Wrestling Musings

It Took Over Two Decades…

…but John Cena finally gave up.

And people are pissed because… why?

Did you really want another #LOLCenaWins moment?

What point would it serve?

So people can have a feel good moment that will be forgotten not soon afterwards?

John Cena tapped out to GUNTHER in the main event of the Saturday Night with a look of contentment. As if to say, “Yeah, I’m done. Time to call it a career.” Lots of fans are upset because he “deserved better” or whatever the nonsense is… but to me, it’s the only finish that made sense. The whole deal with John was that he never gave up, that he kept fighting to the bitter end. You can pin him, you can choke him till he fades, you can beat him to a pulp, but he always comes back because he never gave up.

Because once he gives up, there’s no going back. There’s no more fight.

John Cena had nothing left to prove. He got his #17. He got his Grand Slam. He has a storied career and reputation unique to him. He’s more that likely to get a Hall Of Fame induction down the road. His fight is over. His career is done. Of course he’s going to give up in his last match. Whether it was against GUNTHER or whoever else, John Cena was going to tap out and call it a career, walk off into the sunset, end of story. Fin.

As for GUNTHER… well, he got a rub of sorts. He ended two careers. Management seems to be pretty high on the guy. No complaints from me. I like the dude. Nice, basic throwback heel character. Hope he continues to do well in WWE.

But yeah… John Cena’s done. Doo do do doo.

James Gunn… he’s all yours.

No Interest In John Cena’s Last Match

Well, they decided on the finals of the “Who Gets To Retire John Cena” tournament that will take place on this week’s Smackdown and it boils down to either GUNTHER or LA Knight. All due respect to both superstars, I honestly don’t care. GUNTHER doesn’t really need the rub from such a match and while I’d like to see LA Knight be used more effectively than he has been, somehow I don’t see him beating John Cena. If anything, they’re giving John one last guy to feed if the former Eli Drake ends up being the last guy.

I’ve maintained that there was only one guy that I had any interest in seeing wrestle John Cena. That guy had mentioned it in interviews and made it a mission of sorts. I’m disappointed that the match hasn’t happened, though I’m honestly not surprised, either. This John Cena retirement tour has been a thing that happened. Not necessarily a good thing, not necessarily a bad thing… well, if you want to count that heel turn as a bad thing, go right ahead, but it just felt like a complete waste of time. It’s either going in a direction that was left to drift because one of the key instigators of that direction decided that he had to go now (his planet needed him) or it’s just rehashing shit that I’ve already seen before and replaying all the classics. And hey, credit where it’s due; people have eaten up the rehashing of the classics… but I just prefer to revisit those matches in the archives.

So yeah, this last match is no buys for me… but then again, a lot of wrestling these days seems to be no buys for me. I’m wondering if the universe is telling me something.

John Cena Tourney Stirs Up Nontroversy

Alright, so this John Cena tournament where whoever wins gets to retire John Cena at some Saturday Night show somewhere is baffling to me. Not so much the concept of it, which at least looks like it’ll have bigger stakes than just a hokey retirement match after John Cena won his first Intercontinental championship last week on RAW… but rather some of the reactions to the content.

So Jey Uso beats the Miz to advance in the tourney and people are all of a sudden up in arms because they wanted Miz to win since he “deserved it” for some reason. Granted, Miz has some history with John Cena – don’t feel bad if you don’t remember since he was the spare tire in the feud between Cena and Dwayne around that time – but for people to suddenly say that Miz “deserves” one more match with Cena? Really? Are we upset that Miz didn’t win or are we upset because Jey did?

It’s no secret that there are those who feel Jey Uso is getting a bit of the personal project treatment – the guy WWE decided to push as the next big main event guy despite people not wanting anything to do with him. Personally, I’ve got no issues with the guy. He’s entertaining enough, he has charisma, and his matches are fine. I was more than willing to give this guy a chance during his run as World Champion and honestly thought he should won it again in his match against Punk. I’m no Jey apologist, but compared to some of the guys this company tried to push that didn’t work, Jey Uso is the farthest thing from a failure as you can get.

But, for some reason, Jey Uso is the guy people want nothing to do with and Miz should have been the one… the guy who has done nothing of significance in years besides show up for work and be the steady veteran who works with the younger guys to get them to that next stage. That’s not a knock on the guy; the fact that he’s still around and still active is something to commended, especially in this day and age… but other than a brief fart as WWE Champion during the “prevailing circumstances” a few years back, when was the last time Miz was involved in anything truly worthwhile? Because I honestly can’t think of any.

