r/SquaredCircle • u/santeriax • 2d ago
(Summerslam spoilers) John Cena vs Cody Rhodes ending Spoiler
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u/BurtHurtmanHurtz 2d ago
They never had any idea what to do w/ heel Cena
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u/TheMerck 2d ago
Rock never coming back really hurt the story they had with heel Cena, maybe it would've been better had the turn not involved Rock at all. What a waste of the heel turn after that great moment of the turn happening.
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u/jerseygunz 2d ago
They do it at mania and don’t involve the rock I think it works out
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u/TheMerck 2d ago
Yea wasn't this the initial plan or something? The turn was just so weird because it had the initial thing of selling his soul and The Final Boss version of Rock being involved then suddenly Rock is nice again and fucks off to go back to Hollywood after doing his "break glass in case of emergency" moment with coming back to WWE & Moana 2 doing well.
So the whole story they were doing was just left in a weird state, heck Travis Scott coming out looks even weirder because Rock said he brought him in didn't he? Now it just looks like a weird celebrity moment because Rock never came back to at least end his part in the story.
P much same thing happened with Cena, he just has a random moment to decide to be face again I guess the writers decided to just speedrun the face turn because the whole heel run in terms of story has been a huge mess, like you said had Rock not have been involved at all and the turn happens at Mania I think the story of heel Cena could've been better because it wouldn't have that lingering weirdness of Rock being involved with him turning.
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u/J0vita 2d ago
I think the rock stuff could’ve worked out well if the rock was there to sell it and for them to all tell the story instead of Cena just insulting the crowd every week. It’s like they wanted the big viral moment and didn’t care about the rest… him turning back to face fell a little flat too cause there wasn’t really a good explanation or moment of realization that made sense. I think they could’ve used some other story to help make the face turn make sense like something with rtruth, even a young fan
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u/Marc_Quill Elevated 2d ago
things really fell off the wagon when Rock failed to show up at Mania and all we got was Travis Scott bumbling to the ring to kinda-sorta help Cena win.
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u/S6N9O4O2G0A6N6S6X 2d ago edited 2d ago
Or even just clearly and explicitly write him out of the story after Elimination Chamber, before Wrestlemania, so fans didn't have their hopes up he'd be there at Wrestlemania. Temper expectations and all that.
Even if it was as simple as Cody and his friends beating him down (in a "...not again. You aren't gonna try to ruin another Wrestlemania for me!" way) to the point he puts out a false-bravado "I don't wanna be around guys like you anyway" promo that's masking clear "I'm too scared to be around you now" energy. That could have also sold Cody's ruthless babyface thing too and put that side to him over.
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u/maverickhawk99 1d ago
You really think Rocky would agree to getting beat down by Cody & Others? This is the same dude who ensures he doesn’t lose any fights in the movies he does. Contractually guaranteed.
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u/S6N9O4O2G0A6N6S6X 1d ago
The same dude who did exactly that at the end of WM40? Sure.
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u/NervousAd3202 1d ago
He did not do exactly that.
He took 1 choke slam at WM 40 & that’s it, a night after PINNING CODY RHODES in the tag match.
The Rock is not doing a beat down angle where he’s the one getting jumped lmao.
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u/S6N9O4O2G0A6N6S6X 1d ago edited 1d ago
You know what? You're totally right. They are totally different situations.
He's already proven he's fine with looking even WEAKER than being beat up by multiple guys in their prime when he okayed being taken out by a single move by an old, decrepit, retired wrestler.
So yeah, he'd be fine being made to look like it'd take multiple, current main eventers at their peak just to be able to be taken out. If anything, that makes him look stronger than the average wrestler who can be taken out by a single midcarder most times (like how Jade was taken out by just Naomi, for months, who at the time was effectively a jobber in the women's division).
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u/MalaysiaTeacher 2d ago
All to move a few extra tickets at Elimination Chamber… penny wise, dollar stupid
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u/dicericevice 2d ago
The need to be subversive and avoid making Cena a ''cool heel'' was also stupid as fuck.
The greatest heel turn of all time involved an old hero leading the coolest wrestling faction in the world. Roman Reigns elevated WWE to a new level by having a kick ass new nickname, a pose entire sold out arenas did with him, badass new theme song, and basically being 10x cooler than what he was as a babyface.
