Doctor of Thuganomics Need To Save His Own Career's Life?

[mikekinkade]

I agree that a 35 year old thug-a-nomics character would just look odd. I wish Cena was still in his 20's to pull that gimmick off. I think there are better more realistic options for Cena. One solution that has both a pop culture connection and dabbles into Cena's real persona is a 35 year old sleaze bag.

Have Cena go around the locker room sleeping with multiple females. It starts with A.J. and could end up with him making inappropriate advances to maybe even Steph. You could setup a Cena-HHH angle somewhere down the line. Also, since Jersey Shore is finished, there is a void currently for this type of character (referring to The Situation character).

Some benefits of this gimmick is that it can still be done in a PG format, it reverses the crowd dynamic because the older male members will now cheer for him while the females and kids will boo him, it makes him a tweener so a full fledged heel character can still be saved, and it's a simple angle to pull off. I would be amazed if WWE creative could screw something like this up.

 

[Headman]

If I heard a single heel turn pitch that didn't sound like a bitter person trying to ruin him I'd actually take this topic more seriously. We've got one person saying Cena should make the IC title legit while the midcarders take turns pretending to be main eventers. Then another person who wants to know why Cena needs to be champion again, I guess that person also thinks the Superbowl should consist of the Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills despite their crappy records just to give someone new a chance. The WWE has been putting Cena on the backburner which hasn't been enough to please his haters. They will only be happy when the man is thrown into a tag team with Bart Gunn and regularly jobbed to Primo and Epico. It's time to get over it.

 

[Pedigree1]

Cena has been the face for the E for what now 8 years or so? Thats a long long time. He is 35 years old not an old man by any means but in wrestling years hes getting up there. He has had neck issues,back issues,knee issues,(I think he tweaked his knee on this past Monday night raw IMO).

As far as Cenas career goes i think he is fine. I do believe he will win one or two more titles max in his career but his run as the face of the company is coming to a close. That dude has busted his ass his entire career has done everything there has been asked of him. I think father time and the wear and tear is catching up to him. His body is starting to break down little bit by little bit IMHO.

As far as him turning heel goes,i honestly dont see it nor do i see him challenging Taker for his streak. I think Cena is good for now but within a year or two he will start putting over the younger talent.

 

[Grizzly0u812]

One idea that I thought would of been good was to have John Cena have a part in the attacks on Ryback, have Cena pissed off on how Vince blew him off with the whole AJ/Vickie scandle by driving off, have Cena pissed off about all this stuff being aired about him and AJ and Vince doing nothing, how Ryback is getting noticed ect, have Cena and Punk be working together to destroy Ryback which will give Ryback a really big push, create some buzz for Cena, allow him time to heal up from clearly a lot of ware and tear, he can have the 3 guys doing the dirty work while they get notice themselves and have them protecting punks title kind of like the 4-horsemen days

 

[Honkey_Kong]

Most of you arm-chair bookers just think if Cena becomes heel again that it'll somehow renew his career. You guys remember him as Grandmaster B? He sucked then just as much as he sucks now.

The problem isn't whether or not he's a heel or a face and it doesn't matter what gimmick he has. The problem is they're cramming a no-talent hack down our throats and that's what is making him stale.

You guys want to draw parallels to Hogan's heel turn. Hogan ruined the NWO, but let's give the devil his due. Hogan's turn to being a heel was to become something greater than himself. He was to be the piece that turned the tides against the WCW and made NWO dominant. Hogan's heel turn not only double crossed the kids that believed in his ******ed Immortal gimmick, it lead to something greater. What would stealing the streak from Taker lead to (or any of the other scenarios you marks came up with)?

 

[brak88]

Ok, how about this for a storyline for Cena. Assuming he defeats the Rock but doesn't get the WWE championship. Somehow.........

Have Cena show up the next Raw and talk about how now that he's defeated the Rock there's truly nothing left for him to accomplish in the WWE......except to become a triple crown champion.

This thus starts a losing streak of Cena's where he gets defeated by the current champ cleanly once by like a quick roll up or something and then has a bunch of DQ/Countout type wins where he doesn't win the title. He slowly starts getting angered week after week after month until he snaps and "injures" the champion (there would be no prove that Cena did this, hinting a heel turn), starting up a tournament to crown a new champ. From this he becomes a heel, and also starts a stable with the previous wrestlers he defeated in the tournament to screw over the other wrestler in the final. We also find out that one of the wrestlers he defeated was the one that injured the champion. Thus solidifying his heel persona.

