John Cena, The BIGGEST BIPOLAR SUPERSTAR EVER??

[Tors Hall Rule]

Let me make something very clear here.. It's not a Cena bashing thread.. So if all you wanna post is "I HATE CENA WITH ALL THE BALLS I HAVE", FUCK OFF!!

Now, to the chase, Cena appeared in WWE as a guy exhibiting Ruthless Aggression and quickly won over the fans entering into matches with Y2J, Angle and Taker himself.. After that he turned heel on Billy Kidman and started his rapper gimmick.. It was there that he made an IMPACT (Fuck, what was wrong with TNA??) This gimmick carried off for a few years.. A video from that era..

[YOUTUBE]tJIxZBd7Aug[/YOUTUBE]

From that he stayed in between till he won the WWE Championship from JBL, got shipped to RAW and started his Hustle, Loyalty, Respect thing and turned cheesy.. Again have an example..

[YOUTUBE]Ln5KXqQFUFM[/YOUTUBE]

That being said, do you feel that no star has ever made such a huge transition in his wrestling (I mean entertainment career).. I mean people turn face to heel and vice-versa all the time. But do you think character wise its the biggest transition ever..??

Dis-CUSS.. And if you agree with me, give me a HELL YEAH!!!

 

[CoreyGrandy]

What you're talking about is a 3-year timeframe. From debut to the draft after Wrestlemania 21 was 3 years in which so much happened that I really don't think Cena could qualify as anything near bipolar (which is a poorly-chosen word, to be honest). Also, I hardly agree that Cena was a tweener until Wrestlemania 21 - he was the fan favourite on SmackDown! from Survivor Series 2004 right up to, well, now. His gimmick has changed, but his allegiance never has - in 7 years.

Between 2002 and 2005, Randy Orton went from being a face on SmackDown!, to a heel on RAW with RNN and Evolution, to a face and World Heavyweight Champion, to a heel who took on Undertaker and went to SmackDown! again. That's one more turn than Cena in the same time period. Clearly Cena was not at the top of the list of people who had many turns in that era.

And, Orton is just the first guy who came to mind as someone who flip-flopped quite a bit, there are a bunch of guys who did the same. In fact, some had 3 turns in less than a year. It's just the dynamic of wrestling, sometimes characters change more often than you'd expect. Look at Edge last year, he must have turned 4 or 5 times until they decided to keep him face.

 

[akrassikauda]

It is but I wouldn't say bi-polar c'mon Hulk Hogan's hulk up now that was bi-polar.
I say NO! The biggest transition has to be HBK. After the Barber Shop with Jannetty people really hated him and he had Sheri to get more heat. Then came the feuds with Diesel and Razor face/heel. When he got the title from Bret he had the effect Cena has now. All the kids and ladies loved him and the men hated him especially after the Playgirl spread ( more gay men buy that mag then straight women ).

When he came back and formed DX the transition was complete he was the headliner the show stopper the main event. Even if you didn't like him he had respect. Cena is close because it's a new era and he's king but nobody not even the Rock or Austin has had a transition like HBK and HBK goes back to the federation years.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Do I think character-wise it's the biggest change? Well what about a dead man turning into a biker? Owen Hart to Blue Blazer? Mick Foley as a whole?

Look I'm sure it's a fairly big change in character but it really doesn't breach the top 10 list in all likelihood.

And if it's heel/face turns your after, look no further than Edge in 2010 or Pope Dinero. No way he's beating those two.

 

[rko57]

No Cena isn't, it's easily Kane. He's been more of a face these past few years, but he is always switching back and forth with almost no reason most of the time. Look at him now, he just finished facing the undertaker, and then a couple months later he's teaming with the big show against the CORRE and nexus. Kane is the most bi-polar superstar ever

 

[Yesiamaduck]

Surely the most 'bi-polar' (awful choice of phrase) wrestler in the WWE at the moment is Kane, he's been flip flopping between Face, Heel & Tweener ever since his debut in 1997, he almost always has several turns a year too.

 

[K-Fizz]

I'd have to say he's the biggest transition of character, not just heel to face. He went from having the crowd cursing (as shown in the video) and rapping like the two kids in the movie waiting, and is now the poster wrestler for 5 year olds like we were with Hogan back in the day.

Best way that I can describe it - he sold out. Hah!

 

[daveybuoy-2011]

I think its a question of preference as to whom made the biggest impact at the time. The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart - remember heel hitman! Kane, Taker, Austin....... the list of heel and face turns (to-ers and fro-ers) is full of legends which proves their ability to 'wrestle' as well as play the fans....

My preference would be Batista, the whole Evolution stable / angle with flair and HHH set him up to be a monster heel, then over the course of a few strategically planned months the WWE teased him turning face, then BOOM it happened, after that he was a face, then heel, then quit!

