Top Matches Being Discussed for WrestleMania 31 Involving The Rock, Triple H & Sting; Who Will John Cena Face?

[VaderBomb]

Genuinely surprised by some of the positivity for The Rock vs Triple H in this thread.

If you ask me, it's one of the top 5 silliest matches they could put on right now.

Agreed.

List your other four or get neg raped to hell.

[HFX]

Genuinely surprised by some of the positivity for The Rock vs Triple H in this thread.

If you ask me, it's one of the top 5 silliest matches they could put on right now.

Some of us like to have fun and don't have giant sticks up our butts? WM is the biggest show of the year and supposed to be fun. It would simply be a high profile blast from the past which I'd bet the majority of fans would be in favor of.

The only match I'd rather see HHH in would be against Sami Zayn, putting him over but I doubt there's time to make that happen by WM.

[PorkChop]

Genuinely surprised by some of the positivity for The Rock vs Triple H in this thread.

If you ask me, it's one of the top 5 silliest matches they could put on right now.

Agreed.

List your other four or get neg raped to hell.

In my opinion, the top 5 most boring/silly/bad WrestleMania matches they could put on with the current roster:

Triple H vs The Rock:

This would have been cool 15 years ago. After the match, The Rock would disappear again and Triple H would continue as if nothing happened. Whichever way the match finished, it would be shit.

Triple H vs The Undertaker:

Oh god, please no. I've suffered enough.

John Cena vs Randy Orton:

See above.

The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar: 'The redemption story'

If Undertaker wins, it would be stupid. If Lesnar wins again, it would be stupid.

The Rock vs The Undertaker:

This would be a horrid match, horrid storyline, and again, no matter what the result is it would be bad for the company. What would The Rock gain from beating Undertaker? Why on earth would anyone book Undertaker to beat The Rock? Neither outcome makes sense.

There you have it, PorkChop's top 5 WrestleMania matches that nobody should want to see.

[The Legend]

I can't believe my eyes, someone just said Daniel Bryan, aka Mr. Yes and Mr. No, has more personality than John Cena. The John Cena haters have risen to a completely illogical level at this point. Cena's passion and magnetism come across far more clearly than Daniel Bryan just about every night. Bryan is a better technical match worker, but that's the only area where he tops Cena. And hell if WWE fans cared about technical ring ability Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko would have been in The Rock and Austin's place and vice versa.

And why does Cena make the most sense as "Mr. America" because he's a clean cut, hard working guy that through sheer determination took an opportunity and rose up to make the absolute most of it. Why's he Mr. America - look at his work with the fans, with the troops, all the things he does secondary to his career working his butt off and just go back and look at the promo he gave Paul Heyman about a month ago about all the people he does what he does for.

[Messiah]

The John Cena haters have risen to a completely illogical level at this point. Cena's passion and magnetism come across far more clearly than Daniel Bryan just about every night.

No fucking way.

John Cena could have more personality than Daniel Bryan if used the right way. I don't think anyone is denying Cena is the better mic worker. However, Cena is an unsympathetic character that is impossible to relate to. Daniel Bryan is and Daniel Bryan has shown far more passion, emotion, etc. than Cena has in the last year. The only time Cena shows his "passion" is in his promos where he talks about Make-A-Wish, soldiers, and reasons why he can't turn heel and those promos are about as irritating as an itch on your nuts that won't go away due to how much we have heard the same drivel in the last 5 years from him.

[Messiah]

And hell if WWE fans cared about technical ring ability Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko would have been in The Rock and Austin's place and vice versa.

Also, c'mon. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko were never eliciting the loudest crowd reaction on the show week in and week out.

Besides, I'm not arguing that Daniel Bryan should be the face of the WWE over John Cena. I don't think that. I have stated countless times I don't have an issue with Cena being the top dog. I understand why he is - the issue I have is with how poorly constructed his character is. It is bland and cookie cutter who the fans cannot possibly relate to because John Cena is perfect. Even when he gets demolished by Brock Lesnar, he returns 2 weeks later like it is nothing and then has the audacity to compare it to The Undertaker who hasn't been seen since. It is this constant boosting up of John Cena as some sort of prophecy that fans disgust. It is why, as I said, fans turned on him. I don't see how that is difficult to see. The reason fans won't turn on CM Punk or Daniel Bryan and didn't turn on Edge because they are treated as imperfect characters. They are presented with flaws or trait you can relate to or they have a personality that is lovable.

