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Hybrid style

Hey Scott,
Do you think that, given what we've seen of Brock Lesnar's ring gear, and the nature of the feud with Cena so far, we might see a 'hybrid' style of match at Extreme Rules? In a wwe.com article Matt Striker commented that there won't be any armdrags or headlocks, so could they manage without irish whips and the like?

Because Lesnar's been away from the wrestling ring for a decade, it would seem wise to play to his strengths, and as long as Cena doesn't pull out a five-knuckle shuffle, I think there's a good chance we'll see an unusually realistic contest between the two.

Eh, Cena isn't a particularly "realistic" worker, as he's pretty much 100% a product of the WWE system.  It feels like a match where it needs to be a big Michael Bay giant robot battle type of brawl anyway.  The more "realistic" UFC style has never really gotten over outside of one Joe v. Angle match in TNA anyway.  

Comments

  1. Cena's going to pin him with a bodyslam and a legdrop

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  2. I think having a more realistic match or a brawl all over the arena would be the thing to do. I mean how many times do we have a "blood" feud or two guys that really really REALLY hate each other end up just wrestling when they finally meet in the ring. I know wrestling is the name of the game, but this just NEEDS to be a brutal brawl.

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  3. Cena wins with a kick to the kidneys. Oh ho ho.

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  4. Don't forget the big boot, brother!

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  5. Sigh. Mentioning that Angle vs. Joe match is a sad reminder of how awesome Samoa Joe used to be.

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  6. Don't forget the finger point. Brock'll be paralyzed with fear.

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  7. cena should win.  he's a nice guy.  brock's just some meathead fighter who doesn't care about anything but money.  in fact, cena should f5 brock before he locks him in the STF!!!

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  8. This.

    Nearest example?  Punk-Jericho at WM.  You would think Punk would want to come out and just punch the holy hell out of Jericho.  You would be wrong.

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  9. Still real to you, huh? 

    Hey, lets base all TV shows on how nice actors are and we can translate their off-air persona onto their character.  That will make us a shit load of money.  Ye-haw!

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  10. Yeah, watching Bones Jones come out "the champ is here" last night reminded me how much I used to love watching Joe.

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  11. better than building your show around a guy who looks like a mountain man rapist who just sttepped off the set of a backwoods horror movie.  wwe doesn't need to appeal to the lowest common denominater.

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  12. I thought that's why they put in the "you will lose the title on a DQ" stipulation, because it didn't make sense for them to wrestle (but that's what they were best at). . Occasionally the punch-kick main event style makes the most sense.

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  13. But that's what's so entertaining about Brock! People like Cena for who he is, well, Brock is who he is! He's a big, giant redneck douchebag and I LOVE IT.

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  14.  "denominater"? 

    LOL, who's backwoods now?

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  15.  Yeah, and Punk hinted he would get dq'd with the chair spot; but I thought it was the wrong decision with that crowd.  Either way, I'm sure their plan was for the extreme rules to be the more aggressive match and that's fine.

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  16. Given that Brock is going to win because, you know, debuting huge deal and everything; I would be fine/happy if Cena remained upright through the match while Brock used stuff like knees to the face. Then have Brock win with a ground and pound as the announcers, exasperated, try to explain that Brock won with.... Punches, punches to the face.

    If you're going to go with a "legitimacy" gimmick, then let's go all the way through the looking glass and acknowledge that 95% this flashy stuff the roster is doing is nonsense that would never be used in a serious scrap.

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  17.  Only if the poke lands in the spot where his intestines used to be.

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  18. Hindsight being 20/20 I wish they'd built the Wrestlemania around who was the best in the world, which allows for a technical match and doesn't have the beginning lag their match had (though it was my favorite match on the show) and used the family build up for a wild brawl at Extreme Rules.

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  19. Yeah, I'm with Scott. I have no interest in watching dudes try to work a UFC style match. If I wanted to watch MMA, I'd watch MMA. I watch pro wrestling to see pro wrestling matches, so keep it nice and fake for me, please.

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  20. Okay, here's Lesnar's ring gear in case anyone hasn't seen it yet. I think it looks really stupid.

    http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1335119740

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  21. Only way that look works if they ditch the boots and have him go barefoot. Looks too much like a boxer wearing MMA gloves, IMO.

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  22. Agreed, the boots make it looks really silly. Like he's wearing swimming trunks to a fight. Or he's wearing motorcycle boots and gloves to Water World. I can't get my head around it.

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  23. Cena loses by getting knocked the fuck out. I'd sign off on it lol 

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  24. This is why I'm hesitant on a potential Brock/Taker match given Brock's background and Taker's hard on for MMA. 

