John Cena - Is he really a fan favorite? | WrestleZone Forums

John Cena - Is he really a fan favorite?

ForeverRKO

Pre-Show Stalwart
okay i am not a john cena hater , but it seems like on every raw episode he gets booed more than heels. so i ask , is he really a fan favorite? if you think so , why?
 
Of course he's a fan favorite. One has to simply look at WWE's merchandise sales to prove it. He's always in the #1 spot. Though I heard something about Zack Ryder T-Shirts outselling him recently. XD

But of course he's a fan favorite. He's always garnered a mix reaction from the crowd, at least for the last 4 years or so. Some people just don't like him. But he's still top babyface. It's getting worse, because CM Punk is so good at what he does, and because this storyline has made Punk look like a face. The people that are cheering for CM Punk are booing John Cena. Simple as that.
 
I'm only one guy, but I am over for Cena. I love watching everything he does, and while the storyline with Punk has ratcheted up the passion on both sides for Cena, I'm just can't wait to see my hero send Punk out on his back.

Just like when I started watching wrestling, I couldn't wait for Hogan to overcome Andre
 
I think being a fan favorite is more of a reaction and appreciation thing rather than what role you're playing. John Cena draws the biggest pops and sometimes the biggest heat, besides other things of merchandise and being WWE's mainstream star it's no question whether he's a favorite.
 
Cena draws huge pops most nights and his merch sells like nobody's business. Kids, men, and women all love him and he's always out making appearances for the company where he is very well received all the time. You need to remember that he is going to be wrestling CM Punk, who most fans love whether he is a face or a heel because he is an amazing talent, in his last match match with the company. This would naturally make most fans resent Cena especially when he interrupts the "contract negotiation" where Punk made many points we were all thinking, came off a bit like SCSA when talking to Vince, and was just about to get resigned. All that considered I was a little pissed at him even though I know it was part of the script.
 
@KerryForrest- I am right there with you. I am way over for Cena as well. I'm not ashamed to say it. I'm over for him because of everything he does for the company, not just in the ring. The appearances, being the face of the company, not just anyone can do that stuff.

On topic, I think he is a fan favorite. Of course, yeah, there are those that boo him. Some smarks complain about "SuperCena". But as others have already said in this thread, his merchandise is gold, he puts butts in the seats, and many, many people love and cheer him.

WWE doesn't do him any favors with how they book him, facing Punk in Punk's hometown in his "last match", and this storyline has made Punk look like more of a face, as Xemmy said. Making a wrestler seemingly side with VKM is never going to get him cheered. Plus, at WM, he's facing the Rock in his "hometown". Also a recipe for boos. Makes you wonder how much Vince does it just to get that mixed reaction, if he's just trying to rub it in the face of the IWC constantly.

But yeah, he's definitely a favorite.
 
im a 22 year old guy, and have seen most of cenas career, from his first match in the little tight shorts he wore, to being the dr of thuganomics with b squared by his side (bull buchanan) to what he is now, which is the face of the WWE, nobody is as good as cena is in the wwe! cena has carried the wwe for some time now, i dnt get why he is so hated by some fans!

the rock returned after however long he was gone, promised to never leave again, so where was he on raw this week? or last week? or the week before that?

people need to get off cenas back, his the guy in the company now, get around him!
 
John Cena is only a fan favourite to the majority group of young kids and women and barely men. Those are the only ones you hear. The boos come from about 90% of the males in the audience. John Cena to me has gotten stale. He isn't entertaining. It's the same old crap. He hasn't changed it up in years.

Back when wrestling was gold, the WWE didn't have to force a star in our faces to make him #1, it just came. And why is it that there is only one major star it seems? What ever happened to having amazing #1 contender matches for the biggest title where you would have the possibilities of up to 4 main stars battling it out? Then you'd still have a few leftover main guys, and they wouldnt even have to be in the title picture! It's a stale product, with a stale #1. Simple.
 
