Changing the Past: Backlash 2003

[ncberz]

At Backlash 2003, John Cena faced off against then-Champion Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship. It was a highly contested back and forth between the two with Brock eventually pulling off the victory after an F-5 and retaining the title. Out of this match most of us began to see that Cena would be a big star in the business, even within a year of his debut. After this Cena would feud, unsuccessfully, with the Undertaker leading to Vengeance and turn face when he joined Team Angle at Survivor Series. This face turn would begin his 2 year rise, culminating in his WWE Title victory over JBL at Wrestmania 21.

My questions are these: What if Cena had defeated Lesnar at Backlash?

We all know that the history we have turned out well enough for Cena. He is the top face of the company, 2008 Royal Rumble Winner and a 10-time World Champion. Was this destined or did it require him to rise through the ranks following his losses to Lesnar and Taker?

Would Lesnar still be with the WWE?

Following Wrestlemania 20, Lesnar left WWE to pursue an NFL career, which quickly flamed out. While Lesnar has found a place in UFC, he will never be held in the highest prestige like he was when he was in WWE, at least not by me. With Cena having taken the title off of Lesnar, and presenting himself as a viable challenger to Lesnar as top dog on Smackdown, would this have given Brock a bit more incentive to stay with the WWE?

Would Cena be who he is today?

A WWE Title reign within a year on television is fairly reminiscient of the treatment Sheamus had after he debuted. If Cena had been pushed to the stars, would he have been as successful? Would he have had the reign he had after he beat JBL or would he have floppedt as Randy Orton did in 2004 and not win a World Title until almost 5 years later?

 

[legendkiller1979]

It doesn't matter "what might have been". Cena had no chance against Lesnar in that match. Cena was more annoying than Miz at this point. He was doing the vanilla ice gimmick and said "dog" every other word. He couldn't talk to save his life so he just did some lame raps. Lesnar spent four months chasing the title and won at wrestlemania. There was no way he was going to lose one month after winning in at wrestlemania. Sometimes there is a possibility of things working out differently, but not in this case.

 

[afark02]

2004 was a transition year. With Lesnar and Goldberg leaving, Triple H was the only other legit star they had at the time. Undertaker came back as the deadman at this time, but also began his transition to a part timer. Benoit held the title for Raw, but it was clear he was no main eventer. Great wrestler but lacked any kind of charisma. Cena becoming a star in 05 began a great ride for him, but it feels he only got that chance b/c there was simple nobody else to turn to at the time. Anybody feel that guys like Edge, JBL, or Rey Mysterio could really be the face of the company at the time?

 

[khrissr10]

Cena has limited mic skills and vocabulary so to speak, I guess if he won that match he is nothing it would be just like what happened to Christian and besides Brock Lesnar was one of the top faces for WWE that time. When he was doing the Vanilla Ice gimmick and "trying hard to rap" it annoys me a lot especially when he had that battle with Chris Jericho, rap vs. rock but seriously VKM doesn't have that confidence or trust with his own roster or the other wrestlers, yes we all know that if you are great but you can't make any money you're crap for VKM and since that there are no wrestler that can take the spot to be the face of the company he tried to watch barney and guess what Cena is now the top face.

Whatever happened in the past there's nothing we can do about it and whatever happens Cena will always be a "MASCOT".

 

[Dagger Dias]

I don't think Cena could have defeated Lesnar at Backlash. Cena was still new at the time and Lesnar had not decided to leave yet. Things did turn out in Cena's favor in the end obviously. I think that a feud with Cena would have made it less boring for Lesnar who was winning constantly. Change is good sometimes. That would have made it tougher either for Cena to become the face of the company, or for Batista to become the next big monster. Lesnar leaving made both of those two transitions easier during the time between Wrestlemania's 20 and 21 due to him needing to be replaced. Cena was destined for greatness and would still have made it to the top through his dedication and hard work, it might have happened a year or so faster in this scenario, but he would have had to work even harder if Lesnar had stuck around following their feud instead of getting bored of wrestling. Lesnar would probably have won the feud and gotten the belt back, which means Cena would probably not have held the title again until his win against JBL in 2005 though.