Fantasy Booker: John Cena v Alberto Del Rio

Hell in a Cell saw John Cena come back months earlier than originally expected from an elbow injury. On the show he faced World Heavyweight champion and proud Mexican Alberto Del Rio, and beat him. Cena became the World champ essentially out of nowhere.

I predicted ADR would leave with the title. With hindsight this was obviously never going to happen, although in my defence I noted that ‘The Essence of Excellence’ would win via cheating or on some daft technicality. I was being optimistic. I do that sometimes.

Like I say, a win for Cena was obvious. This is the man who, since 2005, has consistently been booked as a winner, someone fans can rely on to pull out the win when the chips are down. It’s okay for him to lose to the likes of The Rock in these “guaranteed victory” situations, but guys on ADR’s level are not privy to winning matches against the megastar.

Just out of shot is a really funny sign

It’s this reliability that has kept Cena on top for so long. A portion of the audience continues to support him because he has proven he won’t let them down. A guy in Cena’s position can only lose so many times before they lose their shine and start to look like everyone else.

Had things happened differently WWE could have created some compelling television.

Imagine if Cena had come back to face Del Rio, with the match receiving the same video package and build-up, along with the same promos and initial reaction from the champion, and had lost. Other than Del Rio going down to a single AA the match was fine as it was. They could have done exactly the same stuff but tweaked to have Cena selling his injured arm far more. An altered finishing sequence of Del Rio applying the cross armbreaker again and again, with Cena continually escaping but becoming increasingly fatigued before finally having nothing left and the referee stopping the match, could have been very effective.

This would have put over Del Rio’s finisher as one of the most fearsome WWE has ever known and allowed him to brag on the following evening’s RAW. It would have been a great source of material for the arrogant ADR.

Meanwhile Cena would have been granted another few weeks off to heal and created interest in a rematch with Del Rio. Plus, as an added bonus, Cena’s detractors would have seen him putting someone over cleanly. He could have returned after a couple of weeks off selling the injury to admit that Del Rio to set up a rematch. The attacks and verbal showdowns we’ve seen would have had far more impact to them had Del Rio still been carrying the gold and had a recent victory over ‘The CeNation Leader’ to boast of.

The Survivor Series rematch would be getting looked at differently if the above had happened. I’m sure Cena would still be the heavy favourite but the outcome wouldn’t seem quite so clear. They’d be able to tell an interesting story about Cena desperately trying to protect his still tender arm and avoiding the cross armbreaker at all costs with Del Rio determined to go two in a row over the company’s top star. In this situation the first successful application of the armbreaker would get a huge reaction.

Another positive approach to taking this approach would have been making Survivor Series feel like a bigger deal. Any time a WWE pay-per-view, particularly one traditionally viewed as a big deal, can be given such a boost it should be.

This was obviously never going to happen, of course. Cena is simply not booked to make stars and Del Rio is not someone company bosses consider in need of an increased push. That this fairly simplistic set of circumstances seem so incongruent with the current WWE approach is a large part of the reason why the promotion’s in the shape it’s in.

Mexico's Greatest Export

I’ve not always been the biggest fan of Alberto Del Rio but I’ve really enjoyed his work this year. When he turned babyface at the end of 2012 I wasn’t convinced that it would work, mainly because his character didn’t seem capable of being altered to receive cheers. I was wrong. ADR did manage to garner cheers and made numerous changes to his promo and wrestling style to reflect his new role. Ricardo Rodriguez being such a sympathetic individual helped matters but Del Rio did his share of the work too.

The first half of the year saw ‘The Essence of Excellence’ facing off against Big Show, Jack Swagger, and Dolph Ziggler on pay-per-view. None of those matches were bad. In fact the Big Show matches were, in hindsight, a small triumph considering ‘The Giant’s’ limited mobility and Del Rio’s new and therefore shaky status as a good guy.

The real highlights among those feuds were the exchanges with Ziggler. The two had one of the greatest sub five minute matches ever shown on RAW (and that’s a show that knows it’s way around a five minute match) and two excellent pay-per-view matches at Payback and Money in the Bank. The latter was marred by interference from AJ Lee but the Payback bout, in which they executed a silky smooth double turn, was one of the best WWE efforts of the year. The feud ended far too soon.

