Randy Orton is set to face 15-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena at this Sunday’s Hell in a Cell PPV with the winner earning a shot at the reigning, defending, undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world, Brock Lesnar. Over the last couple of episodes of Raw, the original card of Cena vs. Ambrose, with the winner facing Rollins and the loser facing Orton on the same night has been scrapped. The match was fast-tracked giving Triple H the opportunity to add some relevance to what would have effectively been a third-place playoff.
Orton Vs Cena is nothing new and so having Cena lose to Ambrose at Hell in a Cell would have left large segments of the audience uninterested in the revamping of an old feud, particularly with Ambrose vs. Rollins just around the corner. The added incentive of a shot at Lesnar, however, makes it a must-see match which can help define the foreseeable future of these two stars.
Anybody who has watched WWE at any point over the last decade will know never to write Cena off. From Triple H and The Rock to ShawnMichaels and Brock Lesnar, John Cena has beaten every superstar to come his way. The Make-a-Wish Foundation poster boy’s remarkable ability to overcome even the most overpowering odds has resulted in the phrase “Cena wins lol” becoming something of a phenomenon in the Internet Wrestling Community, poking fun at the predictability of The Prototype constantly emerging victorious.
Lately, though, there have been a few anomalies in Cena’s glittering career. At this year’s SummerSlam PPV Cena was dominated and, in contrast to the obligatory Super Cena comeback, he was pinned cleanly. Against Ambrose in a subtly named Contract on a Pole Match, he was outsmarted leaving Ambrose to reap the reward of facing Rollins at Hell in a Cell. Cena’s seeming invincibility is wavering, and he could well lose to Orton this Sunday.
Should Cena win, the reward would be a third match against Lesnar. With Cena winning their last match by DQ, the tally is poised at 1-1 in their recent feud. Inevitably, the two will lock horns again to settle the score, but what could possibly happen that hasn’t happened in their last two encounters? If WWE Creative wanted to eliminate the chance of outside interference, then Hell in a Cell would have been the perfect place to do it. A third, regular singles match for the belt, at least at the moment, would offer little appeal to the fans.
Orton, on the other hand, has the potential to initiate an enthralling setup with Lesnar. The Viper was in danger of losing his way for a time, sitting alongside Batista and Triple H in a heel faction that wasn’t quite working. Since losing the title, he has taken a backseat at times and as such is not as prominent a heel as, say, Seth Rollins. The fact that he was the runner-up prize in the Cena vs. Ambrose match, and more importantly the fact that he was Curb Stomped by Rollins this past Monday night on Raw, could lead to a potential face turn at Hell in a Cell.
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A face turn is on the cards for Orton
This potential plot twist isn’t a necessity to ignite his battle withLesnar; many would rather see him as an enigmatic mixture of face and heel, capitalising on his unpredictability gimmick. What it does indicate, though, is that everything is in place for Cena to lose to Orton whilst a Cena win doesn’t seem to open many doors for either wrestler.
So what exactly would a loss mean for Cena’s title chances? In the short- to medium-term, they would be non-existent. The reigning champion hammered him to take the title and when Cena won by DQfollowing Rollins’ interference in the rematch, Lesnar hopped back up to deliver an F5 as if to indicate Cena wouldn’t have got the pin anyway. It is unlikely that Cena would win their third match cleanly and, as we all know, Cena is Mr. Clean.
In the absence of the injured Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose has really come into his own and when coming face-to-face with Cena has repeatedly warned him against giving him a reason “not to like [him],” . He then proceeded to beat Cena in the aforementioned match to determine who faced Rollins at Hell in a Cell. Should Cena fail to beat The Authority’s silver medallist Randy Orton, he would suddenly have found himself falling way behind a number of stars on the roster in terms of facing Lesnarfor the title.
Turning heel is the ever-present option for Cena’s progression, and almost a lazy one at times. Assuming he doesn’t go down that road, it will be unlikely that Cena will challenge for the title for months should he lose the all-important Hell in a Cell bout with Orton. WWE Creative may find a new rivalry for him elsewhere or he may pick up a convenient injury to tide him over until WrestleMania season, but one thing is for sure—if Cena loses this Sunday, his title aspirations will be killed off for the foreseeable future.
A Randy Orton Win Would Sideline John Cena's WWE Title Hopes Indirectly
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