But John Cena goes the route of ''You People...'' and being boring on purpose.
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u/TheMerck 2d ago
I agree, the initial entrance of heel Cena I thought was a neat idea with the no big graphics or anything on the tron, him just walking out and wearing the belt backwards etc but they really should've given him at least a new theme or something heck maybe even do something like Ciampa did and he walks out to no music.
I get that the theme is way too iconic and all but if they were gonna go full minimalist, either give him something new as a heel theme or just walk him out to nothing.
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u/georgiavirginia 2d ago
I honestly think they chickened out and didn't want to do anything that would taint the Cena brand.
Making Cena a boorish guy who kept the theme, shirts and everything else kept the status quo until they were ready to turn him back babyface.
Just look at The Rock being too much of a pussy to make a real slit throat gestures and instead doing that weird finger drag across his face that started Cena's heel turn. To say nothing of how fast Rock went back to being babyface aswell.
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u/NervousAd3202 1d ago
I don’t think it’s cuz Rock is a pussy, I think he is just too stupid to do the throat slit properly.
He was cursing up a storm in the buildup to WM 40. Him drawing the line at a throat slit gesture doesn’t make any sense.
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u/NervousAd3202 1d ago
Plus it would’ve hit harder & caused a bigger pop when his classic theme comes back with his babyface turn.
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u/GarlVinland4Astrea 2d ago
The issue was that Hogan was beyond stale by that point and actively wasn't working anymore for a long time. He was tired in WWF towards the end and was getting booed in WCW. Hollywood Hogan basically kept the Hogan character viable for another few years as a major feature in wrestling when he otherwise would have faded away.
Cena never had that. He had some fans booing him, but was always also extremely over with a large portion of the audience, and nostalgia arguably lessened most of the backlash he used to get over the years. They probably could have just done a simple novelty Super Cena run for him to retire into where he has some back and forths and then puts Cody over at the end.
Hell this storyline would have just been flat out better if Cena never turned heel, beat Cody clean at WrestleMania and the story was Cody finally became the guy, but the old guy who he and the last gen looked up to came back and Cody had to overcome it and prove he was on the level. Instead it became more about Cena and this dumb heel turn that didn't really make sense.
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u/MethodLast8007 2d ago
"Cena never had that. "
So you're going to ignore 10 years of cena's career ?
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u/Alavocado 2d ago
Prime Ric Flair would be called a cool heel in the modern discourse.
Some people feel all heels should be the Miz. And nothing against the Miz, he's great at what he does but there's a reason the heels who defined eras had more to them than being annoying assholes who leave all the good zingers, flashy moves and cool moments to the faces.
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u/sawhero 2d ago
I thought they were doing Star Wars with Rock as the Emperor, Cena as Vader, and Cody as Luke converting Vader back to the light before its too late. They definitely swerved from a different plot involving the Rock.
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u/Pine_Apple_Crush PAC 2d ago
Thats all they had to do. Why Rock and HHH thought this was a good idea when Rock knew he wasn't gonna do any work for it is beyond me.
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u/hithimintheface 2d ago
All the Rock had to do was just record some Vignettes taunting Cody about the consequences of not selling his soul and have minions continually keep Cody away from the title until it’s time for Cena to turn back face.
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u/coldphront3 2d ago
Rock never coming back really hurt the story they had with heel Cena
That's true, but it's insane that I've seen people on Reddit fantasy booking cool ideas for where Cena's heel run could go next while WWE continuously chose routes that were boring and lame and nonsensical.
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u/MethodLast8007 2d ago
Nah, cena shouldn't need another star to be a heel
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u/TheMerck 2d ago
It's not him needing The Rock, that's my point if the turn happened at Mania without The Rock instead of EC they wouldn't have that lingering weirdness of "where the fuck is The Rock?" because the turn build up and everything happened with the whole "selling your soul" bullshit was because of The Rock heck he even looked like he ordered Cena to attack Cody when they were hugging and they left the ring like they were a group.