As members of the IWC we only go by what we see, what we hear, and what we're told. We see hundreds of anti-Cena rants every week on our forums, we hear people booing him at all the house shows, and we're told that Cena gets mixed reactions wherever he goes by IWC reporters.

I went to my first WWE show on Monday where Cena was allegedly outpopped by CM Punk. I can tell you one thing for sure, though, and that's that Cena fans HEAVILY outnumbered CM Punk fans. There were certainly a fair amount of Cena haters in the building, but I'd say that no less than one third of the audience had some sort of Cena clothing or paraphernalia on their person. From where I was sitting it sounded like Cena and Punk were just about even in fan reaction, though Punk may have gotten a slightly more positive reaction, especially after he cut his second promo.

On top of that, Cena sells the most merchandise in the WWE, and the WWE does noticeably better when Cena is involved with the show. Just because the smarks, which make up an extraordinarily small (but also extraordinarily vocal) portion of the WWE audience, don't like him doesn't mean he's not a fan favorite. Anyone who believes otherwise is kidding themselves and doesn't understand the business of wrestling.
 
John Cena is only a fan favourite to the majority group of young kids and women and barely men. Those are the only ones you hear. The boos come from about 90% of the males in the audience. John Cena to me has gotten stale. He isn't entertaining. It's the same old crap. He hasn't changed it up in years.

Back when wrestling was gold, the WWE didn't have to force a star in our faces to make him #1, it just came. And why is it that there is only one major star it seems? What ever happened to having amazing #1 contender matches for the biggest title where you would have the possibilities of up to 4 main stars battling it out? Then you'd still have a few leftover main guys, and they wouldnt even have to be in the title picture! It's a stale product, with a stale #1. Simple.

I totally agree. I don't have a problem with Cena the man, as he works his ass off for the company. But Cena the character is a huge turn off to a lot of people. And while it is mostly thce creative team's fault, that's not to say that there's nothing Cena can do about it, because he can turn sh!t to sugar when given the opportunity (see his 1st promo against Rock). And plus, with all that backstage pull, your telling me he can't so much as suggest a slight character change? Hell, it worked for Austin and Rock, why not Cena?

And you also have a point about the shoved down our throat theory. Back in the day, you got over by pure talent and fan reaction. The only talent who I feel was forced upon us in the older days was HHH as a main eventer, and even then, that was more like a push out of the bird's nest, not as extreme as Cena's booking.
 
Fans didn't stop watching because of Cena. If anyone stopped watching, it's because they can't accept that the Attitude Era is over and will pout until it comes back (which it probably won't, at least anytime soon).

Plus, a lot of big names have left recently. Rock, Austin, Edge, HBK, Foley. A lot of today's fans grew up watching them, but now those guys are old, or too injured, or too uninterested. I think a lot of folks' problems are with the overall product, not Cena specifically. He just gets the brunt of it because he's the main guy now. If Cena was cursing and spilling blood everywhere and hitting people with chairs constantly, do you think a lot of those people would have a slightly different opinion? I do. But Vince won't have it. Conversely, if Austin didn't flip people off, bathe in beer, curse constantly, and head up the Attitude Era, would people be as in love with him? No way. No one was clamoring to see The Ringmaster. I think people boo Cena's gimmick more than they boo him. But you can't hold that against him. Things are different now.
 
John Cena is only a fan favourite to the majority group of young kids and women and barely men. Those are the only ones you hear. The boos come from about 90% of the males in the audience. John Cena to me has gotten stale. He isn't entertaining. It's the same old crap. He hasn't changed it up in years.

Back when wrestling was gold, the WWE didn't have to force a star in our faces to make him #1, it just came. And why is it that there is only one major star it seems? What ever happened to having amazing #1 contender matches for the biggest title where you would have the possibilities of up to 4 main stars battling it out? Then you'd still have a few leftover main guys, and they wouldnt even have to be in the title picture! It's a stale product, with a stale #1. Simple.

