... One step back.
With only two episodes of Raw left before their showdown at WrestleMania 28, this week seemed like a huge step backwards for both The Rock and John Cena. Although The Rock hasn't seemed to take the last few weeks as serious as Cena has, there was almost no sincerity or intensity in his "Rock Concert" segment. And Cena, who has been intense and almost overly serious the last few weeks, gave us a corny rap in his Doctor of Thuganomics character.
Knowing they would only have two weeks to sell WrestleMania after Monday night, why would WWE decide to go this route? Was there a reason that this format was chosen? Furthermore, was there a reason that Cena was given the opening slot and about 5 minutes to talk, whereas Rock was given the closing spot and was essentially able to go on as long as he wanted? Perhaps...
Karaoke? Really?
After weeks of coming out on what many viewers considered the losing end of their verbal exchanges, The Rock was almost the winner in this outing. After letting both segments digest for a few days, here's what I'm left remembering : 1) Cena looked ridiculous in his old gear, like a total cartoon of himself. 2) The Rock didn't have his notes on his wrist, made a point of showing that, but had full lyric sheets instead. 3) The Rock didn't know the words to the Cena-bashing, karaoke rendition of "We Will Rock You", and it showed.
Putting all that aside, I'm left wondering who was supposed to come out looking better here? John Cena was put in his old gear, acted as his old character would act, put on the same corny, fake gangster rap act his old character would have put on, and wasn't given much airtime to do it. The Rock, on the other hand, was set in a scenario that he's shined in before. Some of Rock's best promos have been done in mock-song. The same can be said about the old Cena character, of course, but with his new persona being such a departure from that rapper guy, his segment was more ridiculous funny than the "gotcha" funny he was going for.
Since their first encounter on this years Road to WrestleMania, the internet has been throwing around rumors of Cena getting the better of The Rock all being part of Vince's plans. It's a simple idea : make Cena look like he's getting inside Rock's head, make Rock seem shook, and then have him turn it on in the last few weeks leading up to WrestleMania, and hopefully draw more buys. No matter what the plan, Rocky not knowing the words to his own parody song was not a great way to end Raw or sell pay-per-views.
More questions than answers
Was what we saw on Monday night just the next step in a well laid out plan? Did WWE realize that when put face to face, Dwayne Johnson can't hold his own against John Cena? Did bringing back the Doctor of Thuganomics nullify the intensity and serious attitude that Cena has been bringing to the table over the last few weeks?
I don't know if the song battle sold any pay-per-views, but it definitely gave viewers a reason to keep talking about this feud, which is never a bad thing... is it?
@TheAlexArcher | #FTLOW
