WWE Extreme Rules: John Cena Beats Brock Lesnar and What It Means

The last time I watched a wrestling match where I was genuinely disturbed by it was back in 1980, when Kendo Nagasaki beat the hell out of Eddie Graham in Florida.

Back then, I was not completely aware of the "reality" of the business and was concerned when I watched the Japanese wrestler pick apart the wrestling great.

I was nine years old at the time and for the first time in 31 years, I had that same feeling watching the Brock Lesnar/John Cena match on Extreme Rules. If this is the new "age" of wrestling with Brock Lesnar, as John Laurinaitis calls him the new "face" of the WWE, then we have a new form of the "Attitude Era" staring us right in the face.

This match meant more than John Cena winning and beating Lesnar in Chicago. It was about Cena rising above, digging deep and overcoming the demons that had been haunting him since his loss to The Rock at WrestleMania 28. It also meant a more determined Cena, a harsher Cena, a "thuggish" Cena, one who needed to go to his roots and find his common ground. That was the message Edge sent to him last week.

Not often does a match like this one come around. Cena and Lesnar, a match fans wanted to see for many reasons, many of which have to do with Lesnar's MMA background and the fact others have grown tired of seeing Cena at the top of the WWE mountain. But what we saw in the opening of the match was one "wrestler" as Lesnar does not claim to be, come out and genuinely try to hurt another.

Lesnar is a beast and Cena won the match, but he may have lost the war. It appears he is injured and may require time off (I am sure we will know more after tomorrow night). There are not many superstars in the WWE who can make this kind of a feud look "real"  and prosper. The WWE Universe is too smart for that.

Maybe Randy Orton can pull it off. Maybe CM Punk. Maybe Triple H. But in reality, Lesnar is the big bully in the school yard no one will face and John Laurinaitis will use him to run roughshod over everyone in their way.

Doesn't this seem a lot like the "Attitude Era" of wrestling? Wrestlers, stables, managers, corporate figures all trying to get over to be the best.

Laurinaitis is doing this at the expense of wrestlers like Punk and Cena.

What this means is unless there is creative way to make this an even playing field with a guy who is bigger, stronger and more ruthless than everyone else, then this brand or these brands will be uneven and dominated by one person and one person only.

Cena may have won the battle at Extreme Rules, but Lesnar and Laurinaitis are winning the war. And while fans seem to like it for the moment (unless the PPV made them think otherwise).

The Rock and John Cena did not like each other for various reasons. But there was a lot respect for each other as well. This match wasn't about respect. It genuinely seems this is about dislike and hurting someone, not about sports entertainment.