Finally…IT is here. The biggest week in the wrestling calendar. The biggest week in any calendar if WWE are to be believed. It’s WrestleMania week (formerly known as WrestleMania weekend, or just WrestleMania).
This week, I have to be a bit more careful with what I write after the mega success of last week’s article, because something strange really did happen this week, or last night to be precise.
Last night, I received an e-mail from Titan Towers, from someone in the creative team asking me to not write an article this week, and maybe, possibly, a job would open up in the near future. Fortunately for all of you, I decided to risk the wrath of WWE and any consequences by being me, a contrary wee Scotsman.
The strangest part of all of it was an outline contained in the e-mail about what will actually happen at WrestleMania this weekend…
Now, I’m not one for spoilers, and I don’t want the odds on Brock to get too short, so while I may talk about some things that were said in that e-mail, the results will be kept quiet. This is the Showcase of the Immortals after all, and everyone should enjoy it for what it is.
While SLTD has, in my opinion, done an absolutely fantastic job of covering WrestleMania over the last month, it does seem to me as if one match has almost slipped under the radar. This match is one I would have expected to receive a lot of attention, but such is the card, with The Streak and the Bryan situation, John Cena vs Bray Wyatt seems to have almost gone unnoticed.
Some may say that’s a good thing, that finally others are getting the attention they deserve, but to be honest, it worries me a bit. A match between the number one guy in the company and one of its fastest-rising, new stars surely deserves more than just a passing mention.
This could very well be the match that steals the show, the match that’s better than Hunter vs Bryan, and better than Brock vs Taker. Maybe even better than the 17 Diva tag-match, if that’s possible. The crowd should be pretty hot for this, with half of them desperate to see the poster boy beaten, and the other half will be just as desperate to see him win. That heat from the crowd can be the difference maker. If the crowd buy into this match, it could turn it into a classic.
Whatever you personally think about Cena, he is the top guy in the company, kids love him, and kids are where the money is. While I may buy some fantastic MFX t-shirt or mug (#merchtoheaven), there’s no way I’d ever walk the streets in a Brodus Clay shirt. No disrespect to the Funkasaurus, but I wouldn’t wear any shirt WWE or TNA has to offer. But kids will.
Bray Wyatt has come into WWE and just been so different to what we’ve been served up recently that everyone who’s actually encountered puberty has gotten on board with the character. There have obviously been a few fans who want to show the world they have a memory, and do it with ‘Husky Harris’ chants, but in reality, that says more about them than it does about his character change.
That character change is important though, because I also have a memory, and I remember why John Cena had to join Nexus all those years ago. Someone interfered in the match – well, two people did – but can you guess who one of them was?
But that was a different character, and WWE won’t mention it, even though it would probably have worked better as a story, and would’ve given Cena a reason for rubbishing the Wyatt gimmick a few weeks ago. A reason other than Cena just wants to look good, and will do it by making others look bad.
So the match itself. I totally expect Cena will win. He’s still the top guy, he has a lot of clout, and has previous for overcoming insurmountable odds to get the victory. He’s also talked a lot about his legacy, which he has to defend every time he can’t think of a reason why this is the most important fight of his life.
But…we can get something out of this match. Bray Wyatt is not Brodus Clay. He’s been built well, the Wyatt family has been built well, and while he may lose this match, I expect him to put up a good fight first. The crowd want to see his crab walk more than the Five Knuckle Shuffle, and the fact that Wyatt doesn’t do it in every match adds to the appeal.
You have to expect that Rowan and Harper will involve themselves at some point, and Bray does like to show us his sense of humour. Whether or not Cena will allow them to make a joke of him is another matter, and that may very well be the deciding factor on whether or not this match is great.
Cena has stayed at the top in WWE for a very long time, probably longer than anyone thought he would. He’s done that with a lot of help from the people at Titan Towers, whether it be videos of his rehab, title runs, promos every week, whatever tools were available. That means WWE wants Cena protected almost as much as Cena does.
The natural conclusion for this match would be for Bray and family to drag a lifeless Cena out the arena, and we don’t see him for some time. And that may well happen. But it will happen after Cena has dug deep and come up trumps in his biggest challenge yet – a superhuman performance from Cena once again.
Bray also has a tendency to mock his opponents when they’re down, and I’m not sure anyone can ever get Cena into a state where he’s so helpless that he can be ridiculed. And that takes away much of Bray’s character, ultimately making the match less entertaining.
This match has serious potential, but living up to that potential will be the hard part. Cena has to decide whether he wants a great match, or to protect himself. With it being WrestleMania, this becomes an even bigger decision for him. He’ll obviously want all the attention on Cena, and he needs an opponent to help with that. At the same time, he wants to look unbeatable again.
What I think will happen is that after a three-man beatdown of Cena, Bray gets into the crab, only for John to jump up and Attitude Adjust Bray from that crab in another display of Superhuman strength to pick up the win. Either that, or Hogan wins after salt in the eyes of Cena/Bray.
Now to get back to that e-mail, and the spoilers I wasn’t gonna mention…
- El Torito wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal after biting Big Show in the arse, sending him over the top rope
- Taker definitely wins his match, so don’t be betting on Brock anyone, please?
- Oh yeah, and after an attack on the way to the ring, Batista’s unable to compete in the main-event, and is replaced by some random sumo wrestler, who just happens to have brought along his manager. You would not believe how the match ends…
As always, please take the time to visit the writings of all our talented writers here at SLTD, they really do a great job. Special mention to George, who is essentially the Big Boss Man, and a man who took on the task of reviewing every WrestleMania in the last month, which is no mean feat, and shows the dedication to bring you all the Mania news you need.
On top of all of that, George is the guy who comes along behind me and makes my articles make sense and look professional, which is possibly an even bigger job than writing about 29 WrestleManias!
The MFX Podcast took a week off last week – I’m sure you all heard about the ear infection – but they’ll be back this week, and it promises to be an epic. I’d encourage everyone to listen to the guys, it’s well worth it.
As always, comments are welcome below, and I can be found on Twitter @GrantCookDFC, soon to be @wwetopwriter
I’m off to celebrate finishing this article 15 minutes before the deadline by watching in horror, as last night’s Raw is dedicated solely to building Cena vs Wyatt, then I’ll come back later and write something new…
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