Cena needs a heel turn

[SuperKick36]

Ok just listen...

Cena's character, RIGHT NOW, is the "face of the company".

But honestly, alot of people feel his character is growin stale, and so are the storylines involving him. Kids love him, yeah, but in this day and age i suspect they'll soon grow bored with him.

Cena could really use a heel turn, just to freshen up his character. PLUS it would get him monster heat, since he would be completely turning on all his fans. It would also open up new storylines.

I'm not sayin it should be anytime soon, because there aren't enough strong faces in WWE just yet, but IMO Cena could use one.

Remember 1998 Survivor Series, when The Rock was HUGE over with the fans, and then he turned heel? Yea. Monster heat. (Just an example cuz I was there, not because I'm comparing Cena to Rock). EVERYONE in the arena was throwing their trash down to the ring. I think that's the kind of heat Cena could draw.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Cena needs the COOL heel heat he had when he first debuted. Word Life...basic thuganomics. That thug behavior is very heelish...and would be great...alas. John Cena is the face of the WWE and him being a bad guy isn't good for business. You're face of the franchise needs to be face...not heel.

And I'm also sure that this thread has been made about 30 times.

 

[njchaingang]

had this been the attitude era i would fully support a cena heel turn. the company couldnt have this though. like you said cena is the face of the company. i would argue him HHH and HBk headline the company but thats not the point. cena brings in the money from merchandise and fans. yes guys dont like him. its all kids and there parents. with the exception of some people. the moniker has been done before, remember that guy hulk hogan. the company has shown just how bad it is without cena. when he gets hurt the shows arent quite as good. him being a heel would really crush the business.

 

[Henry Hill]

i feel like a heel turn would be interesting, but certainly not a swerve, the question truly is if cena does turn heel, who would then be the face that comes in to face him?
hbk, trips, and edge should all be taken out of the argument for the sheer amount of times they've faced cena. my pick would be cm punk, if cena is the heel, reverting to his hip hop nature the punk rocker is the obvious choice to feud with, if not only for music choice but overall lifestyle choices

 

[powerade]

from our mid 20 year old and the adult viewers aspect....yes we would like a Cena heel turn and it could make things very interesting....

BUT....

from a WWE and Vince's company aspect.....a Cena heel turn would make absolutely no sense....
they have good strong heels in the company that draw good heat and are sort of liked and sell for them....
they need Cena as a face because he is probably the biggest draw across all ages of the WWE fans...
also....he draws cheers and boos now as it is......

 

[JGlass]

Cena needs the COOL heel heat he had when he first debuted. Word Life...basic thuganomics. That thug behavior is very heelish...and would be great...alas. John Cena is the face of the WWE and him being a bad guy isn't good for business. You're face of the franchise needs to be face...not heel.

And I'm also sure that this thread has been made about 30 times.

Very odd, I was just walking home from class today, and for some reason something very similar popped into my mind. Cena needs to go back to his basic thuganomics routine, except thug it up even more, and keep it face. They need to send him out on a JBL type character again (Vince McMahon?) and just mess with him, like when Cena wrecked JBL's limo. That was pretty cool. He needs to ditch this whole respect deal and go for the opposite, straight up disrespect for anyone and everyone. The problem with this is with WWE trying to keep things clean, I don't know if this Attitude Era-esque type face would be the type of character they'd want to make the face of the company.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure at least three of these come out a week.

 

[shafe_41]

Yeah this has been done to death but it'll just never happen right now. But give it time. The only real wrestler with any staying power in their career that stayed with the same gimmick the whole time and never once changed to a heel or a face was Ted DiBiase. He was the ultimate heel and the best ever in my opinion. But Vince would lose too much money with Cena turning heel right now. Wait until he looks at his sales numbers for the Cena merch in a year or two and if there's a giant decline, then he'll pull the trigger. You'll get your face/heel turns on your shows soon enough though. You got one with MVP, and from what I hear Morrison is now face? I don't get Smackdown on my shitty cable so naturally that jacks me off I can't watch it because I'm a huge fan of Morrison. I've been predicting a Punk heel turn or Edge face turn for effing ever now and I think some of those are going to come true. Also, something on Raw has to give with the whole Legacy/HHH/Batista/McMahon's storyline so we'll get a turn there too. It'll be a McMahon or Batista IMO.

