Ok, I've been wanting to talk about this for a LONG time, but I needed to do my homework and really look up a lot of stuff before I came on here and talked about this.
Judging by the picture, you know who I'm talking about: The current face of the WWE, John Cena.
Fair warning, this will be a LONG post, so be prepared. Have some snacks or something ready.
Ok, before I start, let me be very clear about something. I don't hate John Cena the person. For all I know, he's a great guy. Off camera, he looks like someone you can chill out and have a beer with. I'm not one of those guy who ALWAYS hated Cena. I liked the old Cena, but I'll get into that later. I absolutely detest the current John Cena. Why? I'll explain in detail.
1. He's not a great in-ring worker.
- Cena is not as good as people make him out to be. Back in 2004-2005 when Cena was smaller, he could move around quicker and put on decent matches. Now, he's bigger, a lot bulkier and you could argue that he's sloppy in the ring, botches alot, can't take bumps well, can't sell moves, awkwardly executes moves, and constantly needs to get carried by better wrestlers that make him look passable, i.e. Punk, Bryan, HHH, HBK, Edge, etc.
I also hate that these "sheep" say that Cena's match with Punk was the best main event in RAW History? Are you kidding? Constant nearfalls do not make a great match. You want great RAW Main Events? Here's a list:
The Undertaker vs Jeff Hardy: Ladder Match for the WWE Championship in 2003.
Razor Ramon vs 1-2-3 Kid. RAW 1993.
Triple H & Stone Cold vs Benoit & Jericho for the WWF Tag Team Championship. May 2001.
10 Man Tag Team Match: The Rock, Cactus Jack, Too Cool & Rikishi vs Triple H, X-Pac, Benoit, Malenko & Saturn. May 2000.
Some of you really need to wake up and smell the coffee on this topic.
2. He can't cut good promos.
- I hate when people say Cena is "great" on the mic. Back in the Attitude Era, Golden Era, hell even the Ruthless Aggression Era superstars were allowed to improv more. This is what people don't understand. In those days, wrestlers could go out there and improv as long as they followed bullet points. It was natural and it all flowed. This is why NOBODY in this current era can match wits on the mic with anybody from other eras. They would have to break character to keep up with them. Like Punk and Cena did with The Rock. It's not hard to attack somebody when you break character. Cutting promos IN CHARACTER showed how truly good you were.
Don't believe me? They had to tone down The Rock so they could build up Cena. They had to have Rock write on his wrist so Cena could have some ammo to attack with him. Rock memorizes movie lines for a living. You really think he has to write a promo on his wrist? The Rock is Mr. Improv. Give him a mic and it's magic. I still find it funny how people say Cena owned The Rock. If you REALLY THINK that THIS John Cena would own Prime Attitude Era Rock, then you're delusional. Usually I say, in my opinion, but this is just a fact.
Need more proof? Check out the video below. You'll see how inferior CM Punk looked next to Stone Cold.
Back on topic, Cena's promos sound dull, he sounds robotic, he doesn't sell what his opponent says, sounds like he literally read his promo before he walked out, he's not funny, and he goes off tangents. When somebody cuts a promo on him, he mentions the Make-A-Wish kids. What does that have to do with a wrestling match for the WWE Championship? If Cena's character was attacked in a promo, then that's a different story. But he mentions that constantly. We KNOW you do this, you don't need to mention it in EVERY promo to remind people you're a good guy. WE GET IT. He constantly has to mention that he busts his ass night in, night out like he's the ONLY person who does it. Everybody travels, everybody goes overseas too.
It's ok to tell a story on the mic, but you have to bring it back to the match. Cena doesn't do that. He'll go off topic and stay off topic.
You wanna know how bad John Cena is? Check it out.
3. He lacks seriousness.
- When you're in the ring and you're selling a match for a ppv and you're in a mic exchange with somebody, you have to sell the opponent. When somebody is in your face and says, "I'm gonna whip your ass and take your title" you don't stand there with this goofy smile on your face, you stare him down with a serious face and give him your undivided attention and let him know you're listening to every word he's saying. If you smile and laugh, you're not taking the promo, the match, or your opponent seriously. Cena use to take things seriously back in the day, nowadays, he just smiles and doesn't sell his opponent in the ring and it infuriates me.
