Cena VS Wyatt Could Have Been Better

[Darkseifer330]

Before I get started this is not a Cena hate thread or anything bashing him. One thing that has disturbed me this year was this feud and how it was poorly booked. Here you have the top guy John Cena having his weaknesses kinda exposed by the likes of Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt was teasing him about unleashing his inner demons and whatnot, and for a sec I was kinda sold. It made it seem like you could get behind him. Then comes Wrestlemania XXX, great match with great storytelling, but with a terrible ending. Here we are having Cena struggling with his emotions and Bray taunting him to use the chair. Eventually Cena overcomes the odds like he usually does, and beats him clean. I felt him winning at Wrestlemania the way he did kinda made the rest of the feud afterwards pointless, and even worse it got more people behind Wyatt; a guy who is supposed to be a heel. It's like WWE decided to book this entire feud backwards.
The ending of the WM match could have been so much better had he either got DQ'd, Use the chair to get the win, or hell take the loss, it wouldn't hurt him at all. Let him show some anger, a dark side or something. I'm sure if he would have done that, it could have gotten some people behind him, something to make me sympathize with him. But WWE was like nope, he gotta overcome the odds very quick. After that the entire feud felt like Bray Wyatt had to overcome an obsticle, which kinda made Wyatt the babyface in this feud because we all know that Wyatt wasn't going to get a proper victory.
With that said, I want to know your ideas on this feud and how you would have booked it.

 

[Slash-LN]

It was just like Cena vs Kane when Kane was trying to get Cena to embrace the hate. He never did.

I don't think it would have hurt Cena to use the chair.

I think Cena could have used the chair at Mania and then come out the next night on Raw and gave a speech about how he's sorry that he let Bray get to him and how that's not what he's all about. He could talk about how the fans count on him to be a role model and he feels like he let them down. He could talk about how he's an example of what not to do. Then he could follow it up by saying he promises he's going to make it right.

It may be cheesy but at least he would have a reason to continue the feud after that.

 

[Mudlup50]

Let me just say, I agree 100% it was handled badly, as a feud though. It came out of the blue, it shocked me...Cena winning at WM wasn't really surprising as it is a very face heavy event. The thing that made me mad was that Cena won the rematch too! Like it's supposed to be Bray Wyatt getting a rub, instead Cena just couldn't lose. That was what I didn't like personally

But! If WWE knew Bryan was gonna be out, then I think they made the right choice, if and only if! I don't think they did so ><

 

[VinnieSunshine]

I wouldn't say it was handled bad, just not the best it could've been. I don't think it came out of nowhere either. I do feel that they kept Cena watered down through it.

- Look at the WWE like prison. Flair always says, "in order to be the best, you have to beat the best." Same thing with prison. In order to assert dominance, you have to go after the biggest, or bigger guy. In this case, though he may not have been champion, Cena is and always will be the top dog.

- Wyatt was trying to break Cena of the "boy scout" image. Even superman gets pushed to his limits but never cracks (Man of Steel doesn't count) unless justified. Bray was trying to show Cena that, no matter how GOOD someone is or seems, they have a dark side.

I feel like they should've had Cena MORE than he did. I don't care what anyone says, Bray losing at WM was the worst. I think he should've beat Cena by controversy to show that he will do what he can to win.

I think Cena should've been MORE aggressive at Extreme Rules. I think he should've beaten Bray doing "whatever it takes". Cena could've been "lost" after that and build himself back up to get to the championship.

 

[sanefan_har]

The one major gripe I had with the feud was the Steel Cage Match.

The match was booked so terribly, and the WWE wonders why their ratings tank (aka blames it on the Miz/some other superstar). I know the WWE is scripted, but honestly, with 2 "near 7-foot tall" lackeys prowling around the cage and a creepy opponent inside the cage, Cena should've had a hard time beating Wyatt. Instead, some random auto-tuned kid causes Cena to lose. I get Cena is the top dog, but for the previous 2 editions of Extreme Rules, Cena didn't lose, and that ended up being a horrible booking decision for Brock Lesnar, and further ruined Ryback's credibility.

Honestly, I can never watch another steel cage match without being reminded of this atrocity. I could elaborate on the match at Mania, but that has been covered by previous posters.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I had no problem with their Wrestlemania match whatsoever. The Cena haters can whine all they want, but the match had the right outcome. It had a huge build, even for Wrestlemania standards. Focusing on Cena's own Legacy (with a fantastic decision to make montages with the Eminem song of the same name) and how he cannot afford to lose. It made Bray look like a legitimate threat and the fans still got a happy ending (disregarding the impossible to please Cena haters). For a show like Wrestlemania, this was fine. It needed no changes. It was a great match that had a great build and the right ending. Now, the rest of the feud? It was mostly fine too. My only issue with it was the Extreme Rules match. Way too much interference from Bray's underlings and the ending with the kid on a mic making him sound weird was just idiotic. Had they made Bray more dominant and given him a less complicated win at Extreme Rules, the feud as a whole would have been completely fine.

