>>19275308Here’s how you do it.
IF CENA WINS…
If you decide that Cena should win his last match (for crowd-pleasing reasons), then you let Je’Von Evans win the tournament. Similar to the Dom Mysterio match, Evans will get to put on a great show, prove he belongs, and get a huge boost even in a loss.
Everyone else in that tournament doesn’t get (or need) any sort of pop from losing to Cena. Rusev, Sheamus, Uso, Gunther, Knight, Penta…these are all established guys the fans know and have feelings about, or simply don’t care about (Hayes, Balor, Sikoa, Reed). Them losing to Cena isn’t going to “do” anything for them.
IF CENA LOSES…
If you decide Cena should lose his final match, then you would ONLY be doing it to give someone a HUGE boost and put them on the map. Who needs that? IMO, very few people on that list really need that. Rusev, Sheamus, Uso, Gunther, Knight…these are all established guys the fans know and have feelings about, or don’t care about (Hayes, Balor, Sikoa). Them beating Cena changes nothing for them in the eyes of the fans.
The only 2 guys on that list who could get a legitimate bump from beating Cena would be Penta and Bronson Reed.
Penta is riding a huge wave of midcard popularity right now. Having him beat Cena would actually make sense. I doubt they do it, though.
Reed is a mystery to me. The fans are ambivalent toward him. He gets no heat. But WWE seems to insist on pushing him. Having Reed retire Cena is exactly the “sort of thing” WWE would do thinking it would boost him more. But it won’t. Fans just aren’t responding.
If you REALLY want Cena to lose while putting someone on the map, then you give the TBD spot to Oba. Oba then destroys Solo Sikoa in 10 seconds. Oba then destroys Gunther in 20 seconds. Oba then destroys Uso in 30 seconds. And then you’ve created a monster to destroy Cena in his final match. It instantly puts Oba on the map as the biggest unstoppable badass since Brock Lesnar.
