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11:20 - That was an incredibly interesting promo. I feel like I've come across as very anti-Rock lately, which isn't intentional. I don't blame Rock for returning, I think it's great for WrestleMania. I think he's wildly entertaining and immensely talented. He's a once in a lifetime talent. However, he was pretty awful in this segment. It was absolutely falling apart. He rambled, he didn't say anything of substance. He repeated himself. He prompted lame chants entirely too often. He struggled, big time. Truth be told -- and again, this is going to sound biased -- but John Cena absolutely saved that entire segment. He came out, he said his piece, and he hit the emotion and focus that Rock lacked. And his line about not needing promo notes on his wrist was epic. And then he left, almost condescendingly. It was great. But afterwards, Rock couldn't match the emotion. Again, he stumbled on his words and rambled. How often did he say that the Rock and Dwayne Johnson are one in the same? And the worst part was, he knew it. He looked legitimately pissed afterwards.
I'm legitimately interested in seeing how people respond to this, and if your usual Cena bashers and Rock defenders remember it differently.
11:13 - For what it's worth, Rock has mentioned Twitter more in this promo than Michael Cole has all night.
11:10 - Kung Pao Bitch isn't trending on my Twitter....
11:00 - The Rock has a guy come to the ring to bring him bottled water. Yeah, he hasn't gone Hollywood or anything....
10:55 - Alright, let's sit back and enjoy the Rock's magic.
10:53 - By the way, Mark Henry is another guy who I believe would probably be in a better position if the Rock wasn't at WrestleMania this year (regardless of apparent injuries). Not a shot at all at Rock or WWE or anyone really. Just an observation.
10:45 - Oh yeah, and my prediction for the GM announcement: It'll either be that, for the week, the GM's will switch shows (Long will run Raw while Ace will run Smackdown), or they'll announce a super tag match between Raw and Smackdown Superstars to determine the new WWE GM.
10:42 - I am going to be really, REALLY disappointed if they insert Randy Orton into the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Daniel Bryan and Sheamus have the ability to tell their own story. And I like the fact that they're fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship exactly one year after their match got booted off of the main WrestleMania card.
10:38 - Has anybody seen the poster for "Bending the Rules"? Jamie Kennedy is the spitting image of Todd Pettengill. It's almost creepy.
10:35 - Eve is an effective heel because she's so well spoken. Not sure where it's going, though. Will it lead to Ryder's return?
10:07 - So all this time, people could just pull down the blind on that backstage camera? Good to know...
10:02 - So at the beginning of the year I would have thought Miz vs. Truth was a lock for WrestleMania. But now they've faced off so many times and their feud has lost so much steam that I'm not sure that's going to happen. So, what is happening with Miz at Mania? Aside from the matches we've already seen, I honestly haven't a clue what to expect. Big Show vs. Rhodes and Ryder vs. Kane seem like a possibilities, but what about Ziggler? Henry? Christian? ADR? Mysterio (if healthy)? Barrett (if healthy)? Kingston? In addition to Miz and Truth?
9:44 - There was A LOT of debate over the Undertaker/Triple H match, and after that video package I firmly believe what I had always said.....that it was an exhilarating and epic match. Really had me on the edge of my seat.
9:34 - Great how they almost missed the continued build for the WWE Championship Match at WrestleMania so that they could show the two GM's arguing.
9:23 - I kinda love how each GM has an assistant/sidekick. Although I'm not sold on how Raw's GM supports SmackDown's champion while the SmackDown GM supports Raw's champion.
9:18 - That was a really incredible opening segment. Fantastic job of building up that match. Five more weeks of that and I'm a happy fan. AND on top of that, we get Punk vs. Bryan. And AJ!!!!
9:11 - "Did you invent him being Canadian?" Love it.
9:08 - Jericho referring to himself as part of a "literal dying breed" was uncomfortable considering his running mates.
9:06 - I stand corrected.
9:03 - I love how more time and effort seems to be going into CM Punk's feuds with Daniel Bryan and Chris Brown than his WrestleMania feud with Chris Jericho. In lighter news, though: Looks like Punk is growing his beard back. That's definitely a step in the right decision.
Meanwhile, have you read my Review of WWE's YouTube shows? Give it a read!
3 comments:
I dunno, I don't really agree on Mark Henry. In fact, I'm not convinced this idea that the Rock is pushing anyone out is accurate. There are, in the end, going to be MAYBE two people I think can have a legitimate gripe. One is Punk, because he's been on a huge roll but now has to play third from the top despite being in a big WWE title match (however, HHH and Undertaker are just as much to blame as Rock...for the record, no problem with HHH/Undertaker, just saying). The other is MAYBE whichever random midcarder gets bumped. Follow me in the musical chairs game. Let's pretend Rock wasn't here. Cena would be facing someone different...we don't know who, but I have a hard time believing he'd be in a random throwaway match. So let's say he faces Punk in a big rematch to try to get his wins back from the summer feud. HHH still faces Undertaker and probably main events, so it's not like Punk would have main evented. Jericho probably gets Orton instead. Sheamus VS Bryan still happens. Instead, because of Rock, what will we probably get for those four top spots? Cena/Rock, HHH/Undertaker, Punk/Jericho, Sheamus/Bryan. The only "odd man out" there is Orton. BUT WAIT! They might end up adding him to the world title match anyway. If they do that, then I am not at all convinced the card would have been any different at all save a shuffling of the top matches. If not, Orton is sure to still be on the WM card. So he gets bumped down to, say, a match with ADR. There's probably some big Raw VS SD tag match to get guys like Henry, Christian, Santino, etc. onto the card. In the end, who's going to be left off? Anyone left off is someone WWE probably doesn't care that much about at this present time anyway. That person would have a gripe since they miss the WM payday, but I have a very hard time believing that person would be getting screwed out of an opportunity, when in all likelihood whoever that person is would have been shoved into some random tag match. People act like without Rock, whoever ends up left off the card would have faced Cena in the main event. That's nuts. It would have been a shifting of the matches. That's if they didn't just add Cena to Punk/Jericho and call it a day. I think Henry will be in the same match he would have been in without Rock...some random tag match in the middle of the card.