Guess I'm a barely man. But thats not the thrust of my response. In the beginning, this guy with a great look got signed to the Federation from some territory. The Fed got a filler champ, then had him job to this guy. Next thing you knew, the guy was on lunchboxes, on MTV, even his own cartoon show when Saturday morning mattered and we had to watch him get beat up every week before he shook his finger, slammed a guy, and dropped his leg on him. He became a cultural icon. And by definition, one major star forced down our throat.

Then he left. And everything was hart hart hart. Now Brett had this nice gimmick where he gave kids his cheapo plastic shades. Got him over.

Then a guy goes from heeling hardcore by putting his tag partner through the glass. But he was a pretty boy, and soon a face. Even a screw job couldn't keep him from being the man, as he was everywhere, riding ziplines, fulfilling childhood dreams in hometowns. The Fed did everything to put him over by putting him everywhere.

I grant you the Ringmaster got himself over, hard work, right time, right culture. But it was not the norm for the Fed. But then the Fed jumped on the train, and smoking skulls where everywhere. Even on the today show.

Seems to be part of the business, grooming a guy or picking up on a vibe, and exploiting him every which way they could. Sure there were guys that legitimately could be in the main event. There are guys now too that might deserve the shot with ability and popularity. And they, like Piper, may never get it.

But stale? For whom. I've been watching since '82. So I've seen a lot, I recognize where its going. But for those watching since 2009, its new.

But what I saw in '82 wasn't new, it was new to me. We get it, its predetermined. Its cliche. Its recycled.

But I don't watch it because I think its something its not. I watch it for the same reason I have clothes from high school. Its comfortable and I like it.

I never hear my mom complain the Young and the Restless is stale. She pops it on and folds clothes. She likes it. So Jack is still the man in the middle of every storyline, whatever. And maybe the new actors aren't being used as she might like, whatever.

Cuz like her, and me, we know when we pop it one, we are going to get what we thought we would out of watching, some mindless entertainment and a shared experience when we chit chat with friends over tea(or beer)
 
okay i am not a john cena hater , but it seems like on every raw episode he gets booed more than heels. so i ask , is he really a fan favorite? if you think so , why?
He's a fan favorite because he has more fans than anyone else on the current WWE roster, period. Just look at Facebook as an example. He has BY FAR more FB fans than any other WWE superstar, and more than the WWE Facebook page itself. He also sells far more merchandise and tickets than anyone else on the roster could ever dream of. To most people who don't post on internet forums, Cena is the hero of the WWE, and that's how it should be. The ONLY reason why he gets booed more than any other top star before him is because the Attitude Era spoiled people to the point where they will never accept a good-guy babyface again. And that's sad, because you don't need to have a badass character to be an enjoyable protagonist.
 
John Cena is only a fan favourite to the majority group of young kids and women and barely men. Those are the only ones you hear. The boos come from about 90% of the males in the audience. John Cena to me has gotten stale. He isn't entertaining. It's the same old crap. He hasn't changed it up in years.

Back when wrestling was gold, the WWE didn't have to force a star in our faces to make him #1, it just came. And why is it that there is only one major star it seems? What ever happened to having amazing #1 contender matches for the biggest title where you would have the possibilities of up to 4 main stars battling it out? Then you'd still have a few leftover main guys, and they wouldnt even have to be in the title picture! It's a stale product, with a stale #1. Simple.

Its a known fact that if you're a guy over the age of 15 and you go to a WWE show, YOU BOO CENA!! Its become just as big a part of this era of wwe, as the asshole chant was for the last one. I guarantee you that a majority of people booing cena actually like him. And the reason he hasn't changed in years is because they're making money off of everything he does.

WWE didn't force Hulk Hogan down anyones throat. I forgot, it was a natural thing having him not job to anyone for four years, and technically he never lost the title before macho man won it. It was stripped. (I think)

Now let's think back to 2003. John Cena was a heel. He was the "bad guy". It worked for a while, but then something happened. PEOPLE STARTED CHEERING HIM! Sound familiar? Hogan was a bad guy, people started to cheer him. The hart foundation were heels. People started to cheer them. Roddy piper was a heel, people started to cheer him. Deisel was a heel, people started to cheer him. Shawn michaels ws a heel, people started to cheer him. Stone cold steve austin... you get my point. Just because it happened faster than all those other guys (besides hogan) doesn't mean he was forced. The only reason he may have been forced a little is because the rock, stone cold, and brock lesner all split and they needed someone. So they took the two most over young guys at the time which were john cena and batista and saw which one drew better. Cena won the race and became the face. Nothing was really forced.

