Championship Region, Sixth Round: (1) Steve Austin vs. (1) John Cena

[klunderbunker]

This is a sixth round match in the Championship Region. It is a standard one on one match, held at the Super Dome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Damage carries over from the fifth round match.

NOTE ABOUT THE FINAL ROUNDS: The remaining three rounds are a one night only tournament in the style of King of the Ring. All damage from this round carries over to the next round and is based on the margin of victory. If someone wins a close match, they took a severe beating but survived. If someone wins a blowout, they didn't suffer as much damage.

#1. Steve Austin

Defeated Lou Thesz 74-18

Vs.

#1. John Cena

Defeated Sting 65-42


​

Polls will be open for six days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Dragon Chief]

Steve Austin defeated Lou Thez is dominating fashion, whereas Cena took a lot of damage from his match with Sting. History shows that Cena doesn't do well when he just came out of a close match, he lost to Edge when he cashed in Money in the Bank right after the Elimnation Chamber Cena won and he lost when Batista was granted a WWE title match after Cena won another close Elimination Chamber match. Steve Austin is a bigger threat than both those wrestlers and being as a fresh as he is would beat a worn out John Cena.

Also, I like Steve Austin better.

Vote: Steve Austin.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Man, I really like John Cena. He's great at what he does and it's fantastic that he keeps getting to the latter stages of this tournament (especially going over the likes of Sammartino) but this is the end of the line. There's nothing I can think of that Cena has over Austin in this match. Austin is fresher, he's a bigger star (possibly the biggest) and is one of I think two or three people I would automatically put over Cena without a moments thought in terms of greatest ever rankings.

Cena would try and try hard. He'd attempt to launch the big babyface comeback (five moves of doom an all) and he'd kick out of a Stunner or two, but in the end Austin would find a way to keep Cena down for the count and pin his shoulders to the mat. I'm sorry John, this is your stop.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

I got Cena, I have Cena the whole way through at this point. He's helped navigate the WWE through some of their hardest most trying times. His reign at the top has lasted longer and been the most successful in WWE history imo. He's moved the needle in the hardest time to do so and I think he'd drop Austin with an AA to get the pin

 

[deem]

Think I'm on Austin here. I think the freshness is a major factor, which is a shame as Thesz Austin should have been WAY closer while Cena should have breezed past Sting. I think I'd be making the case the other way if that had happened, but que sera.

Both men were insanely tough in kayfabe. Great win/losses, successful vs the biggest names, huge drawing power and decent longevity (more so for Cena on the latter, obv). Both certainly grace this stage of the tournament. I DO like the argument of Cena doing poorly when not fresh a lot - furthermore, Cena losing the first super fight to The Rock at Mania 28 does hurt him quite a lot here. This stage is pretty similar.. other than it's a prime Austin, not the post-prime Rock. I'm not one to transfer the mundane "B beat C, therefore.." argument, but Austin and Rock are pretty similar and Austin's the vastly tougher in kayfabe. Rock winning the first huge match between him and Cena bodes fairly poorly for this.

I won't vote yet, my heart isn't in the research I'd normally do atm. I'd like to be convinced to vote Cena as I do believe he is more deserving of the finals, but when I look at this match in kayfabe rather than just "omg he's a bigger star~!" I only see Stone Cold atm

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Sorry John, this is your 3rd straight year you've made it to the final four and lost (he's quickly becoming the Leonardo Dicaprio of this tournament).

Austin at this point has pretty much every advantage going into this match which says a lot when he's facing Cena. Austin is the bigger star, bigger money maker, more memorable character and I feel he's a better wrestler (although I find Cena to be damn good in the ring). Plus, for all the times I've said "Cena's great but he ain't no Rock, he ain't no Hogan, and he ain't no Stone Cold" it would be pretty hypocritical of me to vote for Cena.

Not to take anything away from Cena, he's awesome but everything Cena does well Austin did better (except for power wrestling maybe?). Austin wins.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Cena vs Lesnar - yup, been there done that!
Cena vs Rock - twice... on 'the biggest stage of them all'
Austin vs Rock - ... WHAT?

Tournaments tell their own story, Austin and Lesnar has never happened before... it happens NOW!!!

Bottom line? Vote Stone Cold Steve Austin!!!

