[2005-08-21-WWE-Summerslam] John Cena vs Chris Jericho

[Makai Club #1]

John Cena defends the WWE Heavyweight Title

I'm starting to think that there is some revisionist history (damn, I hate that phrase, but it's apt here) going on here. For years, the story was that the fans turned on Cena because of his new cookie cutter army gimmick but here he is, still in his Chain Gang gimmick. They even call Cena's fans the chain gang. Its the same schtick that he had months prior to big plaudits. So that's not true, at least not here, who knows weekly because I was like super young to remember this era of wrestling. 

Anyway, this was pretty neat. And I attribute it to Cena's great showing here. He was explosive and showed tons of urgency in his opening barrage of offence. Cena isn't the most varied wrestler, offensively, but he could get the most out of what he can. His short running clothesline was used greatly as a momentum changer, he had some..not stiff but impactful back-elbows which did a ton of damage. Loved his selling too. He made Jericho look really good here, slowing down whenever Jericho hit his big spots in the match, the struggle he had for getting out of the simplistic of holds went a long way. Jericho was perfectly functional as an opponent, as he usually was, and was good, albeit a bit unremarkable in that sense. He didn't stand out above Cena, he just was the foil for Cena's comebacks, which isn't a bad spot to be in. Reminds me of 80s WWF title challengers. The crowd was super into this match. People may say "they were anti Cena", they weren't. It was very 50/50. No boos for Cena, nor Jericho. It was loud let's go Cena chants, let's Go Jericho chants. 

 

Shout out to the finish as well. That was so good. Quick and perfect. ***1/2

[ohtani's jacket]

This was an excellent match. If it had been a tad longer, I think it would have a bigger rep as far as early Cena matches go. Two things stand out about Cena in this era. The first is his intensity. The dude is locked in. The second thing is that he appears acutely aware that every big match is a banana peel, and there are plenty of folks who can't wait to see him fall. The dude's working his ass off. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWE Champion John Cena vs Chris Jericho - WWE Summerslam 2005

I thought this would be an interesting match to see how it was worked and I was right. Jericho was clearly the Ring general and really show his poor Wrestling IQ. He has no idea on how to define roles within a match or how to build a match. But what made it nonsensical is why it was so interesting. 
 

Jericho the smaller man wrestled King Sized. He was cutting Cena off at every turn. Perhaps you claim this was a veteran vs young look story but that was not the story they were telling either. It wasn’t like Cena was proving himself to Jericho. It is just Jericho kept cutting him off with dropkicks. There was no real story or something to sink your teeth into. Eventually the worked a heat segment breakdown long enough for the crowd to do the famous dueling chants. If it is not the first, it is one of the first instances of the 50/50 Cena reaction, this is not the classic Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks because Jericho is over But it would devolve into that as the show became more about Cena and the opponents were less important. 
 

Fuck forgot to finish this review because work got crazy. Ogre Cena was on full display here. Meat hook clotheslines looked great and loved the tackle. Jericho wrestled a cutoff match with dropkicks but it just felt weird. I liked Cena’s missed shoulder tackle. I did like the finisher teasers Lionsault, Walls and FU. Finally the aforementioned breakdown let the crowd get into it. Cena Comeback Bur so much rawer and hard hitting than 2010s Cena. They shoehorn the Walls on here. They do a bit of swing dancing into the FU.

Ill go *** I didn’t get this Summerslam as kid me and my brother were far more into HBK/Hogan which rightfully main eventes this show. Again this felt more like an IC Title match not a main event world title match.