Ok I just thought of something else. The reason cena and orton are the only two big stars right now is simple. Vince doesn't want a lot of stars. The writers aren't trying to make stars anymore, and the only two wrestlers to step up and try to make themselves something are cm punk and zack ryder. Vince is smart, 14 years ago he needed a lot of stars because WCW had a lot of stars. It was necissary. Now, he can have one guy be the face and not risk building up huge stars just to have them jump ship and make some other company rich. Also, more stars means vince has to pay people more. So unless TNA is bought out by ted turner, stars will continue to be few and far between.

Btw, yes he is still a fan fav.
 
Thing is.. how many other guys have been given the chance that Cena had? How many guys have had the WWE holding him up like a puppet on the strings and pushed him for years and years as the top guy.

Who's to say if.. oh.. idk... John Morrison got pushed for 5 years as the top guy that the WWE wouldn't be in a better spot?

Cena is the top guy, because that's how the company portrays him.
If the company had portrayed someone else all of these years.. maybe we would be in a better spot than not even getting 3.0s on Monday Night Raw..

Is he a fan favorite? Sure.. by all the WWE marks who follow the company and agree with everything they do and by people who think its real.. (kiddies).. people who buy into the crap that Cena is the best.
 
Cena is their biggest star. He sells a lot of merchandise and he works hard for the company and is a remarkable ambassador for the company.

However, I went to an event a few years ago where Cena was and the fact is half of the crowd were chanting for him and the other half were chanting 'Cena sucks. I've never seen such a split in a reaction before for a performer. I believe that he is clearly a face and a fan favourite, but in some places, it's really hard to tell and when you put him next to a performer like the Rock, it gets even more difficult.
 
Basically Rock said it best in his latest video,
The Attitude Era guys are royalty, Austin, HHH, Taker, Mick, Rock himself, they did the same shit as Cena but were more popular.
Why?
Reason, THEY appealed to the adult audience, they didn't treat us as simpletons, Cena panders to the kids and that is cool. WWE is targets that age range but when you put Attitude Era guys against Today's guys (Orton, Cena, Miz etc) you'll see the fans LOVE the Attitude guys in comparising, sure they'll cheer Orton and Miz, because they're rebels or at least it's smoking and mirrors and we're lead to believe their rebels. BUT the guys from the Attitude Era WERE REBELS, and fans CONNECTED with them.

Cena is a bonafide good guy, he says the right things for the kids to cheer, but the adults don't buy it, then you get the Rock who was a pretty good heel and at one time the fans HATED with a passion (1997) but Rock did what Austin had he'd become so good as a heel fans started to cheer him.

On a side note of Cena/Rock I believe their friends backstage and a lot of their shit is that shit, but something Cena keeps bring up that the Rock is never here line, he forgets Rock did that from 1996-2001, and moved on in life, Cena I like the guy but he comes pretty idiotic when he keeps going on about it, fans buy Rock's movies, fans connect to Rock still, Cena comes of pretty jealous of The Rock. As i said above it's probably all scripted but WWE are (or Cena is) throwing him (Cena) under the bus on this one.
 
