5 reasons why John Cena is not the greatest WWE Superstar of all time

John Cena – not the greatest?

John Cena has been the face of the company for almost a decade. In that time he has won many championships and headlined many PPV’s. But the question that always comes to my mind is if John Cena is really the greatest. Now don’t get me wrong, I respect Cena a lot, the thing he has done for WWE is worth appreciating and he deserves respect for that.

The problem I have is the way WWE and Vince McMahon try to show that he is the greatest wrestler of all time just to fulfill their own agenda. Listen to Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole, the way they react whenever Cena shows up. Its not their words, its the words that Vince feeds them. Like a certain CM Punk once said ” I don’t hate you Cena, but I hate the fact that you are treated as the best in the world when you clearly are not”. I will express my opinion on why Cena is not the greatest.

The reaction John Cena gets

Anti Cena fans at the WWE arena

The best method to find out whether a Superstar is really that great is by looking at the reaction he gets from the crowd. Honestly John Cena gets jeered by more than half of the crowd. Even though WWE has painted the picture of him as the best, the crowd reaction says otherwise.

He has been a babyface for 10 years and yet he cant get a decent reaction. WWE says John Cena is the poster boy of their company but the same poster boy is hated by the crowd. Now imagine a Batman or Spiderman getting booed in the theater, would that be good for the movie? Hell No. It wouldn’t be good for the movie.

Same way if Cena is the man of your company then why can’t he get cheers from the crowd. Okay, lets compare Cena with top stars of other game. Take football for example, no matter which team you support you wont hate or boo a Messi or Ronaldo. Same way in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar will be cheered no matter where he goes and same with Federer in tennis.

I know some may say this is a lame comparison, but I am comparing the so called top star in WWE with others in other games respectively. Now I know some will even say that only internet fans hate Cena but the casual fans love him, to them I will say people who come to watch WWE live consist mostly of casual fans and John Cena is hated by them also.

If he was really that great then he would get a great reaction at no matter which place he goes. The likes of Austin and Rock when they were babyface used to get amazing reaction where ever they went. The truth is John Cena gets a horrible reaction, and that is not a sign of a great WWE superstar.

John Cena’s Character is boring

John Cena’s character is boring?

It is amazing that John Cena has not changed his character one bit in the last decade. He still has the same boring character, and it will remain the same in future also. I won’t ask him to turn heel, no that is not needed. But at least make his character a bit more interesting.

When you compare his character to a Taker or other greats then you will get to know that John Cena has a pretty boring character. Even Vince McMahon had a great character. I hate when Cole keeps on rambling that Cena is most controversial wrestler now. Let me tell you there is nothing controversial about his character. The boo’s he gets has got a lot to do because of his boring character. There is nothing in his character that makes him interesting and gives a reason for people like me to cheer for him or get behind him.

John Cena hardly loses clean

Daniel Bryan and John Cena

It is and will always be my biggest complaint from Cena. Why would I want to cheer a person when I know he will beat his opponent no matter what. I know people will bring Daniel Bryan‘s match and say Cena lost clean. Seriously in the last 10 years losing only one match clean, NOTE I said clean.

Yes he has beaten Daniel Bryan clean but did that do any good for Bryan? Look at 3 months after that Cena gets to fight for the Unified Title and Bryan is out of the top story line. He lost to Ziggler at TLC 2012 and in weeks after that he treated Ziggler like shit. Look at the way he buried Wade Barret and Nexus in 2010.

It makes people want to cheer his opponent than cheer for him. Its high time where Cena promotes new superstars. He needs to start losing clean to young wrestlers and make them look like top dogs. John Cena need to realize that he became a top star because he defeated stars like Triple H, HBK, The Rock, Batista, Edge etc clean.

He dominated that storylines, and that’s why he has reached to this level. When he was young he had Wrestlers like Angle, Taker, Triple H, HBK, Edge etc to wrestle and beat them , tell me one star in today’s era who stars like Cesaro, Bryan or Wyatt got to wrestle? Cena and maybe Orton to an extent. That’s it.

If he starts losing clean then people will want to get behind him. Look at Bryan, people cheer for him because they want him to get the win at last. Some may say he is great because he wins everything, I have to say it doesn’t work like that in WWE. Would you say an actor is great because he beats everyone in the movie or he would be considered great for his acting? I would chose the latter. Same way in WWE a wrestler who is a great overall performer will be considered as the greatest and John Cena is not.

WWE tries too hard to make Cena look like a top star

John Cena and Ryback

It’s not a surprise that WWE tries too hard to make Cena look like a top star. I get it that he sells the merchandise, kids love him , he is always there for the WWE. They trust John Cena because they know he will not leave WWE like a Rock or Austin or Lesnar. It’s all acceptable but do not insult our intelligence by spreading a propaganda that he is the great.

It’s like WWE are trying to convince us fans that Cena is a top star even though deep inside WWE themselves know John Cena is not a Hogan or Rock or Austin. Tell me one thing, John Cena has been in the top spot for almost a decade now and yet WWE last year wanted John Cena to have a memorable moment in his career by defeating Ryback in a three stages of hell match.

Really, a superstar who has defeated the Rocks , HBKs, Triple Hs in Mania still needs a memorable moment in his career. What does that make Cena look like. The hypocrisy of Vince is so evident that when the ratings are good all the praise and credit goes to Cena but when the ratings are low the blame goes to person feuding Cena (Survivor series 2011 – when all the blame was put on the Miz for poor buy rates even though John Cena and Rock were also in the main event).

The truth is their ratings are constantly in decline even when Cena is main eventing PPV’s after PPV and even when they have other new shows like NXT, Total Divas etc. Its the ego that Vince has that will never allow Cena to be pushed down. If somebody is that great, then their greatness will shine.

John Cena’s Matches are not that entertaining

John Cena at WrestleMania 28

The last point I will make is regarding John Cena’s matches. I know John Cena does deliver 4 star matches but only against right opponents. He is not a performer at the level of HBK or Bryan or Angle or Punk. Look at Daniel Bryan, he will have an entertaining match even with a Big Show. John Cena needs a Cesaro or Punk to have a good match.

Just look at the main event of last two PPV’s featuring Cena and Orton. The matches were boring like many Cena matches, the crowd were chanting everything but Cena. I am not saying you need to have good technical ability to have entertaining matches. Look at Hogan or Taker or Rock or Austin or even a Triple H, they were not a technically good wrestlers but hell yeah they delivered entertaining matches.

I still remember Rock in his peak used to have almost every match filled with entertainment. We have to remember that WWE is an entertainment and we fans deserve some entertainment. I wont say Cena is bad in the ring, he is good but if you call yourself great then good is no good.

I could keep on going, but its no point as the truth is Cena no matter how many tittles you win, you won’t be the greatest. You are a big or a medium fish in a small pond. John Cena is lucky as now a days WWE doesn’t trust any other guy apart from Cena. So no matter what Cena will be involved in top story lines. WWE may try all they want to promote Cena as the best but even they know he cannot be a Hogan or Rock or Austin or a Taker. They are accepting mediocrity by choosing Cena as their man.

I have seen many greats in professional sports, and John Cena is not one of them as he is not a great and he can never be one no matter how much WWE tries to shove him down our throats. As the great Shakespeare said ” Some are born great, some achieve greatness and the greatness is thrust upon someone.” John Cena falls into the third category.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do no necessarily reflect the views of Sportskeeda.