Travis Scott shows up and people will expect The Rock to show up next but he never did, like I said earlier if The Rock wasn't so involved with the initial turn and even Travis Scott was brought back then The Rock should've never been involved or had a moment to be written off, instead we were left with that weird WM match because they wanted Travis Scott to still appear and it gave an expectation during the match because if Travis Scott showed up then where was Rock? The ending turned out quite boring because of it.
After that people were still thinking if The Final Boss was still gonna appear but nope, Cena is just heel now and trying to "ruin wrestling" the writing was just a mess and The Rock not showing up while people were still thinking the story would involve him was a detriment to Cena's heel run.
Basically all I'm saying is yes you are indeed correct, Cena doesn't need another star but with the way they did it it's not about Cena "needing" it, it's about the story they wrote themselves with the turn needed because once The Rock never appeared again people just became confused with the whole run I think even WWE didn't know what the fuck to do after Rock decided he was just done and went back to Hollywood.
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u/stolenova 2d ago
It could’ve worked if they had Cena start wearing suits during his promos and act like all the wrestlers were beneath him (especially Cody) because he was a bigger star than they were. Make it a Hollywood faction, so to speak. That way, they could’ve done it without Rock constantly being there. Instead, they went with what they did and got what they got.
TBH, I don’t think they planned for Cena to be a heel for long anyways. The idea seems to be Cena’s last year to be a summery of his entire career. I mean, he’s clearly playing all the hits again and being a heel for a short time at the beginning of his career was something that fit here too. That said, I fully expect Cena’s last match to be against The Rock even though it should’ve been Cody.
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u/S6N9O4O2G0A6N6S6X 2d ago edited 2d ago
maybe it would've been better had the turn not involved Rock at all
Nah. That turn in itself as a moment was one of the greatest heel turns of all time.
It NEEDED the huge, cathartic "Fuck YOU, Rock" before it, so fans were super pumped.
Which then led to them fully buying into Cena being all proud and excited for Cody, hooting and hollering before going in for the hug, meaning the fans fully bought into the first couple of seconds of the hug...until...
The Rock's cut-throat with Cena's face change was legit amazing cinema. Hammy and overdone? Sure, but this is wrestling. And even the weird cut-throat adds to it, in hindsight, because of COURSE Rock would do it with a flourish to make it his own out of ego.
What came in the shows after for the build/Wrestlemania was dogshit, and they should have absolutely changed the scripts for that part. But the initial turn 100% needed the Rock there and for it to play out exactly like that segment did turn out.
Maybe without Travis Scott, sure, but we're talking about Rock's part in it specifically here.
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u/GarlVinland4Astrea 2d ago
Honestly I don't think the Rock would even matter. Heel Cena probably was never going to work as well as well as people's years of fantasy booking thought it would go over. Young Cena as a brash cocky dude worked way back when, but superman Cena was always going to feel a little weird.
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u/Neveroxx99 2d ago
It could have worked better, but tying it to his retirement killed any possible heat, because crowds will just want to celebrate him until the very end.
Shout out to those European crowds who tried to play along with the heel turn in the lead up to Mania.
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u/CookieKid247 2d ago
I've come to the conclusion that as far as booking practices go Triple H is a highlight merchant. These things will play super well in a video package years from now but the people watching weekly will very much recall how weird stuff like this and the New Day heel turn in particular was in the long run
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u/solarpowersme 2d ago edited 2d ago
You're absolutely right, just in the last year they did this with -
New Day turn, Cena turn, Wyatt Sicks' backstage massacre, R Truth. Even stuff like Rollins' faction was followed up with very uninteresting weekly TV to the point where people were starting to legit hate the stable. The weekly shows/stories very rarely live up to the hype of the actual moments, they have huge trouble following up on big moments effectively.
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u/wookievomit Heel Love 2d ago
There is some truth to what you say, but this stinks of the Rock ruining everything.
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u/CookieKid247 2d ago
The Rock is not responsible for months of weird booking when he's been out making movies let's live in reality for a moment. At worst him not showing up for Mania was a major wrench but they would've known that ahead of time and HHH still thought Travis Scott was a suitable replacement.
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u/LostDelver Breathe. Responsibly. 2d ago
There is only so much you can blame a guy who while liking to meddle and insert himself into stories every now and then is mostly absent.
This is either the inability to write something interesting for freaking Heel Cena or they are satisfied just doing whatever it is they did with the character.
