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There is no doubt that the Rock’s return to WWE is what legitimately kicked this year’s WrestleMania build into overdrive. Everything from the huge return, the subsequent promos and the confrontation with John Cena on last week’s Raw all came across as larger than life. And then WrestleMania happened, followed by last night’s Raw, and I’m now left thinking that this entire Rock/Cena buildup has fallen somewhat flat.
In hindsight, I think it is now obvious that booking Cena to chase the WWE Championship against Miz at WrestleMania was a huge mistake. This match was never about the Miz or the WWE Championship – not going into it, not during and certainly not following it. Cena vs. Miz, knowing what we now know, was simply a prop to build Rock vs. Cena for next year’s WrestleMania. Business wise, it makes sense for WWE. Instead of milking the Rock for one WrestleMania, they get to milk him for two WrestleManias. I get it. In doing this however, WWE has completely diminished any remaining credibility that the WWE Championship had left.
The neglect of the WWE Championship has distracted me from fully enjoying Rock and Cena so far. We’ve all complained about how the secondary titles in this company mean nothing. To a certain degree however, the WWE Championship has always maintained some level of importance, even if it wasn’t at the level it was some 10 or 15 years ago. That is no longer the case. WWE has now delegated the WWE Championship to the level of the United States Championship or the WWE Tag Team Championship. While Miz went in and walked out of the WrestleMania main event as champion, it is obvious that such a glorious feat now has very little to no significance at all. My case in point, the WWE Champion was used on Raw last night as a prop to promote Tough Enough and to put over Stone Cold Steve Austin! Yes, while it was cool to see Austin swing around the ropes and beat up on Alex Riley, what did it do for Miz? I suppose it was meant to somehow serve as a follow-up from the awesome performance he had from the night before, right?
Oh, wait a minute…
Sunday’s main event match didn’t help him either. Miz didn’t defeat Cena because he was the better man. Miz didn’t win because he somehow outwitted Cena as only a true and dominant heel can. When Miz had gotten the best of Cena consecutively in recent weeks, I thought WWE realized they were falling down this dangerous road, and were correcting the injustice. I was foolishly wrong. To Cena, the recipient of those vicious attacks, the Miz is not even a vicious villain capable of one-upping him when it matters most. All Miz is, as Cena said, is “annoying.” And with that, we are left with Miz, the WWE Champion, who is nowhere close to being at the level of a Cena, Edge or even Randy Orton.
For some time now, WWE has had problems with properly building their younger talents towards carrying the company as true, reputable main event stars. At every level, when I think it has become more painfully obvious, it gets worse and worse. The fact remains, without The Rock, Triple H or Undertaker, this year’s WrestleMania would have been nothing. And that’s not supposed to be me taking anything away from the wrestlers, because WWE certainly has a roster stacked full of wrestlers with all the potential in the world to do great things, if given a fair chance to do so. In 2004, being “Ortoned” by Triple H was the greatest injustice in the wrestling world. Right or wrong, at the very least, it was still all about the championship.
In 2011, with all things considered, I think being “Mizzed on” might be far, far worse.
Leftover Thoughts from WrestleMania and Raw.
- I was disappointed in the Rock’s opening monologue at WrestleMania. As “host” of the show, you’d think he would somehow put over the show itself and some of the other attractions set to take place that night. Instead, it was all about him electrifying the crowd with his collection of repeated catchphrases that everyone saw plenty of on TV for free in recent weeks. On the flipside, I liked his use backstage with Eve and Mae Young, and especially thought the moment with Steve Austin was great.
- I understand WWE likes to show loyalty, to a certain extent, to their established veterans, but for goodness gracious, is there anyone more undeserving of a WrestleMania match these days than Kane? It’s not that I dislike Glenn Jacobs the person, but I don’t get why they give such a coveted spot to him each year when his ability to draw burned out a long time ago. What benefit is it to the company and to the fans to put certain guys on the show just for the sake of doing so, especially when the effort around them is so poor? It makes even less sense when both Sheamus and Daniel Bryan – two guys who could steal the show if given a fair amount of time - get screwed out of their match!
- Proving again how world championships mean nothing, Alberto Del Rio is booked to wrestle Evan Bourn the night after competing for the World Heavyweight Championship? At least Jack Swagger got to hold the belt for a short time before getting demoted back to the midcard level.
- A few weeks ago, I came across the “shoot” Joey Styles promo on YouTube when he quit the WWE Raw announcing job. It had me thinking that if WWE seriously wants an interesting character who I think could portray a heel authority figure, then Joey Styles should be revealed as the anonymous Raw General Manager. He already tweets during Raw. It just somehow makes sense, if WWE wants to go in that direction. At this point, I am convinced they have absolutely no clue who the GM is supposed to be.
- There was one small thing missing from the Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole feud that I really wanted to see. From the beginning, I kept waiting for Lawler to at some point grab Cole’s Slammy and slam it (pun not intended) to the ground. Cole’s reaction would have been priceless! It would be just as good if Jim Ross were to do it for revenge from last night.
- And for the sake of ending with a rhetorical question, if WrestleMania and Raw were in the same building, how come the taped up Cole Mine was moved to the opposite side of the announce table? Feedback may be emailed to themartinhawk@gmail.com.
