Has everyone noticed John Cena's Voice/Accent changing to be better liked?

[rockyrocky11]

Of all the things I can't stand about Cena, the thing that pisses me off the most is his accents. When he came into the WWE he had the gangster accent. One he became the "kids" champ, he had a nice guy southern accent, and last raw in BOSTON he had the thickest Boston accent I have ever heard him have. I know he is from the area but he was trying redic hard to pull it off like that. I hope I wasn't the only one that noticed this.

In all honesty I would love for Cena to go back to "thug life" rapping and not caring about pleasing anyone. While he's the kids choice, the whole kids angle is killing his career for "real" wrestling fans. I was upset to see yet another Rock video response today, but he was completely right about Cena trying to hard to be liked. He needs to just be one character, instead of changing his voice/accent/character to try and be liked more. Has anyone noticed his voice changing a ridiculous amount over the past few years depending on where he goes.

Go back to not giving a **** thug life cena especially with the voice, so people can take you seriously and start liking you again.

 

[jstroud14]

I did indeed notice the Boston accent coming in last week...but I think it's more of paying homage to his roots than anything...wouldn't make a big deal out of it. I am sure he will be back to kiddie talk soon.

 

[Daniel]

This is silly. First, lets deal with his so-called "changing accents". No. Cena used a stereotypical "gangster accent" when he was doing his hip hop gimmick. That's fine. It's the gimmick he was playing at the time. Since that ended, he has had the same accent. I don't know what it is but his accent has been consistent. But then again, I'm British so it'd be interesting to see if an intelligent American (whose mind is not clouded by Cena hate) has noticed it.

As for your second point, I don't think Cena cares about being liked. The fact is, he is liked. That's why he's the biggest draw in pro wrestling today. Plus, he's stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't care if he's booed. He embraces it. Remember his "farewell speech" last year. He got the men to chant "Cena sucks" and everyone else to chant "let's go Cena". Finally, I'm interested to read your description of what a "real" wrestling fan is. Is it someone who hates Cena? Is it a member of the IWC? Is it a smark? I'm a real wrestling fan. In the sense that I both like wrestling and I exist, and I love Cena. He's one of he best.

 

[FutureChamp328]

Cena just talks and when he does he always has a Boston accent because, go figure, he's from Massachusetts. Cena used a gangster accent to support a gimmick he used when it was done he just spoke. Kinda like Kofi Kingston just dropping his Jamaican accent in the course of a week which was in all honesty worse than this. (BTW was I the only one who was thrown for a loop the first time he dropped the accent)

 

[George Steele's Barber]

It's called an Afflecktation after grand thesbian Ben Affleck. How do you feel about the way he ties his shoelaces? How can a "real" wrestling fan like "fake" wrestling?

 

[fenfool]

If you are from the south but move to the north, your accent may largely disappear, but will get thicker when you go back home to the south...hence, Cena may have had a thicker accent in Boston (honestly, I didn't notice this, but whatever). If he wasn't making money, do you really think Vince would keep him as the top guy? I don't know your age, but if you were around when Hogan had his big run...the 'real' wrestling fans hated him, but the kids loved him, and his merch sold. Simple as that. Your best hope is for a Hogan-esque heel turn, then pray he doesn't turn into the living, omnipresent joke Hogan has become.

 

[NoChanceInHell]

newsflash Kofi is from Massachusetts as well.

I was at Raw on Monday and sitting there listening to Cena, i was like damm that accent is rather awful tonight. maybe it goes away in chicago, who knows, but it was definitely up a notch in Boston last Monday!

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Anyone who says they didn't hear it obviously wasn't listening close enough, because he was most definitely playing up his "Bawstan" accent for the crowd. The people I was watching Raw with all noticed, and if you go listen to Justin LaBars most recent radio show he even makes mention of it. It was a painfully obviously attempt to let the crowd know he was one of them. I'm not a hardcore Cena hater, but he's right up there with Foley for seeking out the cheap pop.

 

[Champ1432]

He let his Boston accent come out because they were........in Boston........... He's from the area, it's ok if he talks like that when he goes home. I wouldn't count on it continuing.

My question is, what is a "real" wrestling fan? Can a kid who loves Cena not be a "real" fan? Is that because they're a kid, or because they love Cena? I would consider myself a "real" fan, I watch it weekly, know a decent amount of it's history, obviously I look at this website. And I like Cena quite a bit. Can you only be considered a "real" fan if you only cheer for CM Punk and complain about Zack Ryder being held down?

