Rapper Cena vs Super Cena.. ?

[Hazardous]

Whether it be the forums, or facebook/twitter, anywhere, there is a lot of Cena bashing these days, which, for the most part i agree with. seems the more Vince tries to make him a real life super hero, the louder the "CENA SUCKS" chant gets. hell, i found myself a few times saying it to the TV at home! but if you take a look back in time to 2003/'04 cena was just making a push as a face... kinda. he was the good guy doing/saying things that good guys didnt normally do. a toned down stone cold if you will. i will own up to the fact i LOVED the white rapper gimmic, coming out in the different jerseys and visor, chain around the neck, gets in the ring, does the cheezy rap (which as bad as they were, still beats R-truth's over done one) and then throws out a package of "DEZZZ NUTS!" fans young and old ate it up! you didnt hear even ONE "cena sucks" chant. no boo's, nothing. the start of his downfall as everyone's favorite superstar came when he switched to his army themed crap. the movie sucked. and the gimmic wasnt much better IMO. Now, from what i have been hearing, Cena is recording a new CD.. so could this be the return of the Old cena? maybe a new theme song (dear god i hope so!) and re-vamp his image a little? As we have all seen before, when an image goes stale, if cant hurt to go back to your original one. The best example would be the Undertaker. Deadman-American Badass-Big Evil-back to Deadman.

so what do you think? anything more to add? or comment on anything said above.

 

[Ferbian]

No, John Cena will not be re-vamped, turned heel, or anything.

I simply cannot see that happening. WWE is doing great with John at his current state, the saying usually goes - Why fix something that's not broken? and John is not broken, he's drawing ratings like hell for WWE and making them large sums of money.

The majority of the WWE crowd likes John in some way or another, it's cleanly heard during his entrances, as well as during the chants of "Cena sucks" you cleanly hear a returning opposite chant "Let's go Cena" in the crowd.

Because of that, John does not need to change, just because there's coming a new CD out, which is through a completely different business, John will therefore not be influenced in his WWE moniker by his music life.

It is the exact same thing as Chris Jericho, he's a great singer, he's overall loved with Fozzy, but he's hated by the general WWE crowd because of his heel alignment.

John remains "Super Cena" because it makes the most sense, just because a large amount of the IWC hates him, it changes nothing.

And all in all, if John was ever turned heel, or re-vamped to become more heelish, the way he would be booked wouldn't change much. It would make zero sense to have him loose like a heel against people he defeated regularly as a face, so Super Cena would still be alive.

 

[Takerfan93]

Rapper Cena was much much better. Some say "it wasn't suited for the main event scene" and that it wasn't marketable in that position, but they are wrong. Even in the main event the rapper gimmick could be incredibly marketable, Cena is all merchandise sales, so imagine all the merchandise they could create with the rapper gimmick. They could sell much more from a business point of view. But also from a wrestling point of view, his matches were much better to watch as he wasn't so dominating , he had more moves in his arsenal and everything wasn't so predictable. I absolutely loved the rapper gimmick, it was original, unique and entertaining. I think his main event feuds could be much more interesting if he were still in that gimmick. Remember his feud with Undertaker in 2002? Look at that and imagine it as a main event feud with Cena in the position he is now.

I can't stand super Cena. Every time he comes on TV I know exactly what he will say. I know how 99% of his matches will go, he will start out dominating, then get beat on for a bit and then make an "amazing" comeback and win. It's just boring. His feuds are all too similar. Yes he does get a good reaction mostly, but its still not as good as the reaction he used to get before he became super Cena.

 

[STINGER71]

I really enjoyed the Rapper Cena, the way he was with the throwbacks and pumps and he had some of the greatest promos on Tazz,Stephanie,Angle,Billy "Mr. Ass,etc. I would live to see the old Cena.

 

[Dave]

Why would you change something that is clearly not broken?

