On Monday Night RAW, John Cena announced that his match against Ryback at WWE Payback will be a 3 Stages of Hell match. The final stage will be an Ambulance match. There have been only two Ambulance matches in WWE history. I have already reviewed the first one so I’m reviewing the second Ambulance match in this match review.

The Facts:

  • This match happened at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The attendance was 15,306.
  • The first Ambulance match was Shane McMahon vs. Kane at Survivor Series 2003 in Dallas, Texas.
  • This match was the main event of Elimination Chamber 2012 Pay-Per-View. It was the first time an Elimination Chamber match was not the main event match of the PPV.
  • Kane and Cena had a match at Royal Rumble 2012, the PPV before Elimination Chamber. The 11 minute match ended in a double countout.
  • The announcers were Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Booker T.
  • The time length of this match was 21:21.
  • This match can be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzinN0N-e4w.

The Match:

John Cena and Kane left the ring about 20 seconds after the match started. The ring wasn’t really needed for this Ambulance match because the only way to win was by putting your opponent inside the ambulance and closing the doors. They brawled outside of the ring. Cena called for the ambulance early in the match. They fought near the ambulance and a gurney was pulled out of the ambulance. Cena got a backboard from the ambulance and used it to hit Kane. They went towards the ring and Cena whipped Kane into the ring steps. Cena and Kane went back into ring and did some wrestling. Kane covered Cena’s mouth with his hand and Cena passed out. Kane didn’t want to drag Cena all the way to the ambulance so he got a wheelchair from under the ring. Why was there a wheelchair under the ring? I guess Kane put it there before the match. Kane pushed the wheelchair with Cena sitting on it and Cena was able to get away from Kane before Kane could push the wheelchair all the way to the ambulance. Cena threw Kane at the ambulance. Cena got the wheelchair and used it as a weapon. Cena put Kane on the wheelchair and pushed Kane into a table that was set-up near the entrance stage. Kane got up and hit Cena with a piece of equipment from the table. Kane then hit Cena with a laptop and the wheelchair. Cena got a chair from the crowd and used it to hit Kane. They brawled in the crowd. Cena whipped Kane over the security wall. Cena hit Kane with a microphone and a television monitor. A lot of different objects were used as weapons in this match. Cena cleared off the Spanish Announce Table. Cena grabbed one of the ring steps and hit Kane’s head with it a couple times. He hit Kane a lot harder than I was expecting him to. A lot of violence in this match and it almost feels like an Attitude Era match. The only things missing are blood and chair shots to the head. Cena set-up the steps by the Spanish Announce Table and he climbed up the steps while carrying Kane. Cena was going for the Attitude Adjustment onto the table, but Kane avoided it and chokeslammed Cena through the table. Nice spot. Kane put Cena on the gurney. Kane is able to push the gurney all the way to the ambulance. If this was a stretcher match, Kane would have won. Kane put Cena into the ambulance. Kane closed the first door and closed the second….no! Cena stopped the second door from closing. Cena opened the side door of the ambulance and used it to attack Kane. Cena climbed to the top of the ambulance and Kane followed Cena. This is going to end bad for one of these guys. Kane tried to chokeslam Cena off the ambulance, but Cena countered it. Attitude Adjustment by Cena off the top of the ambulance and Kane fell to the ground. Cena put Kane in the ambulance and closed the doors.

Winner: John Cena

Rating: ***1/2

I think I gave this match a higher rating than most people who reviewed this match. That’s their opinions and I won’t say they are wrong. My opinion is that this was an entertaining match. It reminded me of the crazy brawls around the arena that Stone Cold Steve Austin used to do. Cena and Kane did a good job. The match looked like it could have been ECW if you didn’t know it was WWE and it looked like it could have happened during the Attitude Era if you didn’t know it happened during the PG Era. I’m not saying it was as good as an ECW match or an Attitude Era match. It was like a poor man’s ECW/Attitude Era match. Fans who love technical wrestling are going to hate this match, but fans that enjoyed ECW and the Attitude Era might have a fun time watching it. I liked the Kane vs. Shane McMahon Ambulance match more, but this match had some good spots. After seeing two Ambulance matches, I think that this match type can produce an entertaining match most of the time. WWE being TV-PG shouldn’t be a problem because this Cena vs. Kane match was TV-PG and it was more violent than I was expecting. After seeing this match, I think the ambulance stage of the Cena vs. Ryback 3 Stages of Hell match could be enjoyable.