When John Cena appeared on Monday Night Raw a week ago, quite a few people were surprised. This new ‘John Cena is a free agent’ story line could have gone in many different ways. We could have had Cena appear on NXT as well, possibly challenging for the title maybe.
But instead the creatives decided to put him back on Raw. While we wondered why the 15-time champion was on the red brand, Cena cleared our doubts by wasting little time in calling out Roman Reigns to the ring.
It’s not that we were surprised to see a face off between Reigns and Cena. Truth be told, this was bound to happen at some point or the other. What people did not understand is why it happened immediately after SummerSlam.
Cena vs Reigns is one of the biggest matches that the WWE can put together from the current roster. Cena is a legend in his own right, while Reigns is positioned to be the one that will run this place after Cena leaves for good.
It has the words ‘Wrestlemaina main event’ written all over it.
ALSO READ : Cena vs Reigns at Wrestlemania 34?
So why did the WWE rush into a match that could easily headline next year’s Wrestlemania?
Icon vs Icon matches have happened before. It worked when the Rock and Hogan faced off against each other for the first time in Toronto. John Cena and the Rock also worked when they faced each other at Miami. And that’s because the fans played a huge part in it.
The crowd surprisingly favoured Hogan at Wrestlemania 18. They expectedly favoured the Rock in Miami. But who are they going to cheer for when Cena battles Reigns in a few weeks time?
Both superstars are polarizing men, who get the sort of heat from the crowd that most heels in the company would dream of getting.
Their first meeting on Raw proved just that. Some booed Cena, some booed Reigns and the rest booed both superstars. There is no hero among these two so called faces.
Things look worse for Reigns. At least John Cena has earned the respect of most of the WWE universe. They don’t like him, but they respect the body of work that the leader of the Cenation has done over the last decade. Reigns still has not earned that respect.
On top that, Cena destroyed Reigns on the microphone last Monday night, as he exposed the biggest chink in the big Samoan’s armor. Reigns gave it his all, but was found shockingly out of depth against Cena.
Both the Rock and Hogan had great mic skills to carry out their verbal exchanges on road to their big Wrestlemania match. People expected Cena to get crushed by the Great One on his return to the WWE, but no, Cena gave it all and made it an even contest on the microphone.
Reigns has to improve here. And quick. Because at the end of the day, he cannot lose to John Cena. The WWE cannot have a part timer beat the heir apparent in one of the biggest matches of the year. It would look really bad for Reigns.
Right now, Reigns looks under cooked. His mic skills were brutally exposed by Cena and now his in-ring work will come under scrutiny. He cannot go on boasting about retiring the Undertaker for ever. His performance against Cena, will be the biggest test of his career so far.
If he proves that he can hang with John Cena, then Reigns would go a long way in earning the respect that he so craves at the moment. Should he not, then the WWE will find itself in a right mess!
