OAO WrestleMania 23 Thread-April 1st, 2007

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

But he did nothing on offence with it. If he was going to win the title, he should have used more offence on the shoulder/arm than getting trapped into almost submission.

But, as I said, the point of him working on the arm wasn't to win vis-à-vis the arm work, but for him to not have to worry about getting caught in the Crossface. And it worked in that regard. That left MVP free to do whatever it is that he normally does, without fear of suddenly finding himself on the end of a tapout loss.

 

Or, as Jesse Ventura used to say, sometimes you have to do certain things to create openings for other things...

[cabbageboy 0]

MVP has already shown some decent ring skill and at least something on the mic. That alone puts him far above the truly horrendous Orlando Jordan. Jordan is the worst wrestler to ever hold a major title, and I'm including David Flair in the discussion. Some posters might remember my complete meltdown after GAB 2005 when Orlando actually beat Benoit. It was probably the only time I got close to being banned.

 

I was a bit excited near the end of HBK/Cena but it had a humdrum sense of Deja Vu that detracted from the proceedings. I liked the match better when it was HHH vs. Cena last year. Cause let's face it, the finishing sequence was highly similar. In fact it seemed like one of those nods to the past and then they do something different with it (sorta like UT with Batista, hitting the Last Ride a la WM 17, but Batista kicks out)....but then Michaels simply tapped.

 

That might be my biggest problem with Cena as a worker. Several of his matches require psychology but he has virtually no concept of it and it really shows. His no selling of the leg wasn't quite on the scale of Edge vs. Eddie at SS 2002 (where Edge completely no sold all of Eddie's shoulder work at the finish, the ne plus ultra of this sort of thing). Thing is, Cena does an STF just for the hell of doing a submission, with no rhyme or reason. He doesn't do any wear down offense to soften a man up for the STF. He just sorta does it with no concept of WHY it needs to be done. Bret Hart is criticized for The 5 Moves of Doom, but those moves are done to wear a guy's back and legs out to set up the Sharpshooter.

 

Personally I have never cared for the whole "one guy works the arm or leg" psychology anyway, since it's hard for anyone not named Bret or Savage to best to maintain the "injury" throughout the match. I mentioned earlier the HHH/RVD matches from 2002/03, where HHH would do tons of ponderous leg work on RVD and the match would suck as a result because 1. It takes away most of the decent stuff RVD could do and 2. RVD was forced to look foolish and no sell the leg in order to make a comeback and hit his basic stuff. It's easier to sell a shoulder than a leg, since a guy needs to be able to walk and run in the ring.

 

I question the booking of Cena and HBK on this level. Why work Cena's leg at all? What did Michaels hope to gain? Did he have some new lethal submission he was going to bust out? Indian Deathlock? Anything to justify working a leg for 10 minutes and risking a possible no sell? I don't know whether to blame Michaels or Cena here, since the leg work really didn't play into the endgame and was mostly there for the sake of it. Cena was booked to get the STFU and the win, so I don't see what point the leg work served.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

WM only cost $39.95 this year, right?

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

No sir, $50.

[Red Baron 0]

39.95 in the States I believe.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Really? Normally it costs the same in Canada and the US. Regular PPVs cost $39.95 these days.

[goldengreek 0]

Really? Normally it costs the same in Canada and the US. Regular PPVs cost $39.95 these days.

49.95 IN CHICAGO

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Wrestlemania is always more money.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

and it might hopefully see the end of the 'King' gimmick.

Aw, what do you have against the King gimmick? The raised-pinky thing he does is faaaaaantastic.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Random plug for my Mania photos (it's not like I was close enough to get anything great): http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgray21/sets/72157600044589268/

[Hoff 0]

WO.com daily update (and not fakery like S_D's "I was pissed on IRC about Cena's leg no-sell so I'll make up a story about HBK being as mad as me" post).

S_D's LAW thing is the funniest thing I've ever read on this forum. He made a post, then a few hours later he makes the same post (using the same words and phrasing!) but credits it to Meltzer. Unreal.

 

Al (I think it was Al that said it) is right about WWE main event not really meaning much until the last 5-10 minutes. I enjoyed the earlier part more than I think most people did, but it was really killing time until the finishing sequences.

