"NEVER. GIVE. UP." John Cena vs. Umaga (1/28/2007) {English}

 "NEVER. GIVE. UP."
John Cena vs. Umaga (1/28/2007)

The "Men's first love theory" says that: A man's first true love leaves a lasting emotional imprint on him, one that he may never fully move on from. This theory says that even if he enters new relationships, he will subconsciously compare his partners to that first love, idealizing her and holding onto the emotional intensity of that early experience. Its rooted in the idea that first love often occurs during formative stages and involves strong emotional and chemical reactions like dopamine and oxytocin, it's thought to shape a man's future views on love and relationships. Its not a scientific theory, but it reflects how deeply people especially men, according to this belief can hold onto powerful emotional memories.

This doesn't only apply to romantic relationships, it also applies to wrestling, and to a fan's relationship with a wrestler, 6 year old Fahad grew up watching wrestling more than cartoons or kid shows, While other kids around me idolized Superman or Batman as their heroes or mentors, I idolized John Cena, i remember only watching wrestling through my older brother's old CD player, And one of the few matches that i remember Rewatching as a kid whenever i felt down was this one, Cena vs. Umaga was my favorite match growing up, I didn't know what a "Match Structure" Or a "Babyface & Heel Performance" were as a 6 year old, But i saw my hero Slay a beast and get up after the big bad guy beat the shit out of him, I felt a connection and i loved it, That's what only matters in wrestling, THE FEELING, Rewatching it now 12 years later, I can easily say that this is my Favorite match of all time, Maybe not the Greatest, but it's my favorite, Because more than a decade later, it still gets me emotional.

This isn't the first match between the two, it's a sequel to another Great match at "New year's Revolution" that Cena barley won because of a mistake that Umaga made, But the difference now is that the stakes are higher than ever, Not only is it a last man standing match and you have to keep your opponent on the ground for a 10 count and it's a chance to introduce weapons into the match, But Cena's gut is injured now because of a dive on the announce table that Umaga did on Raw, This adds a Layer of targeting for Umaga, Or an Area that Cena can sell his life for in the match, and damn right he did.

I really Love how much they treated this match like a sequel, it's really impossible to get the full picture unless you watch the first match, Umaga started by being the Brawns without the Brains falling into the same mistakes he did in the first match, Letting Cena breath before rushing at him which Cena dodged most of the time in their first match and he did that too here, He still goes for those Sentons that cena countered before, and he countered them here again, when Cena tried throwing Umaga on the mat last month, Umaga no sold them, But now he had to take them on the steps so he actually took damage, Cena performance here is incredible, he was smart and showed that he learnt from the first match and got deeper into the same ideas that were planted in the first match, And his underdog performance? DAMN was it PERFECT, He sells his rib and gut injury to Perfection, Holding his ribs whenever he tried to get up, Barley lifting Umaga which was really really smart, But of course Cena had to make some mistakes in this match, He tried hitting the FU on Umaga early on before doing enough Damage and while his ribs were just destroyed again by Umaga, So he falls Face first on the steps, Getting up all bloodied by the consequences of his actions, That whole scene was perfect, Umaga slowly getting up thinking that he could kill the hero was shot perfectly.

This match had some Great Brawling to it too, Umaga saved his big moves and just 1 punch did enough damage to make Cena fall, Cena sold every Punch Perfectly and the sequence where Cena FIGHTS through Umaga's Punches BEGGING for more before getting comeback cut off was Incredible from a story telling POV, The moment Cena bled was the most important moment of the match, Because Cena was a different wrestler in the 2nd part of the match, He was Raged, Fueled by anger and NOT GIVING UP, which was the entire point of the match, Cena had to be a different man, As his best friend would say: he had to "Be a monster to fight the monsters of the world" And even though part of him died for him to get to the finish, But this is the most "John Cena performance" from him, if you get what im saying.

Calling the finish Perfect wouldn't do it enough Justice, Armando Took the turnbuckle off, Handing to Umaga and just like the first match, Cena used the heels's Flaws against them, Using his last breath to duck the buckle Hitting an FU to Umaga, and then came the STFU, dare i say the best STFU in Cena's Career, Cena's scream was RAW, REAL, HE PULLED THE ROPE WITH EVERYTHING HE GOT AND IT FELT REAL AS UMAGA'S LIFE WAS BEING DRAWINED AWAY, but Umaga got up, Breathing once again, Right before Cena hit another STFU, Killing the Beast for once and for all, Standing tall in his hardest match of his career, And the best.
This is easily of the greatest matches of all time, It's a Perfect showing of a hero's Triumph in Professional wrestling, The selling, The storytelling, THE WRESTLING, it was all flawless, no matter how hard life beats you up, It can never beat you down as hard as Umaga beat Cena, and if Cena never gave up and got up, You can too.


5* | GMEC