Please...Don't Hate 4.26.09: John Cena (part II)
Posted by Julian Bond on 04.26.2009
Back for a limited time…the one…the only…”Please…Don’t Hate”!! My column of the past which tackles the question of why people horribly dislike some things in wrestling while I reply back with my plead to fans to try and not to “hate” so much. I return with my most controversial topic that I received a lot of response from…John Cena.
Welcome everyone to Please…Don't Hate, the column which takes a look at some of the most hated on and complained about wrestlers, companies, and topics within the wrestling world. For those who have followed my current column, "Against The Grain", you may be rubbing your eyes wondering about the random change of pace. I've been happily writing here at 411 for the last year and I wanted to take a brief step back to go "old school" (…not really too old) by revisiting my nearest and dearest first column here on the site. For those who are new to the column idea, the point of this is to talk about the topics in the wrestling world that people tend to strongly dislike as I offer my two cents on why I believe the opposite and how others should stop and consider not hating on the topic so much. So I thought to get straight back into the mode of things, I should start by covering the most "controversial" topics (i.e. ones I received the most various responses from) from the 15 or so I've done so far. The first obvious target that came to mind was the man known as John Cena. Loved by some. Hated by many. I want to look back at what some of the readers said back in the day in my original column and then offer up my revised thoughts of why I still think that Cena shouldn't be hated on so much. So here we go.
Reader Reverb
"Against" Cena
"Cena is just so one dimensional. In this day and age thats just un- acceptable. This aint the 70s and 80s no more. Things change as to tastes and predictability is no longer accepted in the wrestling community."
Posted By: kaei (Guest) on April 20, 2008 at 07:49 PM
"Cena tries hard to improve???How?When was the last time he did a new move? I have some of his matches in OVW on tape and he was way better even then than he is now.He did all kinds of moves.And he worked harder and really was trying.But now he's just resting on his laurels.And his STF(I refuse to insult Masa Chono and call it a STFU)is the fakiest looking move since,well,the 5 Knuckle Shuffle.And who does that move?"
Posted By: Gary (Guest) on April 20, 2008 at 08:37 PM
"Austin wasn't shoved down our throats. WWE is blatantly trying to make Cena at his level and shoving him down our throats. They're putting him and movies, talk shows, etc. And it's not working. With Austin, he actually got over. His Austin 3:16 catchphrase got over huge with the fans, so WWE capitalized and made t-shirts for it, and when they were already completely sold out the day they were released and 75% of the crowd at Raw was wearing the shirt, they knew that they had a star. It was when Austin was ready to carry promotion when WWF pushed him to the moon. But with Cena, WWE pushed him prematurely as soon as he showed the slightest potential to be huge. What WWE should've done is let him get over for another year and give him the title at say, Wrestlemania 22, rather than put him all over the title scene."
Posted By: JJ (Guest) on April 20, 2008 at 08:49 PM
"For" Cena
"i think after hulkamania, we fans were spoiled. our main event stars could actually talk and wrestle. we got use to having guys like the rock, angle, austin, HHH, hbk, foley. taker and others. cena is unfairly compared to those performers.
i dont hate cena. i am not a fan but he is entertaining. and in the world of sports ENTERTAINMENT! he is doing a great job."
Posted By: rey (Guest) on April 20, 2008 at 07:56 PM
"you know this is exactly what VInce wants. kids and women love the guy. most guys don't. Who's merchandise sells...wait for it
Cenas
The guy is a riot and I will admit to marking out for the guy. It's called sports entertainment and he entertains me.
he has 5 moves and I have 6 words THE CHAMP IS HERE TO STAY"
Posted By: ted g (Guest) on April 20, 2008 at 08:45 PM
"Yknow what would be great? If everybody jus put aside their previous bias and look at things objectivly. Actually acknowledging what the writer said instead of "Well. Im gonna keep hating Cena no matter what! so there!""
Posted By: Guest#8057 (Guest) on April 21, 2008 at 04:22 AM
My Reasoning For Not Hating On…John Cena
First thing first. I will admit…John Cena has kind of been getting on my nerves of late, mainly due to the promos he's been giving lately. I personally believe that the man was slowly, but surely getting better at giving them. But recently, particularly his lead-up to his Wrestlemania, he seems like he's trying way too hard to try and give a strong speech. Me and my friend were watching him on Raw leading up to Mania and it just pained our ears to hear him try so much to be a "nice bad-ass". BUT after hearing him give a pretty good intense promo against Edge on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago, I have renewed hope again for the guy. So with this, I would like to state my number one reason for liking Cena and why people shouldn't hate on the guy so much: Cena's ability to put on high quality matches and promos when needed.
