WrestleMania 25: Cena vs Hogan

[NotoriousMEAT]

The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania had its flaws. It won't be remembered as one of the best, but I was there live so it always holds a special place in my fan boy heart. I remember at the time leading up to Mania, and was just reminded today, of the (supposedly) planned Hulk Hogan/John Cena clash. Hogan had back problems, needed surgery, and had to back out. Thinking back on this, it would explain the CRAZY booking leading up to Mania.. with the multiple title changes and what not. I recently found an interview from '09 where Hogan claims plans were for him and Cena to face off "for the title". I can only assume he meant the World Heavyweight Championship John was carrying, before Edge found a way to steal the title a month prior to Mania.

Now, there's not a doubt in my mind that John Cena and Batista's SummerSlam '08 rematch was supposed to headline this WrestleMania. So Hogan would have been Plan B since Batista went down with an injury. But it still could have worked. I feel the difficulty in booking Cena's opponent is what really screwed up this Mania. Imagine if Hogan was healthy enough..

-Big Show vs Edge is an undercard match, with the two fighting for Vickie's affections (or power). With a slight face turn tease for Big Show, Vickie ends up helping Edge defeat Show. A month later at Backlash, Big Show kills any full face turn by still chokeslamming Cena into the spotlight, allowing Edge to win the strap. Turns out Vickie is still toying with Show's emotions to benefit Edge. Sets up for a decent Edge/Show feud down the line.

-Randy Orton vs Triple H for the WWE title doesn't have to main event the show, allowing Randy to capitalize on the ridiculous momentum he had built over the last 4 months and defeat The Game to become champion.

-John Cena vs Hulk Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship is billed as an iconic clash of generations, fitting of the 25th WrestleMania. Not a 5 star contest by any means, but a match up worth it regardless.

-You'd still have Taker vs HBK and Jericho vs the Legends.. two matches I enjoyed. And imagine if Vince had stuck with the Jeff Hardy vs Christian plans, rather than switching it up to Hardy vs Hardy just to swerve the IWC?

In the end, I'll always feel WrestleMania 25 was sorta jipped out of being one of the greatest. How bout you?

Would you have liked to see Cena vs Hogan?
Could that match up have saved, or at least organized Mania better?

 

[GameOver]

funny if by supposed you mean internet rumours based on assumptions that Hogan would return for WrestleMania when he wasn't even working with WWE. or that and someone telling someone that Hogan said something to someone else, doesn't constitute proof, don't remember there ever being anything mentioned at the time, He and Eric Bischoff were doing there own crappy things and Hogan signed with TNA that year after Mania yes but he was no doubt already in talks with them

Hogan vs Cena on paper is epic however you have two guys that are really bad at selling going at it on the grandest stage of them all, Hogan was a cripple at that point, Cena was very lacklustre in the ring it woulda been a fizzer, hell Rock vs Cena sucked and both those guys can still go. Still woulda loved to see it yes but visually it woulda been pretty boring once the promo was over and both had done there 10min entrances.

agree with your assesment of the mainia matches tho Triple H vs Orton really had no chance of succeeding they were on last after the epic battle that was HBK vs Taker and Triple H and Orton spent most of the match exhausted it seemed ut there build up was pretty good it was just the payoff match that sucked.

 

[Steve-O-Matt]

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that I'm not the only one on here to say... It just wouldn't work. Just like the guy before me said, he hit the nail on the head, two guys who won't sell well to each other. Hogan would not want to make Cena look good over him and Cena would be over-selling this pile of bones with every punch knocking him out for ten minutes. It sadly would not work, especially not for what they was planning as the biggest WrestleMania yet...

If we're talking about both men in their prime, 30 years old, then Cena vs. Hogan could work for a SummerSlam main event and might be fun to watch.

Also I don't think any match was lacking WHAT-SO-EVER, they were all amazing, 10 out of 10 in my opinion. I think the only reason why people said that the main event was a bit dull was because they were tired out from the greatest match ever! I'm talking about Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, which was truly old school and world class. Triple H vs. Orton was also world class and deserved to be the main event, but look to what they had to live up to!

