Wall Banger/Professional Wrestling/World Wrestling Entertainment: Difference between revisions

*** Footage of that particular match was shown for quite a while afterward, mainly due to the fact that [[Determinator|Holly finished the match]].

** Another crowning example would be the [[CM Punk]] vs [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.]] match at Over The Limit...during the match, Punk's forehead was split open, causing them to stop the match, pissing off the crowd to the point of 'Boring' chants, and visibly pissing Punk off as well (breaking his Heel kayfabe persona). They took so long to close the wound that Punk was forced to jump back in the match early to save it, while periodically wiping blood off his still-bleeding forehead.

** I disagree with Austin being Triple H's lackey. Keep in mind that Austin was the WWF Champion, and Triple H was the Intercontinental Champion, and by default, Austin was the more important member of the Power Trip. I can understand Trips being accused of holding back the upper mid-carders (Jericho, RVD, etc.), but Austin? Trips knows that he's untouchable.

** This was justified by the fact that The Rock was going to film ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Returns]]'' but was holding the WWF Championship, so Vince needed an excuse for the fans to take the title from him and put him out of action. And their way was to have Vince screw him over at ''Wrestlemania X-7'', have him lose his rematch in a steel cage thanks to Triple H on the next RAW, and then fire him on Smackdown. In our minds, we thought "what a week for The Rock."

** To be fair, it was Austin himself who WANTED to turn heel after WrestleMania to refresh his character, but close friend [[Jim Ross]] compared it to "trying to get John Wayne play a Nazi soldier; it's not going to work".

*** The heel turn itself could have worked, Austin had played a superb heel in all three of the major promotions before. The ''way'' they did the heel turn? Yeah, that pretty much doomed it.

*** Though what made him a tweener (attacking all kinds and being rebellious) wasn't what turned him heel. It was selling out to [[Vince McMahon]] which nobody bought after his years of being an anti-authoritarian blue collar anti-hero.

* [[WWE]] has a continuing [[Wall Banger (Darth Wiki)|Wall Banger]] in their insistence on using the terms "sports entertainment" and "entertainer" instead of "wrestling" and "wrestler". Yes, yes, we all know [[Kayfabe|wrestling is fake]], but it seriously hurts [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] when you're reminded of that fact every five minutes.

** Not so much the unmasking itself, but the feud with Shane McMahon and the resulting [[Badass Decay]] and [[Character Derailment]]. For about a month after the unmasking, Kane was the most interesting thing in WWE.

** The make-up not working filled it with [[Narm]] though.

* Around 2003ish, WWE abruptly decided that wrestlers couldn't be from Canada unless they had Canadian gimmicks, i.e. [[Bret Hart]], Lance Storm, etc. So after having been from Toronto for half a decade, [[Trish Stratus]] was suddenly from New York City, New York. Ditto [[Chris Benoit]] and Atlanta, Georgia. [[Chris Jericho]] got a new hometown too. Insulting to Canadian fans in particular, and the intelligence of, oh, everyone.

** This actually happened around Wrestlemania XX, notable for Chris Benoit's title victory in the main event. Of course, the first PPV following Wrestlemania was Backlash, which happened to take place in Benoit's now former hometown of Edmonton. Normally, a company would accentuate a hometown hero's popularity, not undermine it.

** Made even worse when, on the very next ''Raw'', Trump ''sold the show back to Vince'' for "double what he paid".

*** Trump was originally going to make regular appearances as the owner of RAW, but his schedule didn't allow for it, so they made the quick fix.

**** Confusion, hell -- the shareholders believed it so completely that WWE stock ''plunged''. They ''had'' to punt on the angle.

* [[John Cena]] vs. [[The Miz]], full-stop. This feud built up over the span of two months with Miz calling out Cena at every opportunity and laying into him verbally with some genuinely clever insults that started to make Miz one of the biggest heat magnets in the company. When it comes time to step up and fight Cena one-on-one? And on pay-per-view, no less? Cena makes it a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] wherein Miz gets virtually no offense and gives up clean inside five minutes.

