John Cena-Batista at WrestleMania XXVI: Could Batista Give Cena "Hard Times"?

I'm no Dusty Rhodes fan. I'm not a fan of his clan either with the exception of Golddust. Dusty annoys me, and Cody bores me. Had to say it. But this is one of the greatest promos ever cut in wrestling history. I'd be a fool to not admit to that.

While Dusty was already over as one of the biggest faces in wrestling at the time, this promo put him over to a new level.

At the same time it helped to intensify his bitter feud with Ric Flair going into Starrcade '85 when the two met for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship that Dusty ended up winning before the results were overturned by a second official and Flair retained the title via disqualification (the irony is this is called a "Dusty Finish" in wrestling parlance after Dusty Rhodes.)

What does an event from 25 years ago have to do with today?  And why have the picture of John Cena to accompany it?  Well, listen to the promo itself and you'll see. Dusty references the hard times faced by blue collar workers at the time, about being laid off, having their jobs replaced by computers. Dusty's gimmick is that of being The American Dream, the common man, hell, it's in his theme song!

Who can the "common man" empathize with in the WWE today?  Well Cena seems to be appealing to that demographic, along with the kids. His promo a couple of weeks ago on Vince alludes to how wrestlers in the WWE aren't in it so much for the money as they are "the moment." To me that sounds like someone who's trying to get in touch with the people.

Then you have his current feud with Batista, who happens to be a graduate of Flair University, except for the charisma, storytelling, and overall wrestling ability.  He went after Bret Hart because McMahon paid him to do so, then went after John Cena for reasons that still haven't been disclosed.

With Elimination Chamber tonight, I could see Batista doing nothing more than costing Cena the WWE Championship, and possibly giving him a kayfabe injury that keeps Cena out of action until Wrestlemania, where he'll take on Batista.  

With that Batista-Cena matchup, along with what's going on in the real world, a 2010 version of Dusty's classic Hard Times promo could be something we see Cena saying on an episode of Raw before Wrestlemania.  Cena could talk about a variety of issues and tie it in to Batista injuring him and attacking Bret Hart. 

"First off, I'd like to thank the many many fans here in the WWE Universe that wrote me e-mails and tweeted me while I was down. Secondly I'd like to thank some of the other WWE superstars who have supported me during this ordeal. 

"As for The Animal, Dave Batista, I don't have to say more about the way I feel about Dave Batista. No respect, no honor, there is no honor amongst thieves in the first place! He put Hard Times on Bret Hart because Vince told him to, he put Hard Times on me and all of my fans. But Dave, YOU DON'T KNOW what hard times are in the first place!

"Hard times are when the factory workers in this country are out of work, can't pay their bills, and have to go on welfare to feed their family. Hard Times are when someone suffers a serious illness, but their family has to go bankrupt to pay for their medical costs because they couldn't get health insurance! Hard Times are when someone works at a company for 30 years, they give him a gold watch, kick him in the ass, and tell him that his job has been shipped overseas because its more 'cost-effective'.

"That's hard times, what you did to me that night at Elimination Chamber can't compare to any of that. But I will tell you this if Hard Times is what you want, then come WrestleMania, I only have one thing to say, and I haven't said this in a while. You want some, COME GET SOME!"

Does this compare in anyway to Dusty's famous promo from 25 years ago? Of course not. But it would most certainly work as a build up for a Cena-Batista feud if that's the direction that WWE Creative is really going in.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.