Jaaawn Cena

[rzombie1988]

My thoughts:

 

- Is Cena a good worker? Definitely, but his flaws are very obvious and he absolutely refuses to fix them at all costs. The stuff he needs to fix is easily fixable too. I've seen most of his main events and they are usually always good.

- Cena is the most pushed wrestler ever in wrestling that half the crowd hates. In a way, WWE was smart to keep him face, and credit has to be given to them. It pretty much ensured a hot crowd one way or the other for his matches.

- A heel turn probably wouldn't help him. I think it would just alienate his existing fans, because the fans who don't like him aren't going to like him anyway.

- Speaking of alienating the fans, I do think he has alienated a portion of the fans already. I know some people who never liked him to begin with or got tired of his never ending push and subsequently stopped watching WWE as much. To a certain degree, everyone alienates some portion of fans but I've never seen as much hate as I have towards anyone except him. I went to tons of Wrestlemania's where even the mention or picture of him would get tons of boo's.

- I'm not as high on his promo's as others. I thought they peaked with the rapping character phase. His delivery is good but most of what he says is really lame and I can't buy anything he actually says.

- John Cena is the face of the PG Era. When anyone thinks of the PG Era, he comes to mind immediately. Therefore, he's going to take the blame for a lot of stuff that happened.

- I do think WWE needs to find someone to replace him. He's 36, they've done about all they could with him minus a heel turn and I do think he peaked already. He's been on top as the man for longer than anyone not named Hogan or Flair and it's time to find the next guy. Daniel Bryan could be that guy and so could a lot of others. That guy is not Randy Orton though.

[Dylan Waco]

HHH drove away far more fans than Cena did. That sounds like a dig or part of my "fuck HHH" gimmick but I really believe it

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. JBL

Judgment Day 2005

 

I really liked this match when it first happened. I still liked it when I rewatched it a couple of years ago. But since then, I've pretty much soured on the I Quit concept. Let's see how this holds up.

 

The opening minutes are pretty weak. This is a blood feud and you guys are doing headlocks and armbars like you're Flair and Steamboat? Come on, guys. Fortunately, things pick up once they go to the outside, and Cena takes some pretty nutty bumps. Of special note are a Sgt. Slaughter-esque bump over the guardrail and a shoulder-first dive into the ring steps. Pretty soon, JBL destroys Cena with a vicious chairshot. Sorry, but unprotected chairshots to the head are automatic demerits in my book. Regardless, Cena does a five-alarm bladejob, and by the end of the match, his face and chest are covered with blood. JBL is outstanding as he delivers an asskicking worthy of Stan Hansen. Overall, I thought they did a great job of incorporating the gimmick into the match. The microphone silliness was kept to a minimum, and the garbage spots were creative without being overly contrived. I especially liked JBL taking the timekeeper's belt and strangling Cena with it. I also liked how JBL took advantage of no DQs by cutting Cena off with things like low blows and eye pokes. Super, super match.

 

Both Cena matches have been at least pretty good so far, but he hasn't really been asked to do much other than sell and bleed. It still remains to be seen what he's capable of at this point. JBL, on the other hand, has looked awesome in both matches. Honestly, this is kind of making me want to revisit JBL's title reign.

[Matt D]

Selling is a pretty major capability if you ask me.

[NintendoLogic]

You certainly want a babyface to be able to sell and garner sympathy. But you need more to be a top guy.

 

John Cena vs. Chris Jericho vs. Christian

Vengeance 2005

 

At this point, the crowd is still solidly behind Cena. The match itself doesn't merit recapping in much detail, as it's a pretty standard triple threat match. I'm more interested in Cena's performance. Two things jumped out at me. One, his offense is still pretty bad. His punches are weak, and he still has the worst hiptoss of all time. He mainly sticks to clotheslines and back body drops, and that's probably for the best. Two, he still isn't on offense all that much. When all three are in the ring, he spends a lot of time getting double-teamed by Jericho and Christian. But even when he's fighting them one on one, he works mainly from underneath. He gets the pin with an FU, but it comes out of nowhere and seems kind of flukey. Cena comes across here as someone who can withstand an asskicking but not as someone who can kick ass himself.

