Day give them their first real challenge, it's a bigger deal. Kingston and his crew push back when the challengers push them at the pay-per-view. It's a physical, chippy battle in which no team has the advantage for long.
The New Day retain by purposely getting themselves disqualified.
It's too soon to have the title change hands, and the Dudley Boyz can appease the fans after the non-conclusive ending by sending someone from the clap-happy trio through a table afterward.
Over the next few weeks, the New Day escape two more title matches on TV. In one of them, Woods nails Bubba Ray with his trombone while the referee is turned the other way. The other time, Woods drags Kingston away from the ring after he suffers a 3D, electing to take a count-out rather than take a loss.
Despite those endings, the New Day look good in these battles. They leave the Dudley Boyz wincing in pain and flustered by their speed and power.
What the Dudleys Do Best
The Dudley Boyz at this point appeal to the ego of the New Day. They demand their next meeting be a TLC match. To entice the champs, Bubba Ray and D-Von add the stipulation that if they lose, they can no longer challenge for the titles while the New Day hold them.
Hell in a Cell hosts this last-chance TLC bout.
After a slobberknocker of a matchup, the Dudley Boyz come out as champs. They then become the men sitting atop the mountain, waiting for some of the young guns to knock them off.
This is where the division as a whole can get stronger and more entertaining. The battle to become the No. 1 contender is the central storyline. Every squad looks to prove itself in order to get the next crack at the Dudley Boyz.
The Prime Time Players take issue with the Dudley Boyz because they never got their rematch against the New Day. "You cut in line," Titus O'Neil tells them.
There is closer attention paid to the division's standings at this point. The Prime Time Players knock off the Lucha Dragons to climb above them. The New Day squeaks by Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to close in on contention.
A 30-minute Iron Man match on SmackDown between the New Day and the Prime Time Players to determine the No. 1 contenders ends tied at 2-2. That results in both teams getting a title shot at TLC.
The Dudley Boyz defend the belts in the bout that gives that PPV its name. They retain, but not before both sets of challengers get their big moments. Big E spears Bubba Ray off the ring apron and sends him crashing into a table; Young hits Kingston with a Gut Check from the top of a ladder.
This route assures that there are a number of high-stakes matches with a variety of teams. The Dudley Boyz come out of these battles looking next to unbeatable, which makes their eventual title loss that much more powerful.
Dethroned on a Grand Stage
The next few months should be a means to further this idea that the Dudley Boyz are a top-tier team who don't appear to be letting go of the tag titles anytime soon.
The Lucha Dragons test them but fail to beat them. Reigns and Ambrose get a shot, but can't finish them off. Kevin Owens and Rusev team up and unsuccessfully try their hands at snatching the belts.
Leading up to WrestleMania, a new challenger emerges: the Wyatt Family.
Up to this point, the backwoods clan hasn't even crossed paths with them. Then, Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper follow up a dominant stretch with an attack on the Dudley Boyz. They reverse the script and send D-Von and Bubba Ray through tables this time around.
If WWE isn't ready to make Wyatt a world title contender, the tag championship is a good way to establish him as a fearsome monster.
He and Harper roll through the roster, earning a championship showdown at WrestleMania. This is billed as a collision of unstoppable forces.
Wyatt and Harper outlast the titleholders. They stand over the fallen Dudley Boyz with their new championships in hand, their era soon to be begin.
There are more broken tables and thrill rides to be had, but by this point, the Dudley Boyz would have catapulted the Wyatt Family, provided a litany of big tag matches and shown off the New Day's grittier side. WWE would surely be getting their money's worth from the surefire Hall of Famers' latest stay with the company
Barcelona star Lionel Messi has won the 2014-15 UEFA Best Player in Europe award, the first time a player has won it twice.
The Argentinian beat Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and team-mate Luis Suarez to the award, which was announced following the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday.
The news was confirmed by UEFA's official Champions League Twitter feed:
Lionel Messi beat Cristiano Ronaldo to take home the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday. Handed out during the UEFA Champions League group stage draw, the Argentine superstar beat Ronaldo and Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez to take home the silverware.
To decide the winner, 54 votes from European journalists were tallied up. Messi received 49 votes, while Suarez had 3 and Ronaldo 2.
Messi had 58 goals and 28 assists last year for his club, while Ronaldo had 61 goals and 22 assists. It comes as no surprise that Messi won, as the attacking superstar led his club to the treble last season.
With the achievement, Messi becomes the first two-time winner of the award since it began in 2010-11. Messi won the first one, followed up by Andres Iniesta (2011-12), Franck Ribery (2012-13) and Cristiano Ronaldo (2013-14).
The Undertaker's twilight has been an interesting one, mainly because of Brock Lesnar.
It was Lesnar's victory at WrestleMania XXX that changed Undertaker's streak from a sure thing that fans took for granted to a dark cloud that follows him into the ring. In the previously unfathomable post-Streak era, every time Undertaker competes, there's a legitimate question as to whether we're seeing him for the last time.
Should Lesnar and Undertaker resume their rivalry at WrestleMania 32, it would be a fitting final match for The Deadman. As mentioned on thePodNasty Wrestling Podcast, it's also a match he should lose.
Undertaker vs. Lesnar at SummerSlam could have gone either way. This was one of the elements that made every pinfall exciting—a far cry from the token pinfalls at WrestleMania that everybody assumed Undertaker would kick out of during The Streak.
After a series of underhanded tactics against Lesnar, Undertaker has been painted as an uncharacteristically desperate man. Low blows, phantom tapouts—it's as if he knows his time is running out.
This creates the perfect narrative for Undertaker to go into an eventual WrestleMania showdown against Lesnar and take his second WrestleMania loss in three years.
