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GARDNER'S KEY MOMENT OF THE WEEK: Why John Cena vs. Randy Orton is happening again Oct 11, 2009 - 1:00:04 PM
Jim Ross and Chris Jericho have spoken publicly about the WWE's struggle to create new stars in recent weeks. And then the announcement was made that Randy Orton would face John Cena at Bragging Rights, taking the number of times they have faced one another on Pay-Per-View to twelve times.
It's hard to remember a time when the WWE has been so protective of its top stars. The Miz was put in a feud with Cena earlier this year and was gaining momentum through a series of well-executed promos. Yet once the two of them got in the ring, it was a different story. Cena destroyed The Miz both on Pay-Per-View and on Raw TV. The blow-off was when Cena won a loser leaves town match on Raw shortly before Summer(fest). The Miz gained nothing from the feud.
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase got to rub shoulders with D-Generation X over the summer and even defeated them at the Breaking Point PPV. Yet this was hardly mentioned on television, and in the promos leading up to the return match, Legacy put over D-Generation X as a strong force and spoke about nobody expecting them to beat DX at the next PPV. This turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as not only did DX win the Hell in the Cell match between the two teams, but they destroyed Legacy with their finishers to end the feud.
The truth is that the WWE does have a strong roster in terms of talent; it just doesn’t have a strong roster in terms of star power. A prime example of this is the Summerslam PPV. In terms of match quality, it was by far the best WWE PPV of the year. However, early estimates for the buyrate of the event are highly disappointing, pointing towards less than 400,000 buys worldwide. For a show that received universal critical acclaim, and is promoted as WWE's second most important PPV of the year, it is a shocking number and a real indictment of the way in which WWE books its talent.
The following month Triple H was part of the entourage that led Floyd Mayweather to the ring for his fight against Manuel Marquez. This was a fight that the majority of boxing experts predicted that would be a one-sided affair, yet it still drew over one million buys. It had nothing to do with the quality of the match; the event sold purely on the basis of the star power of Floyd Mayweather. WWE is not in the same position as boxing promoters. They can build their own stars, and ensure that they stay over for as long as they want. Yet week after week, upcoming wrestlers they are put in a position to fail, either by jobbing to the ageing top stars, or by senselessly trading victories in a way that no-one gets over.
Jack Swagger and Evan Bourne have some chemistry with one another and wrestled a series of short matches over the summer. Their feud began when Bourne upset Swagger in a Beat the Clock match. However, Bourne's win was not the start of any kind of push. Instead, Swagger beat him clean the following week, and then beat him again for good measure the week after. This is a key issue with the booking of the WWE mid-card - everyone is beating everyone else. There isn't a chance of a newcomer accumulating an impressive winning streak, which used to be a simple but effective way of getting new talent over.
There is talk of the upcoming Iron Man match between John Cena and Randy Orton being their last match with each other. Don't count on it. The WWE mid-card is populated by talented wrestlers who are rarely put in a position to get truly over. As long as this lack of upward mobility continues, expect the same old names in the main event for years to come.
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