 

So far, WWE has been using booking smoke and mirrors to emphasize Cena's strengths and hide his weaknesses. We'll see how long that lasts.

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. Chris Jericho

Summerslam 2005

 

By this point, the backlash has begun in earnest, as evidenced by the rather lukewarm audience reaction to Cena's entrance. It should be noted that he's expanded his offensive repertoire somewhat, busting out a three-point stance shoulder charge and a diving guillotine leg drop. For the most part, though, he sticks to his clotheslines and back body drops. That's when he's on offense, which isn't often. To be blunt, this is a total Jericho carry job. We get our first dueling chants, as "Let's go Cena" is countered with "Let's go Jericho". There's a clear pattern emerging: Cena gets his ass kicked for 90% of the match and then hits the FU out of nowhere and gets the pin. The only match where it seemed like he really earned the victory was the I Quit match. It's easy to see how a lot of fans would come to see Cena as an unworthy champion and turn on him. This also lends credence to my theory that Cena haters are basing their views on his 2005 work.

[Jimmy Redman]

- A heel turn probably wouldn't help him. I think it would just alienate his existing fans, because the fans who don't like him aren't going to like him anyway.

I think the opposite actually. A heel turn wouldn't work because most of the guys who hate him would immediately start liking him, because heels are cool and are better workers. Plus at this point, everyone would be too relieved that it finally happened to truly hate it.

[Dylan Waco]

- A heel turn probably wouldn't help him. I think it would just alienate his existing fans, because the fans who don't like him aren't going to like him anyway.

I think the opposite actually. A heel turn wouldn't work because most of the guys who hate him would immediately start liking him, because heels are cool and are better workers. Plus at this point, everyone would be too relieved that it finally happened to truly hate it.

 

Only good way to turn Cena heel would be for him to cheat to beat Taker at Mania

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. Kurt Angle

Unforgiven 2005

 

Well, color me shocked. This match is surprisingly good, and this is the best individual performance I've seen from Cena so far. If you watch the Summerslam match and this back to back, it's like night and day. His offense is more varied, his execution is crisper, and he looks more comfortable in control. Now, this is a Kurt Angle match, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you get Angle trademarks like an extended sequence of finisher counters and counters to the counters and his opponent sittinng in the ankle lock for several minutes. On the other hand, the match is worked much more evenly than Cena's previous matches, so Cena looks much more willing to take the fight to his opponent. Based on this match, I'd say it was around this time that he really started to get it as a worker. Unfortunately, it did nothing to stem the backlash. He's not getting booed out of the building yet, but the cheers he receives are almost exclusively high-pitched. Oh, and Cena gets bonus points for selling the ankle until the end.

[Jimmy Redman]

I might have to run alongside you and watch the ones that I haven't seen. I don't remember the Unforgiven match at all.

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels

Taboo Tuesday 2005

 

Oh, boy. This match. It starts out as a pretty entertaining triple threat clusterfuck with all three guys throwing bombs nonstop. Eventually, Angle and Michaels double-team Cena and put him through a table, turning it into a de facto Angle/HBK singles match. That portion of the match pretty much goes how you'd expect it to. Cena eventually returns but gets put in the ankle lock, which gets broken only when Michaels hits Angle with a flying elbow drop. After taking out Angle with Sweet Chin Music, Michaels runs into an FU and gets pinned. It's kind of hard to judge Cena's performance considering he was absent for the bulk of the match. All I can say is that this is some seriously counterproductive booking. Cena looked like a chump who was completely out of his league. As you might expect, this did nothing to stem the anti-Cena backlash.

[Alucard]

Loving the look back/match reviews here, good stuff!