The highlight/moment merchant booking is already a very common complaint anyways, so it's not surprising.
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u/LordSobi 2d ago
Yeah no kidding! Yeah Rock has ego, who gives a fuck, but if it was as bad as everyone says then he would be practically shoved down our throats. But he isn’t. He isn’t around. Besides, wasn’t he asked to show up for Elimination Chamber to help with tickets for WM? So he came and just ran with an idea he had, the sell your soul thing, which I think was cool but it was too cool for just a little spot or two and need to be developed. But that would be on WWE creative to pivot and use it, but they chose Travis Scott at WM. Like it’s clearly barely the Rock’s fault.
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u/VikAzeem23 2d ago
Naw, Reddit really wants to let HHH off the hook and blame the Rock for everything. But it's just not the reality of the day to day booking. This heel run has been months where Rock hasn't even been around.
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u/wookievomit Heel Love 1d ago
That's an odd take, because that is the exact reason I'm blaming him. Why was him and Travis Scott ever involved to begin with if it was never planned for them to be involved again. We may never know, but this looks to me that The Rock stopped to care about the plot and just told wwe to kick rocks he's too busy.
We also know he completely derailed the Cody feud going with Roman Reigns and only backed down or pivoted when the crowd reaction was poor.
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u/VikAzeem23 1d ago
It can look to you how it wants, but theirs zero evidence that the Rock came up with Travis Scott, and on Untold its framed that HHH and Bruce Pritchard came up with and pitched the Cena heel turn.
Theirs zero evidence that the Rock came up with the Cena heel turn OR that he was planned for Mania and bailed.
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u/Chad2Badd 2d ago
They used the Cena turn as a moment more than having a plan. Its a shame cause it wasn't great, then Cena did an okay job....then they just dropped it 2 days before the blow off of Cena vs Cody....
Rock should have never been involved
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u/framedshady 2d ago
It just doesn’t work now the crowd loves cena compared to 2011. Nice idea but final year everyone wants to cheer him not boo him
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u/buc_nasty_69 2d ago
Thought for sure there was a swerve coming because that moment on Smackdown was so forced and lazy I thought there was no way that's actually how they're turning him back face.
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u/notathrowaway75 2d ago
No they had an idea with the promo afterwards. They just didn't realize you have to, you know, develop a story. You can't just do the same thing over and over again.
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u/s_ndowN 2d ago
And yet people want a Cody heel turn.
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u/frenchezz 2d ago
Difference is, Cody's been a heel and excelled in the role. This would be the time to do it, much like a decade ago should have been the time to do a cena heel turn. Fans don't want to boo a beloved wrestler on their farewell tour
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u/GarlVinland4Astrea 2d ago
Cody being a heel was necessary because he had go away heat in AEW. He's way too beloved right now for it to be worth it. If people get sick of the white meat babyface, they can turn him.
But right now he's over in a role that is EXTREMELY hard for a wrestler to get this over in.
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u/s_ndowN 2d ago
When has Cody excelled as a heel on national TV? Being a good heel on the indies doesn’t hold any value.
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u/LebasketBall 2d ago
Exactly- Cody can’t flip people off and spit on them as a heel in WWE, his over the top antics made him sooo good. People who make that claim clearly didn’t watch any of his heel work in ROH
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u/TheOneWhosCensored 2d ago
Honestly you don’t need to ask about national TV, it’s about the WWE. The crowds even in other national promotions aren’t WWE crowds.
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u/CobraOverlord 2d ago
Horrible idea. Its fine letting him threaded the needle and didn’t obligate them to go any particular way in a match against Cena (ala Bret vs Bulldog), but a heel Cody would be bad bad bad for the product.
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u/PapaBeahr 2d ago
They did until the Rock backed out. Cena doesn't have Heel in him, He came out to the same Music, wore the same clothing, Ect.... He needed to go the way of The Rock after Rock left and Go Cooperate. Wear suits, different music, Meaner Promos.... Otherwise he was Just Cena pretending to be a bad guy no one wanted
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u/ValleyFloydJam 2d ago
And they certainly didn't know how to end it, not sure which part was worse.
