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It is hard to write an introduction line about John Cena that hasn’t been already used. The Cenation leader has been reigning at the top of the mountain for nearly a decade now and will add another WrestleMania match to his resume on March 29 at the Levi’s stadium.He will lock horns with the Bulgarian Brute, Rusev in the pay-per-view for the United States Championship and though it looks like a solid outing on the book, for the standards of Cena, this is clearly a step down. There are certain factors that will make WrestleMania 31 the worst WrestleMania outing for Cena in recent years and here is a look at those:
#5 Missing Lana
Lana was hands down one of the best things about the buildup of this match. She had the ability to cover up for Rusev’s shortcomings on the microphone and was making her promos count with the whole Russian accent. However, in the middle of the feud, Lana had to pull out due to film commitments.
This turned out to be a big blow for the entire storyline and it won’t be any different at WrestleMania. An opening promo from Lana would have been mighty effective at the pay-per-view, but since it won’t be there, the entire pressure will be on the in-ring action. Also, WWE will find it hard to use the Anti-American card since Lana is generally the woman pulling the strings.
#4 Midcard debacle
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns is the top storyline that WrestleMania 31 has to offer (like it or not), Triple H vs. Sting comes in as the second biggest and Bray Wyatt vs Undertaker is probably third. This means that John Cena is not even in the top three storylines of WrestleMania. And just for the record, Cena was the face of the industry for a good few years.
The fans will be more excited about seeing the Intercontinental ladder match than the United States Championship match which further devalues Cena’s match at the pay-per-view. This is clearly a midcard affair for the Cenation leader and it is even worse than the outing that he had last year with Bray Wyatt in terms of card placement.
#3 United States Championship
Cena’s obsession with championships started with the United States Championship. It was the first major title that Cena won and he is going to win it once again at WrestleMania 31 unless Vince McMahon decides to deviate from the norm.
What does Cena winning the United Championship mean? He will be rooted to the midcard of course. On the whole, it might be a good booking decision for the company but for Cena, it would be a nightmare. He still has some immense drawing power and a crazy fan base and being restricted to the midcard would be the last thing he would want.
If he wins it, it will take a long time for Cena to drop the title and till then, the main event scene will probably elude him.
#2 The same old storyline
Russian (or Bulgarian for that matter), that challenges an American in the United States soil along with a prestigious championship on the line, ring any bells? Well, it is a clear rip-off of the fourth Rocky movie. Forget Rocky, the same angle have been used a million times over in the WWE as well.
So basically, Cena and Rusev will be walking on a path that has been travelled a million time before. There isn’t going to be anything new about the feud and we all know how the match is going to end up. Last year, Bray Wyatt was there to provide the freshness, but this time around, it is just the plain old storyline.
#1 He will win, and he will be jeered
Even a 10-year-old in the WWE Universe could perfectly predict the result of the Cena-Rusev match at WrestleMania 31. There isn’t going to be an alternative planned to a Cena win and it would be an obvious ending once the final bell rings.
Cena will win the United States Championship and at the same time, will be jeered by the crowd. WWE’s efforts of trying to plug in the patriotic feeling would go out of the window in no time and the fans might go on to cheer Rusev at some point. So for the second row in running, even though he would be the winner, Cena will receive a truckload of criticism for ‘burying’ a young talent.
