Jimmy Redman

Parv in terms of your theory I think you're half right. I 100% agree that moving Cena down to the US Title is a deliberate move to get him away from the world title picture for the foreseeable future, while still giving him a title to defend. When Cena wins world title #16 it is going to be a big deal, or at least it should be, and I think WWE know that, and will be planning on making hay out of it when he does so. But at the moment, it's not in their plans to feature Cena in that way, and not making his 16th win a big deal would be a waste, so they have to just keep him away from the title until they're ready to go there. On the other hand, I don't think the number of overall titles he has has anything to do with it. It's not something that is really ever mentioned on TV, not something that the average fan would be conscious of. Everyone knows about Flair's 16 world titles. And they constantly call Cena a 15-time world champ. I don't think they have ever called Cena a 23-time champion. If they have it is only as the most aside-iest of asides, because it's not something they've ever pushed on telly. Not just with Cena, but anyone. Edge is the only guy off-hand that I can recall them using "X-time champion in WWE" as a real talking point, because he had a bajillion of them (and by the by I can't even remember how many he had, even after they repeated it a hundred times). The only other time they'd say something like that would be to pad someone's resume if they were going into the HOF or something ("Booker T, a 57-time champion!"). It's just not a record that they really care about, or that the general fanbase would care about either, because they've never been told to. I honestly don't think they give the slightest thought to how many total titles Cena has when deciding what to do with him. Just the world titles, because that's a record that people notice and care about.

Yeah Londrick need to be nominated if they aren't already.

Sheamus had that period where he used the Razor's Edge.

To actually make this thread useful, here are the relevant matches from the SD Six period (which I assume would make up the bulk of any case they have...they were together in 2003 as well but Chavo was injured while Eddie worked the main matches of the WGTT feud with Tajiri...and by the end of the year they were table setting for Chavo's heel turn). Los Guerreros vs Edge & Cena, SD 12/9/02 Los Guerreros vs Angle & Benoit, SD 17/10/02 Los Guerreros vs Edge & Rey, SD 24/10/02 Los Guerreros vs Angle & Benoit, Rebellion 2002 Los Guerreros vs Angle & Benoit vs Edge & Rey, Survivor Series 2002 Los Guerreros vs Benoit & Kidman, SD 12/12/02 Los Guerreros vs Edge & Kidman, SD 26/12/02

Really? I thought the finish was genius. The entire match, actually. I haven't watched it since it happened so I'm going on memory, but the key thing about the match was that The Shield wrestled just like they did run-ins. They would swarm someone three-on-one and use their numbers. So they finally have their first match here, and they use the same strategy in the ring: numbers. They would isolate one babyface at a time and go to work on them. When the faces all recovered and the numbers were even it became a fair fight and the faces came back. Then they'd be divided and conquered again. Even within the chaos of a six-man TLC brawl, this thread of logic was running through. And so the finish. The Shield finally divide and conquer the faces once and for all: Kane was obliterated in the barricade, Ryback was tied up with Rollins on the stage, and Bryan was isolated with Reigns and Ambrose in the ring, which gave them enough time to swarm him and take him out. It wasn't the fact that Rollins wasn't there that was important as much as the fact that Ryback wasn't. By the by, but you can see this in almost all Shield matches as they started wrestling regular matches, the same strategy was always at work. Divide and conquer. They'd isolate one guy and hit their double and triple team moves on them, work them over. The faces would make a big comeback, but in the end, at the crucial moment they would always have some sort of numbers advantage that allowed them to achieve the victory. They may not always have all three men available (like TLC), but they will have more men when it really counts. And then finally in June when they suffer their first loss, it is because for the first time ever they are the ones who have been separated and picked off, leaving Rollins alone with the faces to be swarmed and defeated. And the whole story comes full circle. I fucking love Shield matches. Don't even get me started.