** It should be known that Adamle has had epilepsy for years, and the effects of it are what caused him to botch so much. He actually has a history of botching names during his long tenure as a Chicago sports reporter for the same reason.

* Randy Orton's "I Quit" match with John Cena at ''Breaking Point 2009'': namely, every single moment that Orton handcuffed and uncuffed Cena during the match. The Wall Banger here should be obvious - Orton even uncuffing Cena at all in the first place, especially since earlier in the same year Randy had had the good sense to keep HHH at his mercy BY KEEPING HIM HANDCUFFED TO THE ROPES. Rather than doing the same with Cena and constantly beating him up in one area where Cena is cuffed, Orton instead constantly keeps freeing Cena and tying him up to different areas of the ring. This eventually opens him up to the moment where this strategy backfires and Cena does his miracle comeback, making Orton quit very quickly afterwards.

** The unfortunate real life implications are that [[Jeff Hardy]] has gotten in trouble repeatedly for drug use, actually getting fired from 2 companies before the angle took place over it.

* The [[Word of God|official reason]] the diva Cherry (real name Kara Drew) was fired in late 2008? "She was too fat."

** Candice Michelle got fired for the same reason - she gained a little weight while off rehabbing an injury so they fired her.

** Candice wasn't so much as fired for putting on weight so much as she was let go for being too injury-prone. Ironic considering how much mileage WWE gets/got out of Triple H and Batista who stay/stayed injured frequently during their tenures in the company.

** Don't forget, Dawn Marie was fired because she got ''pregnant''. Johnny Ace, [[This Is Your Life|This is your]] [[Dethroning Moment of Suck]].

*** People need to realize that any time Vince uses "she was too fat" as the reason for why he fired a Diva, it's not the real reason. "She was too fat" is code for "That bitch wouldn't give me/one of my favorite big guys a lapdance", plain and simple. Vince no longer cares about the quality of women's wrestling and only cares about who will sleep with him and his big guys (hence why Michelle McCool was getting pushed to the moon). If he ''did'' care about women's wrestling, the Tramp Stamp Title wouldn't exist, half the Diva's wouldn't have even gotten out of development, and somebody '''credible''' (Kharma, [[Beth Phoenix]], Natalya, Gail Kim, AJ, Tamina, Melina, ''Jillian freaking Hall'') would be feuding for the Women's Championship.

*** The [[Hollywood Tone Deaf]] gimmick is actually a [[Take That]] to [[Hulk Hogan]]'s daughter, Brooke, who was trying to start a career in music.

*** [[Hilarious in Hindsight|And yet her in-character album]] [[Take That|outsold Brooke's]]!

** Probably because despite the criticism, the audience loves them. No reason for them to change anything when they move merchandise and sell tickets.

** Speaking of Lita...her farewell. Hate her or not for what she did to Matt, cheating on him and all...did she REALLY deserve the sendoff she got?

*** ''Speaking'' of her farewell, it has actually been reported that security was confiscating "Thank You, Lita!" signs from fans. Seriously, did Lita piss in Vince's coffee or something? '''''What the hell?!?'''''

*** This troper remembers that one very well. Linda shin kicks JR in the Sooners after telling him he's fired. Of course, this was all a ruse as JR needed time off for colon surgery. [[Real Life Writes the Plot|Vince playing Dr. Hiney]] in WWE's tasteless parody of JR's surgery deserves its own mention.

*** Yes it happened. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMKP2UHeOa8 Peter Schiff remembers].

** The first was referring to a staged car accident on Raw as "The worst night of [[Bret Hart]]'s life." Just think about that for a second. [For those new to wrestling, there was the [[Montreal Screwjob]], the death of his brother [[Owen Hart]] in a WWE ring, the concussion from [[Goldberg]] that ended his career, and a stroke that guaranteed he'd probably never be able to wrestle another match again.]

