John Cena's "Moment" Amongst Us

[BOSS Productions]

Well folks , WrestleMania is around the corner and I for one can't wait. The rumored card seems amazing and I hope the actual event itself is amazing as well.


Many of the fans from previous years when the WWE was known as the WWF probably hate or dislike John Cena, not saying all do but most seem too , I would be one of the fans who like John Cena rather than hate him.

We all know Cena is the mega star of the WWE right now and will be for awhile and we heard that Vince wanted to plan something big for Cena at WrestleMania this year , pushing for The Rock but eventually settling for Batista. Now I want to know , seeing as how WrestleMania is right around the corner and he is likely to face Batista this year , will this year quite possibly be John Cena's WrestleMania moment. See The Rock and Hogan made a moment just by staring into the crowd and we all knew that the match itself would be something special and it was but can the same be said for Cena VS Batista? Someone stated that John Cena VS Batista will be the dream match of the PG Era and for me it is , I am a fan of both guys and I thought there SummerSlam match was better suited for WrestleMania but that match is somewhat forgotten now and only remembered for Cena's Injury. Now I am going to put you through John Cena's WrestleMania time line to prove that he has not really had a moment past his spectacular entrance every year.

WrestleMania 20 - John Cena VS Big Show- US Title

Without a doubt it was a great Mania opener and it is shown through video packages at times like the NY tribute video but the match itself, really does not have a memorable moment past the face Cena made when he won the US Title for the first time. On top of that this was when Cena was a rapper , a completely different gimmick than he has now so it should not be in compression with his current gimmick , not to me anyways.

WrestleMania 21- John Cena VS JBL- WWE Title

Really crappy match especially for the WWE Title, this could have been a Cena moment (winning the WWE Title and all) if it hadn't been for Batista winning the World Title in the main event on the same night , so this is not really moment in my eyes, not a memorable one anyways.

WrestleMania 22- John Cena VS HHH- WWE Title

I think this match was unique at first until they kept boosting about it I mean how many times has this match been seen on RAW and every single time Cole say it's the greatest match and quite possibly the biggest main event in RAW history, when it just happened a couple of weeks back, this totally takes away from there first encounter which was not that special anyways. So not really a moment.

WrestleMania 23- John Cena VS HBK- WWE Title

I personally loved the match but it wasn't the match people paid to see , once again Batista and Taker stole the show that night , sad but true.


WrestleMania 24- John Cena VS Randy Orton VS Triple H- WWE Title

WrestleMania 24 itself was a pretty forgettable event and not to add the pyro and sets were the most memorable things of that event , with the addition of Ric Flairs retirement and Cena's Entrance, yup that's right Cena's entrance was much more memorable then the match itself but besides his entrance he has not had a moment.


WrestleMania 25- John Cena VS Big Show VS Edge- World Heavyweight Title

Besides the participants in this match and the World Title instead of the WWE title , the match was basically the same as the previous years triple threat match that had Cena in it, Cena won this match though , I liked the match but come on Taker VS HBK, Hardy VS Hardy , this match was in no comparison to those two matches in my opinion but Cena's entrance was amazing but that is the point of this thread.

So after that time line the point I am trying to make is that Cena has not had a WrestleMania moment past his entrances and that Cena VS Batista could create that moment Cena lacks.

These are the questions I want answered in this thread.

Has Cena really had a WrestleMania moment ?

Could his rumored match with Batista make that moment?

Discuss.

 

[Schoolboy-Chris]

Nice thread idea, I think it raises a really good question.

I think whether this coming match with Batista will create a unique moment for Cena will depend on how it is built to a large extent. The match itself is important of course, but first they have to make the fans care, and become emotionally invested enough to cheer Cena and really want him to emerge victorious.

One thing I am afraid of is that the Bret Hart vs. McMahon feud will get intertwined with this one even more, and dilute the feud between Cena and Batista. It was a good idea to have Cena and Batista represent Hart and McMahon respectively, especially since there did not seem to be very good prospects for a proper match between those two. I think now that the seeds have been planted however, Cena and Batista should be left to their own devices. Rock vs. Hogan was a huge moment because it was about the two icons of different era's colliding for dominance and respect. Cena and Batista are two behemoths, and two of the biggest, maybe the biggest stars of the current era. They have about five weeks to build up the feud before Mania, and if the time and care is taken then the feud could be built as something really special.

