TRISH STRATUS MAY NOT BE THE ONLY SUPERSTAR THAT MADE HIS
OR HER LAST APPEARANCE ON RAW THIS WEEK
Trish Stratus
said farewell to RAW this week when she defeated Mickie James in her final RAW match. However, the result of the main
event at Unforgiven this Monday will determine whether or not Trish was the only one to say goodbye to RAW that night.
If John Cena does not
defeat Edge in a TLC Match for the WWE Championship at Unforgiven, he will leave RAW and sign a three-year deal with SmackDown.
Cena did defeat Edge in what could be his final RAW match on Monday; he teamed with Jeff Hardy & Carlito to defeat the Rated-R Superstar, Intercontinental Champion Johnny Nitro and Randy Orton.
While he’s been arguably the top star on RAW since coming to
the brand in the 2005 Draft Lottery, Cena says that being back on SmackDown would be big as well.
“Don’t get me wrong, SmackDown is where I started and
made a home for myself,” Cena said. “They’re moving to the new CW Network, and there’s nothing but
big things in store for that brand. I’d have no problem going back.”
But would he be upset about leaving RAW?
“The only reason I’d be sour is because that means I lost
a WWE Championship match… and as in any competition, you don’t want to lose.”
Many might think that Cena made a mistake by putting his RAW life
on the line to get another chance at Edge. However, the former WWE Champion thinks that in doing so, he actually outsmarted
the current champion.
“Hey, it was the only way I could get another championship
match. I lost at SummerSlam, and that doesn’t exactly leave me as the No. 1
Contender,” Cena admitted. “Edge was rather adamant about wanting me out of his life, so for once I became the
“smartest contender ever” by pretty much putting my career on the line. Now, with every move comes consequences;
if I lose I go to SmackDown, and I’m at peace with that. But I will do everything I can not to lose.”
But if Monday night was indeed his last RAW, Cena feels that it was
the best possible ending.
“If I’m going to go out on one last RAW, being in New
York City on 9/11 is the way to do it. We won and it was a hell of a night.”
Of course, he also had a message for his potential opponents on SmackDown
as well.
“Anyone with a championship better hold onto it tight,”
Cena warned, “because if I come to SmackDown, I’m coming for you.”
JOHN CENA TALKS ABOUT HIS POSSIBLE SMACKDOWN RETURN AND THE
MARINE
With the whirlwind of publicity surrounding the opening for
his new movie “The Marine”, John Cena’s had
to do more than hustle inside of the ring. When he wasn’t training long hours in the gym or competing on RAW, he was wrapping up work on “The Marine,” sitting down for an interview and a cover
shoot for the October issue of WWE Magazine and hustling to New York City for another cover shoot and interview for the November
issue of FLEX Magazine.
The non-stop grind of balancing his duties inside as well as
outside the ring have left some WWE fans wondering if Cena has spread himself too thin and is distracted from his quest to
reclaim the WWE Championship.
When WWE.com caught up with Cena at a recent live event, he
was quick to shun the rumors that anything will hinder his pursuit of RAW’s top prize at Unforgiven on Sept. 17. His
words were delivered with a firm, assuring tone and there was fire clearly burning in his eyes when he spoke about his Unforgiven
match with Edge. He insisted that despite everything that could be misconstrued as
a diversion in his hectic life, he’s never lost sight of what matters.
“When you have something going on, you have to be everywhere
at once,” a candid Cena said. “That’s what some guys just don’t understand… when you get that
crown [WWE Championship] you’re everywhere. That’s why it’s so very hard to keep it and why so very few
hold onto it. But never once did I lose focus.”
The motivation for Cena to zone in on his match at Unforgiven
has never been so important. After Edge retained the WWE Championship at SummerSlam
by using brass knuckles, Cena used drastic measures to persuade the Rated R Superstar to give him one last rematch.
“I said [to Edge], I’m not the No. 1 contender,
but if you want me out of your life, here is the ticket, and with the help of SmackDown
General Manager Theodore Long, we put together a three-year deal for SmackDown,”
Cena said with a shrug.
