The Phantom Rant: Abyssinia, John Cena

Greetings conversationalists all across the world wide web. It is I, the one and only “Phantom Lord” Joseph Davis and this is The Phantom Rant. As always I am coming to you from a cold and miserable New York City and I would like to thank those of you with feedback on my last column with my problem with Netflix and too many damn commercials. I should have realized the VPN was the solution to all my problems. If you watch RAW without one on a delay you won’t get any commercials until the show is over (and then they kick back in for some reason). In any event…my problem is solved for the most part. I just need to remember to actually do it going forward.

So in the last column, I was hoping for a Penta vs. Gunther final with Penta winning. I had read over and over that Gunther was the choice the WWE was going with for the final match, but sometimes they do pivot when it’s called for. Well, it’s official now with Gunther winning the Last Time Is Now tournament after beating LA Knight on last week’s Smackdown. I thought the match between them was really good. LA Knight would have made a good opponent for Cena in his last match for a number of reasons. But I can see why they went with Gunther. Gunther beat Knight by submission and as Smackdown was going off, he said he will make Cena give up and tap out.

Now that Gunther is the guy to face Cena in his last match, the question is what happens next? Do we get one last Super Cena performance? Does Gunther chop the living crap out of Cena for fifteen minutes? I think the match is going to be pretty straight forward with Cena getting beat on for a while before he makes his big comeback and everyone can be happy as he rides off into the sunset. I think that’s what everyone wants anyway. No one wants to see Cena pummeled into a heap (well, maybe a few of us do). Gunther has a lot of pressure on him to make this final match something special. I think they’ll have a decent match together. It’s just a matter of how much time it gets and how it’s laid out. I expect Cena will bust out some special moves he hasn’t done in a while. Will it be a match of year? Depends on your view of what a match of the year is.

But honestly I think the whole The Last Time is Now tournament was pretty much a bust. There could have been so many more interesting matches made for this tournament. Where were Ethan Page and Trick Williams from NXT? Both would have made good choices for tournament action. As I said in the last column, I was pulling for Penta to win. That didn’t happen. I would have been happy with LA Knight winning. But it’s clear the WWE has some sort of vendetta against him right now as they wrote him off tv this past week after a Tsunami on the roof a car by Bronson Reed.

Gunther was the safe choice to face John Cena in his last match. By safe I mean he was a choice of someone who wouldn’t over shadow Cena. The last thing they would want is someone being cheered over Cena in his last match ever. Will it be his last match ever though? I think Cena is telling the truth unlike every other wrestler ever when they said they are retiring. John Cena is pretty well set financially, so it’s not like he’ll need the money when he’s pushing 60 or something.

I admire Cena going out while he’s still in top form. Some wrestlers flame out too early and others as we know stick around well past their expiration point. John Cena is leaving at just the right time for him and I hope this final match is one for the ages. Most wrestlers don’t get to have a proper final match that they can say this was at my best. So for John Cena to bow out at this point in his career is admirable.

With John Cena gone after SNME, the big question is who will replace him in the pantheon of the WWE? A lot of the guys I’ve mentioned like LA Knight, Penta, etc…are all over 40. So them being around for another twenty years is highly unlikely. NXT has plenty of guys who could fill the role right now, but it’s a question is when they get the call up from NXT to the main roster will they be handled right? I mentioned it in the last column about Je’Von Evans and Oba Femi. Two talents who have all the tools to be main stars on Smackdown or RAW. But what happens when they get to the main roster? Is it 50/50 booking where they’re strong one week and weak the next? That’s a problem the WWE has had since John Cena’s debut over twenty years ago. They start and stop so many people that it’s impossible for anyone to gain traction.

So where will things stand in a year? I hope someone grabs for the damn brass ring that the WWE always likes to speak about. Someone needs to take the reigns and fill the void that will be left by John Cena. Now, granted…it won’t be a fast start for whomever that is. But in the long view of things we’ll see who that was down the road.

Overall John Cena will be looked at like Bruno Samartino, Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Cena’s era lasted a lot longer than others and his spot in the WWE will be cemented in stone. John Cena was the ultimate good guy and despite the heel turn everyone wanted him to do years ago being a total bust in his last year. John Cena will live on in videos, memes, and people’s hearts for generations to come.

I’m sure in the next column we’ll have a lot to discuss about how this all went. I’m sure everyone won’t be happy because who ever is totally happy? In any event that is it for this week. So until next time take care. As always you can send me feedback by leaving it below, on twitter or email me at phantomlordnyc@gmail.com