Three Big Issues With The John Cena Classic/Cena’s Brawl For All | Opinion
At Backlash this past weekend, we were told that John Cena would make an announcement that would make an announcement that would shake the “foundation” of WWE. What we got was more like a powerpoint presentation to a shareholders meeting.
To bring you up to speed, The John Cena Classic will be an event that features matches that showcase up and coming NXT talent in the ring against WWE Main Roster talent, competing for the ridiculously named John Cena Championship. If it sounds like an interesting idea, it gets worse. The fans will vote to see who wins the title based on performance, not who wins or loses.
I survived living through the Brawl-For-All in the year of our Lord 1998 and I don’t think I’ve seen an idea more poorly thought out since. I’m sure there are those that would jump at the chance to directly influence outcomes in WWE (The Road Dogg comes to mind) but there are some glaring issues with this concept that are simply just bad ideas for both talent and the audience.
There Are Too Many Unanswered Questions
One of the things I’ve had the pleasure of doing over the last two years here at F4W is covering Ring of Honor. Every week, there are some really killer matches from a really good roster that largely flies under the radar because it lacks one simple thing that would put it into an NXT or TNA level: there’s virtually no stories.
The John Cena Classic is reminding me of that. Granted, we don’t know when this thing is happening or who will be participating in it, but as it stands now there is zero actual reason behind it. It’s just a thing that’s happening that has Cena’s name on it. Which begs the question, why are we doing this?
What does the “Champion” of this Classic get aside from another belt that everyone will forget about in a month? Will they defend it? How are the matchups determined? Is it a dedicated PLE or will it happen across TV shows? Live? Taped? Are we on the precipice of another Cruiserweight Title/205 Live, 24/7 or SPEED situation?
In his announcement, Cena stated that the intent was to showcase new and up and coming talent, but if they are being put in the ring with Main Roster talent who are arguably supposed to be at a higher level than them, what reason do I have to watch? To see someone maybe win a match, but then actually lose it because the fans didn’t like their trunks?
Lance Storm Is Right
When it comes to said Main Roster talent, Lance Storm made an excellent point on this week’s Wrestling Observer Live, saying “If I’m a $500,000 main roster talent and I’m in there with a $75,000 a year NXT guy, why would I use my skill and my experience to make him look good? If he wins the popularity contest and wins and gets the push to the championship, I could lose my job.”
This absolutely makes sense and puts WWE talent in awkward positions where they are being asked to choose between protecting themselves, and their value as Independent Contractors, or putting over a newer talent. Given the amount of unguaranteed contracts and talent in WWE right now it seems entirely unnecessary to put anyone in a position to willfully lower their perceived value
Plus, as Storm points out “There is going to be a TKO executive saying, ‘well why are we paying this guy that lost the fan vote and is less over than this NXT guy that works for way less money?’”
What is a WWE Talent to do? Refuse to lose and be branded as “difficult?” Or be a team player and put over someone who may not be ready and could potentially replace them? When put in that context, this seems way less like a wrestling event and way more like middle management trying to see who’s a team player.
Hot Take: I Blame TKO
It’s obvious to anyone watching WWE right now that the TKO corporate entity is what’s driving everything happening in WWE. This is, I suppose, inevitable in our megacorp-driven society. But what makes the proposed The John Cena Classic different is that it feels like one thing to me: It feels like TKO is saying to WWE fans “you know wins and losses don’t matter because it’s not real, right?”
TKO is removing all the fun of watching and following wrestling, squandering an opportunity to let WWE potentially make some new stars and doing it under the guise of “putting it in the fan’s hands” in a convoluted manner that says to this fan “fine, how about you decide who wins because it’s all pretend anyways.” Can you imagine them ever taking this kind of attitude with a UFC event?
Wrestling at its best makes the viewer suspend their disbelief without even realizing they are doing it. When the incredible performers that make up the business can achieve that, wins and losses do very much matter. As a viewer, I would be completely disappointed if I watched a barnburner of a match, but then “the internet” decided someone else won..
It’d be like watching the Daytona 500, but in the middle of the winner’s celebration, someone stepped onto the stage and said the person who crashed out on the 30th lap actually won because their crash was more spectacular.
I would absolutely love a John Cena Classic tournament that was heavily promoted, featured exciting matchups and told a story about what Cena embodies; working hard and not giving up. Unfortunately, his Classic as it stands now doesn’t really feel like it’s about either.
Jeff Moss is a writer, creator and developer in animation, comics and pretty much anything else he can get his mitts on. Pro Wrestling has always been his passion for reasons even he doesn't understand.