On a smaller scale....
the Zack Ryder 'Long island iced z' gimmick - im sure he was was always a heel, now he is fist pumping with cena and giving him t shirts..... heel or face?? as long as he is on TV I'm happy! wwwyki!

 

[Derf]

John Cena is probably the most UN-Bipolar superstar ever. He's currently had one of the longest face runs of anyone in WWE or TNA. If you wanna look at alot of Face/Heal turns, or "BiPolar" as you call it, just look at the past calender year of TNA. Douglas Williams, Abyss, Matt Morgan, everyone in Fortune, most of Immortal, etc.

 

[Tors Hall Rule]

I'd have to say he's the biggest transition of character, not just heel to face. He went from having the crowd cursing (as shown in the video) and rapping like the two kids in the movie waiting, and is now the poster wrestler for 5 year olds like we were with Hogan back in the day.

Best way that I can describe it - he sold out. Hah!

Thanks mate..

And I hoped that some literate IWC members would read the post before playing down the word BI-POLAR to such effect.. I was always talking in the sense of character.. How much character change did Taker bring (leave Biker Guy aside, it was a gimmick), or Triple H, or Kane.. These were face-heel turns, but they were playing the same role.. Cena isn't doing so.. Yes he has been face for a long time, but the character change was different.. Completely..

 

[Kermit]

The biggest change ever would have to go to Hogan when he turned heel and formed the NWO. Hogan was the biggest hero in professional wrestling when he was at his prime. He still is and always will be a symbolic idol that goes hand-in-hand with wrestling. If you ask anyone if they know any wrestlers, if they know one, only one, it will most likely be Hulk Hogan. He was America's wrestler, while our troops were fighting in other countries, Hogan was protecting us from Russians and Muslims in the ring. You take all of that build, all of that prestige, and you just turn it against everything he ever stood for.

If you want to go with the person who switched back and forth the most, i would definatly say Kane.

 

[UnBEARaBULLfan]

The biggest change ever would have to go to Hogan when he turned heel and formed the NWO. Hogan was the biggest hero in professional wrestling when he was at his prime. He still is and always will be a symbolic idol that goes hand-in-hand with wrestling. If you ask anyone if they know any wrestlers, if they know one, only one, it will most likely be Hulk Hogan. He was America's wrestler, while our troops were fighting in other countries, Hogan was protecting us from Russians and Muslims in the ring. You take all of that build, all of that prestige, and you just turn it against everything he ever stood for.

If you want to go with the person who switched back and forth the most, i would definatly say Kane.

I agree with you 100% Hogan went from hero to hated in one leg drop, so his is probably the biggest transition of character. Plus people like Kane, Big Show, Jericho, and Edge have all switched back and forth in a few years span than Cena has in his whole career.

 

[CoreyGrandy]

Thanks mate..

And I hoped that some literate IWC members would read the post before playing down the word BI-POLAR to such effect.. I was always talking in the sense of character.. How much character change did Taker bring (leave Biker Guy aside, it was a gimmick), or Triple H, or Kane.. These were face-heel turns, but they were playing the same role.. Cena isn't doing so.. Yes he has been face for a long time, but the character change was different.. Completely..

You can't down us for being "illiterate" or playing down the word "bipolar". The fact of the matter is, what you're saying and what you mean are two incredible different things.

If you meant type of character then you should have been more clear about that. Bipolar is a disorder that is built on emotion - specifically the ups of mania and the downs of depression. So logically, we would infer that you were talking about the wrestling worlds version of emotional change - a heel or face turn.

How are we to know that you had no intention of talking about his heel/face turns? In fact, most of what you were talking about was his turns. If you're going to talk about something so vague, you can't be put off when we don't understand your original meaning.

As far as the response illicited from the crowd goes, Cena doesn't even touch the top spot. Hogan is number one for that and always will be, I don't like the guy but he definitely turned cuddly bunnies into viper-spewing cobras in a matter of seconds.

And, to be honest, there's not as much different between a rapper and a soldier as you'd have us belief. In fact, rappers try to put forth an image of being "street soldiers", if you will. They're much more similar than you'd have us believe.

 

[DethMetal]

Thanks mate..

And I hoped that some literate IWC members would read the post before playing down the word BI-POLAR to such effect.. I was always talking in the sense of character.. How much character change did Taker bring (leave Biker Guy aside, it was a gimmick), or Triple H, or Kane.. These were face-heel turns, but they were playing the same role.. Cena isn't doing so.. Yes he has been face for a long time, but the character change was different.. Completely..

So, you're bringing up Cena's change in character, but we're wrong when we bring up other guys like Kane, Taker, and Y2J's character? How do we put biker Taker aside? It was a gimmick change, just like you mention with Cena

The most bipolar superstar is Kane. He turns on someone like 4 times a year. He went from being the brother of Undertaker who set out to kill him, to the tortured soul(when Taker admitted he set the fire and Tori dumped him), to a guy with a mask who had a regular life(Katie Vick situation), to the tortured freak who wanted a life of normalcy(v. Benoit and the Lita thing), to well, Kane, to the once again, evil brother of Taker, to Kane again. If anyone is a loose cannon, it's not or Brian Pillman...it's Kane.