Have you seen when Cena tries to get serious now? It's fake and forced. Looks horrible.
You wanna talk about not selling your opponent? Go back to John Cena vs Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules last year. Brock Lesnar beat him and bloodied him for around 20-25 minutes and what happens? Cena literally wins with TWO moves and then he cuts a promo? HUH?!?! If I got beatdown for 30 minutes or something at the hands of a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, with blood covering my face, I certainly wouldn't be on my feet 2 minutes afterwards talking normally. I would need to be carried out on a stretcher. That had to be one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen. No wonder why Brock was pissed backstage afterwards.
4. HE MAIN EVENTS EVERY SINGLE PAY-PER-VIEW.
- This is a major one for me. There is such a thing as over-saturation. John Cena is a major reason why WWE is failing. He's in EVERY SINGLE MAIN EVENT and WINS. It gets to a point that that you know what will happen. Cena always wins, so why waste your time watching? The unpredictability factor is out the window because you know in the end, Cena always wins.
Did Stone Cold main event and win every match? No.
Did The Rock main event and win every match? No.
Why? Because seeing the same thing time and time again, gets boring and repetitive and turns the viewer off to the product. The more you change it up, the more you keep people hooked. Seeing this guy main event every match and then win every match is annoying. People love seeing the hero rise, fall and get his vengeance on the villain in the end. If the hero is constantly winning, there's no conflict or threat to him and there's no way he can ever be beaten, what's the point? Even Superman was defeated. Well, sort of. There's a difference between looking dominant and looking invincible.
Then, when you build somebody up and you feed him to Cena, it kills any chance of that person making it. Look at Ryback, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Mark Henry, CM Punk, etc. If you build somebody up just to have him job out Cena, it makes the build look utterly useless if he doesn't win in the end.
And stop saying Cena puts people over. Triple H let Shelton Benjamin beat him. The Rock let THE HURRICANE of all people beat him. When Cena puts over Santino or something, come back to me.
5. His character is stale.
- John Cena has dressed the same, had the same music, same character and said the same nonsense for about 6 years now. There's a time when you have to change it up and keep your character fresh.
Great example? Chris Jericho. Every time he came back, he had a new gimmick to keep his character fresh. He said it himself. He doesn't want his character to get stale so before he comes back, he brainstorms about what he can do to keep himself fresh and not be stale.
Hulk Hogan got a little stale and what happened? He turned heel and became Hollywood Hulk Hogan and formed the nWo, the New World Order.
You need to change up your character. Cena hasn't done it. This is why we same, "Same old sh**" Well, that's why I say it anyway.
If you're over and people love you, don't change a thing. But if people start to boo you because you just suck, it's time to change things up and find a new way to get over.
Cena has said himself he doesn't want to change his character or turn heel just to please 30 year olds. Um....ok?
This is The John Cena I personally miss:
THIS John Cena was a decent in-ring worker on his own, had a cool factor, he took things seriously, didn't make dumb, corny jokes, but would rap and run his opponents down.
This begs the question: WHY is John Cena the Face of the WWE? Is it because he's good on the mic? No. Is it because he's a good wrestler? No, because he's not. Is it because he's entertaining? No, because he's not even close. Well, not anymore anyway.
He's the Face of the WWE, because, for lack of a better term, he's the "safe" pick. I personally think he became the face off of sheer luck, but I'll get into that later. But let me explain why he's the safe pick. Let's take a look at some top guys that worked out, and some that didn't work out:
Bret Hart: Push him as the face, what does he do? Leaves and goes to WCW.
Shawn Michaels: Push him as the face and what happens? He becomes a liability backstage, and had a minor drug problem, from what I heard.
The Rock: I'll let this video explain.
Chris Jericho: Where do I even start? This guy was MEGA over when he first debuted, but a combination of being held down by Triple H and unpredictability in scheduling because of his band Fozzy didn't make things any better.
Booker T: Over with the fans, but was held down by Triple H. Look up their match from WrestleMania 19. The ending of that match alone should explain it all.
