had this typed up before it locked, so just gonna c&p it here.
could've pretty easily done Summerslam really as it's their No. 2 and is generally the 'half the year' mark for 'em PPV wise. WM just works out since it's Miama, aka, the Rock's hometown too. 0% chance Cena chants happen.
there never was a chance of slow burning this because the Rock's simply too busy to slow burn anything. maybe you'll get the last 3 months but even then i'd sooner bank on you'd get 3 weeks that matter. you want a year long feud, you have to put a TON on the line. we recently saw one done well in ROH between Steen and Generico that was with both active year-round, and it worked really well. it can't work with one inactive 90% of the time.
and because of that, Cena has to be stuck in all the positions along the way like he is now with Punk. the Rock is technically in the story somewhere but mostly an afterthought. there's a distinction made between the two, both in how Cena perceives them and how they perceive/acknowledge Cena. if they want to give 'meaning' to it, it already has enough between 'cross generation matchup!!!' if they want more they have to create it with ongoing feuds that are different. like the best thing they can do right now to maximize it would be to have Punk win and have Cena tween a bit or flat out turn in some way. that can simmer, Punk can rise as a star, and you'd have a third person and viewpoint involved in the whole Rock/Cena argument. seeing how Rock's gonna get cheered to death over there, you then can make it so that Rock brings Cena back to the WWE universe or something like that. kinda cheesy, but better than what we've got now.
but they need to drop "it's for the WWE Championship!" stip to it too. easy to forget it's in there, but godawful. however, it WOULD have worked if they booked Summerslam, had the belt on someone else, and triple threat'd them before going singles match blowoff at WM. and for maximum effect? have the 3rd person win due to an AA from Cena, making a callback to Miz > Cena at WM due to the Rock Bottom.
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