But no... Cena...heel turn... give it some time until Vince does see the character is growing stale and kids don't give a shit anymore. Cena is like a Christmas gift to those kids. They have to grow tired of it eventually, and at some point, they will.

 

[Vin Diesel]

Absofuckinlutely NO.Why?Because he's the face of WWE.The biggest draw in wrestling.The best seller of merch.And in the face of Vinnie Mac, he's today's Hogan.But i agree with you.He's stale, but in no way watsoever will McMahon turn Cena full-fleged heel.He MAY want to turn him tweener.Doing some heelish actions, but not over-the-top.That way, in my mind, he'll regain some of his "freshness" and he won't get mixed reactions all the time.

 

[Captain America]

The biggest problem with Cena turning heel, is that there are already plenty of heels and not nearly enough faces.

Right now the top faces are

HHH- who fans are growing kind of tired of and actually cheered when he was kayfabe injured at Backlash.

Jeff Hardy- who you never know what he's going to do next and might quit wrestling altogether once again.

Batista- Who doesn't have the support Cena does and can't wrestle or talk as well as him either.

Undertaker- Getting up there in age and doesn't work a full schedule.

CM Punk- Working on the midcard.

HBK- Who is still taking time off right now.

and a bunch of other mid-card guys who have yet to step up to the plate as main event guys. John Cena is the only dependable face they got right now. John Cena needs to remain a face out of necessity.

 

[Black Snow]

In the long run, Cena absolutely needs a heel turn. If he doesn't then I'm willing to bet that sooner rather than later the kiddies who started cheering for him 4 years ago will get old enough that they'll grow tired of his routine and start booing him. It's the natural cycle of things.

But at this moment, he can't turn heel. Like it's been pointed out, the company is lacking in top faces right now. With either Batista or Hunter (not both) turning heel soon this simply isn't time for Cena to turn heel as much as I would like to see it.

I'm all for a tweak of Cena's gimmick though. The saluting and the random buzzwords need to go in favor of Basic Thuganomics. Bring back the padlock and use it once in a while behind the ref's back instead of being Mr. Goodie Twoshoes. Eddie could do it so another face should be able as well. Bring back the rap. It doesn't have to be as biting as making John Riter jokes the same week the guy died but it can't just end in a fart or poopie joke.

For good or bad, Cena is the "face" of the company. He has to turn heel eventually if he wants to have any sort of longevity but now it's the time. Maybe if MVP's push continues and Kennedy can find a way to stay healthy there will be an opening for a heel turn.

 

[Adel_hamra]

there are plenty of kids that love cena and and there are those who grew up watching wwf during the attidude era and invasion that hates cena.i think that if he turns heel, those that like him now will hate him and those who hate him now, will like him coz even though he might be the most famous, he kind of gets a mixed reaction from the fans so i guess if he turned heel, for the fans, just his character would change but the fans will be balanced..i think if he goes heel, he should be a tweener, in between...hell and face at the time...maybe to turn him into a heel, they should make him attack people like funaki, r-truth, jeff hardy, teddy long, hornswaggle, etc, you know, the crowd favourites...but yeah, cena deos need a heel turn

 

[sammylou]

Hmm, ok so it doesn't make sense, it wouldn't work, there's already too many heels, he's the face of the WWE, all those reason's i've just read i agree with on a professional level, but personally i would love a Cena heel turn! I agree that he is getting stale, and this is coming from a female John Cena fan!
Oh, and why do i think he is going stale? Lately when he comes out to the ring i get easily distracted by my son pulling my daughter's hair, or the dishes that are still in the sink. If he actually came out and had some mic time again (as in doing a rap for the purpose of making fun of someone), i would probably not even hear my children, or notice the housework that still needed to be done!

 

[The Todd]

This topic has been done to death. There are like 50 different threads on it. It should have been posted in Cena's official thread.