I hate when people say he was forced down our throats. Guys who were literally shoved down our throats would be the likes of: Brock Lesner, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, and even Randy Orton. Guys who were pushed while being in the company for mere months. John Cena was a mid card talent for about three years before getting pushed. The reason why John Cena is a fan favorite is because for the past 5-6 years he's been trying to make the WWE as socially relevant as one man can and his hard work did not go unnoticed. What he's done in and out of the ring makes him the top babyface of the company. the reason why he gets boo'ed a lot is because his character hasnt changed in the past six years. What else can you do with a scripted face for six years? But he's character wasn't always like that i.e. his feud with Edge in '06
 
I hate when people say he was forced down our throats. Guys who were literally shoved down our throats would be the likes of: Brock Lesner, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, and even Randy Orton. Guys who were pushed while being in the company for mere months. John Cena was a mid card talent for about three years before getting pushed. The reason why John Cena is a fan favorite is because for the past 5-6 years he's been trying to make the WWE as socially relevant as one man can and his hard work did not go unnoticed. What he's done in and out of the ring makes him the top babyface of the company. the reason why he gets boo'ed a lot is because his character hasnt changed in the past six years. What else can you do with a scripted face for six years? But he's character wasn't always like that i.e. his feud with Edge in '06

I totally agree, but Brock Lesnar was cool, hense how he was turned face with in 7 months of joining WWE.
Cena was giving the slow build (3 years) but WWE dropped the ball in 2005, they pushed him to hard, concerts, cd's & movies and FANS BOO'ed. Go back and what his feud with Kurt Angle (who was feuding with HBK around this time as well) was probably the biggest heel in WWE with Trips but the FANS CHEERED him for Cena because WWE pushed Cena too hard between April 2005 - September 2005, hell Edge was HATED in 2005-06 for banging Lita for real and the fans CHEERED him cashing in money in the bank.

I'm all for Cena being Champ, but WWE messes up each and every time.

They give him the belt for WAAAAY too long and fans get bored, that isn't the fans fault that is WWE's because they spoiled a lot of us in the Attitude Era with frequent title changes and the product was better back then so title runs weren't readily acknowledged Austin's 1998 run was like 7 months minus a day yet you were HOOKED because WWE creative produced shows that were edgy and kept you WANTING MORE, they don't have that formula nowadays.
 
This isn't really as simple a question, at least to me, as it appears to a lot of the other posters. On one Cena's character is that of a typical All American babyface but on the other hand WWE and Cena will readily acknowledge that he does get booed by a lot of the fans. The acknowledgement of this fact makes the question a lot more difficult than it really should be.

Let's face it, a babyface getting booed is nothing new. From 1991 to 1995, Hogan regularly got booed by a section of the fans. But the difference is that the WWF or WCW never acknowledged that and nor did Hogan. Yes, eventually Hogan did turn heel but the fact that the companies never acknowledged Hogan getting booed meant that the negative reaction for Hogan was kept to a minimum because the fans were never encouraged to act in that manner. It also, in the longer run, preserved Hogan's legacy as a face and also made his heel turn seem more impactful. Can the same thing be said about Cena?

I sometimes think that it was a mistake on the WWE's part to acknowledge Cena's boos because I think that is how booing Cena became the cool thing to do and I think that Cena's negative reactions would have been a lot lesser had those boos not been acknowledged. However, in the longer run, it has turned out to be a profitable decision. The "Cena hate" has been utilized very well by the WWE on a number of occasions and all those feuds have yielded a good result. Cena's feud with RVD was profitable and so is the case in Cena's feud with Punk and we all know that Rock/ Cena is going to draw quite a lot.

So coming back to the question, I would say that Cena is not a complete fan favorite but that is because the WWE wants it that way. It seems that the WWE wants to milk the Cena hate as much as it wants to milk the love for Cena. And since all of that leads to profitable and entertaining storylines, I do not have a problem with it.
 
Fans didn't stop watching because of Cena. If anyone stopped watching, it's because they can't accept that the Attitude Era is over and will pout until it comes back (which it probably won't, at least anytime soon).

I don't know why people latch on to this argument. It's lazy and naive in its attempt to blame all dissatisfaction on the notion that any problem with Cena MUST be the fault of the fan itself.

If Cena was cursing and spilling blood everywhere and hitting people with chairs constantly, do you think a lot of those people would have a slightly different opinion?

Of course they would. That would, by definition, make him a different character all together.