The main complaints I hear about Cena ALWAYS are this: "Cena can barely wrestle, only has limited moves, promo skills" and "Cena is being pushed down everyone's throat despite people not really liking him, treated like a corporate money-maker more than an actual wrestler". With the first complaint, here's my biggest beef with people who say this about Cena. Cena has been wrestling for like…um…7 years now. Now some might jump to say that this should be enough time for Cena to have gotten better and shouldn't be an excuse for him, but if you think about it this time, the man's not even in the experience range yet as some current ring veterans such as Taker and Michaels. People often look at these two legendary grapplers and think that they expect a great match every time out due to their skills in the ring (i.e. "Making a broom look good"). But I truly believe fans don't give Cena a fair share due to a subconscious thought in the back of their minds that Cena shouldn't be in the main event because he's not on the same level, character and move-wise, as Taker/Michaels. Hey…guess what…Cena isn't and may never be on their same level EVER, but it shouldn't mean that he doesn't deserve to be at the top.
As pointed out in one of the readers' comments above, I think that we as a wrestling-watching generation now that have been accustomed to wrestlers who've had "bad-ass" attitudes, could cut a sick promo, and can wrestle in crazy over-the-top matches on a regular basis (i.e. HHH, HBK, Foley, Austin, Taker). Now the fact that Cena isn't like these aforementioned icons is really why people tend to really hate on him. If you think about it, all of these people didn't have the greatest matches at every point in their career. I remember that for a good while in the late 90s, Taker wasn't having the greatest bouts in the world (uppercut punch, uppercut punch, multiple chokes w/stares.....and a Tombstone). Same with Austin (punch, kick, punch, kick, middle finger, stunner). Cena isn't that much different. When a wrestler is really "allowed" (because the fact is, if McMahon wants a type of match, you'll have to wrestler that way) to really show their full range of skills in a certain match, then the ones that are very good will actually turn it up and show us what they're really made out of. Cena has done this time and time again proving haters constantly wrong about his "limited skills". Matches against Edge, Umaga, Orton, HHH, Batista, Michaels, and hell…even the Great freakin Khali, has shown that the man can more than carry his own when prompted to. People can nit pick all of these matches all day long, but they truly can't deny that there were good horribly watchable bouts. Cena may not have the coolest finishers or is the best technical grappler in the world, but with the limited moves he does have the man works the hell of them to make the best matches he can to very good success.
Now with the "shoving down our throats" complain, haters don't realize that this same exact process has been done with all of their favorite wrestlers. From the Rock appearing in movies before his leave, Stone Cold appearing on TV Guide and on shows like "Mad TV", and even Undertaker having multiple action figures and T-shirts for kids (and hell, I believe at one brief time…a comic book?!?). So if that's not "shoving down our throats" aka Marketing 101, then I don't know what is. Oh…but the other argument to this is "Cena's an exception because he's still being pushed despite people constantly booing him." So I pose this question: Who exactly is booing him? Besides the haters that do so and the friends of these haters, a majority of the crowds are still heavily into John Cena. Not talking too much crap about the haters cause they are just regular paying fans just like you and me, but they only make a small percentage of the overall audience that the WWE is catering to. Trust me haters…I know this feeling. At one point, I was booing the hell of Hulk Hogan (when he was a babyface again back a few years ago) because I hated the guy and his huge push mostly due to his limited moves at his old age and the fact that he reportedly did some dirty "backstage politics" back in WCW. But when he appeared at my TV screen, everyone I knew was cheering the hell out of him and I felt out of the place because I was in the minority of people not digging the guy. I then realized that instead of hating on Hogan for deep personal reasons that I held onto, I should just enjoy him for what he's done in the industry and not bust a vein stressing over the fact that he's loved by so many.
Again, as I've said in every previous "Please…Don't Hate" column, I ain't asking anyone to convert to a fan of Cena's. I'm just asking for the haters to really think about why they constantly hate on the guy so much and see if it really makes sense. One can dislike Cena just because they simply don't like his style because everyone has their own opinion, but I'm a little tired (even after he's definitely improved ten-fold in the last few years) of hearing haters state reasons that totally and equally relate to other wrestlers of the past and present that they don't feel like thinking of. Cena shouldn't be a scapegoat for hating cause' the dude is by far one of the hardest workers I've ever seen in wrestling. He may not be the best in the ring and he may cut some of the corniest promos ever heard, but you got to give play to the guy who almost ALWAYS turns up the volume in his work when needed. You can't take that away from Cena.
