WWE: The Undertaker Cannot Be Portrayed as John Cena’s Consolation Prize

John Cena has challenged The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania.  A large part of the mystique of The Undertaker was his undefeated streak at the “Grandest Stage of Them All”.  With two Mania losses now under his belt, representing Cena’s next Mania option after failing to be in both Raw’s and Smackdown’s heavyweight title scenes may find The Phenom representing little more than Cena’s WrestleMania consolation prize.

AJ Styles questioned why John Cena was allowed to basically grant himself a shot at AJ’s WWE Championship during their feud last summer.   What was Cena’s response?

“…because I’m John Cena.  Recognize.”

I’m not sure this same approach should be taken when being granted a match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 34.

John Cena spent the last two months trying to find his own road to WrestleMania, seemingly using the same rationale he gave Styles last summer.  He inserted himself in multi-man world title matches at Elimination Chamber and Fastlane, coming up short in both.  This placed Cena in a situation he was not accustomed to facing during his prestigious WWE career: the “Face that Runs the Place” was simply going to be eating catering at WrestleMania 34.  In the midst of his frequent absences, the WWE seems have moved on without him.

Each time he chooses to return, Cena has earned the right to grab a microphone and hold court as he chooses to see fit.  He has become a sixteen-time world champion since debuting in 2002, and has continued to enhance talent such as AJ Styles and Roman Reigns during his returns to the WWE.  However, it is his challenge to The Undertaker that needs to be handled with care.

The John Cena we currently have is one that still wants to be in the mix for a world championship, failed to do so upon given the opportunity.  Knowing that both of his proposed options to WrestleMania are no longer alive, he made the choice to challenge The Undertaker, something Cena has admittedly wanted for years.  With this challenge coming at the heels of his two failed attempts at being involved in world title matches, WWE needs to be careful that Cena’s match with Taker is not seen as Cena’s consolation prize.

A match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania can be seen in the same vein as having a world title match at the “Showcase of the Immortals” (unless your name is CM Punk).  After costing Taker the World Heavyweight Championship just to get Taker to accept his challenge for a Mania rematch, Shawn Michaels was retired at the hands of “The Deadman” at WrestleMania 26.

Triple H failed to avenge his best friend in the following two years, and it took dominant performances from Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns after two decades of dominance for Undertaker to finally lose at a WrestleMania.  Mania is Taker’s event, and last year’s sendoff following his loss to Reigns seemed to be Taker’s admittance to his time being up.  The Undertaker fell to the young lion and gave the leader of the next generation of WWE superstars to claim the WWE ring as his yard.

Source: WWE.com

In order to move on to claim the WWE ring as his own, Roman Reigns needed to beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.  Brock Lesnar was in the same boat, as he needed his win over Taker to be seen as the most dominant competitor to ever step in a WWE ring.  Bray Wyatt wanted to defeat Taker at Mania to become the legitimate “New Face of Fear”.  Triple H wanted to be the peer to put The Phenom out of his misery.   HBK claimed he “had no career” if he couldn’t beat The Undertaker at the event that he claimed as his own.  All of these men had legitimate reasons to want Taker at WrestleMania.

Cena wants his match with The Undertaker after failing to hold his ground in the world title scene.  He simply wants a match at WrestleMania.  This does not seem to be a worthwhile venture for someone with Taker’s legacy.

After two decades of going undefeated at WrestleMania, the most famous streak in the history of professional wrestling, The Undertaker lost to two worthwhile opponents who had years left to give to the continuance of the WWE narrative.  Over the past year, Cena has lost feuds to Styles and Reigns, and has failed to get the peaks that he is used to in the midst of enjoying a part-time career.

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With seemingly little left for Cena to provide to the future of the WWE, there seems to be little that a match with him would do for The Undertaker.  The Phenom, therefore, could come off as simply being a simple solution to WWE “recognizing” that Cena is in need of a match.  With nothing left to fight for, no streak, no yard, The Undertaker should not allow himself to be John Cena’s consolation prize.