Is John Cena's name part of the problem?

[Jdulemba1001]

Yeah, its another Cena thread. I know, I know. I was thinking about it the other day, though, and I think the name John Cena is part of the problem that the "haters" have with him. Think about it. Wrestlers are supposed to be larger than life characters. Hulk hogan, Andre the Giant, Stone Cold. The Rock. The Hitman. These are gimmicks that for my generation, sounded cool, and sound like tough guys. Let me put it this way. You're in bar and all these guys walk in. You don't know who they are, just the names. Then John Cena walks in. Again, you don't know who he is, but you know his name is John. A fight breaks out. You can pick someone to help on your side. Who would it be? Stone Cold? The Hitman? Or John? I think he tries to be much to regular, and it hurts his chances with people from the generation before him.

So, what do you think? Did WWE hurt his chances with an older crowd by branding him with a "regular name"? Or, am I an idiot with a keyboard who has no idea what he's talking about? Feel free to let me know either way, since we all know Cena threads can be a hot debate.

 

[No Count Pup]

You're not an idiot. But remember, it's the WWE machine that picks names and gimmicks. They think the John Cena name alone is marketable, and it has worked. It worked for other notables as well, such as Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales, Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and in WCW with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

 

[laodaron]

I think that fans don't mind a nickname, but they want a real name, too.

 

[Jdulemba1001]

Fans now do, yeah. But the fans that boo him, they want someone who sounds like a badass. Not the "Reality Era" Look at Orton, "The Viper" John is just too vanilla for a name, and I think his persona needs a change.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I've truly appreciated Cena using his own name, whether it was WWE's idea or his. The fact is, Cena's ring persona is his own. Not only doesn't he have a made-up name, but we don't call him anything else.....just, John Cena.

This points to a more realistic approach to a man in a profession whose counterparts use fictional names to project larger-than-life characteristics. We referred to Hulk Hogan (which is a fictional name to start with) as "The 24-Inch Pythons" and "Mr. America." We called Steve Austin (also a fictional moniker) as "Stone Cold" and "The Rattlesnake."

John Cena is John Cena. He's Joe Everyman.....just like us, only stronger. He deals with his problems in more human, realistic fashion than most anyone else in the business. That he's "hated" baffles me....and always will because I would figure we regular folks could sooner empathize with the trials and tribulations of a man we call by his real name than we could with a "Diesel," "Razor Ramon" or a "Big Show."

I'm forever impressed with Cena because of his name, not in spite of it.

 

[Zycho32]

Fans now do, yeah. But the fans that boo him, they want someone who sounds like a badass. Not the "Reality Era" Look at Orton, "The Viper" John is just too vanilla for a name, and I think his persona needs a change.

If that were true they wouldn't have rooted for Daniel Bryan, ever.

As far as persona changes go, tell me, how many such changes does your typical everyday wrestler go through during the span of his career, and how often is it successful? Even the elites, how many times have they ever really changed their persona? Maybe several times if you include all the failures that didn't take.

Most can really only do it once and even then it requires something as blatant as an alignment change to properly sell it (Hollywood Hulk Hogan comes to mind). And even then it's not guaranteed to work because if they could be THAT good as a character, then they'd be in Hollywood.

 

[Redemption-2012]

This question is stupid and the whole thread is stupid. John Cena is a unique name and I don't think anyone else in this world is named John Cena. Anyway, he does have a nickname given to him by none other than the IWC "SuperCena".

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

If this thread was titled "Is Dolph Ziggler's name part of the problem", I'd be inclined to give it some validity. As it stands though, I'm with the above poster.

 

[Mudlup50]

I disagree here, I think the problem is the length of time he's been on top he could be named Superman and the IWC would still hate him by now! Let's face it, Stone Cold was "on top" for what all of 5 years? Not even that, same with Rock. Now Cena has been on top for 8ish years now. We are just tired of his character, not that we are tired of his name. As someone posted above me, so many guys with just a name made it to the top. Kurt Angle comes to mind, Lesnar I guess doesn't count because he has a nickname "the beast incarnate."

A nickname might have helped Cena 8 years ago, now his nickname is the greatest WWE champion in history.

Dolph Ziggler has nicknames "The Heel" for a while when he was with Vickie...now he's what "The Showoff" I think? Or maybe he used both at the same time, point is he's had nicknames. Even Bo Dallas has "the inspirational."

