It’s Pay Per View time again and not even a month after Wrestlemania 28, WWE brings us Extreme Rules 2012. Just before we look down the card, I’d like to send our thoughts out to Marcus Bagwell, who is currently in intensive care after a horrific car crash. I know I speak for you all when I say, get well soon Buff.
Extreme Rules Match
Brock Lesnar vs John Cena
Knowing how big this match is (their faces are now the new Extreme Rules 2012 poster), not just for Pay Per View numbers and the rest of the year, but also for the storylines leading into SummerSlam, it’s hard to believe WWE are going to do anything but book a John Cena victory. At present time John Cena has been having his worst month yet. April has seen him lose the Wrestlemania 28 Main Event to The Rock and then next night on Raw get absolutely brutalized by the returning Brock Lesnar. He’s lost on Raw and been booked to look like he’s losing his faith in himself.
Now this could be a clever plot by WWE, all leading to a John Cena heel turn if he should lose a second big main event in four weeks. Knowing though, how WWE likes to do business, all this is going to be a waste of our time, and is likely booked as a John Cena restoration storyline, along the lines of the hero loses his belief and defeats the big, bad opponent in the end – think Rocky Balboa but with significantly less talent.
I wish WWE would stop thinking about their bulging bank accounts and about us, the people who have made that account so big. For years there has been a public outcry for John Cena to turn heel and I can think of no finer story than if he were to join John Laurientis’ team and feud with C.M Punk. Then it could be turned into a better version of WWE’s shambolic Invasion angle (and boy did they miss a trick thee?). That though, won’t happen!
Can you envisage John Cena teaming with Laurientis and Lesnar? They’d act him off of the screen. WWE thinks it’s far more sporting to let him make a dick of himself each week, prancing around the ring pretending the fans all love him, despite the chants and boos. When will someone see the light? Still until then we can expect Cena to pull off the same old cartoon faces and the superman come backs (you know then ones where he takes a big move and then gets up and pretends it never happened?) and the absolute same moves week after week.
But this isn’t about Cena, it’s about a main event that could be great, if Lesnar can shake off the UFC style of fighting and step back into our business and look like he hasn’t been away, and John Cena can pull out another Wrestlemania performance, then Extreme Rules may not be a total wash out. Of course with the added stipulation of an Extreme Rules match, then we could be looking at a really good match.
John Cena has form in these type of matches. Ok so his Ambulance match with Kane at Elimination Chamber 2012 was the pits, but if he can recreate the classic Royal Rumble 2007 match with the late Umaga or something that comes close, then it might go a long way to turning the fans around in his favour. He’s already started to turn fans opinions by allowing his character to look weak in past weeks, now by putting on a decent match with an opponent that hasn’t wrestled since 2004, well who knows what could happen?
The other thing about these types of matches are that WWE books them to cover up Cena’s floors. Let’s be honest people, anyone can make a match where you hit each other with chairs and tables and god knows what else look interesting. Even John Cena, can’t he?
The main focus has to be where both men go after Extreme Rules. The feud will presumably carry on, and if it is to carry on then I don’t believe anyone will be thinking Lesnar can beat Cena if JC goes over at Extreme Rules. If Lesnar were to beat Cena and then leave him lying in a pool of blood, your stage is set for a dramatic storyline for the next three months.
In my opinion, the best thing WWE can do with Lesnar to make him the monster again is re-hire Paul Heyman. The guy was a genius and it’s no secret that he’s been helping Lesnar recently with his promos backstage. WWE haven’t hired him back I have to say, which they should do as soon as possible. TNA missed a trick not booking him as head of their writing department (going with Hogan instead), so WWE need to wake up and snap up the King of Extreme as soon as they can.
I’m hoping Brock Lesnar goes over on 29th April, but I really can’t see Cena losing a second main event in a row. Still, if he does then we have a great summer ahead, if his ego gets the better of him yet again then we have a summer that will be full of predictable confrontations and outcomes – again! Although the way John Cena treat Lesnar on the Raw the night after Mania, applauding him with a cocky smirk on his face, should worry us slightly. If Cena can’t even be asked to take the angle seriously for one night, how is going to be bothered to sustain the seriousness for a whole three months?
