For those of you just coming back from vacation on the moon, John Cena got the butt whipping of the century. Never before has he been so helpless. Never before has he been outrageously outclassed. Brock Lesnar dominated Cena in every facet and solidified his victory with 16 suplexes. GERMAN suplexes. Yet, while I was satiated with the result and the ongoing beat down, there was a huge part of my sub conscious that legitimately could not believe what I was watching. When Brock Lesnar hit the second F-5, I was expecting Cena to kick out. And when he didn’t answer the count, that’s when it hit me.
I’m inclined to believe WWE creative thinks we are stupid and have the attention span of a squirrel. I was recently watching John Cena and Brock Lesnar’s first PPV match together. John Cena was the heel, but WWE would dare not bring those days up, and Lesnar was the inexplicable heel. I was watching their promo for their match at the 2003 Backlash PPV for the WWE Championship and this is one of the things that Cena said to Brock Lesnar after “breaking his leg” on Smackdown:
“Well, it’s official. I got crippled by the meathead,
But Brock, you left me breathin, when you should’ve left me for dead,
I’ll tear you down, watch you drown and not throw a rope,
This is jail! We inmates Brock. You just dropped the soap.”
Never mind the obligatory jail reference, does this sound like the words of a man scared of Brock Lesnar? And this is after he beat him up. Sure he was a heel, but heels normally are cowards and try to avoid situations. But Cena made Brock bleed, and while he lost the match, he was far from a coward. Next, in 2012. John Cena, after a humiliating loss against The Rock at WrestleMania the previous night, when expecting The Rock to come out, he is interrupted by a familiar figure. Brock Lesnar returned after an eight year sabbatical from WWE and F-5’ed Cena. Now the roles were reversed as Cena now became the undisputed number 1 babyface in the WWE. Lesnar was the mercenary bent on destruction. Their match at Extreme Rules in 2012 sort of mirrored their match last night at Summerslam but only, Cena took Lesnar’s best shot every single time. And kicked out. And all it took was the trusty chain Cena would use in the past to win himself matches and an AA on a pair of steel steps to give him victory. Now comes this year and Cena guarantees us victory this Sunday, and as we all saw, he was wrong. Dead wrong. Cena could only muster up moves of desperation as a means to garner any offense, but it was all in vain. Brock Lesnar single handedly demolished John. I instantly remembered their match in 2003, and I wasn’t buying it. Nope.
Now, does John Cena look like the type of man that would be that outclassed by Lesnar? Now if this was an ordinary fight on the street, sure, Lesnar may have the upper hand. But if there is one man who can pose a physical threat to Lesnar, it’s John Cena. The man is ripped. I get that WWE was trying to portray Lesnar as an unstoppable beast, and they succeeded in doing so. But what does WWE want us to believe Cena is? A no good weakling compared to Lesnar? Last year at the very same PPV, Lesnar’s opponent, CM Punk, put up much more of a fight than Cena ever did. CM Punk is no whimp, but by no means does he measure up to Cena in terms of brute strength. Cena has lifted up men the likes of Big Show, Mark Henry and The Great Khali. He’s lifted up two wrestlers on his shoulder at once in the past before. He’s shown us feats in strength that so few wrestlers can accomplish. Yet the face of the WWE is dominated this quickly? We have seen Cena stand up to far more adversaries than he faced in this match. Sure, not 16 suplexes bad, but Cena kicked out of two Go To Sleep’s and a Rock bottom against CM Punk at Night of Champions in 2012 too. WWE’s perception of Cena as a man who never gives up, a man who emphatically stands for hustle, loyalty and respect, and a man who lives up to that moniker cannot simply do what he did last night.
Based on Cena’s reputation of barely losing clean, I expected him to kick out of that second F-5. And should Cena win the title back, what does this match mean? Was this win a fluke then? I know it’s not, but this is the same narrative WWE tries to preach to us. The bottom line is this. Brock Lesnar is not that much more dominant in the ring than John Cena. I’m glad to see Brock Lesnar’s win over the Undertaker wasn’t in vain here. But if you are trying to tell me that last night’s loss for Cena exposed any sort of weakness, WWE isn’t fooling this fan. Not one bit. John Cena is a man I have profound respect for, but WWE trying to make him look like a weakling, and he looks that muscular? No. Stop it. If this was a guy like Kingston, R Truth or any of the lower people on the card, then it would be compeletely acceptable. But why give the number one face of the company that much of an embarassment? Look at it this way. Do you guys think that a guy like Randy Orton would have been dominated that much? Really think about it. Do you think a man who claims to be a sadistic Viper would have performed like Cena did? I certainly wouldn’t think of that. And that’s because WWE is pushing John as a man who overcomes adversity. Insurmountable odds are in Cena’s path and WWE wants you to believe that this is a hurdle he can’t get over despite the fact he has faced even worse situations than this.
To be frank, I am very tired of WWE trying to portray Cena as this underdog. He is far from it. He has beaten everybody there is to beat multiple times and the only thing that I can envision from Cena in this case may be a turn to the dark side. A boy can dream right? Lesnar is a better athlete than Cena, but this is not a David vs. Goliath situation. John Cena is as tough as nails, but don’t let WWE fool you into thinking otherwise. Because at the end of the day, John Cena is one title reign away from matching Ric Flair. He has won two Royal Rumbles. Lifted up men of great stature, and has solidified himself as the top face of the company for the past decade. Once again, this perception of Cena WWE is trying to give to us, well at least me, is something that I’m not buying and should Cena beat Lesnar and regain the title, we will be told the same old story. And I think its time to put that narrative to rest.
