Give Me a Hero

[Steamboat Ricky]

I know that I am well respected around these parts, and I appreciate that I still get love even in my inconsistent posting over the last year. In that time, I have admittedly lost considerable interest in the current product of professional wrestling. I remember the days of never missing a pay-per-view event, even taking my laptop to the Blast Area to attempt to write papers during whatever event was taking place that month. Yet, the last pay-per-view event I remember attending was Wrestlemania XXVI, which is a far cry from watching every month. I kept telling myself that I would go the next month...and then the next month...I mean, I'm definitely going to go watch Summerslam...yet I never went. I haven't gone. The only real exposure I have to the current wrestling environment comes from reading results on WWE's website or, of course, following live results on wrestlezone.com, hoping that maybe, just maybe...there will be someone that comes to the forefront that inspires me to watch the programming.

You might look at this as Ricky's rant on the current wrestling product. There seems to be a lot of these lately, so why should you read yet another rant about how bad the wrestling product is today? Well, hopefully this one is either a bit different, or at least it will provide a different perspective on what is lacking in today's world of professional wrestling.


I remember...I was a 7th grade kid...smaller than most of the other kids in my class. I wasn't bullied terribly, but there were some bigger kids that I truly couldn't stand. There were teachers that I thought gave me a hard time. There were people in the world that were bigger, more powerful, "cooler," and more well off in the culture in which I was living at the time, and I was just me. Some of my friends liked professional wrestling...I knew a little bit of the culture, as I was a semi-Hulkamaniac growing up...I remember going over to my neighbor's house and playing WCW/nWo World Tour and WWF Warzone, so I was kind of familiar with the world of wrestling. Then, one fall evening, I was flipping through the channels and thought I would actually see what the buzz was about. This happened:

[YOUTUBE]HAgZDZWwgRI[/YOUTUBE]




I knew a little bit of the back-story from hearsay at school. But as if I needed any backstory to know what was going on. The entire power structure of the company, plus the two biggest monsters on the roster, were out to get Stone Cold Steve Austin. Heck, they even succeeded in getting the title away from him. Yet, even with all the forces of evil imaginable plotting to destroy him, Stone Cold Steve Austin, even in defeat, would not allow himself to be defeated (which I realize is a paradox). In fact, he even managed to inflict some damage of his own on the boss and made such an impact that he had to be eliminated from the scene by external forces. He was too strong to be handled by the forces of power.

Big deal, right? Something like 85% of all stories have a clear line differentiating between hero and villain, good and evil. Well, there is a reason for that. If you have read any about the psychologist Carl Jung and/or mythic philosopher Joseph Campbell, you are well aware of the role that archetypes play in the inner-world of human beings. The hero archetype is a prominent and powerful archetype, and particularly in my experience, has colored every facet of my life since my childhood.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was my hero. This character provided me with an archetypal image through which I was able put a more tolerable perspective on my realities. I was able to view the adversaries in my life as not completely suffocating but as foes merely standing in my path in which I had to fend off or defeat in order to reach a goal. I could really identify with Stone Cold, and his defiance...not just to authority...but to evil factors that hindered his progression and freedom, gave me a certain energy and inspiration that maybe I could stand up for myself, as well.

12 years ago, I had that hero figure coming into my living room on a weekly basis, taking on the forces of evil and rising above the tyranny. I still need that hero in my life, and I often resort to youtube and other avenues to rekindle the inspiration that I received while watching Stone Cold. Why do I do this? Why don't I just tune-in to Raw and Impact! every week? Because the current wrestling product, both in WWE and TNA, lacks the presence of a strong hero archetype.

Now, this isn't going to be the typical...."OMG, WWE PG is TEH SUX!!!!" rant. Heroes are available in a PG environment. Yet, today's WWE seems to lack a hero with which I can relate. Let's take a look at some possibilities:


John Cena: The obvious. Cena always is taking on all challengers and overcoming the odds with his Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect motto...never cheating, never taking shortcuts, and always beating whatever marginal heel they throw in his face. But that is the problem...I haven't seen an overwhelmingly powerful and tyrannical heel in quite some time. We got close with William Regal a few summers ago when he was shutting out the lights and running the system before he got suspended. I was so excited with this storyline...probably more excited than I had been about a storyline since the Attitude Era. Cena could be that hero if he was really allowed to overcome some kind of odds that were overwhelming and paralyzing. I always felt like Stone Cold had the deck stacked against him...yet I just don't see that with Cena. So when Stone Cold got a victory...boy was it gratifying.