Since his recasting as a bad guy Del Rio has continued to do well. His SummerSlam match with Christian was fair but instantly forgettable, although even at the time it was clear that that was just something to keep Del Rio busy before he was split from his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez.

Del Rio versus Rodriguez seemed like the programme that would see both men through to the end of the year. It was easy to imagine Ricardo hooking up with a string of babyfaces and standing in their corner as they opposed the devilish Mexican aristocrat. We saw him get together with Rob Van Dam but that was it. Both Ricardo and ‘Mr Monday Night’ disappeared from television at the same time. Which actually worked out well for Del Rio as it freed him up for a prominent run opposite megastar John Cena.

ADR has been allowed to look surprisingly competitive with Cena. He has been presented as a man without fear of Cena’s imposing status, someone who won’t shrink from facing him and who can present him with a challenge (at least until that AA is busted out). On the November 15^th SmackDown he was even got to outsmart and overpower Cena before putting him through a table. This is not a first, but it’s also not treatment just anybody gets. It’s indicative of Del Rio’s high standing on the roster.

This guy's from Mexico...

2013 has seen ADR show that he can work at the top level as either a hero or a villain. He’s produced good or great matches on every pay-per-view of the year and proven to be one of WWE’s most consistent and reliable performers, both in and out of the ring. His promos get to the point and get him genuine boos (that’s worryingly rare in modern WWE), his selling is believable, and his offence, particularly his kicks, is crisply delivered.

His facial expressions, which have always been marvellous, have reached new heights and little touches to his “proud Mexcian hero” gimmick have been added. The little flags that adorn the ring posts during his matches have been one of the neatest additions to a WWE performers act in a long time.

Alberto Del Rio is someone WWE, and its fans, should be very appreciative of. There are few better than him right now.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 14

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 14 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

With Bound For Glory and Hell in a Cell being just a week apart Michael and I felt it would be good to put together an episode discussing both. You can’t talk about pay-per-views these days without discussing the respective television shows that follow them, so we chat about them too. And there’s been talk of Panda Energy-slash-the Carter family wanting to flog TNA to the highest bidder so we talk about that too. Why would Panda want to sell, who would want to buy, and what exactly would they hope to get out of the purchase? That’s all discussed.

Plus there are some amusing news stories doing the rounds so we talked about them too. It’s a packed episode, reflected in the hour-plus running time.

Hell in a Cell 2013 review

At the turn of the century the WWF would routinely secondary level pay-per-view s to move guys up the card. Never was this more apparent than at Fully Loaded 2000. At that show the three most established guys on the active roster, The Rock, The Undertaker, and Triple H, faced Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, three men the company were keen to turn into stars.

Those three matches alone did not make those three men stars. They were part of a process of star building that the WWF was known for at the time. The practice of pitting big names against men lower down the card and having competitive matches with them was the norm. Even if the non-headliners lost their profile was raised by association.

Compare that approach with the modern one. Feuds stretch on forever and WWE generally does a poor job of utilising popular acts. I’m not talking about Daniel Bryan or CM Punk two years ago. Bryan is being, and Punk was, handled right for the most part. I’m thinking more of guys like Fandango, Bray Wyatt, and Dolph Ziggler. Men who do everything in their power to get over ith fans yet find themselves playing diminished roles on TV and pay-per-view. It’s impossible to imagine WWE’s three most established names, Punk, Orton and Cena, being pitted against the likes of ‘The Show Off’ in competitive pay-per-view bouts. Which illustrates how WWE’s approach to building stars has changed over the years.

This was a thought that occurred to me at several points during Hell in a Cell, usually when two established names were wrestling each other or mid-card guys were facing off in unadvertised “bonus” matches. I wrote about this a few weeks ago after Battleground. WWE needs to spend more time creating worthwhile undercards for its shows, and gradually start pitting lower card guys against the big names. That’s their best chance at creating names that people will pay to see.

Hell in a Cell kicked off with the triple threat tag team championship match. This resulted in it peaking early, because Goldust and Cody Rhodes’ title defence was the best bout on the card.

The Uso brothers took on the Rhodes brothers for the first few minutes of the match before Roman Reigns tagged in and started the task of isolating Goldust. There were nice moments that The Shield knock Cody off the apron and then pull the Usos down to ringside to keep Goldy isolated.

