Christian hoisting up the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules 2011.
(All screencaps & photos by Hub Pacheco)
THE DRIVER SEAT
by Hub Pacheco
When Edge abruptly retired weeks ago, it suddenly put Christian on the spot - the top spot. That is something a self-confessed Peep has been waiting for ever since Captain Charisma came back on board the WWE in 2009. Christian cut a promo during the last ECW show and said that his coming back on ECW was viewed as a demotion by most people but he saw it as an opportunity to reach a new height on that show.
Christian pointing to his Peeps during the SmackDown!/ECW Tour on July 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila.
He then tumbled in mediocrity on RAW and SmackDown! in 2010. During last year's Money in The Bank PPV, it was more than expected of him to win, but they instead gave the ball to Jack Swagger. A legit injury would sideline him and lead to an angle with Alberto del Rio. We all know what happened afterwards and what culminated at Extreme Rules last Sunday.
Christian Cage, at last, has become a WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
I was ecstatic. On both the Battle Royal to determine the other contender for the World Title and the ladder match at Extreme Rules, my heart skipped beats several times until it was over. Yes I know that by virtue of Edge retiring and Del Rio headed to RAW following Extreme Rules, it was more than given that Christian will be the World Champion. But the feeling of him actually reaching the pinnacle of pro-wrestling success after all this time? Man, my disbelief sure was suspended there!
You don't need to be an industry insider to empathize with Christian moments after he unhooked that World Title. If i read his mouth correctly, I think he said, "I can't believe it!" That is the look of a man finally achieving his goal, finally reaching where he deserves to be. "Goals are dreams with deadlines"..5/1/11," he tweeted hours after winning the World Title. "Got lots of great msgs about last night..Know a lot of peeps never gave up hope the day would come..Thanks for always believing," he later added.
Color commentary billed Christian as having felt that he didn't deserve to reach that level of the World Championship. That is kayfabe at its basic level but I can't help but feel that it is as real as Edge's career ending injury.
Christian finally winning the big one is as feel good a story as Shawn Michaels winning the WWF Championship for the first time against Bret Hart. I remember that feeling when, as a kid, I witnessed HBK drop down on his knees and cradled the WWF Championship on his chest. I had that exact same feeling when Christian hugged the title on top of the ladder. Classic Cinderella storyline. Again, disbelief, suspended.
Edge with Christian moments after the latter's victory.
That is until Randy Orton beat Christian days later on SmackDown! and suddenly everything came back down. Christian came back down. Are you serious, bro? Did you just pull a Kane on Christian? Kane's first WWF Championship lasted only ONE night. SmackDown! is taped on Tuesdays. So technically, Christian had TWO nights as Champion. You could imagine the anger I felt after knowing what happened. (I was actually spoiled on a YouTube clip that Orton had won the Title. I, still giddy from Christian's win, searched for a clip of the moment when he climbed the ladder en route to victory. Big mistake.)
Which brings me back to my point of WWE's seeming predictability. In that episode, GM Teddy Long even emphasized that he had to make SmackDown! as unpredictable and exciting as possible. Foreshadowing perhaps? Has Vince pulled a fast one on us? It may have been too predictable when Christian won, but to make a full 180 and have him drop the Title days later? We never saw that coming. So, kudos to that, VinnieMac. You have my full attention back again.
So what now?
I truly hope, for Christian's sake and for all those who empathized with him, he'll be World Champion again sooner rather than really later.
2 comments:
i think they're going to turn him into a heel obsessed with the title. pwede!
Yeah. It'll be a deeper pursuit unlike his temper tantrum days with DDP. But I'd rather have Orton turn heel but since he has a movie out now, that's highly unlikely. I'm a PEEP for life! haha!
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