WWE Elimination Chamber 2012: Cena Defeats Kane, Looking Ahead to Cena vs. Rock

Earlier tonight in the unexpected main event of the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, John Cena defeated Kane in an ambulance match. The match was your typical brawling match, highlighted by an Attitude Adjustment on Kane off of the ambulance truck.  

Cena now must focus his attention on the Rock as the two prepare to collide for arguably the biggest WrestleMania match in history and definitely the biggest in Cena's career. 

The much clamored-for tilt between Cena and the Rock was announced the night after WrestleMania XXVII. While many fans have been treated to the rare one-year build for a wrestling match in this day and age, some could could argue that the match came one year later than it should have given the fact that the build around the deplorable Cena-Miz main event from last year focused on budding tension between Cena and the Rock. 

The WWE kicked its build for Cena vs. the Rock into high gear during Survivor Series season, as the Rock returned to the ring to team up with Cena in Madison Square Garden. But with the next destination being WrestleMania and multiple appearances by the Rock scheduled leading up to the event, this thing figures to go into overdrive. 

Now that the match is actually happening, what have we accomplished to this point?

The WWE has done its best to keep Cena and the Rock at odds and their match relevant leading up to their showdown in Miami. Through social media, sporadic appearances by the Rock and video packages, the WWE has done a commendable job of keeping the fire between Cena and Rock burning. 

The stark, and somewhat ironic, juxtaposition between WWE-produced video packages of John Cena and the Rock is that the Rock comes off as a much bigger and more relevant star than the WWE-branded John Cena. 

Perhaps this is by design, as the WWE's last-ditch effort to make Cena a sympathetic figure by painting the Rock as the big-time, Hollywood star who left his millions to make millions while Cena continues to put his proverbial hard hat on and grind out a tougher, yet much simpler and more admirable existence in the WWE.  

Sympathetic figure or not, there is no avoiding the inevitable buzz saw that Cena will walk into in the Rock's hometown of Miami, and the WWE knows this. Time was, Cena would only receive hostile reactions in hostile environments such as old-school wrestling territories (like Chicago) or the home turf of an opponent (like the Hammerstein Ballroom). 

Now, one cannot hear a "LET'S GO CE-NA" chant without the obligatory accompaniment of the "CE-NA SUCKS!" chant.

Given the unintentional polarization of their poster child, the WWE has adapted to anti-Cena sentiments quite smoothly, acknowledging his crowd-splitting nature on commentary, and even showcasing his legions of detractors during their latest Cena video packages. 

During one particular video, Cena could be seen running the ropes in an empty arena, which is quite the contrast to the Rock being chauffeured around in a limo and greeting fans at movie premieres.  Again, sympathetic figure. 

A potential Cena heel turn has been touched on during Cena's intergalactic feud with Kane as the Big Red Monster teases that Cena has "embraced the hate." After slobbing down on Eve, the love interest of Zack Ryder (whose rise to prominence has been just as organic and fan-driven as the growth of the anti-Cena populist movement), Cena is now walking dangerously close towards heel territory.

This face by Cena during said feud is a nice, over-the-top look at what heel Cena would be like, and a microcosmic reason why the formula for Cena in its current form—a cookie-cutter babyface who fans choose whether or not to cheer—should probably not be messed with. 

The Rock and Cena's social media war has also helped further their feud as—through the wonderment of Twitter—the Rock now has the luxury of making disparaging, somewhat homophobic remarks towards Cena in between movie shoots with sympathetic Cena firing back by using his strongest defense mechanism of the Rock being "too Hollywood" to confront Cena in person. 

But let's be honest, being too Hollywood is a criticism Cena only wished he could absorb and would be accused of just that if he truly was the movie star that the WWE has tried to make him through numerous failed attempts. 

The underlying jealously of one man's movie career over another is a somewhat touchy, yet predominantly untouched subplot to this whole saga, and thus, we have another added layer of potentially lucrative tension. 

With Cena now back on planet Earth, free from the rare filler-zone he has found himself in as of late as the WWE keeps him away from the WWE title picture in preparation for a match that doesn't need it, we should see some of the most emotionally-driven, heated exchanges between Cena and the Rock in their year-long buildup going forward.  

Cena, Vince McMahon and the Raw writers (talk about another untouched sublpot) will do their best to paint the Rock as a hypocrite who had the audacity to leave an industry that doesn't supply health insurance yet claims more premature deaths than Mount Everest, while the Rock will figure to dazzle on the mic like only he can with entertainingly elementary insults against Cena that only he can pull off.  

The Rock will be chauffeured in a limo on his particular road to WrestleMania, while Cena rides the team bus. Either way, both superstars will stand to rewrite history with what should be a highly-entertaining home stretch. 

What $500 promise has Big Nasty made for the Elimination Chamber? Find out in Big Nasty's latest video, then follow Big Nasty on Twitter @ThisIsNasty.