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I'm not a particular fan of either guy and find both of their resumes to be wildy exaggerated, but this at least gives a viable excuse to let go of Cena. Few guys are going to score this match as a win for Cena, and with good reason. I'll give this to the guy who was a good enough face to unite the audience completely in his favour. That was unquestionably Austin.

I'll gladly take a few years of massive success and popularity then long-term drab oppression of a Cena. This is for all of the tedium and stagnant t.v. you've inflicted on audiences. Thank jobe it's all but behind me now.

 

[Da Prophet]

Voted for Cena just so he could get a vote in this match. He's going to lose but it's not acceptable for him to be on 0 votes. Better luck next year.

 

[Tastycles]

I don't think an Austin win is a bad thing, but I went with Cena for the simple reason that John Cena is doing what Austin did with a much worse support cast. Sure, the crowds aren't going apeshit and the TV ratings are down, but live attendances, PPVs and merchandise is way up. Why? They target different demographics who spend money in different ways, but rest assured Cena makes more money than Austin ever did.

What's more, Cena is doing it when his main foil has been Randy Ortron, the charisma free 'psycology' bot, supported by Batista, a man who couldn't look less arsed about his job if he was in a coma, Edge, who was good enough only for the tag division in Austin's day and CM Punk, who's greatest ever moment has been to deliver a Vince Russo promo 13 years too late.

Austin's main foil was The Rock, one of wrestling's finest exponents, supported by Mr. McMahon, arguably the most hated heel ever and guys like Bret Hart and Mick Foley who are the greatest in history at getting other people over.

Don't get me wrong, the house that Austin built is an awesome legacy, but he did it with the best bricks and mortar money can buy. Cena has built a similarly impressive house out of grass and dog shit. Cena deserves this.

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

For me personally, it really does come down to the amount of damage Cena has sustained and Cena's inability to shift the needle significantly, unlike Austin. Austin is coming in with a 56 point victory over Lou Thesz, and as much as it pains me to say it, the statistics must suggest that Austin beat Thesz decisively. Cena meanwhile beat Sting by a healthy enough 23 votes, but Austin is over twice as healthy than Cena is coming into this match.

Tasty is correct in the fact that John Cena probably had a harder cast of wrestlers to work with than Austin did, but Cena dawned in a time where the company was very safe no matter what they did. Tasty has cited that Lesnar's time at the top, alongside 2003 Raw too was the reason that WWE lost a massive chunk of the ratings it had attained, and he's absolutely correct. However, it's not as if John Cena exactly moved the needle to a huge degree either. I'll give him credit for keeping it in a stable position and selling a massive amount of merchandise (although the internet has expanded a huge amount during Austin and Cena's time as a counter point), but he came into a time period where WWE didn't have anything close to competition.

Austin on the other hand was a huge draw and merchandise mover (isn't the Austin 3:16 shirt the best selling WWE product of all-time?) and brought the company out of a very dark time. I think most of us are familiar with 1995 WWF, so I'll spare you the details. To add onto that, in 1996, WCW ramped on the pressure and began to dominate the Monday Night Wars. The WWF had a lot of problems, and Stone Cold Steve Austin was the solution to them all. It was a character that appealed to a huge amount of the demographic and single-handily saved WWF. Sure, Austin had some help from The Rock and McMahon, but by the time The Rock character broke out and in a world without Austin, WWF probably would have been bankrupt and McMahon wasn't a wrestler, limiting his ability to be a big star. Austin did have help from utility players, but he was always the top dog and without him, the utility players would have had considerable difficulty saving WWF. He turned an ass-kicking from WCW around into an ass-kicking from the WWF quite quickly. Austin ascended in a period where the company wasn't safe, and moved the ratings to the highest it had been since the 80's.

I respect Cena a lot and there's no doubt he's an all-time great, but with the amount of damage he's sustained, and Austin simply being the bigger star overall, it's not very hard for me to give this to Austin.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Voted for Cena just so he could get a vote in this match. He's going to lose but it's not acceptable for him to be on 0 votes. Better luck next year.

He has 21 votes as of now, so your reasoning for your vote was terrible. Rather than vote for the person you thought deserved it, you gave Cena a sympathy vote thinking that you were were going to be the one to save him from the indignity of a shutout. Bad job.