Now for the person who claimed you can't change your character often let's look at the perfect example of why you can! The Undertaker. When he first showed up his gimmick was idk the ugly attire(IDK what you'd call it), then he morphed into the Taker we know now, then we had Ministry of Darkness Taker, American Badass taker and back to now. Even if you ignore one of those that's still 3 different gimmicks which he rode to the top of the WWE.

Point of this being, Cena can't be saved by a new gimmick, he's really had 2 already anyway:Rapper and Superman. A nickname won't save Cenaoctor Of Thuganomics was already used on him. Yea his name isn't intimidating but the intimidating names don't really help: Big E, Big Show, A-Train, Kane to a degree...really any intimidating "name" can slide in here. Yea they had runs at the top but they don't stay at the top.

Maybe I'm wrong but the way I see it, they could package Cena to be every thing the IWC wants and by now, we'd turn on him. For example, imagine CM Punk having the same gimmick for 8 years. Even Punk himself has had 3 gimmicks which he rode up to the top/upper mid card: Straight Edge Superstar, Straight Edge Society(which I know is sort of similar but one is more of a group than the other when all he used to do was talk about how he was clean) and then the best in the world. Now imagine if he was The Best In The World from 2011-2019...he can't keep breathing new life in it, he would need to evolve. Cena hasn't really evolved as a character! His name could be Devil Buttrapeking and by now we wouldn't think he's intimidating

 

[Slash-LN]

I really don't think his name is a problem at all.
What would you call him right now based on his character or for some people lack of character?

It was fine to have a moniker when he was a rapper because it fit that role. "Dr. of Thuganomics".

And I totally get where you're coming from with names from the past because I was part of that generation too. It doesn't seem like the WWE relies on the nicknames too heavily anymore.

 

[Jdulemba1001]

I get why people don't agree. I knew some wouldn't. I don't think his name is the whole issue. But I do think its part of it. The WWE calls the performers Superstars. Guys like Hulk or Hitman have that aura. John Cena comes off like an everyday man. Thats his character. I get that. But for my generation, I think that we get home from work, turn on wrestling, and we don't want an everyday man. We spent all day at work dealing with every day people. I think him being himself hurt him in the eyes of people like me.

 

[Navi]

This question is stupid and the whole thread is stupid. John Cena is a unique name and I don't think anyone else in this world is named John Cena. Anyway, he does have a nickname given to him by none other than the IWC "SuperCena".

I don't think the question is stupid. And I actually looked it up, there are 11 people in the US with the name John Cena. So yes there are 10 other's in the US alone with the same name.

As for him using his real name. It hasn't hurt him, the storylines he's been involved with have hurt him. He's a talented guy, but very predictable and over the years he's become stale. Giving him a heel turn at least once in his career would have helped him but the WWE knows best. Well sometimes.

 

[Earth_2_Superman]

Just remember...Steve Austin's name was almost Fang McFrost and The Mutilator. And that was after he abandoned The Ringmaster.

Yeah, Steve Williams is birth name, but I believe he legally changed it to Austin. Not sure...but even if not, imagine if he abandoned it and went by those names above.

Nicknames work for some, but not for all. John Cena would not have lasted if he remained The Prototype.

 

[lil steroid meat]

I don't think his name is as much of a problem as the fact that he has no "gimmick".

Austin = "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

Orton = "The Legend Killer" Randy Orton; "The Viper" Randy Orton

I think that they should have kept "The Prototype" John Cena, because that's really what he is. He's a real life, breathing, talking, walking Create-A-Wrestler.

If he ever goes heel, you could call him "The Invincible" John Cena, playing off of how he rarely has lost over the past decade.

 

[4realpeoples]

I don't know why the name would be a problem for Cena. I guess other big names of the business have stage names like The Rock, Sting, Andre the Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan. Some big names of the business also have actual names like Randy Orton, John Cena, Bruno Sammartino, Steve Austin. It's not the name that makes the superstar/wrestler it's the wrestler that makes the name. Obviously there's a limit to how far that goes [see (The) Brian Kendrick/Spanky].

Cena came in using his own name and became a 15-time champion. Ric Flair came in using a simplified version of his real name and become a 16-time champion. It's a system that works and has been proven in the past. You don't need a flashy ring name to be successful. Just because the last few big stars of the WWE haven't been (First Name) (Last Name) doesn't really make it a problem.