Randy Orton: He's no John Cena...so if John Cena can't even inspire me, then the Viper surely is not going to. And that's not really Orton's M.O. Orton's always about himself, and nothing is really stacked against him anyway.


Rey Mysterio: I mean...he's small...yet he plays with the big boys. He even wins their world titles...yet he's booked as being one of the dominant players in whatever brand he serves. He's always near the main event, but I think if he had to fight through a bunch of monsters and I was not expecting him to win in each of these matches...he might have a little bit more hero credibility.

Triple H: He's out, but he is the only guy I can really see as a hero-type right now. He dresses the part...he has the look...and he just knows how to play it. It's just about creating the adversarial other that is powerful enough for Trips to rise to heroic status.


The Undertaker: I love his character, but it's not exactly able to be related to. He's a hero in a sense, but not the kind of which I am speaking.


Anybody in TNA: Who do we have? Anderson...Angle...RVD? I guess I don't really see "Immortal" as that dominant and oppressive of a heel force (or maybe I'm just not at all drawn to TNA's programming)...I just have a hard time getting behind these guys. I see it being easiest to back a Ken Anderson with a little bit of momentum...but only if he's really getting owned by Immortal in an overly convincing fashion.

Now, take my opinions of the above current stars with a grain of salt, because as I've said...I have issues getting excited about the current product and thus, have not watched with regularity. However, I think it speaks for itself that I don't watch regularly anymore, and I'm not doing so because I don't have a hero in which to integrate into my own life. Perhaps the younger audience can really find a common identity in John Cena. I will concede this. Yet, when I was the age of these children, I found a common identity in a beer-swilling, foul-mouthed, middle-finger-waving, defiant S.O.B. named Stone Cold Steve Austin. Did he need to do all of those things in order to find commonality with Austin? No. I was 10 years away from my first beer, I was respectful to authority figures, and I did my best to be nice to all of my peers. Yet, there was something deep within me that Stone Cold connected with...and that is what has had a lasting impact on me. That's what I still long for in a wrestling product. I suppose my point in this paragraph is that a hero can cross age demographic boundaries. Stone Cold was surely the hero of many adults who hated their bosses, yet he was also the hero of a certain 12 year-old kid (and millions of others). Could John Cena or someone else serve as a hero for a variety of demographics?


In conclusion, I would just like to appeal to WWE and TNA. Please, give me a hero. Give me someone to believe in...give me someone to hang my hat on. You have not given me a character in which to place my hopes, and that's why you have been losing my business and viewership.

For those who read this rant, I would appreciate any feedback/criticism/praise...do you think heroes are absent in wrestling today?

 

[The Crock]

Quite the post there, Ricky. Nicely done.

I must say, I totally agree with you. When I was a little kid that Good vs Evil "battle" is what kept me coming back every week. I loved to see Rock or Austin battling it out with whomever was the top heel at the time. The thing is, back then, the WWE had such a pool of talent that I truly believe is amazing. They had so many Hall of Famers that it's hard to count. We grew up seeing guys like Rock and Austin who could actually take on that "Hero" role, that's the problem. In today's product there aren't enough guys who can do that. Cena and HHH are the only two even close to "Heroes" but there seems to be something missing. What's missing? A great "Villain". You can't be the protagonist if there is no antagonist, and you sure can't be a great protagonist without a great antagonist. You see what I'm getting at here? There's nobody that can take on the role of a Mr. McMahon or a heel 'Taker because they just don't have the talent. We were priveleged to watch the Attitude Era unfold, and we got used to it, but there's just not that amount of talent out there anymore. Some day, there will again be a "Hero" in professional wrestling, we'll just have to wait and see who his "Villain" will be.

 

[Ferbian]

Damn good thread Ricky. There's your feedback.