John Cena is perfect and in the real world that is great. In the wrestling world, that is awful.

I mean, it is no different than people in sports hating the LBJ led Miami Heat or (insert current best basketball team at any given time), New England Patriots, and New York Yankees. Or in fact Tom Brady. He is just so perfect - model wife, rich as fuck, winning QB, just about no flaws - that people despise him. It is no different. Anyone who can't see why the fans turn on faces like John Cena are delusional. Nobody wants a cookie cutter babyface with 0 flaws.

[The Legend]

See to me I don't see John Cena as perfect or even believe he's really portrayed as such. I relate to the fact that he stays true to who he is even when being hated upon. That he stays true even though a million people want to pull him in a million different directions he still looks at himself in the mirror and says I have to be the person I believe in. I relate to it because I constantly have people in my life that are trying to change who I am as well and I admire John Cena's ability to say fuck it I am who I am and anybody that doesn't like it doesn't matter to me.

Also, your sports comparisons are deeply, deeply flawed. LBJ leading the Heat wasn't hated because he's perfect. It was hated because he went full on heel. Stabbing people in the back and holding the team's seventh championship celebration before they even held one practice together. Calling themselves the Heatles and their entire marketing campaign backfired on them.

The Yankees are hated more so because of their unfair advantage of being able to spend 10 times the salary on players than most of the other markets in MLB and the way they turned baseball into much more of an economics lesson than a sport.

The Patriots and Tom Brady is a decent example, although I think more people hate Belichick and his smug arrogance that he tries to hide behind a perceived lack of personality.

[Str8Shooter]

There you have it, PorkChop's top 5 WrestleMania matches that nobody should want to see.

Why should nobody want to see them? You know people are allowed to have opinions about what they want to see other than your own right?

There's 70,000 people at Mania, many of whom are probably casual watchers of wrestling who go because it's a huge event that they liked when they were younger and never got a chance to go to one then. Those people would have no problem seeing Undertaker, or Rock, or Triple H wrestling a match, even against each other.

There's more "smarks" now than there's ever been, but people need to get over the misnomer that every fan out there thinks the same way, and thinks all these new guys are amazing and that the old guys suck and should go away for good. There's a happy medium where they can use the old guys to keep the casuals happy and the new guys to keep the smarks happy.

[AkydefGoldberg]

There you have it, PorkChop's top 5 WrestleMania matches that nobody should want to see.

Why should nobody want to see them? You know people are allowed to have opinions about what they want to see other than your own right?

There's 70,000 people at Mania, many of whom are probably casual watchers of wrestling who go because it's a huge event that they liked when they were younger and never got a chance to go to one then. Those people would have no problem seeing Undertaker, or Rock, or Triple H wrestling a match, even against each other.

There's more "smarks" now than there's ever been, but people need to get over the misnomer that every fan out there thinks the same way, and thinks all these new guys are amazing and that the old guys suck and should go away for good. There's a happy medium where they can use the old guys to keep the casuals happy and the new guys to keep the smarks happy.

I'm probably in this camp atm. Put it this way, I'm more inclined to book a day off from work to stay up Sunday night into the early hours to watch WM31 if Rock is wrestling than if he isn't. For those fans who are not invested in the product and don't know the ins and outs - like me - then this notion of an old school feud to compliment a card that has a focus on up and coming stars is no bad thing.

IIRC when Rock came back in 2012, I remember some posts saying he shouldn't face Cena and then beat him because he'll disappear once that's done and he did, back to Hollywood. IIRC, Rock should face another part-time so it can add something to the show but not a big issue in terms of story progression. Rock/HHH would be the only match out of Porky's five that makes "sense" (not massive sense but a small element) due to HHH being heel and part of the Authority and had Rock interrupted Rollins on RAW then there's a starting point for a HHH feud as Rollins is, I believe, HHH's guy so naturally HHH could come out and attack Rock in some way.

