The Best "If Cena Wins, We Riot" Type of Match

[Xemmy]

This is actually very tough for me. All were fantastic matches. I have a special place in my heart for the ECW crowd. Rob Van Dam at the time was the head of the ECW return and the ECW ball room was a crowd that no one will ever forget. And while it will always be one of my favorite matches, the face of the night got a heel-like victory. While it lead to RVD's rise to main event status, it quickly fizzled out, and the main that gained from it is now not even in the company.

The Rock vs John Cena was a match where generations collided. In many ways, the sequel to the true main event of Wrestlemania 18, It was the Rock's big in ring return and a great match between super powers. Despite being a great match, it WILL be over shadowed by the ominous Hell In A Cell match between The Game and the Deadman.

Those two matches were epic. There's no doubt about it. But they did have a few small flaws with the aftermath, the match itself, or simply by not being the best of it's time.
If I had to pick one-
CM Punk's ascension in Chicago was the match of the year. It even beat Triple H vs The Undertaker II. It was both a hot crowd, and unlike RVD it wasn't stained with direct interference from another superstar. It had a much bigger pay-off than both of the other selected matches. CM Punk is now "the man" in many of the ways that Cena and Orton are. That match is still being felt to this very day with our current WWE champion. And of course, it was just as entertaining as the other matches we're talking about. I think that gives it the right to be called the best.

 

[TempestH]

Itd be interesting to see what would actually happen if Cena won a "IF CENA WINS WE RIOT" match, at ONS in '06 i could genuinely see a chance of a riot, but not at wm. Cena has annoyed me and several other fans for years however, he can take a lot of bashing! which is fair play, and now that he lost to the rock, and is getting sought out by brock (who i feel has to win at extreme rules) im starting to like him abit more.

I'm not sure how that would play out. It seems now that every feud Cena is in, if a match is built up into into "If Cena Wins, We Riot" territory, it means he's going to lose.

 

[Dirt Dog]

Out of the three, ONS was most pure and authentic, it was inside a bingo hall filled with ECW purists who I think would legit riot if Cena had won. Just look at the beginning of the match when Cena tries to toss his shirt or when toliet paper was being tossed at him. MITB was a similar type of crowd but nothing can beat an ECW crowd

 

[AnvilForever]

First off, I hate the whole, "If this guy wins, we riot" crap. If you bring that sign, that guy wins, and you don't do it, you're nothing but all bark and no bite. If you do riot, you prove yourself to be a brainless mark.

ANYWAY, my favorite of those three has to be MITB 2011. I hated the ONS 2006 finish because it took the focus off of RVD and put it on Edge for screwing Cena. RVD's title push was sabotaged from that very moment. It was no longer about Cena vs. ECW. It was just a brief detour on the Cena/Edge rivalry. Sure enough, one month later RVD's suspended, Edge has the title, Cena has made Sabu tap out, and WWECW's slow decay begins. Hope the ECW fans enjoyed seeing Cena lose, because what followed was months and months of those precious three letters going down the drain.

MITB 2011, however, was truly a career defining moment for CM Punk. It was a match that was far better than ONS 2006, and everyone was truly shocked when Punk came up with the victory. He cemented his M.E. status by winning the title, and not only that, the circumstances surrounding the match would set Punk's story lines for months to come. The attempted screwjob finish by Vince and Johnny Ace was the precursor for Punk's feud with Ace, and set him up as the champion that the suits don't want. Everything about Punk's "Best In The World" persona was solidified through the shoot promo and through this match, and a match that changes a company's food chain as much as this one did deserves to be considered one of the best ever.