Because the adults that pay their money to see the WWE don’t like him? No! You know why that is? It’s because the WWE don’t care about you anymore. The WWE cares about it’s consumer fanbase and that, my friend, is the kids that pack into arenas to see John Cena stand up to adversity and just be an all-round good guy. The WWE knows that the kids love him and lap up his gimmick. He is over with them and they purchase his merchandise with gusto and don’t care what the next bit of Cena material is, as long as they can have it.

You might not like it but that is the way it is and Vince McMahon is not going to shoot his proverbial “cash cow” to appease you. He is not crazy and he knows that whilst Cena is moving the merchandise, he will always be relevant.

As for him recording a new CD, I don’t think this will change anything at all. If anything, you will just see it given a little promotion on WWE programming. However, if it not a WWE release, I doubt it will be anything major. He could have a change of music but again, I feel as though the music ties into his gimmick right now, much like Triple H’s infinitely does. If you are going to change his music, then you may need to change his gimmick and I just don’t think that is going to happen for a long time yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I do think that Cena could do with a gimmick change but I am not ignorant enough to assume that Vince will listen to me on this subject. He knows what makes good business and he is going to mil that until there is nothing left in it. John Cena will then be repackaged and set up as something else. However, that is not going to be any time soon, regardless of if he is recording a new album. Super-Cena is here to stay and I absolutely love it!

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

While I personally was a big fan of Cena when he was heel with the rapper gimmick; it's highly illogical for him to go back to it or turn heel. As everyone else has said, he is drawing more than anyone in the WWE and his merchandise sales are through the roof. Plus he's a marketer's wet dream, from his speeches telling kids don't give up and crap like that, to his overwhelming support of the troops (and that is a marketing ploy believe me, he may really support the troops that much but WWE sells that so much more than needed). The other reason he won't turn is because there is no one on the roster that can replace him as the face of the company. Seriously, who could take his place as the #1 face of the company? No one. The only one who could have was Jeff Hardy, he was massively over with all age groups and his merchandise sales were just as good as Cena's. But since he left there's no one to replace Cena as top face. I would love to see it but it just wouldn't make sense in the end.

 

[The Future Rises]

rapper cena could have been the next rock,cutting good promos and remember what the rock used to do? thats right, sometimes he uses songs to insult his rival. so cena could rap every now and then just like the rock used to sing every now and then, but no, they had to make him go cheezy, and now hes the next hulk hogan.

 

[Ferbian]

rapper cena could have been the next rock,cutting good promos and remember what the rock used to do? thats right, sometimes he uses songs to insult his rival. so cena could rap every now and then just like the rock used to sing every now and then, but no, they had to make him go cheezy, and now hes the next hulk hogan.

I think that's pushing it.

John Cena's rapper gimmick wasn't as remotely over as The Rock was as a heel, The Rock barely got any heat during his heel period with his catchphrases, as opposed to John Cena who did get heat with that.

Yes John got face reactions with those raps, but it's nothing like The Rock.

John Cena going towards becoming the second Hulk Hogan, is that truly a bad thing? Yes I never liked Hulk Hogan, but there's no denying that even at this point he's incredibly over with the old-school fans.

Hulk Hogan is a revolutionizer of the wrestling business, he made it mainstream, the fact that John Cena is compared to Hulk Hogan, can't possibly be bad, because of the things Hogan did to the business, the crowds that Hogan pulled in.

 

[Hazardous]

thanks for the opinions guys! and all of them make sense too, but no i wasnt saying a heel turn, his rapper gimmic was way funnier as a face. i mean, battle rap against kurt? making fun of booker? WAAAY too funny. and you could market him just as well as it is done now, with all new stuff also! could make him a market ****e the way they did DX in the last run. thats a whole new line of Cena brand crap that the little kids can eat up. and the new CD will tie into his on-screen role, as you said, they market everything about him to kids, well, this is another one for them, got the clothes, movies, and now some more cena music for them. even with the PG era, it could still work, maybe it would get rid of a lot of the "cena sucks" chants, i dont know the last time you went to a live event, but the last one i did, any time the "lets go cena/ cena sucks" chants started, there was a lot of little ones who were VERY upset about it, i mean, im all for making the guy all for the kids, hell they did the same with Hogan, and i grew up a hogan fan, ate up every word of it, even took my vitamins! had everything hogan. all im saying is just tweek it JUUUST enough to kill out a bit of the cena sucks chants. it can be done. if they killed out the "rocky sucks" and the "die rocky die" signs, they can do this.

