WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff shared his thoughts on the highly discussed John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar match from Wrestlepalooza during a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. Bischoff said that the creative payoff of the match — and Cena’s entire farewell storyline — depends heavily on how WWE chooses to follow up on it.
“If the story going forward is as you previously laid out, and this ends up with John and Brock in John’s final match, and John finally overcomes, it’s a redemption story,” Bischoff explained. “I love redemption stories, they always work for me. If it’s a Disney redemption story, I’ll actually shed a tear or two. If there’s a dog involved, I’ll be a bawling idiot. So, I hope that that is the case. If it’s not the case, and it was just what they did that night, that would be worrisome to me. If it’s part of a story, I think it’d be a great story, because redemptions always work. If it wasn’t part of the story and it was, ‘Well, here’s what we’re going to do tonight, and why?’ Ennh, not good. But we’ll find out.”
Bischoff also offered his overall assessment of Cena’s retirement tour, giving it a lukewarm grade so far.
“I’d give it a C,” he admitted. “Now, if you take the heel turn or whatever that was, take that out and just look at the rest of it, probably a B, maybe an A- or a B. It’s been pretty good, except for the way it started. Just give everybody what they want, to see the guy go out on top. Everybody would love to see Babe Ruth hit his last home run. Nobody wants to see Babe Ruth strike out. Know what I mean? If you could go back in time. How many people would say, ‘I want to go back in time. I want to be there when Babe Ruth grabs his last at bat, but I want to see him strike out.’ No. Same thing here.”
Cena’s farewell run is expected to culminate in his final match on December 13 at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C. Whether WWE opts for the redemption story Bischoff hopes for remains to be seen.
