John Cena vs. Batista: What Should Have Been

Wrestling is cyclical whether it tries to be or not, it just happens. You just cannot help but draw certain parallels between today's wrestlers and those from yesteryear. Over the last few years I found myself disliking the rise of a certain pair of superstars: John Cena and Batista. But Jaime, these guys are ripped and jacked up, what's not to like? Well, voice inside my head that tends to play devil's advocate, I'll tell you why.

Plain and simple, I'm more of a fan of the proverbial "Thinking Man's Wrestler" - Bret Hart, Mr. Perfect, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, etc. So, it's understandable that I was not too keen on how fast these two guys were rising to the top. Then I came to this realization: Holy crap! I'm going into my mid-twenties why haven't I grown out of this yet? 

Suddenly, I remembered when I first watched wrestling, it was all about Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior, who some might say have been reincarnated in John Cena and Batista. With the exception of last year's Wrestlemania, Cena was on an unbelievable Mania winning streak a la Hogan. And Batista, with his veins popping out further than the mountain regions on terrain/elevation maps (or whatever they're called) and his shaking of the ropes, it's hard not to picture him with long 80's metal hair, face paint, and arm tassels.

Being broke and having no internet at the time to read live results, I sat intently, watching Wrestlemania VI scrambled on my TV set, as Gorilla Monsoon called out, "This place is going bananas!" Months later, when I finally rented it on VHS, I still felt chills while watching two of wrestling's biggest personalities at the time face off in the squared circle.

You figured if anything, the WWE would want to recycle that old feeling and use it to headline Wrestlemania XXV (I purposely left out the comparison of the Rock/Hogan match from Wrestlemania 18, because Hogan went in as a heel at the time). Putting Batisa and Cena in a match together made perfect sense...for Wrestlemania, not SummerSlam, with two weeks' worth of hype nonetheless.  

The seeds had been planted since Royal Rumble '05, when Batista dumped Cena over the top rope to win. Both men became World Champions for the first time on the same pay-per-view. Their ultimate clash was inevitable. Yet, instead of attempting to transform the Reliant Stadium into the Toronto Skydome circa April 1st, 1990, they decided to let the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana house this unique encounter. Wow...No offense Indiana, but come on.  

Cena and Batista could have made Wrestlemania XXV, their Wrestlemania VI. With the proper buildup and some careful planning, much like Pat Patterson helped out Warrior and Hogan, Batista and Cena main eventing would have given Wrestlemania XXV that special something...for everyone under 12-years-old. For everyone else around my age, we would have groaned about it, but accepted it as the right move for the WWE to capitalize on their popularities and score some pretty high pay-per-view buyrates.  

Seeing as Cena has already undergone neck surgery and his return has been estimated to be around the time of the Survivor Series or Royal Rumble pay-per-view, you can rest assure that these two might just headline Wrestlemania XXV. I pictured Cena making one of those post-injury comebacks at the Royal Rumble and winning it, but that's pretty much what he did last year. So, aside from Cena wanting payback for what Batista "did" to his neck, it will be interesting to see what the WWE will do to get us to care about seeing these two individuals wrestle each other once more.