How to put someone over without losing - Cena and Swagger

[Uncle Sam]

Putting someone over. A concept which many don't understand. Many think that you put someone over simply by losing to them. Not true. You can lose to someone and not put them over. Likewise, you can put someone over without losing to them.

Last night, John Cena make Jack Swagger look like absolute gold. Did he have to? Hell no, Swagger is the ECW champion. He's young and has the rest of his career ahead of him. A clear cut loss to the business' poster boy would not have harmed him in the slightest.

Instead, Cena made Swagger look good. Not just good; damn good. Swagger looked dominant and Cena sold every move as if it could have legitimately ended the match. He made Jack Swagger look like his equal.

Before last night, I was never that big a Jack Swagger fan. It was probably because of some vague comment Jake had passed on him earlier. But after that match, I was absolutely sold on him.

Was the ending a little predictable? Yeah - and the "five moves of doom" criticism will probably be used again.

All the same, I very much hope to see more Swagger/Cena encounters down the line.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I ain't seen it, but I don't doubt you Sam. Cena & Edge both give to whoever they're facing. It doesn't harm them, it also makes the person they're facing look stronger.

Nobody thought Swagger would win, it's a testament to Cena if he made him look competitive before he beat him. It's what wrestlers of his status should do. Triple H doesn't even do it to people on a higher level than him.

 

[The Palace of Wisdom]

I agree about last night. Cena made Swagger look like a real blue-chip prospect. One who is only just getting started and is already a World Champion. That is one knock I will never make on Cena. I like him at times, and dislike him at others, but in the ring, he usually makes anyone involved look as good as possible. And as mentioned, HHH rarely does. He makes people look sloppy, sluggish, and uncapable.

 

[insignia13]

I agree with each of you. I'm not much of a Cena fan, either, but the way he made Swagger look actually makes me want to tune in to ECW today to see what he can do. I'm impressed with Swagger and I look forward to seeing more of him. This gave me a new level of respect for Cena as well.

 

[RuKDaD]

That was a pretty good match. They both looked really good in the ring. Triple H is only out for himself, thats why he wont put anyone over. Cena is out for the business and thats why he will put others over.

 

[SquareSix]

Alright. Sheeww let me get it together here. You see, this post hurts me a bit. Quite a bit actually. You can look through my posts and there are quite a few in which I bash Cena. I know shocker right, someone wanting to bash Cena. that won't be happening in this post however. Not too much anyways. I have respected his work at getting the product over, selling merchandise and all of that, but not his in ring work. As of last night, none of that changed. What did change is that I now respect Cena more than ever. As a matter of fact, after watching the Swagger/Cena match last night, Cena became someone in the company that I hold on the same level as guys like Michaels, Edge, Undertaker, etc. as far as respect goes. He did not have to put Swagger over the way he did, but he pushed Swagger to the moon in that match. Yes, I could predict almost every move Cena would do, but the match was pretty interesting and showed a great side of Cena. You don't see HHH doing that kind of thing. Look at how badly he has beaten Rhodes & Dibiase in this feud with Orton. They are in what is supposed to be the top stable of the company, the future of the company, and HHH just runs through them any time he is in the ring with them. He makes the look completely weak and destroys their credibility. Cena made Swagger look like a main eventer out there and the guy is on ECW. No disrespect to the former ECW, but the new company isn't much to brag about. I have read a great deal about what a great guy John Cena is, how much respect he has for others, how much passion he has for the business. I hadn't really seen it up until last night. After watching that match last night, I seen all of that and more.

 

[Pimpin]

I ain't a Cena fan by any means but I will admit he made Swagger look great. I now have at least some respect for Cena cause at least he is willing to make anybody(above or below him) look great unlike Triple H(who's only out for himself).

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Sam is spot on. Strange day for us, Sammy, agreeing like this. Twice today now.

I was extolling this match last night on the LD. Swaggah was made to look like gold, Jerry, GOLD! And Cena sold for him the way Angle sold for Cena when John first showed up on WWE programming. There was resepct there.

And it wasn't just the match. Even backstage, Cena didn't rail Swagger - he said to his face that he had talent, but was a disrespectful kid. Considering that is just how Cena and Orton arrived at the spot they are in now, that's a nice rub. Cena gave Swagger a chance to speak and didn't put his ability down.

Give credit where it is due to Jack as well, but you know damn well Cena was leading that match, and he led Swagger to a 15-20 minute affair that put the All American squared over as ECW champion.

 

[hoffman40]

There is a lot of HHH hatin' going on in here. I think HHH sells well for his opponents but since the leg injuries just not as well. Not only that, there may be a little Hogan in HHH that has him thinking he needs to stay at the top longer. His matches are down right boring with Orton, who is solid gold in the ring.

