1, 2, 3. John Cena covers his opponent JBL after using his finisher and 3 seconds passed. On April 3, 2005, at Wrestlemania 21, Cena beat JBL and became the new WWE Champion. 10 years passed from that moment and still this match is evaluated as one of the most intense fights throughout the history of professional wrestling. From the start of the conflict to the final match, the whole storyline between two legendary wrestlers made the fans go wild and immersed into wrestling itself. Fans cheered for John Cena who played the role of hero that represents the “people” of the world and jeered to JBL who played the role of rich villain that looked down on the poor people. People throughout the world felt the emotion of indirect satisfaction since the …show more content…
Cena and JBL showed all of the aspects of wrestling through their match. Intense emotion, well made storyline and finally the harsh fight between two clearly different characters. Thus, it was literally well made “spectacle”. The match between John Cena and JBL shows all of the elements of wrestling that Roland Barthes tried to explain through his essay “The World of Wrestling”. Barthes justifies wrestling not a sport but a ‘spectacle’. To support his idea, Barthes uses various comparisons and metaphors. By comparing wrestling to boxing and judo, Barthes tries to show the exaggerated motions of wrestling and the focus of a wrestling match. Boxing and judo are the sports that are mainly focused on their results not the moments of the match. Stories between two players are not significant point as it is in wrestling. Wrestling is mainly about conveying the emotion of two players and the story. Thus, Barthes uses another comparison for wrestling which is ancient theater. Wrestling and theater look very different in