** The second came at Wrestlemania, when he crapped all over Vickie Guererro's tribute to her late, great husband Eddie by calling her finisher a "Hog Splash." Somebody ''please'' fire this man. '''''Now!'''''

** [[He Got Better]].

*** Also funnier if you have seen the movie. Lets just say Truth was the last in a series for Mac Gruber.

* The Punjabi Prison match. While nobody especially wanted to see [[The Giant|The Great Khali]] fight [[The Undertaker]] in a bamboo cage, they'd been hyping this thing for months as Khali's signature match. By the time the PPV rolled around, Khali got injured and Taker ended up facing... The Big Show. Yeah. Khali did end up facing [[Batista]] in a Punjabi Prison match later on, but by then, nobody cared.

** Khali wasn't even injured. He had elevated enzymes.

** The Titles: Some of the recent champions have done much better than fans expected them to, but it doesn't change the fact that the most talented workers are struggling to get airtime. Beth is injured, granted; but Jillian can't escape her joke character, Natalya is playing arm candy for the Hart Dynasty and it's believed Gail is being buried as punishment for working for TNA. Above and beyond that is the appearance of the titles; the Women's championship is OK, but the Diva's championship just plain looks ridiculous, with a giant pink butterfly as the central motif. [[Fan Nickname|Fans have dubbed it]] the "Tramp Stamp Title".

** The Music: Main event men tend to have music that is fairly aggressive, often loud rock or hip hop. Women have rather grating techno and lyrics that (yet again) keep referencing how hot they are regardless of whether it fits or contrasts their character roles at the moment.

** What really sends heads against the walls is Vince and the WWE try to play the Divas up as comparable wrestlers to the men, despite the fact that most fans are painfully aware that they are hired (at least, initially) as Fanservice. Saying that someone like Maryse is comparable to Randy Orton is like trying to say the <s> Lingerie Bowl</s> Puppy Bowl is as challenging a sporting event as the Super Bowl.

*** They ''wouldn't have this problem'' if they would make the effort to find attractive and talented female wrestlers. It boils down to two misconceptions that WWE (or at least, head of talent John Laurinaitis) has about women's wrestling. First, they seem to believe that men will ONLY support a woman wrestler if she's supermodel-material, despite evidence against that. Second, they also seem to think that there is no such thing as a pretty female wrestler [despite homegrown [[Trish Stratus]] and at least half the roster of [[SHIMMER]]]. The second part is slowly being fixed, as the talent is improving but since Laurinaitis has reportedly said he won't hire any female wrestler that isn't Playboy-material, it's insulting to female wrestlers, female fans, male fans, and wrestling in general.

** Most likely what's happening here is that it had something to do with the move to HD. Over the past few years, most of the belts have been replaced with more detailed and elaborate versions that look better on TV (The "Spinner" WWE Belt, the "Spartan" Tag Titles, ECW's "Platinum Phoenix") As far as the new title, that explains that. It doesn't explain why they picked such an ugly design and why they eliminated all of the title's prestige, however.

*** Am I the only person who thinks that the womans title still exists? In case you forgot the titles were "unified". Don’t blame the butterfly belt for not looking like the old title. Sure I agree that the divas title has been a way more useless title then the womans, but people gotta quit assuming that because the divas title now represents both of them (appearance wise) that the womans titles prestige is gone forever. Thinking that way is just like saying that the short time that Swagger/Miz stole the us title from Kofi, they were actually us champ for that time (this is just one of numerous title theft examples). The belt as a prop means absolutely nothing, they technically don’t even need to use them, it just makes it easier to keep up with whose champion by using it. People gotta realize that the title of womans champion is still being fought for, its just not represented by a physical object anymore(side note: as far as im concerned, the whole time LayCool was as WWE said "co-womans champions" I considered Layla the champ by herself. when Michelle beat Melina at NOC, Michelle became divas champ, with Layla still being womans champ. Then when Natalya beat them both at Survivor Series, "then" the titles were officially unified)