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. Kurt Angle

Survivor Series 2005

 

This isn't really a proper match, just a giant ball of sports entertainment. Let's start with Daivari, the special guest referee. For those of you who have forgotten, WWE tried to fight growing anti-Cena sentiment by having Angle do everything short of eat a baby in the middle of the ring. To wit, he censored the You Suck chants, cut a promo insulting the troops, and hired Daivari as his manager. So who decided to let Angle's manager officiate the match? Why, that'd be Raw GM Eric Bischoff. I forgot to mention that Cena and Bischoff have been feuding since Cena got drafted to Raw in a sad attempt to recreate Austin-McMahon. So Daivari is the ref and of course is totally biased. Cena eventually gets tired of his shenanigans and slaps the taste out of his mouth. He tries to call for the DQ, but Angle stops him. Cena then runs into both of them, knocking Daivari out. Another ref runs in, and Cena and Angle wrestle for a bit before Angle gets frustrated and knocks the ref out. More refs come, but Angle keeps taking them out because he wants his guy in there. Why none of this results in a DQ is never explained. Daivari eventually recovers, but Cena knocks him back out. The match ends with the ring full of fallen referees and Angle walking into an FU for the pin. So how effective was turning Angle into history's greatest monster in getting the crowd back behind Cena? Well, during the match, we get a dueling "Let's go Cena"/"Let's go Angle" chant and a loud "Cena sucks" chant. So, not very.

[NintendoLogic]

John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Carlito vs. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Masters vs. Kane

New Year's Revolution 2006

 

This is an Elimination Chamber match. Cena and Michaels start out. The crowd has a full-on hate boner for Cena tonight, as he gets booed like Roger Goodell at the NFL Draft every time he executes an offensive maneuver. There are also several "Cena sucks" chants over the course of the match. The Cena/HBK matchup provides an interesting contrast in their styles of selling. When Michaels chops Cena in the corner, Cena's selling is theatrical but done in a way that puts over the chops as killer (to be fair, it looked like Michaels was really laying them in). By contrast, when Michaels gets hung up on the top rope and Cena kicks him, he does some ridiculous cartoonish bouncing selling that all but screams "Look at lengths I have to go to to make this goof look good!" Nothing much of note happens until Angle comes in and destroys everybody with suplexes. Michaels blades after being catapulted into the cage, giving him an excuse to spend most of the rest of the match lying around. Angle eventually puts Cena in the ankle lock, but Michaels hits him with the Sweet Chin Music and gets the pin. Yes, once again Cena needs HBK's help to keep his title. Carlito and Masters, who are a tag team at this point, enter the match with an agreement to work together, and they take out Kane and Michaels with their double-team strategy, leaving only Cena. As an example of how far the anti-Cena backlash had gone, we get an audible "Let's go Masters" chant. Masters was far from an Internet darling at this point, I assure you. Anyway, Cena blades after getting DDTed onto the steel. Masters wants to pin Cena, but Carlito tells him to go for the Masterlock. Naturally, this is a setup for a double-cross, as Carlito low-blows Masters and schoolboys him for the pin. However, immediately afterward, Carlito is himself schoolboyed by Cena to end it. But then Edge arrives to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, and you know how the rest goes.

 

So Cena spends most of the match getting beaten down and then wins with a fluke rollup? I find it interesting that WWE booked its top babyface like a chickenshit heel for most of his reign. This merits further investigation.

[Smack2k]

John Cena vs. Kurt Angle

Unforgiven 2005

 

Well, color me shocked. This match is surprisingly good, and this is the best individual performance I've seen from Cena so far. If you watch the Summerslam match and this back to back, it's like night and day. His offense is more varied, his execution is crisper, and he looks more comfortable in control. Now, this is a Kurt Angle match, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you get Angle trademarks like an extended sequence of finisher counters and counters to the counters and his opponent sittinng in the ankle lock for several minutes. On the other hand, the match is worked much more evenly than Cena's previous matches, so Cena looks much more willing to take the fight to his opponent. Based on this match, I'd say it was around this time that he really started to get it as a worker. Unfortunately, it did nothing to stem the backlash. He's not getting booed out of the building yet, but the cheers he receives are almost exclusively high-pitched. Oh, and Cena gets bonus points for selling the ankle until the end.

Glad someone mentioned this and the Survivor Series match as I enjoyed them both, especially this one (Unforgiven) and think this was the first time I saw flashes of Cena being really good in the ring, including hanging in there reverse for reversal...