Now Cena is in the Midcard, is a heel, is part of a stable leading/helping other midcarders and can eventually give a rub to the previous Intercontential champion along with the other tournament finalist. You could even time this out to be the next King of the Ring, which is another accomplish Cena has yet to do.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Why does "something need to happen with Cena soon"? He's one of the most popular wrestlers in the world now and quickly on his way toward legendary status. He's had more accomplishments than nearly anyone else who had set foot in the WWE. I can understand why some still want him to turn heel, but it's best to keep him as he is right now. Other guys are being built to make their way toward the top such as Punk, Bryan, and Sheamus. Cena has been there 10 years and from the looks of it still has plenty of time left. He makes the WWE a ton of money in his current persona and the angles he is involved with appear to be a much bigger deal than they would be with any other top face in his place. Why ruin that by turning him heel when no one has been built up to replace him as THE face of the federation yet?

I do like the thought of him challenging Undertaker. If ever there were a chance for a heel turn, it would be Cena ending the streak. He'd be viewed as an evil villain for the rest of his career. It would also be the biggest turn since Hogan's. I don't see that happening though. It's safe to assume at this point that he will be facing The Rock at Wrestlemania again, and defeating him this time like he should have last year. I'd keep Cena in his current role for a while longer. No heel turn until his replacement is fully ready to be THE face of the WWE. No return to the rapper gimmick, it would not work as well in this era. Also, no Taker feud. Not this year anyway. They will make far more money off of a rematch against The Rock which is most likely the route they will be taking with Cena starting in a month or so.

 

[DirtyD79]

Isn't it more creative for him NOT to turn heel? You guys are just spewing the same old crap day after day, year after year and you want to call Cena stale? I can see why none of you are bookers because the only way you know how to change a character is a face/heel turn. Cena is now taking a backseat which is something several of you have been begging for yet all anybody wants to talk about is... well John Cena. Isn't it strange how a guy who isn't really doing anything at the moment is still the most talked about man in wrestling? Yeah, it's called being over. Something the rest of the WWE's roster has yet to experience to any significant degree.

And what's more their idea is always have him do the Doctor of Thuganomics gimmick again. The same stale shit he did 10 years ago. Why, because you want to hear him call Dolph Ziggler gay and say he had sex with Ziggler's mom? That was the extent of his material, the same shit ******ed 14 year old hillbillies say to each other on Xbox Live.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

I kind of like the idea of Cena turning heel and reforming the NWO. Cena is in the same sort of situation that hogan was in when he formed the NWO, so would come as a shock to the fans, not as shocking as when Hogan turned Heel, but shocking none the less.

 

[midgensa]

While I don't think that Cena needs to go full Thuganomics to regain his edge or anything. There is no doubt that the crowd reacts to nostalgia and has reacted well to Cena throwing out a few lines here and there.

I think that he could seriously spice things up by coming out in the throwbacks again for a bit ... but that hurts the merch sales I believe. He would have to mix it in and out and I don't know how well it would work on a longterm basis.

I am sure this is an ongoing thought process with Vince and John ... and it comes down to one thing in the end. Where they think the most money lies. I would like to see some changes in him as we all pretty much liked the raps ... but I don't know if we can expect to see it anytime soon.

 

[The_Reptile_]

So wait, let me get this straight, the internet complains like a motherfucker when Cena's in the spotlight for no reason over Punk, then when WWE decides to actually put him on the backburner and put him a program a bit lower on the card all of a sudden his career's on life support?

... This is why the internet has a reputation for being composed of idiots, you know.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

Cena needs to turn heel if anything to keep his career not only more relevant but also in a way to revitalize it too because he has been face for what like 8/9 years, so a heel turn for Cena would be the best thing that could have ever happened in his career not to mention for the WWE as a whole

And as for Cena, WWE can build a stable around a heel Cena too since all the greats at one time like Hogan, Bret, Austin, Rock and even HHH when they were heels had their own stables

 

[GoatFace]

A gimmick change or a heel turn would be nice, but it is highly unlikely. But, with that being said, what other options does Vince have? Apparently he doesn't know what to do with him, so obviously he needs a complete change. Vince can no longer use the excuse as Cena draws the most money in merch etc, and that's why he can't turn or the WWE will lose money. Although he is the top drawer, history has shown that Punk, Orton and even Ryder can draw money through merchandise and much more. And how does Vince know that Cena will lose money by turning heel? Yes, his fanbase is mostly made of kids, but when Hogan turned in WCW, kids followed, and continued to buy his NWO merchandise.

