RAW Deal: The rage of war

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Last Sunday at SummerSlam, guest host Jon Stewart did the unthinkable: he screwed the good (well, depending on how you see him) guy out of his 16^th world championship win.

By my estimation, Jon Stewart—a man who’s spent 16 years on television presenting injustices (among other things) front and center—merely prevented the inevitable. But whether you love Cena or abhor him, it wasn’t like Stewart to do what he did. Simply put, it’s a beloved guy pulling a dick move. 

(WATCH: John Cena slams former Daily Show host Jon Stewart)

And that’s weird. They sort of sacrificed the goodwill, kayfabe or not, that Stewart had with the wrestling world. There was a disconnect. It would have made a lot more sense if it were a celebrity with a “bad guy” cred who did the screwing, like a Donald Trump.

And then all of this leads to John Cena adjusting Stewart’s attitude. Here’s the thing: that’s okay. Cena was really pissed. If you haven’t done anything stupid while you were mad, you’re not a real human being. The issue, however, is that once again, they most likely won’t acknowledge Cena’s human side.

What makes Cena a hypocritical scumbag in the eyes of some is the fact that all his gung-ho, Boy Scout Clark Kent rhetoric sets him up to fail when he eventually acts like a human being. It’s okay that Cena was mad, because human beings get mad. Only robots don’t get mad.

The WWE needs to realize is that you can still be a role model, even though you trip from time to time. What they should be doing is giving him self-awareness. They should be trotting him out and acknowledging the existence of his faults—and most importantly, have him apologize for them. Because human beings say sorry. Kids won’t think any less of Cena for losing sight of hustle, loyalty, and respect for a quick moment, just because his judgment was clouded by anger.

This is really Vince McMahon’s fault. He has historically believed that this is how his heroes should behave, for one reason or another. Hulk Hogan, despite one of the WWE’s biggest heroes onscreen in his heyday, sometimes acted selfishly. While it may have been due to Hogan’s own true selfishness, you can’t deny that Vince has a twisted sense of morality. 

I wrote before about how three-dimensional characters aren’t working as well as they would like them to. The problem is no one seems to be observing how real people behave in real life.

High spots:

• Brock Lesnar decimating Bo Dallas made for a nice little spot. But in the end, it still doesn’t really make up for the cold finish at SummerSlam. Do we want to see this match again? Half the crowd’s not sure.
• Let’s give some props to the New Day: just when we thought their act couldn’t get any more entertaining (and arrogant) Xavier Woods brings in his trombone. These guys are the biggest heat magnets in the company right now, and it’s not even close.
• And while we’re on the topic: DUDLEY BOYZ! You can tell Woods was really happy to take that 3D. 

• I think I’m pretty excited about a new Wyatt Family member, even though this guy is a greenhorn who never even did the NXT show. The fact that the Shield will recruit a third guy gets me hyped, too. 

• Match of the night might have to be the eight-man tag main event, but only because we didn’t get a Roman Reigns/Luke Harper match.
• I don’t mind Sting challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It’s a logical plotline, building off of what happened at last year’s Survivor Series and WrestleMania 31, and it gives Seth something to do while a new contender is built up for him. What I am more curious about, however, is who he will feud with for the U.S. Championship. He’s already a made man, a guy who can give a good rub to the person who’ll finally knock him off. 

Low blows:

• The crowd seems to have turned on the Diva Revolution, and for good reason—reasons I’ve written about in previous columns.
• Why did Randy Orton, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, and Ryback attack Big Show after the match? It’s one thing for the heels to take their frustration out on him, but it’s just a dick move for the faces to do the same, after he was already down.
• Do either Titus O’Neil or Darren Young have a medical condition that prevent them from wrestling on RAW? They’ve already lost the titles and they’re still doing commentary while the New Day wrestle. What’s up with that?

Do you like wrestling? Do you enjoy listening to podcasts? Would you want to listen to a podcast about wrestling? If the answers to those questions – especially that last one – are yes, then you should check out the cleverly-named Smark Gilas-Pilipinas Podcast, featuring Mellow 94.7 DJ and PWR General Manager Stan Sy, wrestling writer Romeo Moran, and all-around multimedia person (and voice of PWR) Raf Camus! On their latest episode, Mr. Sy’s former bodyguards, the Fighters 4 Hire, make their SGP Podcast debut! Listen to it here!