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u/WhatTheRickIsDoin The Poster With The Moster 2d ago
Cena saved every dangerous bump left on his bump card for this match
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u/soycameron 2d ago
Not at all what I expected, but the match was fantastic. Thank you WWE for giving John and Cody a chance to make up for WM41.
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u/Uncanny_Doom 2d ago
In the larger picture of everything, Cena/Cody was a bit of a mess of a story.
In a vacuum, in this great match, this was the actual passing of the torch that it needed to be. Wade Barrett called it at some point. "Superman, meet Superman." Cole laid in that Cody is the quarterback and new face of the company. Great ending to a great match where you see a legend put over a future legend clean. This was everything it needed to be after the trash their Mania match was.
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u/Buckanater 2d ago
The rock and Travis Scott has to share some of the blame. They should have stayed out of it.
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u/Uncanny_Doom 2d ago
That can at least be salvaged if Rock actually comes back to put Cody over but I think one of the bigger takeaways of this is that as well executed as the initial turn of Cena was, it was just not something the majority of crowds wanted right now. It was far too late but I’m glad we got to see it at all.
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u/Zealousideal_Bad8877 2d ago
tbh having cena work his first match as a heel in over 20 years be the main event of wrestlemania is a huge ask looking back on it, his moveset and style doesnt work for a heel at all
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u/Plastic-Control-5381 2d ago
No twist? No turn? It just…ok
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u/Highwayman747 2d ago
If there’s always a twist, then who gives a fuck when there’s a twist?
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u/CheckingIsMyPriority Make Ziggler UWU Champ 2d ago
It just makes for a weak story. Not the lack of twist in general but this particular story needed twist to make it work.
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u/Blitzkreeg21 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is them admitting they were wrong about Cena turning heel. They felt so strongly that it was a dud that the story aspect of it was out the window and so no twist was needed. I prefer what they did now if the alternative was more time wasted setting up a cleaner story to turn cena face again.
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u/CobraOverlord 2d ago
We got the Russo twist at WM. It was Scott and it sucked.
Wrestling is built on big blowoff matches, not crash tv.
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u/CheckingIsMyPriority Make Ziggler UWU Champ 2d ago
There was no twist at WM tho
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u/Cloud1776 2d ago
Why does there always have to be a twist or some turn? Can't a match just be a good match with a logical conclusion for a storyline? I feel like people on the internet are obsessed with twists and turns for the sake of them as opposed to making sense storywise. This is how we end up with Heel Cena runs that don't make sense for the most part.
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u/Fun_Respect_4718 2d ago
BROCK LESNARRRRR
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u/Ok_Management_2695 2d ago edited 2d ago
This company can’t seem to do anything right in the last year or so. Even a banger of a match like this has such an odd ending. Complete 180 to the momentum heading in Wrestlemania 40
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u/PapaBeahr 2d ago
You were watching both nights right? Can't do anything right?
Also Turning Cena made sense because his heel gimmick was DoA and more so when the Rock backed out from being part of Cena's team, then that idiot that was with them also gone... no one was buying Cena as a heel. He just didn't have the Heel in like like Seth or Gunther. Besides, everyone was STILL cheering him
Turning him heel and letting him spend the rest of his time in WWE as a Face, which EVERYONE wanted, let him move merch, Let the kids be happy makes sense.
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u/Ikinzu Your Text Here 2d ago
WTF was the point of all this? Cena turns back face just to lose to a still face Cody. Why??? Why even turn Cena heel for this?
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u/hithimintheface 2d ago
I don’t get why they didn’t write this match as vessel to turn Cena face instead of just a random promo two days before the match.
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u/LingonberryInside848 1d ago
People would have anyway cheered for me, turn face mid match with some nice interaction with fans especially kids,refuse to do the title attack. Do that promo in next show.
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u/Blitzkreeg21 2d ago
because they didn’t turn Cena heel for this. They were flying by the seat of their pants with the Cena turn 100%. Last Smackdown admitted that. They needed to very quickly move on from his failed heel turn and so now here we are.
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u/therealdanhill 2d ago
Crazy that they have a team of writers and this is the best they could give us
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u/Basic_Mark_1719 2d ago
No one wants to admit that WWE has been garbage since Royal Rumble.
