I was at a Calgary house show Sunday. Of course, all the Canadian guys were faces for a day (Storm went face over Devon, Benoit was a face against Matt Hardy, Y2J went face against Lesnar, Christian went face to team with Edge against the Guererros - complete with a 5 second pose).
The one interesting thing was that they teamed they tagged Cena with Shelton Benjamin. At first Cena played it straight while Benjamin was a heel (Cena restraining Benjie from cheating before the match). But they were teamed against faces and Cena really played the crowd as a heel throughout the match, getting PO's at the cheers for the other guys, etc. He actually did a decent job as a heel.
Since it was not a match where he needed to be a heel (unlike putting the Canucks over as faces), I wonder if they're toying with turning him.
Other matches: Tajiri went over Funaki in the opener, locals Ted Hart (yes, one of the clan) and Harry Smith (son of Davy Boy) went at it, Valbowski over Buchanen (who is looking trim), Nobles over Mysterio (who got revenge with a 619 on both Nobles and Nidia) and Tori went over dawn Marie in a B&P match.
If his work in OVW is any indication, Cena works best as a jerk. Unfortunately, it might seem a little contrived if they do it with him now because they're kind of doing a similar thing with Orton on Raw.
BTW, I thought Orton did a fabulous job in what little bit I saw while watching my beloved Seahawks die a slow death last night. I didn't know he had it in him since I only saw him work as a good guy in OVW, and he never did much on the mic (again, from what I've seen, your mileage may vary).
IIRC, Good 'Ol J.R. mentioned something to the effect of Cena working better as an ass in his Ross Report a few weeks back too. Again, I hope they can do it where it seems "different" enough from Orton's turn if they go that way.
Regardless, it's neat to see the OVW guys starting to make their presence felt on both shows. Now hopefully OVW can restock and replace these guys who probably won't be pulling double duty (OVW & WWE) for too much longer.
"Jerk" is exactly the character he was playing. I'm thinking his turn would be the kind where he's tagging with another face and wants to do all the spots himself.
BTW, Eddy took a nasty hardway cut on his head and almost didn't finish the match.
Originally posted by ripblazer"Jerk" is exactly the character he was playing. I'm thinking his turn would be the kind where he's tagging with another face and wants to do all the spots himself.
BTW, Eddy took a nasty hardway cut on his head and almost didn't finish the match.
That makes sense, especially considering the way his match teaming with Kidman against Angle/Benoit went. Kidman was Face in Peril most of the match, Cena comes in House Afire, Kidman comes back in and promptly gets beaten by two different submissions. That would be great groundwork for a "if we're going to win, I have to be in there" attitude like the one you suggest. It could work the first few times, with Cena being a ring hog and getting the duke, and then one night his partner can blind-tag himself back in and get beaten clean with, oh, let's say a roll-up. Cena then starts berating his partner, little shoving match ensues, then Cena just waffles his partner.
If he works best as a heel - why did WWE try to introduce him as a face?
"And in front of the entire world, I want to show my little boy that sometimes - just sometimes, you have to FIGHT to be a man." - Michael S. Hickenbottom, the man who does not take part in angles that conflict with his religion, swearing violent revenge on HHH in full view of his two-year-old son. 11:06 PM, EST. 08/05/02. This angle, which has gone from being a "clean" wrestling match to an all-out unsanctioned street fight for bloody revenge is apparently sponsored by the book of Joshua.
I have total faith in Paul Heyman on this one. The guy could work wonders if given the right wrestler as he's shown these past few weeks with the Guerreros and Matt Hardy. The man can do no wrong. (For the sake of this argument, we'll pretend the Dead Man Cheating storyline does not exist)
I shudder to think how monstrously over he could get John Cena. Think of Cena as "ECW Justin Credible", except with tons more talent and without the lame catchphrase.
"See Nash, you can wear any Halloween costume you want to, but you know and I know that you're only half the man that I am - and I have half the brain that you do."
Congrats to Cassidy OReilly on getting signed to WWE developmental. Really don’t know how I forgot to pimp him in the “who from ROH/TNA could make it in larger [i.e. WWE] arena environment” thread. He was one of the highlights of early TNA.