** Not to mention the idea of Michelle and Layla as Co-Champions. The problem here is that WWE has never officially recognized Michelle as a co-champion (Even still, only Layla is regarded as champion.) This, combined with the fact that Michelle is married to the Undertaker, makes it look like she's maneuvered her way into being champion even when she's not the champion. She defends the title, of course, but it gets frustrating if you realize she's defending a title that she doesn't have. Now, as time has marched on, WWE.com has started showing Michelle as the Divas Champion. While the co-champions thing makes it all something of a murky mess, but it looks like they've quietly handed the title over from Layla to Michelle without any kind of mention of it on television (and without Michelle earning it in any legitimate way.) Isn't helping Michelle's reputation as a [[God Mode Sue]] in any way.

* Of course fans' attitude towards the Divas they don't like is hypocritical and thus a Wall Banger in itself. Their response to WWE's policy of "not hiring anyone who isn't Playboy material" is to just assume any Diva who looks like a model will never be a good wrestler, PERIOD. Michelle McCool and Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres can work just as hard in the ring as Natalya or [[Beth Phoenix]], but the smarks will never respect them because they don't look like they're on steroids or display that "I'll beatup any guy in the crowd and make them like it" look. They also won't acknowledge any improvements made in the division since 2004, despite the majority of the women being competent workers by 2010.

** It isn't so much a belief that supermodel-material divas can't be good wrestlers, it's more that we've seen time and time again that the booking and writing prioritize how they look way more than how good they are. Sure most of the women on the roster have improved, but if they would hire them based on their skill as the main priority, we wouldn't need them to improve like that.

** Gail Kim \[http://www.ringsidenews.com/news/gail-kim-posts-several-twitter-messages-criticizing-wwe-s-use-of-divas/ actually took WWE creative to task over how they book the Divas nowadays.] And yet even despite this you'll still have people assuming it's the talent's fault why the modern division is in a dire state of affairs instead of calling out the true guilty parties.

* ''SummerSlam'' 2010; in the big first showdown between WWE and [[The Nexus]], WWE wins. Not great on its own, but what kills it is the details; it came down to Cena against two of the top men in Nexus. After being beaten badly by them, by a traitorous Edge and Jericho, and by the other members of the group just a little earlier in the match Cena takes a DDT on exposed concrete, only to beat both Gabriel and Barrett one right after the other. This one got the fanbase rabid, and managed to piss smarks off even on a night when ''[[Bryan Danielson]] main-evented the second biggest show of the year''.

*** Be careful what you wish for - Ross came back for the "Old School" Raw to call a Danielson match, and all you could hear was Michael Cole pissing all over Danielson ''and'' JR.

**** To be fair, JR got a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] out of it. Every time the cut to the commentators, you would see Cole doing his spiel, and Ross would simply give him a "Are You For Real?" look and promptly ignore him.

*** The crap keeps piling on when you realize Cole doesn't have a whole lot to piss on Danielson about. Smarks generally agree that his wrestling ability ranges from good to incredible, which leads to Cole whining about Danielson being pale and vegan.

**** In desperately trying to smear Daniel Bryan Cole claims he never had a date in his life. Uh...um...this has an impact on his wrestling ability, how?

***** It doesn't, but it makes it pretty funny since he never mentions it until Daniel has at least two Divas (usually the Bella Twins) fawning all over him.

* Speaking of NXT guys, the final episode of NXT Season 2 saw the eliminated rookies start their own Nexus-like stable called Genesis. That alone was a wallbanger in itself. However, the execution of the NXT Riot-like beatdown was beyond disastrous, and <s>may have</s> pretty much killed the angle before it started. See the [[So Bad It's Horrible/WWE|So Bad It's Horrible]] section if you really want to know why.

** MVP (one of the pros for that season) and Low Ki/Kaval (who was the recipient of said beatdown before the pros rushed the ring and sided with Kaval) had the following to say about the incident:

* This is an older one, but [[Vince McMahon]] making ''himself'' the higher power that the Ministry of Darkness had been answering to all along, thus ruining five months of storyline in which the Ministry was trying to take over the WWF, and demoting [[The Undertaker]] to [[The Dragon]], all so he could revive the Austin vs McMahon feud which was already old by then to begin with. Having Undertaker and his Ministry on the same team with and answering to [[Triple H]], Chyna, and Shane McMahon just didn't fit either. There's a reason Undertaker himself was unhappy with this period in his career.

