I may be a bit out of touch with the forums lately but I think we are at the point where most (certainly not all) people recognize John Cena as a great wrestler. He has been for years and with each passing year more and more people seem to acknowledge that. Cena has been involved in match of the year candidates pretty consistently over the past decade or so but a thought occurred to me while watching Raw last night. At age 38 and 16 years into his pro career John Cena may be better than ever.
You would think after all the years on the road and all the injuries John Cena would be starting to slow down as he reaches age 40. That has not been the case as he is regularly involved in the best match of the night on any given night he wrestles. He's even incorporated some new moves that you wouldn't expect from him. I'll admit the springboard stunner isn't always pretty but it looks good more often than not. That sunset flip power bomb thing can look a little awkward but at least Cena is trying new things and going outside his comfort zone in order to keep getting better.
Normally I would say the US title is a drastic step down for someone with Cena's resume, but those open challenges have been the highlight of Raw for the past three months now. Cena has faced a wide variety of opponents and gets the best out of all of them. Everyone has come out looking good after a match with Cena, win or lose. I know some people are still critical saying that certain people fall down the card after a loss to Cena. That's not Cena's fault. He always makes his opponents look good. He can't be responsible for what happens after. Take Kevin Owens for example. I don't think I've seen as good an example of a star putting someone over since Bret Hart put Steve Austin over years ago (without ever losing to him, by the way). Regardless of who wins the final match Cena has gotten Owens over as best he can. Cena would not be to blame if Owens doesn't keep that momentum rolling once their feud ends.
John Cena hasn't been world champion in almost a year. He hasn't been in the main event for most of the year. Despite that, is it reasonable to say that John Cena is better now than he's ever been?
You would think after all the years on the road and all the injuries John Cena would be starting to slow down as he reaches age 40. That has not been the case as he is regularly involved in the best match of the night on any given night he wrestles. He's even incorporated some new moves that you wouldn't expect from him. I'll admit the springboard stunner isn't always pretty but it looks good more often than not. That sunset flip power bomb thing can look a little awkward but at least Cena is trying new things and going outside his comfort zone in order to keep getting better.
Normally I would say the US title is a drastic step down for someone with Cena's resume, but those open challenges have been the highlight of Raw for the past three months now. Cena has faced a wide variety of opponents and gets the best out of all of them. Everyone has come out looking good after a match with Cena, win or lose. I know some people are still critical saying that certain people fall down the card after a loss to Cena. That's not Cena's fault. He always makes his opponents look good. He can't be responsible for what happens after. Take Kevin Owens for example. I don't think I've seen as good an example of a star putting someone over since Bret Hart put Steve Austin over years ago (without ever losing to him, by the way). Regardless of who wins the final match Cena has gotten Owens over as best he can. Cena would not be to blame if Owens doesn't keep that momentum rolling once their feud ends.
John Cena hasn't been world champion in almost a year. He hasn't been in the main event for most of the year. Despite that, is it reasonable to say that John Cena is better now than he's ever been?