Conversely, if Austin didn't flip people off, bathe in beer, curse constantly, and head up the Attitude Era, would people be as in love with him?

Comparing apples to oranges. If Cena started flipping people off, bathing in beer and cursing constantly...would Cena haters fall in love with him? I doubt it. But I'd be willing to bet that there are plenty of fresh ways to reverse the intense loathing.

I think people boo Cena's gimmick more than they boo him. But you can't hold that against him. Things are different now.

Exactly. And of course you can't hold that against him...but the fact of the matter is that John Cena IS his gimmick in the context of this debate. For example...Do I get mad that "the most dominant group in the WWE" can be brought to their knees by John Cena alone? Uhh...yeah. Is it because I hate John Cena the person and deep down can't accept the fact that it's no longer 1998? I doubt it.

To answer the original question...I think it really depends on the fan. Is he over? Hell yeah. Absolutely their top guy. Is he a fan favorite? Well...it's a unique situation where he both is and is not. He certainly moves merchandise and is accurately portrayed as the face of the company...but that alone doesn't make him an overall fan favorite. As the OP pointed out...consistent heavy booing on a weekly basis from at least half of the crowd. Fan favoritism is based on crowd response and people's voices are loud and clear that Cena is not a fan favorite to them just as definitively as those who make it clear that he is.
 
It really depends on where you go honestly. Sometimes Cena is loved one place, hated in the other. Here in Philly it is hit or miss and pretty split amongst fans, though I'd probably give the advantage to the Cena fans. One thing Cena does is generate a reaction and that alone is worthwhile. I consider Cena a fan favorite and I'm an old school kind of guy so I cheer the faces and boo the heels at whatever shows I go to as it is an important element to the show.

I think people are still stuck in the phase where they think it is "cool" to hate Cena because he is the guy at the moment. Cena's fans usually outnumber their haters so that does in turn make him a fan favorite. Occasionally we will see it go the other way and whoever Cena is facing is the fan favorite.
 
Has anyone else hear that ol' saying "people talk loud when they want to sound smart?" Well, most people who do boo Cena are in fact men. And most men do have deeper and/or louder voices than women and children. For the people who say that others are "outpopping" Cena, have you ever notice that the sounds are masculine and don't usually last long? That doesn't mean that there are more than them, it just means that they are immature ***** who won't let others enjoy the show. Fine. You don't like the guy. There are about 4 people (parents & 2 kids) around you who do. If you wanna be "smart" and shit, just go with the flow.

Ok. Last time I will probably talk about the Cena Boo Birds in any substantial length.. Promise. :p
 
No, I'm not saying that anyone that has a problem with Cena has a problem themselves. Of course he's not perfect. But you can't deny a large portion of fans (in the IWC anyway) still pine away for the departed Attitude Era. How many times do we see that just on this site? People complain "it's stale", "it's boring", "it was better before". You constantly see forums started that are named, "PG going away??", "Return to Attitude?", etc. Of course Cena has flaws, but people don't hammer on his flaws. They hammer on the fact that he wins a lot, holds the title a long time, is too much of a "good guy", etc. Are those his flaws? No, but it's what everyone complains about. Anyone, any fan, has every right to dislike Cena for whatever reason. I just think it's silly to dislike only him because he's been made representative of what a lot of fans don't like about wrestling overall.

And I don't think you can deny that if Cena started acting differently (I use like Austin as an example), that a lot of his haters would feel differently. You said yourself, that would be a different character, and then you also said your problem is with his character. So how would that not result in some (not all) of his haters changing their tune?

If you're referring to the Nexus, yeah I suppose that happened eventually. But as I recall, they got the best of Cena for quite a while before he went over them. He's the good guy, he's going to win in the end, just like any other top level good guy in wrestling. Sometimes, it's ok to cheer for the good guy.
 
This question isnt that hard to answer. Cena is a fan favorite to the children demographic, and Vince wants to keep the PG thing going which is why hes still on top despite the boos. The adults hate Cena because he's been shoved down their throats for years, and therefore you get the boos.
 

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