Good Reasons to Love….John Cena
Great Creative Entrances (WM 23 may have been corny, but you have to admit that it was pretty cool)
Highly forgotten Summerslam 2007 match against Orton (easily one of his best)
Good promo against Edge on Smackdown (coming back from his recent lack of good promos to do this)
On The Next Episode of…"Please…Don't Hate"
Part 2 of the trip back to "Controversy Lane" brings us to my second most commented-on topic in the form of the current (possibly former after Backlash) WWE Champion, the "King of Kings" Triple H. Should be fun.
The great thing about pro wrestling is that there are (were) many different performers with many different personas. This is getting to be less and less true all the time in WWE, unfortunately, but there are still a handful of very entertaining and DIVERSE pro wrestlers. You've got the fresh-faced, bland, young action-hero in Cena, the crafty veteran who always comes back for more in Shawn Michaels, the bitter, self-righteous hypocrite in Chris Jericho and so on...
Remember when everybody cheered some guys and booed some other guys, but everyone was a "fan"?
"Smarks" have unfortunately established a precedent of trying to quantify your preferences. If you like Shelton Benjamin, for example, then you're a "real" fan. If you like John Cena, you're a "mark", or just a child, the latter of which is usually the case, actually... Anyway, the only thing in wrestling that's REALLY quantifiable is revenue; who draws money? That's still the only question that promoters care about answering. John Cena brings a bunch of money in to the company, which is his job, so, like it or not, he's doing HIS JOB very, very well.
Just keep his weekly TV time under 30 minutes in total -- set aside some time to show me some performers I *want* to see -- and I'm fine with Cena.
Posted By: KanyonKreist (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Truth is, I agree with you completely about Cena. He is the quintessential "hard worker" of the WWE (as opposed to self-destructive, spotfest Internet-darling Jeff Hardy).
However, I also HATE John Cena. Or let me rephrase that... I LOVE to hate on John Cena. ESPECIALLY when he's pitted against Edge. I hate his character and I hate how he's booked.
But I don't hate the man. Not for one second. In fact, there is no feud with more big $$ potential within it than Cena vs. a straight shooting CM Punk with no face-heel dynamic (at least at the outset). Shame they're on different brands.
Posted By: Brad (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 01:31 AM
Very good column on Cnea, but the problem is that the oens who want to hate him will ignore it as they have ignored everything he's ever done that didn't fit. Like the fact that for all the massive amounts of boos they always bring up...the cheers are still just a little bit louder every single time.
On Triple H.....One of the big complaints people always have about Triple H is that he's where he is because he married Stephanie. Truth is, he had already held the big belt 4 times by the time the two tied the knot. Far be it for truth to get in the way of popular fiction, though.
Posted By: AdamS (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 04:22 AM
I hated Cena the first month after he won his first WWE title. But the more people started to hate on him the more I started to like him again. It's a fucking TV show people. He is on top because he gets a HUGE reaction. Doesn't matter if it's boos or a huge pop. You want to get rid of him? Don't cheer or boo him. Vince knows that people will pay to see him get his ass kicked, and then the other side will pay to see him claw his way back to the top. Until you get over your hate hard on for him, he'll be in the main event. And just like The Rock, when he's gone you'll miss him.
Posted By: Tobey Kinson (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 04:52 AM
edge is so awesome. think about it. EVERYONE who has feuded with cena has been cheered. angle, jericho, hhh, and rko were the heels yet were cheered like hulk hogan. edge was and has been the only heel to get boos and forced everyone to cheer for cena. it is no coincidence that the wwe keeps the battling.
Posted By: jd (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:24 AM
I look forward to the Triple H column. There is much to say on both sides. He is getting to the age when the champion thing should be transitional though, he is 39 (40 this summer) and has multiple injuries. The next few years will show whether it is all about him or about building the company.
On Cena, bitching about his moveset is wrong. Since the days of the high-flyers (E&C + Hardys), the workrate guys (Angle, Benoit, Jericho), and the spotfests (TLC, Hardcore title), the WWE has cut back on movesets. I believe this has been good for the overall health of the performers. However, it also means performers don't get to show what they can really do until big PPVs.
The part about how Cena did more in OVW supports this. He used to do more moves. Does anybody really believes that he forgot how, or that he can't anymore?
Like Taz said about Cole, when you work at McDonalds, you make hamburgers.
Compare indy CM Punk to WWE Punk. Anybody want to argue that he doesn't work hard or try now? Because his moveset is more limited now. No, he is wrestling the way the bookers let him.
While Cena isn't my cup of tea, I can't blame him for the limitations put on him, nor the time it takes to learn to work around those limits.
Posted By: Guest#7413 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:38 AM
I love how the people who are For Cena have such terrible grammar and spelling. Hur.
Posted By: Guest#4047 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:43 AM
Cuck Fena!!!!!!
Posted By: Guest#6748 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:48 AM
I read the whole article and I gotta say........ Cena still sucks!!!!
