wrestling / Columns
The Shimmy 06.08.09: The John Cena Report Card (Part Three)
Greetings, boys and girls. This week The Shimmy continues its look back at John Cena’s PPV matches. Last week we took a look at 2006 and the first month of 2007 and Cena had a great string of matches. Will it continue throughout the rest of 2007? Read on to find out.
John Cena & Shawn Michaels vs. Batista & Undertaker (No Way Out 2007)
Very few times can WWE present a tag team match that’s worthy of being in the main event of a PPV. Actually very few times can ANY company present a tag team match that’s worthy of being in the main event of a PPV. They managed to do that here with four of the biggest names in wrestling today, and three of the biggest names in wrestling period. The bulk of the match was pretty standard actually and was weighed down by JBL having to call the match solo (although he did a good job under the circumstances) but by the end the sucker picked up the hot finish it needed to have. Batista giving Taker the spinebuster was a great moment and if WWE had wanted to go to a full scale heel turn with Batista that would have been the perfect moment to do it. This was a great way to get pumped for WrestleMania. Lost in all the chaos at the end of the match is the fact that John Cena actually pinned The Deadman which is clearly a big win (and possibly a sign of things to come?).
My Grade: B+
WWE Title Match: John Cena© vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania 23)
This match really only has two things going for it: the big match feel and one of the best finishing sequences in recent memory. It’s really that finishing sequence that nets it a such a good grade, because the bulk of the match comes off as rather forced. I don’t know who said it, possibly J.D. Dunn, but it felt like they were trying to force and epic match instead of just going out there and wrestling an epic match. The pacing was way too slow for a match like this (the pace should have been more in line with Angle-Michaels match from two years prior) and Michaels’ attitude was a very distracting factor. The fans got behind Michaels because he was the old school fan favorite that was getting one more shot at the big time. Then, perhaps a combination of his actual miffed-ness at the pre-match streaker and the story WWE was trying to tell, he came off as a real douche bag. Still, I’m harping on the negative things in this match. It’s a testament to the good in the match that I can complain about so much and still feel comfortable giving it an A. As I said the finish to the match was great, and once you get past the fact that they went about the pacing and HBK’s attitude wrong you can see that there is a very solid match taking place.
My Grade: A
WWE Title, Fatal Four-Way Match: John Cena© vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton (Backlash 2007)
If Batista-Taker is the match that was actually booked for WrestleMania 23 that should have main evented that show then this is the match that should have main evented WrestleMania that was never booked in the first place. There was a period during the spring of 2007 where these four men rocked Raw on a consistent basis, pretty much a modern day version of the SmackDown Six (albeit with two less people and for a shorter period of time). This was a tremendous match that made all four men look great and made us all itch to see more of Cena-Michaels. Edge and Orton also primed themselves for a big second half of 2007 where each man would go on to win two World Titles by the end of the year. The finish was great with Michaels accidentally giving Cena the win and once again being robbed of his title win. This match is even more impressive when you consider that Cena and Michaels had just come off their 56-minute Match of the Year contender just six days earlier.
My Grade: A+
WWE Title Match: John Cena© vs. The Great Khali (Judgment Day 2007)
This is where most people would probably expect the grades to plummet. Not yet, true believers. I actually really enjoyed this match as they did a great job getting over the David vs. Goliath storyline. Cena is so strong in these situations and Khali was still over as a special attraction. The “controversial” finish actually helped set up the rematch next month. This has to rank up there as one of Khali’s best matches, along with the Last Man Standing Match with Undertaker (which was reportedly heavily edited) and his surprisingly awesome Triple Threat Match with Batista and Kane from the Great American Bash 2007. Unfortunately the magic couldn’t continue into a second PPV outing.
My Grade: C+
WWE Title, Falls Count Anywhere Match: John Cena© vs. The Great Khali (One Night Stand 2007)
Ugh. This match has the distinction of being one of the most boring PPV main event matches in recent memory. I understand that WWE must have been feeling good after their good outing at Judgment Day, but this was just so, so bad. Nothing happens for the bulk of the match, the “extreme” moments are incredibly tame, and even the big spot at the end comes off as kind of ho-hum. The sad part is that they would have a significantly better match the next night as a Triple Threat with Umaga .
My Grade: F
WWE Title, Championship Challenge: John Cena© vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley vs. Booker T (Vengeance: Night of Champions)
This match was too short to really be any better than it was, but it was still action packed enough to be a worthy main event. I really liked the interaction between Cena and Foley, which almost makes me sad that we didn’t see Cena vs. Foley at SummerSlam 2006 as was originally discussed according to Foley, but the Cena-Edge match we got was probably a superior consolation prize. Seeing Orton and Foley mix it up again brought back fond memories of their feud in 2004 as well. They also did a great job of setting up Cena-Lashley for the next month’s show, a match we’ll take a look at next.
My Grade: B
WWE Title Match: John Cena© vs. Bobby Lashley (The Great American Bash 2007)
The thing I liked most about this match was the build. WWE did a great job of making this feel like a big time match and in the process it made Bobby Lashley seem more important in the grand scheme of things than he probably was. It’s funny, as between the Battle of the Billionaires and this match WWE went out of their way to put Lashley over so huge and they really never saw the dividends of their work. At least Brock Lesnar’s push paid off in the short term. Anyhow, this was a hard hitting match that probably did more for Bobby Lashley’s career than the aforementioned Battle of the Billionaires did. I’ve been waiting for years for Cena to deliver the FU from the top rope, and while it didn’t come off as smooth as I’d liked it was still a cool spot. Fortunately the spot came off better during the Backlash Last Man Standing Match two months ago.
My Grade: A-
WWE Title Match: John Cena© vs. Randy Orton (SummerSlam 2007)
This was the saving grace of a very lackluster show. Cena competed in yet another contest with a big match feel and Orton was primed and ready to achieve his destiny and win a World Title at SummerSlam for a second time. Not too long ago this match was seen as a potential WrestleMania main event and after watching this match you can see why. There were quite a few convincing nearfalls including when Orton hit the RKO out of nowhere but was not able to capitalize. This was the start of what would be a great feud that unfortunately was not able to be concluded due to Cena’s injury (although their match at No Way Out 2008 was a nice encounter it didn’t pack quite the punch of this match plus the non-finish, while clever, did not give this feud a nice stamp of finality).
My Grade: A
WWE Title Match: John Cena© vs. Randy Orton (Unforgiven 2007)
Most people hated this match because it was short and had a non-finish for an ending. That was done to set up what would have undoubtedly been a great match at No Mercy, a Last Man Standing Match. Unfortunately Cena would be injured shortly after this so shortchanging your fans with a big title match on an already lackluster card wasn’t as smart in hindsight. The negatives being said, what we did see actually was pretty good, which shouldn’t be surprising given the participants. John Cena Sr. getting his revenge after the match was a nice touch, though.
My Grade: B-
The Shimmy Likes it Raw!
What’s on tap for tonight’s show?
By the way, for those of you that might use the Submission Match from last night’s PPV as ammo against me, let me go ahead and give a preview of when I review that match in the upcoming weeks: it sucked. Trust me, even a diehard Cena fan recognized that that was a giant steaming pile, so we’re at least in line with that.
Well, that does it for this week’s column. See you all next week for more of the John Cena Report Card. Until then, don’t die. Clark…out.
