Interinactivity: 05.18.2012 – Brock Lesnar, John Cena, & Hulk Hogan

Columns, Top Story

Welcome back to “Interinactivity”! I took last week off. Being right all the time is hard work. I did fill in for Widro this week doing the live RAW coverage, though. It’s a great recap, at least that’s what the Jews who I paid to write it tell me.

This week, we’re dipping back into the mailbag. Who’s gonna be all up in this cooch this week, you ask? Well, I got a very nice e-mail from a gentleman named Caleb, who has some things to say and ask about the Brock Lesnar / John Cena situation. I’ve been kind of avoiding talking about this, waiting to see how it played out. But, it seems like that’s not going to be ending (continuing?) any time soon, so fuck it! Opinions on this Brock / Cena thing will probably be all over the map anyway. Let’s CRANK this shit hose!

 

Interinactivity

Caleb Hamilton: First off, just want to say I love your work.

Blair: Aw, well thank you. That’s…

Caleb: Don’t always agree with it, but hey, that’s the Internet for you.

Blair: … moving on.

 

Caleb: I’m sure you have been asked this multiple times already, but I feel the need to ask it anyways. What’s your opinion on this whole Lesnar situation? Do you think that WWE erred when they made the choice to put Cena over Brock?

Blair: I don’t really see that match as Cena being “put over” Brock. Not really. Not when Cena was basically being squashed the entire match. He won because he got one lucky shot with the chain, which allowed him to hit his finish on the steps for the pin. Wins and losses DO still matter in wrestling, but there has to be a qualitative thought given to HOW the match went. I mean, if Brock destroys Cena physically, and then Cena pulls out a gun and blows his head off and pins him, is that “being put over” Brock? Not the way I see it. Because it’s not an actual sport, so while getting the “W” does matter, it’s certainly not everything.

To answer your question, I don’t see what happened as a mistake. I actually thought the way they did it made a lot of sense. It provided an opportunity for Cena and Brock to get it on again at some point, with Brock even more keen on destroying Cena than he already was, and they could have used it as a way for Cena to get even more heat from the crowd despite the fact that he can hide behind the “hey, it was no rules” argument.

It’s what they did afterwards that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The match itself, and the finish, I actually thought was well done.

Incidentally, they SHOULD give Cena a gun next time. That’s the only way I’m going to believe he’s got a chance after that last match, if I’m “suspending disbelief” or whatever that nonsense internet term is.

 

Caleb: As for me, well……Im kind of in the mode I usually am with WWE and have long given up being with TNA. And that’s a “wait and see” mode. I hate giving in to the opinions I see online (lord only kows there are more than enough of them to go around). My personal opinion is that as long as it tells a story and entertains me, I’m good. Cena and Brock failed to really entertain me leading up to Extreme Rules. I felt the promos were dull. I mean, come on, they gave Brock HOW MUCH time to cut a promo during the contact signing? All he did in my eyes was make himself look like an asshole (which he is) and a bully (which he is). But it really didn’t do anything for me except for establish things I already knew about the character. Oh, and they made Cena look like a coward with piss running down his leg. Sure, they wanted to paint Cena as the underdog, but I felt they went a little far with it. I can understand WWE ttrying to paint him with less of the “super Cena” brush and more as the vulnerable baby face, but I think they could have done a better job with it. Not saying I could have done better, but I just think it was a very lackluster way of doing it.

Blair: I get what you’re saying. I’ve heard the opinion before. I guess what I’d say is that you’re SUPPOSED to think that Brock is an asshole and a bully, whether he is or he isn’t. They didn’t need to “develop” the Lesnar character any further, and I highly doubt they were even trying. What you saw seemed to me to be what they were going for. And you’re SUPPOSED to think that Cena is somewhat of a coward when it comes to Brock – it’s kind of why people WANTED to see him get his ass handed to him, which again, I thought was the point. At least, that’s what I assumed they were going for, which even explains why he had to win the way he did.