Posted By: Guest#8856 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:50 AM
Surely I'm not the only one who turns the channel whenever Cena's music hits......or am I?
Posted By: Guest#5818 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:52 AM
The Summerslam 2007 match was good because of Orton, he was on fire that night.
Posted By: Guest#3876 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:57 AM
A lot of what you say makes sense. I mean true Cena isn't on the level of Taker or HBK, but when push comes to shove he's the bigges thing WWE have right now.
He's also not that bad a wrestler either, I've always found that to be bullshit. He's no worse than I'd say about 50% of the roster.
Posted By: Bubba (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 06:11 AM
A John Cena/MVP fued could and should be the new Austin/Rock fued that weve been looking for for years....
ive a feeling that this was a controversial statement that will result in some heavy feedback!!!!
ah the hell with it
Posted By: Tall Paul (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 07:20 AM
it doesnt matter what you write. at the end of the day, its still john cena and he still sucks. he never will be anywhere near austin or rock, and sure as hell will never be Hulk Hogan.
Posted By: rick goodwin (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 07:33 AM
I still can't work out why people love to sh!t on Cena so much. Great worker, sells like crazy to make anyone look good, will do the job when told to, nothing like some of the biggest and more arrogant stars of yesterday. He's one of the hardest workers out there, but still won't get the respect of those idiots.
Posted By: Weng (Registered) on April 26, 2009 at 08:02 AM
Good read. You left out the argument people used to make the Cena never loses. Of course, thats dried up since because Cena came back from injury to put people over (Orton, JBL, Batista...of course the return job to Triple H) so people switched it too Cena never puts younger stars over so then he goes out and lets Swagger look like a star (and is the first person to really do that) but of COURSE thats wrong because Cena ended up winning, so the haters find a way to hate on Cena even when he's doing thngs they say he doesnt. He also consistantly puts people over on the mike, with compliments and facts. Compare that to a Triple H who not only buries people on the mike with his snarcy shoot comments but when they are lucky enough to get a victory over his, he'll bury that victory and make it seem a fluke and unimportant with snarcy shoot comments (see his promo on Orton for Mania last year on that one)
I liked you're argument about Taker, but everyone seems to forget his biker days where he no sold EVERYTHING and destroyed DDP, an established and talented star, multiple times. When you counter an argument with "Cena's doing what he's told" the haters come back with "He's a bitch who does what Vince tells him". They forget that Triple H once dressed up as Kane and had sex with a dummy. Do you think Triple H wanted to do that? Does that mae him a bitch too? Their biggest argument is NO ONE likes Cena. Well, considering their are boos and cheers when Cena comes out, I'd say people DO like him, but the haters feel their opinion matters more and what they say is law.
News for those haters. You have a right to your opinion and others do theres. Just because you think something doesnt mean EVERYONE does.
Posted By: Neo (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 08:24 AM
You know the author is clutching at straws when he is trying to use one okay promo from smackdown last week as a big part of his argument as to why we shouldn't "hate" John Cena.
Cena is stale, boring, predictable and repetitive. His moveset is limited, his matches are all the same, his promos are all identical (Cena the plucky babyface! He may be a bad-ass, but he's a kid-friendly one! Look, Cena's pandering to the crowd again in a pathetic attempt to get cheers! The heel feuding with Cena is having to continuously insult the fans to keep the heat on him rather than Cena! Wow, this product is awesome!)
And yes, I understand that this is more WWE Creative's fault than Cena himself, but it doesn't change the fact that John Cena THE CHARACTER fucking sucks and drags the product down with him. The only reason he has maintained his ridiculously large push and spot on the card is due to the inability of WWE to create any other genuine new stars (which HHH must take a lot of blame for).
I don't boo Cena because "its cool to hate him" or anything else like that, fuck that bullshit. I boo him because he fucking sucks. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the popularity of John Cena reflects how stupid and one-dimensional most of the fans are. A disgusting combination of hicks, morons, marks, dumb little kids, stupid girls, arrogant smarks and general all-round failures at life.
Posted By: Guest#1986 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 08:52 AM
cena may not be the best pure wrestler, he'll never be a angle or benoit nor he got good mic skills like rock or foley but atleast he works hard to entertain the fans unlike that guy with a huge nose who keeps hanging on the wwe title because of his soft work in the bedroom
Posted By: Guest#6612 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 09:21 AM
I suck. Deal with it.
Posted By: John Cena (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 09:36 AM
Fuck Cena and your shitty article
Posted By: kevin (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 09:36 AM
(This is JJ, btw)
The thing I hate about Cena is how WWE completely de-balled him. Sure, his Hip-Hop gimmick was definitely a gimmick with an expiration date because it wouldn't work in the main event, but they could've at least kept the essence of the gimmick by keeping his speech patterns, clothing style, etc. But instead, they've turned him into Hogan 2.0. And he's nowhere near as popular.
