John Cena versus Kurt Angle in a First Blood Match was the hottest match of the night because of the hot East Rutherford, NJ crowd cheering and booing John Cena. WWE is in denial if they still insist that the crowd is solidly behind Cena as a baby face. John Cena is not The Rock and is not Stone Cold Steve Austin. John Cena is no where near close to Rock’s charisma and the lines he uses are not even fresh, not to mention the fluidity of his matches, much less his lack of moves. I understand the need to protect yourself in moves but Cena protected himself way too well that in each repeat of the chair shot that caused him to blade, it was clear that the chair made contact with both his hands and not his head, even as Coach tried to sell the shot as devastating. This also proves that no matter what WWE does to Kurt Angle’s character, fans aren’t really buying this is real life Kurt Angle’s feelings for America and the troops for instance, that they are going to cheer for him anyway. It is a injustice to have a wrestler of Kurt Angle’s caliber not have a championship run. I think the best way to handle this is to have Cena finally have a reaction to the obvious loud heat the audience gives him during his promos and matches. The heat hasn’t gone away since Cena mentioned that the crowd was half against him a few weeks ago during a promo, the baby face isn’t supposed to have the crowd half hate you, that’s the heel’s job. A possibility would have Michaels look like he should be declared the winner of the Elimination Chamber and Vince McMahon screws Michaels in similar Bret Hart form, with John Cena “having no idea” what’s going on with Vince having the belt stay with Cena afterall, only to reveal that he was McMahon’s Golden Mic Boy all along, and that Cena knew he was going to win no matter what to punish HBK. Cena could take control during the crowd heat and remind everyone how has he has never said no to personal appearances, house shows, autographs, the travel schedule, and that no one appreciates all the hard work he’s done. Vince McMahon can chime in that is what he wants in a champion (or any WWE employee for that matter) – someone who will never say no to the company’s “best interests.” That would be the only way I could accept Cena winning the belt at the pay per view this Sunday, if we can’t get the title to change hands and accept this strange Michaels/McMahon storyline of 2006. I feel if WWE tries to ride the Cena wave out, that they risk a major fan turn at Wrestlemania against Cena similar to Brock Lesnar and Goldberg at Wrestlemania 20 when the crowd booed both so loudly it was undeniable. The chaotic ending of RAW with all six men laid out seem to have been done before, but it works to set up the PPV main event nicely where I am looking forward to the Elimination Chamber.
The Women’s Championship between Trish Stratus and Mickie James is probably the most well written and well executed storylines not only in the women’s division but the entire WWE right now. Both women have a lot to be proud of in the believability of this storyline and creating the suspense and interest to have such a headlining story on the card. Having said that, I will be extremely disappointed if they don’t put this in the top four of the night, if anything is going to curtain jerk the PPV it has to be Gregory Helms versus Jerry Lawler or the Bra and Panties Gauntlet Match.
I’ve said in past columns that I’m not in support of having Ric Flair’s real life exploited in WWE storylines, however, Edge has been able to make the best of it and come across as a strong heel in trashing Flair each week on RAW, pulling off a impressive Edge impersonation in his Road Rage skit. The Rated R Superstar gimmick works for Edge where it puts the focus no so strongly in Lita to give him heel heat. My personal preference is pulling for Flair but I don’t see him retaining if WWE is out to make a example of Flair’s real life problems “embarrassing” the company, whether the accusations are true or not.
The Big Show and Triple H match up has been built up very nicely with a strong winged Triple H promo and the hand cast. This gives Show nice elevation as a singles main-eventer (since I doubt he will get buried like Matt Hardy does every week on Smackdown) though he has been in this boat before when he got to the WWE seven years ago, as well as WCW in 1995. This does nothing to save the tag team titles with Kane but apparently no one notices the lack of defending the belt in over a month and the lack of tag teams that aren’t green as ripe fruit.
New Year’s Revolution can be a strong PPV for the WWE and needs to be to get the WWE off to the right start for the new year and that’s putting it in perspective. Thanks for reading, happy new year and feel free to drop me a line at Bam@4sternstaging.com.