** Smarks (particularly [[Scott Keith]],) agree that WWE wrote themselves into a corner when it came time for the reveal. Keith said in his book ''Tonight In This Very Ring...'' that there were 3 ways that reveal could have gone; 1 logical, 2 illogical: 1. The Logical. [[Mick Foley]]. Foley however declined because he didn't want to be a heel with no buildup. 2. The 1st Illogical. Steve Austin. Obviously since Austin was in the room with the Higher/Greater Power when the figure revealed his face to Austin...Well, you can finish that train of thought. 3. 2nd Illogical. [[Vince McMahon]]. Yeah.

*** [[Vince McMahon]] was the only possible choice to be the Higher Power. It's not the first time he swerved everyone as part of his gambit just to screw Austin (think Survivor Series 1998, when Shane and The Rock, whom Vince feuded with heading into the event, were in cahoots with him the entire time). Foley wouldn't have made sense for the reasons mentioned, also the fact that his only "bad blood" with Austin was when Foley was Vince's lackey, and Austin even helped him win the WWE Championship at one point, while he had a lot more bad blood towards Vince and [[The Undertaker]]. Other fan choices including Jake Roberts (who was not only not in WWE at the time, but he was going through his drug and alcohol problems and the angle would have ended in an instant [[Role Ending Misdemeanor]] right after the reveal probably, as well as several people who could not wrestle at the time due to injuries, such as [[Ted DiBiase]] (who, like Roberts, wasn't even in WWE at the time) and [[Shawn Michaels]], thus a feud with them wouldn't really go anywhere. It got to the point where people said they wanted it to be Brother Love, of all people. So basically they just wanted a random shocking twist for the sake of a random and shocking twist, whether it resulted in anything worthwhile or not. Vince being revealed as the Higher Power wasn't TOO shocking, but did a lot storyline wise, such as make Austin more heroic than he's been at any other time in his career when he saved Vince's daughter Stephanie from the Ministry, and it was what turned Vince from simply the [[Bad Boss]] to a [[Complete Monster]] who was willing to have his own daughter kidnapped just to screw Austin and cared more about his power and authority than his own family. So if anything it was a [[Wall Banger (Darth Wiki)|Wall Banger]] on the fan's part who assumed that it was going to be a huge return of someone from the past, whether it made sense or not.

*** The problem with Vince being the Higher Power is his motivations: getting the belt off Austin. The Ministry had been started weeks before Austin was even slated to have a title shot. Furthermore, Austin's involvement in the feud was completely a fluke, randomly saving [[Stephanie McMahon]] in a very odd moment for Austin's character (even ''he'' looks a little confused about what he's doing). Also, ''Backlash '99'' where Austin faced the Rock with a Mc Mahon in both's corner (Shane for Rock, Vince for Austin) as a ref was a ''perfect'' moment to screw Austin over for the title if he wanted the belt off Austin that badly. So, instead, Vince opts for a needlessly complicated plot that is infinitely less assured and requires Austin acting in ways he never has before in one of the weirdest [[Xanatos Roulette|Xanatos Roulettes]] ever in pro wrestling.

** Indeed. Cena himself said in an interview that when he jobbed to Edge, he wanted to drop to the midcard and turn Heel so as to refresh his character which had long gone stale with the fans. Which makes this a double-wallbanger in that Cena '''''ACTIVELY TOLD THE WRITERS''''' to drop him to midcard so he could rebuild.

