WWE Summerslam: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - John Cena (c) VS Brock Lesnar

[No Count Pup]

Is it inevitable that Brock Lesnar will defeat John Cena at Summerslam? We've read the rumors across the web. Lesnar is supposed to win the title at Summerslam and then go into "Beast Mode" until WrestleMania. Roman Reigns will then have his crowning moment as WWE heads into a new era. I say hold the phone.

Have we forgotten about Super Cena? The guy that defeated the last two members of the Nexus at Summerslam 2010 and the first guy to pin a MITB cash-in challenger? Have we forgotten about the guy who was supposed to be shelved for half a year but came back early to win the 2008 Royal Rumble? Super Cena doesn't give up, he doesn't tap out, and can go from KO'd to victor in mere seconds. Could not Super Cena defeat a Beast?

Coming from a different angle: Batista has a new shine after his Galaxy success. Might WWE be looking to bump up the Animal's pay and give him a title run? Might that influence the Summerslam outcome? Might Cena be the beneficiary?

Or, if the build to WrestleMania starts at Summerslam, is it that outrageous to wonder if WWE is planting the seeds for John Cena vs. Roman Reigns? Cena could always be the "Beast Mode" guy from now until WrestleMania. Would WWE forego a striking passing of the torch moment? After all, WWE likes to dumb things down for us sometimes. "I, John Cena, am handing this big WWE belt to Roman. See everybody, this is the guy. See?"

What do you think? Is a Lesnar victory inevitable? Will Super Cena strike again? Are there any compelling reasons for why Cena should defeat Lesnar so soon after the streak ending?

 

[Reflection]

Cena might need some time off for working on his newest film; Lesnar might get a dominating run with the WWE Championship to remind everyone why he is The Beast and why he conquered the Streak, Cena's absence might be the biggest 'selling' of a beatdown from Lesnar after Taker's absence... All signs seem to point towards a Lesnar WWE Championship run.
Having said that, we cannot count out the possibility of the PPV fading to black with Cena smiling on the turnbuckles, holding the belts above his head, no MITB cash-in or anything, as it has happened many times in the past.
I'm inclining towards the former though, but come SummerSlam, I'll be ready to be proved wrong.

 

[HatchetMan84]

Jobbing Lesnar to Cena again would probably be one of the worst things they could do. I mean whats the point of a Lesnar return if they are just going to make him lose? Brock, part time or not, deserves to be more than a psuedo- "jobber to the stars"...

If they want him to look strong coming into wrestlemania then he needs to beat Cena clean and then destroy everyone they line him up against...

 

[Anger]

I am of the mind that Cena will win. This is not to say that I want him to do so, because I do not. I am not a professional Cena-Hater. I like the guy and believe him to be a much better wrestler than do most of his detractors. I am merely sick of him winning every single time. Which he honestly does not do, but it gets to seeming that way after a while. However, it is my opinion that a Lesnar reign, although it is what I want, is not " best for business ". Primarily because Lesnar will likely only appear to defend the title every month or so, if that. And will be on maybe one to two episodes of Raw per month. It is my opinion that this is simply not feasible. You cannot have the champion, the face of your company, appearing twice per month and only wrestling once at an Event. I understand the obviously experienced view of Jim Ross that it is no issue for Lesnar to carry the belt and rarely appear, given that this is how it was done in the territory days. But this is not the territory era. This is a global company which produces a plethora of live and pre-taped product per week, let alone per month. To have your champion absent most of the time is asinine, at best. So amazingly ( to me at least ) I hope Cena wins, and drops it later on to a competitor who will be there, week in, week out.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I see very, very, very little chance of Brock Lesnar losing to John Cena at SummerSlam. It could happen, but I think it's highly doubtful because Lesnar has too much going right now. John Cena is in the middle of filming a movie right now and I have a feeling that he'll be missing at least one or two more weeks of WWE TV tapings to finish filming after SummerSlam. There's also a ton of heat on Brock Lesnar right now in that he's being hyped as this unstoppable beast and the fact that he ultimately did what no one else could, namely beating the streak, gives him a lot of credibility in that sense. It would be extraordinarily anti-climactic if Lesnar lost his first challenge after accomplishing the unimaginable.

