8 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Feb 3)
In these times of uncertainty, Vince McMahon is here to tell us exactly what we want.
On this week in wrestling history, much insanity inscribed itself into the book of record.
CM Punk walked out on WWE in 2014, thoroughly fed up with his inhumanly intense workload and his employer's insistence on positioning part-time talents above him on the totem pole. Ironically, if he'd just taken some time off on amicable terms, he'd have returned to complete his career goal of headlining WrestleMania, enhanced by the novelty his absence would have created. But then, he wouldn't have been able to fulfil the lifelong dream he had for two years of making it in the MMA world. Compounding the irony, he received a far more painful clobbering at the hands of Mickey Gall than he ever did at the hands of Ryback.
The Radicalz faction of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero also walked out of a wrestling company after WCW were daft enough to grant them their releases, allowing the WWF to become the total package with its new bolstered and technically-savvy midcard. It went on to experience its then most successful financial year ever.
This week didn't see any industry-shaking walkouts - but it was suitably batsh*t, in its own right...
8. WWE (And Randy Orton Himself) Think We Want To See John Cena Vs. Randy Orton Part 4336 At WrestleMania
Minutes after the Royal Rumble faded to black, WWE posted a curious - and by curious, I mean absolutely soul-destroying - article on WWE.com.
"It's a rivalry without parallel in modern-day WWE, and at WrestleMania 33, career-long foes John Cena and Randy Orton could very well lock horns again - provided Cena makes it to April 2 with his newly won WWE Championship," went the statement. The rivalry is only legendary in the minds of WWE. The vast majority of the fanbase has long since been jaded by a pairing which has contested no less than eleven matches for the WWE Championship on pay-per-view.
Their last major (non-title) match - at Hell In A Cell 2014 - wasn't quite as poorly-received as their infamously alienating Royal Rumble 2013 encounter, but it was a midcard attraction with zero stakes. It was just there - and therein lies the problem. It neatly encapsulated the nothingness the feud has degenerated into, ruined by complete over-exposure - if it was even that great to begin with. Cena and Orton have wrestled one another in the aforementioned Cell - twice - and under Falls Count Anywhere, Iron Man, I Quit, Tables, and TLC stipulations - none of which were indisputable, cast iron classics. Would any of them make into the top 50 WWE matches of all time?
Unimaginative, overdone, everyday - Cena Vs. Orton is the burnt toast of wrestling feuds. And we might get it at WrestleMania 33! Those on the inside have confirmed that Cena isn't near the title picture - but plans have changed twice already...