But the other four Porky mentioned, yes, not a great deal of sense to those.

[Everlong]

Honestly, as someone who pretty much only watches the Rumble and WrestleMania, I'd mark if Rock/HHH happened.

[DanielsonTHAGOAT]

Honestly, as someone who pretty much only watches the Rumble and WrestleMania, I'd mark if Rock/HHH happened.

I would too. The promos between the two would be amazing and they won't take up too much time on TV over the young guys because of Rocky's limited schedule.

[Messiah]

For everyone who is saying they want the match because of the awesome interactions they would have;

You guys do realize the last time The Rock had a WrestleMania match, he appeared on like one RAW in the build up to the show, right? IIRC, Rocky will also have a movie coming out around this time and a match with Triple H would not be the main event or for the WWE Championship like Rock/Cena was.

There would hardly be any interactions between Triple H and The Rock.

[The Legend]

Well, after watching Smackdown they showed a segment that pretty much locks in a HHH vs Rock match that was recorded after RAW. So it looks like this match will be happening.

[prophet]

Well, after watching Smackdown they showed a segment that pretty much locks in a HHH vs Rock match that was recorded after RAW. So it looks like this match will be happening.

I wouldn't say that segment pretty much locks in anything. All I saw was a fun little nostalgic segment with the two of them bantering and an ever so slight tease of a future match-up, probably to gauge reaction. Far from locked in that the match will be happening.

[The Legend]

Well, after watching Smackdown they showed a segment that pretty much locks in a HHH vs Rock match that was recorded after RAW. So it looks like this match will be happening.

I wouldn't say that segment pretty much locks in anything. All I saw was a fun little nostalgic segment with the two of them bantering and an ever so slight tease of a future match-up, probably to gauge reaction. Far from locked in that the match will be happening.

They said WrestleMania like 15 times in that segment. They were putting it on really strong that this match would be happening.

[Everlong]

For everyone who is saying they want the match because of the awesome interactions they would have;

You guys do realize the last time The Rock had a WrestleMania match, he appeared on like one RAW in the build up to the show, right? IIRC, Rocky will also have a movie coming out around this time and a match with Triple H would not be the main event or for the WWE Championship like Rock/Cena was.

There would hardly be any interactions between Triple H and The Rock.

I don't really care all that much, I'd only be watching WrestleMania anyway

[Hanley!]

Some of us like to have fun and don't have giant sticks up our butts? WM is the biggest show of the year and supposed to be fun. It would simply be a high profile blast from the past which I'd bet the majority of fans would be in favor of.

Oh good, the Michael Bay defense.

"If you don't like this big empty spectacle, then it's your fault because you don't like to have fun. You'd realise that this was actually really entertaining if you weren't such a stick in the mud and just stopped having standards."

This type of argument always baffles me. Why mock people for wanting better from their entertainment? Why criticize people who want their writers to make an effort? What these people are looking for is in everybody's best interest.

Also, I think it's time we stopped equating "spectacle" with "fun". They're not the same thing, but they're used interchangeably far too often. Big budget blockbusters don't get to be fun just because they're made for the mass market and have lots of explosions. In fact in recent years many of them are pretty dour in tone. But yet the standard defense when these movies are criticized is that they're "fun". No they're not.

By the same reasoning, what makes Triple H vs Rock inherently fun? What is it about the combination of those two characters that makes you instantly think it's going to be fun? It'll be a spectacle, because they're two big names and you know there'll be a lot of fan fare around the match. But on paper what makes this match/feud more likely to be "fun" than any other? I'd argue nothing at all. And the fact that they'll barely appear on television together and the fact that they will likely have very little physicality prior to the match (and possibly in the match) actively takes away from the fun, for me.