*** This is more because of Vince's absolute refusal to turn Cena heel, for a number of reasons. 1, Vince doesnt believe a heel Cena can sell tickets or merchandise (Though his ''SmackDown'' run proves otherwise). 2, Turning Cena heel, dropping him to the midcard, and letting him rebuild his character would (in Vince's mind) appease the [[Smart Mark|Smarks]] and, as everyone knows, Vinnie-boy absolutely ''despises'' the [[Smart Mark|Smarks]] (Miz's anti-Cena feud, Michael Cole's heel run and Kaval's [[Jobber]]-esque run, and the rather brutal undertreatment of [[Zack Ryder]] are all examples of this). So, as long as Vince is in charge, we will never see Cena as a heel.

* During the Kane/Undertaker 2010 feud 'Taker appeared to have been weakened since [[Wrestler/Kane|Kane]] left him in a comatose-like state earlier in the year. In an effort to fully regain his power he decided to bring back his urn, the urn which is held by none other than [[Paul Bearer]]. Paul, who hadn't been seen or mentioned on WWE programming in over four years, returned on a Smackdown a few weeks before the Kane/Taker rematch for the World Heavyweight title at the "Hell In A Cell". Paul's abrupt return isn't what makes this a wallbanger though. The thing that puts this in the bang-your-head-into-the-nearest-sturdy-surface category is the fact that during his last appearance Bearer was buried in concrete and left for dead by...you guessed it, [[The Undertaker]]! So after no on-screen reconciliation between the two I guess we were supposed to be surprised when Bearer sided with Kane and cost 'Taker the match.

* [[Your Mileage May Vary|Although some like it or don't mind it]], to some, WWE switching to a PG rating induced plenty of wall-related self-injuries. First, it mostly originated from a political move so Linda McMahon can more easily run for senate in Connecticut. Second, it's very easy to argue that the rating is to the detriment to the show. Why? Because it's very, very difficult to switch something to a rating it was not meant to have. If a Disney movie were to switch ratings with [[Resident Evil]], the resulting programs would almost definitely be considered terrible. A program lowering it's rating is usually much worse than raising it. This puts limitations on the product it wasn't supposed to be held back by and leads to new material that would be considered ridiculous under old circumstances and to some, idiotic under the ''current'' circumstances.

* WWE instituted a policy of renaming incoming wrestlers so that they could hold onto all legal rights associated with the name after the wrestler leaves. This wouldn't be a huge deal if it wasn't for its inconsistent application, specifically because of who gets exemptions from it. A third-generation wrestler, the son of one of the greatest intercontinental champions in WWE's storied history? Tough, you're Michael McGillicutty now. Married to Jennifer Hudson? ... OK, you can keep your name. Really shows what's important to WWE.

** WWE tried to explain this as McGillicutty wanting to avoid comparisons to his father by using his mother's maiden name. This was quickly shot full of holes by them repeatedly mentioning that he's Mr. Perfect's son anyway, and by the Internet quickly discovering that McGillicutty isn't even his mother's maiden name in the first place!

*** WWE didn't explain it, but it's pretty easy to figure out. Mike Rotunda went by Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) during his time with the WWF and had the whole tax-man gimmick. He couldn't have gone with the last name "Schyster" because it doesn't fit his character at all. His full name is Windham Lawrence Rotunda and that's hard to remember, not to mention the potential [[Mondegreen]] problem with being in the same [[The Nexus|stable]] as a guy surnamed "Otunga." Lastly, "Husky Harris" is [[Meaningful Name|much easier to remember]] and associate with him.

* The Edge/Kane feud on Smackdown has involved Edge abducting [[Paul Bearer]] and proceeding to taunt Kane through a series of mind-games. Including placing a fake dummy of Bearer on a wheelchair and throwing it down a stairwell, showing videos of Bearer tied and gagged while tormenting him by throwing dodgeballs at his face, and then running over another Bearer dummy with his car, showing Paul tied up in the backseat. Now, aside from the fact that Edge is basically committing felony kidnapping on ''national television'', or that Kane hasn't informed the police. Here's the big [[Wall Banger (Darth Wiki)|Wall Banger]], ''Edge is the face in this angle!''

