[09-18-2005] John Cena vs Kurt Angle

 

Coming into this show, it has been four months since John Cena has main-evented a PPV. So, let's run down what has happened in the interim. Shortly after the JBL match, John Cena gets drafted to Raw, where he'll spend over a decade as the centerpiece of that show. And to celebrate that momentous occasion, Cena was given the poisoned chalice of Chris Jericho wanting to put him over, which really never works except if you're Chris Jericho. Already tasked with overcoming that, John Cena's gimmick also now has come to include the fact that he can't wrestle. Fans took this bit of storytelling to heart to such a degree that ten years after this, a lot of fans still believed it, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. At Vengence in June, Cena beats Jericho and Christian in a triple threat and at SummerSlam he beats Chris Jericho is a singles match. This leads us here to Unforgiven, and the continuation of the John Cena can't wrestle saga, this time up against Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle.

Cena's ankle is taped up, so one assumes that will come into play, even if it doesn't seem to dissuade him from doing a leapfrog early in the match. We get some exchanges on the mat early, some standard shoulder tackle stuff, and Cena gets the upper hand. Angle pouts on the outside, comes back in the ring fired up, and takes over on offense. Commentary is really driving home that Cena has to brawl to win and Angle has to wrestle to win, and so far, things have been on Cena's terms, but Angle his a German suplex and really starts to take over. Angle grinds things to a halt, working a weird rear-chin lock with hooks for most of this section of the match. Cena fights out, hits a DDT and things are back standing. With things back standing it's a slugfest with Cena getting the upper hand, then a vertical suplex from Cena, and he goes for the FU. Angle slides off the back. Ankle Lock. Cena kicks him off. Spinebuster from Cena for two. Another FU attempt, Kurt slides off. Angle Slam, but Cena kicks out. Another Ankle Lock, but Cena thwarts it again. Cena Slam into the 5 knuckle shuffle for 2. Angle reverses an Irish whip and ends up decking the ref. Cena finally hits the FU, but the ref is down. Kurt kicks Cena in the junk, grabs him gold medal, and decks Cena with it, and now Kurt is working on the ankle. Ankle lock is in. Eric Bischoff comes to the ring to taunt Cena with his own Championship belt. Angle has the ankle lock on, and Bischoff is about to perpetrate the Oklahoma City Screwjob, but Cena kicks off Angle, who bumps into Bischoff. Cena gets up, picks up the belt, crowns Angle with it, and the ref calls for a DQ.

The finish is overbooked, and serves to continue the angle more than it serves the match, which is the sort of thing that happens sometimes, but the match before that was fine. Not great, not bad, a perfectly cromulent main event that is leading to something else down the line. It's not a feather in BIG MATCH JOHN'S cap, but its not a demerit either. 

BIG MATCH JOHN