Edge wisely chose a Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match as the format
for what could become the final chapter in the John Cena vs. Edge epic. The Rated R Superstar is undefeated in TLC Matches,
and while Cena has participated in some brutal matches in his career, this will be the first time he’s been in one as
physically demanding as a TLC Match. That, along with Unforgiven being held in Toronto – Edge’s hometown –
has stacked the odds heavily in the champion’s favor. But for Cena, the first task in the pecking order was to get a
rematch, and then figure out a way to win later.
“He [Edge] picked the best scenario for himself… but what
am I going to do, not take the match? Say, ‘That’s not fair?’ No, you get a championship opportunity, you
take it,” said a staunch Cena.
Now that he’s been granted another opportunity, the next step
is to determine the best –for lack of a better word – ladder for preparation.
But how does one prepare for a TLC Match? The intricacies involved
to emerge victorious – or without the necessity of being stretchered out of the arena – are much more than to
simply avoid falling from a ladder while attempting to grab the championship that hangs above the ring. There is the resourceful
approach to utilizing the tables, ladders and chairs as weapons or shields; using the ladder to joust; the chair to deliver
a devastating blow and the table as emphasis of a monstrous slam.
“The best thing to do is a little bit of film study,”
said Cena. “If anything, I know Edge feels comfortable, but – and I don’t want to say I’m at a disadvantage
– but me never being in this type of match before, he doesn’t know what to expect.”
And it seems no one else in WWE knows what to expect, either. Numerous
WWE Superstars have contacted WWE.com to air their feelings about a Cena return to SmackDown – where the Doctor of Thuganomics
began his WWE career. Cena said he has no problem returning to his roots, but he knows if he trades competing on Monday nights
for Friday nights, it means Edge got the better of him again.
“It would be an honor to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship,” he
said.
“I started my career my career on SmackDown. I still have a lot of loyalty to that brand and I have many,
many good friends over there. If I go, it means I came up a little bit short, but if I end up on (on FOX8) CW on
Friday nights, it’s not like I’m going to end up soft; I’ll still be kicking ass like I always do.”
JOHN CENA GETS PUNK'D
Wednesday, WWE Superstar John Cena was the victim of a major punking
at the hands of America's MTV produced hit series: Punk’d. Cena joins the ranks of other unsuspecting superstars
such as The Rock, Triple H, Beyonce Knowles, Halle Berry, Kanye West and Terrell Owens, to name a few. Catch Cena's punking
in the near future on TEN in Australia (if the show returns).
JOHN CENA ADMITS EDGE HAS THE TLC ADVANTAGE
John Cena’s obsession with reclaiming
the WWE Championship may have doomed him this time. On RAW, Cena presented WWE Champion Edge with an option: give him one more rematch,
and if Cena loses, he’ll leave RAW and sign a three year deal with SmackDown.
Maybe Cena figured he’d get a traditional one-on-one match… but he was wrong.
The Rated R Superstar realized this was the opening he’s been
waiting for — to get Cena out of his life for the next three years, and he granted Cena’s request. But he didn’t
agree to just any match — he agreed to a Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match at Unforgiven, which takes place in Edge’s
hometown of Toronto, Canada on Sept. 17.
“He doesn’t have a hope in hell,” the champion gloated
to WWE.com in an exclusive interview. “I got him in my match. It’s not even arguably my match, it is my match.
I believe this will be my 11th ladder match, and until you’ve been in one, you don’t understand what falling off
a ladder feels like.”
While Edge has 11 ladder matches under his belt, Cena’s never
been in a TLC match, which gives Edge a seemingly insurmountable advantage.
“What the hell can I say?” Cena asked. “I’m
not in any position to demand a rematch, especially with the history Edge and I have, so I did the best I could.”
Although he’s never been in a TLC match before, the challenger
said he has a vivid idea about what to expect when he climbs into the ring for battle.
“[It’s going to be] physical, brutal… I don’t
do much from the top rope, let alone climb on 15-to 18-foot ladders. That’s a whole different style. I’d give
the advantage to Edge,” Cena admitted.