I kinda agree with you. While I would personally disagree with the whole John Cena not being quite enough to be considered this era's hero. But obviously that's your appeal, Stone Cold was truly an odd against him all the time type of guy. John Cena has mostly been featured in odds against him during his recent stint with Nexus for the most of it. Yet he's mostly featured in "equal" odds against a "very" bad guy.

I think the closest we get to a hero in todays wrestling world. John Cena is produced for the sake of coming off as a hero, and he seems to live his life after being the heroic rolemodel like Hulk Hogan was back in the days. An Austin hero is gonna be hard to duplicate I think due to the immense popularity he got so quickly, and mostly due to the fact that he was more or less just a charismatic everyday man that stood up to his boss and punched the shit out of him.

We don't have that type of person today. We had Randy Orton as the only person that ever came close due to him kicking the McMahon's ass in his feud with Triple H. But Triple H was the good guy back then, and it was definite that Randy was booked to be the heel.

The only other person right now I could think of would've been Triple H. But he doesn't really have the attributes to deal with it. He was pitted against the odds on numerous occasions. Yet he's not the type of heroic face guy that you're most definitely searching for. He's the "Take shit from nobody" bad-ass face like I believe I had a thread about some time ago with the bad-ass faces being the biggest successes in the past 20 years after Hulk Hogan's not so bad-ass heroic persona.

So, I could definitely see your point that professional wrestling could use a hero. But for now, John Cena is the closest we'll get. He's the one guy that connects with the crowd the most, and is pitted as the hero of this generation. There won't be need for a guy like that for a while to come.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

The one guy that for me really comes close to your pedestal Ricky "could've been" Kurt Angle.

The Badass Kurt Angle of course. I mean there was a guy who could talk the talk and walk the walk and still have a bag more of swagger and skills than any ME player. He still can, but age has crept up and if he would've stayed in the E, I believe, he would've taken the mantle that Orton occupies now. He was never the biggest dog in the fight , but he could fight like a rabid dog and even in loss you would still applaud the heck outta him.

But at the moment, you never know where that HERO might come up from. However, if looking at the landscape today, it's bleak.

I mean we're talking about someone who the masses could connect to and say 'that's our guy' aren't we? No sorry, I'm really thinking here, but ...I got noone. And that's a damn shame.

 

[CH David]

Ricky, I think I know why you don't have a hero for this generation. You said you were a semi-Hulkamaniac, and you loved Austin. Hogan and Austin had one variable in common that helped them be huge. The foes seemed unbeatable or kept coming. Hogan had all the monsters coming after him, Earthquake, Andre, Iron Sheik. Austin had McMahon and all of his cronies. Both seemingly having to beat insurmountable odds which made it that much greater when they won.

There really isn't any monster heel to make someone be that hero. They tried with Khali, Umaga, Kozlov and so on. But it doesn't help. I think right now the biggest thing going for the WWE on Raw outside of the Miz being champ is Nexus. They were able to get rid of John Cena (for a little while at least). The face of the WWE was fired because of Wade Barrett not getting the WWE Championship. When he returns and goes on to face either Barrett or all of Nexus and come out victorious, it will be extremely gratifying to see.

So that's what I think is the problem Ricky. There really isn't any insurmountable odds for people to face in wrestling at this moment. Once that happens, whoever it happens to can come onto your television each week and be your hero.

 

[The Holy One]

I think Cena can be the hero you're looking for. Hell even Orton too, however, you'll find it harder looking for a villan than a hero. The only way to see a guy overcome the odds is if there's somebody who's putting them there in the first place. Hogan eventually had DiBiase who tried everything with his money to get the title off of Hogan. Austin had McMahon screw him all the time whether it was with the Undertaker, Kane, The Rock, Triple H, or Kurt Angle. There hasn't been a heel who can you hate and question if the face can beat him since HHH in 05.

Jericho and Punk as good as they are never make you wonder if anybody can beat them. Edge somewhat did this with Cena, Undertaker, Batista, and Jeff Hardy but he played hot potato with the title and the most of the time was on Smackdown so hardly anyone cared. Orton played a pretty good sadistic heel but he was fighting against the people in control rather than teaming up with them. Sheamus is good too but Orton has already dominated him. Then you have the Miz, who I kind of like but as of right now, he doesn't really scare anybody.