Posted By: saiyahog84 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 10:03 AM
I don't hate Cena the person I don't really hate him as a performer no doubt he is one of the hardest workers in wwe. I just don't like his ring work or character compared to others and want to see a bit of a change in the wwe in the main event. Beauty of it is people will always have their own opinions and the internet is a perfect place to vent them just don't get so worked up when someone voices a different opinion to your own. Thats the problem with the IWC if someone sees something they disagree with they go off on a stupid rant about it usually swearing every other word
Posted By: BritishFan (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 10:19 AM
IT'S STILL REAL TO ME DAMMIT!
Posted By: Guest#8717 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Graet column! Much of the Cena hate is due to the "Hipster" trend that has happened in the past ten to fifteen years. Nothing more.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Im not going to go as far as to say I hate Cena but after his first of many title reigns at Wrestlemania, how many ppv title matches can you honestly think of that the guy WASNT involved in barring injury. To me seems just about every damn one. That and hes gotten extremely stale his "i-overcome-all-odds-against-me" gimmick got old years ago, at least with his last he was entertaining to everyone
Posted By: Ojj (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 11:10 AM
To be honest, I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to Cena. Sometimes I think he's alright, but other times he's annoying.
Key example would be Wrestlemania. I really didn't see why he needed to win the title, especially considering a) he just lost it at the last pay-per-view, and b) Triple H was already booked to win. Having two face World Title wins just seems boring, but that's probably just me.
Also, in regards to his match with Swagger on the draft episode, I remember watching it and actually questioning Swagger's praised skills. I don't get Sci-Fi, so I can't watch Swagger on a regular basis, but of the few matches I did see, I thought he was pretty good. But after seeing him fight Cena, I thought "that's it?". Whether that's his fault or Cena's is up in the air, but it's something to think about.
And as for Cena the person? I agree that he's the hardest working guy there, but his recent comments towards the Rock have made him seem even more annoying in my eyes. It seems to further push the point that they're trying to elevate Cena to his level, even though you can't really compare the two.
Like I said, I don't hate Cena, and I agree that the haters can get out of hand sometimes, but some days I wonder why he's the one getting the big push, and not someone else.
Posted By: ZeroVX (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 11:19 AM
I have no problem with Cena the 'worker' his match quality in general has been pretty good.. however it's the character he potrays and how he is booked.
The thing is with Cena you know that eventually he will always come out top in a feud. He will hold a world title months on end.
Then his character, I can totally see why the WWE book him how they do, they are trying to get him to appeal to 'kids', but WWE seem to forget that the larger audience is still an adult audience, we know this because of the crowd reaction everytime he appears on Raw!
Cena has gone from edgy cool unorthadox guy to cookie cutter generic babyface with no gimmick other than wearing hiphop gear to pimp every month. He is stale and boring... this isn't Hulkamania anymore the world is moving at a far faster pace and we demand cutting edge and fresh ideas constantly.
You know that part of the brain that 'switches off' when your bored.. that is what I do when I hear his music or watch his matches.
To quote Owen Hart: "Enough is enough and it's time for a change"
Posted By: Andrew Barbarash (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 11:24 AM
I know it's cool to hate on HHH cause the IWC does it. Some people mention how he's pushed like there's no tomorrow, but it wasn't always that way. Remember the MSG incident? Who was the only one to get punished, and forced to go from main eventer to jobber? Triple H took his punishment like a man.
Watch the Benoit/Jericho vs Austin/HHH match sometime. When he tore his quad in the middle of a match, did HHH tell the ref, stay down and just let Austin take the fall? It would have been the sensible thing to do. Instead HHH continued the match, attempted to put Jericho in his finisher, and took The Walls of Jericho. That action alone is how the man has more than paid his dues.
Posted By: Mark (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 11:25 AM
I don't boo Cena because "its cool to hate him" or anything else like that, fuck that bullshit. I boo him because he fucking sucks. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the popularity of John Cena reflects how stupid and one-dimensional most of the fans are. A disgusting combination of hicks, morons, marks, dumb little kids, stupid girls, arrogant smarks and general all-round failures at life.
Posted By: Guest#1986 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 08:52 AM
And with that last paragraph, all of your credibility evaporated. Those who do not believe in the merits of their own argument are the ones who resort to insulting anyone who disagrees.
I watched the Royal Rumble when Cena was a surprise # 30. The place EXPLODED in cheers! Everyone in the place was "marking out" for his return. Then a few minutes later, the so called "smart fans" remembered that it was not cool to cheer Cena and promptly started booing(drowned out by the massive cheers though).
