I was watching some old DVDs over the weekend, and came to a ralization, John Cena has earned everything he has been given at this point. Now before the masses hang me for defending "Super Cena" allow me to explain myself. I am not a Cena mark, in fact when it comes down to it I really don't like the guy. I lean more toward heels and technical workers and if I ranked my favorite WWE Superstars in order Cena would probably be very low on the list maybe ahead of Khali, Otunga and a small number of guys. That being said, here are my reasons for defending Cena:
Given a a terrible gimmick and surviving[/B
On this past season of Tough Enough, I remember Austin at an elimination ceremony talking about how horrible he knew The Ringmaster gimmick was, but he worked through it and became the Stone Cold character. If you go back all the greats have did this The Rock came out as Rocky Miavia, which was a take on his family history, but it was terribe. The entrance attire the goofy smile all of it. Hogan used to come to the ring with a cape and top hat trying to play a cocky heel, Sting was in a failed LOD clone tag team, The Undertaker could have easily been one of the worst gimmicks of all time, same for Mankind and Kane. For those who have followed Cena's career may recall The Prototype in UPW and OVW. The Prototype was basically a mix between The Terminator and Lex Luger for the most part. He was Rico's henchman and that was basically it, just another muscular body. Then came the white rapper gimmick. This could have easily been a career killer, imagine if Evan Bourne walked to the ring on Raw tonight rapping, it would basically be the same thing. Cena took a horrible gimmick and made it somewhat entertaining, he used his chain as a weapon, he said some funny stuff here and there and he gained a following with it. He basically did what the names I mentioned above did, he took a bad gimmick tweaked it to add some of his own personality to it, and became a huge star with it.
Knowing his audience and catering to them.
When I was a kid, I loved Hulk Hogan. To me as a five year old, he was a super hero. I had his action figures, his t shirts, I made my parents take me to see his awful movies and me along with millions of other kids, made Hogan a millionaire. We all know now that Hogan was no goody two shoes, but during his run he was a wholesome character and parents were not afraid to let their kids watch him and look up to him. Cena is nothing more than a carbon copy of this image. Cena knows kids love him, so he caters to them. Cena doesn't need the adult male fans like myself to like him, because he knows in a PG era that he can't cater to me anyway. Today a superstar with edge is a heel plain and simple look at Punk, look at Edge up until the last couple of months of his career, hell even The Rock is the heel now. Yes, Cena is booked as a face, but he still is the decisive factor in who cheers him and who don't. Look at Angle's debut if you don't believe me.
Knowing his in ring limits and making the most of them.
To his credit, he has gotten A LOT better. Look at Cena's matches in UPW and OVW he was AWFUL. I always read about his limited moveset, but Hulk Hogan, arguably the most popular wrestler of all time, had a way more limited move set than Cena. Austin didn't have the in ring abilities of Dean Melenko or Chris Benoit. Hogan had punches, kicks, shoulder blocks, body slams and the big boot and leg drop. Aside from a couple other moves that was it, but when he did any of these moves he got a huge pop. Austin for the most part had punches, kicks, mudhole stomping, Thez press, Stunner and a few more moves in between, but they all got pops. Cena has learned to do the same thing. He knows he can do whatever the hell he has to do to get by, but the five knuckle shuffle, STFU and Attitude Adjuster are going to get huge pops and he knows how to work them just right.
I could probably write a book, but these are a few reasons I feel that Cena is a deserving star. Do I think he should be booked to dominate like he does? Not really to the extint, but I can see why WWE does it. I would love nothing more than for Punk to win at SummerSlam and be the new face of WWE, but I know that is and will never happen. I know he catches a lot of crap, especially from the IWC, but the man has worked his ass off to get to where he is if you look back at his career. I hope I don't get destroyed for this post, but I felt it was something that needed to be said. Look at it this way, I think Curtis Granderson is the best player on the Yankees right now, but I realize that MLB being a business is not going to promote Granderson over Jeter and A Rod because that is where the money is, women and kids love Jeter and A Rod and those two sale tickets and merchandise. Granderson may hit homeruns and do all the leg work, but at the end of the day Jeter is the hero. Cena is the Jeter while guys like Punk, Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio are Curtis Granderson, and that's just the way it is.
