John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Unexpected Greatness
John Cena, Rey Mysterio, and Unexpected Greatness
It’s not a surprise that this is great, but the how of it continues to stun me over a decade later. In the wider wrestling discourse, this match gets wrapped up in a lot of harsh feelings. Fair enough, it’s ham-stringed by the WWE’s famous inability to just do a thing as it should be and overcomplicating the matter. All of this happens in the shadow of Money in the Bank 2011, when Punk’s status as an employed wrestler was up in the air (a little bit in both kayfabe and reality). With the WWE Champion having walked out on the company, Rey Mysterio and The Miz fought in the opener of the July 25th Raw to crown a new champion. Mysterio would end up winning that bout and would accept a challenge from John Cena to defend it that same night.
The controversy, of course, comes from the fact that John Cena wins here. As such, many people have fairly pointed out that it’s a convoluted way to get the belt back on Cena, and a complete waste of Rey Mysterio’s first and only WWE Championship run. The WWE really just can’t help themselves in these positions, and that’s just an unfortunate reality that surrounds this bout. The silliness of the booking is often what’s first brought up here, even among those who love this match.
I encourage everyone to just leave those feelings aside for just a bit, and enjoy what happens from bell to bell, because what these two deliver is something of a true masterpiece.
John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio as a pairing might conjure up immediate ideas and images for a lot of people. Certainly, for myself, if I’d never seen the match at hand, I would have pictured a bullyish (if still babyface) John Cena throwing around the smaller man, and the latter using some dazzling high flying to flummox and outpace the bigger worker. The magic of this bout is that it’s never quite that, but always something far more interesting without ever sacrificing a single thing about who these two are as pro wrestlers.
It is a match where John Cena has to solve the problem of Rey Mysterio, and it’s one of the greatest babyface vs. babyface dynamics ever committed to a wrestling match.
The big problem for John Cena to solve here is not just that Rey’s quicker and slipperier than his other opponents, but there’s a real focused strategy from the defending champion here too. The match wastes zero time establishing the core narrative too, from the word go Rey Mysterio throws that first kick to John Cena’s leg, and the challenger’s immediately flustered. Cena’s reaction to it is so good too, taking a moment in the corner each time as if having to readjust his strategy. Smartly, Cena makes us wait for the pay off to that, while peppering in nods to the leg work throughout the entire match.
Rey’s work in control though truly is fabulous. Despite being the smaller man in the equation, he’s the driving force of the offensive rhythm here. First that early leg attack which comes off strategic but never mean, especially when tempered with other things like Rey working a problem/solution headlock sequence on Cena. Rey’s refusal to ever get too vicious with the leg work makes it stand out less as a meanspirited attack, but rather a strategic building block that allows him room and space to work the rest of the match. It’s also an incredible choice to make this feel true to the champion/challenger dynamic at hand here. Rey, the champion, comes across as the one needing to be overcome.
The transitions between control segments are so wonderful too. Cena constantly relies on his power. Shoulder blocks, clotheslines, and the like, but Mysterio’s always clever enough to intercept Cena’s momentum. This is helpful in a couple of ways. It means that when Cena tries to slow things down, his own control never lasts long enough to come across as overly malicious either. It’s a really delicate balancing act they achieve here with both men staying true to their babyface characters without ever really having to lean heelish or antagonistic either. In one of the rare occurences for a face vs. face match, neither man ever chooses to play a situational heel. It’s one of the most convincing portrayals of two good guys sticking to their moral guns and trying to decide a winner.
And the details of it too are staggering as well. There are individual moments in here that shine so brilliantly. There’s the famous STF leg buckle by Cena here. Rey locks an STF on Cena, Cena powers through (almost on one leg) to his feet and attempts an AA, only for his leg to give out under the weight of Rey’s body on his shoulders. Genius stuff, delightful limb selling, but on this viewing I’m even more stunned by the immediate follow up. Cena again retreats to the ropes—already established in the opening moments when he goes to the corner after the leg kicks—which puts him in perfect position for the 619. But Mysterio overextends himself, going for a splash instead of the pin, which allows Cena to get the knees up to block, in turn damaging the already softened up knee. Holy Christ, it’s such airtight, well-timed sequence, with each new maneuever creating added meaning and consequence to the last.
Beyond even the construction of it, there’s so much greatness in just the moment to moment as well. There’s things that tickle the mind like the early headlock sequence from Rey, but then one gets treated to a truly disgusting desperation powerbomb from Cena late in that match that nearly kills Rey Mysterio. Just a nasty enough landing to get across the real danger of it and add another layer of tension and stakes to the already immense battle.
It’s a fantastic match, something that had it had half the build that something like Cena/Punk did, might even be remembered in the same way as the much more famous rivalry. As is, a real singular display of the talents of two of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
IS IT BETTER THAN 6/3/94? Yes. It’s so much more low stakes in booking, but wrestled so much more beautifully for it. Airtight, constantly building upon itself, without anything that might be removed to improve it. Just a mechanical marvel wrestled in exactly the right spirit as well.
Rating: ****1/2