Most of the average wrestling fans like John Cena. Just look at the massive amounts of merchandise he moves. Consider that he has another 10-15 years in the business, he will easily outsell Hogan and Austin. And don't for one minute try to tell me it is only children and their parents buying all that merchandise!
Everyone has a right to like John Cena or not. That is the wonderful thing about free will. Here is the thing about opinions though, they never matters as much to anyone else as it does to the one who wrote it. Why can't everyone just agree to disagree?
Posted By: AndreFan (Registered) on April 26, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Graet column! Much of the Cena hate is due to the "Hipster" trend that has happened in the past ten to fifteen years. Nothing more.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 10:49 AM
----------
You are such a fucking idiot it's ridiculous. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen you saying the same bullshit. "Hipster"? WTF are you talking about? Your ridiculously simple explanations are always bullshit and you clearly know nothing about anything. Shut the hell up, dickhead.
Posted By: Guest#9385 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:09 PM
My feeling about Cena is that he works so hard and how is he repaid by the IWC, they boo the hell out of him and some probably secretly wish for him to get injured so badly he has to retire or worse. I got into wrestling before the Attitude Era, which even though it brought the WWE to new heights, it also in my mind inflated the ego's of the smarks. I feel that the biggest problem that the old ECW left us was the idea that the smarks decide who we should cheer and who we should boo. I will only say this once to any and all smarks who will listen to me, your selfishness is going to hurt wrestling in the long run. You need to understand that your not the ones writing the stories or acting in them, and that your opinions should be treated like the came for God.
Posted By: Paleb05 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Well-said.
Cena does have a few faults but who doesn't? I think, overall, he puts on good matches and good promos. The prolem isn't him, but WWE. Vince is going in a kid-friendly direction and has neutered Cen'a character. We saw with his early Smackdown hip-hop run that he can be edgy and interesting when they ALLOW him to be.
Who's to say the IWC isn't the problem? We're so used to over-the-top violence and badasses we can't accept a guy who's just happy to wrestle.
I get the feeling Cena is a passionate wrestler and loyal fan who has worked his heart and soul to get where he is, and what appreciation does he get for it? Fat, rebellious nerds who boo him simply because it's the cool thing to do.
Tha being said, the fans will cheer who they want to cheer. Stone Cold and the Rock became the stars they were not because WWE pushed them down our throat with their marketing machine, but because WE cheered them. That would be a wie lesson for the booking team to take.
Also keep in mind this is a business, and for all intents and purposes, it's about making money. So far Cena has proved to be the biggest cash cow, so Vince will always default to him. This isn't ROH, people. This is the big time dollar wheel.
No matter what, you can't deny the man inspires strong emotions in everybody on either side. That's the mark of a true performer.
Posted By: lilwayne1 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:28 PM
I'm actually really looking forward to the moment Cena does turn heel. He has built up such a following from female watchers and children that when he turns heel it will truly TRULY shock them. I'd really like for people to take their smark hats off and just look at it from the perspective of a fan and what it might have been like for them to have their hero suddenly turn. If you were a child in the 80's and a pure hearted hulkamanic, to have Hogan suddenly turn heel, just imagine the reaction that would have caused. Hogan turning heel in the 90's was still a shock and kids were crying when it happened.
It will be the same with Cena when he does turn heel for the kids of today. People hate on him so much they forget what a kick ass heel he was back a few years ago. Add to that the venom he'll have to use against all the people who have booed him and he will truly eat crowds alive. Its always great when wrestlers take threads of reality and make it work for their characters...
(Brets promo after Mania 13, HBKs promo in Montreol and Rocks Promo after No Way Out being perfect examples)
...and when the plug is pulled and Cena is allowed to turn and then come out and explain himself, that is the moment I can't wait for because you know he will tear the audience several new assholes because the guy can talk. I think, other than his merch sales, whats holding him back is if he DID turn he would be the biggest heel in the company, which would hurt Orton, Jericho and Edge but also there is no top credible babyface to challenge him at the moment. It would be the perfect time to elivate a newer star but you know it would come down to Triple H, because until he steps away from the main event scene the WWE will never have a chance of moving on.
This years Mania main event proved that. Compare that match to the engergised, non stalling, crowd pumped Rock - Austin match and its a perfect example as to why Triple H should still be in wrestling, just not in the Manin event or at the forefront of important storylines.
Posted By: Nat999 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:29 PM
Regarding HHH, I don't think anyone disputes that he has talent and no one can sensibly argue that he's in the main event because of Stephanie - of course that's not the case because he won the world title and main evented before he married her.