Eventually ‘The Bizarre One’ got the hot tag to Cody, who came in with a very nice missile drop kick and followed up with a crisp moonsault to a standing Rollins. The former Tyler Black continued to kick out as he was he with a cross body block and a splash by an Uso. Moments later Jey Uso leapt over the top rope and landed on Goldust and Reigns. Back in the ring the false finishes continued with an elevated Samoan drop from Jimmy to Seth. Cody tagged himself in and tried for a Cross Rhodes on Rollins but it got reversed. Moments later the two men were up on the top rope to perform an impressive superplex to the outside (cushioned by the other four men in the match). Cody went for a pin but it was broken by an Uso.

 

Not much of a landing committee

 

A series of spears and punches wiped out the Usos and Reigns, leaving Cody free to try a Disaster kick on Rollins. That was reversed (for the first time that I’ve seen) when Rollins caught him and held him in position for a power bomb. Cody slipped out, Goldust gave Seth an uppercut and then Cody hit the Cross Rhodes for the win.

It was exactly how a show opener should be. It was fast, filled with near falls and exciting moments, and it energised the crowd.

The Miz marched to ringside and called out Bray Wyatt. ‘The Eater of Worlds’ appeared on the Titantron (does anyone in WWE still refer to it as that?) and wittered about a monster that lives behind his eyes. Rowan and Harper ambushed 'The Awesome One' as the crowd chant, presumably bored by and with Miz, chanted "We want Kane!" Seconds after the chant died down Kane strode out. He battered the Wyatt boys before giving Miz a choke slam and setting off his pyro. The fans approved.

Faaaaaan… daaaaaan…goooooo and Summer Rae salsa’d to the ring for match two. Fandango should be booked as a womanising, heart-breaking, tweening lothario. Instead he's a comedy heel. Just a few minor tweaks and 'The Ballroom Brute' could be a far more important part of the WWE machine than he currently is. This ties into what I was saying at the start of this post. Perhaps WWE will use TLC to give us some experimental match-ups. But I won’t hold my breath.

Fandango talked some smack about being a great dancer (presumably Miami is known as a city big on dancing?) and then danced like he was in a night club. Khali's music put a stop to the heels' shenanigans. The crowd booed the roar he emitted as he clambered into the ring. Good for them, says this observer.

The match was a waste of Fandango and Summer Rae, although it was notable for being Summer’s first televised match since being promoted form NXT. She’s a solid wrestler and possesses far more personality than most WWE Divas. Fandango, as I’ve already mentioned, should be doing more than making Khali look good.

The finish saw Summer Rae wriggle out of a Sharpshooter before rolling Natalya up for the three count. They may have been wasted but at least they won. That's something.

Up in the skybox Kaitlyn talked about the mixed tag match and related it to the Divas championship match that would happen later. R-Truth was keen on the tag title match, while Dolph Ziggler was impressed by Miz calling out the Wyatt Family. How convenient that each performer was interested in a different segment. It’s almost like it’s scripted!

Michael Cole provided a handy recap of the pre-show dispute that set up Ambrose v Langston as the United States champ made his way to the ring. Ambrose's facial expression as Big E stood bellowing on the apron was priceless, a mixture of contempt, puzzlement and disinterest.

The match was good. It would be tempting to attribute that to Ambrose, the man with more experience and greater charisma and the one taking the bigger bumps, but that would be unfair (and would also overlook him loudly calling a belly-to-belly). Langston did a good job playing the face, showing weakness and rallying the crowd. Anyone who saw his work in NXT will be aware that he's better than the average muscle guy.

The ending was presumably designed to setup a rematch. Langston speared Ambrose off of the apron to the outside of the ring. Both men were up before the ten count but Ambrose opted not to get back into the ring, taking a deliberate loss. Big E caught Ambrose before he could leave and flattened him with a Big Ending. It seems to have been decided that Langston’s getting a mid-card title. With Curtis Axel unable to compete expect Langston to get the US champion.

CM Punk versus Ryback and Paul Heyman nestled in the middle of the card. It was not pretty.

The nonsense started early when Heyman was driven to the ring on a cherry picker. Both JBL and 'King' referenced the entrances at WrestleMania III, Lawler clearly not listening to his colleague. What a pro. Heyman cut a promo in which he stated his name twice and claimed to be WWE's answer to Satan (that's PG, that is). The cherry picker was there to grant Heyman access to the top of the cage, where he stood for the entirety of the match.