Cena could not have his moment in a triple threat, which took away from the past two years at Wrestlemania for him. His win over HBK was one that many people saw coming, but I think his win over Triple H at WM22 was one that many people had not foreseen. I think this has been Cena's moment before now, one that showed people through a defeat of Triple H that Cena was not a flash in the pan and would be headlining for years to come. For Batista vs. Cena to outshine this Batista has to become a serious heat magnet, committing acts so atrocious that there will be no doubt that Cena will be getting the cheers that he sometimes misses out on. This feud should in my opinion be primarily between only Cena and Batista, with McMahon and Hart on the side no more than is absolutely necessary. The coming weeks will give us an idea of what to expect from this feud, and hopefully it can be a highlight in what I expect to be a great Wrestlemania. Cena's matches at Wrestlemania have not been as good a showing as he deserves, and hopefully this will be the year that he rectifies this.

 

[BOSS Productions]

Nice thread idea, I think it raises a really good question.

I think whether this coming match with Batista will create a unique moment for Cena will depend on how it is built to a large extent. The match itself is important of course, but first they have to make the fans care, and become emotionally invested enough to cheer Cena and really want him to emerge victorious.

One thing I am afraid of is that the Bret Hart vs. McMahon feud will get intertwined with this one even more, and dilute the feud between Cena and Batista. It was a good idea to have Cena and Batista represent Hart and McMahon respectively, especially since there did not seem to be very good prospects for a proper match between those two. I think now that the seeds have been planted however, Cena and Batista should be left to their own devices. Rock vs. Hogan was a huge moment because it was about the two icons of different era's colliding for dominance and respect. Cena and Batista are two behemoths, and two of the biggest, maybe the biggest stars of the current era. They have about five weeks to build up the feud before Mania, and if the time and care is taken then the feud could be built as something really special.

Cena could not have his moment in a triple threat, which took away from the past two years at Wrestlemania for him. His win over HBK was one that many people saw coming, but I think his win over Triple H at WM22 was one that many people had not foreseen. I think this has been Cena's moment before now, one that showed people through a defeat of Triple H that Cena was not a flash in the pan and would be headlining for years to come. For Batista vs. Cena to outshine this Batista has to become a serious heat magnet, committing acts so atrocious that there will be no doubt that Cena will be getting the cheers that he sometimes misses out on. This feud should in my opinion be primarily between only Cena and Batista, with McMahon and Hart on the side no more than is absolutely necessary. The coming weeks will give us an idea of what to expect from this feud, and hopefully it can be a highlight in what I expect to be a great Wrestlemania. Cena's matches at Wrestlemania have not been as good a showing as he deserves, and hopefully this will be the year that he rectifies this.

I completely agree with you except the fact that he could not have a moment in a triple threat match, Benoit made his moment in one so I don't see why a much larger superstar such as Cena could not.

Creating a moment can be difficult because a moment is something that makes a wrestler unique and is what make breaks the barrier between a superstar and a huge superstar and although Cena is a huge superstar he has not had the the moment that will set him for years to come , like how kiddies watch Hogan slamming Andre, Cena does not have one of those yet. Brock Lesnar actually had two moments at both his WrestleMania's one when he missed the shooting star press and two when he was stunned out of the arena by Austin. It may not be a great moment but it is still something you see in video packages and it still creates a feeling that I cannot describe. Basically, the Brock Lesnar thing was to point out that creating a moment can happen quickly or slowly and in Cena's case very slow.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I will start off by saying I am one of the biggest Cena-haters you will find. But setting that aside (even though it won't sound like I am doing that), I really don't think this will end up being his "big moment."

This will more than likely NOT be a very good match. Both wrestlers have never been praised for their in-ring ability, so I am not sure they can put on a real GREAT show at Mania. I think in terms of it being marketable, this will be huge. These are arguably the two biggest names in the WWE today (not most talented, but biggest names).

Cena vs. Triple H will probably go down as Cena's biggest moment. I know they have met a thousand times, and everyone has made wayyyy to big of a deal out of it, but it was big. Cena made Triple H,the best around and biggest name at that time, tap out. Cena closed the show with a title win. He did the same against Michaels, but HBK wasn't the name he was 10 years prior. This will probably be his biggest mania moment of his career.