I’ve said this before: I want WWE to prove they can still shock an old veteran fan like me. In reality, I don’t believe they possess the balls to take a huge chance that could ultimately profit themselves down the line.
Winners Prediction: Brock Lesnar
WWE Championship Match
Chicago Street Fight
C.M. Punk (Champion) vs Chris Jericho
I was curious where this feud was going. Chris Jericho was a returning legend who could still go with the best of them. C.M Punk was a wrestler reaching the pinnacle of his career as WWE Champion, having a storm of a feud with Raw and Smackdown GM John Laurientis and entering a phase of his career which loosely resembled the Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon Feud of 1998 and 1999.
Their Wrestlemania match was a good if not stunning and now they have to go into a Chicago Street Fight and steal the show away from Brock Lesnar and John Cena. They both have the talent to do it, they both have the know how to do it, now WWE, to enhance the feud have to take a leap of faith and do something I said last month would be wrong to do. They have to take the title from Punk and put it on Jericho. The skill there comes, in doing so in a way that doesn’t damage Punk’s image.
The perfect answer would of course to be have old Johnny cost Punk the title. There are no rules so WWE don’t have to worry about ref bumps or breaching the disqualification rule without explanation. They can eve have a six on one beat down on Punk to make it look like he was hijacked for the title. It doesn’t matter if Jericho looks weak winning the title, like he couldn’t do it without help, because that’s the character he’s playing. The whole point of this feud is to push Punk on into SummerSlam and there’s no better way to do that than giving him the image and role of the vengeful ex champion who was robbed of the belt and out for vengeance. That is what WWE needs to do. Anything but a loss for Punk at Extreme Rules would kill off any momentum he has. It sounds like it contradicts itself but it doesn’t.
Consider this. If Punk defeats Jericho again, then where does he go? A feud with Mark Henry or Alberto Del Rio would flop like Henry’s gut! A feud with someone outside the Laurientis stable would take the spotlight off of the feud of the year. It’s a tricky situation that WWE has to handle with care. I know they’re usually like a bull in a china shop with feuds and don’t like to plan for the future, they want the results now. But they have to look at the past few years and understand that results now do not provide long term success. You must drag out a good thing and build up the tension and those involved, this was proven in Batista’s face turn in 2004 / 2005.
Vince must give C.M. Punk momentum going into SummerSlam otherwise whatever the Championship match is on the card, no one will care. Handled right and delicately, WWE could be onto something red hot. Just think of the heat on Laurientis and Jericho should they repeat their Royal Rumble 1994 casket match ending for this one.
Winners Prediction: Chris Jericho
World Heavyweight Championship Match
2 Out of 3 Falls Match
Sheamus (Champion) vs Daniel Bryan
The match that was relegated to undercard at Wrestlemania 27 and given just seconds at Wrestlemania 28, may just be the match that steals the show at Extreme Rules 2012. To ensure the watching public know this one will be a slog and a real match this time around, WWE have sensibly added the stipulation of 2 out of 3 falls. Both Bryan and Sheamus have what it takes to match a match like this watchable, it will all come to nothing though, should WWE decide to give them just fifteen minutes to execute it all in.
No doubt Bryan will take the first fall to give him the hell edge going in. If you’re expecting a Daniel Bryan victory and second reign as champion then you’re going to be disappointed. WWE have no plans to take the title off of Sheamus, which really renders this match pointless. We know Bryan isn’t going to win, we know Sheamus will retain the title, and now WWE have booked themselves into a corner. Because this match need never happen! It is in fact a waste of our time! We’re expected to believe that Bryan can defeat Sheamus when he lost to him in seconds at Mania. I don’t believe anyone thinks Bryan will be victorious. And to suddenly except us to take a match seriously that was cut just so WWE could have a new Wrestlemania record, isn’t just calling us stupid but spits on the legacy of the World Title.
WWE conveniently forgets all of that and carries on with their little world anyway.