Randy Orton: When he became face in 2004, WWE should've pulled the trigger on that and made him the face, but soon after his Legend Killer gimmick, he was getting injured, failing wellness policies and his name is almost always mentioned backstage, sometimes negatively among superstars.
Rob Van Dam: Not a great talker, but a great in-ring worker. He was WWE Champion and ECW Champion AT THE SAME TIME around Summer of 2006, but what does he do? He gets caught by the police with weed in his car and ruins his shot. Next week, he loses both belts in the same week.
Chris Benoit: Do I even need to explain?
Eddie Guerrero: When he was WWE Champion in 2004, he was OVER with the crowd. People loved this guy so much and could've carried WWE into the future, but his death in 2005 halted all of that. It's a shame because he was supposed to win the World Title around the time of his death. RIP Eddie.
Rey Mysterio: I personally don't have an issue with Rey. I personally think WWE botched the booking of his World Title run in 2006, so it's not all his fault. But once they WWE knew Rey was a lost cause, they moved on.
Jeff Hardy: This is a BIG one. Jeff Hardy was arguably more popular than Cena around 2008-2009. The women and kids loved him, dressing like him, putting on his make-up, buying his merchandise and loved his overall laid back, risk taker personality. THIS is the guy that could've taken Cena's spot easy. What happened? Drugs. WWE constantly tried to get him help, but whenever he did, he would just go to his old habits. Sold more merch, was more loved than Cena, but was too much of a liability.
Jeff Hardy is fine now, but how bad was he? Check it out.
CM Punk: Oh yeah. This is one I want to talk about. His pipebomb promo generated so much buzz that radio stations and ESPN were talking about it. Punk was THE MAN. But what does WWE do? They make him the WWE Champion for A WHOLE YEAR, and didn't main event a pay-per-view unless it was with Cena, or if Cena was injured. Punk outsold Cena in merchandise the year he was Champion and was more over than Cena ever was.
When Kurt Angle was WWF Champion, he was main eventing over The Rock and Stone Cold. When The Rock became the face during Stone Cold's injury, even when Austin came back, Rock was still main eventing over Stone Cold. He never took a backseat. You could argue that Rock was even getting bigger pops even when Austin came back.
How do you expect people to take someone seriously if you don't push him as such? I understand once in a while, there's a storyline bigger than the WWE Championship, but it makes no sense how the WWE Champion doesn't close out the show for SIX MONTHS out of his 1 year reign as Champion. Especially at WRESTLEMANIA.
WrestleMania 18: The Rock vs Hulk Hogan was arguably a HUGE match, but did it Main Event WrestleMania? No. Triple H vs Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship did.
WrestleMania 19: The Rock vs Stone Cold, HBK vs Y2J, Hogan vs McMahon. ALL were bigger storylines than either WWE Championship or World Title matches that were on the card, but did any of them close the show out? No. The WWE Championship Match did. That speaks VOLUMES about how valuable and prestigious the WWE Championship used to be.
WrestleMania 25: The Undertaker vs HBK had Match of the Night and The Streak was highly regarded then. Did they Main Event? No. Triple H vs Randy Orton for the WWE Championship did.
Once again, WWE dropped the ball on this one. They put him a feud with Triple H which killed his steam, turned him into a corny, cookie-cutter face instead of letting him go out there and be CM Punk and kept putting Cena over him. Once again, you want a new face? PUT HIM IN THE MAIN EVENT and push him as such.
Edge: If it was up to me, Edge would've been THE MAN. The Rated-R Superstar was one of the most over characters in the WWE. Edge could draw, he was a great wrestler, he was absolutely dynamite on the mic and he was just a complete character. He could get it done as face and heel. He held the WWE Championship in January 2006 for 3 weeks and lost it to Cena. He held the belt again in Summer of 2006 for 2 months and lost it to who? Cena. Why he was never the man boggles the mind.
Brock Lesnar: Said it himself that he's just in it for the money. Had he not left after WrestleMania 20, Cena wouldn't have been rushed to the top like he was.
Batista: I saved this guy for last for a reason. These two were pushed to the top at the same time. At WrestleMania 21, Cena won the WWE Championship and Batista won the World Title. Now, this is what happened, around Fall of 2005, Batista got injured and had to relinquish The World Title. Batista was involved in the bigger storylines, was getting bigger pops, was better on the mic, and had a cool factor that John Cena lacked. Cena was slowly turning into the Cena that people grew to hate. Batista pretty much explains it in this promo.
