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| There's intrigue in vulnerability Photo Credit: WWE.com |
This has done more to damage the Cena mystique than any new move Big Show debuted or any psychological attack Kane might have deployed or any new flunky Randy Orton recruited to be in his corner. The result has always been Punk retaining his Championship against Cena with a kernel of doubt that Cena was still the better man planted in each finish. Whether it was Cena distracted by John Laurinaitis at Money in the Bank, his foot on the ropes at SummerSlam '11, the Big Show giving him an empty disqualification win at RAW 1000, Punk pinning Show at SummerSlam this year or the draw at Night of Champions, Punk has not escaped clearly as the better man.
Still, the desired moral of the story this year has been John Cena, self-doubter. If WWE meant to do this via his Mania loss to The Rock, they've done a piss-poor job of following it up with Cena pretty much going from still winning and grinning against Brock Lesnar to going "lol Big Show" for, by my count, the 28340th time in his career to the current direction with Punk. It's not exactly the kind of vulnerable storytelling that would befit that kind of narrative, leading into the thing that people love the best in their babyface storylines – a comeback. However, there's still time to build that narrative towards next year's Mania and a potential rematch with The Rock or a final showdown with Punk.
If WWE had any intestinal fortitude, here's what they'd do. Given that Cena probably won't compete at Hell in a Cell, we delay the big title match with Punk until Survivor Series. There, Punk, even with the spectre of Paul Heyman at ringside, defeats Cena clean as a whistle. Hell, even make it a tapout to the Koji Clutch or the Anaconda Vise for effect. The next night on RAW, Cena gets a match with a low card baddie. It could be Damien Sandow or Antonio Cesaro, or hey, it doesn't even have to be a bad guy. Let him wrestle and lose to Zack Ryder, just to call back to the bad feelings they had over Eve Torres in the beginning of the year. Let that be the super huge upset that really throws Cena's game into a funk, that calls into question his ability to win matches. Let him sit out TLC and have the announcers wonder aloud if Cena has in fact lost his edge. Let the questions linger over him, even as he comes back and wins feuds again against bit players like, say, Orton or Kane or Show, y'know, the guys he always beats.
Then, as we get into Mania, whether the opponent is Rock or Punk, the story as to whether he can win the big one anymore has gravitas. Here you have two guys who have owned him, and Cena has major questions to answer. That would then make his comeback story, his big win at Mania (and sorry Cena haters, this story has to have Cena winning at Mania to have emotional impact) all the more powerful.
Honestly, WWE is so shortsighted with how they book the top of their card that it's worked to the detriment of their top guy. John Cena is not a bad wrestler, and as long as he's not allowed to go into incredibly shitty comedy, he's a great character as well. Even great characters can't thrive when the stories surrounding them are incongruous at least or boring at best. Cena needs a spark, and that spark is the opposite of a heel turn. All he needs is a great story. Thankfully, they have one staring them right in the face. All WWE needs to do is have the fortitude to go through with it and allow their top guy to, y'know, look vulnerable.