The closest someone has been to HHH level of heel is probably Barrett and the Nexus this year. A lot of people questioned if Cena and Orton after him could beat Barrett. If the Nexus can somehow rise up in a higher position of power, I think that will create the hero you're looking for in the guy who can stop them whether it's Cena, Orton, or somebody else remains to be seen.

 

[Барбоса]

Cena is clearly the obvious choice currently for the role of hero. His character just exudes the qualities of a hero and he even has the kind of catchphrase for that clean cut champion - "Never Give Up." However, perhaps in this modern day he is a little too clean cut for some.

Triple H and Orton I do not see as being in a similar bracket to Cena hero-wise if only because their passed runs as villains have been so good and memorable. Both Cena and Austin had something of a clean slate as neither had scaled the heights as a singles heel competitor in WWE before embarking on their hero run.

The Undertaker is a difficult one if only because his character is in essence evil - the dark destroyer, who takes possession of souls and wants to bury people. It is a tough sell to make him the ultimate hero.

Rey Mysterio could easily be set up as the hero, and as the "little" man in a land of giants he perhaps already is. However, the idea of him being the underdog has been used so often already and is constantly being refered to that I think it actually does damage to his "heroic" qualities.

However, a hero is only defined by his enemy and I would say that the crux of the problem is not the lack of potential heroes per se but, as already been mentioned, the lack of an uber-villain with an agenda of power to help define these heroes. If John Cena had the same "Corporate" McMahon that Austin had to play off then I think he could easily become this super hero in the positive rather than patronising sense. The thing with McMahon was that he was seemingly untouchable for while Austin might defeat whatever lackey McMahon threw at him and even after he got in the ring with the Rattlesnake, McMahon remained the boss and would continue to cast his shadow over Austin.

There is a chance that WWE could relive this kind of "good vs evil" storyline in the near future, particularly with the Anonymous GM. What if it turned out to be an articulate villain such as "Best In The World" Chris Jericho or "Straight Edge" CM Punk or someone who aligned themselves firmly with say Wade Barrett and Nexus? Preferably it would be someone who, like McMahon, was not an active wrestler and looked to use Nexus to gain complete control not just of RAW but perhaps Smackdown too with Barrett as his Undisputed World Champion.

Then you might have the combination of power, charisma and untouchability to perhaps galvanise Cena into an Austin-like hero.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

First off the word "Zamboni" makes me laugh. I am not sure why though.

The reason the WWE has been so successful while other have failed is because they don't view Raw as a pro wrestling show; They view it as a television show. You got your main character that everyone else is developed around. Instead of clinging on to the glory from 10/20 years ago, they just change the main character, which is essentially means they changed the show.

You bring up Austin as your hero. What did Austin do? Whatever the hell he wanted to do. Since he got cheered for it, all of the faces at the time followed the same rebellious front. On the other hand, the bad guys tried to keep oppress them. You had McMahon trying to throw his power around to keep his workers in line. You had people like Right to Censor trying to keep the blood and boobies exposure down.

Eventually, that stuff wasn't interesting to a large scale audience like the WWE caters too. Weapon shots weren't getting that "OOH!!!" reaction. The idea of seeing blood wasn't so shocking. The women weren't getting reactions just because they "are hot." The result was that most of the people who watched during the Attitude Era moved passed the WWE (to most noticeably MMA).

So, the WWE moved to PG to make new fans. The kids who watched during the Attitude Era are more than likely parents to the kids who watch now. Regardless of what they think of the current product's quality, they at least know "It's fake, but it's harmless fun."

Now the John Cena is the hero of the show because for kids, it is easy to get into what he does. For the most part, his promos are pretty straight forward. He is going to talk about beating up the bad guy because it is the right thing to do. Inside of building up a bunch of faces to empathize Cena's morals, they have made a boat load of bad guys. Most recently (and I think most effectively) Wade Barrett has been built up to be the guy that questions Cena's integrity. So, why people were expecting Cena to turn heel in the process of this Cena vs Barrett angle is beyond me.


I think that is why people who want another "Austin" don't accept Cena. Morally, they are completely different characters.