 

[Casket34]

I did notice the accent instantly...but it diddnt bother me...he lives in Boston dude...

 

[KerryForrest]

I guess I'm only half real because I'm down with Zack and couldn't care less about CM. I'll be honest, I didn't notice the accent. Maybe its because I played ball with some guys from there. Just like I don't notice the accent we use in my home town. Now if he was going for cheap pops like Foley by speaking that way, go for it. Everyone does it, just like R-Truth goes for cheap heat by using the wrong town name.

It could have been a put on, or it could have been spending the day with friends and family with the accent. I get hard to understand in the city when I spend too much time in the valley speaking valley.

But what ever it is, I never expected posting once, let alone twice, on a topic like this when I awoke this morning, and I guess its the old cliche. On WZF, like the old WWF, anything can happen in the WZF

 

[rockyrocky11]

youtube him singing rockytop on raw..you can't argue that it's only cause he was about to sing rockytop that he has this thick southern accent, because he talks like this whenever he is in a really southern state...he has a thick tennessee accent in this vid..i want to be able to root for cena again, it's just that when he tries this hard in every town it gets ridicilous

 

[rockyrocky11]

Normal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BudjIJssxf0&feature=related
Southern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ebBFoCTxNg&feature=related
Boston http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR-5yb9Dofw

And I think we all know how his gangster accent was...I want him to just be himself and stop trying so hard

 

[TUFFY54]

This is silly. First, lets deal with his so-called "changing accents". No. Cena used a stereotypical "gangster accent" when he was doing his hip hop gimmick. That's fine. It's the gimmick he was playing at the time. Since that ended, he has had the same accent. I don't know what it is but his accent has been consistent. But then again, I'm British so it'd be interesting to see if an intelligent American (whose mind is not clouded by Cena hate) has noticed it.

As both a Southerner and someone who studied dialects in college, let me see if I can help you out. Lets ignore the "gangsta" voice because that was obviously part of his gimmick. Does Cena sometimes sound different? Of course he does. However, it isn't him changing his accent. Most of the time it is due to the words he is using that are regional to the town they are in. For example, he would say something like "How yall doin' tonight" in the South. This may "sound" like he's using a Southern accent, but that because words like "yall" are typically only used in the south. The same with something like "you guys" in the north.

The majority of the time Cena's speaking voice is what is called Midwestern. I say speaking voice because you can tell by the way he articulates things that he doesn't use his "conversational" voice on TV. The Midwestern accent is considered to be the "normal" American dialect. It is what is used be news anchors and taught in public speaking classes. It is also how Cena probably taught himself to speak for promo's. It is basically speaking clearly so the most amount of people can understand what you are saying without immediately identifying you as being from a certain area.

Cena does sometimes sound different, but so does everybody. Most people just don't have audio of themselves speaking around the world every week. I certainly don't think he is trying to change accents to get over anymore than anyone else that plays to the region they are performing in.

 

[WATCHMEN51]

This is silly. First, lets deal with his so-called "changing accents". No. Cena used a stereotypical "gangster accent" when he was doing his hip hop gimmick. That's fine. It's the gimmick he was playing at the time. Since that ended, he has had the same accent. I don't know what it is but his accent has been consistent. But then again, I'm British so it'd be interesting to see if an intelligent American (whose mind is not clouded by Cena hate) has noticed it.

As for your second point, I don't think Cena cares about being liked. The fact is, he is liked. That's why he's the biggest draw in pro wrestling today. Plus, he's stated on numerous occasions that he doesn't care if he's booed. He embraces it. Remember his "farewell speech" last year. He got the men to chant "Cena sucks" and everyone else to chant "let's go Cena". Finally, I'm interested to read your description of what a "real" wrestling fan is. Is it someone who hates Cena? Is it a member of the IWC? Is it a smark? I'm a real wrestling fan. In the sense that I both like wrestling and I exist, and I love Cena. He's one of he best.

I am American and consider myself to be intelligent. Although I'm not a big Cena fan, I certainly would not call myself a hater either. To respond to your underlined request, I also noticed Cena trying to revert back to his Bostonian accent. He didn't lay it on thick, but there was a distinct inflection in his voice, when he spoke certain words. Cena also used commonly popular Boston slang at times, for the reason we can only assume to show he is still in touch with the Boston community.

