WWE/TNA Mark Madness 2011: Cena-Styles in the Finals (2-Day Voting Period)

The Final Four saw another round of close contests, this time in a pair of big-name semifinal matches that were each decided by single digits. 

In the end, the final two combatants left standing were the respective faces of each promotion represented in the Mark Madness tournament. 

John Cena defeated the Undertaker in yet anther comeback win...his third consecutive victory of this magnitude. 

Had this been a live action tournament a la March Madness, and more importantly if pro wrestling were real, fatigue would play a significant factor in Cena's upcoming showdown with A.J. Styles. 

Cena's opponent, in the Undertaker, had been mowing through opponents in each previous round of the tournament. 

However, as irony would have it, Cena would be the one who refused to die against the Undertaker, as he once again overcame a deficit of over 30 percent during the second half of the voting period.

As the No. 1 overall seed in this tournament, Cena's journey to the finals is nothing short of remarkable due to the large target placed on his chest...not only as a No. 1 seed, but the ubiquitous target that was branded there by the Internet years ago. 

This is the same target branded by a predominantly anti-Cena Internet Wrestling Community who has now voted Cena into the championship round of a tournament that they control, which brings up a whole new set of questions.  

Has this tournament taught us that perhaps Cena isn't as despised online as many were lead to believe? 

Is it possible that all those loud voices, who comprise of the minority Internet crowd and speak so out authoritatively against everything Cena stands for, make up an even smaller minority of people who legitimately dislike Cena? 

The grounds of this tournament dictate that Cena should be in the championship round.  The cynicism that can be human nature and emotion, however, should have dictated otherwise. 

But it didn't. 

At the (penultimate) end of the day, John Cena was one half of the populous choice as  the best in a field of every relevant wrestler in today's landscape of pro wrestling.

And Ric Flair.

It's worth mentioning, however, that Cena did not amass more than 52.5 percent of the votes in his last two rounds.  This speaks to the "hate him or love him" motif that has already played a hand in defining John Cena's legacy. 

Although on the Internet, it was once safe to assume that the motif was "hate him or despise him."

A.J. Styles' tournament run has been equally as remarkable as Cena's if not more so.  Lost in the incessant quagmire of TNA's black-hole television series and obscure pay-per-views, Styles' built-in disadvantage was the very fact that he worked for a secondary wrestling brand during a peak time for WWE's business. 

Styles quietly defeated some of wrestling's best young stars to start his campaign as king of the Internet, and as his fellow TNA colleagues fell by the wayside, Styles stayed alive, knocking off one decorated former and/or current World Champion after another, including the immensely popular Randy Orton in the Final Four.  

While Cena may have had the most entertaining ride to a Championship round, A.J. Styles undoubtedly earns the nod in impressiveness: a word that has unfairly defined the former TNA Champion's 2011 tournament resume given his underappreciated resume. 

Cena and Styles will create a brilliant contrast of two wrestling stars who couldn't be any more opposite in terms of character, wrestling style, and career paths.

In many ways, this Championship bout will be a match up of WWE vs. TNA as one of the prevailing subplots of Mark Madness 2011 ascends to center stage. 

The Championship round of Mark Madness is live and will last for 48 hours!  Click here to vote.  Voting Ends at 9 pm Pacific time (12 Midnight EST) on Saturday, March 19th. 

Follow Big Nasty on twitter @ThisIsNasty for up-to-the-minute analysis and coverage of the 2011 Mark Madness tournament.