 

[JGlass]

Hell no, John Cena is not the biggest bipolar superstar ever. I don't see how that award can go to anyone besides Mick Foley, who changed characters on a weekly basis at one point in his career.

And if you want to talk about fast face/heel transitions, look no further than the man picture with John Cena in that YouTube video, Chris Jericho. He returned to the WWE in 2007 as the cocky but fun loving face that we all know and love as Y2J. A few months later, he decided he hated Shawn Micahels for be a phoney, and he tossed him into the Jeritron. Over a matter of months he went from the cocky, loud, and funny Y2J to the monotone, evil, angry Chris Jericho. While Cena's transition from rapper to marine to funny guy that gets serious when the time is right took a matter of years, Chris Jericho drastically changed character in mere months.

 

[GI Cake]

When I read the title I thought that the thread will be about how Cena opens up every RAW with him running out smiling, saluting the fans, then running down to the ring. There he will crack a couple jokes, praise the fans, then a different side will come out of John. He removes his hat and talks about how he got screwed over last week (Face it, he gets screwed over almost every week) Then Cena becomes this crazed juiced up madmen on a hunger of beating up the nearest heel in the vacinty of the ring.

But if were to speak of Heel/Face bipolarness than Kane takes the cake without question

 

[LSN80]

I dont see how anyone could possibly see Cena as the most Bi-Polar superstar ever. Cena hasn't really changed all that much over the years. He's always been the over-the-top, happy go lucky character who goes into preacher mode when he gets angry. He did it as a heel, and he's done it as a face. All he's done is simply refine and enhance his gimmick, nothing more.

With ease, the most Bi-Polar superstar is HBK. He went from fun loving as a part of DX to obsessive over breaking Undertaker's streak. The transformation was literally overnight. He went from crotch chopping to superkicking refs and Teddy Long. Looking back further, he went from fan favorite to heel when he superkicked Hulk Hogan overnight, and drew almost universal heat in the span of a week. As soon as the feud was over, he went back to being fan favorite HBK again and entered into a program with Chris Masters. I could go over the early years of his career, including turning on Marty Janetty, but there's not much to say. Noone has turned on more people and successfully transitioned from heel to face and back again then HBK did. In each feud HBK entered into, he tweaked his character to best match up with his opponent. Noone in history has done that as much or as well as Shawn Michaels has, with a due respect to the "Four Faces of Foley", Kane, or Undertaker. John Cena has remained consistent to the character he's played since the day he's entered the WWE, he's just refined and improved his character over time. HBK easily gets the nod here.

 

[AK2V8]

Maybe Undertaker's would surpass Cena's with his transition from "Deadman" to "American Badass". All that changed with Cena was some cheesy catchphrases. He still has the urban culture feel to him, just PGed down. With Undertaker you had a man who had a need to "send people to hell", talk with a slow dead voice, popped out of caskets and had "supernatural" powers. With his turn to his classic "American Badass" gimmick you had a person who rode motorcycles, fought for respect, had a voice that was alot more human and redneck-like and wore a bandana. With Undertaker you never had face turns or heel turns. No matter who he attacked (eg. John Cena, HBK, The Rock, Hulk Hogan) he always would a get a face reaction. There was nothing Taker would be able to do to turn heel because he looked cool and badass doing it. So Undertaker's chang from gimmicks was alot more "bipolar" than Cena's.

 

[TheKingHustla]

I always think that the WWE needs characters to change. From The Rock, to Triple H, to Stone Cold, everyone changes. The Rock went from a blue chipper who was a football "star" and a third generation star trying to prove himself, to an arrogant, high and mighty ruler of a nation who hated the people, to the people's champ who loved the people and did it all for the people, back to someone who didn't care what the people thought. You had Triple H go from being a royal playboy from England or somewhere, to a kick ass leader of a rebel faction who told people to suck it. The WWE is built on change. You can say every heel turn or face turn is being bi-polar. I mean, R-Truth is doing the exact same thing, just the opposite way. He was getting everyone to rap and jump and dance with him, and now he's smoking and disrespecting the kids. So wouldn't that make him just as bi-polar? The list could go on forever. Look at Foley's entire career, he went from Cactus Jack, a hardcore legend, to Dude Love, a hippie love motherfucker, to Mankind, one of the most deadly and dangerous guys ever. Or what about Bradshaw? He went from a bad ass kicking rebel who drank beer, smoked, gambled, and got paid to do anything because he needed money, to a rich pompous asshole riding in a limo. If that isn't the biggest 180 I don't know what is.