Honestly, even if Cena changed his gimmick and still stayed face, I wouldn't care. Any change in the wrestling business is good change, as history has shown. It's obvious John needs a mix-up, every wrestler goes through it. Why do you think Chris Jericho has stayed good for so long? He has kept us fans interested by constantly changing his persona.

If this doesn't take place, I would like to see him feud with Daniel Bryan after his rematch against The Rock at Mania. What he is doing with Ziggler at the moment is good in my opinion. Time will tell as to what the future holds for Cena but, and all we can do is sit and watch.

 

[J-sin]

The only thing that would really rejuvinate Cena's career after all this time would be for him to turn Heel, we all know he can do it, looking back at his early career, it was pretty successful. But financially speaking, this would be a big no-no for Vince & Co.
Therefore the only thing I can think of (that the WWE would realistically do) would be to turn Triple H heel and have this decade's Austin Vs McMahon feud (Which I hope at some point DOES NOT end up with Cena singing HHH love songs, see below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWnmp8Sqbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JWnmp8Sqbc

Geez I Don't remember those lyrics.... The Attitude Era really was edgy!

 

[The Gribbler]

I think they are putting him in angles like this to give him a rest. He doesn't have to be the top of the card for just a little while. They put him in a low profile feud to give the others on the roster a chance to pull their own weight.

When his character has had its run in the high midcard (which is the lowest on the roster I see any angle with Cena being) he will come back with a full head of steam, win the strap and carry it for a good while.

Whether that be heel or face I really don't know or care.

He will find a way to make it work.

Just My Opinion.

 

[theBec2101]

I don’t think he is going to change his character. It works for him and his audience. It may not work on you or me but it does to the ones that he needs the most. It will change, but over time. Look how long Hogan said say your prayer and eat your steroids, I mean vitamins. He just eventually stopped talking about that but he was still #1 face till he went to the NWO and he only had 3 moves (4 if you are counting the Hulk-up). Anyway Cena is fine it’s the product as a whole we don’t like most of the time. I will tell guarantee this, they are not going to turn Cena heel till they want to and the timing is right and it will be epic, maybe not Hogan NWO turn epic but up there. Just want to say bashing Hogan.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

My personal preference is for him to be a heel but for him personally a REAL TWEENER type character would help him right now because it would pacify his biggest detractors while not turning away his most loyal supporters.

"Should we go left or right?" "uhh.....middle" wrong. The "badass ******** heel who is so cool everyone likes him" is the most annoying character idea in the history of thought.

Anyways, Cena is not in trouble at all. Why? He's fucking good at his job. He gets over and has so much credibility built up that you'd REALLY have to screw up to kill his drawing ability. Gonna be in a big star match at Mania. Against Taker, Lesnar, Rock, Punk, or someone.

 

[teampunk]

Cena's character should be the Cena that ran out and punched Brock Lesner. He should be the guy that fights anyone, anywhere, anytime. He doesn't even need to change that much. Just drop the corny jokes and crank up the intensity. he would be cheered twice as loud if he stopped being corny nice and threw a little kickass attitude in his promose.

 

[GameOver]

Yeah as much as people can hate on the guy, he's been in a position where he could fued with anyone atm and it would still engage his fanbase.

Personally i say let him do what he wants to do, he doesn't seem like an egotist or a troublemaker so let him run free with his promo's, who he wants to fued with and keep him around the title picture (he's gotta win a few times tho or it becomes weird)

Thats the problem with building a Hoganesque 1 man show character, what do you do when you want to build someone else to carry the company, Cena can't keep winning yet not win the title and also can't keep losing or his years of being the face fade into memory. Punks surpassed all the recent titles runs now and he did a decent job tho the ratings didn't improve much if at all. Time to give it back to Cena for a spell and the he can pass it onto someone else. Ziggler's time to shine, give him his boyhood dream..

Who else on the roster has really busted there ass and hasn't allready been thrashed to death in the main event. given Bryan is in the tag team division for the forseeable future.

the star power on the rosters are pretty thin imo, alot of guys that are just ok.

 

[Chicago1989]

In my opinion, I think Cena's time on top should be over. He's been the #1 guy for so long, since 2005 (almost 10 years). It's time for someone else to take over, maybe it could be CM Punk, Ryback, or maybe Dolph Ziggler next year.

I respect Cena for everything he's done for the WWE, but he's gotten so stale and his character hasn't changed or tweaked for a long time. He keeps getting booed, wrestles with the same moves, etc. It's time for a change and for 2013, it's time for a new generation to step up. The days of Cena, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton on top has to end.