 

[Ouija]

Am I the only one who thought he sounded Italian?

 

[burnout4200]

Cena wasn't paying homage or trying to play anything up. He didn't do it on purpose and he probably didn't even realize he was doing it. Considering the fact his family was in attendance at the show it's guaranteed that he spent a certain amount of time with them. He probably spent the whole week with his family and accents come back automatically.

 

[MrHarris73]

YES!!! - I noticed John Cena's heavy Boston accent on Raw too. He sounded like Peter Griffin - even though I know the Griffin family lives in Rhode Island they still have that heavy New England soundin accent. I got no real beef with Cena but I did think that was kinda chicken-shit of him. But that's what wrestlers do to get the crowd going.

I live in L.A. but I'm from Philly. Being in L.A. for 20 years I have lost a little of my Philly accent. But whenever I go home to Philly, if I'm there for more than a couple of days, my accent starts to creep back in. Probably from being around my family and it rubbing off on me. Maybe being in Boston rubbed off on Cena a little.

 

[The 5th Horsemen]

Whether it's for good or bad, people talk about Cena. As long as people are talking about you or you're getting a reaction then you matter. When the crickets chirp for you that's when you better worry.

I'm sure Cena is a great guy as he does so much for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, but I've never been able to jump on the Cena bandwagon. Now, many feel the same as me and just want to see someone else be THE GUY for awhile. CM Punk has gained steam b/c of his anti-authority persona over the last few weeks ala Stone Cold. I think many of us just want someone to pull for to rival Cena. Punk could defintely be that guy IF he was sticking around and not taking a hiatus. Until that happens, we will just nitpick Cena for whatever reason.

 

[RKOPUNK]

Wow, this is one of the most pointless threads I've ever read..

It's an accent, who cares? Santino Marella is Canadian, he uses an Italian accent. So is Roddy Piper, and he uses an Scottish accent. Hell, Booker T used an English accent at one stage.

I've seen a lot of Cena bashing in these threads. People calling him a poor wrestler, claiming that he's roided up, picking on his jorts, criticizing him for being patriotic. (I'm sure there's a shit load of others too) And now his accent? Now, I live in Australia, and I can't really tell the difference between the different American accents (Except New Yorker, and Southern accents...) so I can't really comment on if he does actually sound different, but please, give the man a break already.

 

[DethMetal]

Four out of five threads on the home page of wrestlezone are about John fucking Cena. Give it a rest...

No offense, but this thread is silly. Nothing is going to come out of a slight change in the way he talked. He sounded like he was from Boston because...he's from Boston. It's him showing his roots more than anything. Nothing more. More importantly, who gives a damn? Wrestlers have used accents all the time. A black man named Booker T talked like a man of such regalty at one point. It's not that serious.

Could someone close this?

 

[TopOfTheTron]

Honestly I didn't notice the boston accent but I'll take everyone else's word for it. I know from experience that an accent/voice/speech pattern/whatever changes when your closer to home. My accent varies depending on where I am. Hell, I start saying things like "tuesdee through Fridee" If I'm at my grandparents house. It's something most people can't really control or even notice. As for him trying to change himself to be more likable, OF COURSE he is! That's what wrestlers do! they play roles, they change to be the face or the heel! Sure people do genuinely like Cena, but he has to at least stay somewhat likable to everyone anyway.

 

[Hazardous]

Am I the only one who thought he sounded Italian?

Ever seen The Departed? Boston accents have a hint of Italian in them. Did I notice it? Yes. But only slightly. It wasn't until he said the word "Boston" that I could hear it. Did it bother me? Nope. I actually found it humorous, and even smiled a bit. Then I got hungry and ate at Boston Pizza.
The point? There is no point. Just like this thread. More blind Cena hate. One more person who wants the "Old Cena" back. Too bad.

 

[The Dewbliners]

Bitching about accents now?! Really? REALLY?!

Yeah, there was a bit of a "Boston" accent the other night. Big whoop. Have you heard the way Miz speaks when they're in, let's say, Tampa and when they're in Cincinnati and Cleveland? Bit of a difference, right?

 

[Smartie]

I thought he always had a Boston accent.