‘Monday Night Raw’ recap: John Cena outshines The Rock again
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On another solid episode of ‘Monday Night Raw,’ John Cena out-dueled The Rock on the microphone and had some people in the crowd cheering for him.
When The Rock said he was coming back to WWE to face Cena, most fans expected any verbal duels between the two to be extremely one-sided. After all, The Rock was one of the greatest promo men in pro wrestling history, while Cena seemed to treat every promo as a joke, filled with winks and smirks to the crowd, which was busy booing him.
But something interesting has happened the last couple of months. WWE has tried to re-position Cena as a man’s man. They’ve cut down on the goofy Cena comedy and made him more three-dimensional. Sure, there are still a large number of people who can’t stand him, and yes, they were in Cena’s hometown of Boston on Monday night, but it has become apparent that Cena has won over some new fans the last few weeks.
Monday night, The Rock and Cena had another in-ring confrontation, and for the second week in a row, Cena got the better end of the deal, positioning himself as the guy who has been there for the fans week after week. The Rock even had a rare verbal misstep when he said he saw fear in the eyes of Cena. You can say what you want about the Cena character, but the one thing he has been consistently portrayed as is fearless. It made Rock look out of touch with the current WWE scene, which played directly into Cena’s hands, since Cena has been telling everyone that The Rock doesn’t care about WWE, he’s just here to promote his latest movie.
The other interesting segment Monday had Shawn Michaels come out and reveal that he would be the special guest referee for the Triple H-Undertaker match at WrestleMania. But will he call the match down the middle? Michaels played it cagey, and left us wondering. Even better, he left us wondering if he would favor Triple H or Undertaker. Which is the perfect way to convince those still on the fence to open their wallets and buy WrestleMania on pay-per-view.
The road to WrestleMania, which usually lasts from mid-January to April, is often the best time of year to be a pro wrestling fan, as WWE’s writers seem to have a laser-like focus on storylines that they lack the rest of the year. This year is no different. And all of us at home watching get to enjoy the ride.
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-- Houston Mitchell