Anyway, no he doesn't need a heel turn. Not at all.

1) He is the company's top face in a time of a global financial crisis. They will lose so much money if he turns heel because he will not shift merchandise. Cena does this better than anyone. Turning him heel would be stupid purely for the money they would lose out on. Like it or not, wrestling is a BUSINESS.

2) He, as Michael Cole puts it, "stirrs the emotion of the wwe universe". Even if it is boos or cheers, Cena ALWAYS gets the loudest reaction of the night. Have you ever heard a dead crowd for his entrance? The only way turning him heel would be a viable option would be if the crowd made absolutely no noise at all. If the fans care about someone they will make a noise, if they don't they will keep silent. If you have a character who is getting a reaction at a time when many superstars don't, you can't mess around with him.

3)This notion of every fan is sick of him is a complete lie. It is mostly on the internet where you hear fans complain about him, but they make up 10% of the actual audience. The audience that are most important to the wwe are the kids. They are who it is aimed for mostly and it is them who buy the merchandise. They are obviously not sick of Cena.

4) His gimmick is of a superstar who will never back down from a fight, the ultimate good guy who beats the bad guys. What is wrong with this? It is the classis babyface character. Hogan was this character. The Rock was this character. They all have their own different tweaks on how the character comes across but they are fundamentally the same. If Cena is taken away from this spot, someone else will just come across in the exact same way, so why not just leave it as Cena as he is already over with the crowd?

 

[thesacredcow]

Why not turn Cena heel? Ok so he's the 'face of the company' and all that bullshit, but if he really is the biggest draw in the business, then surely a Cena heel turn would draw. I remember after Stone Cold turned heel at WM17 I was glued to the tv whenever Raw and smackdown were on. And who knows, maybe with Cena a heel, someone elsse might step up and become THE GUY in the WWE.

Regardless Cena's been stale for a long while. He's been a face for what 5 years. The whole superman act is old, his promos are repetetive, and it's completely unrealistic for a guy to pander that much to an audience, sections of which hate the guy.

 

[Rusty]

Sorry SuperKick, but this is what happens when I'm bored. Also, someone tell me what is the point of the [Official] Cena thread if we get like 3 new Cena threads almost every day now?

Ok just listen...

I've been listening to you smarks for 2 years now. Not one of them has given me a good argument about why Cena should turn heel. So why should I listen to you?

Cena's character, RIGHT NOW, is the "face of the company".

He's the top dog, the poster boy, the top draw, he is the damn franchise. You got that part right.

But honestly, alot of people feel his character is growin stale, and so are the storylines involving him. Kids love him, yeah, but in this day and age i suspect they'll soon grow bored with him.

Wrong. The IWC thinks his character is stale because he isn't "cool" enough. He still gets the biggest reaction out of any other superstar, so obviously the fans in the arena don't think he's stale. His storylines are also the most interesting out of any other superstar. Hence why he is a top draw within the company.

I'm not a kid. I'm almost an adult. Hell most people my age think "he only knows 5 movezzz" and that "he is boring". Sounds a bit like you. So I'm not a little kid, yet he is still my favourite superstar. I've already flawed your logic.

Cena could really use a heel turn, just to freshen up his character. PLUS it would get him monster heat, since he would be completely turning on all his fans. It would also open up new storylines.

Why does his character need to be freshen up? He still gets the loudest reaction from the fans, still draws in many aspects and while you may think he is boring, millions of people think otherwise. Many people already boo him, and I suspect the same smarks would actually cheer him if he turned heel. He can't win either way, so he's better off staying a babyface. And new storylines? Ok, let's see Cena wrestle Shawn Michaels, Triple H and Batista again. All of them have been done to death. And in the case of Batista vs Cena, it would work much better if Batista was the heel.

I'm not sayin it should be anytime soon, because there aren't enough strong faces in WWE just yet, but IMO Cena could use one.

Jeff Hardy, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Batista and Rey Mysterio aren't strong faces, hey? We must be watching a totally different show.

