**MERGED** [OFFICIAL] John Cena has been FIRED Discussion

[D-Man]

I'm a little shocked that no one made a thread on this yet.

If you watched last night's Survivor Series PPV then you realize that John Cena counted 1-2-3 against Wade Barrett, Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship, and John Cena was officially fired from the WWE. He stayed in the ring as Randy celebrated his win, gave Randy a hug before Randy went to the back after his celebration, took the walk of shame, ran into the crowd, did a lap around the arena through the fans' seats, and gave his Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect hand-symbol before retiring to the back for one last night (kayfabe).

Yes, I called it. It was the only ending to the match that actually made sense from a shock value point of view. After all, the entire Nexus angle has been about bringing back a little bit of "shock" to the WWE broadcasts. Now, it's a matter of how they are going to handle his departure/absence from the WWE.

Personally, I always feel that a hiatus like this is the perfect time to change a wrestler's character. Now, this may be easy for midcarders or wrestlers struggling with their on-screen persona. But John Cena has become a WWE institution. Changing anything about him would be drastic towards their programs and the promotion as a whole.

Do you guys think this this will stick for a while? Is it a good idea? Will it open the doors for new avenues with John Cena? Discuss here.

 

[Ferbian]

I'm a little puzzled about this whole thing. While certainly it was a pretty awesome ending for Survivor Series, it also had me confused.

John Cena is most likely not gonna be out for long, or he'll somehow make a triumphant return. Either way I don't see it changing much for John Cena. He'll most likely either just be gone and make the triumphant return to kick Wade's ass to hell and back. Or he'll simply return by this or next week's RAW and announce some sort of rehiring.

I don't know whether it's a good idea or a bad idea. Obviously I could imagine that there'll be a lot of TNA fans or something like that tuning in, or people that just generally dislike John Cena won't turn away. Yet I don't see it making a huge difference. As well as I don't see it bringing anything whatsoever to storyline purposes. I mean, John Cena and Nexus had a great storyline going that I believe could easily have continued for a while longer, to around the Royal Rumble I would like to think. Yet they obviously didn't, and that's what confuses me, as to why they choose to end it like this.

I think it could possibly open new doors for John. I mean certainly it opens for a heel turn return like someone would probably like to think. As well as it opens for him to return on Smackdown, return against Undertaker or quite simply just a return.

Either way, I'm gonna be excited to see what will happen on tonights RAW, as well as the upcoming RAW's up till around Royal Rumble, which is where I'm most likely gonna give up on seeing John Cena return to anything significant in terms of what is currently going on in WWE.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I was saying last night that the best part about this is the fact that nobody has a clue.

The IWC prides itself on being the smart fan and knowing what's going to happen before it does. When that is the case, they then complain about predictability. In this case, only the folks involved have any idea what is going on.

Personally, this sets up quite a few things.

1. Cena made it a point to hug Michael Cole last night, but not Jerry Lawler. I found that interesting, myself.

2. Miz has started drawing attention to himself and the fact that he is 'getting tired' of carrying around the MITB breifcase. Again, his biggest backer has been Michael Cole.

3. The anonymous RAW GM angle has been going on for many months now, and the mouthpeice of said angle has been - that's right kiddies - Michael Cole.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but I cannot help but feel that Michael Cole is going to emerge as the RAW GM, setting up both Cena's rehire (a la Shane McMahon / Steve Austin) and Miz's cash-in on Orton. Wade Barrett is still in the picture, but as a title contender, his best shot seems to have slipped away from him. Coupled with Seamus's inexplicable loss to John Morrison last night, RAW is in need of a top flight heel title contender. Who better than Miz, and what better way to set it up than to have his biggest fan, Michael Cole, announced as the GM?

I'd not be shocked if I'm right, but the way WWE has been playing lately, I'd not be shocked if I'm wrong.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I see WWE selling John Cena's "firing" as legitimate. We'll see the removal of his profile from wwe.com. They will refer to him as a former WWE superstar. We may even see some reference to him in this manner from outside the confines of the world of professional wrestling.

