The Silver Report: April 28 - May 4

Last week, I shared my Top 5 WWE Championship matches in honour of the WWE Championship’s 50^th anniversary.  This week, it is back to the regularly scheduled blogging after that little tangent.  It has been surprisingly refreshing to see WWE give more than three weeks to build a PPV.  We have had about a month of build so far for Extreme Rules with two more weeks to go.  Personally, I have not been keeping up with Smackdown for a while now, other than a match here or there, so I cannot talk about WWE programming as a whole.  Although I will say that Raw has been considerably watchable this last month and I believe it has to do with not having to cram close to six weeks of build into a mere three weeks.  Now WWE just needs to start confirming matches for Extreme Rules so they have a card to promote outside of the three matches that have already been set in stone.

A Chink in Super Cena’s Armour

After being on tour in Europe the week prior, WWE returned to North America to get on with normally scheduled television tapings and live events.  Upon returning, news broke that John Cena had injured his Achilles tendon while on tour in Europe.  Fans and critics alike feared the worse for the current WWE Champion because this type of injury can be especially dangerous, just ask Edge.  It left the plans for Raw up in the air as many speculated if John Cena would be on the show and whether the injury was severe enough to vacant the WWE Title.  Good news for Cena fans and bad news for Cena haters, John was on Raw and scheduled to team with Ryback to face off with the Shield.  Ryback would back out of the handicap match due to Cena’s injury so the match was changed to Team Hell No and John Cena vs. the Shield.  The match was great as everybody played up John Cena’s injury.  From Daniel Bryan and Kane intentionally avoiding tagging Cena in to Seth Rollins taunts towards Cena, the idea that John Cena is not even close to 100 percent was performed perfectly by everybody in the match.  Also Cena did an admirable job in selling his ankle injury, which led right into the finish with Cena’s ankle giving out to set up Roman Reigns to hit the Spear and get the pin.  While it might be difficult to let another big name take some time off, this injury serves as a perfect way to have John Cena drop the title to Ryback at Extreme Rules.  Having Ryback possibly targeting the ankle during their match or even doing an angle with Ryback “breaking” John Cena’s ankle would provide excellent set-up for Cena’s eventual return match while making Ryback looking like a bigger heel.  With John Cena out to heal for a few months, WWE could have Ryback feud with Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan or even Kane in order to give Ryback some momentum heading into an eventual rematch with Cena.  There is a crack in the seemingly impervious armour of Super Cena and WWE has an excellent opportunity to use this rare occurrence to create a new unstoppable heel and a potential main event caliber rematch.

Three Men, Three Ladders, One Title

In the right hands, a ladder can make the highest objects reachable.  In the wrong hands, it can be one of the most inventive weapons out there.  In the hands of wrestlers, a ladder is used both the right way and the wrong way, but nevertheless it is always enjoyable.  Ladder matches are an easy way of providing tension as competitors scale ladders in order to reach a title, briefcase or any other object hanging above the ring before their opposition.  How does WWE make a Triple Threat Match between the three men fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship better; they add ladders to the mix.  Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger have all competed in a Ladder match or two during their time in the WWE.  Due to their experience in Ladder matches, there is no doubt that these three can put on a Ladder match that could easily steal the show at Extreme Rules.  Making this Triple Threat match a Triple Threat Ladder match was a great decision on WWE Creative’s part as it has surely raised the interest in the World Heavyweight Championship match at Extreme Rules.  Now we just need a few more gimmick matches like this one that are worthy of being on Extreme Rules and we could have a great PPV on our hands.