Cena's matches are like Assassin's Creed (or some other yearly, repetitive video game)

[Messiah]

Sure, they were really good to begin with, but why do people still like them? They are literally the same every single time.

Slow start. Cena hits 5 Knuckle Shuffle after opponent counters it the first time. Both wrestlers hit their finisher and the other kicks out. Then a 5-10 minute sequence of both guys hitting all their signature moves to false finishes. Then both guys hit their finisher again near the end, with the person hitting theirs second winning the match.

There is no psychology at all to his matches. It was cool to start in his US Open Challenges but I don't know what about it still gets people so engaged. You're just watching the same match over and over again.

And this isn't a Cena bash thread. I like the direction his character has taken, even if it has been minor. And I don't think it is his fault his matches are this way. I just think they kind of suck, especially compared to the more old-school, psychology based approach NXT takes.

[Str8Shooter]

I thought it was awesome. Indy Cena all day and all night.

[KaiserGlider]

It's weird to me that the first Cena/Styles match at Money in the Bank had a great storyline and psychology to it, and since then it's been back to standard Cena Match Mode. Maybe they had more time to put that one together since Cena was out with an injury? Though I have enjoyed all of their matches. But this is why I didn't think it was ideal to have Cena/Styles main event Wrestlemania.

[Hanley!]

I really loved that Money in the Bank match until the lame finish. All the stuff with Styles countering Cena's moves and mocking him and the way the match started slow and really started to heat up in the last half - that stuff really appeals to me. Because of the lame finish, I'd probably just put it on par with the other matches they've had, but it could have been the best.

This was a very good match, don't get me wrong. I liked Styles vs Cena last night. Mostly because Styles is freaking amazing. Cena is a good big match performer, so I don't want to minimize his contribution but I don't think he could have had this sequence of matches with almost anyone else. Some of the reversals and set pieces in the match were really cool. And the crowd was super into everything.

But I've never been a huge fan of the finisher kickout finisher kickout finisher kickout finisher kickout epic style WWE main event matches. They feel like a bit of a cop out - a substitute for really good storytelling. This likely will be one of the best WWE matches of the year, but I imagine it won't quite live up to some of the better matches from NXT and elsewhere just because of how formulaic and easy it was.

[Hanley!]

Also, I noticed something again last night for the umpteenth time watching a Cena main event: for someone whose big matches tend to be based largely around finishers and near falls, he's really bad at near falls. He makes it pretty obvious when he's going to kickout and he always does it right on two, rather than leaving it to the last split second to milk all possible drama out of it.

It's weird that, as good as he's become in many ways, Cena still has some basic holes like this in his wrestling.

[KaiserGlider]

Yeah, selling has always been Cena's weak point as a performer. I bet nobody in management had the balls to call him out on it years ago and now they figure it's too late to bother.