Brock Lesnar vs John Cena Results: Thrilling Match Resurrects Cena's Career

Well that was bloody.

The main event of the Extreme Rules PPV more than lived up to the hype. Brock Lesnar was beating John Cena to a bloody pulp (literally) for the vast majority of the match, only to wear down and let Cena come back. It was one of the more physically demanding matches we’ve seen since the old ECW days.

Clearly Lesnar screwed up on multiple occasions, and Cena took a brutal beating because of it. Lesnar is still rusty, and I feel like WWE rushed him back into the ring too soon.

So what’s next for Cena? After losing to The Rock and getting embarrassed on Monday Night Raw throughout the month of April, he is back on top of the WWE universe. It seemed as if he hurt his arm and may need surgery. It was hard to tell if he was really hurt or if he was playing it up for the fans. 

After the win Cena addressed the crowd, claiming he was going to take a break (via ProWrestlingShow):

"

John Cena tells the crowd that he is taking time off and will be away for a while.

— Pro Wrestling Report (@PWRshow) April 30, 2012"

I’m not buying too long of a break for Cena. He certainly deserves a vacation after the beating a rusty Lesnar provided, but there is no way he fades for more than a month or two.

Cena is the WWE. He is the guy who garners the most crowd reaction when entering the ring. Every WWE fan has a strong opinion on the guy one way or another and that’s exactly what the suits behind the scenes want.

Nobody has the wrestling skills, flair on the mic, marketability and overall sense of excitement that Cena generates. He is now riding some unbelievable momentum and now is not the time to fade into the shadows.

My guess is that he’ll skip one “cycle” of a PPV event and all of the hype leading up to it. There is too much money on the line, too much buzz surrounding him and to let him go away for too long.

The WWE needs Cena and will be making a grave mistake if thy let him fade away for too long. 

Follow Eric Ball on Twitter.