PWTorch Specialist Roundtable - Has WWE effectively promoted the Brock Lesnar-John Cena match at Extreme Rules with the "legitimacy" buzzword/UFC references and John Laurinaitis's involvement? Or, is there a better way to promote the "fight?"

Justin James, PWTorch contributor

Has WWE effectively promoted Cena–Lesnar with the talk of “legitimacy?” Kinda! Kinda! Kinda! Some of this build-up has been great. The sit-down interview with Lesnar, for example, was extremely effective, in my opinion. The problem is, as other have pointed out, that this approach implicitly highlights that WWE is “fake wrestling.”

John Laurinaitis's involvement is definitely hurting this effort, though. Laurinaitis should have just introduced Lesnar as a big acquisition and moved on. Instead, every time I start to feel like “this is serious” a la MITB 2011, something turns it into “just another angle” and that “something” is often Laurinaitis. He doesn’t even need to be on the screen for it, either. When John Cena referenced Laurinaitis trying to destroy him vis a vis Lesnar, it screamed “wrestling promo” regardless of how well it was delivered. All the legitimacy from the brawl got sucked out of the air when Cena barged into Laurinaitis’s office to deliver an obviously scripted promo.

Another small, nagging issue to me is the F5. If the F5 is so “devastating,” why didn’t Lesnar use it in the UFC? It looks too much like every other finishing move, and it has all of the logical flaws of the Attitude Adjustment, Go To Sleep, etc. where the viewer is asking, “Who sits still waiting on another man’s shoulders like that waiting to get hurt?” It is stuff like this that is really damaging WWE’s otherwise excellent efforts in this build-up. (Read James's weekly NXT & Superstars TV reviews.)

By Shane McKinley, PWTorch Absurdity specialist

I think WWE has effectively promoted Cena-Brock with their tactics (Cena getting busted up in error was memorable), but has this storyline really sunk in? No. I am a bit shocked to see UFC footage on WWE programming, but Brock Lesnar was such a huge, huge UFC draw, and John Cena has never, ever faced a monster like this before. What WWE is hoping for is that the casual 18-34 male fans that stuck around for Rock will stick around for Brock.

Does this mean UFC fans will buy Extreme Rules? To answer this question, I went over to the boys at MMATorch.com and asked them, "Hey, are you gonna check out Extreme Rules? Brock Lesnar is gonna brawl with John Cena." They stopped what they were doing and gave me cold death stares until I sheepishly left the room. There's simply not enough time to really flesh out a storyline here, so what WWE has is Cena is in a slump, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion is looking to end him and the company, and WWE's evil Mitt Romney is looking to muck things up. (Read McKinley's regular Absurdity of It All column reviewing news & TV events.)

Shawn Valentino, PWTorch specialist

I was there in the audience when Brock Lesnar returned to WWE two weeks back. The audience response was absolutely thunderous. I thought it was well done, and my favorite part was when Brock kicked that stupid Cena hat. It was symbolic on so many levels.

I think the build-up to Cena-Lesnar has been okay, but I feel that once again, WWE has done an expert job in taking an extraordinary situation that existed only in people's fantasies and turned it into something fairly ordinary. Who could have imagined if somebody told you two years ago that Lesnar and Rock would come back in 2012 and neither would have any impact on ratings. It is truly unbelievable. I have never thought that Brock was a tremendous wrestling promo, but I thought that his aura and presence were off the charts. I think that they should have him bowl thru Cena and absolutely destroy his spirits and then leave saying he does not need to prove anything else. Then, WWE can build up a distraught Cena trying to redeem himself and pair him against Lesnar for a redemption match at Summerslam.

I hate the references to the word "legitimate." I was in the minority that hated C.M. Punk's promo last summer and his "pipe bomb" persona. I feel that wrestling is at its best when it operates within the internal logic of a program that is presented with as real with a straight face. Saying something is "real" makes everything seem like a joke, including the part that is supposedly "legitimate." Hopefully, WWE focuses on Lesnar as an invincible ass-kicker and Cena as the vulnerable Superstar finally with his back against the wall. That is a story that people can relate to, and one that will make for compelling television in the upcoming months. (Read Valentino's regular Magic, Memories, and Mania review columns.)

Alex Roberts, PWTorch Review specialist

As many have noted, it's questionable whether it's even possible for WWE to effectively promote a match this big in such a short time. After Rock and Cena were given a full year to hype their WrestleMania match, it feels downright jarring that Lesnar's first match in over eight years - against Cena, no less - is just under two weeks away. I admit I'm conflicted on whether or not this is a good thing - largely because I will be in attendance at Extreme Rules on the 29th and predict that Lesnar's appearance will make the always-wild Chicago crowd that much hotter. I can say pretty confidently that Extreme Rules will be an enjoyable show; I'm not so certain that pulling the trigger on the Lesnar-Cena showdown this early will be best in the long-term.

That said, I am extremely intrigued by the narrative that seems to be developing with the return of the former UFC champion to the pro wrestling fold. I'll readily admit that I'm not much of an MMA fan and am unfamiliar with the intricacies of the sport. It only takes a quick look at the advertised Pay-Per-View attractions of any local bar, though, to see how the sport has largely replaced pro wrestling in the popular consciousness.

WWE's recent on-air acknowledgement that the world of mixed martial arts does, in fact, exist feels overdue given how popular UFC has become in the past decade. Now that they have, it opens up some fascinating storyline possibilities to explore the intersecting and contrasting ideas of "legitimacy" offered up by MMA and pro wrestling. It's clear that both of these spectacles offer something engaging and compelling to their audiences - both are "real," but in profoundly different ways. As someone endlessly fascinated by the way that pro wrestling constantly morphs and subverts what it means to offer something "real," I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of a storyline that grapples with the subject head-on.

As PWTorch editor Wade Keller noted on Tuesday's PWTorch Livecast, there is definitely a danger to harping on how "legitimate" a competitor is Lesnar because of his MMA experience. Like Rock and Cena's "worked shoot" comments leading up to WrestleMania, this could only magnify the flaws of the more scripted moments and lead to a cynical view of the worked aspects of the feud. However, the crucial idea in Lesnar's sit-down interview on Monday for me was that he loves "beating people up" - and that he came back to WWE because it's where he can do just that. It feels so far that his run to "legitimize" WWE is not an attack on pro wrestling itself, but on WWE and its image as a company with a soft, palatable "Superstar" as its top draw.

Moving forward, there's a chance that this storyline could offer some interesting insights into the stylistic and attitudinal differences between modern MMA and pro wrestling fans. There's something promising and fascinating about the family-friendly, do-good WWE Superstar John Cena going up against the face of the competitive, often-brutal world of UFC in Brock Lesnar. It's a showdown, honestly, that probably deserves more than one month of build-up. Depending on the outcome, though, it could be the beginning of something great. (Read Roberts's regular DVD/Book/Movie reviews on PWTorch.com.)

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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