And then there’s the nontroversy over LA Knight’s mystery opponent, which people presumed was going to be Edge… despite the fact that he’s still under contract with another company. Or maybe it could have been Chris Jericho, who may or may not be rumored to be coming back to WWE… and if that’s the case, do you really want to waste that return on a night where he jobs to the former Eli Drake? Where’s that Dummy button?

And so instead, we get Zack Ryder… and look, I’m happy for Matt Cardona. He had a good run in the indies, he built himself some name value, and I’m glad to see that WWE saw enough value to bring him back for a short deal. I do wish he had come back under his own name rather than revert back to the Woo Woo guy, but hey, a return is a return and people were genuinely happy to see him based on the reaction he got on Smackdown.

But then we go on the social medias and “Aw man, the Woo Woo guy? You could have brought back anyone else – Edge, Jericho, even Big Vito for Russo’s sake – and instead you bring back the fucking Woo Woo guy? Are you serious, broski?!”

Okay, listen… those names you mentioned. Barring their current circumstances, if there was any chance of them coming back, do you honestly think we’re wasting it on LA Knight on Smackdown? Don’t you think they deserve a bigger deal than a throwaway match on some random RAW or Smackdown?

Besides, aren’t you glad that it isn’t GUNTHER who ended being the guy? Because that’s another one that the social monkeys don’t want to see anymore because… fuck knows at this point.

By the way, aren’t these the same morons who cried fouled when WWE released R-Truth from his contract and the noise got to a point where they just had to bring him back? Even gave him a re-invention of sorts? Where’s that guy now? Where’s the outrage for Truth being left out of this thing? Do you even remember the guy still being around? Imagine how much more Ron Killings could have done elsewhere… he would have killed.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one John Cena match that I want to see happen. Do I think it will? Probably not, because I don’t enough people believe…

Nah, I’m pushing it.

AEW Creates Another Belt That It Doesn’t Need

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/aew-creating-national-title-full-gear-gauntlet-match/

The good news is that it’s a men’s championship and thus won’t be won by Mercedes Mone, who is probably winning some championship in Bangladesh this weekend or something to add to her eleventy-billion belts that she’s currently holding. I swear; that woman must have some real dirt on the business if everyone is giving her a belt. And then people want her to come back to WWE. For what? So she can go back to feuding with Nia Jax or put over whatever failed NIL project they’ve got going on in NXT?

But yeah, AEW now has a National title that they’ll probably abandon in a year or two when it’s promptly forgotten about. Reigning NWA National Champion and former Spirit Squad member Mike Mondo probably should have let this lie rather than comment on it, but I guess he needed people to know that he was still alive or something, which… hey, always good to know. Hope he’s doing well these days.

Mercedes Now Has 12 Belts And Lots Of Dirt Apparently

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/mercedes-mone-wins-12th-consecutive-championship-in-canada/

So apparently, Mercedes Mone now has another belt to add to her collection of belts. She is literally Dozen Belt Mone. Can anyone explain to me what dirt she has on the wrestling business that these promotions keep booking her to win belts? And what happens when she eventually has to drop all these things… IF she drops these thing?

Meanwhile, there are WWE fans that are crying about how they wish Sasha Banks would “come home” where she belongs. I dare those fans to try – genuinely TRY – to come up with any sort of incentive for her to come back and play second fiddle to whatever NXT project they’ve got going on or possibly having her feud with Nia Jax. Honestly, if I was Mercedes, I would never give it a first thought considering the run I’m having right now. She’s doing exactly what she needs to raise her stock. A WWE run at this point would be beneath her.

Meanwhile, whatever happened to Ron Killings? You know, the guy that WWE released and people made such a big stink over it that they eventually hired him back. What’s he been up to lately? What amazing run has he been on that he couldn’t do out in the open where the possibilities were endless? When was the last time he was on TV in any meaningful fashion? That guy could have done some great things outside of the WWE box and now he’s off TV. I hope you morons are happy.

Hey, whatever Mercedes is doing right now is working for her and I can’t imagine her being unhappy with the run she’s been on. Trust me. She’s in no hurry whatsoever to “come home” and job to Tiffy Time any time soon nor should she. She’s doing just fine.

Kota Ibushi Out For A Year… Again

Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/aew/kota-ibushi-update-aew-collision-injury/

So former New Japan star and occasional AEW participant Kota Ibushi, who had recently returned from years of injuries and recovery, suffered yet another horrific injury that might put him out for another year. A femur fracture, it’s been said.

I almost feel bad for the guy. He had a good run in New Japan and then at some point, he started racking up these injuries and other issues that kept him on the shelf more than in the ring. I’m not sure if maybe it’s a sign that he should hang it up and do something else in the business, but regardless of where he goes from here, I wish him nothing but a speedy recovery and then we’ll see where he goes from there.