You could argue that during the time of Batista's injury, Vince pushed Cena and by the time Batista healed up and got back it was too late to pick up where he left off. Cena was the man and Batista was just there, fluttering, until he became WWE Champion for a short time in 2010. Some of his best work in my opinion. But then towards the end of his career, Batista became uninterested in the WWE and hated the PG Era direction WWE was headed towards.
There you have it, if not for some lucky breaks, injuries, and mitigating circumstances, Cena would not be the Face of the WWE. Vince keeps him there because he TRUSTS him.
Cena won't get caught with weed in his car, won't get hooked on drugs, he won't put WWE on the news in a negative fashion, and he won't leave and pursue other careers, he's marketable and the kids love him. That's really about it. He's not the face because he's the best. He's the face because he's the most trustworthy, and he'll do what he's told because he's a good little boy. There's a lot of politics involved too. Cena keeps people down halts pushes too.
Remember Alex Riley? Let me share a story with you. Cena was making fun of Riley backstage in front of the whole roster (I believe because of a bad botch he had in a match) and Riley defended himself. What happened? Well, you don't see him on TV anymore, do you? Way to Be-A-Star Cena.
I also laugh when people say Cena would never leave the company to act or do something else. Remember Cena's rap album? It bombed. Remember when Cena tried to do movies? It bombed. When nothing else worked, he remained in the WWE. I GUARANTEE you if Cena proved to be a good actor, he would leave the WWE and pursue a career in acting. You can't tell me otherwise.
Again, you can like who want to like. You like Cena? More power to you. I'm not walking in your house and telling you stop watching Cena, he sucks. I voice my opinions.
I laugh when people say nobody can take Cena's spot. WHAT? Vince doesn't give people a chance. Back in the day, Vince would go with who's hot and it would work. There's something you guys don't understand. Back then, when it was somebody's time, IT WAS THEIR TIME. When it was HBK's time, it was his time. When it was Stone Cold's time, it was his time. The same goes for Rock, Triple H, Angle, Lesnar, Eddie, and you could even go back to Macho Man. Nowadays, when it's somebody's time, Vince either doesn't push him or he feeds him to Cena and begins their de-push. Look at what Punk is doing. Fluttering. Look at Daniel Bryan. You actually think that when Cena comes back, Bryan will still be in that spot? Don't hold your breath. If Vince wanted to, Bryan and Punk would've been those guys long ago and Cena would be the veteran who puts the young guys over. Like what Jericho is doing. But no. Cena continues to be shoved in our face. 8 years on top is long enough!
When Cena leaves, WWE will be screwed. Why? Because they aren't building stars for the future. The whole company revolves around Cena and everybody else is there. Nobody is being groomed to be the man because Vince won't allow it. He put all his chips in with Cena and more people are turned off to it. When Rock, Austin and others were main eventing, you always had a backup plan. You had backup guys like Jericho, Benoit, Angle, etc. who were over and could take that spot in case things didn't work out. Vince use to put effort into building up his midcard, but now? ONE GUY just dominates the entire show and nobody else gets built up.
I can already hear some ignorant people saying, "If you don't like it, don't watch it hater! Cena iz da best! Hustle. Loyalty. Respect. Cena 4Lyfe!" First of all, shut up. Secondly, people throw the term "hater" around too damn much these days. If you don't like what somebody else likes, you're a hater? That makes sense. I guess people can't have differing opinions without being labeled as a hater. If you hate on someone, or something just to hate on it with no reason why, THEN you're a hater. If you explain why, then it's your opinion. Simple common sense. Moving on.
I've been a fan of the WWF/E since I was 7 years old. The first episode of RAW I watched was the Austin/Tyson confrontation. Hooked ever since. I remember how good wrestling USED to be. I still watch because I hope and I pray that WWE can get back to the way they used to be. The rate they're going now, that's a long ways away. WWE can't be edgy without Parents complaining or kids getting offended. It's sad to see what WWE has become.
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By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete
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