And what a match it was. It was slow, dull and sloppy, a perfect advert for CM Punk not being 'The Best in the World' he claims to be. I'm not alone in this belief: scattered "Boring!" chants could be heard during the match. That's something even Khali avoided.

After what seemed like an eternity , but was probably about five minutes, of 'Big Hungry' controlling the pace ‘The Second City Saint’ made a kendo stick assisted comeback and added a chair to proceedings. Instead of someone going through it straight away Ryback crotched his foe on it as it lay on its side. He went to follow up with a power bomb but got low blowed. He did the natural thing and had a lie down on the table to recover (wrestling logic!). Punk then did a particularly clumsy Macho Elbow.

CM Punk then hit ‘The Big Guy’ with a kendo stick and a GTS to win. Just like that the match was over. It should have been a hot finishing sequence but it wasn't, thanks mainly to the boring nature of the match.

After getting his win Punk grabbed a kendo stick and clambered on top of the cage to give Heyman a beating. The crowd warned up for that considerably. Yep, a babyface battering a heel non-wrestler with a weapon is, apparently, a great way to get over. Based on the post-match reactions the smart thing would have been to have Heyman inside the cage avoiding Punk and breaking up pinfalls.

Backstage Daniel Bryan told Renee Young he just wanted a fair chance, one-on-one match with Randall Keith Orton. He (incorrectly) referred to the post-WrestleMania XXVIII RAW being the start of people screaming yes, then kicked off a chant.

Match five was another unadvertised affair: Los Matadores v The Real Americans. Everyone knows the sort of promo Colter cuts by now but he changed things up a bit here by referring to El Torito as a half-man, half-bull. Basically Zeb thinks Torito's a Minotaur. Diego and Fernando survived the big swing and an ankle lock to get the win with a weak-looking double team move. After the decision Cesaro, Swagger and Colter all took bumps for Torito.

The video for the Cena v Del Rio match was great. Footage of Cena's surgery and rehabilitation was intercut with footage putting over the cross arm breaker as a submission hold to be feared. It was very effective and set up the story of the match perfectly.

 

Alberto Del Rio: a true Mexican hero

 

The champion was introduced first, eschewing tradition. JBL, who was very outspoken about Ziggler "disrespectfully" wearing the championship belt backwards in the summer, didn't utter a word. ADR got boos. Cena got a strong mixed reaction, although I think there were more cheers than there usually are.

Cena used a tornado DDT, drop kicks, and top rope body blocks in addition to his usual repertoire, which combined nicely with ADR's diversity to create an unpredictable and highly enjoyable contest. Cena sold well and often, particularly beautiful was his flop forward off a superkick. It was a stirring performance from the challenger.

Things picked up considerably when the two exchanged submissions. Del Rio went for the cross arm breaker but Cena nipped out and applied the STF until the champ grabbed the ropes. ‘The Essence of Excellence’ would be luckier moments later as he successfully applied his hold to wear down the challenger. The selling Cena had given us earlier was ignored at this point as he powered out, injured arm and all, to hit ADR with a power bomb.

Back on their feet Cena hit an AA for the win. It was mildly anticlimactic but not to the extent that it ruined the match. It was one of Cena's better matches of 2013. What's interesting is that in his last match before this Cena lost the WWE title. I don’t think anyone’s ever lost a world title in one match and won a different one in their next. If anyone was ever going to do it it had to be Cena, didn’t it?

 

The champ is here...

 

I’ll be interested to see what happens with Cena World Heavyweight title reign. It seemed like ADR was safe as champ for the foreseeable future because there’s nothing much else for him to do, and Cena doesn’t really need the championship. It would be nice if it was an early move towards a title unification, ideally at next year’s WrestleMania. That both worlds titles are now on major established names makes me think it’s a possibility.

Up in the skybox Kaitlyn and R-Truth predicted victories for Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan respectively. Dolph gave a firm “maybe” on the subject of Bryan being champ.

AJ got a positive reaction when she entered the arena. Brie did too, but it was noticeably quieter and didn't last as long. The match was okay, but nothing special. Hopefully this will be Brie’s last pay-per-view match with AJ for a while. The finish saw Brie accidentally boot her sister in the face. While she stood there looking confused AJ applied the Black Widow and got the win by submission.