* Also from Wrestlemania 27, [[Daniel Bryan]] and Sheamus were set to have a rematch for the United States Championship. This ended up nowhere to be found during the broadcast. This was due to it being bumped off the card, into a dark match before the show. Even worse, the match is stopped halfway through to be changed to a Battle Royal. Which is won by the Great Khali, who dances for a while afterwards. The United States Championship is simply forgotten throughout this.

** And the next day when it does happen Bryan loses again, then gets attacked just so Sin Cara could debut.

** How does making Cena a [[Dirty Coward]] heel make sense? This is the guy who's beaten the likes of [[Triple H]], [[Randy Orton]], & [[Batista]] and for no reason gets booked as a [[Dirty Coward]] heel whose too afraid to fight the guy (who'll predictably be coming in as a face nevermind the fact that he's a good heel) and who also screwed him out of the title.

*** He wouldn't be the first guy to undergo an extreme personality shift after a [[Face Heel Turn]]. That part of wrestling isn't exactly logical, but it's still more logical than saying that this is the same Cena as before, that there's absolutely nothing different about him, that he's still the same tough guy he always was...and yet for some reason, he isn't ''demanding'' to throw down with The Rock. The only possible explanation is that Cena has changed, because back when [[Batista]] cost him the title he ''demanded'' a chance to fight Batista, and not wanting revenge on Rocky is completely out of character for Face Cena.

*** A huge problem with this one is the fact that they're adamant to have the WWE title involved in the storyline, when John Cena is not the WWE champion. This sort of trivializes the title and makes it look like it's ''just'' an excuse to sell tickets (it might just be that, but they could try not to be blatant about it). If John Cena ''is'' the champion at the climax of this storyline... Doesn't it imply that either Rock is coming back for real or that Cena can't lose his title to somebody that isn't staying without the whole storyline looking somewhat pointless?

*** *sigh* Wrestlemania is the biggest Wrestli-sorry, [[Sarcasm Mode|"Sports Entertainment"]] event of the year, and every year it has one big match to get people's attention. With there being no guarantee that 'Taker will have his 20th match at the event, they need one big match that'll draw people to the show (in the same way that Rock Vs Hogan, Rock Vs Austin, Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels etc. did for previous Wrestlemanias). Now, for an in-character reason ... Cena, despite being the most over Face in the current Era, has always been considered second to the Rock (and Austin, but that's a different story). The Rock getting cheered for giving him a Rock Bottom and verbally putting him down is more proof of that. So naturally Cena would feel a compulsion to beat him, as it's probably the only big thing in the WWE that he hasn't done yet. That said, he wants to beat the Rock clean, so there's no doubt that he is the better superstar. And he doesn't want people saying that Rock wasn't giving it 100%. So Wrestlemania 28 makes sense on two levels; it's in the Rock's hometown and it's at the one event where everyone (is supposed to) leave it all in the ring. A victory for Cena there would, both in and out of character, be the biggest win of his career. Justification of the time of their battle aside, involving the WWE title is just stupid.

**** The whole thing has shades of Sting vs. [[Hulk Hogan]] in 1997 WCW. The match itself was abysmal, yes, but the ''year-long'' buildup to it ended up making '97 their most successful year and that Starrcade their highest grossing PPV.

*** The only issue now is, is it really fair to just place The Rock in the biggest match of the year just like that? I know it's '''The Rock''', I know he's probably earned a title shot based on his name alone if he's planning to come back (which he probably isn't), but the main event of Wrestlemania is really not the kind of match you just put somebody in a year ahead of time. It seems a bit unfair if you consider that he's technically not on the roster at the moment and by the time of the scheduled match, wouldn't have wrestled an actual match in roughly nine years. Unless they plan on making it a triple-threat match, doesn't this sort of confirm that the 2012 Royal Rumble has to be won by somebody from Smackdown? It also comes off as a bit hypocritical considering that John Cena just decided that The Rock would be in the main event of Wrestlemania despite not really earning to be just placed in it, but made a big deal about CM Punk not being in the title match where he could (and did) leave the company with the title.