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[rdrsfn82]

That whole women's section was just a total waste of time, and it pisses me off coming on the heels of what people have said was a really solid match last night at the PPV.

[rdrsfn82]

OK, so Cena is back out, and let's see if it's as bad as you guys were saying.

It's been proven every time they talk over the last year that this whole "The Rock isn't here, cheer me" angle just isn't going to get the fans on his side ever. If he was saying this stuff and telling the crowd to go fuck themselves for cheering the Rock anyways, it would make much more sense. This self deprecating stuff doesn't work either.

Half the crowd is going to boo Cena no matter what he does, The Rock is going to get cheered by everyone no matter what they do, The Rock can't be the heel here, Cena saying stuff like "Vince will probably fine me for this" isn't going to get the crowd on his side, and the way they are trying to build this up just makes no sense. The "Rise Above Hate" stuff and the fact he overcame Kane's attempts to get him to turn him evil just puts a focus on the fact that Cena doesn't care about the crowd reactions, but not in a way that does anything good.

That said, Cena was good during the promo, had the right amount of intensity, seemed to take things seriously, and cut a solid promo. I just don't think the people booing him are going to ever buy into it.

Maybe if he'd been cutting promos like that the whole time, or if he'd had a heel run 6 months ago and then came out here to say stuff like this now and try to turn back into a face or at least a tweener, it would work, but they didn't do that so it feels like too little too late.

It would also help if the let the Rock actually be a heel and not be the coolest guy in the room. I know he's the big draw and he's the guy casual fans are going to tune in to see (or so they hope), but it seems like if they had him say he doesn't care about the fans that maybe it could get more people on Cena's side if they really want him to be the face.

[rdrsfn82]

For those of you that live in the Southeast and may be thinking about a trip to WM, Lance Storm will be on the March 30th ROH show down in the area.

[rdrsfn82]

This #1 contender match is such a fucking mess, and Wade breaking his arm was awful.

Glad to hear Dolph is OK.

Santino hitting Wade's arm is horrible.

Cody helping Jericho win was a total shock.

I thought Show was going to fight Shaq and Cody was going to battle Goldust, but now I wonder if they will do a Show vs Cody thing either at WM or as a mini feud before that.

The staredown with Punka nd Jericho was cool. I really look forward to this feud.

Glad to see they ended the show with this and not with HHH vs Undertaker or something. I'm sure most of the shows from here on out will be ending with Cena and the Rock, but it was nice to see the title treated like it mattered after bumping the two titles to make Kane/Cena the main event at the PPV.

Overall not a great show. It advanced storylines, but mostly stuff I just don't care about or in ways I didn't care about.

[rdrsfn82]

We know Henry is still really injured so he can't do all that much. I saw this as not making Henry look weak but showing how awesome Sheamus is and adds more to his character development.

Yeah, I concur. Henry isn't going to be able to do a lot, and he and Shamus had a huge feud last year where they were shown as equals, and then they had Shamus just destroy the monster tonight to make him look really strong.

Same thing with having Bryan just dominate Santino after letting Santino hang around all match at the PPV.

[fieldy snuts]

A number of WWE performers appeared giddy backstage over Cena’s remarks as they legitimately feel that way over the actor/wrestler. One talent commented via text to PWInsider.com (with permission to be quoted under the condition of anonymity): “[The Rock] comes in to use WWE to get back the audience he lost doing Disney movies, which is fine but he’s been back over a year and name one person he helped make a bigger star since then? No one.

“He’s here for himself, he keeps to himself, and he keeps someone who’s actually touring here all year from making a bigger payday at the bigger shows. It’s all about making this the “biggest” Mania of all time. OK, then what do we do the rest of the year? Who’s been made? You think he took ANY blame for Survivor [Series] not drawing? Of course not, but how do you feud with a guy on the Titantron? Cena nailed the guy dead on tonight.

“Say anything about HHH, Taker, etc. still being in the top spot but if they were needed to work the road, they would and they would still work their asses off as much as they needed to. Rock is out for Rock and the idea he’s here to better anything but his own wallet is the biggest work of 2012.”

[rdrsfn82]

A number of WWE performers appeared giddy backstage over Cena’s remarks as they legitimately feel that way over the actor/wrestler. One talent commented via text to PWInsider.com (with permission to be quoted under the condition of anonymity): “[The Rock] comes in to use WWE to get back the audience he lost doing Disney movies, which is fine but he’s been back over a year and name one person he helped make a bigger star since then? No one.

“He’s here for himself, he keeps to himself, and he keeps someone who’s actually touring here all year from making a bigger payday at the bigger shows. It’s all about making this the “biggest” Mania of all time. OK, then what do we do the rest of the year? Who’s been made? You think he took ANY blame for Survivor [Series] not drawing? Of course not, but how do you feud with a guy on the Titantron? Cena nailed the guy dead on tonight.

“Say anything about HHH, Taker, etc. still being in the top spot but if they were needed to work the road, they would and they would still work their asses off as much as they needed to. Rock is out for Rock and the idea he’s here to better anything but his own wallet is the biggest work of 2012.”

If they had HHH or the Undertaker or Orton or a whole coalition of guys come out and agree with Cena about the Rock, and actually painted the Rock as a selfish asshole, that would get Cena over as the face.