What people rightfully point out, however, is once he married her he was no longer a main eventer - he was THE main eventer, plastered all over every Raw episode. This despite the fact that he clearly hasn't been as good as he was in 1999-2001.
Everyone knows HHH is a good wrestler but the fact is there is nothing to justify his current position at the top of the card. He's not their biggest money maker, he doesn't generate the biggest heat (face or heel), he doesn't generate the biggest PPV buys or ratings. Of course he still has a role to play in the company but it should be similar to what HBK does. Let Cena, Edge, Orton, Jeff Hardy etc. main event and bring in the crowds whilst HHH, HBK and Undertaker light up the undercard.
Posted By: jobbers (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 12:33 PM
this is so laughable...cena sucks-end of story-edge will always be better always--only 5 yr olds love cena-while the REAL wrestling fans love edge...doesn't take a smart person to realize that!
Posted By: matt (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 02:26 PM
Guest#9385, you might want to try some therapy for your temper. It's funny that some people are able to make points and be calm, but people like you think that if you cuss enough, that it will somehow improve whatever your point was. Now take your happy pills and so you can show a little class or leave and let the sane people talk.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 03:34 PM
As someone who's been backing Cena for a while, thanks for this nice defense. The guy is a damn amazing seller and does truly love wrestling so I can't get the utter hate people have for him. He gives everything he has in big matches and is always getting heat, good or bad, so anyone who denies his stardom is missing something. Thanks for the good work here.
Posted By: M A Weyer (Registered) on April 26, 2009 at 03:59 PM
I disagree with some of your statements and I think for the most part, even from the casual fan's point of view, you're missing the point of why they hate him.
It has nothing to do with his wrestling ability(except to a few smarks), but from my experience more to do with the presentation of the character. It's too fake, Cena is the ultimate company man not a hardass.
Honestly, if they either just let him do his own promos, or took out the parts where he tries to be a hardass, he'd be fine. Besides that, the apperance has GOT TO GO, he doesn't rap anymore, why the fuck is he dressed like that? No one likes fake people that act like something there not, Cena isn't a rapper anymore, he's a company man, so really would it kill Vince to let him dress like a company man?
I'm not saying he needs to be heel, but I really believe he just needs to dress as his gimmick dictates, either that or start writing his own promos so that they fit his apperance. I mean he could be the kid rapper, who raps about childish things, catering to them.
Cena is a hard-worker, he's the ultimate company man, but unfortunately, people hate him for the wrong reasons. It's not his wrestling ability, Cena is very good especially if you watch his OVW work or earlier WWE work. Cena can carry a good amount of people, but the gimmick is just more like he doesn't really know who he is. I mean to be truthful, when watching him, I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE WHAT HE IS, like is he a rapper? a company man? a kiss-ass? WTF is he? Seriously, I just want his character and gimmick to make sense, is that so much to ask?
Now unlike most I don't think a heel turn is necessary but as it did for the Rock, it may just make him become that mainstream star, he was destined to be, before they took away his privilege to write his own promos.
Answer me this, how come Jericho can do his own promos or Shawn Michaels can, but John Cena can't? John Cena is the ultimate company man, he's their top draw, yet HE CAN"T make his own promos? Not saying he has to do a heel promo either, just let him be himself like Austin, Rock, or others. He doesn't have to be as good as them, but he can't be fake. It'll never work or give him the universal love he'd get if they let him be him.
Keep in mind though, why is it all your internet writers are quick to defend Cena, yet never defend Batista? If anything that pisses me off, there both so similar except Batista usually doesn't get booed by any casual fans. Just answer me that? Where is the defending of Batista or Triple H(not referring to you but most WRITERS).
The fact is, Batista, Triple H, John Cena, Randy Orton will always get punished while they play faces by people. People want to see fresh stars until then the hate for them will proceed.
Posted By: Logic . . . (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 04:05 PM
Good article, but you totally gloss over one of the main reasons Cena gets so much hate--The backlash against the WWE style. During the attitude era you had so many different styles in the WWE, from Austin's main event brawl style, to the puro-american style of guys like Benoit and Jericho, to hell, even TAKA Michinoku's Lucha-resu style. WCW also featured American-style Lucha Libre with the cruiserweights. Now, we get one style--the WWE Style. And many fans (like me) are sick of it.
Cena, as the face of WWE (sorry Hunter, but no matter how hard you push yourself, its true) gets the brunt of this backlash.
The WWE's so homogenized now, that every match seems like every other match. And even the wrestlers are starting to look the same. Take away the tattoos and I defy anyone to be able to pick Orton, Dibiase and Rhodes out of a line-up.