The Rated R Superstar claims this was all part of his plan. He didn’t
have to give Cena another rematch, but with the chance to rid his biggest adversary – paired with the overwhelming odds
– he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to close the book on their rivalry.
“Being the chess player that I am; the master tactician that
I am, I set him up. Not only will I have the city of Toronto in my corner, I will have the whole country of Canada in my corner,”
Edge said.
Regardless of the enormous odds stacked against him, Cena claims he
did what he needed to do to get one more match to regain what matters most to him — the WWE Championship.
“Is it a fair shot? No, but sh*t, life isn’t fair,”
said Cena. “I got a Championship match out of it; the odds aren’t exactly in my favor, but I can’t say I
haven’t been there before. I stepped into some hard situations and come out pretty good.”
SMACKDOWN SUPERSTARS TALK ABOUT CENA'S POSSIBLE RETURN
On RAW, John Cena made a blockbuster announcement. Holding a three-year SmackDown contract in his hand, Cena said that he was prepared to leave RAW and sign with SmackDown if he could not defeat Edge for the WWE Championship. They will meet in a TLC
Match at Unforgiven with Cena’s RAW life at stake.
If Cena were to lose and head back to SmackDown, many SmackDown Superstars
told WWE.com that they would welcome him back with open arms. Of course, everyone had a different motivation for wanting to
see Cena tear up Friday nights.
First and foremost, General Manager Theodore
Long would love to have the former WWE Champion back under his employ.
“I think it would mean great things to have Cena on SmackDown;
he was a great champion, and I hated to lose him to RAW in the first place,” the General Manager told WWE.com. “But
hey, what goes around comes around playa, so hopefully we’ll see Cena back on SmackDown.”
Rey Mysterio, who teamed with Cena when
he first came to SmackDown in 2002, would also love to have his friend back on Friday nights.
“John Cena was first recognized on SmackDown; this is where he blew up.
He made our show better, and it would be a pleasure for me to see Cena back on SmackDown,” Rey Mysterio told WWE.com.
“Knowing how competitive he’s been and the name he’s made, I would be pleased to have him back. This is
where he became known, and so I think the SmackDown fans would be happy to have him back as well.”
The current World Heavyweight Champion, King Booker, had a long
rivalry with Cena over the United States Championship in 2004. And while the King
wouldn’t mind having Cena in his Kingdom, he did say that Cena would have to know his role.
“John Cena…a man I underestimated in the past. That is
something I will not do in the future,” the King declared. “Cena has proven that he is worthy of where he is;
but if he comes back to the SmackDown kingdom, he will have to, just as every other person who walks into the promised land
has to, and that is bow down to his benevolent King, King Booker. We would welcome Cena back to King Booker’s SmackDown
kingdom.”
JBL also had a long rivalry with Cena, just
prior to Cena being sent to RAW in the 2005 Draft Lottery. Now that he’s a commentator, however, JBL said that he would
like to see Cena back for the good of the brand.
“I would enjoy seeing Cena back. I was the top dog when
I was around, but now that I’m a commentator, I’m rooting for SmackDown,” JBL explained. “I believe
that King Booker is the best talent in WWE, and if you add Cena to that mix, the battle would be phenomenal. The match between
Cena and Edge at SummerSlam was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. Having
Cena back here, despite my personal disagreements with him in the past, would be great. In our "I Quit" Match (at Judgment
Day in May 2005) we took each other to the limit; I know him better than almost anyone in WWE, and I’d be thrilled to
see him back.”
And of course, there are those Superstars who want to see Cena on
SmackDown solely for personal gain…such as the brash Mr. Kennedy.
“I’ll tell you what…I especially would welcome him
back with open arms, because I would enjoy nothing more than whooping his ass in a SmackDown ring.”
It would be foolish to believe that anyone on SmackDown would not
want a Superstar the caliber of John Cena to come to Friday nights.
What are you thoughts? After Unforgiven will Cena be ..... WWE
Champion or the Newest SmackDown Superstar? Email your comments here...