They won't do that because they don't want to make the Rock mad, but it's just about the only way to make it sound like what Cena is saying is true and not just sour grapes by a guy that has failed to get over doing the same stuff and who made a bunch of failed movies.

And I think that after seeing how Survivor Series (a show that they promoted solely as a showcase for the Rock, to the point they barely gave any promotion to the other matches) ended up being a disappointment, there's a pretty good chance that the Rock is just no longer the draw they think he is and there's not really a great reason to try so hard to keep him happy.

[Evan Meadow]

So has Kane turned Eve to the dark side of ho-town?

I went "Eve's gone Gossip Girl!"

[Evan Meadow]

This crowd is totally shitting on Taker's promo with the "What" chants, and you can clearly hear people chanting you suck. Kinda fucked up but he has lost this crowd with this promo, it is pretty boring and basically the same exact "Last Outlaws" promo that HHH cut on Taker last year. Speak of the Devil here comes Hunter

I was watching it going "YOU DON'T 'WHAT?' TAKER YOU BUNCH OF DRUNK IDIOTS!"

But I also kept going "Drop the hood and shock the crowd with your bald look!" but according to websites, Taker won't show the bald head till the Mania match itself.

[Evan Meadow]

Shit got real, real quick, like Cena just said! Best promo Cena has cut in a long, long time. Thats the promo where you can tell Cena was speaking from the heart and not reading some scripted bullshit. Yeah he dropped some terms and shit in there for the IWC, but you can always tell the demeanor and accent in his voice changes when he does these types of promos and that was one of his best IMHO.

I went "Worked shoot" as I was listening.

JR has said on his blog that Cena and Rock do have some issues with each other while they're doing this, so its not all made up. Cena truly believes Rock only popping in and out the way he does does nothing with his line about promising never to leave.

And him talking about his entourage is the same thing Punk said a few months ago. Rock's only hanging out with his entourage and that's it when he's at a WWE event (well sides probably Vince and Cena) but it make no sense for him to not be able (and willing) to just hang with the boys like he used to. He shouldn't be above that.

[Evan Meadow]

I get why he left though, he was the face of the company for years did everything, won everything, played every role and was spinning his wheel rehashing old feuds and stuff towards the end.

He then left on his own terms to greener pastures (and if Cena had an ounce of talent as an actor thats where Mr 12 Round and Marine would be). Did it suck he's gone? Yeah but he gave years of his life to entertain us.

Am I really supposed to hate him for moving on to something bigger?

No, you're supposed to be annoyed with his whole "WWE will always be a part of me and I'll always be doing something around here no matter where my career goes" and yet when he really became noticed in Hollywood, everyone in his ear there told him to stay away from WWE and not go back and he listened until now. And then when he does come back, he's still acting backstage according to some of the wrestlers like he's still above hanging out and talking to them.

[Evan Meadow]

I honestly just don't see that, I mean I will give you Barrett he literally buried him under about a dozen chairs, but:

Miz nope Cena lost to him at WM, biggest show of the industry. Rock interfered but Cena lost to Miz nonetheless. Even when he won the title from Miz it was in a Steel Cage match that was pretty good.

CM Punk, nope Cena lost to him two PPVs in a row, some controversy in the second loss but still a loss.

Sheamus, Cena lost to him multiple times on TV, not always clean wins but he still lost.

Ziggler and Swagger have both have great matched against Cena, yeah they lost but Cena didn't make them look like chumps beating them.

He had great matches against Edge, JBL, Umaga, Jericho, Christian, HBK, etc so other than Nexus and Barrett more specifically I just don't see Cena as the guy that buried other wrestlers the way say Hogan or to an extent HHH did. I could be wrong and you could be right but I just don't see it.

Cena still doesn't have a win against Sheamus in any type of single match.

[Evan Meadow]

Well, it was also easier because both guys were there all the time so you could have Hogan attempt to murder the Rock and things like that.

The fans that cheer for the Rock already boo Cena, and nothing they can do is going to get them to change their mind. The WWE doesn't seem to realize this or at least they refuse to accept it and so they keep trying to make Cena the face. It's not a logical move, IMO.

Well don't forget the Hogan/Rock match itself is something of an aberration. Hogan was supposed to be a heel the whole time during that match but no one took into consideration the fact that Skydome REFUSED to treat him as a heel simply because here was Hogan back in a WWE ring after so many years and they just wanted to celebrate and be 12 again.

LOL like every wrestling smark on the internet that night. Everyone I know who hated Hogan with a passion especially during WCW all basically went "For one night, we were 12 again and rabid Hulkamaniacs."

[Evan Meadow]

Yeah, Hogan and the NWO were getting booed everywhere, then in Canada they were just going nuts for him.

It was pretty interesting how it played out.

Its Canada. There's a reason why WWE calls it Bizarroland whenever they're there. But as I said above, that crowd just refused to boo Hogan on his real return to WWE.

[Evan Meadow]

And Shaq has confirmed in interviews he will be at Mania, but has not said anything about being in any match yet.

So I do think the angle with Cody won't last for long or will somehow bring Shaq in, if possible.