All the matches made sense and tied up a lot of loose ends, personally I always though Show was the third wheel as I thought the Cena vs. Edge was their rivalry officially ending... But there you go.

So in short, WrestleMania 25, my favourite and I know there's loads of hipsters who would say different, but for me it was, 10 out of 10.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Would you have liked to see Cena vs Hogan?

For the sole purpose of seeing one legend of his generation face another, absolutely yes. However.... Hogan is WAY past his prime and would not have been able to work a good match at Wrestlemania 25. A cameo appearance, perhaps during the Jericho VS Legends match, may have been better. Cena was better off in the triple threat World Heavyweight Championship match and Hogan would have been better off being used in a non-wrestling capacity if he was going to make an appearance at Wrestlemania 25. It never would have happened though.

Could that match up have saved, or at least organized Mania better?

Saved Wrestlemania 25? Hardly. It might have gotten it a few more purchases but it would not have done much for the quality of the show overall. The easiest solution would be for Cena and Jericho to have traded angles. Jericho goes on to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge while Cena runs the legends angle but from a respect viewpoint rather than disrespect like Jericho did. He would of course face Hogan rather than Steamboat, Piper, or Snuka. Flair might not have gotten involved either. This would not have improved the quality of the show much as it had much bigger problems such as a male wrestler winning what could have been a special match for the divas, the tag team unification match getting bumped off the main card, Kid Rock wasting everyone's time, and the issues surrounding the main event. It could have been cool to see for the historical value but for the in-ring quality side of the argument we are better off with what we got in real life.

 

[R.K.O]

Although I know the match would suck, but I would take Cena vs Hogan over the crap they had gave us for Wrestlemania 25. Just the name value from the match itself would make the event sound so much better and the fact that Hogan is fighting for a World title again, probably for the last time. The match itself would not be Bret vs McMahon or Lawler vs Michael Cole bad as Hogan should be able to use most of his moves without problem but we would have to endure his terrible punches coupled with Cena's inability to sell but it should be fine, after all we endured Cena vs Miz which was an absolutely terrible match.

The rest of the card as you mentioned would have definitely made the event better. Show and Edge as the grudge match, Matt or Christian vs Jeff Hardy, Jericho vs Legends, Triple H vs Randy Orton and Taker vs HBK. To make the event a success Taker vs HBK should definitely be the main event and Orton should win the title as well. I'm fine with Matt Hardy vs Jeff but he should make the feud more personal by claiming that he's in Jeff's shadow and not the garbage that he burnt Jeff's house down because no one believed that.

 

[justtxyank]

Hogan vs Cena on paper is epic however you have two guys that are really bad at selling going at it on the grandest stage of them all, Hogan was a cripple at that point, Cena was very lacklustre in the ring it woulda been a fizzer, hell Rock vs Cena sucked and both those guys can still go. Still woulda loved to see it yes but visually it woulda been pretty boring once the promo was over and both had done there 10min entrances.

I don't think it's quite right to say Hogan is bad at selling. I think he's criminally underrated at a seller to be honest. What he has been bad at since 1999 is moving. He still sells great with facial expressions, but his back, knees and hips are so bad that he just can't move the way a wrestler needs to be able to in order for the match to look credible. He's had moments where he felt great and pulled off an ok match, but for the most part he just can't make it work. But it's not because he doesn't have a talent for selling. I think if you look at his matches where he could still move in the ring you'd see that he actually sells the other guy's offense quite well.

 

[King Patrick Star]

Hulk Hogan vs. John Cena would have been the perfect Main Event for WrestleMania XXV. It might have been PWI’s 2009 Match of the year, but you can bet it sure as hell would have been WWE’s 2009 Match of the year Slammy winner. 25 years of WrestleMania is enough to hype up this match. Hogan headlining the first few WMs and Cena headlining the last few. The story writes itself. I would even go as far as saying that it would have been better than Hogan vs. Rock AND Rock vs. Cena.

