The Wrestling Thread

[Jmenglan]

The card looks solid, and unlike last year I'm really looking forward to watching this. I'm just disappointed that it's Cody Rhodes/Big Show instead of Rhodes/Goldust, I love that guy.

[Gamerforlife]

I'm still underwhelmed for some reason, but I'll still buy Wrestlemania anyway. I'm not that excited about it though.

I thought it was interesting how Cena antagonized the crowd last night. Really kills the whole Rock is the heel theory.

[retrosportsgamer]

This will not happen, but....

Every time Cena harps about how he HAS to win this match, I keep thinking back to Wrestlemania x7 and Austin's turn.

[BurningDoom]

This was the last Raw before Wrestlemania? So where the hell was Undertaker, HBK, & HHH? That's the one match I'm looking forward to the most!

[Runefaust]

This will not happen, but....

Every time Cena harps about how he HAS to win this match, I keep thinking back to Wrestlemania x7 and Austin's turn.

My thoughts exactly.

Judging from what was seen and said from the promos a couple nights ago Rock has lost so much of the edge that made the character they might as well slap Dwayne Johnson versus John Cena on the card. But ironically last night was the first time I actually appreciated more of Dwayne in the ring than The Rock persona. He pulled off a great promo, imo, and you could clearly see the aggression building up inside while he kept his silence.

Cena on the other hand was unusually arrogant and overly aggressive with his promo. The aggression isn't anything new, the angle being Rock is a visitor coming in and trying to take away everything that Cena's worked for for the past decade. And considering the quote, "I can't lose, they know I can't lose. That's why I have to win. They know I have to win. That's why they know I have to win this match more than anything in my entire life." ... Hmmm...

One thing for sure, this type of desperation opens up the opportunity for a turn. The uncertainty is whether they want to make Cena the biggest hypocrit in the business. And with that uncertainty... I'm actually excited again for that match at Wrestlemania.

[Gamerforlife]

Just a little food for thought for those of you saying The Rock has lost his edge, some insiders have put forth the theory that The Rock is not being allowed to go all out on Cena. It's not actually that hard for someone to completely humiliate Cena if he wanted to. Punk could easily rip Cena apart. It's not really that hard to do for any guy with some intelligence. Cena's full of hypocrisies that are easily exploitable. Lately, he's even been pointing them out himself (prep school thug). However, would the WWE want anyone to do that to the guy they perceive as their biggest money maker?

I'm not entirely convinced the old Rock isn't still there anymore. He still has the charisma, still have the voice, still has funny lines, and can still entertain a crowd, and hold their attention. You can still see everything that has made him famous as one of the best talkers in the biz. He just feels a bit toned down. It's still the Rock, but the volume has been turned down just a bit, like he's holding back for some reason. You can see it in his eyes, like he's ready to really tear Cena a new one, but he doesn't. Cena, on the other hand, seems to have been given free reign to say whatever he wants and I think he's enjoying that. Hell, the guy doesn't even care about pissing off the audience. He deliberately pokes his haters with a stick

If it is because of a potential heel turn, that would be awesome. I don't think the WWE has the balls though. They are so safe and watered down these days. Their last chance to really show us they had a set was right after Money in the Bank 2011. Their handling of that was weak and predictable. Maybe we shouldn't be talking about Rock losing his edge, but Vince McMahon.

[retrosportsgamer]

I think the main event goes one of two ways:

Cena outlasts the Rock - we get the passing of the torch handshake afterwards.

Rock wins, as a rematch only makes sense if Cena is the one that lost (since he is the regular and the story would be built up over the next four months).

I think the Rock has committed to WM29 and possibly Summerslam so I'm guessing that takes place there.

If Cena goes batshit crazy heel turn and wins in a screwy memorable fashion, I'll be ecstatic. I think like Gamerforlife said, I think they're too comfortable with the status quo to do anything like this (plus the merch piece and all that).

[retrosportsgamer]

I thought it would be a little more 50/50 crowd wise after the last couple of Raws but Cena was booed lustily last night at the hof. I mean, it jarred me when I wasnt looking at the screen to see who that reaction was for.

Shaping up to be a very pro Team Bring It tonigt. Not sure if the audio will show that with te open air stadium.

Axxess was awesome - saw Funkasuaras and Ziggler matches there , plus met Dean Malenko. Cool setup.

[Gamerforlife]

The People just took out the Chain Gang!

[Gamerforlife]

Untertaker Match was awesome, even thought I hate seeing him win every year. Easily the best match of the night.

Divas Match just made me hate the division even more. I'M TIRED OF NON WRESTLERS WINNING WRESTLING MATCHES! Keep your damn celebrities away from my wrestling matches! I don't ever want to see Maria what's her name in a ring again. Take your butt back to Dances with the Stars!

Jericho/Punk was pretty awesome

Not a bad Mania, but 90% of it ended in predictable fashion and Daniel Bryan and even Sheamus in a way got screwed. Still, I got my money's worth just to see Rock beat Cena. No heel turn by Cena, as expected. No major shocks or surprises or anything. Oh well, still entertaining, but pretty tame overall.