It also doesn't help that Cena's a photo-copy of a photo-copy of the Rock. From lame finisher that doesn't look like it should beat anyone (attitude adjustment vs Rock Bottom) to wrestler A lays on the ground while wrestler B "electrifies the crowd" and then delivers a non-descript shot (Five Knuckle Shuffle vs People's Elbow) to finally the lamest looking submission moves in the biz (Cena's lame STF vs Rock's lame sharpshooter), they're practically the same guy. Except Rock was awesome at what he did, and Cena pales by comparison. This is not Cena's fault though, its all part of the WWE homogenization. They want him to be just like the Rock, so he is just like the Rock. Except not as good in the ring or on the mic.
Let's also not forget that people tend to turn on guys when they've gotten the superman push long enough. I started getting sick of the Rock when he began to routinely beat the Dudleys and 3 members of DX at once in handicap matches. We "smarks" tend to turn on the guy first, but the general public tends to follow us eventually.
People tend to use the word "smark" as a negative, but really, "smarks" are the trendsetters in wrestling. Remember, it was the "smarks" who were showing Orton, Batista and Cena the love before they were pushed as main eventers. We did it for Austin, Foley and the Rock too. at Wrestlemania 22, Cena got booed out of the building against HHH. Every once in a while, Cena still gets booed out of the building. If smarks were so small a segment of the audience, how would it have gotten cool to boo Cena in the first place? We are that small a segment of the audience, everyone else just caught up to us.
What's interesting, though, is that most of the reasons to hate Cena, actually have very little to do with Cena the individual, but rather what he represents--The same old shit.
Posted By: Guest#2447 (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:47 PM
Cena may have a limited moveset, but so does Triple H! I hate it when Triple H wrestlers because he is so stale! I especially hate it when he hits the Pedigree because you'll know it's over after that, blah!
Triple H is worse than Cena because he uses backstage politics to get ahead and only pushes young talent that he likes! Plus, most of his promos are so horrible because he tries to be funny, but it ends up awful.
Posted By: Chris (Guest) on April 26, 2009 at 05:58 PM
I think a lot of people who watch wrestling get so worked up and passionate about it they forget events of just a few years prior.
I don't like Cena now, because he's boring. It's got nothing to do with his in ring work, I mean he's a solid wrestler and a really good entertainer. He's got interview skills. He's got all the tools, but he's been neutered.
And that's the main thing, and why I mention wrestling fans short attention span. When Cena was a heel and a face on Smackdown he was CRAZY OVER. People seem to forget that, and he wasn't nearly as good in ring as he is now.
And he was generating buzz with pretty much everyone. The majority of people online were crying for him to get pushed harder, they were upset when he won his title against JBL so anti-climatically. And when he moved to RAW for the first time in the draft the pop was fucking huge.
But he stopped making biting edgy angry raps, and started making poop jokes. It's hard to get worked up for a guy who's toughest insult to his opponents is basically calling him a doody head.
That's not Cena's fault though that's the wwe now. Any guy who gets over enough as a heel and turns loses what got them over in the first place (It's surely only a matter of time till MVP is kissing the fans' asses) Rock and Austin's characters barely changed when they finally turned them.
But they'll turn Cena again. and when they do everyone that hates him now will be singing his praises because he'll have his edge back. And when he does people'll start cheering him again, if their smart when the time comes and he ends the inevitable heel run they won't change his character this time.
Posted By: EtcEtcEtc (Guest) on April 27, 2009 at 07:24 AM
The Summerslam match against Orton had a greast deal going for it because it really felt important but frankly I thought the actual match itself was pretty bland. There are several matches I'd put above it that Cena worked. It is not like it was abysmal or anything but I don't feel either of them had their best work that match.
Posted By: Guest#7318 (Guest) on April 27, 2009 at 11:06 AM
I'm also on the fence about Cena. I don't like them pushing him to Hogan-like levels, but I recognize he's the biggest face in the company right now, and thus gets the most reactions.
He's a pretty solid worker with flashes of brilliance. In many ways, he reminds me of Sting in the early to m id 90's. Both wrestlers could put on awesome matches, largely because they could tell stories that got the crowd into the matches. Both are also deceptively strong, as Sting & Cena's respective matches against Vader and Big Show indicated.
What I do like about Cena is that he is apparently someone with few baggage as far as the business is concerned. He's not an egomaniac (Hogan), or a nutcase (Savage), or someone prone to rage (Orton) or someone who lives his gimmick (Bret Hart(or druggie/alcoholic (Hall, Roberts). He gives his all to the business without letting it consume him. Perhaps that more than anything is why he continues to get the big push, and perhaps deservedly so. While I wish he would job fairly, faces don't necessarily have to.
Posted By: Michael L (Guest) on April 27, 2009 at 11:09 AM
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