I am a BIG fan of the first Cena match. That was mostly due to Cena's performance being so interesting to me in that he was working as a heel in it. But Rock admittedly, played his part and didn't shit it up. Other than that, he was rubbish. I found the second Cena match frustrating, and the Punk matches disappointing. The Cena tag was just kind of there...am I missing anything? I think the main reason why was simply Rock's conditioning, or lack thereof. He blew up in every match he had, and had to be lead by the hand through them, while they worked around him sucking wind. Like I said, they got away with it at WM28, but every other time it noticeably dragged his matches down. There were other problems as well. With Punk it was booking themselves into corners, with Cena II it was video game spamming. I thought the second Punk match in particular, the one with the "Rock can't get DQd" stip, was terrible at actually working to that stipulation. So there was more going on than just pure physical (un)fitness.

I'm biased so don't ask me, but I'd be interested in the argument for Rock. I get Rock being a better promo and better character, but I feel like how much he outscores Cena on that front doesn't come close to how much Cena outscores Rock in the ring.

Fuck, Cena's nose is coming out the side of his head right now.

Sasha's Music!

Yeah, same here, which is why I find it so hard to figure out. I'm interested in the match, I want to watch it...but my eyes won't stay open. Just some sort of biological response that I can't control. It's terribly annoying because like I say, I have so much I WANT to watch right now.

Is there anyone who DOESN'T like Jim Breaks? I don't mean that to sound combative, I'm genuinely asking. Even if someone had other British workers above him or didn't put him on their GWE ballot, it seems that everyone who has watched him and mentioned him at least "gets" his appeal and enjoys him. He seems to have universal appeal. Are there any dissenting voices?

I'm the same with the sleeping thing. It used to be an occasional thing, but now I can't even get through one match, no matter what time it is or how tired I am. There's soooo much stuff I want to watch for GWE, but I just can't, literally, because anytime I put a match on it sends me to sleep.

Hmm...awkward. He's supposed to be the 'Special Guest GM' on the Australian tour in a couple weeks.

Well shit. I knew Tyson was injured but I never heard what it was or how serious it was. Damn.

Where is Natalya by the way?

2008 and/or 2011, you mean, but you're there.

I said this in my review, but like the fact that halfway through Jerry Lawler let out a really heartfelt "This Sasha Banks sure has an attitude doesn't she??" said SO much to me. King doesn't prepare at all, doesn't watch NXT, nobody tells him what to say. He just watches what's in front of him and spews out whatever's in his head. I'd put money on him never seeing Sasha Banks do anything in his life before she debuted on Raw, and here like five minutes into her first match, she was working her character so perfectly that even King totally got it straight away.

I dig Alicia...most of the time. It took her years to get any good, she was all arms and legs and even now on a bad day still can be. But at some point she figured out how to work as a heel; when she's on she can bump and stooge for the face and then come back with some pretty hurty looking offense (that's where her long limbs and flexibility come in handy). She has that beautiful northern lights suplex, and nice kicks. Consistency is her main problem. I mean if her and Natalya only worked each other until the end of time they'd both look like a million bucks. But they just have this weird chemistry that neither one can quite replicate with anyone else. But Alicia has shown good stuff in other matches. She's one of those guys who looks better under the radar, because she can look clumsy as hell in the two-minute tango on Raw, but get 8 mins on Superstars a day later and look great.

Got a review of the show up on my blog, link below. This time it's an actual review, not John Cena Theory.

That IS weird, because the Usos have been using multiple superkicks per match for years and it has nothing to do with the Young Bucks.

C'est un miracle! C'est vrai! I loved that song.

I don't think it says as much about Brock as it does about the inherent shittyness of The Authority and Rollins' reign. You can't get too excited for Brock when you know that the match is going to be full of bullshit and have a screwy finish. There's no incentive to invest.

I don't think Barreta is that much of a mystery. He was a small, skinny indyriffic dude (a few years before they started looking twice at guys like that). They never really pushed him at all, the Busters were in late-era ECW, and he was a jobber on SD. I think any talk of him getting a push were more hopeful than anything else.