Backstage Bob Backlund and The Prime Time Players advertised the WWE 2K14 game. Then they danced. It was as wonderful as it sounds.

Elsewhere backstage we saw Shawn Michaels (who's now sporting stubble as opposed to that massive beard he had a month or two ago) and Triple H have a heated conversation. HBK walked off looking peeved. Tripper stood still, staring after him, also looking peeved. It's the sort of thing WWE always feels compelled to insert into shows when there's a guest referee around.

After the (very good) video package Michaels was introduced, followed by Orton and then Bryan. Triple H sauntered down to the ring with the WWE championship and shook hands with 'The Viper'. He offered Bryan a handshake to Bryan but it was refused. Non-adherence to the Code of Honor from Bryan? Strong stuff!

Bryan and Orton had what I think is the strongest entry in their current series. They made the most of the relaxed rules the Hell in a Cell gimmick allows by using ring steps, the cage itself and a bundle of chairs as weapons, setting a fast pace that took them all around the construct, and hitting their signature moves in unconventional ways. The turning point came when Orty threw Bryan onto a pile of chairs with a superplex. That 'The World's Toughest Vegan' kicked out angered Orton and brought 'The Game' back out to ringside. As the DX pals bickered Orton went for a cover. That Shawn wasn't there to count infuriated him further and caused him to leave the ring to have a scream at Michaels.

Orton went for an RKO but got shoved off into ‘The Heartbreak Kid’, who was busy looking at Triple H emulating his hero Ric Flair, going mad and climbing the cage. Bryan hit a knee as Triple H had the Cell opened, supposedly to check on Michaels. After shoving Bryan out of the way Tripper checked on Shawn and then turned around into Bryan's running knee. Bryan celebrated and then turned around into a surprise move himself, this one a Sweet Chin Music from Michaels. ‘The Apex Predator’ went for the cover and, after a brief pause, Michaels counted the three. He left immediately, looking dejected, while Orty celebrated winning his eighth WWE championship with Triple H.

 

There's a knee coming Triple H's way

 

The obvious question is: why did Shawn Michaels cost Daniel Bryan, who’s been acknowledged as his student, the WWE championship? Expect the “best for business” line to be trotted out on RAW, as well as fluff about Michaels having faith in Triple H’s vision for the future of the company. It seems likely that Michaels will play to unwilling accomplice and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him manage Triple H in a match against Bryan at some point. That would be a nice point for him to seek retribution and abandon his pal, allowing Bryan a clean win.

A lot of people have taken this development as a sign that Michaels is going to wrestle again. For what it’s worth I don’t think that will happen. Michaels seems content in his retirement from active wrestling duties. Just as importantly he went out on top in a highly regarded match. He’s made it very clear over the years that he wants to be remembered as a good wrestler. I don’t think he’d have a bad match if he did wrestle again, but I also don’t think he’d want to take the risk. An HBK in-ring return seems a stretch.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 9

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 9 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

This episode of That Wrestling Podcast introduces a news feature to proceedings. News is something I’ve generally stayed away from before now as it’s boring to write up and anyone visiting this blog is likely to be seeing it elsewhere first. It would be an exercise in futility.

Two things make the news segment on the podcast different. The first is that we’re talking about it. It’s much easier to talk about something that write about it and then edit it and then post it. Basically it’s less work for me. I’m a lazy man, so that appeals. Secondly we’ve deliberately chosen marginal, comical stories that are entirely un-newsworthy and only appear on “the dirtsheets” (also known as wrestling news websites) because they feature wrestlers.

Don’t listen to this expecting a detailed view of recent happenings in the wrestling world. That’s not our style. I will say that we mention the wedding of Matt Hardy and Reby Sky, which produced the fabulous picture below.

The wedding of Matt Hardy and Reby Sky

Also discussed is WWE Battleground and the news that John Cena’s heading back to our screens for a World Heavyweight title match at Hell in a Cell. Plus there are tangents about Sami Zayn’s finishing move, Big Show’s potential turn, Stephanie McMahon, The Ascension, a potential Damien Sandow turn and how his cash-in could work at Hell in a Cell, and various other things.

It’s three quarters of an hour of pure wrestling talk! What’s not to like?