Remember 1998 Survivor Series, when The Rock was HUGE over with the fans, and then he turned heel? Yea. Monster heat. (Just an example cuz I was there, not because I'm comparing Cena to Rock). EVERYONE in the arena was throwing their trash down to the ring. I think that's the kind of heat Cena could draw.

It's different though. Back then, the WWF had Stone Cold to fall back on as their top babyface. Without Cena as a face, the next top babyface is a veteran. And I think I am very sick and tired of seeing the veterans in the main event spotlight enough as it is. As long as Randy Orton is a heel, John Cena should be a babyface.

And if you really want me to go into detail about why it is a stupid business decision to turn Cena heel at this point of time, I will.

 

[thesacredcow]

2) He, as Michael Cole puts it, "stirrs the emotion of the wwe universe". Even if it is boos or cheers, Cena ALWAYS gets the loudest reaction of the night. Have you ever heard a dead crowd for his entrance? The only way turning him heel would be a viable option would be if the crowd made absolutely no noise at all. If the fans care about someone they will make a noise, if they don't they will keep silent. If you have a character who is getting a reaction at a time when many superstars don't, you can't mess around with him.

4) His gimmick is of a superstar who will never back down from a fight, the ultimate good guy who beats the bad guys. What is wrong with this? It is the classis babyface character. Hogan was this character. The Rock was this character. They all have their own different tweaks on how the character comes across but they are fundamentally the same. If Cena is taken away from this spot, someone else will just come across in the exact same way, so why not just leave it as Cena as he is already over with the crowd?

So what you're saying is wait until no one gives a shit about Cena, THEN turn him heel, because then everyone will instantly care again. If an audience doesn't care about someone when they're a face, they're not gonna generate instant heat just because they turn heel. Look at it this way, if Jesse came out on Friday night and turned heel by beating up Rey Mysterio (just as an example) he'd get heat for about 5 minutes before everyone realised they couldn't give two shits about him.

How many babyfaces are there who back down from a fight? NONE! Look at all the other babyfaces in the WWE right now, and name one who backs down from fights. And please tell me you didn't just compare Cena to The Rock. The Rock's gimmick was that he was a narcississtic prick, but you couldn't help but cheer for him, because he was so charismatic and entertaining. Cena's gimmick on the other hand seems to be either a rip off of jesus or the south, in that you can kill him, but he'll rise again. And again, and again...and again ad fucking infinitum.

 

[triplehsgrl]

I totally agree. He needs a serious hell turn. Him and Triple h both. They're better off as heels. They're both becoming boring faces and win they win the belts its so predictable and it gets old and tiring. But with this "PG kid oriented" crap, I highly doubt if its happening anytime soon. But it definitely needs to happen in the near future.

 

[moonie961]

I think cena needs a heel turn bad. its like his face character's used by date is way past expired. bring back the days where he would spin raps out of nowhere. the only thing is that a heel change this big is gunna be hard. fued him with another massive face now.

cena still sucks tho

 

[The Todd]

So what you're saying is wait until no one gives a shit about Cena, THEN turn him heel, because then everyone will instantly care again.

No, what I meant mustn't have been clear so I apologise for that. I meant that you say everyone is bored of this character, so he has to turn heel, yet IF they were bored he would get no reaction, ala Big Show. How can he boring when everyone has something to say about him, everyone wants to cheer or boo him.

If an audience doesn't care about someone when they're a face, they're not gonna generate instant heat just because they turn heel.

I'd say no one gave a shit about Matt Hardy until he hit Jeff with a chair. He went from mid-carder for life to on the door step of the main event.

How many babyfaces are there who back down from a fight? NONE! Look at all the other babyfaces in the WWE right now, and name one who backs down from fights.

Exactly, so why is it such a bad thing Cena never does? He gets the odds stacked against him and he wins. That is what his character does, and what a top babyface should do. I fail to see how that makes him boring.

And please tell me you didn't just compare Cena to The Rock.

The Rock happens to my favourite wrestler of all time, and John Cena is second. The Rock was a guy who never backed down from a fight, and defied the odds. As is Cena. I fail to see how they are not alike in that sense?

