Please read the first part of my blog post if you haven't done so already. Let me preface this by saying that this is pure couch booking based on Cena's past successes and isn't a guaranteed way to fix this issue. I'm not a booker, I'm just throwing my two cents in like everyone else.
So we’ve established my dislike for John Cena, right? And you’ve read my first post on how I don’t think a heel turn would work? And I’m not just sitting here talking to myself? Neat, let’s try and fix this issue then. One thing I noticed that WWE tried to do for Survivor Series was pitting John Cena against The Authority. They are trying to get us to believe that John Cena is an anti-corporate rebel who is looked down on by the suits and doesn’t fit their image of what an ideal champion should be. That makes me chortle to no end – what’s even funnier is that this isn’t the first time they’ve tried it. Cena also had a feud against Eric Bischoff which played out like a watered down Austin/McMahon rehash and I’m also reminded of a time not too long ago when Vince McMahon said that he didn’t want John Cena to be champion.
This is utterly hilarious and it’s near impossible to comprehend
that WWE expects us to accept this idea. John Cena is a square peg being jammed
into a round, contrarian hole. It’s as if WWE can’t make their mind up whether
he’s the ideal face of Hulk Hogan or the rebellious Stone Cold Steve Austin.
John Cena is your guy and you want to portray him as an underdog against a
monolithic evil which shows a complete lack of awareness of character and
understanding. John Cena is a part of the machine, in some cases he IS the machine. To loosely
quote CM Punk:
“What you’ve lost sight of is what you are and what you are is what you hate – you’re the ten time WWE champion. You’re the man. Ladies and gentlemen, “The champ is here”. You are no longer the underdog, you’re a dynasty.”
And then Punk made some metaphor about the New York Yankees but I’m English so I don’t really understand that part. The important thing to pay attention to is what CM Punk said and how his feud John Cena showed the potential of what the million time WWE champion could be. Which is a point that I will get into later. For now, let’s go back to the Superman comparison I made in the previous post. You’ll know that I made a point where Superman is a lot more developed than John Cena’s character. However, there is a certain interpretation of Superman that could be applied to John Cena perfectly. If you’re not into comic books, let me give you a little lesson:
In 1986, a mini series titled “The Dark Knight Returns” was released and was written by Frank Miller. It was responsible for having a monumental change on the tone of comic books for years to come and is wildly celebrated as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. The book is featured in a non-canon setting that depicts a dystopian Gotham where a retired Bruce Wayne takes on the task of becoming Batman one more time and goes head to head with Superman. Let’s ignore all of the Batman stuff and focus on the depiction of Superman in this tale. Clark is now used as a government tool to coerce rebels like Wayne into keeping their heads down and abiding by the law. This eventually led to Superman viciously attacking Green Arrow by forcibly removing his arm. Basically, Superman is an authority figure who is too far removed from the people to be considered a good guy but still retains a lot of his integrity to be considered a villain.
Am I not the only one who views CM Punk vs John Cena in a similar manner? CM Punk is the anti-corporate, lone wolf rebel who doesn’t fit a certain look for the higher ups to approve of; much like a certain caped crusader. John Cena is the all power figure of what a corporate establishment thinks we should all look up to and aspire to be. The funny thing is, for all the bitching and moaning that we do, a lot of people still really like John Cena. Why shouldn’t they? He’s a hard worker, a good figure and most of the time (when his character isn’t an asshole) he can be a good role model for the kids. I actually like John Cena in a way, I just want WWE to acknowledge that Cena isn’t our lovable underdog to root for every night. John Cena is the unmovable titan, the colossal staple that stands at the front of WWE’s image. He is the measuring stick, the final boss, the end all be all. Some of John Cena’s best matches are not when he is David but is instead the towering Goliath.
His match against Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand 2006 was excellent. RVD was the man to root for as Cena marched into the Ballroom as the vanguard of WWE’s corporate monopolistic identity. Rob Van Dam was clearly the underdog in this situation and it worked. John Cena’s match against Daniel Bryan was also a perfect way to book Cena. Daniel Bryan embraced the spirit of pure wrestling and a passion for endless amounts of holds and locks. Bryan had travelled all over the world, blending a variety of disparate styles and approaches to come to the WWE as a symbol what independent wrestling can create. John Cena on the other hand has stayed put in WWE for years because in his mind there was no other place to be and he believed that he didn’t have to wrestle anywhere else. This was firm character development - this was drama. Cena is often thrown into black and white “Good vs Evil” scenarios which sadly can’t be applied to him anymore.
“What you’ve lost sight of is what you are and what you are is what you hate – you’re the ten time WWE champion. You’re the man. Ladies and gentlemen, “The champ is here”. You are no longer the underdog, you’re a dynasty.”
