Does Cena need a break from the WWE or does the WWE need a break from Cena?

[Matt7584]

I like Cena and i am not 7 years old.... However i care more about the current product and future of the business more. If we look at past superstars in the business they have all had breaks whether it was injury, contract, or family reasons. Bret Hart had a break in 95. Hogan had in 92 and 96(in WCW). Austin in 2000, Michael's from 98-01, The Rock 2003-2011, and the undertaker every year (lol, but total respect to the deadman. In most cases the superstar comes back bigger and better. In hogan and Harts cases they left as faces and came back as major heels in their companies.

Sometimes its staleness and sometimes its a much needed breather. When Cena got fired in december i thought that it was great. give the guy the break he needs and rebuild the image, get more creative, and make the fans miss him. His come back could have made him a bigger face by saving Orton from a bigger badder Nexus. Another idea could have been to have the The Undertaker return when he did 7 weeks and him look for revenge against nexus becuase they took him out. As he is getting beat up by the whole nexus all of sudden cena's music hits and we think hes going after nexus but instead turns on taker. This would have been refreshing and pretty awesome. Cena turns heel and puts on a match with one of the best plus the streak would really be in danger becuase Cena would have the whole nexus by his side. This would be similar to royal rumble 2004 when yokuzuna had all the heels help beat the taker. Obviously Taker would win but it could have been awesome.

Ok this didn't happen and i am living in a wrestling creative fantasy. Now we are heading to extreme rules. I really like the miz but his match with cena at Wrestlemania was slow and awful. This was a Raw booking rather than the booking of the biggest ppv in the company. Miz kept the title but didnt look special doing it. I want the Miz to take cena out and retain the title at E.R.. Give Cena off until Summerslam but dont involve him in a wrestling match. make the injury legit and have him refree the match. Have him get reinjured in the match and make him the voice of the Annoymous Raw GM. He could be the commisioner and he could fight the raw GM with his words vs email of coles computer. Then finally before Royal Rumble the Raw GM is revealed and Cena would face the Raw GM at Royal Rumble. Then have him feud with him going into elimination chamber and then have him restart the feud with the Rock.

So why is my fantasy helpful to Cena? becuase he needs to become more special. He needs us to miss him or convince us we miss him. Raw wouldnt be same but ratings wouldn't go down and neither would merchandise becuase he would still make appearances on Raw. But most of all Keep Cena in good and healthy shape before WM28. This would refresh Cena and keep him healthy and out of the ring.

This would also help the youth movement by allowing other young faces to meet the Miz and lose while keeping the Miz as top heel with the belt. Miz is fine and so would the company.

Does Cena need a break? or does the WWE need a break from him? either based on my scenario or your opinion.

 

[avi01]

I was actually shock when JR stated that stats that Cena was in his 8th consecutive main event at wrestlemania. The Rock and Austin have 6 mania main events COMBINED. You cannot expect someone to be so over, specially every year it what is supposed to be the aim of every superstar and expect the people not to get sick of him....specially a character like Cena. Good to have all the live strong thingy, but in an entertainment business, people get sick of that very quick. In fact people get sick of most characters quickly in they see too much of that character....they need to see something fresh, Cena isn`t that. Being out of TV can only help Cena. When you think of it, even down to this year`s wrestlemania..he lost but at the end of the day it is still about Cena. So again, of course WWE needs a break from Cena and vice versa. People will talk about how he sells well, but while I`m sure that the main criteria explored by WWE, I don`t care about that when I watch the product...what I see is a stale, over used, over pushed, ultra cheesy character that seriously is boring.

 

[Highspeed]

Honestly I don't think this would be too bad of an idea because they absolutely have to have him healthy come Wrestlemania time this main event is too big to risk. Find a way to keep him on tv while "injured" and this is a solid plan.

 

[orton0384]

Your fantasy and suggestion is very far fetched. Very imaginitive though. The man was "Fired" but could never stay off live tv. He was beat so bad he couldnt show up to raw a week or two ago. Wait...he was there anyways. Unless mr cena gets legit injured dont count him out.

