First off, I'm writing this somewhat lengthy post with the view that John Cena vs The Miz will be the main event at Wrestlemania, rather than Undertaker vs Triple H (not a small match by any means).
From all singles Wrestlemania main events in this recent era, such as:
John Cena vs JBL (WM 21)
Batista vs Triple H (WM 21)
John Cena vs Triple H (WM 22)
Batista vs Undertaker (WM 23)
John Cena vs Shawn Michaels (WM 23)
Edge vs Undertaker (WM 24)
Randy Orton vs Triple H (WM 25)
Batista vs John Cena (WM 26)
Chris Jericho vs Edge (WM 26)
it is quite clear that within the buildup for those matches, there was no large 3rd wrestler/force prevalent in the buildup, that actively pushed the buildup more than the wrestlers involved themselves. By force or wrestler, I'm not referring to a stable the wrestlers were involved in, or a wrestler defeated one week coming back with a vendetta, or a wrestler mutually squashed or used as fodder for both opponents. Rather, I'm referring to a 3rd wrestler with a good amount of credibility, posing a threat to the wrestlers involved.
I'll first focus on the Miz vs Cena, which, while having a similar build to Batista vs John Cena, due to the 'underdog' undertones, has had quite a surprising buildup to me.
In a cookie cutter summary, focusing on the most important aspects of my point, John Cena and Miz have a decent rivalry going into EC. However, on the RAW before EC, The Rock is introduced as the guest host for Wrestlemania. In his very successful monologue closing RAW, he does refer to himself as the guest host at two occasions, but spends the majority of his time reintroducing himself to the crowd, and then takes on John Cena in a lot of personal and powerful words, while still coming off as a face to the crowd. At EC, the match between Cena and Miz is essentially confirmed. At this point, it would be pretty wise to focus on the rivalry between these two.
In the following week, John Cena delivers a promo (one of his best in years, IMO) towards the Rock, putting a backseat focus on the Miz. In the main event, Miz is forced to team up with Cena, but hits Cena with his signature maneuver. Next week, the Rock responds to Cena's rap with another video, with more personal digs, as well as a general insult to this generation of wrestling itself. Barely any mention of his role as host. Cena responds again, taking little notice of Miz's attack on him, giving him a backseat focus again. However, after his promo, the Miz beats down Cena, and then delivers a powerful promo towards the Rock, only to deliver the Rock's People's Elbow to Cena right after. Afterwards, the Rock delivers YET ANOTHER promo, this time insulting both Cena and the Miz. Cena is then put into a handicap beatdown, only to be beaten even further by The Miz, who comes out dressed as the Rock. The most recent RAW features subtle hints towards Rock, with Cena taking a dig at him with his satellite appearance, as well as a mention of him in the 'Miztory' section, and the highlight reel displaying Miz's beatdown of Cena dressed as the Rock multiple times.
Sorry for that shitty summary which most of you keeping up already have an understanding of. I left out many mentions by Miz and Cena towards the Rock, but the general notice is that he is ESSENTIAL to this feud. He is, in my opinion, the selling point of this feud. Is the writing team just having a brain fart by having no clear direction thus far (I honestly give them credit and feel like they are going somewhere), or is there some set long-term goal? This is honestly the strangest buildup to any Wrestlemania feud I have ever seen, and in a strange way, it has kept me glued to the television.
I will now quickly refer to the Christian situation, mainly because I don't want this to go too long. As most already know, Christian has a way deeper feud with ADR than Edge does. This is fact, mainly coming from Christian injuring ADR. The history adds a depth, with sadly Edge/ADR does not have. However, ADR/Edge does have support in the traditional 'Royal Rumble winner vs Champion' match type.
What makes it puzzling is that starting from EC night, where Edge vs ADR is confirmed, Christian makes an appearance. In subsequent weeks, the Christian/ADR feud has been just as prevalent as the ADR/Edge feud, with Christian even scoring two wins over ADR. Edge and Christian also have a unique dynamic to this buildup, acting as former partners.
What is the deal with both of these matches? As it is pretty clear, if small interference was expected, it would be basically confirmed. Stone Cold has not been showing up every week to flaunt his special referee status in a pretty well built match. HBK isn't calling out Triple H as a selfish jerk that screwed him over in the past. Both aren't complicating the these two very well hyped matches (2 out of the 5 big matches of Wrestlemania).
But in both Championship matches, we find a third factor that is throwing a wrench in traditional Wrestlemania buildup, even if that buildup does echo previous types of buildup (Cena/Miz echoing underdog, Edge/ADR echoing any RR/Champion feud). The Rock's official involvement has not been confirmed in this match at all, which, while holding up the hype, sure comes off as pretty damn confusing. As well, and my Christian love might cloud my thoughts on this, but Christian has been involved so heavily in the World Heavyweight Championship feud, that it honestly does make you think that there is a little more than meets the eye, when there's already more than enough that meets the eye to begin with. Weirdest of all is how Rock's role as host of Wrestlemania is just sort of there. He hasn't talked about involvement with any other wrestlers, which as I would presume for the host, would be quite important. He hasn't commented on any other feuds, only focusin on Cena/Miz in fact. He's hogged the spotlight in this match, I would say, and has succeeded in bringing back the attention of Attitude Era fans.
What do you think is going to happen? Is this the writing team just improvising? Is this a new way to pump up matches for Wrestlemania, which I have to strangely say, is working? What do you think are the outcomes?
I personally want to give the writing team enough credit to assume that they know that aliens millions of galaxies away would be able to predict that the most likely scenario is Rocky holding up Cena's arm after he pins the Miz. But just to take a rational look at it, Cena has won/kept the title at WM 21, at 22 and 23 WHILE CLOSING THE SHOW, lost at 24 in a Triple Threat, and won it at 25, 26. While a win for him wouldn't be too bad, considering the buildup, why does he need to be put over? Common sense tells me that after all the insults Rock has given Cena, the fans will remember those, and think to themselves, rather than brush it all away when Rock holds Cena's hand up and never speaks of it again. Meanwhile, The Miz, with just a little bit more of a push, can be solidified as a big star.
That is just my opinion though. How do you guys feel about this buildup? Is it as strange as I feel it to be? What do you think are the possible outcomes?
Summary: Rock is heavily involved in Cena/Miz feud, with no official involvement in the match. Christian is heavily involved in Edge/ADR feud, with no official involvement in the match. Do you guys find this strange? What do you think is going to happen?
