Paid Members air_raid Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 11 hours ago, WeeAl said: Cena gets beat again. It certainly meant more for Balor to pin Cena than to pin Corbin, but over the past two years Cena's booking has brought him down closer to everyone else's level rather than dragged the others up to the penthouse with John. It's always been such short term thinking. John Cena shouldn't be losing clean on TV matches with no build. Cena's arc has been long term. John Cena reached the natural end of his "regular World Champion and perennial main eventer" shelf age as 2013 entered into 2014 and we entered the Lesnar, Bryan, Shield corridor. He only won the belt once more in 2014 because Danny Bry was hurt and into 2015 he was being used to further Rusev and spent a whole year elevating midcarders. His final WWE title run as it stands was purely transitional for the sake of a huge marquee title match at the Rumble and to move the belt onto Wyatt. He's been short term runs and a special attraction ever since and his descent from "top dog" to "big name but approaching the end" hence nowhere near as unbeatable as before has been gradual and logical in a way the company haven't simply pulled the plug on him or had to lose him while he was on top like they did Hogan, Austin or The Rock. We should not be wetting the bed about any loss John Cena suffers in 2019. The company moved on, so should we. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boytoy Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 11 minutes ago, air_raid said: Cena's arc has been long term. John Cena reached the natural end of his "regular World Champion and perennial main eventer" shelf age as 2013 entered into 2014 and we entered the Lesnar, Bryan, Shield corridor. He only won the belt once more in 2014 because Danny Bry was hurt and into 2015 he was being used to further Rusev and spent a whole year elevating midcarders. His final WWE title run as it stands was purely transitional for the sake of a huge marquee title match at the Rumble and to move the belt onto Wyatt. He's been short term runs and a special attraction ever since and his descent from "top dog" to "big name but approaching the end" hence nowhere near as unbeatable as before has been gradual and logical in a way the company haven't simply pulled the plug on him or had to lose him while he was on top like they did Hogan, Austin or The Rock. We should not be wetting the bed about any loss John Cena suffers in 2019. The company moved on, so should we. Honestly, I'd love to see Cena in an angle like Sami can't win the big one from NXT but with Cena being unable to capture his former success. Have him get close but fail and tease him taking shortcuts before getting his final title win against (new) Daniel Bryan at Summerslam in a retirement vs title match. Sadly, I doubt he would be able to be around enough to really make it work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 16 minutes ago, boytoy said: Honestly, I'd love to see Cena in an angle like Sami can't win the big one from NXT but with Cena being unable to capture his former success. Have him get close but fail and tease him taking shortcuts before getting his final title win against (new) Daniel Bryan at Summerslam in a retirement vs title match. Sadly, I doubt he would be able to be around enough to really make it work though. Right. I nearly added that Cena has been booked very similar to Tanahashi in New Japan in terms of the gradual portrayal of not being quite "that guy" any more and going back for that one last reign, except the parallel ends that Tana has just finally laid his hands back on the belt, presumably for the last time. It's not a stretch to think if John could give WWE three months to build towards winning his last big one then dropping it again, they'd do it. With a bullet proof guy to win it from (Styles, Bryan or maybe Rollins) and a guy that would truly benefit from winning it from him (Balor? McIntyre?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boytoy Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 7 minutes ago, air_raid said: Right. I nearly added that Cena has been booked very similar to Tanahashi in New Japan in terms of the gradual portrayal of not being quite "that guy" any more and going back for that one last reign, except the parallel ends that Tana has just finally laid his hands back on the belt, presumably for the last time. It's not a stretch to think if John could give WWE three months to build towards winning his last big one then dropping it again, they'd do it. With a bullet proof guy to win it from (Styles, Bryan or maybe Rollins) and a guy that would truly benefit from winning it from him (Balor? McIntyre?). Bryan and McIntyre would be my choices. Rollins isn't bulletproof yet and Styles doesn't have as much history with Cena. I'd like Bryan to get a big win at Mania first and then switch to Raw before Summerslam. McIntyre could win money in the bank so Cena wouldn't even need to keep the belt long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 I don't quite agree with raider that we shouldn't be concerned if Cena loses. But then I think we should be concerned when any top guy loses too often. Cena should only lose if it's for benefit and in this instance, it clearly is. Agree with the points that it's a shit hot-shot build for Balor in a week but if you're going to do it, beating Cena is as credible as it's possible to be. On the one more run thing, they just refuse to acknowledge age these days. They should have done it with Taker at some point in the last five