Examining John Cena's response to burial claims

#2 “Guys like you bury guys like me”

Bust out the shovels

It goes without saying that the WWE has been embracing a more realistic approach to their storylines since CM Punk’s pipebomb promo. Shoot promos became much more popular since the "Summer of Punk" and it’s the continued breakdown of the fourth wall that has led to some of the most interesting segments.

Punk hinted at some of the Cena burial arguments with his promos in 2012 and many others like Daniel Bryan, Ryback and Kevin Owens touched on the idea, but it wasn’t until Cena’s confrontation with AJ Styles that the term “burial” made its way to the airways.

This would become the go-to argument for many wrestlers during the 2016-2017 year and got more interesting when it was revealed that Cena would be a part-time wrestler going forward. Since the return of The Rock in 2011, some fans have expressed issues with part-time wrestlers getting all the big matches and championships.

So, with Cena’s reputation and his newfound part-time status, it made sense for wrestlers to voice those concerns in stronger ways than they did before.

This would usually have been a bigger issue for fans back in the day, but the fan’s issue with Reigns has taken precedent. Even the biggest Cena haters have stated that they would rather have Cena in the spotlight than Reigns; a point Cena brought up in his burial response.