 

[Dirk]

Y'all know that Cena's not a medical doctor? Not even gimmck-wise...

He's not changing anytime soon. If Orton hadn't screwed around, he might've been top dog now, but for Orton the whole of 2012 is best left forgotten.

Cena still has a lot to give, if his body holds. He's a huge name and Vince'll squeeze every last coin he can get from him.

 

[Brothervis]

Cena doesn't give a damn about the fans because if he did he would change his character. He doesn't need to change heel but just his character. He comes off as lazy person to his character not as a person. He is alot like The Rock except when Rocky sucks chants began he turned heel to change his character the problem for Cena is he should of made the change back in 06 to get the male audience back on his side. Later on they could of turn him face but now he has been bland for the last 4 years(6 if you hate the character). I would say it's Vince but he always does what's best for business and what's best for business is to create stars(CM Punk, Ryback) like the attitude era had. People who hate the attitude era for storylines is one thing but you have to respect the talent. Punk would of been Jericho status but because the lack of talent he is the face of the non children fan base.not knocking Punk but I bet he wished he had more pieces around him and more people who have the balls to say things others think of.

 

[Underfaker]

The WWE has been putting Cena on the backburner which hasn't been enough to please his haters. They will only be happy when the man is thrown into a tag team with Bart Gunn and regularly jobbed to Primo and Epico. It's time to get over it.

Brilliant! I completely agree with you on that!

But I must say as a non Cena hater, that his character is now stale and these mixed crowd reactions cannot got on!

Anyway...

If you believe that heel turn is the thing to do (which I see many of you do) I would personally have him do it in a similar way to how punk is doing it now. He could go around whining about how the fans don't respect him, and go on about his multiple championships and that he is the biggest draw! This I am sure would bring heat!

The only problem is that the WWE CAN'T do it. They have too much invested in Cena's work outside of the ring, making the WWE look good.

For me, the best way to get him back over would be for him to go away for a while. He can rest up his battered body, and make some of the fans realize what they're missing, and I am certain he would get a huge pop with a return after a decent amount of time. (Just don't do it at the Rumble again)

The problem (again) is that the E would not let him go, as they don't trust the other top guy's to carry the company.

We all like to sit here and play the booker, but would you want to be in the creative team with this dilemma? I think they earn that paycheck

 

[Steve0904]

But I must say as a non Cena hater, that his character is now stale and these mixed crowd reactions cannot got on!

Why can't the mixed crowd reactions go on? They've been going on since mid to late 2005. It's not going to change now, and it's not going to hurt Cena in any way at this point.

Cena doesn't give a damn about the fans because if he did he would change his character. He doesn't need to change heel but just his character. He comes off as lazy person to his character not as a person. He is alot like The Rock except when Rocky sucks chants began he turned heel to change his character

Cena's character cares about the people that care about him. Saying his character or himself doesn't give a damn about the fans is only half right. He simply doesn't give a damn what his "haters" think. There's a big difference. And isn't that how most people in this world are? If someone I really don't know hates me, do you really think I give a damn what they think?

Also, Cena is not a lot like Rocky. He's similar in some ways, but not that close. When The Rock was hated, people chanted "DIE ROCKY DIE!" And he wasn't the face of the company at the time. Both of these are not true when it comes to Cena, and again it's a big difference. Cena's character is fine.

Getting off that topic, I'm thinking Cena gets one last run with the WWE title after The Rock beats Punk at the Rumble, then loses to Cena at Mania. It's time for Punk's run to end now. To be brutally honest I could buy Punk as a champion for 100 or even 200 days, but bordering on 400 is ridiculous. He's broken the stereotype that smaller guys (I'm one of those myself btw) can't be a world champion. That's great, but I don't buy Punk having this dominant run like I would buy a bigger guy like UT, HHH, or even Cena himself. Punk's been a great champion, but again being brutally honest, I would say he's only been champion this long because nobody else on the roster until maybe recently is ready to carry the strap, and he still doesn't get the biggest matches. Which I guess is part of where his whole "I get no respect" character comes from. Cena needs his win over Rocky too. I was in the camp that thought he should've won last year tbh, and I'm actually hoping he gets one more mid length run.

 

[Da Solo]

This is the eternal problem with the Cena we have now: he's done everything a top guy can manage to do, yet managed to do it in such an unremarkable way that no one gives a shit anymore.