 

[Savion83]

Dawg, I posted this thred like six months ago. Who do I like the best as far as John Cena's charactor goe's? John Cena the rapper or John Cena the boy scout? Of course it would have to be the rapper. That's where we all fell in love with Cena at first because he was real and we could all relete to his charactor back then.

As for Cena as the boy scout, NO! The reason I call him a boy scout is because he's strickly for the kids going back to the WWE being PG now. John Cena just watered down his charactor so much it's not even funny anymore!

C-Nation! Pack 13 with scout master Cena as it's den leader man.

 

[Validus]

Like I've said in previous posts about Cena's gimmick , I think he can still pull off a face rapper gimmick . He can change his gimmick to the white rapper , and still be the face , or if not , then he can he can switch spots with Randy Orton , Randy is getting a huge pop , sometimes bigger than Cena , and he can become the face of the company if he would like .
Although , I'm not a fan of Cena's super hero gimmick , I could care less . He's making millions and enjoying life .
But again , they could make Cena a face white rapper .

 

[Loso]

People need to stop with the Cena stuff. Did anyone notice how half the crowd was wearing those orange Cena shirts on RAW? He's not changing anytime soon....get used to it. You people just hate on him cause it's the cool thing to do on here.

 

[LegendKiller716]

Cena will never return to the rapper gimmick, ever. It would be a huge step back in his career. IMO the next move for Cena is a heel turn, but it won't happen until next year. There are too many heel main eventers on RAW right now so his turn will probably wait until after the draft. And the second thing is Orton will need to take over as "the man".

As for the theme song, I hate it, but until he has a hell turn it's here to stay. You can't argue that when the beginning of his song hits he gets the biggest pop.

 

[Sh0wst0pper]

I have to agree with what most of you are saying. The main problem with all of this is that Cena's rapper gimmick was primarily during the post-attitude era when it was still ok to use the non-PG insults that made watching him DESTROY guys like Angle, Billy Gunn, Big Show, etc on the mike so great. At this time Cena was headed to the top of the WWE but wasn't there yet as he was chasing the US title until WM 21. "Super Cena" has been nothing BUT a main event character that has been altered to fit this shitty PG programming that is ruining WWE tv. I'm a Cena fan. I think his work ethic is 2nd to none. I think he handles his success extremely well. I just think that his character could far exceed Hulk Hogan's. IMO if done correctly the could use the edginess from the rapper gimmick and the good qualities of the ""Super Cena" character and make a perfect character that appeals to WWE fans across the board.

 

[jslovie420]

i agree cena has a good work ethic but that doesnt change the fact hes a terrible wrestler. Hes the 2000s hulk hogan not the best wrestler but kids like him so they give him the belt and make him the face of the company

 

[DirtyJosé]

I can't stand super Cena. Every time he comes on TV I know exactly what he will say. I know how 99% of his matches will go, he will start out dominating, then get beat on for a bit and then make an "amazing" comeback and win. It's just boring.

CONGRATULATIONS!! You have successfully figured out the formula to every wrestling match that doesn't end in a non-finish or a DQ!! I don't know how anyone ever missed that for the last 40 years! To think it was a formula so simple!

Really though, how can that not be said of almost every other performer?

As for Cena as the boy scout, NO! The reason I call him a boy scout is because he's strickly for the kids going back to the WWE being PG now. John Cena just watered down his charactor so much it's not even funny anymore!

Oddly enough, I found the Rap Cena gimmick to be far less relatable. Just like every other dumb rap gimmick before it. John Cena didn't get over because of his gimmick alone. John Cena got over because he's a great worker, and is friendly with and appreciative of his fan base. He is the man for his time and place. Plenty of Cena fans are in fact not children.