[Guest cacheton]

A match that involves someone working a leg for 10 minutes and then the victim selling the leg for a maximum of 30 seconds for the next 20 minutes is not a match of the year candidate.

 

John Cena's fucking ass needs to be locked in a room for 24 hours and forced to watch Flair/Savage from WM8 and learn how to sell a fucking leg injury. The way he totally disregarded that during the match was unbelievably stupid. That's probably why HBK got pissed in the match and yelled at him when Cena was slumped in the corner and they muted the ring audio with crowd noise.

 

No, your ass needs to be locked in a room watching Micheals nip up match after match, after his back has been worked on all match.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

A match that involves someone working a leg for 10 minutes and then the victim selling the leg for a maximum of 30 seconds for the next 20 minutes is not a match of the year candidate.

 

John Cena's fucking ass needs to be locked in a room for 24 hours and forced to watch Flair/Savage from WM8 and learn how to sell a fucking leg injury. The way he totally disregarded that during the match was unbelievably stupid. That's probably why HBK got pissed in the match and yelled at him when Cena was slumped in the corner and they muted the ring audio with crowd noise.

 

No, your ass needs to be locked in a room watching Micheals nip up match after match, after his back has been worked on all match.

 

Check and mate. Michaels is the absolute last fucking person who should ever pissed because of someone ignoring selling. He's been doing that for over ten years! This is the very definition of pot. kettle. black.

[World's Worst Man 0]

I thought Batista/UT was great for two minutes, completely dull for ten, and decent for another two . The crowd and the spectacle really made it seem better than it was. I'm not fan of matches where they kill time with pedestrian, uninteresting work. It also didn't help that the sequences they used in the stretch run were absolutely smoked by another match I'd seen earlier in the day (despite the match in question not exactly being a classic itself). It wasn't terrible stuff or anything, it just stuck out like a sore thumb in a match that is garnering so much praise. The important parts of the match were laid out well, and were able to hide Batista's weaknesses, but the filler stuff exposed them fairly effectively. Still, it was a decent match, a lot better than what I expected.

[bob_barron 0]

and it might hopefully see the end of the 'King' gimmick.

 

The King gimmick is one of the best things on Smackdown.

 

Seriously HTQ, you need a sense of humour

[MARTYEWR 0]

MITB: A good opener, but while there were some great spots, I don't think it was as good or as spectacular as the previous two. I'd say it was in the ***1/2 range. The Edge/Jeff Hardy spot was insane, and the Matt Hardy/King Booker spot where Hardy threatened Sharmell and forced Booker to get down off the ladder might be the start of a program between the two, and it might hopefully see the end of the 'King' gimmick.

 

***1/2 seems about right. I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening, like Chris Benoit coming back during the match, shoulder injury and all, and nearly winning, or Ric Flair leaving on a stretcher and eventually returning. As it was, it was mainly a collection of spots, with the one exception being the Hardy/Booker moment you mentioned. While I do like the King gimmick, Booker getting off the ladder showed that he had a heart, while Matt showed heelishness threatening Sharmell, so a double turn could very well work. I myself like the King gimmick, but I also don't think it has years and years of mileage to it, if you know what I mean.

 

Great Khali vs. Kane: Not terrible, but a complete DUD. The fact that it didn't suck beyond belief is a miracle in itself, but that doesn't mean it was in any way good.

 

Agreed.

 

Chris Benoit vs. MVP Couldn't tell you anything about the match because I had no interest in it at all and wandered off until it was over. I do know that MVP got no reaction coming out while Benoit got a tremendous reaction, which reminded me of his match with Orlando Jordan at Summerslam in 2005. That should be called the Orlando Effect.

 

I enjoyed the match and thought that if it went 15 minutes, it might have a possibility of stealing the show. Really liked the story of MVP working on Benoit's shoulder to slow or weaken Benoit's grappling abilities (it's the same thing Shawn Michaels did to Bret Hart in the Iron Man match). Benoit's reaction wasn't going to be a problem, but the fact that they put this match on the card at the very last minute really factored into MVP's reaction more than anything. I'm not a huge MVP fan, but if you're a new worker and you're thrown in the last week or so, it's death. Solid match, though, out-of-nowhere finish (when was the last time Benoit won with the swandive?).

 

Undertaker vs. Batista: This was was shockingly good, with Undertaker working hard to carry Batista and Batista managing to hold up his end of the match just fine. I wouldn't call it ****; I think, like with Khali/Kane, the fact it was so much better than people thought it would be made the match seem better than it really was. It was still a good match, though. I'd say in the ***-***1/2 range.

 

That's about right. I'm glad the match was not the last match. Maybe it could've been a bit higher, but as people have already said, putting it lower down the card increases the possibility of Batista winning. If it went on last, it would've been a no-brainer who was going over.

 

Tommy Dreamer & Sandman & RVD & Sabu vs. Elijah Burke & Marcus Cor Von & Matt Striker & Kevin A fair match, that was neither good nor bad. It was just there. The finish surprised me, and it looks like RVD is either staying or they're very confident he is.

 

Yeah, it was what it was. Thought the Originals moreless phoned things is, while the New Breed, particularly Thorn, worked pretty hard.

 

Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga: Very awkward and nowhere as good as a match between these two could be, which I think you can blame on the storyline surrounding the match, because without the need to involve anyone else, I think Lashley and Umaga could have a very entertaining brawl. Umaga was kept stronger than Lashley, getting to lay out Austin twice, while Lashley had to sell for Shane.

 

Not to sound like the world's biggest WWE defender, but I think the overbooking was done to help the heels get heel reactions, and the faces get face reactions. Let's face it: There was likely a bit of worry (at least) that Umaga might get cheers because a) people want to see Trump lose the hair (even my mom, who's HATES me watching wrestling to begin with, was disappointed upon learning that Trump didn't lose) and b) Lashley's not that good. For that, they did as good a job of getting the reactions intended, although I think a lot of that goes to Austin and Vince moreso than anyone else. Of course, Lashley looking weaker than Umaga isn't going to help much, but I think he's going to be a disappointment this year in the middle of his biggest push yet. He may in fact be the guy Undertaker beats next year to go 16-0, in fact.

 

Melina vs. Ashley: This was another 'match' that I had no desire to watch, so I went elsewhere.

 

I really wouldn't have minded a little bait-and-switch, with them going with Mickie James instead at the very last minute.

 

John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels: A very good match, but not quite as good as some people have said it was, and I'd even go so far as to call it disappointing. I thought it was very good, like I said, but I was expecting something special from these two, and while they produced a strong match in the ***3/4 to **** range, it wasn't what I think they're really capable of. The first ten minutes or so was pretty boring, and I wasn't all that excited by it. As the match went on, it got better, and they really had the crowd going by the time they hit the home stretch and some of the counters and near falls were very well executed. I'm not shocked to see Cena win via the STFU, and while I can see why some people aren't happy with it, Cena is WWE's golden child and is going to be in the main event scene for a long time. It makes total sense for Cena to win on the biggest stage of the year. How they build the rematch will be interesting, because they can't build any more tension between the two without Shawn going full blown heel on Cena, and I don't see that happening.

 

The first half was REALLY slow-paced, aside from some nice offense by Michaels on Cena's leg. I think the problem was the strike exchanges. They went reeeeaaaalllly slow, as if they were looking for a cheap way to stretch the match out. Very dull. Second half was very good though. I think ***1/2 is about right, just because of the slow brawling and Cena forgetting about the leg dragging things down a bit. The right guy went over too, and I expect Michaels to win at Backlash. I would love a full-blown Michaels heel turn, but yes, that remains to be seen.

 

All in all, a good WM. Not the best, but close to being one of the best.

 

It was good, but I don't know if I'd call it even close to being one of the best. Very few surprises, really, with most surprises happening in the undercard. The three big matches were pretty easy as far as predicting winners, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[World's Worst Man 0]

The last four minutes of HBK-Cena was pretty fantastic. Unfortunately the match went twenty minutes before that, a good chunk of which was horrible. Both guys looked downright lost during a few moments early in the match. The long corner sequence after HBK's leg work was a painful mess and really not an effective face comeback. The leg selling I'm not too worried about, as I don't believe a guy needs to sell a bodypart after it's done being worked on, unless they're playing up an injury story or something. Also, Cena should really learn how to properly apply an STF. In any case, it was just typical WWE main event style, which usually means a well booked stretch run, but this match had a worse than usual leadup to that stretch run.

[bob_barron 0]

I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening

 

The whole match told one big story, and it was really well done. This year's MITB was much better then last years.

 

And the Ric Flair thing- he was out for 2 minutes, came back, got whacked by Finlay and then was never seen again. Last year's MITB was just Shelton doing his spots waiting for the inevitable RVD win

[Hawk 34 0]

I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening

 

The whole match told one big story, and it was really well done. This year's MITB was much better then last years.

 

And the Ric Flair thing- he was out for 2 minutes, came back, got whacked by Finlay and then was never seen again. Last year's MITB was just Shelton doing his spots waiting for the inevitable RVD win

 

Yep. This had Matt being a dick throughout the match. Demanding Jeff to jump and kill not just himself but his own bitter rival (notice Jeff was changing his mind until Matt basically yelled at him like the older brother he is), threatening to hurt Sharmell. It had Booker and Finlay, two heels showing signs of good heart (Booker sacrificing a sure win for his wife and Finlay consoling Hornswoggle). Punk was the scrappy rookie that kept saving the day and came inches from winning. The only one who didn't really serve a purpose was Orton (aside from the RKO spot).

[muzz 0]

I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening

 

The whole match told one big story, and it was really well done. This year's MITB was much better then last years.

 

And the Ric Flair thing- he was out for 2 minutes, came back, got whacked by Finlay and then was never seen again. Last year's MITB was just Shelton doing his spots waiting for the inevitable RVD win

 

Yep. This had Matt being a dick throughout the match. Demanding Jeff to jump and kill not just himself but his own bitter rival (notice Jeff was changing his mind until Matt basically yelled at him like the older brother he is), threatening to hurt Sharmell. It had Booker and Finlay, two heels showing signs of good heart (Booker sacrificing a sure win for his wife and Finlay consoling Hornswoggle). Punk was the scrappy rookie that kept saving the day and came inches from winning. The only one who didn't really serve a purpose was Orton (aside from the RKO spot).

 

Finlay consoling Hornswoggle was almost the best visual of the night. I got a kick out of Orton's RKO-fest too, and most of all, Matt acting like a complete dick to win.

[Team Angle Pusher 0]

EDIT: Did anyone else catch this piece of WM feedback on the Torch site:

 

Richard Gozinya of Sacramento, Calif. (1.0): Best Match: M.I.T.B. Worst Match: Cena-Michaels. As a TNA fan I can honestly say that I wasn't impressed with this show at all. I have never ordered a WWE PPV before, and after watching this drivel I will never do so again. Lashley is an extremely poor man's Brock Lesnar. Why was Steve Austin involved in that match? From a logic standpoint, he has history with Vince McMahon and couldn't possibly be impartial. Cena-Michaels was laughably bad. How are you helping your champ by having him sell chops from an old, skinny dude? The crowd (who had been bored to tears by this point) were dying for anything to cheer for at this point and didn't receive it. If you want some cutting edge wrestling, order Lockdown. You won't be disappointed.

 

How can HBK/Cena possibly be the worst match of the show, seriously now. Ashley/Melina, Khali/Kane and Originals/New Breed were better matches than HBK/Cena, SURE. I know it's not your opinion btw HTQ. He sounds like a total TNA mark that refuses to like anything about the WWE. Lashley is a poor man's Lesnar...yet he claims hasn't seen a WWE PPV ever.

 

I'm not going to run down the entire card, just say a few things here and there. MITB seemed a bit off because the crowd was really bad here considering there were so many people. They hardly reacted to Booker's "tell me I didn't just.." and the only guy who got a nice response was Kennedy (who had an amazing entrance, it looked really "big time" because of the camera's position and it was just badass). I liked Booker T getting the crowd into it a bit by dominating for a while and doing the Spinarooni. Jeff's spot on Edge was cool but I just think it's a bit lame to have Edge get taken out of the match because of an injury just so he can say he never lost, I wanted to see more of Edge. The ending was a bit weird as well but I'm fine with Kennedy winning and CM Punk looked good and surprisingly Finlay too. Orton didn't do anything in the end which was odd too because I don't think a Book End should be enough to take him out the entire time.

 

Taker beating Batista is great. JBL did an awesome job talking about a new era of darkness when Taker won, gave me chills. MVP/Benoit was my personal MOTN just looking purely at the wrestling. MVP's entrance was extremely cool and I'm surprised many people haven't acknowledged MVP's potential to be a really really good wrestler. I'm cool with Benoit winning but MVP is the future. The rest was alright. Cutting Vince's hair took a bit too long for me. Cena/HBK was a good main event, not as good as Cena/HHH but that's probably because the crowd was less hot this time. Maybe Taker/Batista should have main evented but this does get the point across that Cena is the WWE's main man for years to come and I respect him for giving 100% every time he wrestles and it really looks like he won some fans back.

 

I enjoyed it.

[MARTYEWR 0]

I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening

 

The whole match told one big story, and it was really well done. This year's MITB was much better then last years.

 

And the Ric Flair thing- he was out for 2 minutes, came back, got whacked by Finlay and then was never seen again. Last year's MITB was just Shelton doing his spots waiting for the inevitable RVD win

 

Yep. This had Matt being a dick throughout the match. Demanding Jeff to jump and kill not just himself but his own bitter rival (notice Jeff was changing his mind until Matt basically yelled at him like the older brother he is), threatening to hurt Sharmell. It had Booker and Finlay, two heels showing signs of good heart (Booker sacrificing a sure win for his wife and Finlay consoling Hornswoggle). Punk was the scrappy rookie that kept saving the day and came inches from winning. The only one who didn't really serve a purpose was Orton (aside from the RKO spot).

 

I stand fully corrected, and shame on me for forgetting those moments. Thanks for the reminders, Hawk. (In fact, now I wanna rewatch that match again, soon.)

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Chris Benoit vs. MVP Couldn't tell you anything about the match because I had no interest in it at all and wandered off until it was over. I do know that MVP got no reaction coming out while Benoit got a tremendous reaction, which reminded me of his match with Orlando Jordan at Summerslam in 2005. That should be called the Orlando Effect.

 

Orlando Jordan shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as MVP. Orlando never had potential, MVP does. MVP is charismatic and can work a good match. Benoit never got a big pop niether, the crowd sucked all night pratically, Detroit isn't a really good wrestling crowd, never has been IMO.

 

MVP had everyone salling "Ballin!" in the arena though!

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think the crowd was hurt by two face/face title matches, a Trump/McMahon match where neither are truly liked, and Money In the Bank was a clusterfuck. There weren't many instances where the crowd could unanimously get behind one wrestler/team against a hated heel.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Chris Benoit vs. MVP Couldn't tell you anything about the match because I had no interest in it at all and wandered off until it was over. I do know that MVP got no reaction coming out while Benoit got a tremendous reaction, which reminded me of his match with Orlando Jordan at Summerslam in 2005. That should be called the Orlando Effect.

 

Orlando Jordan shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as MVP. Orlando never had potential, MVP does. MVP is charismatic and can work a good match. Benoit never got a big pop niether, the crowd sucked all night pratically, Detroit isn't a really good wrestling crowd, never has been IMO.

 

MVP had everyone salling "Ballin!" in the arena though!

 

We were a great crowd. It's just hard to pick everything up with 80,000 people. Like, my section was really loud, and a section at the back of the stadium was really loud for Cena, but too many mixed opinions in a large building don't always translate. I also think they had some sound problems because, and I don't know how it came off on TV, but I'm used to rings having more of a mic'd sound in person that some of the slams lacked.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

I watched the part with HBK in the corner with Cena again, and i could only understand the word "situation"

[billdynamite 0]

Didn't HBK pick up Lawler's pencil and write something? Lawler read it and said "oh come on, Shawn."

 

I was pretty tired, it was about 4am and a few days ago... But i still think it happened. Then they were in the corner and the sound went crappy while HBK "trash talked" to Cena. I thought they might be just calling a spot coming up but i thought because shawn wrote something he might be injured... But he seemed fine. So i assume it was something else, I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

 

Or am i reading too much into this?

[Guest robrabies]

I know most everyone is posting their comments on the show, so I'll divulge with mine:

 

I was actually disappointed with the Card. I thought the order of the booking was odd and that it threw off the rhythm of the show. I don’t mind the hot opener concept, but I would have rather seen MITB switch places w/ Benoit-MVP. Furthermore, I think that they really crapped on Smackdown and the WHT by putting on the title match fourth??

 

Say what you will about the guy, and personally I don’t like him, but Batista hadn’t been pinned cleanly since Orton got him in the Elimination Chamber match that HHH won (that was NYR ’05, correct??). And for all the hub-ub about the streak, you’d think that such a matchup would warrant semi-main event status. I know that some people bought it b/c of the BOTB, but I find it hard to believe it significantly affected the buyrate. They aren’t going to get any more press after the fact by making it semi-main, why not give one of your most revered workers his rightful spot later in the show??

 

The MITB match was legitimately scary. Maybe the Edge injury was a work as a way to protect his streak, but the match as a whole was more disjointed than the other two. Aside from the Super Bookend and the Spinaroonie, what did Booker add? Hornswoggle’s bump was sweet, I enjoyed the plancha and Celtic Cross, so Finlay gets a pass. Matches like those need some sense of order in the planning process so they don’t devolve, and maybe Edge’s bump threw off their planned lead up to their finish, but maybe it didn’t.

 

 

Of the Post WCW WM’s, X7 onward, I think it’s battling X8 for the worst of the lot. I really enjoyed MVP-Benoit and thought that Cena-Michaels, although having an overly slow start, had great counter sequences, especially towards the end. The BOTB was overbooked, of course, but highly enjoyable.

 

 

I think that my biggest qualm may have been with the crowd. They seemed DEAD the entire night. Now, this could be due to the acoustics of Ford Field, but I’m by no means certain that this is the case. I think a hot crowd could have taken this above WM X8, 21 and 22 of the modern WM’s, but their passiviness really hurt the experience for me.

 

 

Although I will say that it was a great set and lighting, and I dug the white ring ropes.

 

 

If I had my druthers, I take Orton and Edge out for a singles match, and switch the placement of the MITB w/ Benoit-MVP and the WHT with the BOTB.

 

They had the right match going on last, but this was NO better than ***3/4. Go pop in Bret-Austin from XIII or watch Austin-Rock II, or Angle-Benoit from RR '03. These are your ***** contenders.

 

The problem with the main event is that they cut a pace like the Ironman Match of WM XII with half the time and that just didn't work. Michaels' spots were nice as were the reversals, and the STFU drama (or lack thereof w/ the second). Aside from that, I don't remember Cena hitting anything of note.

 

 

For the people who want to buy the replay??

 

Download utorrent, and download WM XXIII from torrentspy. Save yourself the money.

[Superfly Snuka 0]

Random Question....

 

 

 

 

Who's worse.....seriously....Giant Gonzales or Khali?

 

Well, as Giant Gonzales is permanently confined to a wheelchair and i believe, destitute, I would say the guy who played Giant Gonzales is much worse..off.

 

But wrestling-wise, Khali doesn't wear a fake muscle body suit with/without fake hair, so Gonzales is worse.

[Superfly Snuka 0]

I'll tell you my problem with Cena, it's the fact that the guy defines generic. A big Main Event match like tonight, where Cena has to play the role of the reeling face that has to "defy the odds" comes off lame because John Cena has no entertaining offense. The guy basically took a beating for twenty minutes and then on three seperate occassions just hits a move or two and then goes for the F-U. Lets reverse roles here, if HBK was the face making the comeback, in otherwords the guy that is booked to be cheered for, then the match probably turns out a hell of a lot better. Cena is much more fitted to be in the role of the bruiser, who punches, kicks and slams his opponent around with generic power moves for ten or so minutes, while letting his opponent make the cunning comeback, especially in a face vs. face match involving one of the best workers of the past 20 years. The match wasn't horrible, but you could tell that the crowd is not going to buy into Cena making these "comebacks" that involve a mere punch/kick and then right into an F-U. Cena really needs to work on learning more setups and transitions that amount to some kind of credible offense, because right now, to anyone with the slightest understanding of what changes a match from being decent, into good/great, a Cena match, no matter who it is with, will never be anything special to watch.

 

Well, at least it wasn't as bad (plausibility-wise) as his Wresltemania 21 match, where JBL destroyed him for like 95% of the match and then Cena won with like a minute of offense.