I assumed that right up until the very next night on RAW. That’s where my theory kind of went out the window. Now, I don’t really know what to think. It almost seemed as if they switched gears immediately after the PPV, but I’m not going to speculate on that, because who really knows what happened. Maybe I was wrong all along. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

Oh… that, and Brock’s shoulders weren’t on the mat when he got pinned. They weren’t even on the stairs he got pinned on. Not that that makes a lot of difference anyway, but yeah.

 

Caleb: Now the match…..I know it was basically a 20 minute squash with a last second pull out by Cena, but the match actually made me give a damn. I was sitting there, watching that match going, ” holy fuck, that Lesnar bastard is impressive”. And I used to watch Lesnar during his first tenure in wwe. The match was a solid ass kicking. While I don’t know much about the behind the scenes stuff or any of that, I was, nevertheless, entertained by the match. And after that match with the rock at Wrestlemania……while that match was ok and I give rock a world of credit for getting back into near ring shape with what he had to work with, it just wasn’t what we expected from the feud. I felt this Lesnar match was what we needed to have some interest in a Cena storyline again. I felt the match told a story in and of itself. Not like the Wrestlemania hell in a cell match did, but it told a story in a way. What’s your opinion, man?

Blair: Well, I definitely wasn’t expecting much from the Cena / Rock match – I expected the match itself to be like Rock / Hogan, and it was, but with less crowd reaction. In their defence, that’s a lot tougher to get in an outdoor arena after a 3-and-a-half hour show, but just remember, Cena and Rock aren’t known for having THAT many good matches between them. Knowing that, I would have made the match about half as long. I think that could have helped. That’s me though.

As for the Lesnar match, I agree with you. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I thought they did a great job with it. It was different, it was fun, it was unexpected, and Cena got squashed for the most part, which never happens. It cemented Brock as an extremely dangerous man and showed that he could dominate the WWE’s top dog. That’s the way I saw it, anyway. Others have written differently. It’s in the eye of the beholder, like all things, I suppose.

 

One more thing. I found out from that match that I just REALLY like seeing Cena get his ass kicked. And that’s because I find him really, really irritating. As an example, I did the Live Coverage of Raw on Monday because Widro needed a fill-in. I didn’t think the show was FANTASTIC or anything, but, as I wrote on the column, I feel like RAW right now is better, or at least more interesting, than it has been in years. Again, not something that I’d give a GREAT review to, but it wasn’t hugely boring, and it had some matches on it. For a go-home show before a PPV especially, I thought it was okay.

Then the ending came. And John Cena, who I’m now going to start terming “The Fun Police”, came down, and cut one of the most embarrassing promo’s I’ve ever seen him do. Now granted, I’ve thankfully missed a LOT of Cena promos over the past 10 years, but this one was as bad as anything I’ve seen, except for maybe one I remember him doing on that Kenzo Suzuki guy where he attempted to talk like an Oriental person while making poop jokes. It’s one of those things, where, if someone saw you watching it, it would be less embarrassing to admit you were watching porn.

I don’t think I’m alone either. Seems like a LOT of people enjoy watching him get his ass kicked. There’s barely anyone they can put Cena against now where the crowd still won’t shit all over him. That’s why they’ve got him with Ace now, of all people. And I STILL think they’ll be lucky if that crowd doesn’t boo Cena out of the building. Am I wrong? I’m not complaining, either. Shit, I want to see Cena get his ass kicked, and I’m usually indifferent to such things, so I personally think they should use it. Keep Cena exactly how he is and have him keep doing irritating shit and cutting embarrassing promos. But don’t put him against Ace. People want to see Cena get his ass kicked, but not by Ace. (Okay, I do, but I don’t think most people do.) Get him in there with Punk, get him in there with Bryan, get him in there with Brock again, get him in there with Undertaker, and hell, even get him in there with Triple H. Keep him irritating and super-hero-y and USE the heat he gets from that, and you won’t have to worry, because the kids will still love him and you can still use the goodwill you get from all his t-shirt slogans and what-not. It’s okay to have a split crowd. But don’t try to change the crowd’s mind. That doesn’t often work.