He is a workaholic. Thats a good thing. Very respectable. Are we oversaturated by cena? I think mania and the rock proved it. I know theyre building up the miz,orton,but who else? Who is really a credible i gotta see him main event star that sells? John cena........aaaannndddd......well thats why cena cant go away. Vince invested in guys like batista,lashley,hardy(the talented one),and a few others who didnt stay or pay off.

No one can argue the wwes landscape is much diff than it w as 2 or 3 years ago. Theres less star power which is why a 7 year absent attitude era guy and some friends had to come back to save mania thia year. No real big main event players. Former ones relagated to mid card or begininng matche's.

John cena is a superhero and while a superhero eventually hangs up their boots crime doesnt. Thats cenas always putting on his homeless power ranger gear. Love him or hate him hes here to stay in focus of the camera for a while til another guy steps up.

 

[xsKiitz]

Solid post. I almost forgot that we've seen Cena every week for the past.. how long? A well deserved break is exactly what we need from him. I have no idea about Cena's family life, but surely a break to spend a long period of time with them would be nice also.

It's a fact, a LOT of people are sick of him, myself included. In my eyes he is very stale and is producing the same content week in and week out. My only problem would be that I think WWE may have invested a little too much responsibility in John that by him being gone it could leave a big hole in the overall quality of Raw and upcoming PPVs.

Also, I love this idea the OP stated and would flow together perfectly..

Another idea could have been to have the The Undertaker return when he did 7 weeks and him look for revenge against nexus becuase they took him out. As he is getting beat up by the whole nexus all of sudden cena's music hits and we think hes going after nexus but instead turns on taker. This would have been refreshing and pretty awesome. Cena turns heel and puts on a match with one of the best plus the streak would really be in danger becuase Cena would have the whole nexus by his side.

Now THAT'S refreshing. I wouldn't like Cena to take a break for a few months, return, then feed us the same crap he was before he left. At least change it up a bit if you won't have him go heel.

-

 

[TheKingHustla]

Your fantasy and suggestion is very far fetched. Very imaginitive though. The man was "Fired" but could never stay off live tv. He was beat so bad he couldnt show up to raw a week or two ago. Wait...he was there anyways. Unless mr cena gets legit injured dont count him out.

This is exactly what I was thinking. If he would have taken time off, it would have been when he got "fired". Even when he was "via satellite" he was at the arena. There's no getting rid of the man. He had that emotional speach when he got fired about being at his moms birthdayand all that stuff and what happened? he was right back at the next show. I don't think he needs a break, i think he needs to be a b plot instead of the a plot for a while, because if he takes a break, the WWE will lose a lot of kid viewers, but making him a b plot instead of an a plot would possibly please everyone. you still see Cena, but not as much, and you see some one else more. Cena for the cenation, and someone else for the anti-cenation movement.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I was actually shock when JR stated that stats that Cena was in his 8th consecutive main event at wrestlemania. The Rock and Austin have 6 mania main events COMBINED.

Austin got hurt & started slapping women, while Rock went on to 'bigger and better' things. That and people were ready to move on because a) Austin turned heel and b) Rock wanted to make movies instead of being in the WWE.

Cena has busted his rainbow color'd balls for the eight years. And like it or not, CENA is the top grossing star the WWE has ever had.

You cannot expect someone to be so over, specially every year it what is supposed to be the aim of every superstar and expect the people not to get sick of him....specially a character like Cena.

Well, unlike roughly and generously speaking 85% of the roster, CENA moves merchandise, and makes people pay money to see him. There is a very big difference between "getting a crowd reaction" and "making money." Like it or not, that is the reason CENA is the top star. Not Orton, Punk, [insert internet favorite here]. Besides, last year they tried to make Raw about Orton for about a month and the ratings dropped so bad they only let him get 5 minutes of air time weekly by the end of they end. lulz

 

[avi01]

Austin got hurt & started slapping women, while Rock went on to 'bigger and better' things. That and people were ready to move on because a) Austin turned heel and b) Rock wanted to make movies instead of being in the WWE.