I imagine he'll be on RAW tonight for his official "firing" at the hands of Wade Barrett. I wouldn't be surprised to see Orton and a few other guys keep the rest of Nexus out of the picture, and then see Cena beat the bejesus out of Barrett before he departs. Then he'll leave and be gone for a while, perhaps a couple of months.

I fully expect him to return as a "surprise" entrant in the Royal Rumble as a member of the SD roster. Fired from RAW but not fired from the WWE altogether, with WWE exploiting the typical short memories of the average wrestling fan. I could see him winning the Rumble and getting a title shot at WM27 (possibly against the Undertaker).

People return from firings all the time in the surreal world of pro wrestling. The Miz did it recently. Jericho has done it. Tara recently did it in TNA. Didn't Kurt Angle just lose a match whereby if he lost he would retire? Do we really think Angle is retired?

We all know Cena is coming back and however they do it will ruffle a few feathers, because ultimately it won't make sense. But it will happen and I think the above scenario is how it will play out.

Of course, they could also do something way quicker. The anonymous GM could be revealed sooner rather than later, who could simply reinstate him, and that's that.

Of course, there's always the possibility that the firing is legitimate and that Cena shows up in TNA in 91 days. After all, we all know "they" are coming to change TNA Wrestling forever

 

[dude_d_dude]

To be honest this ending had me completely lost, here's how I figured this was gonna go down:

While Cena doesn't flat out cheat to help Barrett, he does give him tad bit of assistance (like how he shoved Barrett into an RKO, let's say he shoves Orton into a Wasteland).

Cena and Orton then clear out the ring of the Nexus.

Orton RKO's Cena.

Miz comes out and whacks Orton with the MITB case, cashes it in and demands a match.

Cena (with his ref stuff still on) is revived at this point and counts the 3 to give Miz the belt.

Cena's still with the company, a cool way to end the night is given, Barrett still has to chase for the title (keeping Nexus around) and Orton will go irate, and of course we have a new champ.

I don't know but to me that all made sense but now I have no clue what this could do for Cena, as Vince's top money maker/face of the company they can't afford to have him out for too long so I think he'll be back by the Rumble and make a surprise appearance with some sort of ridiculous swerve.

I could totally be wrong though it has happened before these are all just my thoughts

 

[Craig-O-Mac]

A logical possibility (by WWE standards, that is) is that Cena could return in the newest edition of NXT.

I guess a rookie wouldnt be considered a Superstar and as such it all makes sense, in managements eyes anyway! You could have Barrett or even Otunga as the 'Pro' to John. Can you imagine Cena being forced to record the Rookie Vignettes?! I'd love to see those. But i do understand that in the good ol' USA that NXT is merely an online show these days. Just a thought.

Props to WWE for keeping us guessing tho...

 

[The_Legendary_One]

I could actually see Cena coming out tonight for his going away party or final hoorah and as he is finishing up Nexus comes out to interrupt. Barrett tells Cena that he has decided not to fire him and because Barrett didn't win the title last night, Cena is still a part of Nexus and now things are going to be even worse than before.

This may sound dumb as it would set up for possibly just a repeat of last night with Cena refereeing a match between Orton and Barrett. I think they can still bring a lot of heat on this conflict between Cena and Barrett so it seems way too early for it to just end and Cena be gone for a couple months. Who knows though. This is why Im enjoying WWE again. I cant guess anymore what they are doing.

I havent looked at IMDB lately. Maybe Cena is working on another movie and needs time away and this was a way to build a storyline that can continue on to Wrestlemania and give Cena the time off he needs.

 

[D-Man]

I could actually see Cena coming out tonight for his going away party or final hoorah and as he is finishing up Nexus comes out to interrupt. Barrett tells Cena that he has decided not to fire him and because Barrett didn't win the title last night, Cena is still a part of Nexus and now things are going to be even worse than before.