[bradhindsight]

An excellent look back at the beginning of Cena's main event reign. Curious - what did you think of the #1 Contender's Match between Angle and Cena at No Way Out prior to WM 21? Curious what progression can be charted from that match to Unforgiven. We have a baseline w/ Angle.

[Jimmy Redman]

An excellent look back at the beginning of Cena's main event reign. Curious - what did you think of the #1 Contender's Match between Angle and Cena at No Way Out prior to WM 21? Curious what progression can be charted from that match to Unforgiven. We have a baseline w/ Angle.

Yes NL should watch this too.

 

I think it is the best match they had together. It gets a bit Angle-y at the end, and I'm not sure how it compares in terms of Cena's individual performance, but as a match I like it a lot.

[NintendoLogic]

I watched the number one contender's match. I thought Cena looked really good in it. I should probably do a back-to-back comparison with the Unforgiven match. I also watched a couple of 2003 matches-the Undertaker match from Vengeance and the Angle match from No Mercy. They were both good, but Cena was kind of along for the ride in both of them. However, he did do a really brutal-looking ring apron DDT on Angle.

[Strummer]

I know the talking point is that Cena was pretty bad back then and maybe he was. I haven't watched very much of the stuff in ages. But there were 03 Cena matches I really liked, so I am skeptical about the notion that he was terrible when he first started

 

I'll always remember Michrome calling him "first day of wrestling school" bad during 05/06. I'm pretty sure this was at NMB!

[vicious&delicious]

Cena's work is fine. Some things he does look a little sloppy, but Punk is way sloppier.

 

The issue with Cena is directly related to the split demographics of wrestling fans. Cena is booked for 9 year olds and the older audience has rebelled against it.

 

Cena the character is essentially Hogan 2.0. He's big. He's muscular. He always overcomes the odds. And at the end of the day everything that happens to him is insignificant. There is no progression to his character. No matter what happens to him, in a week or two, it will be long forgotten and he will move on to his next 3 week feud.

 

For example, on the post-summerslam raw, after losing the title, Cena comes out smiling and making cute comments to the cameraman. It did not seem like it mattered at all that he just lost the title.

 

It reminds me of a great Simpsons quote:

 

"Lisa: Don't worry, Bart. It seems like every week something odd happens to the Simpsons. My advice is to ride it out, make the occasional smart-alec quip, and by next week we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure.

Bart: Ay, caramba!

Lisa: That's the spirit."

 

Now compare him to Punk. Over the last three years Punk has had very clear chapters of his career with different looks and tweaks to his character. He went from Straight Edge Society to leader of the Nexis to uber face world champ to heel turn on the rock to Heyman guy to face turn against Heyman. You can debate the merits of Punk all you want, but they at least try to keep him interesting.

[bradhindsight]

For example, on the post-summerslam raw, after losing the title, Cena comes out smiling and making cute comments to the cameraman. It did not seem like it mattered at all that he just lost the title.

This is the worst thing about his character and it was very prevalent after he lost to the Rock (after a YEARS BUILD and him talking about how he HAD TO WIN) at WM28 and he literally just shook it off the next night in the ring and that was that.

[Matt D]

I don't know what to make of Cena suddenly adding the 'rana, power bomb, weirdo Edgesque lift neckbreaker thing, and flying body press all at once. Obviously it's a conscious thing since WWE posted this:

 

http://www.wwe.com/videos/10-moves-from-jo...0-2013-26162347

[tim]

I like the powerbomb. Not so much the neckbreaker. The rana is great sparingly but I don't want to see it in the majority of his matches.

[Steven]

Cena adds random moves now and then. I imagine he'll drop the neckbreaker thing like he did that flipping Diamond Cutter as time goes by. Hell, I remember him doing a top rope splash and missle dropkick once.

[Eduardo]

Don't care for neckbreaker-thing, but really digging the flying body press (which he's done at just the right moment in most of his matches of late) and hurricarana.

 

Also been liking most of his matches since his return. I haven't seen last nights RAW but everything else I've seen from him has, at the very least been fun, and at best, been really good, borderline excellent.