Reel in Place

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 ...

At Royal Rumble, John Cena beat Edge to regain the WWE title. Because the Royal Rumble winner was challenging for the Smackdown title, they had a tournament to determine Cena's opponent at WrestleMania. Triple H won that tournament, and we got the ultra helpful angle of Triple H continually pointing out that John Cena can't wrestle. Now, Triple H is a heel, and even at this point, John Cena has proven to be a perfectly fine wrestler, at the very least. But, wrestling fans want to view things in the way they want to view them, and so Triple H saying these sorts of things, well, they're not so hellish and they're especially not too helpful if you're John Cena. On commentary, JR points out that everyone in the arena cares about the outcome of the match, they either love Cena or hate Cena and from the early going that is obviously true. The crowd is firmly anti-Cena, cheering even the most trivial bit of Triple H's offense. There's not a ton going on early, but ...