My problem, once again, is with WWE. And before we start, I'm just as frustrated at TNA these days, so it's not my TNA-bias at work. What it is, is an upcoming main event that's left me baffled. Next week, at one of the big 4 PPVs of the year, the company's biggest star is going to be the referee. Okay, I suppose I could live with that, he's still involved in the main event. But let's dissect this Barrett - Cena - Orton thing, shall we?
John Cena lost to Barrett, and was forced to join Nexus. Check. As a part of "being a member of Nexus," Cena has to do Barrett's bidding. A little bit of a stretch, as the others aren't nearly as subservient to him, but okay, check. Now Barrett has a title shot against Randy Orton, and Cena will be his referee. I don't know who gave Barrett the authority to name his own referees, but... okay, I'll bite. Check. Now, if Cena doesn't make 100% sure that Barrett leaves that match with the title, Cena will be guilty of "not following orders," which means he's not living up to his end of the deal as a member of Nexus, and he'll be subsequently fired.
HOLD UP.
Last time I checked, Wade Barrett was not the anonymous GM. Where in the blue hell did Barrett get the authority to not only name his own personal referee for a title match, but declare right out in front of God and everybody that that referee has to cheat for him? Why, in any realm of existence, would the GM stand idly by and watch something like "you will cheat for me, or you will be fired" and act like it's okay?
Furthermore -- in what realm of existence would John Cena have ANY reason to feel bad about screwing Randy Orton? Do we forget that Orton's the one who punted Cena Sr. in the SKULL? Tried to out-and-out MURDER his father?
Yes, yes we do.
So John Cena is supposed to choose between (A) cheating to help get the title from one person he's never gotten along with onto another, which will let him keep his job AND be free of his shackles with Nexus AND more than likely set up a Cena-Barrett title match sooner than later, or (B) uphold the honor and integrity of the WWE Title by sacrificing his entire career to keep it out of Barrett's hands (for now). And they're basing an entire Big 4 Pay-Per-View Main Event on this shit?
So in one company, you get this, and in another, you get another tired retread of the NWO, with Jeff Hardy carrying around a new belt that looks even worse than the Divas Title. Man, being a wrestling fan SUCKS right now.
- Brian
PS -- concerning "Old School Raw" tonight. WHY TONIGHT?! Tonight is the go-home show for said PPV. Putting this "old school Raw" on tonight means that one of two things is going to happen. One, an idea which COULD be completely and totally magical and emotional and flat-out awesome on so many levels will be compromised by sharing time with the storylines that lead into this PPV. Or two, the go-home show for the PPV will have nothing to do with the PPV. Couldn't they have found another night far away from PPV hype that could have been used to put on this show totally free from the normal canon? Le sigh. Old School Raw will either be really special, or really stupid. And basing it on the last couple years of WWE programming, I'm leaning towards the latter.
