WWE No Mercy ended with some predictable outcomes of Brock Lesnar, Ambrose/Rollins and Alexa Bliss retaining their championships their opponents, but another match which should be no surprise is Roman Reigns defeating John Cena. While there’s little question that Cena is one of the best ever in this business, it seemed like WWE would use this match as an opportunity to continue to build the legacy and pedigree of Roman Reigns at the expense of Cena. I think these two put on one hell of a match and I agree with Reigns being the victor, but I just can’t get over how weak John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment is historically. I mean, sometimes I believe a vertical suplex has a higher chance of getting the 3-count than the freakin’ Attitude Adjustment has.
While some are saying this may have been Cena calling it a career, I believe when Cena hangs up his sneakers, we’ll know it and it will be at WrestleMania. Cena is one win away from breaking The Undertaker’s PPV win total and one championship away from breaking Ric Flair’s (Woo!) record. I can’t see him retiring before either of these milestones happen. We won’t see Cena (but could we ever?) like we used to, he’ll still show up for some events for a quick one-off feud for the next couple of years, but in this time, can he develop a new finisher already?
At No Mercy, Cena hit FOUR Attitude Adjustments on Roman Reigns and Reigns kicked out of them all. This could be compared to when Stone Cold Steve Austin needed 3 Rock Bottoms and a People’s Elbow to keep Austin down at WrestleMania, but this is different. Reigns kicked out of a “Super AA” where Cena hit his move off of the top rope which should just end the match and yet it never has. Cena also hit an AA on Reigns, then instantly picked him up and hit a second AA a few seconds later. Reigns kicked out. After a few moments, Reigns regained strength and hit a Spear to end the match.
While this shows the strength of the character of Roman Reigns, I feel this shows more that the AA can’t beat anyone anymore except of course for Baron Corbin when he’s in the doghouse. On SmackDown this year, Cena took on Nakamura in a #1 contender match. Cena hit numerous AA’s including the same move as Reigns where Cena hit his finisher and instantly picked up Nakamura again for a second AA. Nakamura countered and as if no damage was ever done to him and hit his own finisher for the first time and picked up the win.
Again, this is all fake wrestling, but shouldn’t the go-to star’s finisher be booked better than this? Does anyone remember the Stone Cold Stunner meaning the match wasn’t over? The Tombstone is only kicked out at WrestleMania and only once at most. The AA can be kicked out of any time anywhere so if Cena is going to come back and feature any big time match, how about a new finisher. The previously used Canadian Destroyer or Springboard Stunner would be some fine choices!
What are your thoughts on Cena’s finisher? Yes, we’ve seen finishers get kicked out of a lot more often lately, but shouldn’t one of the best of all time have something a bit more…finishing?
In the end, you can’t deny one sweet passing of the torch moment by the former Doctor of Thuganomics.
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