[2013-05-19-WWE-Extreme Rules] John Cena vs Ryback (Last Man Standing)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[bradhindsight]

Cena casually ignores the built up Achilles injury story but takes a decent beating before spearing Ryback through the barricade, which is nearly as common as a ref bump nowadays. Cena climbs into the crowd for a three foot elbow drop onto a table before both guys brawl to the entrance area where Ryback spears Cena through a screen of lights affixed to the Titantron. Both guys are KO’d of course as a draw was the only booking that worked here since Cena had just won the title and Ryback would look like a complete puss in losing. To give the WWE credit, when they get a camera behind the stage it looks like a colossal wipeout with Cena landing on some scaffolding. Cena does the stretcher job after to set up another match at Payback, which absolutely makes sense.

[supersonic]

A great brawl and power matchup, as both men pummeled the fuck out of each both with weapons and power moves. I liked that both men pulled out the powerbomb successfully, with Ryback throwing Cena down beautifully and with such force that it looked believably painful. Ryback had a few selling issues of course to keep this from reaching greatness (I actually don't mind the finish so that didn't keep this from the greatness), as I wasn't fully convinced he'd have an adrenaline rush for 1-2 minutes after being Death Valley Driver'd through a table. This was some really good stuff, and probably the best match Ryback will ever have. ***1/2