I think this match is marketable because Cena is the King of the PG era. Do I think this is a HUGE match? No. I though Orton/HHH was bigger, because I find the two to be much, much better superstars than Cena or Batista. Maybe this match will shock me and be half-way decent, but I doubt it. If there is any main event guy in the WWE who is worse in the ring that Cena, it is Batista. I really don't have much hope for this one, but I'm sure the KIDS WILL LOVE IT!! haha

 

[Greenlight13]

I don't think he will get his "Moment" this year because it seems abundantly obvious to me that whatever goes down with Bret Hart and Vince will upstage the match itself. People will mark out for The Hitman putting Vince in the Sharpshooter and that visual will be the one that people remember in years to come, not the battle of OVW's finest.

I don't hate Cena as a wrestler, I just hate how the WWE use him. In all honesty they've put a muzzle on him and turned his character into something utterly simplistic (in a bad way) and as a result I think he's a far worse wrestler than he was in those early years when people didn't think he would end up being THE GUY. I despise everything about Batista, besides finding it funny when he threatens the likes of Rey Mysterio and Jamie Noble. I think he's an awful, awful worker, a worse personality and has completely warped views on the wrestling business. The two of them together makes for that rarest of things where Cena has to carry a match because he's far and away better than the other guy. I think their Summerslam encounter was poor and this will only marginally top it. It's very, very marketable and a bigger money match than Edge and Jericho who as good as they are are about a tenth of the draw that Cena and Batista are. I just don't think people will remember it so fondly after all is said and done.

For me personally I think Cena's biggest moment was managing to make both members of DX tap out at back to back Wrestlemanias. The list of people that have made either tap is very very short, and the ones who have done it in a Wrestlemania Main Event is even shorter (just Benoit for HHH as far as I know). When they gave Cena the nod to do this, it was a sign that this is 200% their guy and will be until he can't go anymore.

 

[Schoolboy-Chris]

I completely agree with you except the fact that he could not have a moment in a triple threat match, Benoit made his moment in one so I don't see why a much larger superstar such as Cena could not.

Creating a moment can be difficult because a moment is something that makes a wrestler unique and is what make breaks the barrier between a superstar and a huge superstar and although Cena is a huge superstar he has not had the the moment that will set him for years to come , like how kiddies watch Hogan slamming Andre, Cena does not have one of those yet. Brock Lesnar actually had two moments at both his WrestleMania's one when he missed the shooting star press and two when he was stunned out of the arena by Austin. It may not be a great moment but it is still something you see in video packages and it still creates a feeling that I cannot describe. Basically, the Brock Lesnar thing was to point out that creating a moment can happen quickly or slowly and in Cena's case very slow.

That point about Benoit is extremely true, I stand corrected. I was too much caught up in thinking about the Hogan/Rock moment and did not consider other options to singles encounters.

Cena's huge moment will have to be one unique to him in my opinion, we saw in his WM match against Big Show that a recreation of the Hogan/Andre match did not have nearly the same impact as the original. As much of a cliche as it sounds sometimes the only way to know when a superstar is having their moment is to see it, and just say to yourself "wow, this moment defines them." For all the criticism that Cena comes under I think that he is one of the wrestlers most deserving of a moment. He is a great company man, and I think there should be a moment when he is given his real time to shine, and can see that despite the boo's he might get, some fans realise that he is the real deal, and will go down in history as one of the biggest names in wrestling.

Another moment that could have been Cena's was the Royal Rumble win, but despite the initial huge ovation it was not long in that match before the crowd began to boo him in favour of Triple H. If we are talking about exclusively Wrestlemania moments, then it is still Triple H/Cena that comes closest in my opinion. It is curious that the fans during the Hogan/Rock match actually boo'd Rock somewhat, showing that even someone of his huge popularity still cannot count on the fans when he is faced with a legend like Hogan. This also gives me hope that even if Cena is not getting cheered by 100% of the crowd, he can still get his moment, one that can be shared and appreciated with his opponent. That night belonged to both Hogan and Rock at Wrestlemania 18, and I think Cena just needs the right feud and opponent before he can find his.

 

[rayisawesomeness]

The WrestleMania 22 main event match against Triple H for the WWE Championship was the ultimate moment for Cena. Of all the Manias that I have seen, the only match that can compare to the electricity that that match evoked would have to be Hogan vs. Rock. I love the match from bell to bell because Cena worked a heel type of role and he did it perfectly. In my opinion, it is one of the most underrated main events in Mania history.