KELLER'S TAKE KELLER: Giving Orton-Cena its just-due after being admittedly too harsh and hasty last night Aug 27, 2007 - 5:45:00 PM

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By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

There's a discussion in the VIP Forum on my harsh initial judgment of the John Cena vs. Randy Orton main event from last night's Summerslam PPV - particularly the first half (as I liked the second half a lot). After discusssing the match last night with Torch columnists Pat McNeill and Bruce Mitchell in our post-PPV VIP Audio Roundtable, rewatching the match last night and again this afternoon, and today reading other cases made by VIP members for why I misjudged the match - I have been swayed.

I was indeed too harsh on it after first viewing. I still have a problem with the approach they took early in the match. I've consistently said I thought the last half was really good.

Here's where my problem still lies: (a) They went to the headlock/chinlock too early and too often in that opening ten minutes; (b) Orton and Cena both have a history of settling on the mundane headlock too often for just time-filling, and I let that affect my judgment on this occasion. (It also didn't help that the show was so mundane, and the previous match so bad with such a lame finish, that my state of mind was more negative than typical headed into a main event.)

I think they did a nice job applying the headlock, actually. It wasn't up to the levels of superb application and selling between Chris Benoit and MVP a few months ago, but it was much better than Cena or Orton six and twelve months ago when utilizing that hold. Orton was better than Cena overall in this case, as Cena still seems cartoonish with his facial expressions; Orton has gotten better about looking like he was in a fight.

If the headlocks had come at eight minutes into the match rather than a minute or so in, so there was a reason for Orton to neutralize Cena and catch his breath a bit, I would have been okay with it. The fact that he dropped down into a headlock/chinlock four times in the opening ten minutes did drive me a little nuts - in part because the spurts of action in between were so promising.

I understand that Orton was trying to capitalize on the Cena concussion storyline by going after his head. I wish there was a greater sense of urgency, though, in what he was doing, and a greater variety. His Orton Stomp was methodical, like he was slowing down to fill extra time rather than in a rush to destroy a hated rival and win the coveted World Title as soon as possible.

I do understand why many people think it was a great match now. It took a second (and third) viewing and an open mind (and some distance from an otherwise mundane show) to not let the headlock/chinlock frequency early - no matter how intensely applied - drag down my enjoyment of what was very good about the match. So it's not a Match of the Year level effort in 2007, but it deserved more credit than I gave it last night. With some reservations still (noted above), I withdraw some of my harsher comments about the match last night.

In fairness, too, I want to mention a few things I think were excellent about the match:

-The struggles to get out of the headlocks and chinlocks were most very good, sometimes excellent, and added a sense of drama and realism to a hold that so often in the past has been used to kill time and rest.

-The particular spot where Cena was on the ring apron early trying to recover, and Orton saw it and charged at Cena to knock him to the floor was really well executed. What really stood out was how Orton's facial expression communicated that he realized he had a great opportunity to knock Cena off the apron. It felt improvised, like he "just had a great idea," rather than something planned.

-When Orton went for a superplex and Cena blocked it, that was especially well done. When Cena shoved Orton to the mat, then came off with a legdrop to the back of his neck, it was more realistic than when Booker T does the scissors kick usually because the opponent has to stand there awkwardly bent over waiting for the kick. In this case, it seemed totally natural and had a good flow to it.

-The moment where Orton was setting up for the RKO for the second time, on all fours, waiting for Cena to rise, and then changed the gameplan to the Legend Killer punt kick, was a really effective moment at drawing from his arsenal and what's been established as a devastating kick in recent months.

It really is clear that a lot of thought went into this match and a lot of things were done that were smart and realistic. There were a lot of parts of this match that would be good to use when showing developing wrestlers small things they can do to make a match better and more realistic. So, if it sounds like a loved this match, well, that's not true. But there were parts of the match I really did like a lot and they deserve credit for. Maybe after a year of the headlock and chinlock being applied as well as Cena and Orton did, I will be over my bias against the hold - and my belief that fans have been conditioned to look at it like a rest hold due to years of people like Orton and Cena applying it half-heartedly to catch their breath. My statue of limitations on that hold being a crowd-killer isn't up yet, but they're working on fixing it. So I give them credit for correcting course.

There's still that little problem of pro wrestling fans who also watch MMA wondering why headlocks and chinlocks are never applied in an MMA match. That can be a non-factor as long as WWE producers make sure the headlock and chinlock is never applied in the half-hearted way it was the past decade or two.

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