If the match took place, I would rather pull Cena from the World Title match and just have Edge defend the World Title against the Big Show and not change anything else from the original card. Hogan vs. Cena does not need a WWE / World Title involved, much like Hogan / Rock and Rock / Cena. Well, I would change one or two things. I would have loved to have seen Jack Swagger defend his ECW Title and MVP defend his United States Title. I also would have switched the spots for the WWE World Tag Team Championship Unification match with the Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal, but you heard me say that 4 years ago.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

Gotta say, I have no idea what some of you are talking about when you say Cena and Hogan are a couple of no-sellers. Especially Cena. He may not be Dolph Ziggler, literally bouncing from pillar to post, but in my opinion he is the most REALISTIC when it comes to selling fake combat. I've been training in wrestling for two years, and as someone who has spent countless hours just working on selling in and out of the ring, his selling impresses me every time he's in the ring. I don't know any other way to describe or explain. Either you get it or you don't I suppose.

As for Hogan, I agree completely with justtxyank's post. Hogan could carry his weight. He'd just be selling Cena's strength, and Cena's simplistic offensive move set (which I'm not knocking what so ever). I'm also confident Hogan would have no problem "doing business" and properly putting Cena over here. Sure, Hogan's been a HUGE jack ass in the past when it's come to putting people over (Bret in 93 is a good example), but he always allowed the big stars to get the win. It's why he agreed to put over The Rock rather than Stone Cold at WrestleMania X8. He knew Rock did, and would eventually more so transcend wrestling. He was worthy you could say. Same when he dropped the strap to Goldberg in the Georgia Dome. Hell if I remember correctly, Hogan is actually credited with making that call to drop the belt. He could have easily pulled superstar card and ended Goldberg's streak. But occasionally, the bastard does do what's right for business. And I'm sure he would have here.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

If memory serves me right Hogan was not signed by the WWE at the time and the talks and effort to get Hogan to have one match probably would have taken forever.

Besides the problem with Wrestlemania 25 is not because they didn't have the talent pool for the event, heck I would argue that at the time of WM25 WWE had an amazing talent pool on the active roster. Only Batista was injured leading to the event.

Problem with WM25 was leading to it the event lead to swerve after swerve. Remember the No Way Out title switches? Sure it was cool at the time but it lead the abrupt build up to the matches but it just lead to us not caring. Orton/HHH, Cena/Big Show/Edge, JBL winning the IC for no real reason except to have an IC title match, heck even the reason why HBK/Undertaker happened felt forced.

The build up of the event was weak and the booking was even weaker. I mean based on the months leading to WM, I could swear we were going to have Cena/Orton, HHH/Jeff Hardy, Edge/Big Show in the event. Then what about the rest of the card? You had Mysterio, Jericho, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Christian, Kane, John Morrison, CM Punk, The Miz, etc. in the event.

So the poorly recieved WM wasn't because it didn't have a marquee match. Because Shawn Michaels/Undertaker was a marquee match and even people who didn't like WM25 called their match one of the best matches of all time. It was just the poor booking and weak build up that was the problem.

 

[shafe_41]

The "25th" (actually 24th) Anniv. of WM was pretty much a joke of a card top to bottom. Taker/HBK was the only thing that saved this monstrosity from not being in my bottom 3 of all time. A Cena/Hogan match wouldn't have been awful, but it would probably only bring the overall event to the halfway point of the bottom half of the Manias.

As someone stated above, having 2 living legends (Yes... Cena will go down as one like it or not) going against one another would be enough to sell a few more PPV buys, but it wouldn't save the event itself. They both have similar move sets and I think Cena and Hogan could play off each other pretty well. Even with Hogan at his age, he could sell Cena's rather simple power moves. Cena could do the same for Hogan. They both know how to get a crowd to cheer them or hate them. The crowd obviously would get behind Hogan. Put Jericho in a real match (although the Steamboat portion was entertaining, I don't pop the DVD in to watch that ever), don't water down the hatred between Matt and Jeff, and make the JBL/Mysterio match actually happen, and you have a solid card.