Undertaker's string of 21 consecutive wins at WrestleMania was so iconic that there is still shock value in another potential WrestleMania loss. That means Lesnar would stand to benefit if he were to defeat Undertaker at next year's event at AT&T Stadium, which would be much more beneficial than another Undertaker victory
Lesnar is still a focal point of WWE. In addition to limited pay-per-view appearances, he has been the main attraction for live specials, including the recent Beast in the East show on July 4 and an upcoming showcase in Madison Square Garden in October.
The WWE still has a lot of money to make with Lesnar—not to mention the money the company is paying him to make limited appearances—and he will only be a bigger asset if he returns to his winning ways.
Prior to Lesnar's loss to Undertaker, Michael Cole trumpeted that The Beast Incarnate had not been pinned or submitted in almost two years. Though the stat comes with an asterisk, it's the type of promotional hype that only makes Lesnar a more potent attraction to raise interest in live events, WWE Network specials and pay-per-views.
Losing to an aging, desperate Undertaker for a second consecutive time would not fit the current narrative. Lesnar has been established as the more dominant competitor in their last two contests, with only controversy stopping him from extending his unbeaten streak against Undertaker.
But to lose yet again would raise questions if both Undertaker andLesnar are losing their cloaks of invincibility.
It's no secret that Undertaker approaches professional wrestling with an old-school sensibility both in and out of the ring. His supernatural gimmick is the last of a dying breed. In addition to his on-screen persona, Undertaker also strongly believes in time-honored wrestling philosophies.
During Steve Austin's live podcast with Vince McMahon last year (h/t Nick Schwartz of USA Today), McMahon praised Undertaker for his willingness to give back to the business: "No one wants to give back to the business more than The Undertaker, more than Mark Calaway. And he knew that it’s important to give back to the business. There comes a time in which it’s time to do that."
Austin's scenario of Undertaker's swan song seems to be in line with these sentiments. Speaking with Matt Fowler of IGN.com heading into SummerSlam weekend, Austin gave his prediction for how the feud will play out: "I think it's (Undertaker's) turn (to win at SummerSlam). And if you go that way, then you can take the rubber match to WrestleMania, and then Brock goes over and Taker rides off into the sunset. That'd be my prediction."
The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnarat SummerSlam did not end with a standing ovation or a celebration in honor of a hard-fought match. This one ended with surprise, bewilderment and real controversy as Taker tapped out yet still won in the end.
While fans attempt to make sense of it all, WWE moves on, and this feud will see yet another chapter written. SummerSlam has expertly set up a third match between The Deadman and The Beast Incarnate.
Many likely believed SummerSlam would be the end of this one.WrestleMania 30 saw the first part of this storyline, and SummerSlamwas supposed to be the follow-up, the night to right the ship for Undertaker.
He would get the win, have his redemption and walk away with his head held high.
But that win has been tainted by the tapout that referee Charles Robinson did not see. Undertaker went from being the cagey veteran who wouldn't say die to being the cheap-shot artist taking the easy way out. By all rights, The Phenom has turned heel.
However, this was perhaps the best way to keep their rivalry going. Now fans are getting more than just a nice feud with a cliched ending; they're getting a dramatic twist and a reason for the heat between the two to continue.
The fact is that two matches would never have been enough for Undertaker and Lesnar. There was too much intensity and too much bad blood to believe one more match was not needed to wrap things up. The two men proved they can still tell a compelling story, and that story will be told as only they can.
The question of where this will go is an interesting one. Unlike otherWWE angles, this one has not been a case of heel versus face, or it's not really being adhered to all that much. Lesnar was the company's top protagonist when Taker returned, which should have heeled TheDeadman out.
But Undertaker gave Lesnara low blow, and he was cheered for it.Another low blow occurred on Monday Night Raw, and it was repeated yet again at SummerSlam. WWE has never taken the stance that Taker did anything wrong, and even the commentary team has not put over the fact that Lesnar has been screwed over.
But it cannot be said that Lesnar is fully face right now, as he has done nothing to truly endear himself to the crowd, other than smile and soak in the fans' adulation. He is still the same monster he ever was. Perhaps that is the key to this rivalry.
Undertaker vs. Lesnar is no longer about right and wrong or good and evil. It's about two warriors doing everything necessary to keep fighting, to keep the war alive for another day. It's less about pro wrestling and more about a fun, action-packed movie with two antiheroes as the main characters.
This is a straight-up fight, and that fight is not over yet.
Undertaker had no answer for Lesnar's challenge on the August 24 Raw. But The Beast will not let it go, as the two men will ultimately cross paths again. That could happen at Night of Champions or Hell in a Cell, where they could compete in The Cell itself. That is the level of intensity involved here.
WWE may let this rivalry simmer for a while, but if so, it can't for long. The momentum that increased at SummerSlam must be maintained as the controversy unfolding merits more attention from the company. There are too many questions and too much drama keeping this angle white-hot to just stop now.
he fans must be hooked, they must be on board with the storyline, and the only way to ensure they emotionally invest is to keep it going. If interest is lost or if either side suddenly goes silent, then all the work done to get this angle over thus far would have been for nothing.
This one needs a satisfying ending. TheDeadman must fight back against the demons haunting his career, and Lesnaris surely one of those demons. Taker must purge The Beast from his path, and the best way to do that is to beat him convincingly and leave no doubt about which fighter is the better man.
Despite the darkness and rage that has permeated this storyline, it really all comes down to who's better. WWE is a contest of wills, of a Superstar fighting to rise to the top with the backstory of what that man or woman will do to achieve great heights.
It's all about proving who the man is. Undertaker and Lesnar are each fighting to do just that.
One more match will determine who has true bragging rights. If the first match was a battle and the second match a war, then the third match will be Armageddon. This could be the most vicious and most violent bout in the careers of both men, and the drama is only just beginning.
