Welcome back to the most consistently inconsistent column on all things wrestling (except ROH, TNA, Chikara, GLOW, WCW, ECW, PWG, RCW, etc) that is The Stomping Ground.
After watching Monday night’s oh-so-thrilling Q&A session (the sarcasm must be just oozing out of that observation) I fully realized what’s wrong with the upcoming Wrestlemania main event. Through all the trash talk and the “heart on my sleeve” jibber-jabber spewed by the two combatants, interest in a rematch between John Cena and The Rock has been luke-warm at best. The most obvious reason is that we’ve already seen a year-long build from 2011-2012 that essentially delivered as much hype as possible. Part of the backlash is against the WWE for lazily booking a rematch that no one really asked for (something almost all the main events suffer from), but there’s another aspect of this storyline that doesn’t sit right with me.
The focus of this rematch has been on John Cena’s attempt to reposition himself as the top dog of the company (which hilariously has never been in question, whether he held the damn title or not) and quell the self-doubt he’s had all year. That in itself is another reason we don’t seem to care because the IWC knows all about Super Cena; he’s the latest incarnation of the “Triple H unbeatable machine” that we hated as adolescents, the guy who was frequently put over all others. Spending nearly a decade at the top has dampened his likability with the older crowd, so this redemption angle does not appeal to anyone but Cena’s youngest supporters. And yet, that’s where the money lies. That’s still not the issue I’m having with this rematch.
My concern is this: why is the WWE Championship a stipulation in this match?
Last Monday, during Cena and Rock’s little podium chat, the WWE Championship was mentioned in passing as proof that The Rock never fails to get what he wants. After that, the belt never came up in conversation again. So why does The Rock still hold a title that neither he nor John Cena need or care about? If this is all about John proving himself then becoming an 11-time champion isn’t a requirement, one would think. CM Punk spent 15 months giving prestige and attention to a title that once spent time playing second fiddle to the World Heavyweight Championship, and all that goes out the window just for a Wrestlemania rematch.
A rematch that doesn’t need the inclusion of the WWE Championship.
If the WWE played it smart (and remembered continuity), Cena could have cost Rock the title at Elimination Chamber and call it payback for Rock screwing over Cena at Wrestlemania XXVII. The belt would go back to CM Punk and we’d have a better option for a title match while still allowing for Rock/Cena II. The fans would most certainly boo Cena for his actions and it might even spice up his stale character a bit.
But instead John Cena gets another shot at the WWE Championship.
Something I mentioned earlier involved a sense of deja vu. Of the four main events, three of them are matches we’ve seen before. CM Punk faced the Undertaker back when Smackdown was its own brand and was made a fool of by the Phenom, holding onto the title via screwjob and then losing it in Hell in a Cell. Now we get Punk vs The Streak, and while I have high hopes that Punk will help carry Undertaker’s old carcass to a decent match, the outcome’s never really in doubt. Triple H and Brock Lesnar battled once before at last year’s Summerslam and there wasn’t exactly much clamor for the first bout, never mind a sequel. The only fresh main event is Alberto del Rio vs Jack Swagger, and while the angle has been getting heat, del Rio’s mixed reactions as a face and Swagger’s unproven track record in the main event scene make this a huge gamble for the company. Not that it matters, mind you; this is the World Heavyweight Championship we’re talking about here.
Something I mentioned earlier involved a sense of deja vu. Of the four main events, three of them are matches we’ve seen before. CM Punk faced the Undertaker back when Smackdown was its own brand and was made a fool of by the Phenom, holding onto the title via screwjob and then losing it in Hell in a Cell. Now we get Punk vs The Streak, and while I have high hopes that Punk will help carry Undertaker’s old carcass to a decent match, the outcome’s never really in doubt. Triple H and Brock Lesnar battled once before at last year’s Summerslam and there wasn’t exactly much clamor for the first bout, never mind a sequel. The only fresh main event is Alberto del Rio vs Jack Swagger, and while the angle has been getting heat, del Rio’s mixed reactions as a face and Swagger’s unproven track record in the main event scene make this a huge gamble for the company. Not that it matters, mind you; this is the World Heavyweight Championship we’re talking about here.
Now we’re approximately ten days away from Wrestlemania XXIX and my only hope is that the WWE throws us some curveballs and the foregone conclusions of these rematches are not as set in stone as we might think.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
