Monday, October 26, 2009

Iron will in the Steel City



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PITTSBURGH—It took 60 strenuous minutes and a combined 11 falls in the Steel City for John Cena to triumphantly culminate his vile rivalry with Randy Orton, as The Champ recaptured the WWE Championship in a One Hour, Anything Goes WWE Iron Man Match at WWE Bragging Rights.

In an effort that would easily make Tony Stark envious, Cena earned six decisions to Orton’s five in this extreme variation of a WWE Iron Man Match. The Champ’s conquest not only commenced his seventh World Title reign but also preserved his exclusive residence on Monday Night Raw. (Match scorecard)

The sands of an all-important hourglass trickling away, both champion and challenger distributed assaults as vicious as they could conjure – particularly, Orton – between glances at the diminishing clock.

Leveraging the rules to his advantage, The Viper unleashed craven attacks with a TV monitor and microphone to draw blood from Cena’s skull. Despite the drip of the scarlet fluid from his forehead, the No. 1 contender fought onward, sustained only by medical technicians’ superglue which kept the wound sealed for the 40 remaining minutes of battle.

Even The Legacy emerged, damaging Cena enough for Orton to attain an additional pinfall before Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes were chased from the Mellon Arena by a chair-wielding Kofi Kingston.

When The Legend Killer discovered the pyrotechnics controls, it appeared that Cena might not even make it out of WWE Bragging Rights. Fortunately for the West Newbury warrior, he moved out of fiery harm’s way just in time before feeling the fireworks blasts on the stage.

All the heavily inflicted torture came full circle for Orton, though. Incensed and somehow still stalking the WWE Champion, Cena ravaged through his foe and mustered the gumption to collect The Viper’s scaled body for an Attitude Adjustment through the announce table.

But even that wouldn’t be the sealing blow. The seconds rapidly descending, Cena clutched The Legend Killer within the STF for a tie-breaking, final fall that crowned a new WWE Champion.

The climax of this bout puts to rest a tumultuous quest by both Orton and Cena, who’ve spent the last several months dueling for the WWE Title. One-on-one, “I Quit” Match, Hell in a Cell. They’ve traded some of the fiercest onslaughts seen in the squared circle in 2009. But, with one single hour of punishment, the 12 Rounds star, who vowed to leave Raw if he lost in Pittsburgh, concluded his epic war with The Viper.

Despite the magnitude of his success at WWE Bragging Rights, the WWE Universe should expect no boasting from Cena. Instead, he will soldier into Monday Night Raw – his established home – as a humble, yet heavily decorated warrior ready to defend the gold and prepared to demonstrate why, once again, The Champ is here.

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