Smark Out Moment

The name John Cena elicits two different responses among wrestling circles: love and hate. I'm sure there are some on the fence or indifferent, but in the end, the majority of wrestling fans go from one extreme to another. As a fan who overanalyzes everything in this business, I usually sit on the side of good booking and bad booking. John Cena, in recent months, has been booked wonderfully.

John Cena winning the US title.

Earlier in the year, John Cena was feuding with the unstoppable Rusev (now known as the jealous ex Rusev) to gain the United States Championship. They had their first match at Fastlane in February, which, in my opinion is the best match they had together.  Cena took the pinfall loss after some shady tactics by Rusev. At WrestleMania 31 the following month, Cena managed to beat Rusev, capturing the United States Championship and ending the powerful (now jealous) Russian's reign.

With that, the quest to elevate the secondary titles began after Daniel Bryan and Cena had the Intercontinental and United States Championships respectively. The very next night on Raw, John Cena stated that he would defend the title on every Raw via an open challenge. This has proved very successful for the title and for Cena himself.

Before this United States Championship reign, Cena was pretty much doing what he had always done, fighting with the odds stacked against him—good ol' Super Cena. Winning the United States Championship created fresh match-ups for John. No more Randy Orton "once in a lifetime" borefests! We got fresh matches like Dean Ambrose, Stardust, Bad News Barrett (now known as King-ish Barrett), Sami Zayn, Neville, and most recently, Cesaro. On most nights, it has been the most entertaining segment on Raw. While doing these challenges, he also started a feud with Kevin Owens, which has also elevated his game tremendously.

Kevin Owens leaves Cena laying.

Cena is set to defend the title against the rising phenom at Battleground this Sunday (July 19th) and the table has been set for Owens to take the belt from Cena. In their previous two meetings, they traded wins in non-title matches, stealing the show with intense and entertaining ring work. I love this feud and I think Cena has made the title very important. It is the opportune time for Owens to strike gold, but I don't want Cena to lose, for the first time in a long while.

As we all know, prior to his reign as United States champ, John Cena was the stalest character on TV next to Olivia Benson of SVU (how many times are you gonna get kidnapped Liv!?). The United States Championship got all of that stink off him for a little while, but we know exactly where he goes from here: back in the main event cutting promos on The Authority. For the first time in years, Cena hasn't been booked with the odds "stacked against him" and he was able to prove to marks like myself everywhere that he can still be entertaining—hate him or love him.

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens III is going to be tremendous, no doubt about that, but I'm scared of what will come after for Cena. If Owens wins (which we are all expecting and fine with) does Cena get a rematch? Cena and Rusev did 4 matches, but we had checked out by the third, and the fourth brought the feud down considerably. Perhaps he goes back to the main event? Either way, here's to Cena continuing to be entertaining because we all remember how "great" he was last year.

Think I'm stupid for liking Cena? Don't think Owens will win on Sunday? Anything you generally would like to get off your chest? Leave a comment below.