Cement the Turn, Pave the Rhodes

Here’s how I think the Wrestlemania match between John Cena and Cody Rhodes should turn out.

PHASE 1: The Fantastical Moves Cena’s father has already talked about how similar they are as wrestlers, so at first it should be a pretty even match. Cena trying to prove he’s the greater wrestler with just the 5 Moves of Death, but Cody goes blow for blow. These moves are designed to be a little ridiculous, the Bionic Elbow and 5 Knuckle Shuffle are meant to get a crowd going and look the least actually impactful. However, as this goes on Cena needs to be getting visibly frustrated. How dare this punk try and outshine him? He was the greatest babyface this sport had ever seen, but this second generation brat is keeping pace? That’s when we move into…

PHASE 2: Cena gets Dirty This is when being the Rock’s guy helps Cena out. He starts using chairs, pulling illegal moves, and just in general doing everything he can to make Cody’s life hell while he can’t do anything about it. Maybe the Rock is out there too, shouting at the ref, handing Cena tools, or maybe even hitting Cody himself. What’s critical here is that Cody needs to keep getting back up. No matter what happens to him, Cody rises to his feet. Finally…

PHASE 3: Watching Helplessly Friends, accomplices, rivals and enemies all alike start coming out. Some from the crowd, some from the stage. However, every time someone tries to step in, Cody stops them, holds up a hand and tells them to stay out. The Rock taunts them, saying there’s nothing they can do. And for every person who comes to support Cody, another comes to stand by the Rock. This whole time Cena continues to throw everything he can at Cody, but he continues to fight back. It’s only when he is basically dead on his feet that we either get the full count out or submission. John Cena has won his 17th title, but Cody never gave up. But as the Rock raises the hand and title of HIS champion, we see Cena staring at Cody’s limp, beaten, exhausted body with regret.

I believe this does a few things. First, it locks Cena in as a true heel. He needs to do everything he can to win, cheat, go low, and just overall be completely scummy to propel his heat to nuclear levels. Second, it makes Cody look even greater as a face. He has to fight clean, but most of all, keep getting back up. If they want to make him the successor, he needs to show he can go the distance. Three, it sets up potential feuds and matches. Depending on who comes down, it can lock in a path for Cena to have to cut through to defend the belt, but also create new rivalries and the potential war games lineups. I personally feel that Roman, Jey, Randy, and either Seth or Punk (maybe both, if their match helps them squash some beef, but I’m leaning Punk) will side with Cody, but the Rock could get Gunther, Drew, and maybe Priest or the other of Seth/Punk (probably Seth).

All in all, I think they need to use this match to lock in the heel turn, and show what lengths John is willing to go to in order to cement his legacy, while also ensuring Cody doesn’t just fade back but remains standing strong as the man of the people.

So, what do folks think?