At Wrestlemania, supposed "face" champion John Cena was booed out of the building in a manner befitting a person who broke Hulk Hogan's neck, anally raped The Rock in the middle of the ring, then pissed all over the first five rows before lighting the building on fire. Seriously, i haven't seen anyone hate a single wrestler this much before...and he was pandering to the crowd! This is coming from someone who remembers "Die Rocky Die." At least The Rock had that fortunate knee injury that took him off TV for a few months. John Cena should be cursing his two good knees right about now.
It wasn't always like this for John Cena. Why, when he first came out, he was met with indifference...ALL the time. And they tried. Boy, did they try...but when you've got a generic wrestler in powder blue trunks come out, with average wrestling talent and no gimmick to speak of...well, what do you expect?
So, like all big stars of the 90s, after realizing that this crap wasn't gonna work, they let him be himself on TV and THAT's what caught on. He came out in throwbacks, jeans and sneakers, rapping his way to the ring (and he was actually pretty good...back then). He was a heel, and one that was steadily talking sh*t. This is the time when anyone who's a Cena fan became a Cena fan. Anyone who claims that they were a Cena fan before this might have confused him with Randy Orton or Orlando Jordan or pretty much anyone who was coming out of OVW at the time. Seriously, who could tell these guys apart, what with their lack of gimmick and identical move sets? I swear, there were about 15 wrestlers in the WWF at the time who were exactly the same.
Anyway, Cena was becoming the hottest thing in wrestling in 2004, so the management decided to make him the big sh*t in 2005. And this is where it all went wrong.
First, they turned him back face, which isn't so bad in itself. I don't really like when they do this, because they wind up taking the edge away from the character. Or to put it another way, they cut off his balls. It didn't happen so much with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but it did with The Rock (and they turned on him, too) and it did during the Triple H Experiment. Sometimes it works out (Mankind became a completely new character and gave his career new life) and sometimes it doesn't (i.e. John Cena, or else I wouldn't be writing this).
Now, when you look at John Cena, what do you see? Well, I'll tell you what I see: Marky Mark. Seriously. And this is before Christian said it on TV. And did people like Marky Mark? No, not anyone who stood up to piss. Well, that's pretty much what you're dealing with in Cena. So you got a lack of respect from the men in the audience. Also, he doesn't talk sh*t like he used to. It was funny, it was mean, it was raw. When he came out, there was no jumping around like a damn fool, trying to get the crowd up. He had that hip-hop swagger. And people loved it, even though they weren't supposed to. Well...you also had that group who hate to see white boys act black. They got a word for that, that I don't like to use, because if figure if you say that one, you're basically calling black people the other word. But that's something for another day.
Now, the swagger's gone. He's coming out hyped, trying to rally the crowd to his side (and they don't). Instead of being the asshole he was before, now he's TRYING to pop the crowd and it shows. Basically, he's acting like he left his balls in the locker room. And the fans (the male ones, anyway) don't like it. See, this might be a sexist statement, but the women who watch wrestling, overall, are not too discriminating when it comes to wrestling talent. If they think the guy is HOT, then that's generally enough for them. For instance, The Rock was the SOLE reason why black women across America would even consider watching wrestling and when HE was gone, THEY were gone.
Right now, Cena's got the 13-17 female demographic on LOCK, but their dads and older brothers hate this guy. Who do you think is louder? So far, those guys are getting heard. Now, the guys might be considered to be haters for booing this "hot" guy (the women think the guys are jealous), but the guys are looking at him and thinking "this guy f*cking sucks. I doubt even Flair could get a good match outta him." On the flipside, those girls and those kids are buying his merchandise. So, while you're making money hand over fist with this guy, he's getting booed out the building (Wrestlemania was the worst...and that's the biggest stage in wrestling...not a good sign).
Now, you had a guy, who's good looking and charasmatic, pandering extra hard to a Chicago crowd by playing up their Chicago Mob/Al Capone history, going against the biggest heel in wrestling for the last 6 years, in Triple H and he STILL got booed? Well, buddy, you're just in a no-win situation. So what do you do? I think I got the answer.
Now, most people are just suggesting that you turn him back heel again. I was, too...until I thought about it for a minute. I remembered Diesel, a former WWF Champion, who was a face champion, complete with sh*t-eating grin. He was once a heel who was turned face after the fans got a glimpse of his personality. Basically, this guy is a f*cking fool. One of the funniest wrestlers I've ever seen. And when they turned him face, they took all that away. So when he lost the title, he got on TV and talked about when he won the title and how the management told him to smile. Diesel...a 7-foot monster, capable of crushing just about any man in the ring...smiling. And no, it didn't work. The crowd didn't turn on him, but his reign as champion didn't set the world on fire, either. And Diesel said that he was never comfortable with that. And he wrapped up by saying, basically, that you're either with him or against him, and if you're with him, he'll slap your hand, but if you're against him...f*ck you. Well, that's my own embellishment, by the point is made. And he was basically what's known as a "tweener." Not really heel, not really a face. He was played up more as a heel, though. Two years later, the same thing happened with Stone Cold Steve Austin. He just never got on TV and made any declarations. The crowd was already cheering him, so they just made Bret Hart a heel while he was fighting Austin. After that, he just kept fighting heels, while doing his same ol' thing.
That's the road that needs to be taken with Cena. At the very least, it would give him his edge back, and maybe, just maybe...he'd stop that damn smiling. And get his swagger back. Cuz dammit, thugs don't smile. Or jump around like damn fools. Except maybe D-12...but they suck.
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