Cena has busted his rainbow color'd balls for the eight years. And like it or not, CENA is the top grossing star the WWE has ever had.



Well, unlike roughly and generously speaking 85% of the roster, CENA moves merchandise, and makes people pay money to see him. There is a very big difference between "getting a crowd reaction" and "making money." Like it or not, that is the reason CENA is the top star. Not Orton, Punk, [insert internet favorite here]. Besides, last year they tried to make Raw about Orton for about a month and the ratings dropped so bad they only let him get 5 minutes of air time weekly by the end of they end. lulz

you totally miss my point. No one can argue, Cena is the biggest money maker of the company right now ....I am strictly speaking of the character here, ignoring the business part. People are sick of the character because it is over used, no matter what the reason for Austin and Rock for not making it to other wrestlemanias, fact is that they have not been in the main event picture for that long...had they been, even if Cena will never be as popular as them, people would have still started to get sick of them. You don`t want that moment where people "oh great , x to be in yet another main event". I repeat, this is ignoring about the business part of this, why should I care, I don`t watch the product in order to get stats details on merchandise sold by a wrestler, I watch it to be entertained....and when someone is over-used like him, I get get bored and while business will be the first criteria wwe will look at(I totally understand this is what will influence their decisions), it won`t be mine. My point is about the Cena character not the Cena product. Now does WWE have another guy who can be that new face, that`s a whole new debate....this obviously a major problem for wwe, they can`t get that new guy. Had their been any serious competition for wwe where another company had that new guy, I bet people would have tune in for that other company.

 

[New Age Outlaws]

I think that the WWE is kind of afraid to have him take a significant break right now. Im not a Cena hater but i agree that i could use a little break from him. With the youth movement that the WWE is going in right now besides Orton who is another face that could carry raw right now, this might change after they have the draft but i dont think so. They have a few mid level guys right now that they could try to push but i think that they are afraid that as soon as they would get over Cena would be ready to come back and ruin the others run. That is why they need to make a big push with a baby face mid level guy now while Cena is still around which i think is what they are going to be doing with the announcement of the Cena Rock WM match. This will hopefully give another guy a chance to build some momentum over the next year and then at next years WM they can put him over and give Cena some much deserved time off.

 

[TheKingHustla]

I was actually shock when JR stated that stats that Cena was in his 8th consecutive main event at wrestlemania. The Rock and Austin have 6 mania main events COMBINED.

This is actually a tricky stat because it depends on what you consider a main event. now a days, each mainia has more than one main event. thats how they count Cena as having 8. The Rock and Austin combine for 6 if you not count them facing each other as 2, because they faced each other at mania 3 times. Austin has 5 and rock has 5. they also competed in a time where they had future hall of famers competing. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Sid, Foley, Triple H, Jericho and tons of other hall of famers, in years where they only had 1 or 2 matches considered main events. now they have 3 and 4 matches that they consider main events because of the split of RAW/SD and when ECW was around. Cena just competes during a different era. It's just like in any sport, things change, and the numbers change in value.

 

[RD_21]

Austin got hurt & started slapping women, while Rock went on to 'bigger and better' things. That and people were ready to move on because a) Austin turned heel and b) Rock wanted to make movies instead of being in the WWE.

Cena has busted his rainbow color'd balls for the eight years. And like it or not, CENA is the top grossing star the WWE has ever had.



Well, unlike roughly and generously speaking 85% of the roster, CENA moves merchandise, and makes people pay money to see him. There is a very big difference between "getting a crowd reaction" and "making money." Like it or not, that is the reason CENA is the top star. Not Orton, Punk, [insert internet favorite here]. Besides, last year they tried to make Raw about Orton for about a month and the ratings dropped so bad they only let him get 5 minutes of air time weekly by the end of they end. lulz

We can't deny that Cena is making money but to me the problem is that what you have prevent you from seeing what you could have. Sure Cena is making money but he is also turning a LOT of viewers off and if they had him take a break or another top star there may be more viewers. People try to say that Cena is the highest revenue star they had like you did while forgetting that Austin was at the top when WWE was drawing 6.0 every week, while Cena is the top star of an era who can barely draw 3 (lately almost 4 but Taker, HHH and The Rock came back.).