Winners Prediction: Sheamus
Falls Count Anywhere Match
Randy Orton vs Kane
The fact that WWE originally put Kane’s face on the Extreme Rules 2012 poster (before replacing it with Cena and Lesnar), should tell us that the company are seriously investing in this feud and that it won’t end at Extreme Rules. I have no idea why. It’s going nowhere, Randy Orton looks bored with it and Kane is treating it as just another stepping stone. If the giant bore could put some effort into it, then maybe he’d realize that this feud isn’t just a filler while the creative team think up something else for him to do, but a genuine chance to put himself back on the map.
After their lousy match at Wrestlemania 28, WWE have seen sense to book this under Falls Count Anywhere. If this ends anywhere but the backstage area or parking lot with an RKO from the top of a production truck, then we all have the right to be disappointed. Kane and Cena couldn’t get through an Ambulance match – a match which is designed to have no actual wrestling in it at all – now Kane has the chance to rectify this with a much more skilled opponent.
Randy Orton will no doubt come out on top in this one. If WWE are insisting on taking this feud further, which I believe they are, then Orton must defeat Kane at Extreme Rules. If the Viper loses, then there will be no momentum going into the future. The feud will be deadlocked in Kane’s favour! Orton must go over to level out the feud at a draw and then going into match number three (which Orton will win to provide him with a launch pad to take on a heel Sheamus going into SummerSlam) WWE have to book the final match under another stipulation. We’ve seen how dire Kane is under just normal rules. WWE has to do itself a favour and book the final instalment, which will presumably be at Over the Limit under something like Steel Cage rules.
Of course this could all be a platform for Kane to be springboarded into the main event picture. Watching his awful matches since January, I cannot believe the WWE are even considering giving the Big Red Bore yet another WWE Championship reign. Then we have to consider that Randy Orton is due a sabbatical to go away and film the Marine 3 (which will bomb more than Pearl Harbour). The problem I’m having though, is imagining the damage that will be done to Orton should he lose the feud as a whole to Kane. Does WWE believe that we can invest emotionally in a man, even one as talented as Orton, who would lose to Kane and then suddenly be catapulted into the Main Event? The answer is yes, WWE would expect us to believe that, because that’s what WWE does. It expects us to forget whatever happened in the past and just concentrate on the future. The company and the people running that are that shallow.
The only other question I would ask is if Kane is going to look at the lights at Extreme Rules, then why did WWE bothered to put him on the poster before taking him off? Usually the pay per view posters are used to promote the big talent or upcoming talent. Yet just because Kane is meant to be this big, undefeatable monster then they thought he’d be a good choice for the Extreme Rules poster – ludicrous isn’t it? There was a time when WWE wouldn’t have even made such decisions. Cast your mind back to 1996, when Shawn Michaels was the companies golden boy. Can you imagine WWE putting Savio Vega, a minor under card wrestler on a Pay Per View poster instead of Shawn Michaels, the top dog at the time? No, so I wonder why they insist on doing it now?
Whatever the answer may be, it doesn’t change the fact that both men have a lot of work to do to rectify their awful Wrestlemania match. After the event, Kane needs to take a long hard look at himself and see that he can no longer go at the required pace needed for current WWE. He neither has the health or the youth on his side. His body is ravaged by injury and his health is taking a turn for the worst. Can you see the weight beginning to pile back on? As for Randy Orton, after he’s finished filming the Marine 3, WWE need to turn him heel and pit him against a face Sheamus (if they’re insisting on keeping him as a good guy). Orton can do much more for an opponent as a heel than he can as a face.
Winners Prediction: Randy Orton
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Big Show (Champion) vs Cody Rhodes
On a pay per view where every match is supposedly to be fought under a stipulation, this match and the match for the U.S title seems to have slipped the net stipulation wise. No ladder, no cage, no kendo stick, no tables. Any reason? It could be because Big Show’s broken body can’t take punishment like that. It could be because Cody Rhodes is working with injuries, or more likely, it could just be because WWE can’t think of anything that Big Show can pull of safely. If that is the reason then why book him at all?