Fight the Boss? Every major face (especially faces of the company) have went through this feud to the point where thats almost how you can tell a face has made it. Taker had the Buried Alive thing with Vince, Rock was the last centerpiece of the Alliance angle and the corporation, HHH and HBK had DX (and the Montreal Screwjob as well), Orton terrorized the McMahons (as a hell, though it still fits) and Stone Cold fought...well... everyone, but everyone can remember every instance of him whipping Vince in a variety of ways. What has Cena had? His run-ins with heel Vince were far from extensive and barely memorable, his run-ins with Vickie were just as bad (this AJ thing JUST got interesting after like a month), he was a background figure in ousting Bischoff even though he FU-ed him, and his program with Laurinitis was not only forced as hell, but stolen from right under CM Punk, which meant every fan with internet access was against it from the start. Score: 0/1

Get a Love Interest? Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth, HBK and Sherri, Edge and Lita/Vickie, HHH and Stephanie, hell even King Booker T and Queen Sharmell: all of these big pairings worked, undeniably. All attempts to do this with Cena failed. Cena+Maria? Anyone remember that? Cena+Mickie that Kenny still complains about? Cena+Hoeski/Eve, as hilarious as it was, was a one night thing, and Cena+AJ failed before it started. I was gonne throw in a Cena+B-Squared joke, but nah. Score: 0/2

Slay Giants? This is one thing that Cena has excelled at. Cena vs. Big Show at WM for the first time was cool. Seeing Cena bust out the 1st FU on Rikishi was crazy. Seeing Cena hoist both Edge and Big Show on his shoulders was a mark out moment in an otherwise forgettable match. But we've gotten to the point where it's almost not special anymore. I'll still give it to him based on nostalgia, though. (Score: 1/3

Big Money Matches? Cena's damn near drawn that out. Let's be dead honest here: Cena is a major draw for kids and maybe women. Adult men, long known as wrestling's primary market, could give a shit. I'm starting to see women and kids join the CenaSux Bandwagon now too, which sucks for him. The last Cena match that drew crazy like it should for the face of the company was Cena and Rock, and that was destined to draw with credit due to both men. Problem is that most only wanted to see Cena get his ass kicked by their nostalgic hero Rocky. He can't beat the odds anymore, so big money matches hardly work anymore, and if they do, they all have lurking variables that take more credit than he can. CM Punk vs. Cena worked because it was more Punk vs. the World at that point. Cena vs. Rock I already explained. Cena vs. Lesnar was almost all hype for Lesnar's return (plus, once again, to see Cena get his ass kicked), and many went nuts and lost faith after Cena won (on a side note, Punk/Ryback at HiaC outsold this, which is not a good sign). Cena vs. HBK, you say? Great as it was, I remember the IWC and even the most casual of fans losing their shit when Shawn didn't win at WM. No one really cared for Cena vs. Big Show this year. Cena vs. Batista did not become the legendary explosion of star power it was expected to be. Cena vs. Orton was done to 5 deaths. Cena vs. Nexus almost worked, but we all know how that went down. Also take into account how the product went on without him and how eager the fans were to get behind other faces whenever he went down (Hardy, Ryback, Orton, etc.) All in all, Cena, in the last 5 years, doesn't really have the drawing power we thought he had, does he? Score: 1/4 Speaking of Nexus...

Make or Break a Faction? Every major face had, at some point, some legendary involvement in a great faction (or at least tag team), whether they joined one, created one or killed one:

Hogan had the NWO and Mega Powers, stories which speak for themselves
Rock headed the Nation and then the Corporation before killing the Alliance, not to mention Rock and Sock
Steve Austin had 2 Man Power Trip, headed the Alliance and knocked a lot of power out of the Corporation and DX
HBK had plenty: The Rockers, NWO, DX, Kliq, the Diesel thing, etc.
HHH had many as well: McMahon-Helmsley, Evolution, DX, Corporation, 2 Man Power Trip to name a few
Edge had his Familia alliance, and earlier was with The Brood and Taker's ministry
Orton and Batista had Evolution, while Orton also did Legacy
Taker has his Ministry and the Corporate Ministry
Booker was the only major WCW star in the Alliance, and the hilarious stint with Goldust, and the brief NWO try.

That's just to name a few. Cena's had NONE.They had something going with Nexus, but he buried the living shit out of them, which I don't have to explain as it is still fresh in the minds of many. Score: 1/5

Character Change? This has been debated to death, and I won't do it again. We all know how this ends up. Final Score: 1/6

All in all, Cena's time is up. To be honest I think that if Orton and Hardy hadn't been so unreliable and if Punk hadn't been so opinionated, he might have been replaced already. I think Ryback is being primed to take his spot, just you wait.