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  25. Well his opponent will be wearing jean shorts right? Just a fun, warm, spring day for them!

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  26. Too far sir TOO FAR

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  27. Hey, my question got published. But... no one agrees. Well, fair enough - Scott's right that Cena isn't realistic, in fact he's the closest to the cartoony of any main eventer.

    Personally, I feel that Lesnar's legitimacy in MMA means the style could get over - even Joe/Angle were 'faking' the style - but I'm open to the giant robot battle idea too. It's been a while since we got a true Attitude-era in-the-crowd brawl, and by now it would probably seem fresh.

    Either way, Lesnar has to go over, so he may as well batter Cena to a referee stoppage.

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  28. I think the obvious story for the Cena/Lesnar match would be Lesnar dominating Cena when he can get his hands on him and Cena turning the tide when he reaches into the Pro Wrestling Bag of International Objects.


    Not only is that the obvious route, it's probably the best because it protects Lesnar without making Cena look weak.  It's too early for that.

    Now, a rematch under standard DQ/CO rules? Yeah, that's when you make Cena look weak and really put over the fact that Lesnar might be unbeatable under those circumstances.

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  29. Speaking of Lesnar's ring gear, it's pretty unprecedented for Vince to allow someone to wear gear with sponsor logos on it. I'm wondering if this will start a new precedent. I'd imagine after Lesnar another part timer like Rock might want to work in something to advertise one of his movies on his t-shirts, or possibly Jericho might want to hype Fozzy. Then maybe a main eventer like Cena or Orton can negotiate a deal with someone to work in some simple sponsorship. I'd say it'd be a good thing, and an incentive for WWE guys to work hard to get over. I'm sure Vince would want a cut of everything but if it makes a little more money for his guys, they're likely to be more motivated workers. Plus, since I'm sure WWE wouldn't want to get frozen out of the merchandising aspect, they could work out deals for co-branded merch. I'm envisioning things like an Orton Affliction tee, or a Punk themed Metal Mulisha shirt. Could be pretty cool.

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  30. I wish they would appeal to the lowest common denominator.  When they had the cigar-chomping "we wanna see some blood" crowd, the show was a lot more riveting than the PG era.

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  31. The problem with that is you either commit to doing away with pro wrestling as we know it forever or you just invalidated the entire existence of what you do.

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  32. Cena will just come out in Make-A-Wish gear in a further attempt to get crowd support.

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  33. I had the same thought a few days ago, and think it'd be a great revenue generator.

    Granted, you don't want the guys looking like NASCAR drivers, where they're covered from head to toe in logos that often have little to do with the sport, but I think you're onto something with character-driven sponsorships. Daniel Bryan showing support for an animal charity or a chain of Vegan restaurants? AJ wearing t-shirts of the latest video-game? Brodus Clay pimping for an audio-equipment manufacturer? PUNK AND PEPSI???

    On a somewhat related note, does anybody remember D'Lo Brown coming out in an "Ugg" t-shirt for, like, three weeks? I'm probably wrong on the brand, but he definitely came out proudly wearing and displaying some sort of big brand-name for a little bit there. And didn't "Los Boricuas" wear FUBU for a bit?

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  34. Exactly - I can appreciate that some people would prefer to see real fighting over fake fighting, but I *like* the ridiculousness of pro-wrestling moves. I mean, you're not gonna see any Shooting-Star Presses in UFC, ya know?

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  35. Ooof, that's terrible.

    I forgot all about his "new" cock tattoo on his belly. 

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  36. The problem with this is that you can only go so far.  When Tank Abbott first joined WCW they tried something like this where he would beat jobbers with his "UFC knockout punch".  It's just at some point you have to have an actual back and forth match that lasts more than 3 minutes and if you've built up a guy as a knockout artist it becomes really hard to structure a match.

    It wouldn't surprise me if they made some strides to making his offense more realistic.  Like let him use a full kimura or his arm triangle that he beat Carwin with as his submissions instead of the Brock Lock and keeping his matches short and explosive is probably best for all concerned (especially because he's supposed to be out of shape).  But going with a full on UFC gimmick just leads to too many problems down the road.

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  37. I don't think it would be a stretch to mix the styles a bit, and have Brock's opponents eventually learn to evolve their attack as the year goes on.

    Nonetheless, like I outlined in a recent article (http://www.ultimatesportstalk.com/theultimatefightshow/2012/04/15/from-ufc-to-wwe-booking-brock-lesnar/), I think Cena should get choked out this Sunday without submitting (maybe like Austin at WM13).

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  38. Wait. We think they're not already appealing to the LCD?

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