 

[Awesome_Miz]

Cena wins. Why? Cena has two materials in his arsenal better and bigger than Austin.

Power: Should this be explained? Really? Just use your WWE Network and go back to Wrestlemania 25 and watch Cena AA Edge and Big Show.

Agility: Cena moves much smoother and loosely than Austin can and could have back in his time. Yes, Austin is/was a better ring-general compared to Cena, but Cena's movement can bite off any of Austin's moves.

Oh and most importantly, Cena is my Hulk Hogan and SCSA, so yeah he is the guy I love and support until end's time. Also, I just want to see who I can support most between Cena and Lesnar in the final. Maybe I will get into an argument with myself if that happens.

 

[X]

As great of a shot in the arm that John Cena has been for the WWE, there's certainly no comparing the business he's done to the business Austin did. Second only to Hogan in terms of drawing ability, Austin was an enigma that revolutionized the industry. And if we're talking about in ring ability, he's one of the greatest to ever lace a pair of boats in the ring in terms of technical ability and workrate. Cena, while underrated as a worker, simply doesn't compare. Really there isn't a facet that you would judge a professional wrestler in that Austin isn't better than Cena in, unless I guess it's marketability to kids. But even that's probably still in Austin's favor, because kids loved Stone Cold even if he wasn't exactly PG. Cena has done an admirable job in this tournament but his journey ends here with a stunner.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

I'll admit that John Cena's going down as a all-timer when he's done in this business. He's paved the way to make the WWE as strong as it's ever been while he's on top and the merchandise he moves is unparalleled. He's also an underrated worker who can go as long as needed in any type of match. His endurance and strength are elite, as well.

But he's going against arguably the greatest pro wrestler of my generation and possibly of all time. No one moved the needle more than Austin. When the WWE's backs were against the wall and WCW was about to put them in bankruptcy, Austin headlined the comeback that ultimately led to them putting WCW out of business.

And even before his HOF career in the WWE, he held every belt in WCW except the World Heavyweight title. Tag Champion, TV Champion, and US Champion. So it's not like he was a slouch prior to his WWE run. Austin helped usher in an era where we now have a network dedicated to the company.

Cena's an elite wrestler, but Austin is in a league of his own.

 

[HBsam31]

I have never been a Cena hater, and his place among the the greatest of all time is secure. He is going against Austin though who is right up there with Hogan if not a step ahead of him. I would take Austin's time on top over Cena's any day. Austin to the finals.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

As great of a shot in the arm that John Cena has been for the WWE, there's certainly no comparing the business he's done to the business Austin did. Second only to Hogan in terms of drawing ability, Austin was an enigma that revolutionized the industry. And if we're talking about in ring ability, he's one of the greatest to ever lace a pair of boats in the ring in terms of technical ability and workrate. Cena, while underrated as a worker, simply doesn't compare. Really there isn't a facet that you would judge a professional wrestler in that Austin isn't better than Cena in, unless I guess it's marketability to kids. But even that's probably still in Austin's favor, because kids loved Stone Cold even if he wasn't exactly PG. Cena has done an admirable job in this tournament but his journey ends here with a stunner.

I agree with this totally. Cena has been a huge deal to the WWE, and done extremely well when he really hasn't had the talent to work with compared t when Austin was on top. He's good, but Austin is that much better in every aspect of the business. I have never seen a feud so heated as Austin v McMahon which capitavated an audience so much, for that alone I would give Stone Cold the vote here, but just comparing different aspects of the 2 it makes it clearer to me:

Better on the mic = Austin
Better in the ring = Austin
Better finishing move = Austin
Bigger draw = Austin
Better rivalries = Austin
Bigger legacy = Austin

Cena wouldn't go down easy, he never does but I don't see this ending any other way than with a middle finger and the Stone Cold Stunner (maybe 2 Stunners), and Steve Austin with his hand raised and celebrating a spot in the final. And that's the bottom line.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I am glad Austin has pulled ahead with not much opposition. I understand why some would vote for Cena - he is their Hulk Hogan, or even their John Cena. While I don't have a problem with voting that way, we shouldn't kid ourselves - John Cena is not quite Steve Austin. He's a lot closer than his hater's would have you believe, but Austin is in a different league. We may run into someone who can beat Austin, but Cena isn't that guy.