I'm not saying Lesnar will have a long run, there's still no word on exactly what WWE is going to do if Lesnar winds up winning the title. There's been no confirmation of any rumors that Lesnar will drop it back to Cena at Night of Champions, it's been speculated upon by everyone from fans to dirtsheet writers, but that's as far as it goes. Lesnar losing to Cena will also be the 2nd time in a row that Cena's beaten him and I just don't see it going down that way. A lot of people complained when Cena beat Lesnar in his first match back a couple of years ago at Extreme Rules, thinking it hurt Lesnar's credibility. I don't think there'll be much of a debate this time around, however, Lesnar's beaten. From what I understand, Lesnar's current deal expires the day after WrestleMania XXXI and if he doesn't sign another one or if WWE isn't interested in re-signing him, WWE still wants to get use Lesnar to squeeze every dime they can out of viewers. That means he has to be kept looking strong and losing his first match after ending the streak really makes ending the streak seem like not as much of a big deal.

 

[Redemption-2012]

I honestly do not believe that John Cena will win simply because he does not need to. Now does that mean anything in today's WWE? Absolutely not BUT Brock Lesnar will lose credibility after two losses to John Cena simply because you are implying that he can end The Streak yet he cannot beat John Cena in a regular one on one PPV match at Summerslam. It just would not make sense.

Now as a big as a Cena fan that I may be, Brock Lesnar absolutely needs to win this match. He cannot lose between now and WrestleMania where IMO he should drop the title to Roman Reigns (the next big babyface in WWE) next to John Cena, something the WWE desperately need at this point and I think Roman Reigns is "THAT" guy.

This means that that we may have several Raw's without the WWE World Champion but that's OK because it makes it more special when he (Lesnar) does appear on the show. He does need to at EVERY PPV though because a PPV without a title on the line is not a PPV at all, it's a glorified Raw or Smackdown and you cannot ask people to pay 9.99 for that.

There are several match ups for WWE to do, one of those being Brock Lesnar vs Batista where Batista returns and gets his rightful rematch OR even Daniel Bryan when he eventually recovers and possibly even another match between he and Cena. I would not be surprised if we got John Cena vs Brock Lesnar III at Hell in a Cell to end it all.

 

[21 and Bork]

There are several match ups for WWE to do, one of those being Brock Lesnar vs Batista where Batista returns and gets his rightful rematch OR even Daniel Bryan when he eventually recovers and possibly even another match between he and Cena. I would not be surprised if we got John Cena vs Brock Lesnar III at Hell in a Cell to end it all.

What's rightful about Batista getting a Title rematch? He never won the thing. If anything, it's Orton that was robbed of a rematch in the first place. That might not be a bad angle to go with him to freshen him up a bit. Have him go back to a loose cannon threatening members of the Authority until he gets his rightful rematch.

As far as Lesnar goes, I'm not sure I see a clear path(barring a miraculous Daniel Bryan recovery, which would make for one hell of a story) that doesn't end with him either vacating the title or losing it via some heavy Money in the Bank briefcase shenanigans. I guess you could feed him to Reigns, but I think it would still be too early for that.

 

[Franchize1990]

IMO, I believe that this is the most unpredictable "predictable" the WWE has had in a while and I applaud them for that. All booking logic and signs point towards Lesnar getting the better of Cena. He's coming off ending The Streak, he lost to Cena the last time these two met, ect. Having said that, the WWE has been building up Cena as the "greatest WWE Champion of all time" and what better way to further cement that notion than to have him beat the one who is the one behind 21-1? I'm not sure how long Lesnar is supposed to continue with his appearances after SummerSlam so booking Cena over Brock here would deal with that problem if they go that route. After everything is said and done, the biggest match of the summer will hopefully live up to expectations and cap off what is arguably the most impressive card of 2014. I'll be rooting for my favorite, Cena, but won't have any problems however this match goes.

 

[alfonzo13]

Ah yes. The main event.

I have no idea on this one. I really don't. But I have to think about the scenarios based on who could win this match. And there are 3.

