Triple H couldn't ruin this RAW. Movie trailers couldn't do it either. Neither could Jerry Lawler turning in the least inspired commentary, even by his standards. Nothing, nothing could bring this show down. All it takes is one singular match that can make a wrestling show eminently memorable.
Luckily for us, WWE has two guys on the roster who, when put together, deliver with more regularity than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' pizza driver. Daniel Bryan may be the best ever. Dolph Ziggler makes everyone look better than they have a right to be. Sheamus is WWE's workhorse. But no matter what the circumstance, whether it's the main event of the most important pay-per-view of the last three years or as the fodder for the introduction of a promotion-invading, ring-destroying group of disgruntled NXT rookies, John Cena and CM Punk always, always, always put their working boots on. There is never a match that I see of theirs where I say to myself, "Man, that was a downer." It's like Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, but better.
You see, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Back in the '80s, when Flair and Steamboat were doing their thing around the territories, they had certain luxuries afforded to them. They could work the same match a bunch of times because their meat and potatoes was the untelevised house show. They worked for a promoter that believed in and quite frankly probably overused the time limit draw. They were on TV once a month maybe, and their televised supercard matches were actually paced apart pretty well by all standards. Relatively speaking, they had it easy.
Punk and Cena? Well, when you come up in this era, you wrestle against the same opponent twice a week sometimes. House shows are such a minute part of the schedule, and there's a good chance a wrestler will work nearly the same amount of dates televised and untelevised in a single year. It's a lot harder to keep things fresh. Yet, Punk and Cena do it every time. Every time. I've seen them wrestle at least 20 times since 2009, maybe more, in some capacity. Never have I seen them come close to wrestling the same match, and this is a company where good wrestlers, guys who aren't slouches and know how to get through a frame, wrestle the same fucking match within two days of television sometimes. No one will accuse Antonio Cesaro of being a bad wrestler. Many will accuse Ryback, but they'd be wrong. But I've seen them recycle an entire match from Main Event to Smackdown. Maybe it's a trust issue. Maybe they don't have the leash. But then again, why should we hold being that good against Punk and Cena? That's supposed to be a positive, right?
So, when faced with a situation where nearly everyone was expecting a schmozz to set up something greater for WrestleMania, the two went out and built to a crescendo of a clean finish that was built to perfectly, unexpectedly. Many will be dazzled by the moves broken out. John Cena did a Liger bomb! CM Punk dropped Cena on his head with a piledriver? I THOUGHT THAT WAS BANNED! But it was the placement of the moves, the order and structure. It was after Punk turned a STF into the Anaconda Vise, which Cena had turned into a roll up pin a few minutes prior in another attempt. It was guys kicking out of Attitude Adjustments and Go 2 Sleeps. They had to break out all the stops. WrestleMania was on the line. Immortality.
And while Money in the Bank was WWE's most important singular event, Mania is different on a yearly basis. CM Punk has never headlined a Mania. He may put himself above it, but you know deep down, the character motivation is that he wants so badly to be in the last match, the spotlight burning bright upon him. He's God. Why should a man whose arms are too short to box with him hold his belt? Why should the man he's owned leapfrog him? For Cena, it's something that he's accustomed to, but it's not always a given. He's a man who has to continually prove his spot. You want his mantel? Come get it.
And when all that comes together, you get perhaps their best match, or at least the 1a to the 1 that was Money in the Bank 2011. This was their Chi-Town Rumble, and they fucking did it on free television. Because they had to. I'm not throwing shade on Steamboat and Flair. Certainly not. They're two of the best of all-time at what they did. But I think now, we have our analogues for this generation, two men whose pheromones produce an explosive chemical reaction that make them wrestle in ways that are way ahead of what anyone else are doing in WWE, TNA, New Japan, CMLL, Ring of Honor, or whatever promotion you happen to name. If rumors are to be believed, this will be the last time this match happens for a while. Savor it, because after what I fear might end up being John Cena vs. Randy Orton, BECAUSE THE LAST THREE YEARS HAVE BEEN TOO GOOD FOR YOU edition, you're going to want these halcyon days.