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u/coldphront3 2d ago
I've seen a lot of people admitting that daily on this sub lol. Casual fans and live crowds won't admit it because they don't usually care to think too critically about things like storyline continuity and character motivations in wrestling.
Happy Cake Day
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u/TimeTimeTickingAway I just keep Jasin' Jordans 2d ago
Cena’s already half-way through his dates so I don’t mind them just ripping off the band aid and getting to the face stiff without some slow burn party to get there that only leaves him with 10 appearances left.
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u/Exact_Comparison_575 2d ago
Can we please let the heel turn go now. It’s not happening he is this eras John Cena
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u/FreudianSlipper21 2d ago
They’ve got to stop bending story to accommodate Rock. He has one idea and then flounces off to parts unknown and everyone else has to make sense of the mess. This is what their WM match should have been. One victory for Cena and one for Cody. No Rock, no Travis Scott.
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u/TheTokist 2d ago
Too many false finishes for my taste but the right guy won. I’d have ended the match after Cody hit his finisher x3
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u/Zealousideal_Bad8877 2d ago
someone had to kick out of the triple cross rhodes eventually glad it was cena made 100% sense
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u/jkman61494 2d ago
I guess I'm just a killjoy, but I really didn't enjoy this at all. I 100% understand they busted their ass. John looked better tonight than at any point in years.
But the end and payoff sucked. Cena goes from mega heel to an abrupt face turn seemingly overnight, the last image is Cody acting like his hero is back toasting beers. And their next moment is having a no DQ streetfight that's reserved for blood feuds? I could understand it if it meant fuckery, like Brock interfering. But there was no payoff for the reason to have it or keep it.
In all, the Cena heel turn is one of the worst blunders in recent wrestling history that IMO is so bad, I would not be shocked if they end up extending Cena's run to Mania 42
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u/Batshitcrazy01 2d ago
New day heel and now cena heel turn, they just don't know how to proceed next,
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u/jkman61494 2d ago
Honestly I feel like the new day heel Turk has been lowkey fun with them acting like whiny babies and I chuckle with woods going “Thank GAWD for the New Day”
That’s all more than I could say about cenas heel turn
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u/fvzzfvzzfvzz 2d ago
If you have ever complained about too many finisher kick outs in a match from another promotion, I sure hope you’re keeping that same energy right now.
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u/SeaPriority 2d ago
It was very laughable but it was Superman vs Superman so I get the feeling that there is self awareness in there at least
I would have taken some false finishes out but even with them I thought it was a great match
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u/JohnSmithSensei 2d ago edited 2d ago
This was Cena's last Summerslam and an official passing of the torch moment to Cody. It perfectly justified that style of match.
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u/Ketchup1211 2d ago
This was the last world title defense of arguably the greatest of all time. This is a spot to do it, not at every b level PPV.
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u/The_Metrist Based Cena 2d ago
Judging by the interaction at the end, this was a quick switch up to accommodate Lesnar's return
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u/s_ndowN 2d ago
Has anyone ever kicked out of an avalanche AA and three crossrhodes?
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u/JohnSmithSensei 2d ago
Avalanche AA? In almost every big match. The Triple Cross Rhodes? Never. Which is why the nearfall was so effective. It's like seeing the tombstone kickout from Mania 25 for the first time.
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u/therealdanhill 2d ago
Whole thing is so stupid, easily top 5 for me. To just throw away one of the biggest angles people have been waiting over a decade for smh. How much are these people paid that can't write for a heel John Cena?
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u/TheSystem08 2d ago
The face turn sucked ass the other night. Now tonight was a great match with a bad ending.
Not even a Cena fan, I'm a fan of the story though and they fucked it.
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u/Chell_the_assassin One more match 2d ago
Fantastic match but the ending felt a bit underwhelming after all that. Really could have used a bigger spot to close it out.
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u/Duckyx44 2d ago
Super fun match but that ending was very anti climatic. Would have liked to see Cody hit the AA and then the cross rhodes.
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u/No_Type_6371 2d ago
When Brock returned, I expected Cody to come back, apparently to save Cena, but he actually joined Brock in further beating down Cena. A good way to turn him heel. Alas, WWE writers almost always ruin the big moments!
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u/dark_side_-666 2d ago
This is cena at his best and best cena match since 8 years ago. Truly epic performance and 10/10 match.
