Marking Out: The End of an Era and the Return of Brock Lesnar

Welcome back to another edition of Marking Out, and what else can be said about the past week in pro wrestling besides “wow”? From some of the best matches of the year so far at WrestleMania XXVIII, many fans knew that big things were bound to happen at the first Raw afterwards.

In one of the biggest shocks of WrestleMania, the “end of an era” match between the Undertaker and Triple H took place inside Hell in a Cell, with special guest referee Shawn Michaels. Many fans wondered if the Undertaker still had a strong match in him, with all of his recent injuries. But both he and Triple H showed that they still had a bit left in their gas tanks and gave what many have called an early front-runner for match of the year.

And it wasn't only the physicality of the match that made it great.

It had other elements that I find are lacking in most of the current era's matches: psychology and emotion. Each of the three big matches at WrestleMania, Taker vs. Triple H, Punk vs. Jericho and Cena vs. Rock, all had emotion going into them as well as ring psychology. But there was no match more emotionally involving than the Cell match, with Jim Ross on commentary for this one match.

For fans of the WWE who had lived through the pre-Attitude era, this match was incredibly poignant.

While many would say that the Cell wasn't necessary in this match, I prefer to think that the WWE was trying to bring as much history and nostalgia as it could with this match. Watching Shawn Michaels grimace with each chair shot to the back of the Undertaker, the Undertaker begging him to not end the match, and Triple H threatening his lifelong friend to end it or “he would,” made me really wish that this new generation of fans and wrestlers alike would understand that it's not just moves that make a match.

It's the heart that a wrestler puts into it to make us feel emotionally involved with what is going on in the ring.

Then came Raw, and the emotions and fervor from the previous night carried over, as the Miami crowd was still pumped.. And when it came time for John Cena to call out the Rock, he gave his usual speech about rising above the hate and how he won't do what we think he should do. The fans booed him viciously while cheering “we want Lesnar.”

Cena continued to talk until the event that everyone was waiting for happened: Lesnar's theme music boomed through the arena and out came the former WWE and UFC champion. And to say that the pop he received was loud would be a great understatement. From watching on TV, I saw grown men losing their minds as if they were kids once again, doing everything from cheering to mimicking Brock's signature poses.

Then without saying a word, he addressed the audience, who appear almost starved for anyone to come out and challenge John Cena. And he fed that need as, when he extended his hand as if to shake Cena's, he pulled him in and hit the F-5 to the roaring approval of the crowd.

So now it comes down to how the WWE is going to play this angle out. Will they have Brock play a similar role to the Rock's previous one, where he returned to the WWE but acted like he was too good to be there? This would make him a heel and keep Cena a face. Or the WWE may do the long-awaited Cena heel turn, where he can no longer rise above the hate.

Many may disagree with me about the latter, since Cena debuted his new green shirt at WrestleMania, which usually means a wrestler won't be changing roles, as the WWE wants to make the most money out of that.

But if you want to look deeper into it, they could use the color as part of the heel turn, as Cena would be green with envy at all of the praise being heaped upon the returning superstars like the Rock, Chris Jericho and Brock, who come and go as they please, while he stays loyal to the WWE and its fans but gets booed nearly wherever he goes. It could work really well and fans would definitely like to see a new side to Cena.

Either way, the next few weeks are for sure going to be very interesting in the WWE.