Thousands of fans stood bewildered following last night’s main event, as the WWE’s resident hero John Cena laid battered and beaten after his match with Brock Lesnar. Cena didn’t grab a microphone to offer up an excuse, nor did he attempt any sort of retaliation while both Lesnar and Heyman laughed in his face after seizing the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Instead, he simply walked away with the help of officials, with the crowd booing the face of the company while serenading him on his way out the door. Last night’s event felt like a transitional pay-per-view, and not simply because every title that was contested changed hands.
The massacre fans witnessed last night for only $9.99 was perhaps the end of the PG era. The evil villain prevailed, the kids’ hero took the beating of a lifetime, and the company seems to finally be looking toward the future instead of the past. Fans have likely noticed in recent weeks that the product has become a bit edgier. Curse words are more frequent, men have assaulted women, and the next generation of superstars has dominated the old guard.
Last night’s event reminded me a bit of the 1993 King of the Ring, during which fans witnessed the death of Hulkamania. After years as the top superstar in the company, Hogan finally met his match in the form of Yokozuna. Hogan lost the title that night (with a little help from a camera man) and didn’t make any excuses. He simply faded away and left the company a few weeks later, not returning to a WWE ring for roughly a decade. This event was followed by a transition period that saw the company stray away from guys like Hogan, Savage, and Warrior in favor of the next generation in the form of Hart, Michaels, and Diesel.
That’s not to say that John Cena is bolting from the company any time soon, because that certainly isn’t the case, but his time as the top guy in the company is likely over. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have put Lesnar over in such convincing fashion, as Cena barely landed any offensive maneuvers throughout the over 15-minute main event.