 

Well, that’s it for Caleb’s e-mail. Thanks for sending that in, boss. Before we take off for this week, I got another e-mail a while ago that I wanted to include with an interesting question…

Richard D’Souza: Hello Blair. I’m a big fan of your work, and have grown up watching PRO WRESTLING, and respect it for what it should be. I respect the oldest generation of wrestlers the most, and think wrestling needs to go back to what it used to be – even so, I have a debate for you to settle between me and my Dad. He says that Dusty Rhodes was bigger than Hulk Hogan in the 80’s. This was before my time so I don’t really know whether to believe that or not, as records from that era don’t really specify such things, but I have a really hard time believing that. Help!

Blair: How old do you people think I am?

I believe Hogan was at his heaviest in the early 90’s. Even then, I doubt that he was as “big” as Dusty.

… hang on a minute. Tell me what you mean by “bigger”.

Do you mean in terms of popularity? If so, your father is lying to you. And if he’s lying about this, who knows what else he’s lying about. Maybe you’re adopted. After all, you WERE smart enough to question that blatant lie he told you. If I were you, I’d start rummaging through the house and wouldn’t stop until you find baby pictures or adoption papers. Best of luck.

 

That’s all the time we have for Interinactivity this week. It’s time for…

New Rules

New Rule #1: TNA needs to start being more subtle about humiliating AJ Styles. Having AJ’s only TV time be him in the ring clapping for Hulk Hogan getting a job he already had and failed at is bad enough, but when people said they wanted more AJ Styles, they didn’t mean they wanted to see him making out with Dixie Carter.

New Rule #2: TNA also needs to start being more creative about how they humiliate AJ Styles. This thing about him making out with a married Dixie Carter while he is also married? This already happened. A few years ago they had him making out with Karen Angle, and both of them were married at the time as well. That didn’t go over very well, and now it’s all happening again. On the plus side, AJ says this is the nicest pair of boobs he’s felt since he wrestled Matt Hardy.

New Rule #3: You’re allowed to discuss Bret Hart on the Inside Pulse comment board without discussing “screwing”. Believe me, Bret has that topic covered.

New Rule #4: WWE needs to start outsourcing their ad campaigns, and they need to find an agency that knows that you can’t just CALL a video that you posted “viral”. It has to become viral on it’s own. Saying it’s viral doesn’t make it so. But it’s okay, we forgive them. We remember how many years it took them to figure out Twitter. But if they’re this desperate for attention, they should really consider renaming themselves “TNA”.

New Rule #5: Speaking of the “Revolution” video, WWE is also not allowed to post a video and then speculate on what that video means. You post it and then don’t say anything about it. Then you let OTHER people speculate about what it means. That’s how it works. You don’t do it yourselves. You’re doing it all wrong. You KNOW what it means. Otherwise you wouldn’t have posted it. What’s more, WE KNOW that YOU KNOW what it means. So you “speculating” about is making you look pretty silly.

 

Well, that’s it for “Interinactivity” this week! I hope everyone enjoyed. Remember to comment, or shoot me an e-mail as Caleb and Richard did at bdouglas@4sternstaging.com.

Also, earlier this week, my boy Martin Shaw posted an interview with Inside Pulse’s own CB, regarding the career of the Ultimate Warrior, and it’s a great read. Check out DESTRUCITY here.

And last week, Jack Newbury of SpineBuster.com wrote a great piece questioning why I liked Hogan / Rock better than Rock / Cena, and explores whether John Cena is a great “worker” or not. We had a nice little debate in the comments section, and there’s an exploratory video on the issue that his friend did. Check that out here.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

I’ll be in my trailer.

BD writes about professional wrestling on Inside Pulse until he has to stop because he's about to have a stroke. Any “errors” that are made on his part are, of course, intentional and represent an artistic choice. He acts as a kind of fly paper for the emotionally disturbed.