And then Punk made some metaphor about the New York Yankees but I’m English so I don’t really understand that part. The important thing to pay attention to is what CM Punk said and how his feud John Cena showed the potential of what the million time WWE champion could be. Which is a point that I will get into later. For now, let’s go back to the Superman comparison I made in the previous post. You’ll know that I made a point where Superman is a lot more developed than John Cena’s character. However, there is a certain interpretation of Superman that could be applied to John Cena perfectly. If you’re not into comic books, let me give you a little lesson:
In 1986, a mini series titled “The Dark Knight Returns” was released and was written by Frank Miller. It was responsible for having a monumental change on the tone of comic books for years to come and is wildly celebrated as one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. The book is featured in a non-canon setting that depicts a dystopian Gotham where a retired Bruce Wayne takes on the task of becoming Batman one more time and goes head to head with Superman. Let’s ignore all of the Batman stuff and focus on the depiction of Superman in this tale. Clark is now used as a government tool to coerce rebels like Wayne into keeping their heads down and abiding by the law. This eventually led to Superman viciously attacking Green Arrow by forcibly removing his arm. Basically, Superman is an authority figure who is too far removed from the people to be considered a good guy but still retains a lot of his integrity to be considered a villain.
Am I not the only one who views CM Punk vs John Cena in a similar manner? CM Punk is the anti-corporate, lone wolf rebel who doesn’t fit a certain look for the higher ups to approve of; much like a certain caped crusader. John Cena is the all power figure of what a corporate establishment thinks we should all look up to and aspire to be. The funny thing is, for all the bitching and moaning that we do, a lot of people still really like John Cena. Why shouldn’t they? He’s a hard worker, a good figure and most of the time (when his character isn’t an asshole) he can be a good role model for the kids. I actually like John Cena in a way, I just want WWE to acknowledge that Cena isn’t our lovable underdog to root for every night. John Cena is the unmovable titan, the colossal staple that stands at the front of WWE’s image. He is the measuring stick, the final boss, the end all be all. Some of John Cena’s best matches are not when he is David but is instead the towering Goliath.
His match against Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand 2006 was excellent. RVD was the man to root for as Cena marched into the Ballroom as the vanguard of WWE’s corporate monopolistic identity. Rob Van Dam was clearly the underdog in this situation and it worked. John Cena’s match against Daniel Bryan was also a perfect way to book Cena. Daniel Bryan embraced the spirit of pure wrestling and a passion for endless amounts of holds and locks. Bryan had travelled all over the world, blending a variety of disparate styles and approaches to come to the WWE as a symbol what independent wrestling can create. John Cena on the other hand has stayed put in WWE for years because in his mind there was no other place to be and he believed that he didn’t have to wrestle anywhere else. This was firm character development - this was drama. Cena is often thrown into black and white “Good vs Evil” scenarios which sadly can’t be applied to him anymore.
If you want to keep Cena going, he cannot be portrayed as if
he is fighting uphill anymore. He passed that point many years ago and is
comfortably on top of the mountain waiting to be kicked off by someone who
would be a much more captivating underdog. John Cena doesn’t always have to
face heels, he can battle faces too because it gives the older crowd someone to
root for. He doesn’t even have to be labelled as a face or a heel anymore
because he’s transformed into something else. John Cena is the face of the WWE
who stands upon its apex with his cocky smirk whether people like it or not. He
IS WWE, he will always stand by those colours and will fight until the end to
protect the company’s image whether that makes him in the right or in the
wrong. Just like Superman in the Dark Knight Returns, he is the ultimate
challenge to overcome but he isn’t exactly evil.
You can keep your merchandise, you can keep the catchphrases but you can’t keep spinning the same repetitive underdog tale. No more fairy tale successes, no more underdog stories. So go ahead and put Dean Ambrose against John Cena. Why not Dolph Ziggler or Sami Zayn? These are likeable faces who may not hate Cena but want to take him down because he is clearly the king of the mountain, and everybody is gunning for that crown. All the while, the suits are seen smirking in the background because Cena embodies everything that they approve of – a squeaky clean image to please the press and a merchandise cash cow to take in all of those dollars. Cena won’t fight for the approval of his bosses though, he will fight for the adoration of his fans regardless of the many haters that chant against him. The kids will remain happy, the management will get to keep their biggest draw and the opposing audience will feel valid in disapproving Cena because they will have someone to rightfully root for. Perhaps this wouldn’t work but I would appreciate WWE doing something different.
Not many things are guaranteed in this life but there will always be death, taxes and CENAWINSLOL.
You can keep your merchandise, you can keep the catchphrases but you can’t keep spinning the same repetitive underdog tale. No more fairy tale successes, no more underdog stories. So go ahead and put Dean Ambrose against John Cena. Why not Dolph Ziggler or Sami Zayn? These are likeable faces who may not hate Cena but want to take him down because he is clearly the king of the mountain, and everybody is gunning for that crown. All the while, the suits are seen smirking in the background because Cena embodies everything that they approve of – a squeaky clean image to please the press and a merchandise cash cow to take in all of those dollars. Cena won’t fight for the approval of his bosses though, he will fight for the adoration of his fans regardless of the many haters that chant against him. The kids will remain happy, the management will get to keep their biggest draw and the opposing audience will feel valid in disapproving Cena because they will have someone to rightfully root for. Perhaps this wouldn’t work but I would appreciate WWE doing something different.
Not many things are guaranteed in this life but there will always be death, taxes and CENAWINSLOL.
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