This may sound dumb as it would set up for possibly just a repeat of last night with Cena refereeing a match between Orton and Barrett. I think they can still bring a lot of heat on this conflict between Cena and Barrett so it seems way too early for it to just end and Cena be gone for a couple months. Who knows though. This is why Im enjoying WWE again. I cant guess anymore what they are doing.

I havent looked at IMDB lately. Maybe Cena is working on another movie and needs time away and this was a way to build a storyline that can continue on to Wrestlemania and give Cena the time off he needs.

I guess you completely missed the part of the stipulation that said Cena is free or fired as a result of the match and that either way, he was free from Nexus when it was all over.

Barrett's win or loss was completely insignificant when it came to Cena being out of Nexus, post-match. Cena is now free (even though he is [kayfabe] out of the job) and no longer needs to abide by Nexus's rules or Wade Barrett's orders.

If Cena shows up tonight, expect a physical altercation with Barrett or the entire faction of Nexus. It's a great reason to watch Raw tonight.

 

[Xtremeenigma]

well the way i see 2 things can happen either dis is the beginning of the build up between cena and barrett for wrestlemania or cena returns and the undertaker at royal rumble defeats nexus at elimination chamber and then wwe has the build up for undertaker vs cena at wrestlemania hopefully undertaker has recovered by then

 

[welshpw]

Wonder if we will actually see the swerve tonight, When was the last time the title changed hands on raw know they usually keep it for pvp but a raw title change would they do it?

At the end of the match last night they made reference to Cena shoving Barrett (a ref should not put his hands on a blah blah) but not the other way round, GM gives Barrett a rematch tonight cause of the shove, Cena inter fears costs Orton the title, Cena gets his job back via Barrett winning the title tonight.

Know that's probably way off the actually outcome but stranger things have happened lol

 

[The_Legendary_One]

I guess you completely missed the part of the stipulation that said Cena is free or fired as a result of the match and that either way, he was free from Nexus when it was all over.

Barrett's win or loss was completely insignificant when it came to Cena being out of Nexus, post-match. Cena is now free (even though he is [kayfabe] out of the job) and no longer needs to abide by Nexus's rules or Wade Barrett's orders.

If Cena shows up tonight, expect a physical altercation with Barrett or the entire faction of Nexus. It's a great reason to watch Raw tonight.

Lol no I didn't miss it. I may not be the "experts" you guys are. I just watch the show and am just throwing guesses out there like the rest of ya. I have however watched WWE long enough to know it wouldn't be the first time they kind of bent the rules of their own stipulations to keep a storyline going a certain way. The entire time this has been going on, Barrett has been saying "Do this or I will fire your." "Do that or I will fire you." Well to be exact, Barrett can't fire Cena. The GM has to fire Cena so Im sure Barrett could make a deal where the GM doesn't fire him because its not what Barrett wants. WWE always throws a little loop hole in on things like this. Well, maybe not always but they do do it.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Well I gotta say I didn't see this coming, I figured for sure Barrett was walking away champ.

For myself, I think the most likely explanation is that Cena is taking some time off. The guy is a workhorse and if anyone in the WWE deserves some time off it would be him. If thats the case its a great way to write him off because when he comes back, he will automatically have something to do (either being heel or continuing his feud with Barrett).

After last night I don't see Cena becoming heel through the Nexus storyline, if they didn't pull the trigger last night they probably won't because it would make no sense that Cena would willingly get fired only to join Nexus later, so if Cena becomes heel, I really hope its through other means because making him apart of Nexus now would be a waste.

Cena's probably taking a few months off, will come back, and most likely wrap up his feud with Barrrett at Wrestlemania. Since the feuds not over yet, I really think they'll drag it out until Wrestlemania.