As for Cena, he has always had flashes of greatness in him and rightfully so. There are a lot of Cena-haters out there too, but you can't deny that Cena is great in the ring when he WANTS to be. It's when Cena gets flustered or to rambunxious that he starts to get stiff and sloppy. Case in point, his matches with HBK... the Mania 24 match was ok but he got to anxious and flustered and looked sloppy against the greatest big match wrestler of all time. Now, the match they had on Raw that went for almost an hour was unbelievable! Thats because Cena calmed himself down during a lot of high spots or HBK grabbed a hold and calmed him down for him. I think Cena is very good but not great, however he truly knows whats good for the business because he loves it so much and Jack Swagger's progression is good for business.

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

Sure, Cena made Swagger look real good last night, but lets give swagger some credit as well, it takes two to make a match, and it was a golden opportunity for swagger to showcase his wrestling ability, and a really nice looking move set.

It was by far the match of the night last night, and its nice to see some ppv quality wrestling taking place on raw. Swagger has some real potential, and the rub he got from Cena last night should help propel his career, I can only hope he gets drafted to smackdown were he can continue to grow as an in ring preformer.

 

[butsecks]

I also agree. not many wrestlers who are at the top ever do that. look at the macho man. the man was putting over wrestlers like chris benoit back in 1995 and it didn't harm him (even though back then in my eyes i thought it did) Cena deserves respect.

 

[Wrestling_No-logicX]

I too must say that the match between john cena and jack swagger was a real intense match. I could seriously see swagger being added to a wwe title shot some day, He has the charisma and reminds me of kurt angle and brock lesner he is built and has the peed and agility to move around, John Cena did a great job making swagger look good, I just wish wwe would do something to push these new talented stars to be champion, they killed the legacy and they killed vladmir koslov give him pants and we will talk later,, But all in all the wrestlers are there there heart is there but the scripts aren't...

 

[D-R0ck]

I'm glad someone mentioned this match. I have to put this over as possibly the match of the night on RAW last night. When I first heard it announced I just kind of blew it off. But, by about the third false finish I was on the edge of my seat. I mean I knew Cena was going to win, but, the match made Swagger look VERY credible. I think it almost brings a little prestige to an otherwise tarnished ECW World Title. I remember the match they did like this with Morrison vs Cena. When that match was over (as big a Morrison fan as I am) I don't remember thinking to myself "This guy could main event a RAW or Smackdown!" I do, however, think that about Jack Swagger now. I'm looking forward to seeing more of him and would love it if he started working programs with more established stars.

 

[Scott Free]

I actually thought Cena TRIED to make Swagger look good, but he still managed to look green and awkward . Still, you gotta to give props to the company's number one picked man to try and get their new hand picked man over.

 

[Black Snow]

I can't fully agree with the general view of this thread. There's no doubt that Cena did do a pretty good job of putting Swagger over but I was still expecting more. Cena/Swagger has the potential to be a big match. I wouldn't be shocked if next year they ended up on the same brand. Swagger will be a big enough name by then that it'll be an anticipated match much like Cena/Lashley was when he got drafted.

Maybe my definition of "putting over" is a little weak but it's hard for me to fully commend the effort when it still ended with a tap out. I'd rather have seen a DQ, count out or even just a pin. Swagger got some great moves in but at the end of the day the scoreboard says that Swagger tapped REALLY quickly and he's supposed to be the ECW Champion that - up until a couple months ago - had never even lost.

It was a good match and it could potentially be a great feud a ways down the road but the tap out just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

 

[ghettodan]

I Will Be Real Surprised If Swagger Lasts Over 2 Years In Wwe

Yeah just ignore the size, strength and ability he has. Not to mention how him and Christian almost brought the roof down on ECW with their title match about a month before Wrestlemania. His feud with Matt Hardy was pretty good too.

I will be really surprised if he is not a long term main stay on the WWE roster. The guy is just too good.

 

[Mark0820]

Well it was Cena. Swagger was made to look like he's at that same level and could have beaten Cena. Cena didn't even just make Swagger look credible, to the casual fan, aka 99.9% of wrestling fans, it made the ECW title look legit. The ECW title holder went toe-to-toe with a guy who main events PPV after PPV, WM after WM and nearly beat him on several occasions. That one match made the ECW title matter in those fans eyes.

 

[The Prototype]

Swagger looked great last night and for a little, I thought he was going 2 win. Big props for Cena by making Swagger look good.

 

[insertwprds10791]

Sam's got the right idea and probably beat a few people to the post, because going into the match last night, I was thinking "Well, looks like an easy squash match for Cena tonight." I was stunned and pleased to see the quality of the match, and, even getting caught up in it, I though Swagger may have one. Once the usually ending began, I understood it was Cena's win, but it was so well executed that I wasn't sure who would win.

Cena pretty much won over my respect last night in the sense that he's more than just the WWE Superman that they're trying to force down our throats. He's making the young, future stars (and I'll make the prediction now that Swagger's got an incredible future ahead of him, pending unforeseen events) seem like main-eventers, which is just what needs to happen to freshen up the scene. Does it need to be freshened up right now? Maybe not, but knowing how well the main event can do it now makes me much more comfortable with the future of the WWE.