years but they just keep wheeling him out and expecting people to cloud over the fact that he looks as fragile as fuck under his hat and coat. it'd have been far more credible if they'd used it as part of the story and changed his look up to be that of an old gunslinger. Cena looks like a teenager in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 3 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: On the one more run thing, they just refuse to acknowledge age these days. They should have done it with Taker at some point in the last five years but they just keep wheeling him out and expecting people to cloud over the fact that he looks as fragile as fuck under his hat and coat. it'd have been far more credible if they'd used it as part of the story and changed his look up to be that of an old gunslinger. Cena looks like a teenager in comparison. It was especially irritating with 'Taker because they wanted to hedge their bets. They'd talk about him as the old gunslinger, the "Last Outlaw", all this stuff, but then by the time the match came along, he'd just be The Undertaker again and you'd be expected to treat is as normal. They flirted with the idea of humanising him and showing him as aging, but never fully delivered. After he shaved his head, he should have grown out a big fuck-off grey beard to go with it, and he never should have tried out that mad pseudo-mohawk. The fuck is that about?  It was said a lot around the last Saudi show, but Triple H is older than the likes of Bob Backlund and Jake Roberts were when they were getting the "can they still keep up?" treatment, and he's booked as if he's as good as he always was. And "as good as they always were" seems to be WWE's default approach for booking veterans, which isn't only demonstrably false, it means you miss out on the most interesting stories you can tell with an aging fighter - youth vs experience. But no, you wrestle at the top of the game 'til you're retired, then immediately become a doddery old comedy act spouting catchphrases in Wrestlemania backstage segments, dancing with Jim Duggan and The Godfather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 10 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: I don't quite agree with raider that we shouldn't be concerned if Cena loses. But then I think we should be concerned when any top guy loses too often. My argument is that he's not a top guy any more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) It was reported in the Observer that Cena's Wrestlemania opponent was going to be Lars Sullivan. They've clearly decided the best use of John is to get some people over clean whenever his schedule allows him to appear. I'm fine with it. Edited January 16, 2019 by Supremo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 8 minutes ago, Supremo said: It was reported in the Observer that Cena's Wrestlemania opponent was going to be Lars Sullivan. They've clearly decided the best use of John is to get some people over clean whenever his schedule allows him to appear. I'm fine with it. Fucking hell. If that's the kind of job they want Cena to do, surely rehabilitating Braun would be more productive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 29 minutes ago, air_raid said: My argument is that he's not a top guy any more. That'd be like saying The Undertaker and Triple H aren't top guys. They clearly are. They'e just not every week top guys anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) 2 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: That'd be like saying The Undertaker and Triple H aren't top guys. They clearly are. They'e just not every week top guys anymore. Neither of them were slumming it with Neville and Sami Zayn for a year or finishing matches with a comedy backfist or having the build for their Mania match reduced to cosplay comedy. Edited January 16, 2019 by air_raid put "Pac" instead of Neville like a wanker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 16, 2019 1 minute ago, air_raid said: Neither of them were slumming it with Neville and Sami Zayn for a year or finishing matches with a comedy backfist or having the build for their Mania match reduced to cosplay comedy. Ahem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 Cena's hair rules. I know the whole all American thing is his shtick but sometimes that buzz cut just made him a bit too jarhead for me. Especially with the angry promos and desert storm jorts. Proper Abu Ghraib vibes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Supremo said: It was reported in the Observer that Cena's Wrestlemania opponent was going to be Lars Sullivan. Sadly, I have a feeling Lars' anxiety attack has fucked him. Can't imagine Vince or Stephanie being tolerant of these things.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted January 16, 2019 Share Posted January 16, 2019 (edited) First Raw I have seen in a few weeks and thought it was one of the better ones and came across to me like the WWE is trying to be unpredictable again, almost as if there is another promotion they might be worried about so are changing things up slightly (which they hinted at a few weeks ago but this felt a bit more like what they promised). More backstage scenes which I know has been something they haven't done lately, more prematch talks, of course the change to the Rumble main event and the IC title change. Vince and the Limo, Elias casually getting involved in that,  The Alexia 'thing' all came across like something from the attitude era. Edited January 16, 2019 by Briefcase Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts