WWE TV 8/28-9/4

[sek69]

Cena and Roman GETTIN REAL during the contract signing. Kinda weird having Roman essentially redoing Miz's promo from the Wrestlemania build, Cena demolishing him making new believers in the Political Hit Theory.

[hammerva]

Cena just raped Roman Reigns verbally with that promo. It was like Reigns just got desperate and went the Miz route which is a HORRIBLE idea

 

Oh and RIP Evil Emma's entrance music

[sek69]

It was great that Cena pulled out the "I don't bury people, the fans decide" against the guy the fans have been pushing back on for years.

[Jimmy Redman]

Oh and RIP Evil Emma's entrance music

What.

[The Thread Killer]

I don't understand why they are rushing this Reigns/Cena program. Maybe it's just me, but this feud has Wrestlemania written all over it. This should be a big money angle, no? It should be (in theory) be a passing of the torch from Vince's previously untouchable #1 guy to his new untouchable #1 guy. For them to not even feature it on one of the big four PPV's and not even in the Main Event is really strange to me.

 

In other news, Samoa Joe is reportedly injured and out for at least a month, which sucks. Hope he's okay. Considering their history, there is a guy I was hoping to see work with Cena before he went off to Hollywood to make Transformers movies.

[Jimmy Redman]

These are the same people who did Cena/Batista on the Summerslam undercard out of nowhere.

[FMKK]

I don't understand why they are rushing this Reigns/Cena program. Maybe it's just me, but this feud has Wrestlemania written all over it. This should be a big money angle, no? It should be (in theory) be a passing of the torch from Vince's previously untouchable #1 guy to his new untouchable #1 guy. For them to not even feature it on one of the big four PPV's and not even in the Main Event is really strange to me.

 

In other news, Samoa Joe is reportedly injured and out for at least a month, which sucks. Hope he's okay. Considering their history, there is a guy I was hoping to see work with Cena before he went off to Hollywood to make Transformers movies.

What's the injury? Is there a chance it's a work and they're taking him off TV so it'll be a surprise when he shows up during the Cena gas Reigns match?

[Strummer]

Joe hurt his knee over the weekend at a house show against Cena. Meltzer says he'll miss less than 6 weeks

[Matt D]

In some ways, this could almost extend his main event run. I feel like he was a PPV away from getting cycled down as it was. Now he'll come back fresh in 6 weeks able to make an immediate impact and get into a program for the fall.

[Russellmania]

In some ways, this could almost extend his main event run. I feel like he was a PPV away from getting cycled down as it was. Now he'll come back fresh in 6 weeks able to make an immediate impact and get into a program for the fall.

honestly in today's WWE climate some guys would really benefit from faking a minor injury every few months because often it keeps you better positioned than being on TV every week.

[DMJ]

Haven't watched the segment, but heard about the Cena/Reigns match. Definitely looking forward to it but am also shocked. I guess they've decided to just go for broke on the non-"big four" PPVs to try to boost Network numbers? I'm not sure what the numbers were for Great Balls of Fire, but its worth a shot.

 

I told a student in my class about the match (I work with students with moderate-to-intensive disabilities, this specific student is on the autism spectrum) and his brilliant reaction was "Is it John Cena's retirement match?" I responded, "I don't think so, but that sure would make sense."

 

I asked him who would win - he said Cena. I gave him my honest prediction: a draw. I'd love it to be a 20-minute time limit draw, but I'm thinking they'll probably put together some sort of double DQ or double CO spot instead. Anything but a "both guys shoulders are down" and I'd be happy. What would confuse me most, though, would be if they actually have one guy get a clean W because as much as there should be that "passing of the torch" moment, I'd hate for it to happen at a No Mercy with a month build when, truth be told, Cena "going Hollywood" is not going to be like The Rock where he's gone for 2-3 years at a time, its probably going to be more like he'll be gone 6-8 months then he'll be back 3-5 and so on and so on. No reason to "pass the torch" when Cena will still be probably wrestling more matches in one year than Lesnar has in the past 3.

[Jmare007]

Cena's demeanor in that promo was very HHH-like, didn't like that segment very much. It accomplished very little imo.

[brocklock]

Cena's demeanor in that promo was very HHH-like, didn't like that segment very much. It accomplished very little imo.

His "congratulations, you just cut your first decent promo in five years" line was straight out of the HHH playbook.

[FMKK]

Cena laughing off all of Roman's big lines was also pretty shitty as well. I thought both performed well tbh, though Cena is obviously a more accomplished promo. I just don't see what Cena laughing the guy off is supposed to achieve unless Reigns really beats the shit out of him.

[Richeyedwards]

I have watched the reigns and cena segment and I have mixed feelings. The delivery and control of the crowd was great as were some of the lines. But some of the stuff Cena came out with which are arguably legitimate criticisms but are not something to be done in public certainly not on national TV. I think they could have created a buzz without the backstage language.

What puts it above a hhh promo is that it was captivating to watch because Cena is interesting and has great delivery unlike a hhh drone.

[Jimmy Redman]

I think another key difference between Cena shoots and Hunter shoots is that he directs them at better targets.

 

Hunter was the top heel and he would say cool shoot comments burying babyface who were over and on the way up - guys like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Cena in 2006, etc. Those comments hurt because they were designed to make Hunter look cool and the babyface look stupid, which is counterproductive. You don't WANT to hear Hunter calling someone like Bryan a tiny geek.

 

Cena, at least, is ostensibly the babyface and is usually saying this hardcore shit to the heels who are trying to attack his character already, like Miz, or a guy like Rock who is bulletproof. That at least makes more sense and gets the right reaction from the crowd.

 

Even doing it to Roman, I mean technically he's still a face I guess but he is hated and they stopped pretending he's not hated a while ago. They knew the crowd would eat it up, hearing Cena say all the things they already believe about him. They got the desired reaction.

 

For the first time in like, years, Cena has a feud where he will actually, really be the babyface to the crowd.

[Coffey]

I actually couldn't finish the segment because it made me uncomfortable/embarrassed. I stopped at the part where Reigns was going to make a second point, stumbled & John Cena cut in to make fun of him forgetting his line.

 

Not sure what the point of using insider terms & trying to cut down one of your top guys is. Nor why they continue to put Reigns in segments like that in the first place. RAW should build around the talent instead of trying to slot talent into predefined roles. Not everyone is meant to have 10-minute in-ring promo segments. Nor is everyone made for 20-minute WWE main event style. But they keep doing the same things over and over.

[El-P]

Funny how because it's WWE and Cena, shit like this gets a pass. Stuff about "turning heel", burying Taker in the process, this is WCW 1999 garbage, a mix of Russo shooty-shooty stupidity and Hoganesque counterproductive ego-wanking. The fact they are hotshotting Cena vs Reigns is also WCWesque.

 

And really, Sasha Banks... Ok, no one should give a fuck about her, message well received. They do such a great, great job of killing every babyface, it's crazy. Yeah, can't wait to see that great Asuka main roster stint already…

 

They are 20 "Hollywood writers" to produce this shit ? Really. WCW 1999 at best.

[Jmare007]

I think another key difference between Cena shoots and Hunter shoots is that he directs them at better targets.

 

Hunter was the top heel and he would say cool shoot comments burying babyface who were over and on the way up - guys like Bryan, Punk, RVD, Cena in 2006, etc. Those comments hurt because they were designed to make Hunter look cool and the babyface look stupid, which is counterproductive. You don't WANT to hear Hunter calling someone like Bryan a tiny geek.

 

Cena, at least, is ostensibly the babyface and is usually saying this hardcore shit to the heels who are trying to attack his character already, like Miz, or a guy like Rock who is bulletproof. That at least makes more sense and gets the right reaction from the crowd.

 

Even doing it to Roman, I mean technically he's still a face I guess but he is hated and they stopped pretending he's not hated a while ago. They knew the crowd would eat it up, hearing Cena say all the things they already believe about him. They got the desired reaction.

 

For the first time in like, years, Cena has a feud where he will actually, really be the babyface to the crowd.

 

I fail to see the big difference between what happened yesterday and the awful HHH promos against Cena building up to WM 22.

[Jimmy Redman]

Well again, Hunter was supposed to be a heel and was saying cool shoot shit trying to get face pops.

[Slasher]

Cena laughing off all of Roman's big lines was also pretty shitty as well. I thought both performed well tbh, though Cena is obviously a more accomplished promo. I just don't see what Cena laughing the guy off is supposed to achieve unless Reigns really beats the shit out of him.

Not that it is a great reason for Cena to behave the way he did, but I do suspect this is exactly what will happen. If it is Reigns vs Lesnar at Mania, there is nothing to protect in a future rematch, so you might as well give Reigns a decisive win to get him on his way to his Mania showdown and Cena is Cena. When he comes back from the movies, it isn't like he'd be damaged goods or anything like that. At least that is what I hope happens after last night.

[sek69]

Cena calling out Roman for momentarily losing his train of thought "it's called a promo, you have to do it if you want to be the big guy" was so HHH-like it hurt. I get they want to establish Cena as the face in this program but he really came off as a dickhead in that segment more than anything.

[Jmare007]

 

Cena laughing off all of Roman's big lines was also pretty shitty as well. I thought both performed well tbh, though Cena is obviously a more accomplished promo. I just don't see what Cena laughing the guy off is supposed to achieve unless Reigns really beats the shit out of him.

Not that it is a great reason for Cena to behave the way he did, but I do suspect this is exactly what will happen. If it is Reigns vs Lesnar at Mania, there is nothing to protect in a future rematch, so you might as well give Reigns a decisive win to get him on his way to his Mania showdown and Cena is Cena. When he comes back from the movies, it isn't like he'd be damaged goods or anything like that. At least that is what I hope happens after last night.

 

 

And Cena is the master of no selling big losses, give him a couple of months off and it's gonna be like he never even wrestled Roman in his (kayfabe) mind

[Mr. Lacelle]

Guys, Wrestlemania crowds are the worst, why would you want to waste quality matches on them?

[sek69]

Because theoretically you want to save your biggest matches for the biggest show, and they're running out of matches that could fill up the mega stadiums they run in.