The headline from BJPenn.com says it all.

The problem isn’t John Cena winning. Actually, he HAS to win a match against Lesnar to protect him as a main-eventer. People can say all they want about how wins and losses don’t matter anymore, but they still do, even if WWE Creative disagrees. The tepid reaction Zack Ryder has been getting speaks volumes to that, as does CM Punk’s heat-killing loss to HHH back in September. After losing to The Rock at Wrestlemania and then Lord Tensai(!) two weeks later, WWE needed to do something to protect and/or restore the credibility of their number one revenue draw.

The problem is that the match happened in the first place.

Cena and Lesnar was too big of a money match to give away so quickly. The absolute earliest this match shouldn’t have happened is Summerslam. What they should have done is have Brock return, put Cena out of action for a few months, then maybe in the interim fight someone else who steps up to defend WWE’s “honor.” Then you put Brock over, continue intermittently building him as a monster heel, then have Cena come back after time off to avenge the beatdown. Big draw for a big event.

Instead, they hotshotted the angle, had Brock/Cena occur just weeks after Brock comes back, put Cena over, then announce Cena is taking time off. Lesnar’s drawing power is diminished, but can be salvaged. Unfortunately, the top babyface Cena will return from his hiatus with nothing to avenge or chase, meaning he’ll still be getting a mixed reaction from the crowd. Generating heat for a rematch will be what could generously be called an uphill battle.

I know I sound like a broken record, but this Pro Wrestling shit is really simple and yet they pathologically screw it up by either overbooking things or not thinking at all in the long term. Cena/Lesnar could have waited until Summerslam and drawn a humongous buyrate and gate. Instead, it’s put on the “Extreme Rules” pay-per-view, which will only put the buyrate slightly above its expected levels.

Way to go, guys.