 

[tehblogger]

Both men wrestled a really good match and deserve enormous credit. Props to Cena for working so hard to make Swagger look like THE MAN. Great heat on Swagger too, he really is a natural magnet. Some really excellent moves from Swagger, a match with good psychology that flowed nicely. Particularly the way the finish came from a Swagger error of timing and not anything especially brilliant that Cena did. Again, I loved the way they did a whole big false finish, with Cena hitting his suplex, You-can't-see-me, and FU sequence - which usually leads the finish - all for nothing, as Swagger countered and continued to dominate for another 5 minutes. He truly is a star for the future.

 

[HHHDiedForOurSins]

I was thinking the exact same thing watching that match, I thought they might have an Edge run in and have a DQ/Swagger wins by interferince type thing but I think it was better the way they did it, Cena wins but Swagger dominates a lot of the match and comes away looking stronger in defeat than he has in any of his wins on ECW.

Despite all the hate Triple H is getting in this thread for never doing what Cena did last night, I actually think his feud with Jeff Hardy last year was a great example of putting someone over without losing, before that feud Jeff wasn't really considered a main event level guy by a lot of people but after coming closer and closer to beating HHH each time, by the time he won the title the fans accepted him as a World Champion unlike CM Punk who hadn't been built up prior to his title win.

 

[Tenta]

This, I felt, should have been the main event last night.

I'll say this about Cena, and I'm going to compare him to Shawn Michaels, in that he makes every one he works with look good. Umaga, Khali, RVD, Edge, you name it. Cena builds each and every one of his opponents up to be in his caliber, if not getting the edge on him. Of course, I hate the fact that his matches lack continuity in how he sells moves, and later the selling disappears. Every face that intends on being a champion for a long time has to have some aspect of making his opponent look good. Shawn Michaels was an absolute pro at it. Hell, so was Hulk Hogan. Before that trademark Hulk up/ punches/big boot/legdrop, if you found yourself actually getting caught up into the match, you believed the Hulkster could lose. Look at his matches with Earthquake, King Kong Bundy, Kamala. John Cena, Shawn Michaels, and Hulk Hogan can make each and every one of their opponents look like legitimate threats to get taken down every night. That's why they get deserved long reigns with the strap.

Jack Swagger did all he could to put in a great match. I would love to see this match done again on PPV, probably. It did exactly what it was intended for: the casual fan knows Jack Swagger much more than he use to. Most people hadn't seen Jack aside from his matches with Matt Hardy and Finlay on PPV. Now you can definitely see Swagger as a possible high mid-card/main event talent.

 

[Wavy Crockett]

I must say Cena really impressed me and made Swagger look like a million bucks. Thats how you put somebody over. And when the crowd started chanting for Swagger that topped it off. Triple H needs to take a page out of Cena's and stop making Orton look weak.

 

[Shocky]

God, say something bad about Triple H, and the little Gamers come out of the wood work. Triple H has done nothing ever compared to what John Cena did last night for Jack Swagga. John Cena made Swagger not only look like a million bucks in the ring, but also backstage to in their little showdown. Spot on for Sam on this. John Cena gets more an dmore respect from me as each raw rolls out. The guy took a relatively obscure guy in Swagger (yes I know he's an ECW Champion) and made him into a main event threat. Comparing this to Hardy and Triple H when Hardy has been with the company and was over for years is laughable and just bad.

 

[ThePeoplesChampion]

Alright. Sheeww let me get it together here. You see, this post hurts me a bit. Quite a bit actually. You can look through my posts and there are quite a few in which I bash Cena. I know shocker right, someone wanting to bash Cena. that won't be happening in this post however. Not too much anyways. I have respected his work at getting the product over, selling merchandise and all of that, but not his in ring work. As of last night, none of that changed. What did change is that I now respect Cena more than ever. As a matter of fact, after watching the Swagger/Cena match last night, Cena became someone in the company that I hold on the same level as guys like Michaels, Edge, Undertaker, etc. as far as respect goes. He did not have to put Swagger over the way he did, but he pushed Swagger to the moon in that match. Yes, I could predict almost every move Cena would do, but the match was pretty interesting and showed a great side of Cena. You don't see HHH doing that kind of thing. Look at how badly he has beaten Rhodes & Dibiase in this feud with Orton. They are in what is supposed to be the top stable of the company, the future of the company, and HHH just runs through them any time he is in the ring with them. He makes the look completely weak and destroys their credibility. Cena made Swagger look like a main eventer out there and the guy is on ECW. No disrespect to the former ECW, but the new company isn't much to brag about. I have read a great deal about what a great guy John Cena is, how much respect he has for others, how much passion he has for the business. I hadn't really seen it up until last night. After watching that match last night, I seen all of that and more.

U share the same dislike for cena as i do and u share my same opinon on last night.....man Cena made swagger look great.....hell i dont get sci fy and didnt care but now i want cause he made swagger look great.....and everyone is right bout hhh. i mean he hasnt done that for anyone since shelton but maybe thats why cause he doesnt want to do it then have the guy not want to be a champ like shelton but hey....but cena did great to push over swagger....and did i hear a swagger chant too?