So as I near the end of my thirty days of doing a blog post on certain topics each day, this one is just an excuse to indulge a little bit… My favourite belt is the classic big gold belt, you all know the one… once the WCW title, later the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE. And today I’ll be looking back at it’s final appearance before the current WWE Championship belt was brought in the next night on Raw. The prior year it was Randy Orton who unified the WWE and World Heavyweight titles to become the unified champion. Fast forward to SummerSlam 2014 and we have John Cena as champion, defending against Brock Lesnar. The Beast of course was only a few months off ending the legendary WrestleMania undefeated streak of The Undertaker… and what followed here was the most one-sided, utter destruction maybe in championship history. And for those of us, like me, who endured years after years of Cena on top, this was almost orgasmic to watch unfold!!!
SummerSlam 2014: Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs John Cena (C) for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Lesnar got a big pop from the LA crowd when he came out. Cena not so much, Los Angeles was not majority Cena fans on this night at least.
GET YOURSELF AN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE AND TAKE A SIP EVERYTIME YOU READ THE WORD ‘SUPLEX’…
They go at it right away with Cena punching Lesnar in the corner, but they grapple to the floor and Lesnar takes over, after they brawl to the other corner Brock picks Cena up and hits an F5 and gets a nearfall about a minute in to the match, maybe less. Lesnar looks back and smiles at Cena after… Brock berates Cena after “that was your chance John, Think about it… I’m gonna kill you”… Brock waits for Cena to stagger his way up, and hits a German Suplex, then takes his time and looks at his handy work, telling Cena that he’s going to learn the hard way, he then picks Cena up for another Suplex, then eventually after a hard knee to Cena on the ground and a futile attempt at fighting back Brock then picks him up again for a Vertical Suplex. The camera keeps focusing on Brock’s face and it’s really effective making him look like an absolute killer. Cena powers up and drives Lesnar into the corner, and he gets some strikes in before Lesnar knees him hard twice to the ribs to take Cena down again. Lesnar picks him up and holds him by his neck to torture Cena, Cena elbows his way out, but Brock immediately takes him down again. Brock knees a downed Cena again, and suggest the ref asks Cena if he wants to stop it, telling Cena as well that “you screwed up big time”… Cena hits more punches, but Brock hits a knee and then a strike to Cena on the back, Brock stands on Cena’s hand then stamps on it, then hits another German Suplex, then picks him up again for another suplex, then another suplex, then another suplex. Commentary question if the ref should stop the match now… Brock looks down at Cena again, and tries to nonchalantly cover Cena but he kicks out at 2. Brock knees Cena in the side of the chest on the floor, Brock waits for Cena to almost get up then hits another suplex, Brock asks the ref to ask Cena again, Brock hits another suplex. Brock is now laughing at Cena, as Cena uses Brock to get up, then Lesnar tries for a German Suplex but Cena elbows him a few times to the head, then hits a punch and comes off the ropes with a strike that takes Lesnar to one knee, Cena hits another clothesline off the ropes, then runs into Lesnar who picks him up looking for an F5 but Cena gets down and manages to hit Brock with an AA! But Brock Lesnar kicks out (crowd are so loud during this bit)… and then Brock having taken Cena’s best move, does a sit up like The Undertaker and then just laughs hysterically and like a mad man directly at Cena. AND LESNAR IS UP FIRST AND JUST LAUGHS AND DANCES AROUND AS IF IT WERE NOTHING, all whilst Cena is slumped in the corner! Cena charges at Lesnar but Brock takes him down right away with a double-leg, and then hits a series of hard rights, before hitting him with both hands as Cena tries to cover up… Brock shouts at the ref to ask him and says he’s just getting started… Brock dances about and takes his time again before hitting another German Suplex, then doesn’t let go and hits another Suplex, then another suplex, then another suplex and the release. Majority of the crowd it sounds like are applauding Brock now which is something else… Lesnar asks the ref again to ask Cena before screaming ‘DIE’ at the champion, Lesnar shakes his head looking down at a battered Cena, Brock argues with the ref, Brock hits another German Suplex, doesn’t let go and hits another Suplex, then another suplex and the release. Brock asks Charles Robinson again to ask Cena if he wants to stop, and both Lesnar and Paul Heyman from the outside tell the ref to stop the match. The ref looks like he’s about to call for the bell for a stoppage, but Cena shakes his head and tells him NO! Cena catches Brock by surprise with a drop toe hold and gets him in an STF submission! The unthinkable looks like it could happen but then Brock powers up and just gets out of it and then hits a series of strikes to Cena. He then picks him up for an F5 and then pins him for the win. JBL says on commentary after “That is the most dominating performance I have ever seen in a championship match in my life” and he was right. They couldn’t have put Brock over more here if they tried.
It’s really difficult to know how to rate this, I guess it depends on what you think of the two guys involved. But indeed the final ever guy to lift the big gold belt in some form was The Beast Brock Lesnar.
****
Josh.