By Jon Cudo, PWTorch specialist

TRUE - JOHN CENA LEARNED MORE FROM C.M. PUNK THAN FROM KANE

December through February, it appeared that Kane was taking John Cena on a path towards a heel turn, or at least a realignment of Cena's moral compass. As time passed and their feud continued, it appeared that Kane could eventually be entangled in the WrestleMania Main Event. "Embrace the hate" seemed to be the story, and it was easy to conclude it would be a factor in Cena's next feud.

Instead, it was a journey to enforce that Cena was just that pure at his core. Nothing, including a long tempting feud with Kane, could sway him. Kane tried to teach him to embrace the hate to become more powerful, but Cena shrugged (and smirked) off the head games of WWE's lead monster and walked away stronger for it.

In hindsight, it now appears that John Cena learned more from his summer feud with C.M. Punk. Punk's edgier and more insider promo style and cutting humor is now bubbling up in Cena's excellent work with Rock. Noting he's a "wrestler" and taking harsh personal attacks at the polished Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson could have been a script written by and for C.M. Punk.

The result could have been forced and ridiculous when delivered by John Cena, but instead he sounds as comfortable and natural on the microphone as he has in years. Showing that while he fended off Kane's lesson, he learned something valuable from Punk.

FALSE - CENA STILL SUCKS

Portland and Boston are two very different wrestling venues. One is the home of Cena, the other a part-time home to Rock. They are 3,000 miles and a weeks time apart, but both were deafening in what they did not chant: "Cena Sucks."

The last time WWE was in Boston leading up to Survivor Series, Cena received the same chant he gets everywhere: The high pitched "Let's Go Cena," low-pitched "Cena Sucks" chant. The battle cry that followed the tormented superstar coast to coast....until it didn't.

In just a matter of a couple weeks, Cena has made broad strides AHEAD of Rock in head-to-head match-ups on the microphone. Now he's ahead of Rock and the fans are no longer rejecting him en masse. Instead, they are hanging on his every word.

I am working from the assumption that both guys are just going out and cutting their promos and this is not a broad, long story arc where Rock is supposed to look little, shaken, and beaten for two straight weeks. [Side note: I would have enjoyed being in the meeting where that was pitched to Rock, if it ever was.]

This week, Cena emptied Rock's chamber before he walked out. Watching with a friend, he immediately called it a scene right out of "8 Mile." Eminem mocked himself and owned all the negatives before his opponent could in their final battle. "I dress ridiculously, my lady parts are showing, and I'm a Fruity Pebble." Okay, Rock, is that all you have, asked Cena. And, Rock essentially admitted that it was, after declaring with all the bravado he could muster that Cena reeked of fear (while Cena laughed in his face). Edge John Cena.

Cena also cut the legs out from under Rock's trademark call and response twitter-trending style. It should be noted in the face-to-face that Rock didn't have the time or the crowd control to elicit a world-wide trending catchphrase. Again, Cena won.

I would conclude it's hard to be the second person to enter the war of words, but it didn't bother Cena last week in Portland. The greater lesson is that it's hard to go toe-to-toe with a confident John Cena...just ask Rock.

ALSO FALSE - ROCK KNOWS HIS HISTORY

As a dabbler in history and a huge Ben Franklin buff, I was distracted by the inaccuracies in Rock's history lesson.

Rock started with the classic misnomer that Paul Revere rode through town saying, "The British are coming, the British are coming." At the time of the revolution, virtually everyone in Boston would have considered themselves "British," since the notion of being American had yet to be born. Revere more accurately would have cried, "The Red Coats are coming!" since that warning would have been more meaningful to the locals.

Also heading back in time to Boston, Rock would be unlikely to run into Ben Franklin. Franklin, whose fame almost entirely came from his time in Philadelphia, left Boston at age 17 to rarely return. While born in Boston, virtually none of his accomplishments arise from his time there.

Minor points that probably did nothing to take away from his brilliant pre-taped work, but it's my column and my Torch duty to point out falsehoods, no matter how trivial.

TO BE DETERMINED - THE CENA ROCK ANGLE WILL MAKE SENSE

This feud has already exceeded expectations as far as being interesting and noteworthy. This will be talked about for years, much longer than the fascinating Hulk Hogan-Rock WrestleMania match, where Rock was fed lunch by the brilliant veteran.

However, the question still remains if this is part of an elaborate worked storyline, or just two guys going out to see who can out duel the other. It's hard to believe the controlling Rock would allow such a freewheeling plan, but its also hard to believe Rock would believe Cena could make him look so frazzled on the mic in front of a live crowd.

The ride is already tremendous, but the final reveal of whether this journey had a map is to be determined.

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

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