Reel in Place

  We've chronicled most of this feud up to this point. Edge cashed in the Money in the Bank in January, and Cena reclaimed the title at Royal Rumble. We didn't see Edge winning the title on Raw in a triple threat with Cena and RVD in July, but Cena had RVD beat until Edge stole the pin. After that, our last installment, Edge got Disqualified at Saturday Night's Main Event. Since then, Edge had sex on TV and slapped Cena's dad, bringing us here, Cena challenging Edge in Boston and if Edge gets DQ'ed, he loses the title.  Cena comes out ultra-confident and Edge is not, he knows Cena has his number and that, in some ways, the deck is stacked against him due to the stipulation, on top of this match being in Cena's backyard. All Cena early until Edge throws him into the ring post and takes over. Edge seems to think his best chance of winning is to have Cena counted out, and he attempts that feat twice to no avail. On the second 9 count, the Anti-Cena crowd really sho

There's this narrative, and it's not without merit, that WWE is some rudderless ship with no foresight or interest in the long-term. Certainly, there are times when things are dropped and forgotten, but watch any TV show, things like that happen there all the time too, but people choose to watch and enjoy TV shows, unlike wrestling where they watch it at gunpoint and rate it on some faux-objective scale and also follow the business metrics for 'fun'. It doesn't seem to be an enjoyable way to consume things, but that's just where we are. So when Becky Lynch beats Bianca Belair, the masses are up in arms, but when it comes time for Bianca to get revenge, the most obvious conclusion, there is this sense that somehow this wasn't always the intended direction, that somehow this match on this night was a matter of mostly coincidence. It wasn't. The bad guy showed up and beat the good guy. It took the good guy a while to another shot at the bad guy, but when th

I should have voted for Gary Hart. I was under the impression that he didn't wrestle any matches in Crockett, one of the criteria I had for my list was for everyone to have at least one match, no matter how farcical it may have been, so I never really considered him, but he did work some tags as a manager in 1983. So, I blew it with Gary Hart, he should have made my list somewhere below Jim Cornette.  Two things stand out to me from the final list. The first is that the Nitro-era is, in my mind, over-represented, guys who had maybe a two-year run on the undercard in the 90s placed a lot higher than a guy like Don Kernodle who was a major pushed player for JCP. It's not surprising, but I don't think it's right. The same goes for Piper and Jimmy Valiant.  The other thing that stands out is there are a lot of guys I was the low voter on who I think are really great, but from a WCW perspective, they just didn't do a ton. Jushin Liger and Steve Austin are great wrestlers

In June, Rob Van Dam beat John Cena for the WWE Title, but here, a little over a month later, Edge is the champion and RVD has been suspended as a result of a drug-related arrest. So, things have changed, but the backup plan is a pretty good one. Edge cost Cena the title, so there is still that issue, and Edge pinned RVD in a triple threat with Cena to win the title, so the title has been integrated into things seamlessly. That leads us to this night, singles match for the WWE title between Edge and John Cena, not where the WWE planned to be, but still a worthy main event.  Before the bell rings, Edge is pulling his funny faces, looking fired up, but when the bell rings be bails to the outside immediately. Cena catches up with him, but Edge uses his overexuberance to get the advantage as we go to commercial. Edge botches a superplex, slipping on the top rope, but Cena manages to get himself over on it, so it ends up looking good anyway.   We get another one of those dreaded 'Boo-Ya

  John Cena dispatched Triple H and Edge in a post-Mania triple threat and was left without an obvious opponent. Enter Rob Van Dam, the holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase, to challenge John Cena for the WWE Title at the upcoming ECW One Night Stand. John Cena was no stage to hostile crowds, people have sided with Triple H rather than cheer for him, but this is something different. This crowd is visceral, this crowd is ready for war, this crowd, for this one match, on this night, it's as real as it's going to get. The interplay between Cena and this crowd is legendary at this point. The shirt being thrown into the crowd and then thrown back is iconic. You can tell right away, this is just one of those nights. Something special is going to happen here. Cena takes charge, all while being showered with 'You can't wrestle chants.' RVD hits an enziguiri and Cena bails to the outside. We get some of the really bad 'boo' and 'yay' punch exchanges, and

John Cena beat Triple H at Wrestlemania, but only because Triple H underestimated him, at least according to Triple H. He wants a rematch, but Edge won at WrestleMania, so he wants a shot at Cena. So, they both get a match with the champion at Backlash. Edge dips out early to let Triple H and Cena fight it out, and they are happy to oblige. Cena gets the advantage early, covers HHH, but Edge slips in the ring to break it up, and then pops right back out. The same thing happens when Triple H goes for a cover. Triple H and Cena are slugging it out, with Edge cheering them on from the apron. Eventually, they grow tired of Edge's shtick and team up to go after the Rated R Superstar. From here, we get a series of the guys coupling off, first Triple H and Edge, then Cena and Edge, and then Triple H and Edge. typical triple threat fair, with nothing much of note except for Cena hitting a top rope splash on Edge. Edge grabs Triple H is a sleeper and Cena slides in the rings, picks both up