Cena vs Reigns starting now?

[KaiserGlider]

So Cena was randomly invited by Kurt to be on Raw and then Cena called out Roman and said he wanted to fight him, because of something Roman said on Twitter or something. I forgot the details. Anyway, either this thing is gonna happen at No Mercy, adding another huge match to the card, or it's possibly gonna be Cena vs Samoa Joe for the first time ever - which I'm fine with, and there's history there that could be brought up (Joe and Cena started at the same wrestling school).

I guess if there was a topic for discussion, it would be... who do you like more - Cena or Reigns?

[Everlong]

If you forced me to choose I'd take Cena over Reigns for sure.

[AkydefGoldberg]

I'd definitely be pro-Roman if it was in a feud with Cena.

Maybe a change in plans for Mania - surely a feud between Cena-Reigns would be WM worthy rather than a No Mercy?

The use of a Twitter exchange to start things off is neat but Kurt announcing a special guest which happens to be Cena who then calls out Reigns is conspicuous.

[KaiserGlider]

Jesus, Cena really is out of fucks to give. So much shooting in this segment.

I really dig the intensity that both of guys brought to this, especially Cena who in my opinion is the best mic worker in the business. That being said, there were some things that irked me with both guy's promos. With Cena, he tried his damnest to knock Roman down as much as he could on basically every level, and in doing so derailed Roman's promo when he paused. That clearly pissed Roman off and he tried to bring the heat after that, but his material came off as forced. Accusing Cena of being a part-timer and burying guys is all stuff Cena's dealt with in promos before, so he was easily able to fend it off with his usual "congrats, every guy I've fought has said that about me, you're just like them" shtick.

The only way anyone could stand a chance against Cena on the mic at this point is if they actually counter him with new material, or else Cena's just going to run roughshod over them. I thought there was a really great opportunity to do that here when Roman said he "didn't NEED" to fight Cena because he already retired the Undertaker at Wreslemania and so beating Cena would essentially be a step down. Roman playing a level-headed badass who doesn't really care about Cena would nullify a lot of Cena's promo arsenal, because then Cena can't come back with "stop blaming me for your problems just like everyone else does". Anyway, Roman had some good lines in this but overall he just couldn't keep up. I guess that was the point of the segment. What I want to see now is Cena getting inside Roman's head, leading to a pissed-off Reigns beating the fuck out of Cena at No Mercy.

[Everlong]

The video is not available in my country??

[KaiserGlider]

The video is not available in my country??

Dunno, found another one.

[Ali]

I don't know that Roman Reigns was buried, but he was most definitely exposed as an average-at-best promo guy, and it also showed how good John Cena is at getting this match prospect over. See, I know within my head that this was a work, but if I didn't know the ins and outs of wrestling, I would be thinking, "Wow, Cena really doesn't think Roman deserves his spot!" And honestly, I think there might be some truth to it. Why? Let me bring up this.



In this promo, we have Daniel Bryan, who as great as he is, has never been the best mic worker. But Cena didn't interrupt his lulls or his pauses. Cena didn't crack fourth wall jokes. And Daniel, if you really break it down, essentially brought up the same points, that Cena's been on top forever, and he doesn't respect the business anymore because of it. But DB had a better grasp on how to get the point across and made it personal. Roman just went over the same talking points that Miz did a much better job of articulating just this year!

Like it or not, John Cena is the measuring stick of the WWE. And unless Roman takes things to that next level and finds his real voice or real character... the Big Dog just doesn't measure up.

[KaiserGlider]

I'm not sure where they're going with Reigns. After 2 and a half years of a super strong, super consistent push, he's in the most prominent spot of his career after retiring Taker at Wrestlemania and gets massive heat the following night on Raw. Then he's at war with Braun Strowman for months in a feud that didn't have a conclusion and seemed to do a lot more to put over Strowman than Reigns. Then he is pinned by Lesnar at Summerslam and shortly thereafter randomly enters a feud with Cena in which he's put out there to sink or swim, in a situation that doesn't play to his strengths at all, against the best mic worker in the company who basically tells Reigns that he doesn't deserve his spot cause he's not good at promos. It's just weird seeing how Reigns has been treated this year compared to the precious two, after getting the win that arguably made him more over than anything else they've tried to do with him.

I'm interested to see how this feud unfolds. Like I said before, it'll be great if Cena is able to get inside Roman's head and force Reigns to snap like he did against Triple H at that one PPV. It would be a great way to bring Reigns closer from tweener to heel, if that's want they want to do. Which brings me to my point - that I'm not sure what they want to do with him.

[Hanley!]

They want Reigns to be their top babyface. That's all they've ever wanted for him and all they ever will want. When he wins it's so he looks strong, when he loses it's to try and gain sympathy for him. He might not always be treated the same, but the intent is always the same. They've just not been able to make it work. But no matter how he's booked or how he's received by fans, he's going to be in the Wrestlemania main event every year. On that much, they will always be consistent.

This promo was a bad idea though. They put him out there with Cena, who is leagues beyond him when it comes to talking, and told them to bury each other. Only one person is going to come out of that situation looking bad and it's Reigns. Firstly because he can't keep up with Cena as a promo guy, and secondly because he doesn't have anything new to say. Cena has been the target of so many worked shoots that it's old news by now. Cena's been given scripted lines dozens of times defending every accusation that Reigns was going to throw at him. Which also allowed Cena to fall back on his patented "I've heard all this before" routine.

Cena has heard all of this before. So nothing Reigns said had any impact. However, Reigns has been put over consistently by all of his opponents for the last few years. Cena was the first person who really got to dress him down on screen. Which got a cheap pop out of a lot of fans, but unless Reigns actually turns heel, this was a bad idea. It may have made Reigns less popular with kids - the one demographic that don't already dislike him.

I didn't like the promo in general to be honest, because it broke kayfabe too much. I like a worked shoot when it's done right, but not when it only makes sense when you acknowledge that wrestling is fake. Having guys talk about turning heel on television is bullshit. That term should never make it onto television. Cena complaining about Reigns taking the US title as a demotion was bullshit too. The US title is a demotion from the WWE title. And all that talk about whether or not Cena puts over young talent was equally annoying. Cena's job as a wrestler is to win. If he doesn't let other guys beat him, that doesn't make him a bad person.

What I disliked more though was Gallows and Anderson interrupting. It was such a phony WWE segment. They had no reason to come out there, but WWE didn't want Cena and Reigns to come to blows yet and wanted to put them both over strong, so they threw out a couple of sacrificial lambs. And even after all of the tension that was built up in this segment, Cena and Reigns basically wrestled like a perfectly fine tag team and picked up the clean win. What's the point of any of that?

On paper this is a match that I'm interested in, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be frustrated by a lot of the build. Two faces that don't like each other being thrown together in a tag team before finally having their big match is my most hated WWE cookie cutter story.