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With WrestleMania around the corner, the atmosphere in the WWE is electric. The word ‘electric’ would also be the right term to throw in, as The Rock is the WWE Champion going into the big event. John Cena won the Royal Rumble, thus earning the right to face either the WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania, and he had already made his choice, claiming to be going after the WWE title. This meant he would face the winner of Punk vs Rock at the Elimination Chamber at WrestleMania, and as the night ended, Rock was holding the WWE title over his head, while Punk was down and hurt, closing the show with a strong performance.
Now, last year’s WrestleMania saw one of the most anticipated matches of all time, with the face of the new era facing an old nemesis, the guy who was one of the spearheads of the bygone era. John Cena’s match with The Rock was touted as ‘Once in a lifetime’ match, with the intention of making it a larger than life moment. The weeks leading up to the event were entertaining, with Cena belittling The Rock, and The Rock retorting in his own style. In a perfect world, it would make sense for the WWE to do it all over again, and they are, but the only problem is, it is not a perfect world. And neither is it the right way to go in my opinion.
CM Punk has been the work horse for WWE, working through pain and injury for the past one and a half years. Punk is easily the most entertaining aspect of WWE, and in more ways than one, as he claims, has been the savior of WWE. Just when the WWE was looking for someone to replace Cena as the top guy of the company, CM Punk pushed the others to the side and grabbed the ball with both hands, while shaking up the industry on his way. Punk held the title for a record 435 days, making him the longest reigning champion in the modern era. So, how would WWE justify leaving the recent flag bearer of the company off the main event at WrestleMania? How effective would a Cena – Rock II prove to be?
For a long time now, WWE and the fans have been stressing on the need to find new guys who’d replace the Austins and Undertakers. The problem with the WWE is, they never give a guy decent amount of time to do that. The Austins or the Rocks didn’t make a name for themselves overnight; they received decent amount of time to do it, and were involved in good to great storylines which helped their case. CM Punk has been the only guy after Cena who showed he could be in the league of Hogans and Undertakers, and instead of being the next Austin, he was the first CM Punk, which has been the game changer for CM Punk. In this article, I look at how cynical and skeptical the WWE really is, and how they expect to find a guy who can be the next anything if they’re not even willing to give him a chance.
As we all know, Rock defeated Cena in their match last year. It was made to look as if Cena and Rock had animosity outside of wrestling, with certain remarks Cena made about Rock many years ago, and Rock retorting to the same. Now, in the weeks leading upto their match, Rock blamed Cena for making the WWE boring and too childish, while Cena claimed Rock was a hypocrite. Rock claimed Cena to be a ‘Fruity Pebble’, while Cena mocked The Rock for playing a Tooth fairy in one of his movies. So you had the most anticipated match between two guys who call each other names such as Fruity Pebbles or Barney’s turd. Cena has always been blamed for coming up with some of the most ridiculous, and juvenile terms, while Rock has always been hailed to be ‘creative’. While most of the Rock’s supporters claim to be ‘Old school fans’, I couldn’t help but shudder at his ‘innovative name’ of Fruity Pebbles.
Best mic skills are those which add reality to it. Guys like Jake Roberts, Mic Foley, Roddy Piper and now, CM Punk are considered to be masters on the mic because of the reality aspect they bring into it. It also adds anticipation to the buildup of a match. With Rock and Cena, it was down to who could make the lamest jokes that would even put a high school bully to shame. WWE has a knack of rehashing things, making things too repetitive. We all remember the long boring feuds between Cena, Orton and Batista, and at one point, were the only feuds WWE were banking on for a year or more. It is almost sad that with the amount of talent in the locker room, WWE goes back to the same main event as last year’s, and although it makes sense, it doesn’t do justice to the people backstage.
One can argue that Cena and Rock can draw more than the entire locker room of youngsters combined. While that is true, let us not forget that Cena didn’t achieve his spot over night. Having feuded with the big guns in the company such as the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar within 2 – 3 years of his debut, Cena was given a lot of chances along with opportunities, which is lacking in the current scene. Rock will be gone from the WWE after WrestleMania, and WWE will go back to Punk to make the Organization more interesting, which is nothing short of ridiculous. Punk has worked harder than all the others in these two years, and he should headline WrestleMania at least this year. Punk held the WWE title at last year’s WrestleMania, and put on the best match of the night with Chris Jericho, but only few would remember his presence at the biggest stage. And that is not something to be proud of.
The bottom line is, while Cena – Rock makes for an interesting storyline and feud, these two have been far from being impressive. The fans might have lost the thought in nostalgia, but Rock has a lot of ring rust, and has been sloppy in the ring. The only reason why Rock’s match with Cena was abysmal last year, and his matches with Punk have been good, is because Punk can make anyone look good in the ring. He’s not best in the world for nothing, and WWE’s ‘milk the cow till the end’ philosophy will not work in this case. Not only were the promos below par for Cena – Rock last year, but the match itself was sloppy. Adding Punk to the match would be the only saving grace for WWE, and it looks like they’re going in that route. We can only wait and see what unfolds now, but Punk can make this match more interesting, adding a different dimension to it.