 

[D-Man]

Lol no I didn't miss it. I may not be the "experts" you guys are. I just watch the show and am just throwing guesses out there like the rest of ya. I have however watched WWE long enough to know it wouldn't be the first time they kind of bent the rules of their own stipulations to keep a storyline going a certain way. The entire time this has been going on, Barrett has been saying "Do this or I will fire your." "Do that or I will fire you." Well to be exact, Barrett can't fire Cena. The GM has to fire Cena so Im sure Barrett could make a deal where the GM doesn't fire him because its not what Barrett wants. WWE always throws a little loop hole in on things like this. Well, maybe not always but they do do it.

While I respect the reasoning behind your hypothesis I have to tell you that you're severely skewed here.

First off, Barrett CAN fire Cena. When Cena lost at Hell in a Cell, he was forced to be a part of the Nexus. That meant he worked for them and Wade was the leader and has complete power over his career.

Second of all, I highly doubt that the WWE will take angle that has been built for months and months and nullify its results over a technicality that you're reaching for here. Too much time and money was put into the angle. I'm sure that there is just as elaborate of a return plot for Cena than there was a departure plot.

Expect Cole to be a big part of this. I think IC25 really opened a lot of potential windows with his hypothesis from earlier in the thread.

 

[WJDwjdWJDwjd]

I don't see Cena being gone for long if at all. He is wayyy too much of an asset to WWE with the merch sales and the huge reaction he draws. Cena is currently their biggest draw. I could see Cena being fired by Barrett but hired back by the GM the same night or next week under the stipulation he remains a Nexus member putting him through even more hell and Barrett using him to get the championship. Hell, they could drag this out to the Royal Rumble and have Cena help Barrett win the Rumble. I would rather see him off TV for a while but I realistically don't see him not being on Raw.

 

[ScruffDog]

So John Cena will be filing for unemployment this week, or will he?

We all know that Cena still has a job; the question is how long will it take the WWE to put him back in the ring.

Do you think he will be on RAW today? This may be the best option, just cut the BS and bring him back, we all know it will happen eventually just get it over with.

When they do bring him back what will the situation be? Well he be on Smackdown now, or will HHH make another triumphant return to RAW, say this is his company now, and his company need a guy like John Cena.

I think that Cena should stay gone for a while. Let the little kid think that there hero is gone for real. This will be good for Cena too, he can take it easy, do some charity thing, make another movie, what ever. He will then come back unannounced at the Royal Rumble, just in time for WM.

So what do you think? How long will they run this "Fired" angle? Under what circumstances will he make his return?

 

[BASSER911414]

i think something everybody fails to realize is tht cena hasnt taken time off since the time he won the royal rumble which was in 2008. for all we know hes taking time off to heal, rest, relax. he deserves it. storyline or no storyline. hes a human being and just like any other human being needs rest.

personally i hope he misses the mania as well. wev had too many john cena centered wrestlemanias. the last 6 manias have been cena centered. strting with cena beating jbl for the title to cena beating jbl for the title.

i hope he comes back around extreme rules or somethng like tht. new feud. new outlook.

 

[TylerNytro]

I am sooo sick and tired of watching the World Wrestling Cena Show. Thats all this pay per view was, and the last Raw, and the Raw before that, and before that, etc. My god. Thank the heavens above i saw this PPV for free at Buffalo Wild Wings, because it was utterly embarrasing, to be around non wrestling fan-friends and watch this pay per view, luckily i was around a building of wrestling fans that made it a little better. The ENTIRE place, minus 3 kids, BOOOed CENA to no end, the kids were crying and screaming, loved every second of that, with their little merch on and all, even their father was booing, haha. This angle has been entertaining, I will admit, but cena gained ZERO credit with me from it, if anything it propelled barrett and the nexus to the top of the biz, why they keep losing High Profile matches, I cant figure out, did the nWo work the same way? Ya'll keep stating that John is the WWEs top draw....how do you back this up? He may have merch sells ahead of anyone thanks to these little tool bag brats and women-T's sells but for the love of god, he get more negative chants than the top Heels on several occasions. This guy ruined the best wrestling company, and now were just dealing with it, bc this is what we got. Sweet jesus.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Well the ending to Survivor Series has been pretty shocking to say the least. I did not expect Orton to leave Survivor Series as Champion. And I did expect Miz to play a role in the main event.