And unlike most nostalgia, which is tainted by rose colored view on a world that was shittier than you remember? Yeah, this one is going to be worth all the warm memories you have.
Luckily for us, WWE has two guys on the roster who, when put together, deliver with more regularity than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' pizza driver. Daniel Bryan may be the best ever. Dolph Ziggler makes everyone look better than they have a right to be. Sheamus is WWE's workhorse. But no matter what the circumstance, whether it's the main event of the most important pay-per-view of the last three years or as the fodder for the introduction of a promotion-invading, ring-destroying group of disgruntled NXT rookies, John Cena and CM Punk always, always, always put their working boots on. There is never a match that I see of theirs where I say to myself, "Man, that was a downer." It's like Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, but better.
You see, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Back in the '80s, when Flair and Steamboat were doing their thing around the territories, they had certain luxuries afforded to them. They could work the same match a bunch of times because their meat and potatoes was the untelevised house show. They worked for a promoter that believed in and quite frankly probably overused the time limit draw. They were on TV once a month maybe, and their televised supercard matches were actually paced apart pretty well by all standards. Relatively speaking, they had it easy.
Punk and Cena? Well, when you come up in this era, you wrestle against the same opponent twice a week sometimes. House shows are such a minute part of the schedule, and there's a good chance a wrestler will work nearly the same amount of dates televised and untelevised in a single year. It's a lot harder to keep things fresh. Yet, Punk and Cena do it every time. Every time. I've seen them wrestle at least 20 times since 2009, maybe more, in some capacity. Never have I seen them come close to wrestling the same match, and this is a company where good wrestlers, guys who aren't slouches and know how to get through a frame, wrestle the same fucking match within two days of television sometimes. No one will accuse Antonio Cesaro of being a bad wrestler. Many will accuse Ryback, but they'd be wrong. But I've seen them recycle an entire match from Main Event to Smackdown. Maybe it's a trust issue. Maybe they don't have the leash. But then again, why should we hold being that good against Punk and Cena? That's supposed to be a positive, right?
So, when faced with a situation where nearly everyone was expecting a schmozz to set up something greater for WrestleMania, the two went out and built to a crescendo of a clean finish that was built to perfectly, unexpectedly. Many will be dazzled by the moves broken out. John Cena did a Liger bomb! CM Punk dropped Cena on his head with a piledriver? I THOUGHT THAT WAS BANNED! But it was the placement of the moves, the order and structure. It was after Punk turned a STF into the Anaconda Vise, which Cena had turned into a roll up pin a few minutes prior in another attempt. It was guys kicking out of Attitude Adjustments and Go 2 Sleeps. They had to break out all the stops. WrestleMania was on the line. Immortality.
And while Money in the Bank was WWE's most important singular event, Mania is different on a yearly basis. CM Punk has never headlined a Mania. He may put himself above it, but you know deep down, the character motivation is that he wants so badly to be in the last match, the spotlight burning bright upon him. He's God. Why should a man whose arms are too short to box with him hold his belt? Why should the man he's owned leapfrog him? For Cena, it's something that he's accustomed to, but it's not always a given. He's a man who has to continually prove his spot. You want his mantel? Come get it.
And when all that comes together, you get perhaps their best match, or at least the 1a to the 1 that was Money in the Bank 2011. This was their Chi-Town Rumble, and they fucking did it on free television. Because they had to. I'm not throwing shade on Steamboat and Flair. Certainly not. They're two of the best of all-time at what they did. But I think now, we have our analogues for this generation, two men whose pheromones produce an explosive chemical reaction that make them wrestle in ways that are way ahead of what anyone else are doing in WWE, TNA, New Japan, CMLL, Ring of Honor, or whatever promotion you happen to name. If rumors are to be believed, this will be the last time this match happens for a while. Savor it, because after what I fear might end up being John Cena vs. Randy Orton, BECAUSE THE LAST THREE YEARS HAVE BEEN TOO GOOD FOR YOU edition, you're going to want these halcyon days.
And unlike most nostalgia, which is tainted by rose colored view on a world that was shittier than you remember? Yeah, this one is going to be worth all the warm memories you have.
