A few things crossed my mind watching this match:

 

1. Anyone else get the impression that match was the result of some pants-shitting after Orton got sent home? You can almost hear the writers "WTF are we going to do for RAW now? Why not just let HBK and Cena go the whole second hour?

 

2. How come Chris Masters and anyone else with a receeding hairline gets hairplugs, but the guy in his 40s with a heartthrob gimmick inches closer and closer to looking like Dory Funk, Jr?

 

3. Smartassery aside, can anyone really make a case against Cena at this point that doesn't amount to "I hate him because he's popular"? It's only April and the guy's already had 3 MOTYC in my book (vs Umaga, Mania, and tonight). He may not have MOOVZ~! but he *gets* professional wrestling like no one else of his era has.

In the middle of watching that match now (had to work last night), and here's my only gripe so far...

 

Why the hell is a NON-TITLE match getting this much time?

Why does it matter? Putting on such a long match is a great way to hype Backlash, although sadly, they probably can't find a way to outdo themselves when they're asking people to pay.

 

I haven't watched it yet, but from reading about it, I'm pretty excited. I really like that they hyped other matches they didn't have time to show. Much better format than having Ironman stips, and the ratings for this will be interesting.

Fuck me, I can't even imagine how shitty this match sounds.

 

57 minutes is wayyy too long for those two.

 

You knew people would be dropping *****, since it went 57 minutes, but this must be an overreaction?

You can't hate on a match without watching it. Whether it sounds too long or not, it's unfair to go into it with preconceived notions. Then you're going to be looking for things to not like about it and end up fulfilling your own prophecy and hating it anyway.

 

It may be an overreaction. It may not be an overreaction. I'll probably watch it tonight.

Also, exactly how long did the match go? Some are saying 25-30 minutes, some are saying 35-40 minutes, some are saying 45 minutes, some are saying 50 minutes, some are saying 57 minutes, some are saying a full 60 minutes.

On TV with commercial breaks I timed it at 55:47.

 

Whether the commercial breaks helped extend it from closer to 30 or so I don't know.

 

And while ***** would be an overreaction, the match was very good.

It defintely wasn't five stars, **** may be more realistic. Very good match and defintely better than the Mania match.

 

I don't see how someone can criticise a match they haven't seen, though.

I believe they timed out the commercial breaks to keep much of the match intact, so it was closer to 35-40.

Fuck me, I can't even imagine how shitty this match sounds.

 

57 minutes is wayyy too long for those two.

 

You knew people would be dropping *****, since it went 57 minutes, but this must be an overreaction?

 

 

I don't even know how someone could get this in their head, even as a preconcieved notion. I'm far from the biggest HBK fan but I do give the guy his due as the closest thing we've got to a mid 80s Ric Flair type who can have a long match with just about anyone and have it range from very good to excellent.

 

Maybe if the WON started pushing "John Cena really is a pretty good worker" as a Lesson Of 2007 people would stop the irrational hate.

I actually thought there was major love for Cena lately, with people claiming he was the one carrying Shawn Michaels.

People are still divided. But I'm not sure what more Cena can do to get people to his side. The crowd that wants him to use a Death Valley Driver instead of the F-U, switch to wrestling tights and turn heel are crazy.

I've actually seen people using the fact that the match went 56 minutes as a reason to hate it. "Cena can't work that long a match." I was thinking "Did they actually see it?"

ou can't hate on a match without watching it.

I didn't hate on it, I said it sounded bad, not that it was.

 

Either way, I won't find out, as I don't have 57 minutes of my life to waste on something that sounds terrible.

 

I really don't buy all this crap about Cena being the best wrestler in the world. Fuck me, the standards must have dropped a long way from even 2 years ago to have him down as a brilliant wrestler.

Minus commercials and plus pre & post-match stuff it's about 46 min.

Whether you liked it or not, it was nice to see WWE break from routine and do something different. Builds for main event feuds these days have become too formulaic, IMO.

True, but it was more likely due to Orton being out than any great advance plans they had.

Ok, if you have no interest in watching the match because it "sounds horrible", that's fine, but please stop posting in this topic if you have nothing to add.

My first post was to wonder whether the match was as good as people say.

 

Second post was responding to something you said, and stating what I thought of Cena.

 

Third post was my reasoning behind the match getting 50 minutes.

 

Hardly worthless spam.

My first post was to wonder whether the match was as good as people say.

 

Second post was responding to something you said, and stating what I thought of Cena.

 

Third post was my reasoning behind the match getting 50 minutes.

 

Hardly worthless spam.

 

You're continuing to bash a match that you haven't even watched yet, putting it down to people who have seen it and thus are more qualified to speak on the subject than you are.

 

Also, "I don't ever plan to watch it, but I know 'X' sucks" is the worst form of argument because it's obvious the person maintaining that point of view is talking out of their ass. It's a go nowhere debate since you can't point out things that may change their mind since they stubornly refuse to watch the very topic of the conversation.

I watched it today. It was a good match.

The best part about this is that anarchist seriously claimed Randy Orton and Hulk Hogan were involved in a MOTY, but will not give Cena and Michaels a chance.

 

Actually now that I think about he hasn't cited anything as proof that the match "sounds bad", despite repeaditly claiming that in a thread where the match is being praised. Drugs?

Orton and Hogan didn't go 57 minutes though.

 

57 minutes with a washed up HBK and an average powerhouse are not something I particularly want to see. Michaels has next to no decent offence and his strikes are terrible, Cena's strikes are almost equally as bad, and is generally useless unless he's using props or has someone to carry the weight.

 

Whereas, I don't mind seeing Orton and Hogan going 10 minutes in a match that got Orton over, had a big match atmosphere and generally played out really well.

 

And, you know, the odd E once in a while doesn't hurt.

Cena's strikes are almost equally as bad.

Wha? Cena's punches and clotheslines have been really good lately.

Well, I've only seen the Rumble match and Armageddon last year, and they weren't much to write home about then.