With that said I agree with hatehabsforever that WWE would treat Cena's firing as a legitimate one. I fully expect tonight's Raw to be some sort of a John Cena tribute show.

From here there are two paths that WWE could take ie either an easy one or a convoluted one. The easy one could be something that we did see a few years ago when Steve Austin was fired from the position of General Manager in 2003. We had Mick Foley writing out petitions for Stone Cold to be rehired. We could see something like that here again with maybe R-Truth playing Mick Foley's role. Maybe we will see R-Truth even offering his own job with the other side of the bargain being to reinstate Cena. That could lead to a huge push for R-Truth.

The complicated path could mean that Cena's firing is just step 1 towards the relevation of Raw's Mystrey GM. I do not know how that will pan out but I'm sure that this is possibly WWE's most exciting storyline since the conspiracy angle back in 1998.

 

[hdchz013]

I'm kinda new at this this whole forums thing...but if I remember correctly...wasn't it the anonymous RAW GM that stated the rules for Cena being in Nexus? I thought it was the GM that told Cena that if he didn't do exactly as Barrett told him to do that the the GM would be forced to fire Cena...not Wade Barrett.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm a little surprised to see there aren't more posts on here mindlessly bashing Cena just for the sake of it. Cena's the top guy in the WWE, he works hard for the company, he works his ass off so get the fuck over it and stop whining.

At any rate, the ending to Survivor Series last night was surprising and I'm interested to see what they ultimately wind up doing with him. I think that if Cena doesn't take some time off, possibly even the rest of this year, then it might ultimately wind up making the whole free or fired thing look pointless. I could see John Cena taking a little time off to just rest up and take it easy. I'm not a huge fan of the guy but, love him or hate him, the man works his ass off for the WWE.

Seeing what they ultimately do with John Cena could be interesting and I think that it's an opportunity, if the WWE chooses to take it, to do some great stuff with Cena. I look for Wade Barrett to "officially" fire John Cena tonight and, of course he'll eventually return. I know lots of people are clamoring for Cena to turn heel and I could see Cena "becoming bitter" after he's fired and has time to think about things. Storyline wise, he "gave up his career" for the WWE Universe and the possibilities of using that to turn Cena heel, or to at least give him character an edge, are endless.

 

[SuperKick36]

To anyone that's saying Cena may be headed to Smackdown, you have obviously not listened to what they have been saying on Raw. The stip said that if Barret won, Cena was out of nexus. If Barrett lost, BARRETT would fire Cena, which is a power that the Raw GM even admitted. They also specifically said this doesn't mean he'll be back in a few months, this doesn't mean he's going to Superstars, and this doesn't mean he'll be on Smackdown. THIS MEANS HE'S OUT OF THE COMPANY.

However... THIS DOESN'T MEAN HE'S GOING TO TNA! ANYONE THAT HAS SAID THAT IS OUT OF THEIR MINDS AND DOESN'T UNDERSTAND HOW WRESTLING (ESPECIALLY IN THE WWE) WORKS! John is not REALLY fired. There's no way. If Cena ended up in ANY other wrestling promotion, I would be SO freakin' shocked I would probably write a love note to WWE for taking a storyline so far into reality, and just getting rid of a stale character (who, I hope, will be going through a change in his off-time).

I really don't know how Cena will be coming back, and at what capacity. I'd be very surprised if they came out TONIGHT on Raw and said that he wasn't fired.