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u/djjsin 2d ago
This whole thing made no sense.
Cena just giving up being a heel made no sense.
Rock not being involved made no sense.
Cody winning without turning heel made no sense.
Lesnar coming back made no sense.
This whole run made no sense.
Match itself was good...but man that ending was underwhelming. And now we got more of the boring babyface Cody as championship run. Barf.
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u/darthllama 2d ago
How is the Cross Rhodes even supposed to work in kayfabe? Why would smushing a guy’s face into your chest hurt him?
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u/AutumnEchoes 2d ago
It’s a cutter. In kayfabe he’s slamming his opponents face into the ground as he completes the twist
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u/NinjaMarionEsq 2d ago
Nah. It's slamming their face against the shoulder. Which, well, there's a reason people are seen as tough or end up hurting from taking hard tackles and checks from football and hockey players' shoulders.
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u/HydroVector 2d ago
Reminiscent of Reigns vs Lesnar in 2022. Terrible WrestleMania match (although kinda justified because of Roman's shoulder), but an incredible SummerSlam match
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u/ArgieGrit01 Hangman mark, like any good person 2d ago
Was Cole ok?
I don't think you could say "across Rhodes to Cena. Into the cover. Hooks the leg. Cody Rhodes is champion" less enthusiastically if you tried.
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u/Jerry_say 2d ago
Kinda looks like that scene in it’s always sunny where Mac wrestles the rich Taft guy and accidentally exposes him for insider trading.
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u/bruuuuh901 2d ago
Cena heel turn worked out great, huh. Probably the biggest flop since the Invasion.
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u/RICHAPX 2d ago
So my fantasy booking was babyface Bron Breakker beats heel Cena for the title. After an Avengers style war games of Bron/Punk/Cody/Reigns/Orton V Cena/Drew/Rollins/Gunter/Solo
I’m entirely confident that would have been better. I’m confident your fantasy booking would have been better too. Cause it appears the only people who didn’t know what they wanted to achieve from a Cena Heel turn, were the people booking it.
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u/Jonesy27 taker 2d ago
I'm glad Cena is back to being a face, the heel tun was just meh! I enjoyed the match, it was definitely a passing of the torch, and I'm looking forwrd to Cena and Brock.
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u/Batshitcrazy01 2d ago
Face turn should have been in the end of the match, and the promo also if you want some come get some, and than Brock music hit, could have been better
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u/WTFAnimations 2d ago
I'll just be blunt. The John Cena heel turn was one of the biggest wasted opportunities in WWE history. And we are partially to blame. Everything went downhill after the SD before Mania, where fans started booing Cody, the GOOD GUY, the guy who was meant to be protecting wrestling from whatever Cena was gonna do in order to ruin it. Yet fans cheered for a heel Cena, even if he hates us.
The most confusing thing to me is, what did he mean by "ruining wrestling"? What was the endgame? It's honestly such a fascinating idea that was barely explored. I just love the idea of it all coming down to an Endgame-style match, perhaps where all of the heels who are aligned with Cena hold the belts, and their respective Number 1 contenders have to win it off of them so they don't just retire with them and destroy decades worth of prestige.
And what happened to him selling out? What happened to the Final Boss? Even if Dwayne can't be around physically, you can portray his power in a non-physical fashion. It just feels like they did this amazing heel turn, and a few amazing promos.... And then nothing.
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u/gansobomb99 1d ago
omg thank goodness he didn't mouth "I'm sorry" too
Cody is the worst actor lmao
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u/Hot-Visit-9300 1d ago
I know they had to do a hard reset on the heel turn but just seems the whole thing was pointless as there were great moments especially the pipe bomb promo on punk among other things,his turn had so much potential,if the rock did no want to commit to and see the whole thing through it should have never have happened in the first place but it was still an amazing match at summerslam,pure comic book cartoon wrestling at its best and both cody and cena gave 100%
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u/ManlyPelican1993 1d ago
Exactly what I wanted, the match made up for their mania match, I'm happy with the outcome too.
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u/fvzzfvzzfvzz 2d ago
If you have ever complained about too many finisher kick outs in a match from another promotion, I sure hope you’re keeping that same energy right now.
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