John Cena, the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Currently filming his next movie. What if he wins? Are we gonna see him go away for another week or two and have him wait until the go-home show for the next pay-per-view? Will he lose it and then quickly reclaim it in order to get world title #16? Ahem WWE. That would be a waste of time.

Brock Lesnar, the beast incarnate. The man who IS the 1 in 21-1. The man who ended the greatest streak of all time. What if he wins? He's supposedly going to hold it until Wrestlemania 31 when Roman Reigns is ready. Will have world title #4 only. Supposed to be at Night of Champions. What about after that? Will he disappear until someplace bigger, like Survivor Series? Or the Royal Rumble? Or will he at least stick around for every pay-per-view until Wrestlemania, assuming he holds it that long..

Seth Rollins, Mr Money in the Bank. The only way I see him cashing in and walking out is if he loses to Ambrose and Cena retains later in the night.

My pick: Brock Lesnar. WWE must capitalize on what they have. With Heyman as his mouthpiece, and the end of the streak still fresh in everyone's mind, Lesnar is still the most over heel on the roster.

But Reigns, your time is coming..

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I can see this going one of two ways:

1) Brock Lesnar literally beats Cena to within "inches of his life" as proclaimed by Paul Heyman, and gets himself disqualified in the process. Lesnar, not caring about winning the title, really only cares about hurting people. As a result, he destroys Cena but doesn't win the title in the process. However, this leads to a Seth Rollins cash-in to end SummerSlam with a new champion.

2) Brock Lesnar beats Cena and wins the title at SummerSlam. They have a rematch at Night of Champions, in a stipulation match or in a triple threat with Randy Orton. Lesnar retains the title at Night of Champions and then goes on to defend the title at every second PPV (Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, WrestleMania). This keeps him fresh as a champion, not overexposed, but also not a vacant champion. The other PPVs (Hell In A Cell, TLC, Elimination Chamber) are all gimmick PPVs anyways and the gimmicks themselves can sell those events and don't need a title defence.

The third, but least likely option in my opinion is that Cena actually retains the title, and it's Cena who gets the rub of beating the guy who beats the streak. Considering how hard WWE push Cena, this wouldn't be that surprising to me. It would just be incredibly disappointing.

 

[rerun406]

Right now I favor it 80-20 toward Brock winning the title at Summerslam, as a win by Lesnar would even their series at 1-1 and leaves the possibility of a rubber match down the line

true WWE doesn't always think logically, but having Lesnar get redemption and picking up the belt gives em more booking flexibility down the line. As for some other stuff I noticed

"I don't really understand why there's such fascination with making Brock look good" ... the fascination is that Brock is a draw, you want to make your draws look good, Brock's on a good run right now having beaten Punk at last years Summerslam and the Undertaker at WM, why not keep that momentum going with a win over Cena?

"Jobbing Lesnar to Cena again would probably be one of the worst things they could do.. " Maybe not the worst, but pretty close. Brock has a ton of momentum on his side and aside from a DQ loss or Rollins getting the jump on both and walking away with the Belt, Brock needs the title or his credibility will take a hit big time

"Lesnar will drop it back to Cena at Night of Champions" .. well Brock has to get the title first, but provided he does, I don't get the sense in hot potatoing the title right back to Cena if he were to lose it at Summerslam as they could

1. Just let Brock wreck havoc and destroy everyone till the next WM. With Brock's part time schedule this will be pretty easy to pull off and helps to establish Lesnar as a dominant conqueror

2. Brock gets screwed at Summerslam by The Authority in favor of Rollins who cashes in and walks away champion. **maybe by Batista, who for what ever reason decides to help out the authority by taking out Lesnar

**some say Batista getting into the title mix might be questionable, but don't forget that after winning the Rumble, Batista didn't get his 1 on 1 match, plus Batista vs Lesnar could be a good fallback option

^ those are just some possible routes the WWE could go, granted neither could happen but IMO both are much more interesting than keeping Cena as champ, or simply having Cena win back the belt at the very next PPV

 

[Slash-LN]

Why? WWE clearly understands the crowd psychology behind Cena. They don't want a 100% Cena crowd. They want the dueling chants. That's more interesting. Heyman and Lesnar will rile up the Cena haters and lovers alike and the match will be intense.