Side note: today’s video offering will be up later than usual. Thanksgiving and all… later.

Why Does Riho Show Up To Lose Every Year?

Someone was watching AEW a while back and asked me why they keep bringing back Riho every year to lose to whichever champion they want to push at the time. Part of me think it’s giving Riho something to do because she’s a friend of Kenny Omega, another part is that Riho is busy with stuff in Japan and there’s also dealing with work visas and things of that nature.

This isn’t a knock on Riho; she’s a fine talent, first AEW Women’s Champion, got the ball rolling on that… but they’re bringing her in every year to have a couple matches, challenge for whatever title, and then lose, which kind of mitigates the “specialness” of the whole deal, right? And it’s not just her; the same deal happened with Hikaru Shida, who was also once a prominent star in the early days of AEW – especially during the pandemic days – and now she just shows up here and there. Again, she has stuff in Japan and work visas to deal with, but it’s just sad that she was actually one of my favorite characters on the program and she barely shows up.

And then there was the comments that Gail Kim made regarding Riho that I’m not really going to get into. As a prominent wrestling veteran, she can say whatever she wants and people will be pissy about it. It happens to anyone these days and honestly, I don’t care what Gail Kim thinks about Riho. Someone else’s opinion is not going to hinder my own enjoyable of a show or a talent; I’m not sure why it should hinder anyone else’s unless they’re really, really stupid.

Blog Special – Opening A 2022 AEW Card Pack

Your usual Monday review has been postponed for personal reasons that I won’t get into other than it’s nothing serious. Instead, blog visitors get a video of me opening some AEW cards. Yes, even though it’s on the Extra Bits channel, the video is unlisted and so anyone who comments on the video is someone watching this from the blog (or just got the link elsewhere.)

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but considering the Dailymotion option is less desirable these days, I’m trying the unlisted Youtube video option. Which isn’t fantastic, either, but it’ll keep out unwanted noise. It’ll eventually go public one of these days

To Anyone Upset About Brock Coming Back…

If you’re upset because Brock Lesnar has some peripheral involvement in the McMahon/Grant case and how dare WWE sully their good name or whatever, it’s worth noting that WWE is a named defendant in that case while Brock Lesnar is not; he was mentioned in the suit (at first as a former UFC champion and later by name to try and get more traction or something), but at the moment, he isn’t named as a defendant. So if you want WWE to swear off anything involving that legal business, you probably want them to shut their doors and hide under their rocks since – again – they are named defendants in the case as well. That sure as shit isn’t happening.

If you’re upset because Brock Lesnar is back to being the uber-kill main event push guy who shows up every ten months or so to have boring Suplex City matches or whatever the case may be… here’s the deal; WWE has begun airing PLEs on ESPN’s streamer in the U.S. while the rest of the world gets it on Netflix. Naturally, ESPN would want their first WWE event to feel like a really big deal, so they get a big star like Brock Lesnar to come back and have a match with John Cena, which will be the same shit we’ve seen before because John is all about replaying the hits and not doing anything interesting for this final run… like wrestling Joe Hendry.

If you’re upset that Brock Lesnar beat John Cena at the PLE… well, it could have been worse. He could killed Kofi Kingston in less time than he did at the FOX debut of Smackdown so he could go on to face some other former UFC guy nobody cares about anymore. Or he could have challenged for a World champion and beat one of those guys in a couple seconds to win another title that he doesn’t need.

Finally, if Brock Lesnar being brought back to WWE for sporadic appearances at best is making you long for the days of Vince McMahon… back when Brock did sporadic appearances at best… meet the new boss, same as the old boss…. that sort of thing?

Look, I genuinely don’t care if Brock sticks around for the long haul or if he’s just there for a bit before farming season kicks off again. I have a lot of issues with WWE programming that adding another one to the pile isn’t much of a big deal. And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be upset about Brock coming back; it’s okay to feel that way. I’m just giving some reasoning as to why this is now a thing.

Really, if this thing is upsetting you that much, then maybe you should spend your time and money elsewhere. Thank fuck I don’t live in the U.S. where being a WWE fan (or really any sports fan in general) requires two mortgages minimum to keep up with all this shit. It’s ridiculous.

This is a developing story… not the Brock thing, but my continued interest and investment in this modern form of wrestling that has become something that I really don’t care for… and I can’t blame the talent for this because they’ve been putting on some great matches. Hell, some of the creative is actually pretty good… but then there’s the stuff around it that… eh, we’ll get to that point, eventually.

This has been your utterly worthless Sunday sermon for the whackos. Good night.