In your case [SBR], I think it is just a matter of accepting times have changed without really accepting what the change is.

 

[Arkham Noir]

I suffer from the same thing.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the current product. The problem is that I don't really have a favourite wrestler. I always say that I liked Cena in 2005 becuase he was taking on guys left, right, and center. He went in brawls with JBL, heated wars with bischoff, and got his ass handed to him by Kurt Angle repeatedly. But I could believe in him. Alot of guys today bounce around too much for me to get invested in them.

Which brings up another point. I think guys today don't spend long enough in their respective roles. Take Orton for example. He was heel this time last year and now he is one of the top faces. It's hard to truly get behind a guy when a year ago he was the villain. Same goes for the reverse. Guys turn heel so quickly, how the hell are we supposed to suddenly hate them. Obviously, than isn't why we have a hard time finding heroes, (Austin went from heel to face quickly) , but I think it's part of it.

I think the whole concept of not having more stars to get attached to isn't something that should be over looked. It's amazing how something as simple as one person can change a persons entire perception of the company. Daniel Bryan did this for me. My intrest has been completly locked into what's going on just because I root for Bryan. In my case, the same could be said for NXT season 3 . I'm a huge supprter of A.J. and I followed the entire show because of her.

I completly agree with needing true heroes in WWE ( I don't care about TNA ). At the end of the day , that's what professional wrestling is; Good vs. Bad with something on the line. I think society as a whole is missing heroes. People seem to be more concerned with having a good time and getting notoriety than setting an example. The next hero will show up when we least expect it. Hopefully it isn't too far away.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

The consensus seems to be that there is a lack of villains for which to serve as the balance of a good hero. But who in the WWE has the ability to be that kind of heel? And furthermore, why is it that WWE seems to not be creating these solid, monster adversaries to get the hero over?

 

[Arkham Noir]

The consensus seems to be that there is a lack of villains for which to serve as the balance of a good hero. But who in the WWE has the ability to be that kind of heel? And furthermore, why is it that WWE seems to not be creating these solid, monster adversaries to get the hero over?

I don't think it's that WWE won't create that kind of heel, it's that they can't. It has become very difficult in this day and age to have a star that everyone hates. People like to cheer heels now and it kills the possibility of the performer ever being a mega-villain. Look at the Miz; he is supposed to be a top heel but he has a cult following.

The last real heel I can think of was JBL. Nobody liked JBL. He was a dick backstage and on camera. He drew serious heat. And look who got Cena over as champion.....

 

[Rhonda Rousey's Sports Bra]

Honestly Ricky, I don't want to make this a general IWC bitchfest type thread but I think your hero can be found in Orton.... if Cena turns heel.

Just think about it, Cena has been the biggest powerhouse in the WWE and if he wasn't going by the rules and just going out there for himself every night turning his back on the fans he could be that monster that someone needs to take down. You can even put McMahon behind him pulling the strings, and the perfect person to take exception to all this and make it his mission to take down the forces of evil would be the new Randy Orton. He's never liked John Cena and had some of the biggest most intense rivalries with him and just last week he basically burried the kayfabe hatchet on Cena's exit. Orton is the only man credible enough to take out this threat to his lifestyle and could give you your hero you've been looking for.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

The consensus seems to be that there is a lack of villains for which to serve as the balance of a good hero. But who in the WWE has the ability to be that kind of heel? And furthermore, why is it that WWE seems to not be creating these solid, monster adversaries to get the hero over?

[YOUTUBE]E44dTvy6Feg[/YOUTUBE]


Wade didn't come across as an uber heel in that promo? He basically called the top guy on the company a pussy on national television just because he knew that the top guy wouldn't touch him. That crowd was chanting "Cena Sucks" at the beginning of the show and by the end of it, they were booing because Cena didn't take a shot at Wade. And close to two months later, he fired the top guy in the company.


And to be honest, I don't know why Orton gets cheered outside of the fact that he reminds a bunch of people who watched in the Attitude Era of faces from that time. During that time it was 'cool' to cheer the people who acted like complete jerks. But my anti-Orton sentiments are for another thread.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Brilliant opening post Steamboat Ricky. Austin was my hero too. You brought back a lot of memories.