Personally I think people need a break from CEna before more people start wishing he get injured. The last time I cared for Cena was when he came back at the Royal Rumble because it was a surprise and because he had been out for months. I can't stand the guy since a good while even more so from breaking point in Montreal where I was live and Cena faced Orton in an I quit match. Orton beat him for 30 minutes asking him 20 times if he was quitting and he was always screaming NOOOOO like a mad man. Then Cena does 2 moves and Orton quit.... that showed exactly everything that is wrong with Cena.

The routine of the face getting beat only to come back in the end is good if you are a kid or a Cena fan because you fear for him, when you are sick of him you just fear that he will do a come back in the end and it makes for a boring match. Plus when it happens all the time if you have a brain you stop fearing for Cena loss and when you stop doubting and outcome it becomes predictables, stale and boring.

 

[TheKingHustla]

We can't deny that Cena is making money but to me the problem is that what you have prevent you from seeing what you could have. Sure Cena is making money but he is also turning a LOT of viewers off and if they had him take a break or another top star there may be more viewers. People try to say that Cena is the highest revenue star they had like you did while forgetting that Austin was at the top when WWE was drawing 6.0 every week, while Cena is the top star of an era who can barely draw 3 (lately almost 4 but Taker, HHH and The Rock came back.).

contrary to popular belief, i doubt that Cena hurts tv numbers. he damn sure doesnt hurt arena numbers, and If he were to take a break, the amount of money they would lose from cena merch would be a lot, plus they would lose the millions and millions of Cenation kiddies. putting all of those numbers in perspective, the risk of not having cena is higher than the posibilities that people think could come from it.

 

[Long Island Iced WXYZ]

Does Cena need a break? or does the WWE need a break from him? either based on my scenario or your opinion.

No.

Why?

The only people that think Cena is stale and needs to go away are the IWC and some 30 year old men that think he can't wrestle.

Cena is not boring or stale, at least to me, and they've kept him busy outside of being a title contender for many months last year.

He makes more money than anyone else in pro wrestling.

And as for him main eventing WM 8 times? So what?

Who else can be put in that position to sell as many PPVs? No one, it's irrelevant if he's been in that many main events. That rainbow color wearing marine is who people pay to see.

And as for Cena needing to become more special? What!!!??? He's the top guy in the company, one of the biggest stars ever. How does that even make sense?

 

[owen8472]

hogan had tons of main events in the wwf and wwe was never a mid carder in his runs with the wwe. cena is being pushed as the new hogan so expect alot more main events for him. however the wwe needs to do a better job at ppv or there going to lose its fans quick just like tna.....

 

[poppycock]

I don't think he needs a break (although it wouldn't hurt) I would rather see a big heel turn. I think now is a good time for this to happen seeing as he is in a fued with "The Peoples Champion" The Rock. I think a change of character for Cena would do wonders for him and his stale seen it all before ways. When he gave The Rock the Attitude Adjustment before Wrestlemania I hoped he would continue beating on him to really get the crowd on his back. The only problem is I don't see too many main event faces right now for him to get into a big fued with. I'm guessing we wont see The Rock take part in any in ring action until Wrestlemania. Orton, Triple H, The Miz and CM Punk are all better heels than baby faces in my opinion.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

hell yes cena needs time off from wwe! ive been saying this for awhile tht wwe should give cena a couple monthes off i mean i HATE cena but i respect the guys passion for the business but i think he should take a 2-3 month break then come back as a heel leading to him being heel for the match against the rock at mania 28! id LOVE to see this and i was hoping cena would be gone for awhile after wade barrett "fired" him but no cena was back later that night and the week after tht i think a cena break from wwe would benfit cena,wwe and the wwe fans as they might not be so sick of him when he comes back

 

[SomeAreSet]

He won't take a break unless he gets injured.The WWE needs him to sell out arenas and to sell merchandise.Nobody else can step up and become the main guy in the WWE if Cena takes a break.