So, expect this match to be a re-run of their Wrestlemania match, which I’m hoping will have a different outcome. I see no sense in building Cody Rhodes up all this time to cut him down now. His loss against Big Show at Mania did him no good at all. A loss here would put him back to where he was when he was in legacy! Rhodes has to win here to put him back on track. There’s no way Rhodes can be taken seriously if he loses this one as well. I’m aware that to be put in the main event picture Rhodes will have to lose to someone along the way, but not Big Show. At least make it someone who can make Rhodes look good whilst beating him.
I’ve been critical of Show, with good reason. He’s rotten in the ring. He can’t move! He can’t wrestle! So why put the third most important title on him? Because they have nothing else to do with the lump! I’d like to sit down and have a chat with the moron that thought it would be a good idea to ambush Rhodes’ career to give a stale one in the shape of the Big Show’s another boost which has failed. Who makes these decisions? Who sits down with Vince and says ‘We’re going to stop Cody Rhodes’ push, ruin his image and career in favour of ramming Big Show down the audiences throats yet again, with a meaningless push that can get him nowhere!’? It’s ridiculous.
This will just go to show you how committed WWE are to the future of their business. If Show wins then every young wrestler in the locker room has a right to hang their heads and worry. If Rhodes wins, then there is a future after all.
Winners Prediction: Cody Rhodes
WWE United States Championship Match
Santino Marella (Champion) vs The Miz
In an era of stop start pushes, I worry for the Miz. Buried under heaps of crap for months, the guy gets his career back on track with the pinfall victory in the twelve man tag team match at Wrestlemania. And then in their infinite wisdom, WWE decides to book him against the one man comedy relief, Santino Marella. A guy WWE have ruined for years. They might as well dress him up as Doink and send him out to the ring! It can’t be any worse than putting him in a dress and wig and saying he’s name is Santina, Santino’s twin sister. What a rancid little angle that was.
I can only shudder to think what a loss to Santino would do to the Miz and his career. It would make him a laughing stock. WWE needs to terminate Santino’s U.S Title reign which has been so unforgettable I wouldn’t even bother putting it in the history books. However a Miz U.S Title reign would do wonders for his career. There are no other candidates to hold the title at present, so a nice long run with the strap would be great for Miz’s image. WWE can’t put him back in the main event for a long time, so let him have a Ric Flair type run with the U.S Title. If they don’t there’s no other place for the Miz to go.
Winners Prediction: The Miz
WWE now has the chance to prove it can still shock us. To prove that it hasn’t lost the magic and still has the balls to take chances to better the future of their business. I can think of a no better Pay Per View event than one named Extreme Rules, for WWE to throw theirs out of the window and take an Extreme view on their product. Let Cena lose and appear the underdog! Let the Miz flourish! Let Cody Rhodes try his hand at being successful! Give us something to watch for!!! Otherwise how much longer is it going to be Vince, before people start realizing there’re better things to waste their life on?
Looking up and down the Extreme Rules 2012 card, I see a re-run of Wrestlemania, with the exception of the main event of course. What I don’t see is new talent coming through. Once again the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, R – Truth and the majority of the participants in the 12 Man Tag Team Match at Wrestlemania 28, the future of this company, have been left to rot on Superstars. Already Jack Swagger and R – Truth have been shoved back on Superstars, Dolph Ziggler hasn’t had a sniff of a main event match since Elimination Chamber in February, Kofi Kingston is treading water waiting for WWE to capitalize on the Wrestlemania match. This simply isn’t good enough people. And even if WWE decide to throw some of these talent on as a time filler, then that is still saying to the public that these wrestlers aren’t good enough in WWE’S eyes to carry the company. So how the hell are we meant to believe they are the headliners of tomorrow? Just throwing them on as an afterthought is pissing in all of our faces! Vince needs to take his money out of his failing and bloody awful film division (which loses millions per year because the films are trash) and invest it in getting your younger talent over! The talent of tomorrow is being passed over for yet another John Cena main event. For yet another meaningless World Heavyweight Championship Match! For yet another feud (Orton vs Kane) that is predictable and worthless and for a U.S Champion (Santino) who is nothing more than comic relief!
Now that says something about Vince’s vision for the future of this business.
Onwards and Upwards...