I'm not even going to take a guess at what is going to end up happening. I've got my hopes high, though. So far the storyline has been pretty darn good. If it ends up being a big fat dud just like many other "good" storylines, I wouldn't be surprised. Keepin' my fingers crossed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm kinda new at this this whole forums thing...but if I remember correctly...wasn't it the anonymous RAW GM that stated the rules for Cena being in Nexus? I thought it was the GM that told Cena that if he didn't do exactly as Barrett told him to do that the the GM would be forced to fire Cena...not Wade Barrett.

Well, the GM told Cena that he had to follow Barrett's orders like the other members of Nexus do. Barrett ordered Cena to help him win the WWE Championship at Survivor Series or that he'd be fired. The stipulation that forced Cena to be part of Nexus gave Barrett total control over Cena.

The night after the HIAC ppv on Raw, Cena said that he would destroy Nexus from the inside since he was forced to be a member. That's when the Raw GM pinged in and informed Cena that, since he lost to Wade Barrett, he had to tow the line or he would be fired.

Ultimately, of course, the Raw GM could overrule Barrett's decision to fire Cena but that would just render everything that they've been doing with Cena for the past month or so rather pointless.

 

[Thesage1989]

I was saying last night that the best part about this is the fact that nobody has a clue.

The IWC prides itself on being the smart fan and knowing what's going to happen before it does. When that is the case, they then complain about predictability. In this case, only the folks involved have any idea what is going on.

Personally, this sets up quite a few things.

1. Cena made it a point to hug Michael Cole last night, but not Jerry Lawler. I found that interesting, myself.

2. Miz has started drawing attention to himself and the fact that he is 'getting tired' of carrying around the MITB breifcase. Again, his biggest backer has been Michael Cole.

3. The anonymous RAW GM angle has been going on for many months now, and the mouthpeice of said angle has been - that's right kiddies - Michael Cole.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws here, but I cannot help but feel that Michael Cole is going to emerge as the RAW GM, setting up both Cena's rehire (a la Shane McMahon / Steve Austin) and Miz's cash-in on Orton. Wade Barrett is still in the picture, but as a title contender, his best shot seems to have slipped away from him. Coupled with Seamus's inexplicable loss to John Morrison last night, RAW is in need of a top flight heel title contender. Who better than Miz, and what better way to set it up than to have his biggest fan, Michael Cole, announced as the GM?

I'd not be shocked if I'm right, but the way WWE has been playing lately, I'd not be shocked if I'm wrong.

Hey man i saw that as well it was like he did he last rounds as the "face" of the company cant wait to see where the storyline goes and i know the wwe haters are going to login to night to see if wwe can produce programming with out cena. but i know i aint missing it either this storyline is like a breathe
of fresh air.

 

[The Viper Orton]

I feel that such an event would happen. Cena would buy "tickets" to arena and attack Barret once or twice. Barret gets pissed off that he wants cena in the ring. GM or VKM reinstates cena and says if he wins he gets his job back, and then simply beat Barret.

I can remember where something like this happened between shawn michaels and triple, where shawn was banned and then cost triple H the title after coming through the crowd. As a result he gets reinstated and fights Triple H.

Also, somehow Goldberg did the same against Brock Lesnar when fighting with eddie guerrero.

I won't say this would happen 100%, but for now nothing seems logical or possible unless they bend the rules or Barret says he wont fire Cena.

 

[usn128]

I could see him ending up on Smackdown and here is why. The Raw GM said that he is fired from the WWE. But last time I checked, the Raw GM has no control over Smackdown. I could see Barrett firing Cena in the ring and then Teddy Long's music hits and he walks out with a contract in hand and says, "The Raw GM has no control over what I do or who I hire so John, I have a contract here with your name on it." Cena smiles and walks over to sign it only to hear the GM sound. Cole reads "Wait John, don't be to hasty, stay on Raw." Cena signs the Smackdown contract.

Let me know what you all think.