Given a a terrible gimmick and surviving[/B
On this past season of Tough Enough, I remember Austin at an elimination ceremony talking about how horrible he knew The Ringmaster gimmick was, but he worked through it and became the Stone Cold character. If you go back all the greats have did this The Rock came out as Rocky Miavia, which was a take on his family history, but it was terribe. The entrance attire the goofy smile all of it. Hogan used to come to the ring with a cape and top hat trying to play a cocky heel, Sting was in a failed LOD clone tag team, The Undertaker could have easily been one of the worst gimmicks of all time, same for Mankind and Kane. For those who have followed Cena's career may recall The Prototype in UPW and OVW. The Prototype was basically a mix between The Terminator and Lex Luger for the most part. He was Rico's henchman and that was basically it, just another muscular body. Then came the white rapper gimmick. This could have easily been a career killer, imagine if Evan Bourne walked to the ring on Raw tonight rapping, it would basically be the same thing. Cena took a horrible gimmick and made it somewhat entertaining, he used his chain as a weapon, he said some funny stuff here and there and he gained a following with it. He basically did what the names I mentioned above did, he took a bad gimmick tweaked it to add some of his own personality to it, and became a huge star with it.
Knowing his audience and catering to them.
When I was a kid, I loved Hulk Hogan. To me as a five year old, he was a super hero. I had his action figures, his t shirts, I made my parents take me to see his awful movies and me along with millions of other kids, made Hogan a millionaire. We all know now that Hogan was no goody two shoes, but during his run he was a wholesome character and parents were not afraid to let their kids watch him and look up to him. Cena is nothing more than a carbon copy of this image. Cena knows kids love him, so he caters to them. Cena doesn't need the adult male fans like myself to like him, because he knows in a PG era that he can't cater to me anyway. Today a superstar with edge is a heel plain and simple look at Punk, look at Edge up until the last couple of months of his career, hell even The Rock is the heel now. Yes, Cena is booked as a face, but he still is the decisive factor in who cheers him and who don't. Look at Angle's debut if you don't believe me.
Knowing his in ring limits and making the most of them.
To his credit, he has gotten A LOT better. Look at Cena's matches in UPW and OVW he was AWFUL. I always read about his limited moveset, but Hulk Hogan, arguably the most popular wrestler of all time, had a way more limited move set than Cena. Austin didn't have the in ring abilities of Dean Melenko or Chris Benoit. Hogan had punches, kicks, shoulder blocks, body slams and the big boot and leg drop. Aside from a couple other moves that was it, but when he did any of these moves he got a huge pop. Austin for the most part had punches, kicks, mudhole stomping, Thez press, Stunner and a few more moves in between, but they all got pops. Cena has learned to do the same thing. He knows he can do whatever the hell he has to do to get by, but the five knuckle shuffle, STFU and Attitude Adjuster are going to get huge pops and he knows how to work them just right.
I could probably write a book, but these are a few reasons I feel that Cena is a deserving star. Do I think he should be booked to dominate like he does? Not really to the extint, but I can see why WWE does it. I would love nothing more than for Punk to win at SummerSlam and be the new face of WWE, but I know that is and will never happen. I know he catches a lot of crap, especially from the IWC, but the man has worked his ass off to get to where he is if you look back at his career. I hope I don't get destroyed for this post, but I felt it was something that needed to be said. Look at it this way, I think Curtis Granderson is the best player on the Yankees right now, but I realize that MLB being a business is not going to promote Granderson over Jeter and A Rod because that is where the money is, women and kids love Jeter and A Rod and those two sale tickets and merchandise. Granderson may hit homeruns and do all the leg work, but at the end of the day Jeter is the hero. Cena is the Jeter while guys like Punk, Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio are Curtis Granderson, and that's just the way it is.