I'm very interested in this. I'm guessing Lesnar wins. Not sure how they book him as champion but the supposed dirt sheet reported schedule he'll have. The match should be fun as well. They have decent chemistry. Lesnar will beat the shit out of Cena and Cena will get physical back.

I'm thinking long term though.
The crowd seems to lean more towards Brock than it does Cena. Casuals have a high chance of catching on to that and may be swayed to go with the majority.

So if Lesnar is getting more cheers than Cena and goes on to win the title what do you do from there? How do you change those cheers back into boos?

Who is a main event face right now that can get the majority of cheers against Lesnar the Cena slayer? Bryan is out and is Reigns over enough yet?

I probably explained that horribly.

 

[Brushfire]

I'm thinking long term though.

Who is a main event face right now that can get the majority of cheers against Lesnar the Cena slayer? Bryan is out and is Reigns over enough yet?

Here's how I'd do it personally:

SummerSlam: Cena(c) v Lesnar
Night of Champions: Lesnar(c) v Cena
Survivor Series: Lesnar(c) v Batista
Royal Rumble: Lesnar(c) v Daniel Bryan
WrestleMania: Lesnar(c) v Roman Reigns

Lesnar goes over Cena clean at SummerSlam, destroying him as he did the Undertaker. Cena comes back in Cena fashion and has loses while looking strong in a close encounter in some form of gimmick match at NoC (which they want to stack the card for because of network subscriptions).

Batista returns as a face after leaving Evolution and has his one on one match for the WWE WHC that he didn't get, but Lesnar goes over again.

Entirely down to speculation but it's rumoured that Daniel Bryan could be back before the Royal Rumble. If that is the case then he is owed a rematch after vacating the title so can get it here, but Lesnar will go over again. Roman Reigns wins the Rumble after coming out anywhere between 1-5.

Lesnar ultimately puts over Reigns at WrestleMania 31, who should hopefully be ready by then with plenty of time to build and work on both his mic and in-ring skills. (Rollins would then cash-in at either 'Mania, Extreme Rules, or Payback starting a feud between them.)

 

[mkw1962]

I believe Brock will win the title but can he be around more often is the question. We need a champion that will show up on Monday night raw, it would not be the same without your champion on raw. If Brock does win how long will he hold the title, that screws up the money in the bank contract for Seth. Brock wins and than Roman wins the royal rumble they meet at Wrestlemania and Roman wins. When Roman wins the title I can't see him losing it so quickly, Seth has to cash in his contract by next summer. I would think just let Seth cash in on a beaten champion John Cena and forget about Brock unless he can be around all the time.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This will obviously close the show. Nothing else on the card makes sense in going on last. The match has had a good build going into it and I'm looking forward to it at this point. I expect it to go a similar route to their Extreme Rules 2012 match. Lesnar gets far more offense in the match than Cena, but with Cena ultimately winning in the end. This leaves Cena so worn out from the brutal match that he is not going to be able to withstand another title match if Seth Rollins chooses to cash in at Summerslam this year. The main problem with a Seth cash in is that we've seen multiple cash in's already in recent years at Summerslam with Del Rio in 2011 and Randy Orton in 2013. I'd personally rather see Rollins hold onto the briefcase much longer, but it's not an impossibility that he cashes in.

Some will surely argue that Lesnar "must" win here. Why? His UFC work and defeating Undertaker at Wrestlemania are enough to get him another World Heavyweight Championship shot later down the line and both will always justify monster pushes in the future. I highly doubt they will put the belt on Lesnar unless he will be sticking around to appear far more often than he has. Things would have been different had there still been two world titles. In today's WWE where there is only one World Heavyweight Champion he needs to be able to appear on Raw/Smackdown each week. Unless Lesnar can commit to that, he's not taking the belt. John Cena will overcome the odds once again. I'll take an even riskier prediction by stating not only does Cena retain, but Seth chooses to not cash in yet.

DAGGER'S PREDICTION
John Cena will retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Seth Rollins does not cash in yet.