As Lance Storm said, he got bumped for the Miller Lite catfight girls, so people should really stop complaining about that.
Here's a question for you...who do you think SHOULD (not will) win at Wrestlemania between Cena and Rock?
Here's my take (and I know this is coming from a Rock fan who isn't a big Cena fan, but I'm trying to be fair here ;) ). Originally I thought Rock, then I thought Cena because I didn't know if Rock would wrestle again at any point after and I didn't think Cena should be made to look inferior to the Rock.
Now I've gone back to Rock and here's why. First off, I think Rock does wrestle again. He'll never be anything remotely close to a regular again, but I could see, say, a Summerslam rematch against Cena (I think a WM 29 rematch is less likely). Or perhaps Rock wrestles Punk or Orton in the future and puts them over. My only concern would be putting Rock over Cena, Rock never wrestles again, and it appears Rock > everyone in the company as a result.
However, after thinking about it I'm not entirely sure Cena should win even if Rock never wrestles again. First off, I think Cena's going to be getting massive boos at Wrestlemania due to a ton of factors (unless the crowd is just dead). We're talking Chicago at MitB or the ECW arena at One Night Stand boos. If Cena was going to turn heel, fine, but it appears that won't be the case and he's going to stay a face. If so, ending Wrestlemania with a face getting booed out of the building after WINNING isn't a good idea, to me. And I just don't see how they get the fans to cheer Cena. I don't think this is anything close to a Rock/Hogan situation. In Rock/Hogan, the fans respected and liked Rock, they weren't booing him so much as cheering Hogan and rooting against Rock as a result. So when the match ended and they scattered the nWo and shook hands, people were totally willing to cheer both. But the people booing Cena aren't saying "We like and respect you, we just like Rock a little better!", they're saying "We're sick and tired of the same old crap from you". You can't turn that with a quick totally out of character handshake from the Rock (this feud has also been much more bitter and personal than Rock/Hogan).
But beyond that, I think we're long past the days when a single win or loss will make or break someone, with very few exceptions. Wins and losses are incredibly devalued because WWE is wishy washy on everyone in the company not named John Cena (and, to a lesser extent, Orton and Punk, but even Punk they're somewhat back and forth on at times). Losing to The Rock won't somehow destroy Cena. In fact, and this is the unpopular part of it that I don't think I'll get much agreement on...I think a WIN would hurt Cena. Here's the thing...people aren't booing Cena because they think he's not a legitimate top guy and he's being shoved down our throats, where a big win could help turn that around. Cena is being booed MOSTLY BECAUSE he always wins (and when he doesn't it's virtually always due to shenanigans...Punk was an exception although Cena had outs in both matches) and because he always makes his opponents look like jobbers when the match ends and he acts like he just beat up the Brooklyn Brawler in a 30 second squash, by never selling even a little bit of fatigue or pain. THAT is why he gets booed (that and the corny character who doesn't take things seriously often enough, the last two weeks being an exception that has been greatly appreciated). For the Cena fans, will putting Cena over the Rock do a ton to help him in their eyes? Probably not, he's already a top top guy who rarely ever loses and is clearly better than 99% of the company. For those booing Cena, putting him over the Rock doesn't make those people see him as a top guy and a threat to win the title...it REAFFIRMS THE VERY REASONS THEY HATE HIM by going over The Rock. Cena beating Rock wouldn't make me, personally, say "Wow, Cena beat Rock and now I view him as a top competitor who I really want to see face Punk for the title!", it makes me say "Oh god, now I really don't want to see Super Cena crush Punk and win the belt". And I suspect the same would be true for most of the people booing him. A LOSS would actually help my enjoyment of Cena, because in my view they book Cena as being so much stronger and better than everyone on the roster that he doesn't need a big win to move up...he needs a big LOSS to move DOWN so he's back on the level of everyone else.
I remember some people talking about how Rock beat Hogan and by doing it became bigger than the business. And I think there might be some truth to that. People got sick of Rock fairly quickly after that because he was "above" everyone else (even though Rock at least would go on to put over Brock, Goldberg, and then eventually Batista and Orton at WM). Cena winning at WM will just further the idea that he's so much better than everyone else, which to me would make people less likely to buy future PPVs (I'm firmly convinced that's one of WWE's biggest problems in terms of PPV sales, that people, even understanding that wrestling is "predetermined", want to pay to see two evenly matched guys where either could win...and aside from CM Punk and Randy Orton who has stayed away from Cena for a couple years now, NOBODY has been booked as being on Cena's level for awhile). A loss to the Rock might help Cena more than a win. That might not be a popular opinion and I might be totally wrong, but I don't think I am here.
Just curious as to what your thoughts are...not necessarily who you think WILL win but who should win?
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