I agree with everyone that Cena should have taken a well-deserved break between him getting fired and the next PPV last December.I think Vince got too scared that ratings would plummet or that merchandise sales would tank.It's too bad,it would have done them quite a bit of good in the long run.The only time where I think Cena can take a break is after the PPV when he wraps up his feud with The Miz.Cena seems to have nothing much to do during the Summerslam period anyway.He can come back the Raw after the PPV after Summerslam and set up a match for the next PPV.That would

1) Give the people who are bored of Cena a break from him,
2) Push another face into the spotlight of 2nd biggest show of the year,
3)Help increase PPV buys for one of the smaller PPVs because they want to see Cena's return and if they want to
4) Design new Cena merchandise for the kids.

To be honest the only people who are actually sick of Cena (and not just booing him for the hell of it) are grown-ass men with nothing better to do than to rebel against the face/heel dynamic in pro-wrestling and they are just the vocal minority.If an arena can hold 15,000 people and the people who hate Cena make up 10% of that arena,then that's 1500 grown-ass men with fully-developed lungs that can cause an avalanche with their yelling.Add the number of casual fans in the arena booing Cena for fun and you get the mixed crowd reaction every time Cena goes on TV.

To be honest,WWE without Cena is going to be boring as hell.If he takes a break they should hype his return like crazy because people are going to be looking forward to him returning after watching the Cena-less bore fest.Hopefully if he takes a break and returns they'll book him to actually wrestle and not take a beating and then perform 5 moves.

 

[PG Era Sucks]

No way in hell. He's their biggest cash grab and the reason that all these kids watch it.

 

[RD_21]

contrary to popular belief, i doubt that Cena hurts tv numbers. he damn sure doesnt hurt arena numbers, and If he were to take a break, the amount of money they would lose from cena merch would be a lot, plus they would lose the millions and millions of Cenation kiddies. putting all of those numbers in perspective, the risk of not having cena is higher than the posibilities that people think could come from it.

Well 6.0 vs low 3 there must be doing something wrong. don't tell me it's the UFC or that wrestling is cyclical, I know that but that just prove that the current era don't attract people that much. To me when Cena is on the mute button of channel switch can't come soon enough and I just started to get annoy by him lately. 4-5 years ago I was reading a column called Molly's thoughts and she was already annoyed with a lot of people by Cena. A lot of people move away from wrestling, maybe he didn't push them away but he is the face of the product and he failed to keep them.

If it wasn't for Punk, HHH and The Miz I probably wouldn't be watching WWE anymore.

 

[TheKingHustla]

Well 6.0 vs low 3 there must be doing something wrong. don't tell me it's the UFC or that wrestling is cyclical, I know that but that just prove that the current era don't attract people that much. To me when Cena is on the mute button of channel switch can't come soon enough and I just started to get annoy by him lately. 4-5 years ago I was reading a column called Molly's thoughts and she was already annoyed with a lot of people by Cena. A lot of people move away from wrestling, maybe he didn't push them away but he is the face of the product and he failed to keep them.

If it wasn't for Punk, HHH and The Miz I probably wouldn't be watching WWE anymore.

The low ratings has nothing to do with cena. it has to do with the overall product. The overall product is worse than before. That's why now its 3 instead of 6. Without Cena, the rating would drop lower than 3, not go up to 4 or 5. anybody who remembers watching the WWF in what i like to call it's prime, when the monday night wars were going on, the overall product was better, and they had steep competition in WCW and decent competition with ECW. now the competition isnt on par with WCW but the WWE isnt on par with the WWF. Don't blame Cena, blame the entire product. Without Cena, who's gonna get the tv time? orton? he gets tv time and had huge tv spots before. CM Punk gets tv time. Who else is gonna draw like Cena? Sheamus? nope. Jo-Mo? nope. Daniel Bryan? nope. there's no one right now who shows up on a weekly bases that draws bigger than cena. they need to build bigger stars, but not by sacrificing Cena. if they cut down on the cole crap and put someone else in to battle miz and be a face, they can do that and give cena a different story. instead of doing away with him.