The event was overall crap with one shining bright moment in HBK/Taker. I put this in my bottom 5 of all time. Adding Hogan/Cena would only get me to bottom 10 or bottom 12. Still not in the top half. It was that bad for me. Almost painful to watch.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

This is the first I am hearing that this was a possibility. I thought by this point Hogan was long gone.

25 could have really used this. Cena was a huge draw by then but putting him in a triple threat with Show and Edge probably didn't bring in many extra buys other than from a few uptight Canadians and those that suffer from gigantism. Hogan would have brought in/back many fans who wanted to see one more match or a so-called generational battle. In the end, the match would have met much criticism from the IWC smarks (too old, superthis vs. superthat, repeat of 18) but who cares. The important thing is that it would have gotten more people emotionally invested in the product again and maybe some of that investment would have led to those fans sticking around through 2009.

 

[thebarber]

from what I recall, the entire legends storyline was aimed to end up Chris Jerichovs Hulk Hogan, who was going to return to stick up for the LEGENDS Jericho has been belittling. Hogan's back surgery that he was booked in for was the reason he did not sign on for Mania.
Hogan and Jericho get along quite well and Hogan, reportedly at the time, was happy to do the job, but as he knew he could not physically wrestle, he could say that I guess.
I do not see how Cena would have been involved in that storyline as he was in the WHC picture and feuding with Edge. Jericho could have carried Hogan to a passable match, and Mickey Rourke could still have gotten involved during or after the match.

 

[thebarber]

from what I recall, the entire legends storyline was aimed to end up Chris Jericho vs Hulk Hogan, who was going to return to stick up for the LEGENDS Jericho has been belittling. Hogan's back surgery that he was booked in for was the reason he did not sign on for Mania.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/134640-hogan-cena-or-jericho

Hogan and Jericho get along quite well and Hogan, reportedly at the time, was happy to do the job, but as he knew he could not physically wrestle, he could say that I guess.
I do not see how Cena would have been involved in that storyline as he was in the WHC picture and feuding with Edge. Jericho could have carried Hogan to a passable match, and Mickey Rourke could still have gotten involved during or after the match.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Yes I would've liked to have seen Cena vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania 25. As for whether it would've been good or not, who cares. The Rock vs. Hogan at Wrestlemania 18 wasn't some 5 star matchup but it's still iconic because of the crowd and because it's the two biggest names in the company facing each other, it would be exactly the same here, those two things alone are enough to make this match great, plus it would be the first time ever that we had two true top stars of different generations facing each other. And I doubt it would've actually been as awful as people make it out to be, this is Wrestlemania, Hogan would've put in all his effort to at least make it a decent match despite him being past his prime and his injuries, I mean nobody expected Taker to come into Wrestlemania 28 with him being past his prime and all his nagging injuries and put on a good match but look what happened, so who's to know whether Hogan would've been awful in that match or not.

As for whether it could've organized Mania better, Mania 25 could've been organized better whether Hogan vs. Cena was on the card or not. I've always thought Edge should've faced HHH for the World Heavyweight Title since we had seen Orton-HHH a billion times by that point, so this would've been new and quite possibly better than Orton-HHH. They still could've done the same build up they did with Orton with Edge instead, Edge would've been just as convincing as Orton in that build up. Also those two hell-cats Vickie & Stephanie could've been involved in the match, with both of them interfering for their men but it results in them two having a cat-fight with each other instead. Orton could've faced Batista- Batista did return the next night after Wrestlemania, they could've just brought him back one month earlier to try & get his revenge on Orton for putting him out with the Punt after Survivor Series. If Hogan vs. Cena wasn't on the card though then it could've been Cena vs. Orton for the WWE Title instead. As for Big Show, who cares, he could've just been in the Money In The Bank match.