John Cena and The Miz Crush It
It took a mere 23 minutes for almost everyone bashing the idea of a mixed tag team match at WrestleMania to get on board. As I mentioned in a previous article, which you can read here, The Miz and John Cena are going to carry a really compelling, realistic and important feud heading into WrestleMania 33. The Miz talked about being held back, Cena manipulating himself into championship matches and even compared him to The Rock. John Cena fires back hard at The Miz and says he is just another dude playing another dude. He goes on to talk about how The Miz complains, whines and never gets his way because he is not really a true WWE Superstar. Back and forth with the shots and Cena drops the mic. Maryse slaps John Cena, which brings out Nikki Bella. She says she will break her and calls her a b**ch. The segment ends in hot fashion.
An excellent promo kicks off Smackdown Live and Twitter blew up. Everyone, after one promo, seemed to be getting on board with this match and for good reason. Both men are masters of the microphone and both men have such similar, yet different paths. Both men do movies. Both men have been told that they can’t wrestle. Both men have been champion. The only difference is that John Cena is a dynasty and The Miz was a one hit wonder. It is like comparing NSYNC to BBMak. Jamaal Magloire to Shaquille O’Neil. However you spin it, both men know how to work and have improved drastically since WrestleMania 27. All you need is a piece of realism to come into play and they did it at the perfect time. Do not wait to make a statement, especially with a fickle crowd heading into this time of year. Excellent work and an even better connection with the WWE Universe from both men.
Technicians on the Mat
A very technical bout on Smackdown Live featured Mickie James and Becky Lynch in a 2 out of 3 falls match. The first fall went to James, after hitting a beautiful delayed DDT for the win. Becky Lynch would be able to get the second pinfall after some great mat technicality and then rolling James up from behind. This would bring us to the final fall, one that should have been much longer, but Alexa Bliss helped it out. She would distract Becky Lynch, but it backfired when Mickie ran into the champion. Lynch applied her submission finisher and made the former Women’s Champion tap out.
They gave these women two commercial breaks, but it felt like more action went on off-screen and during the commercial. With a 23 minute talking segment before, I would have loved for this to take us to the top of the second hour. You can really tell Mickie James is better than ever, looking faster and leaner with the right amount of intensity and facial expressions. She is playing off of the crowd, something she did not do enough of in her first stint.
If this is an indication of the future, Becky Lynch will certainly be in a championship match at WrestleMania. I would love to see Mickie and Natalya added, two veterans facing off and trying to capture a title in an era build around the younger women. That would be a fun and easy story to tell.