 

[Brushfire]

I feel that if Wyatt had gone over Cena at Payback (and yes, he was never going to win a Last Man Standing match against him, that would be completely against Cena's character and possibly damaging to him), then he could have been made a viable option to have won the WWE WHC at Money in the Bank (Cena v Lesnar didn't need to be a title match). Although there is probably a lack of babyfaces that could have feuded with Wyatt after that (Reigns still very much involved in The Authority feud) and it's clear that they are making sure that they don't rush anyone's pushes too much anymore.

So with that said, I agree with the above poster. It was near-enough spot on other than the awful ending to the match at Extreme Rules. It made Wyatt look weak and like he shouldn't have been competing against Cena. Not saying that he should have won clean but that ending and the constant interference was ridiculous.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The one major gripe I had with the feud was the Steel Cage Match.

The match was booked so terribly, and the WWE wonders why their ratings tank (aka blames it on the Miz/some other superstar). I know the WWE is scripted, but honestly, with 2 "near 7-foot tall" lackeys prowling around the cage and a creepy opponent inside the cage, Cena should've had a hard time beating Wyatt. Instead, some random auto-tuned kid causes Cena to lose. I get Cena is the top dog, but for the previous 2 editions of Extreme Rules, Cena didn't lose, and that ended up being a horrible booking decision for Brock Lesnar, and further ruined Ryback's credibility.

.

Wow, people still complain about Lesnar, a part time guy who never sticks around long enough for a full on feud, only wrestles maybe a half dozen times all year and rarely appears even for promos on RAW, getting beaten by Cena, forget the fact that he took 2 of 3 from HHH and ended Taker's Mainia Streak ....Unreal

How do you book Cena, right after cleanly putting over Rock at Mainia, to lose to a guy who wont even be on TV for months after your match, and then will only appear for maybe a month at that ? Lesnar has so little value as a legit main eventer it's unreal yet people on here still think he deserved to what, beat Cena so he could not appear on TV, not have a storyline, and contribute nothing to the show for several months....after Cena already did that for The Rock ?!?!?!?!?!

Cena over Lesnar, not nearly the star Rock is, WAS EXACTLY THE RIGHT CALL, a great way to give Cena a much needed "get back your groove" win over a guy who could deliver a compelling match but offers little else to the story.

 

[Franchize1990]

For the most part, I believe that Cena v Wyatt was booked pretty solid for the 5 months that they had run ins with each other and the 3 months they spent actually feuding with each other. Having said that, I think the OP is right that this program could've been better. I don't think that the problem was with the WrestleMania match or the Extreme Rules match however. Bray almost getting Cena to crack at Mania was a good idea in my eyes. It left Bray even hungrier to push Cena over the limit. Same thing with the cage match, even though it went a little too long, the kid at the end of the match signified one of John's greatest fears of Wyatt: His followers are really being converted by the Wyatt message. Where this really could've gotten better, is their match at Payback. Instead of going with a last man standing match, it could've been interesting to see them go at it in an I Quit match where Bray uses one of his followers in a hero's dilemma situation. Either Cena quits to save, what I would assume to be, a little kid or Cena sacrifices the kid to topple Wyatt. Either way, in my eyes, Cena would've come out looking a bit more human to IWC standards and we find out just how far Bray and/or Cena would go to beat each other.

 

[kadroan]

Before I get started this is not a Cena hate thread or anything bashing him. One thing that has disturbed me this year was this feud and how it was poorly booked. Here you have the top guy John Cena having his weaknesses kinda exposed by the likes of Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt was teasing him about unleashing his inner demons and whatnot, and for a sec I was kinda sold. It made it seem like you could get behind him. Then comes Wrestlemania XXX, great match with great storytelling, but with a terrible ending. Here we are having Cena struggling with his emotions and Bray taunting him to use the chair. Eventually Cena overcomes the odds like he usually does, and beats him clean. I felt him winning at Wrestlemania the way he did kinda made the rest of the feud afterwards pointless, and even worse it got more people behind Wyatt; a guy who is supposed to be a heel. It's like WWE decided to book this entire feud backwards.
The ending of the WM match could have been so much better had he either got DQ'd, Use the chair to get the win, or hell take the loss, it wouldn't hurt him at all. Let him show some anger, a dark side or something. I'm sure if he would have done that, it could have gotten some people behind him, something to make me sympathize with him. But WWE was like nope, he gotta overcome the odds very quick. After that the entire feud felt like Bray Wyatt had to overcome an obsticle, which kinda made Wyatt the babyface in this feud because we all know that Wyatt wasn't going to get a proper victory.
With that said, I want to know your ideas on this feud and how you would have booked it.

Good thought. I see where you're coming from.

I was at WM XXX. The crowd really didn't like the ending of the match.

The feud had potential. IMO, I just felt it dragged too long. Should have just switched the finishes for their matches at ER and WM.

Give Cena the win at ER to end the feud and let Bray win at WM with some help.