The Rock's gimmick was that he was a narcississtic prick, but you couldn't help but cheer for him, because he was so charismatic and entertaining

Cena is charismatic and entertaining and I can't help but cheer him. So Cena doesn't mock his opponents, he shows respect instead of belittles them. Is that why you don't like him? Because he is not a "narcissistic prick"?

Cena's gimmick on the other hand seems to be either a rip off of jesus or the south, in that you can kill him, but he'll rise again. And again, and again...and again ad fucking infinitum.

The same as every top babyface in history then. Would you prefer him to lose to a heel and not get revenge?

 

[powerade]

as people are pointing out that there are too many heels and not enough faces in the company....

so if he turned heel....who would he fued with ?

 

[justinsayne]

AHHH!!!!

Why can't people get it through their thick skulls that Cena turning heel would just be stupid, and make no sense what so ever, the vast majority of wrestling fans DO NOT find Cena stale, the only people who find him stale are the IWC, this is pretty evident by the fact that he gets a massive pop from the crowd at the mere mention of his name, turning the top and most beloved face heel for no reason what so ever just wouldn't make sense and it wouldn't change his character for the better at all, it would just cost WWE money, you see heels don't sell nearly as much merch as faces, not even guys like Orton and Edge sell as much merch as guys like Cena, Triple H, or Jeff Hardy, the only thing Cena could do to improve his character is maybe be a bit more "edgey", Cena turning heel is not only a bad idea, it's a stupid idea

 

[Budro5454]

I agree with this thread 100% His gimmick has been stale for a while but to the wrestling fans who appreciate technique have been very frustrated over his push over the last few years because they have put him over HHH and HBK at Wrestlemania who have been though of as some of the best wrestlers in the last few decades. It just seemed way to hard to believe and jammed down our throats. A heel turn would benefit him because its something we haven't seen from him since the early part of the decade. Granted it won't be as fresh because most of his gimmicks used "would be" obscenities. He had to change the name of his signature move for crying out loud! he could still pull it off and I remember him being a heel that people liked to watch get taken down like the Million Dollar Man in the 80's. It would just open the door for a lot more story lines... as it is we are walking into a match vs The Big Show which has been done like 5 times already, followed by a Monday night raw fued with the Miz which is probably going to be a squash and do the Miz no favors and will once again be a desperate attempt to make us think that Cena is invincible. The guy has charisma Vince, but honestly how many more PPV's and shows have to go by before you realize that people just aren't into him?

 

[Jerichoholic1]

I know I am re-stating what has been said on here already but, They are not gonna turn cena heel. I would love to see it too, but lets be logical here. Cena turns heel and then who is raws top good guy??? Triple H, batista, and mvp? and then Cena would be joining Raws heels...Big Show, Orton, dibiase, rhodes, hardy blah blah blah. Oh yeah, not to mention kennedy who will be heel. Cena is this eras Hogan. Heel turn = not gonna happen.

 

[nthomas504]

Cena turning heel is a little extreme and a BIG risk for business. Cena just need a little gimmick fixing. The respect was good while it lasted, but its not as good now. Maybe he could go back to his rapper thing, maybe a Stone Cold approach, or a Rock-like cocky attitude. It would be a great thing, and with CM Punk coming up, maybe he could be the person about respect. Turning heel would bring a big upset in tha company seeing as though now a days Main-Event Face's are limited(Maybe Jericho turn isnt as good as I thought), and Main Event Heels rule tha company(Edge, Orton, Jericho, Show,). Maybe in a couple years when tha mid-card gets much better and Main-Event Level(MVP, CM Punk, Morrison). But now wouldnt be such a great time.

 

[DXRulez19]

Uhh im sure this would be a pretty good way to livin up cena but im sure they can find more rivalries for him without doing that. Vince will never do it. I said this on another thread its about money. Why get rid of your biggest money seller with merch and stuff. He does many guest appearences not to mention some people only watch wrestlings for him so ratings will drop. I hope this happens eventually but it definatly wont happen any time soon.