But overall, the product is worse, thats why the numbers are low, and, like anything, all the fans who watched WWF before have moved on. That's what happens. That's why Cena is so good, because all the men who complain about him will move on, but the kiddies will stay, and grow into men who are fans. thats great for future business, not only for today.

 

[darbare]

Apparently Cena is not just for kids anymore....apparently my grandparents started watching it because they like Cena alot....all jokes aside, Cena is Cena...I wouldnt say love or hate him because I can say whatever the hell I want to....I have no problems with Cena the guy....he does all this charity, he seems like a cool guy who puts on because its his job....I get that....his character to be completely honest sucks ass....I think WWE is quite honestly lazy with Cena because without him they dont have to invest in another guy UNLESS they have to....theyre comfortable making money off of him, but what happens one day he gets seriously injured? then they are in a shit load of trouble because they didnt take preventative measures to start building new faces for the future....it seems like they have a new formula where they compare Cena's early success to his current success. What I mean by this is, he was a popular heel early on with a great gimmick...then they turned him face....is it me or are there are alot of heels who are young guys....just because it worked with Cena doesnt mean its gonna work with Sheamus, Barrett, or possibly ADR...they were so low on faces they abruptly ended Ortons awesome heel run because they didnt have anyone else...thats a problem when you sacrifice your talent when they are thriving for the sake of being lazy in holding on to that one talent whos the cash cow...damn WWE just make new faces...you already have like tons of heels....I'm just wondering like how many little kids truly like Cena that much....when I was like 8 I cherished the ground that SCSA walked on....throwing beers and middle fingers everywhere was just amazing.....I guess it depends of what type of little kid you are....seems lame to me but whatever....anyways, the guy needs a break, and I actually think its not fair for him in a way because they overuse him so much and he truly understands many fans dont like him, but he cant do anything about it....he's literally caught between a rock and a hard place, no pun intended...the kids and his Cenation, and what he truly wants to be doing....with how hard he has been working, he deserves to do whatever the hell he wants to do but he cant

 

[Chrisx]

Just like anything too much exposure gets over saturated, I remember back in 06 when I went to a house show they booed the crap out of him.Don't know what much more will it take for WWE to get it.I would love to see cena off television for a few months doubt it will happen.Vince is so worried about ratings/merchandise doubt it will happen anytime soon maybe a heel turn something.

 

[SomeAreSet]

for real? then i guess those 1500 grown-ass men are on a mission to go around the country booing Cena right? or how about the people that dont caer for the guy? you know, the ones that dont boo or cheer for him...

If Raw sells out every arena in the country and 10% of every arena are guys who hate Cena,you still get 10% of the overall fan base.

As for your point of the fans who don't care for Cena,well then I guess they make up an even smaller minority.Do you ever hear a dead crowd during a Cena match?If they're not booing him they're cheering him.There are very few people who don't care for him.

 

[hollowpoint]

IMO it will be good for the WWE and Cena to be off of the air for a couple of months. Have an angle where he gets hurt at ER against the Miz or something to that effect. One thing the WWE has always been good at is finding that next star. This is a better opportunity as any to find him. That way Cena can refresh his character and the audience can be refreshed because too much of anything is never good.

 

[drey21536]

this is my first post on this site so here it goes....
i think that wwe needs time witout cena and im a cena fan.because i want to see how wwe does without him. i dont think there is anyone who can take his spot. and then all the cena haters will know who is the number 1 guy in the company is. n stop bitchin bout cena being stale.


I think cena is way over with the people. and i think that vince need to take the way of making sure that cena doesnt injure him self before wrestlemania.