A couple of months ago I posted my thoughts on the booking of Daniel Bryan, and discussed how ridiculous it was to suggest he was being buried, you can find that here if you're interested. After tonight's Wrestlemania XXX, I feel the need to address this subject again, and specifically the match between Bray Wyatt and John Cena. I have seen multiple comments on the main site, as well as on other sites, devoted to bashing Cena for "burying" Bray Wyatt at WM30. Apparently people still don't understand what it means to bury someone.
For years, one of the big knocks on Cena from his detractors is that he is almost always in the main event, sometimes even going on after the WWE title match. Last night, his match with Bray was right in the middle of the card, and not having as much of the spotlight on that match allowed him to stretch himself in ways he hasn't had to in years. This isn't about Cena, though, it's about Wyatt. People are saying things like "Why couldn't Cena put Wyatt over? Why did he have to bury him?" Wyatt lost the match, true, but there is a huge difference between losing and being buried.
Last night, Bray Wyatt had his first Wrestlemania match against the standard bearer, the real "face of the company". In that match, Bray was first played out to the ring by the band that performs his entrance music, an honor that he been shared by guys like Triple H, Undertaker, Randy Orton, and CM Punk. Once the match started, he made Cena doubt himself at every turn. Hell, there was more psychology in this match than I have seen in a John Cena match in the last ten years. This isn't a knock on Cena; his matches are formulaic because that's what works.
During the match, Wyatt tortured Cena mentally and physically. For a brief time I actually believed that we might see a shift in the John Cena character. Ultimately, he stayed true to his image, but he showed a glimpse of a darker side that he had to fight to contain. That is more than anyone else has been able to get out of him. Credit that to Wyatt.
People are complaining that Cena was the first person to kick out after Sister Abigail. If someone is going to do it, (and eventually it has to happen), how does having the first person to do it be a 14 time world champion and the top guy in the company weaken the move? It's not like it was Jinder Mahal or Yoshi Tatsu that kicked out, it was John Cena. And that was only after Wyatt had already escaped an STFU and kicked out of an AA.
Losing to a top guy doesn't mean you've been buried. If you want to see an example of someone being buried, did you know that Ezekial Jackson is still employed by the WWE? I had no idea. Curtis Hawkins and JTG both still receive paychecks too. Who knew?
Losing to someone doesn't mean that you got buried by them (unless it's the Undertaker, and it's a Buried Alive match). It's all about how you lose, and what you do along the way. A few years ago, Miz stole a page from the Jericho vs Goldberg WCW playbook, challenging Cena to matches when he knew he wasn't in attendance and then declaring himself the winner by forfeit. After three or four weeks of this, he finally got a real match with Cena, and Cena beat him in less than two minutes. That was a burial, and rightly so. Miz wasn't ready yet, and the whole point of the program was to show him that.
A couple of years later, Miz faced Cena again, defending the WWE title in the Main Event of Wrestlemania, and won the match. People like to point out that he won because of the Rock, and that he was a casualty of the Rock/Cena year-long feud, which is a fair point. Ultimately, however, he can legitimately say for the rest of his career that he beat John Cena to retain the WWE title in the Main Event of Wrestlemania. The fact that he has done nothing of note since then has nothing to do with Cena...Miz got the push, and he still wasn't ready.
Last year, John Cena beat the Rock in the main event of Wrestlemania for the WWE title. This year, Cena fought Bray Wyatt in the middle of the card and barely won. If you think this was a burial of Bray Wyatt, if you believe that he had to go over to get the rub, then you simply don't understand wrestling.
For years, one of the big knocks on Cena from his detractors is that he is almost always in the main event, sometimes even going on after the WWE title match. Last night, his match with Bray was right in the middle of the card, and not having as much of the spotlight on that match allowed him to stretch himself in ways he hasn't had to in years. This isn't about Cena, though, it's about Wyatt. People are saying things like "Why couldn't Cena put Wyatt over? Why did he have to bury him?" Wyatt lost the match, true, but there is a huge difference between losing and being buried.
Last night, Bray Wyatt had his first Wrestlemania match against the standard bearer, the real "face of the company". In that match, Bray was first played out to the ring by the band that performs his entrance music, an honor that he been shared by guys like Triple H, Undertaker, Randy Orton, and CM Punk. Once the match started, he made Cena doubt himself at every turn. Hell, there was more psychology in this match than I have seen in a John Cena match in the last ten years. This isn't a knock on Cena; his matches are formulaic because that's what works.
During the match, Wyatt tortured Cena mentally and physically. For a brief time I actually believed that we might see a shift in the John Cena character. Ultimately, he stayed true to his image, but he showed a glimpse of a darker side that he had to fight to contain. That is more than anyone else has been able to get out of him. Credit that to Wyatt.
People are complaining that Cena was the first person to kick out after Sister Abigail. If someone is going to do it, (and eventually it has to happen), how does having the first person to do it be a 14 time world champion and the top guy in the company weaken the move? It's not like it was Jinder Mahal or Yoshi Tatsu that kicked out, it was John Cena. And that was only after Wyatt had already escaped an STFU and kicked out of an AA.
Losing to a top guy doesn't mean you've been buried. If you want to see an example of someone being buried, did you know that Ezekial Jackson is still employed by the WWE? I had no idea. Curtis Hawkins and JTG both still receive paychecks too. Who knew?
Losing to someone doesn't mean that you got buried by them (unless it's the Undertaker, and it's a Buried Alive match). It's all about how you lose, and what you do along the way. A few years ago, Miz stole a page from the Jericho vs Goldberg WCW playbook, challenging Cena to matches when he knew he wasn't in attendance and then declaring himself the winner by forfeit. After three or four weeks of this, he finally got a real match with Cena, and Cena beat him in less than two minutes. That was a burial, and rightly so. Miz wasn't ready yet, and the whole point of the program was to show him that.
A couple of years later, Miz faced Cena again, defending the WWE title in the Main Event of Wrestlemania, and won the match. People like to point out that he won because of the Rock, and that he was a casualty of the Rock/Cena year-long feud, which is a fair point. Ultimately, however, he can legitimately say for the rest of his career that he beat John Cena to retain the WWE title in the Main Event of Wrestlemania. The fact that he has done nothing of note since then has nothing to do with Cena...Miz got the push, and he still wasn't ready.
Last year, John Cena beat the Rock in the main event of Wrestlemania for the WWE title. This year, Cena fought Bray Wyatt in the middle of the card and barely won. If you think this was a burial of Bray Wyatt, if you believe that he had to go over to get the rub, then you simply don't understand wrestling.
