Thoughts From The Top Rope 11.19.08: Spoilin' For A Fight

Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 11.19.2008

In one of the most anticipated matches in recent memory, John Cena and Chris Jericho clash for the World Championship this Sunday. Why is this match so intriguing? Will the "hometown curse" be a factor? Who will come out on top?

Before we enter the main portion of the column, I first want to congratulate WWE on their recent choice of pay-per-view theme songs; they've actually been using some quality artists as opposed to those lame "hard rock" or "nu metal" bands like Saliva. I believe Motorhead's "Rock Out", was the Unforgiven theme, Metallica's awesome "All Nightmare Long" the No Mercy theme, and now we've got AC/DC's "Spoilin' For A Fight" used for Survivor Series. Long may this trend continue.


Speaking of spoilin' for a fight, we've all seen the adverts, heard the promos and watched the vignettes – John Cena makes his return this Sunday at the Survivor Series. It seems longer than three months that he's been gone, probably due to the numerous title changes, reshuffling of the main event scene and the fact that even when he was around, he wasn't in the title hunt, instead feuding with JBL for most of the year. And I don't know whether it's the fact we haven't seen John for a while, or the fact that Jericho has been so awesome this year, or that the pair have such an interesting history (which Andy Clark does a great job of chronicling here), but I'm looking forward to this particular main event moreso than any wrestling match in a long time.

Maybe it's because I have no idea who's going to win the thing, or even who I want to win. I am pretty confident in saying that whoever wins this match will go on to defend the championship at WrestleMania, which makes the match even more intriguing. One has to question the confidence the WWE higher-ups have in Jericho. Well I don't think they doubt his ability in the ring or on the mic, and let's face it they'd be mad to, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that they don't have much confidence in him as a guy who can lead a brand as its champion for any sustained period of time.

His original run as WCW Champion in 2001 was short-lived, eight days to be precise. His second run took him to a Mania main event, but that run really made him look like a joke. Hell, the feud he had going into Mania was more about Triple H and Stephanie McMahon than it was him. After dropping the title at Mania, it was just a matter of months before he was curtain-jerking and challenging for tag titles again. And that's the way it would be for Jericho for the next few years, always on the cusp of the main event but never really being a serious contender in the eyes of the fans. Indeed, when he returned last year the majority of the knowledgeable IWC remarked that he wouldn't get near the World Championship, and despite his amazing work this year, when he did become champion again, I think we were all a little shocked, and not just because of the manner in which he won the title.

When Jericho dropped the title to Batista at Cyber Sunday, it seemed as though Jericho's title reign had merely been a brief reward for his hard work this year, or maybe even just a way of getting a Ladder match out of the Michaels/Jericho feud. This of course made us even more surprised when Jericho recaptured the gold in that Steel Cage match a few weeks back. But does this mean WWE is finally giving the ball to Jericho? Was Batista's reign just to get him to stop whining? Did they pull the title switch to hold off on Batista/Cena II?

One intangible going into this match is the Boston factor. I'm sure by now we're all familiar with the dreaded "hometown curse," the idea that when a wrestler works in front of their hometown crowd they inevitably lose their match or are on the receiving end of some sort of beat down. Off the top of my head, Edge, CM Punk, The Hardys, Shawn Michaels and John Cena have all been victims of it in high-profile situations. You have to imagine that WWE does this in order to not find themselves in a situation where people know a person will win a match because they're in their hometown. Unfortunately, people are now pretty sure a guy will lose whenever they're in their hometown. On the other hand, this rule is far from rock solid proof. Batista comes to mind as someone who has been victorious in big matches in his hometown of Washington, DC (Summerslam 2005, Cyber Sunday 2007). And while perhaps being the obvious way to go, there's no denying that seeing someone win a major match or championship in their backyard adds an extra "oomph" to their triumph and creates a memorable moment. But when it comes to John Cena, such a factor may not be of any importance, as there are going to people booing him out the building whether Survivor Series was in Boston or Canada.

And that brings me to one of the things I'm most looking forward to about this match – the crowd reaction. Sometimes a great crowd can make an average match a classic; Rock/Hogan, Cena/Triple H come to mind, and even Jericho and Cena's clash way back at Summerslam 2005, one of the first times an audience was very vocal in their dislike of Cena. History tells us that Boston doesn't much like John Cena – his encounter with Edge their in 2006 made Edge a fan-favourite as Cena was seemingly the anti-Christ. I don't think Boston has a reputation for being a particularly smarky crowd, but there's no doubt there'll be numerous Cena haters there come Sunday, as there is any other night. And the fact that Chris Jericho has been such a tremendous performer in recent months should only add fuel to the fire that is the Boston crowd, as many will be routing for Jericho regardless.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a hot crowd this Sunday, but I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that the in-ring action will deliver. John Cena and Chris Jericho are two of the absolute best in the business right now. Both know how to work a main event style match, both know how to work a crowd and both, Cena included, know how to wrestle. I fully expect both men to be at the top of their game, despite Cena's injury, and I fully expect both men to put on a show. It won't be Flair/Steamboat, and it may not even live up to their match from three years ago, but I'd be surprised if it didn't at least make most people's Match of the Night and completely unsurprised if most considered it a Match of the Year Candidate.

As I mentioned earlier, the outcome is a toss up. While I don't think a loss in his first match back will be a major blow for Cena, I think it would be the kind of booking that would raise a few eyebrows as jobbing a guy out in such a way isn't normal practice. That said, Jericho's only just got the title back and, to use a cliché, the money is in the chase. I'd love to see Jericho retain and hold onto the gold all the way until WrestleMania; his work has earned him the right to be a successful and dominant champion. On the other hand, the mark in me would love to see Cena make Jericho tap like a bitch to the STFU and mark a triumphant comeback with his fourth world title reign. Although, maybe my mark out moment of the night will come from somewhere else, like Jeff Hardy capturing the WWE Championship.

John Cena's return is nothing but good news in my eyes. Cena and Jericho are polar opposites in terms of their wrestling personas and yet they're both so good and what they do it's hard to chose a favourite or a winner between the two. Thankfully, I know that come Sunday night, I shall be entertained regardless of the outcome.