A lot of people have pointed out here how a great hero needs a great villian and its true. But I do not think that the inability to produce a great villian stems from a lack of talent. I think WWE tries too hard to make their fans go home happy in this era. I think that the heels of this era are right up there with the top heels of any era. CM Punk is a great heel, so was Randy Orton in 2009. But I'm sure that if you take into account the last three years you will find that faces have a better win/loss ratio than heels. And the ratio just gets better for the babyfaces if we talk of PPV's.

There have been numerous occasions in the last two years where it would have made more sense to let the heel win but instead WWE booked the face to win just to send their fans home happy. Rey had more victories in his feud with CM Punk. John Cena's team should have lost at Summerslam to make Nexus look more dominant and Orton should have won his bout against Triple H at Wrestlemania 25.

The thing that I want to point out is that the faces win too much. They do not look vulnerable at all and so why should the common fan sympathize with the guy who wins all the time? So its more of a booking problem rather than a lack of talent.

The other thing that's relevant here is the character of a babyface. Coming back to Austin, if you went up to a wrestling promoter in 1995 and said that they should consider making their top face a foul mouthed beer swilling redneck, I'm sure he would have immediately rung up the nearest mental hospital for you. The fact being that you never know what can work or not. You might think that a guy with a certain gimmick has no chance of getting over ever but that guy might just turn out to be the next megastar of wrestling.

Just think about it, Cena has been the biggest powerhouse in the WWE and if he wasn't going by the rules and just going out there for himself every night turning his back on the fans he could be that monster that someone needs to take down. You can even put McMahon behind him pulling the strings, and the perfect person to take exception to all this and make it his mission to take down the forces of evil would be the new Randy Orton. He's never liked John Cena and had some of the biggest most intense rivalries with him and just last week he basically burried the kayfabe hatchet on Cena's exit. Orton is the only man credible enough to take out this threat to his lifestyle and could give you your hero you've been looking for.

I think that in recent weeks Michael Cole has pointed out that Cena and Orton have a lot of mutual respect for each other. Also Orton said it last week that he respected Cena. Ideally Orton should have been completely indifferent to Cena's departure or even enjoyed it perhaps. But I guess as of now they are doing that respect thing all over again.

Still this ide has potential. Orton's character is such that you can forget that Orton said anything about respecting Cena. Especially if you don't talk about it much.

 

[Ferbian]

The consensus seems to be that there is a lack of villains for which to serve as the balance of a good hero. But who in the WWE has the ability to be that kind of heel? And furthermore, why is it that WWE seems to not be creating these solid, monster adversaries to get the hero over?

The problem with the whole thing is that I think they are trying to create this monster opponent to get the hero over. Remember how Batista became a legitimate beast in late 2009 early 2010? Sure he never really defeated John Cena, but he gave him one hell of a challenge in every fight. Even to the point where John just couldn't keep Batista down without some kind of "fluke" ending if you will.

We've had Triple H who was HATED as hell. Yet he's the face guy now, and has been for the majority of the past 5 years. He was a heel feuding with John Cena, and he really established him in the main event when he tapped to John Cena at Wrestlemania 22. But it still didn't really get him to that hero point I would say, because Triple H was still getting a fair deal of cheers due to the John Cena hatred.

Right now I really don't see the hugely over heel that could establish a hero person. Randy Orton was a hugely over heel back in 2009 but it just really wasn't enough to the point to get John over, because once again we were seeing the ever popular John Cena sucks chants. They turned Randy Orton face more or less due to John Cena.

Other than Randy there really is no heel that can really mass together the kind of hatred and the monster opponent persona. And even if there managed to come a guy like that along I don't think it would work in terms of building the John Cena mega hero guy. Because let's face it, John Cena has beaten EVERYONE, so why in the world would he have a problem with a mega heel no matter the size and brute strength of the guy? It just wouldn't be enough to get John over as the mega face.

No, I think if we really do need to get a hero in professional wrestling again, we need to wait. Just sit down and wait for John Cena to fade, and this new top face to come along, and in the process make sure to have the mega heel either building with him, or awaiting his arrival if you will. Kinda like Mr. McMahon was created around the rise of Austin, but still were around before their feud was really kicked in.