Anyone who wants to see the match, I'll try not to hold it against you. Everyone has their own taste/opinion. But I don't think this is a valid retort to those who aren't interested. Nothing about Triple H vs Rock screams fun, and there's nothing wrong with having high standards.

At least some of the wrestling community should have high standards after all. The company has none and the fans learned to settle for less a long time ago.

[Hanley!]

See to me I don't see John Cena as perfect or even believe he's really portrayed as such. I relate to the fact that he stays true to who he is even when being hated upon. That he stays true even though a million people want to pull him in a million different directions he still looks at himself in the mirror and says I have to be the person I believe in. I relate to it because I constantly have people in my life that are trying to change who I am as well and I admire John Cena's ability to say fuck it I am who I am and anybody that doesn't like it doesn't matter to me.

I can understand your perspective here to a certain extent. Here's what I'm genuinely interested in though: clearly you can relate to what John Cena goes through. But does that not make it even lamer when he doesn't react to any of it? The people in your life who try to change who you are ... they have some kind of impact on you, right? They make you sad or frustrated or something, I imagine. Otherwise you wouldn't have brought it up. Is it not then a farce and an insult for them to trot out this character who you're supposed to relate to that doesn't fucking care one iota about any of it?

I just find that strange. It's one thing to relate to a character who has been through the same things as you, but people generally relate far more to characters who react to these situations in a similar way to them.

From that perspective nobody can relate to John Cena, except maybe your garden variety sociopath. Because he doesn't react to any of it.

And why does Cena make the most sense as "Mr. America" because he's a clean cut, hard working guy that through sheer determination took an opportunity and rose up to make the absolute most of it. Why's he Mr. America - look at his work with the fans, with the troops, all the things he does secondary to his career working his butt off and just go back and look at the promo he gave Paul Heyman about a month ago about all the people he does what he does for.

I agree with this from a ideological point of view, but I'm going to now ask you directly what I already spoke about earlier. If Rusev loses his undefeated streak to Cena, then they will have spent months building heel heat for a character just so he can finally lose ... to boos. The story will end on a bum note, because the elation that is supposed to come after building up a villain for this long, will be sacrificed. Most of the fans won't be happy. They won't get the climax they were hoping for.

Do you really think that doesn't matter? Do you still think Cena is the best choice to defeat Rusev, even though so many of the fans won't react to it in the way they're supposed to? Won't react to it in the manner that WWE will have spent almost a year preparing for? Do you not think the hate Cena receives matters at all?

If not, then I literally couldn't disagree with you more. At some point, why Cena's hated stops being the most important thing. The important thing is that he is hated and it's not something that can be ignored. Particularly given it's basically his entire character.

The bookers need to start acknowledging the boos in a way that's more productive than just having Cena point them out all the time.

[SortaCreative]

What would make John Cena interesting is playing up the fact that people hate him and have fun with that. Play the fans against each other.

Actively try and annoy people like me that hate him, go for it. Don't just do it passively. Don't just acknowledge that we can't stand his fucking guts by saying "but hey, you er, pay your money, you get to do what you want, cos murica" and engage with it, properly. Like they started to with Paul Heyman.

[Str8Shooter]

Some of us like to have fun and don't have giant sticks up our butts? WM is the biggest show of the year and supposed to be fun. It would simply be a high profile blast from the past which I'd bet the majority of fans would be in favor of.

Oh good, the Michael Bay defense.

"If you don't like this big empty spectacle, then it's your fault because you don't like to have fun. You'd realise that this was actually really entertaining if you weren't such a stick in the mud and just stopped having standards."

This type of argument always baffles me. Why mock people for wanting better from their entertainment? Why criticize people who want their writers to make an effort? What these people are looking for is in everybody's best interest.

Here's the thing, you say people are allowed to have different opinions and yet your tone throughout your post is dripping with elitism. You basically are saying that anybody who wants to see Rock vs Triple H "doesn't have standards". Or wanting "better entertainment". What exactly is "better entertainment"? There are people out there who are perfectly happy seeing Rock and Triple H wrestle, in fact there's been quite a few in this thread alone. In their opinion that would be just fine entertainment.