My Problem with Free or Fired

Yes, I'm aware this is the 3rd time I've used this pic
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Quick, name who's wrestling in the main event at Survivor Series for RAW. If you said John Cena, you're wrong, but you wouldn't know if it you've had RAW on as background noise over the last couple of weeks. The title match for the event features Randy Orton defending his WWE Championship against RED BELLY Wade Barrett, but Cena, who is the guest referee at Barrett's choosing, has been getting most of the storyline attention. If Orton wins that match, Cena is fired, but if Barrett wins, Cena gets his freedom from Nexus.

On the surface, this seems like it's a great story being told, and so far, it has been good more than it has been bad. However, I do have a major problem with it in that the plotline of John Cena wanting to choose his freedom or integrity is taking more precedence over the WWE Championship. I feel like the Championship doesn't really need a complex story attached to it. The belt itself is the story. I applaud them for trying to put a storyline based on wrestling into a main event feud, but the story should just be Barrett trying to scheme his way to the title by any means necessary.

Wait, wait, wait, you might say, dangling the carrot of freedom in front of Cena IS him trying to scheme his way to the belt. Yeah, I get that. I also get that pulling this stip for just any old match wouldn't work. I mean, why would Randy Orton care if Cena was going to screw him out of a match if the title wasn't on the line? He could just RKO Cena and get it over with if he thought shenanigans were afoot. It doesn't make sense unless there were stakes to the match, and what other stakes would Barrett, as a wrestler, want more than having the WWE Championship? I realize all that, and that's why I'm at a loss at how they could be presenting all this that would still have Cena chasing the carrot but keep the title as the main story. Contrary to popular believe, and contrary to how I come off, booking can be demanding at times. Duh, that's why not everyone does it.

Still, whether it works as a storyline mechanism or even if it appears to fit with the title rather than overshadow it, I still don't buy it. The biggest stake in the title match should always be the title, and really, it's not given that the referee stands to gain the most from his actions in the match. Something seems very off about that to me.

The point is that anything that distracts from a title match probably isn't going to be best for the credibility of the fed on the whole. Given the shoddy way titles are treated in mainstream wrestling, this isn't surprising, but it's pretty saddening all the same.

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