 

[Theo Mays]

Right now the lack of villains is killing the hero coming out and saving the day. The WWE really only has one option in the villain department and that would be The Nexus. If this needs to be done Nexus needs to be booked as dominant and actually reeking havoc and destroying everything and everyone in their path that they are near indestructible. If that were done it would leave the gates open for someone like Triple H or John Cena to finally bring down the Nexus. Having Nexus going around destroying everyone and thing would get them more heat, as long as it doesn't go overboard. Barrett finally wins the title and it seems there is no stopping him. And then "It's Time To Play The Game" BOOM! You have your savior, your hero. Triple H returns and goes through a series of struggles, but finally he conquers the Nexus at Wrestlemania and all seems well and good again in professional wrestling. Reason I use Triple H is because we've seen Cena try and do it, but he hasn't succeeded and maybe it is time for Nexus to take Cena out for awhile. This could then lead to a Cena/Triple H program down the road where Cena envies Triple H for doing what he couldn't do, take out the Nexus. The end results could go numerous ways.

On the TNA side of things they closest thing they got is Immortal. Now I'm not a TNA mark or a guru on their program, but I'm not sure if they could cut the chase as villains. Yes they are the bad guys, but really who do they have besides Hardy. Plus they lack that hero type character and the closest thing I can come up with would be that of a returning Ken Anderson, since Angle seems more focused on Jeff Jarrett and not Jeff Hardy. I guess it could be done, but the WWE brings a more mainstream hero in terms of name and draw and seems more likely to occur than in TNA.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Great idea on the Triple H program, Theo. As sad as it is...he's far more of the hero type than is John Cena, at least in the fashion that I'm wanting. Triple H versus a powerful Nexus clan would be awesome...but I think the Nexus needs a powerful mouthpiece manager and/or authority figure. Hopefully the Raw GM will make himself known and show up with the Nexus.

The problem with Cena is that he cowers away. If you look at the video that was posted in this thread, Cena wimps out. A real, Ricky-kind of hero would have just picked up Barrett, given him the Attitude Adjustment, and then gone after the Raw GM for firing him. But instead, he cowers down the ramp way. Do children dream of cowering to bullies and not standing up to their adversaries? I don't think so.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Great idea on the Triple H program, Theo. As sad as it is...he's far more of the hero type than is John Cena, at least in the fashion that I'm wanting. Triple H versus a powerful Nexus clan would be awesome...but I think the Nexus needs a powerful mouthpiece manager and/or authority figure. Hopefully the Raw GM will make himself known and show up with the Nexus.

The problem with Cena is that he cowers away. If you look at the video that was posted in this thread, Cena wimps out. A real, Ricky-kind of hero would have just picked up Barrett, given him the Attitude Adjustment, and then gone after the Raw GM for firing him. But instead, he cowers down the ramp way. Do children dream of cowering to bullies and not standing up to their adversaries? I don't think so.

The thing is, Ricky, that you want a badass type of a hero mainly because you grew up like me in the era of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now if you read my post in this thread, I have mentioned that you never know what type of a character might work with the fans. It was a quinnessential hero the first time round with Hogan, a badass the second time with Austin. I think it should be a totally different gimmick this time round. Now what that gimmick might be is a difficult thing to say but I would not like to see an Austin clone.

Like you said that Cena cowering to a bully Barrett does send the wrong message in a way. But I think WWE need to play it up as Cena was powerless to do anything at that point as he had his job on the line and mainly because he had not come up with any idea of how to tackle Barrett. But later towards Survivor Series Cena found a way to a) ensure that the title stays off a cheat like Barrett and b) get his job back.

Now if you are wondering about point (b) then the explanation is that Cena understood that by being fired he would have no responsibility towards Nexus and would hence be playing within the rules which is a principle he abides by. Then once he was fired he would antagonize Barrett to the point where Barrett rehires Cena in order to get his hands on Cena. That way you send out the message that you should defeat bullies by using your brains rather than by brawn and that you should always stick to your ideals which in Cena's case happens to be playing by the rules.

So that is my take on the Nexus angle.