Jeuron Dove talks about the return of John Cena
By
Jeuron Dove
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Hello fans. I would like to start out by congratulating Brock Lesnar on his historic win over Randy Couture for the UFC heavyweight title. I’m not the biggest MMA fan and I normally skim through all the MMA coverage each week in the Observer, but even I realized the magnitude of this event. Brock Lesnar can now lay claim to being the only person who has won an NCAA Division I heavyweight championship as well as the IWGP, WWE and UFC heavyweight titles. Even though Lesnar is relatively new to MMA, he has already reached the pinnacle and I wish him the best as he continues his career with the UFC.
This Sunday marks the 22
nd annual Survivor Series. As being one of the big four events of the WWE, it appears to have a significantly better lineup than the majority of PPV offerings of the year. I expect it to be a fun show overall. The main matches have been built up well and the go home Raw show this past Monday did a good job in putting the final touches on things. Well, at least from the Raw perspective. Smackdown hasn’t been bad either as they have continued to keep the main focus on the HHH-Koslov-Hardy feud and Show-Taker. Of course, this brings us to what I expect will be the real main event of Sunday’s show and that is the World heavyweight title match between Chris Jericho and the returning John Cena.
Anyone who has tuned into Raw over the last month has noticed the constant video packages that have been played to build up Cena’s return. With how much they’ve been focusing on it, you would think that this is one of the biggest comebacks in the history of the sport. You could make a comparison to HHH in terms of how his comeback has been handled. HHH was out of action for eight months with a torn quadriceps and as the time drew closer for his return, they aired these fantastic video packages that made you genuinely excited for the moment he would walk back through the curtain. When he returned to action on that now historic edition of Raw from Madison Square Garden in January 2002, he received one of the loudest and passionate ovations in company history. In addition, his return proved to be a huge draw as he went on the win that year’s Royal Rumble. That show largely built around HHH still holds the record for being the most successful Royal Rumble show in terms of PPV buys.
Now, I don’t expect Cena’s return to do that kind of business. That was 2002 and it’s 2008. North American PPV business for the WWE has been way down since then and even a major show like this year’s Summerslam didn’t do gigantic business. However, I do expect his return to be among the most memorable moments of the year. His previous return at this year’s Rumble was one of the big shockers of 2008, largely because the company kept it a complete secret. Even the notoriously hard MSG crowd exploded when he was revealed as the last participant of the match. Being that Survivor Series is in Boston, which is a home market for Cena, I expect him to get a pretty positive response from the fans in attendance. Of course when it comes to Cena and crowd response, there is only one thing that you can guarantee and it’s that it should be a hot crowd for better or worse.
Whether you like him or you don’t (and a good portion doesn‘t) you have to admit that there are few characters in the business today that are as captivating as Cena. Some may see him as a substandard in-ring performer while others may see him as a poser of the hip-hop demographic. He may have been shoved down our throats at times (I must even admit that I got a little tired of these videos on Raw), but you can’t deny that the man has a passion for the business that few others have. He lives and breathes it and when you hear all of his peers talk about how much heart and desire he has and why he’s so hell bent on returning and training as hard as possible for this comeback, they are really telling the truth.
He is the man of the hour and has been the face of the company for nearly the past four years. He’s feuded with all the top names and have beaten them all (except Batista) and is a 3x WWE champion. People are always saying that he’s never going to be the next Rock or Austin or that he doesn’t have the respect inside the ring of a Bret Hart, HHH, Michaels, Jericho or Undertaker. Comparing Cena to these guys is like comparing apples and oranges. All are wrestlers, but each has a unique flavor to them that is all their own. Comparing him to the prior two is just not being realistic. Very few men in the history of the business have ever been consistent draws and beloved fan favorites like Rock and Austin were. And while he doesn’t have the in-ring legacy of the latter five, it’s pretty hard to argue against the fact that Cena has become an all-around better wrestler over the last two years and has had numerous great matches with people that he was expected to have good and not so good matches with.
As far as his match this Sunday goes, it should be one of the better of the show. The company was smart in booking his first match back against Jericho. Jericho has been on a role of having tremendous matches lately and he is doing a perfect job of being the heel champion. As a matter of fact, this has been the best run that Jericho has had in his entire career in terms of being a main event player. At first I was kind of upset about them making Cena’s first match back for the title, since he technically hasn’t done anything to deserve it in storyline. Then again, the company has done such a fine job of building up his return that it now doesn’t seem out of place for him to be challenging for the top prize. Jericho should also be commended for doing that spectacular promo on Monday night that proved to fans why he is one of the top guys in the game today while building up Cena at the same time. I’m almost certain that this will only be the first match of a longer feud between the two and it would surprise me if Cena did win the belt. With how many times the world title belt has changed hands over the last few months (and Batista’s totally pointless one-week reign), I think that the company would like to give a bit of stability to the title.
Regardless of the outcome of the match, I have a feeling that this is all we’re going to be talking about next week.
Thank you for reading and as always your feedback is much appreciated. Also, some of you may have noticed from reading this week’s Raw TV Report, but I will be filling in for Todd Martin next week as he has other business to tend to. I have been reading his Raw Reports since 2003 (when I was in high school) and have always been impressed with the quality of his work. He gave me this opportunity and I’m going to make the most of it. Expect it to be a very different read, but entertaining nonetheless. Take care.
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