WWE: We’ve ‘Cena – ‘nuff’!

A few weeks ago, John Cena suffered a legitimate leg injury during an overseas tour, and ever since then, WWE has been very careful with him. Not only have they kept Cena on the side – burner, but they have used him cautiously, and tried to keep him relevant only through promos. In recent weeks, Cena has been on the receiving end of sneak attacks by Ryback, and in five days, he will be facing Ryback at Extreme Rules for the WWE title. John Cena has been at the helm in the WWE for 8 years now, and his recent promos have been awful to say the least. Cena previously tried to include humor in the promos, and it backfired. Not only has Cena failed in generating positive response from the crowd, but his promos has left a huge void in the WWE, now that even CM Punk is injured. Cena has become grossly monotonous, and that is showing in the product, being mediocre at best.

John Cena is touted to be a ‘controversial’ champion, while the fact of the matter is, Cena isn’t talented enough to sustain as a champion for this long in this generation. It is fairly identical to Hulk Hogan’s run back in the 80s; but back then, there was no internet, and the fans weren’t even half as knowledgeable as the current ones. Although Cena caters to the kids and the ladies, that constitutes about half of the audience at best, and since the other half are the fans who know about professional wrestling, and are passionate about it, they prefer voicing their opinions about his lack of abilities in the ring and on the mic. While some people say the watered down product disables superstars from flourishing on the mic, that is completely false. You look at a Mick Foley or a CM Punk, and you can see that the impact they created through promos were all “Family friendly”. The art of cutting a promo doesn’t depend on using vulgarity, or provoking emotions through strong language.

I had once written an article not so long ago about John Cena, analyzing whether he was misunderstood or has become complacent, and the answer is sadly the latter. Cena hasn’t worked on his character, and is happy with who he is, and who the crowd has accepted him to be, and that is often a grave mistake. Regardless, the reason for me writing this article isn’t to knock John Cena, but rather shed some light on instances about history repeating itself, and how that might happen once again. Everyone who has been following professional wrestling and the WWE for the past 3 years would remember the debut of Nexus, which created shock waves in the wrestling industry, and consequently saw the formation of one of the greatest factions in professional wrestling. Or so everyone thought.

After Nexus debuted, they got into a feud with John Cena, and while the beginning seemed to be quite different from the “Cena defying the odds” storyline that we got accustomed to, the end was nothing different. Cena had taken down all the members of Nexus almost single handedly, and was responsible for Nexus getting dissolved. And why is it important now? Couple of days ago on RAW, Cena teamed up with Kane and Daniel Bryan and took on The Shield, and both the members of Team Hell No were eliminated by the members of The Shield which left Cena in a 3 on 1 disadvantage. Miraculously enough, an injured Cena almost single handedly defeated all the three members of The Shield, which brings back memories of his victories over the members of Nexus.

The Shield has been booked as a dominant force in the WWE in the last 6 – 7 months, and their first loss as a team came against John Cena, as he single handedly eliminated two of the members, and was on the verge of eliminating the third before the other members intervened and attacked Cena, which caused a disqualification. When you’re pushing a faction as the most dominant stable in the history, making them lose to one man is not only nonsensical, but doesn’t lead to anything important. The Shield have decimated and destroyed the likes of Kane, The Rock and even the legendary Undertaker, and that has solidified them as a legitimate threat in the company. And when you make such a faction lose to John Cena single handedly, an injured Cena at that, the legitimacy of the faction comes into question, which is not the smartest move.

John Cena is known as the ‘Superman’ in the WWE, but not in a good way, but because he no–sells his opponent’s moves and often defies the unlikeliest of odds. The reason why people question the fan’s intelligence is because of such idiocy, as storylines are meant to look realistic, and that is far from what happens in the WWE. The Shield has been the best thing that has happened to the WWE since the ‘Pipebomb’ promo by CM Punk in 2011. Two of the members of The Shield are destined to become big names in the WWE, and are two of the most talented individuals in the company. They have been very impressive in the short time they have been in the spotlight, and one would imagine that big things are still to come for The Shield, and making them look so weak against an injured champion doesn’t speak well about the faction.

WWE creative has done an outstanding job with The Shield till this Monday, and the safe bet is that they will capture the World tag team titles as well as the United States championship this Sunday at Extreme Rules. But the fact that Cena’s character hasn’t undergone a change for years has left the fans furious, with the lackluster performance of Cena over the years, and the WWE turning a deaf ear to all the complaints and the boos he receives wherever he goes. WWE can’t keep bringing children from Make A Wish for people to cheer Cena on forever, and I, as a wrestling fan, have seen enough of the same stagnant promos and performances over the years. It’s about time WWE tweaks Cena’s character to make it interesting, and I for one hope that will happen sometime soon.