WWE legend made John Cena "the man," claims wrestling veteran
Despite failing to capture the attention of the crowds with his gimmick and performances in his early days on WWE programming, John Cena kept grinding and became a featured star of the company.
However, even winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 21 from The Wrestling God JBL and tapping out Triple H the following year was not enough to deem John Cena "the man" of the wrestling business. According to Bruce Prichard, it is Shawn Michaels whom he needs to thank for their underrated Show of Shows classic in 2007.
Often overlooked or simply lost in the shuffle, the WrestleMania 23 main event was a major success and has a cult following today. Speaking on the latest episode of the podcast Something To Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard noted how John Cena and Shawn Michaels tore the roof down at Ford Field.
"Shawn and Cena, I thought that on that night, Shawn made Cena the man," Prichard said. "I really do, on that night. I think Shawn was there for everything. It also just showed me...man, John Cena was up four days in a row every shoot, everything you can possibly imagine for that event. Oh my god, he did [prove himself]." [H/T: WrestlingInc]
John Cena wrestled Shawn Michaels once again 22 days later in the now-famous hour-long contest on WWE RAW. The Showstopper got a measure of revenge in their rematch by pinning Cena clean three weeks after tapping out to the latter on The Grandest Stage.
Bruce Prichard deems the Punjabi Prison as the worst gimmick match in WWE history
Ahead of the Royal Rumble, the WWE creative discussed the worst gimmick match of all time. According to him, the Punjabi Prison, which was introduced in the summer of 2006, was a terrible idea. The only way to win the bout is by escaping two bamboo structures that surrounded the ring.
The Undertaker, Big Show, Batista, The Great Khali, Jinder Mahal, and Randy Orton have all competed in the Punjabi Prison match. Bruce Prichard spoke about the making of its first rendition, which happened at The Great American Bash:
"We did a Punjabi Prison match," Prichard said. "Now, no one had seen it because I don't think it got finished until two or three days before the event ... So it gets done, they put it up and try to figure out, 'What the f**k are we going to do with this?' And I'm actually trying to figure out a way to set it on fire in the back and just have a match ... Oh man, the Punjabi Prison ... that will go down next to the Dog Kennel from Hell match. That will go down as the number one worst gimmick in the face of anything." [H/T: WrestlingInc]
Khali was originally booked to face The Undertaker, but was replaced by Big Show owing to an unexpected health condition. He went on to compete inside the structure the following year.
Jinder Mahal became the first Indian wrestler to win the gimmick match in WWE at Battleground 2017 by defeating Randy Orton with the help of Khali. The latter made a one-off appearance at the event. He would recently resurface at the Superstar Spectacle in India.