The Club is back together! But it makes no sense….
John Cena made his triumphant return on last week’s episode of Raw. While a familiar veteran of WWE’s flagship show, it was refreshing to have The Champ back and immediately integrate himself within the “new era” of the WWE alongside AJ Styles. It was a moment to remember: AJ Styles and John Cena in the same ring at the same time.
The Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and TNA faithful shared the moment with those within the WWE Universe who’ve followed professional wrestling outside of the WWE bubble and it was glorious. Moments later, The Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) made their presence felt and what transpired after was a strange mix of excitement and head scratching.
Let’s rewind a short while ago after AJ’s program with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns. AJ Styles and The Club parted ways with the idea being that Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson would be focusing on tag team gold while Styles works his way back to the world title picture.
Both sides were very much broken with the friendship apparently dissolved. Not long after that, John Cena is in the ring with AJ Styles looking to square off against The Club, who are one the verge of attacking. Seemingly out of the blue, Styles attacks Cena and The Club “reunite” to reveal their master plan to take him out.
As mentioned before, it was exciting to see AJ back in the fold and embracing the natural heel persona that came along with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in Japan with Bullet Club. The problem with this is that it negates the entire Roman Reigns program. AJ Styles wanted to prove he is a man of his word and didn’t need anyone else to get the job done. There was disagreement and an uncomfortable energy in trying to balance his career aspirations with personal friendship. The fans were really getting behind Styles in this program, which gave him the biggest platform to date in showcasing his connection with those fans. It even negates his earlier program with Chris Jericho in the trust and betrayal category.
Why would AJ do to Cena what had been done to him? If this was a plan to get at Cena, what does that say about Roman Reigns and the WWE title? Did the writers have a mental lapse and forget that the WWE title is the most sought out award and in creating this new arc of a story they’ve placed Cena above the champion and title itself? (please no comments on how this is “another example of Cena burying”, he doesn’t bury a thing).
Heel turns happen and this was inevitable, but it should have happened at a more sensible time. It could have been a more plausible turn through one of two ways. The first being after AJ’s Extreme Rules loss to Reigns in which, through frustration, AJ attacks Roman before The Club joins in. Losing two in a row on pay-per-view against the WWE’s “chosen” champion while not getting the support of the company is enough to turn the dial up and, if the The Club is what’s needed to change things, The Club will lead the charge. The second would be saving the turn until Money in the Bank.
Build up to a tag team match between Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows against AJ Styles and John Cena with The Club successfully attacking the two on Raw. Leave the John Cena Vs. AJ Styles one on one bout for the next event or even SummerSlam. In the time leading up to Money in the Bank, why not continue to have AJ wanting to prove he is a man of his word?
Why not place them in situations where while they need to be a team, there would still be lingering uncertainties with John Cena wanting to take the leader role and Styles a bit offended by that? These are just a few examples but there are a number of ways The Club’s reveal could have played out that would have made a bit more sense. Outside of that, it was still a fun moment to see The Club take out John Cena, mainly because of the Bullet Club connection, and also the best segment of the show.
Thinking deeply on matters result in analysis like this, but there’ve been worse happenings and more that haven’t made any kind of sense. It could have been a much more effective betrayal with more thought and less knee jerk reactions in trying to find a heel opponent for John Cena to face for his in-ring return. Ultimately, it was cool to see The Club become who they are meant to be and the AJ Styles vs. John Cena matchup at Money in the Bank is a contest pro-wrestling dreamers have been wanting for years. The story shouldn’t take away from what is surely going to be an epic confrontation.
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Ric Santos is owner and writer for the Weekend Warrior Blog, covering professional wrestling through his personal thoughts and opinions. Visit the Weekend Warrior Blog at http://www.weekendwarriorblog.com
Ric is also a fiction writer with his first short story published for Amazon’s Kindle, BISHOP: A Short Story, which can be purchased by clicking here. For the UK, click here.