The Rap gimmick is shallow and two dimensional in the end. Seriously, every "rap" I've heard allowed on WWE is garbage, and sounds like it's for children (EDIT: And this goes back much further than either Cena or the PG era). And you call "Super Cena" childish? It's a dead end. It never stays over for long. And a Heel Cena at this point would be a huge mistake. There are still far more Cena fans than there are smarky anti-Cena crowds.

 

[Sh0wst0pper]

I think Cena's athleticism would ALLOW him to be a very good wrestler if they cared to expand his move set. He's clearly intelligent and versatile enough to add more moves to his repertoire but his main move set works so I just think it's another case of the WWE not wanting to fix something that isn't broken (aka WWE complacency). It does irritate me that Cena is dismissed as not being a good wrestler for having a small move set when other top tier talent does the exact same thing. Orton: Orton stomp, DDT on the ropes, Orton back breaker, powerslam and of course the RKO. HHH: facebuster, spinebuster, Pedigree. Sheamus, wheel kick..........wheel kick.....wheel kick.....wheel kick.....oh, yeah and wheel kick (sorry, he has no business in the main event but that's another story) just kidding, celtic cross & irish curse too, lol! Anyway, my point is that other a-list stars do it ans Cena is singled out b/c of his "Super Cena" status.

 

[Vash21]

John Cena reminds me of the Detroit Lions. They both suck hard, but they draw, well at least the Lions did until last year. They were selling out Ford Field game after game for years, even though they suck. It took awhile for the fans to wake up an realize that they suck, but it will happen. Eventually management will have to give a shit and field a winning team.

Eventually creative will be forced to get off their ass and do something creatively with John Cena, because right now the fans are still eating up his stale ass gimmick.

 

[Cmac3311]

I was a die hard Cena fan during the rapper gimmick, throwing up the horns was the shit back then, people would boo him out of the building and he would cut some excellent promos... Hell I like face Cena when he would make other guys "choke on his nuts" remember that?

But I can't watch this Cena that has been around for 3 or so years... Mark my words it will be the same thing that happened with Hogan, mega popular, face of the company, way too over exposed and then BAM! The NWO is born...

The common denominator with the Hogan heel turn and the Cena heel turn will be when the PG era kids grow up... Opening the door for a anti hero (aka Stone Cold) or in my estimation a Randy Orton...

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Cens is just fine the way he is. He gotten a little bit stale a couple of years ago but now he is better than ever. He's always been solid on the mic and he has had some great matches this year. He should never return to the rapper gimmick because that was to get him over as a midcarder. I prefer the Cena of the present more than the Cena of the past.

 

[Mizamania]

super cena is the most boring character the wwe has produced in the pg era all his mic time is exactly the same he shouts about how he knows how to fight and how he is a target it sucks now rapper cena was a pure beast he was funny and creative and his raps weren't terrible

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

super cena is the most boring character the wwe has produced in the pg era all his mic time is exactly the same he shouts about how he knows how to fight and how he is a target it sucks now rapper cena was a pure beast he was funny and creative and his raps weren't terrible

Sometimes Cena's promos can get a little corny at times, but the passion he puts into his promos more than makes up for it (You listening Orton). Rapper Cena was good for when he was a midcarder but it's not going to work the same now. People just need to let go of it plain and simple because Cena is not going back to that, nor does he need to.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

The rapper gimmick was what the WWE used to get John Cena noticed, and help get him over with the fans originally. Cena is a big fan of rap, and he loves free styling, so WWE gave him some control over his character, and he made a name for himself doing it. But by the time his feud with JBL rolled around, and he was getting pushed to the very top, he lost the gimmick and started getting serious. Now he's the face of the company. I'm not saying that gimmicks are bad, and they do sometimes add to a wrestler's character, and make things a bit more entertaining.

I'm not the biggest Cena for or anything, not matter how much I respect the guy or love his mic skills. But going back to the rapper gimmick would not work at this point. The fans are still going to react to him the exact way, and he couldn't even be controversial with the PG rating thing, so what's really the point? When superstars get big enough, you can't just change them with a gimmick, you have to do something huge. I've been saying it for years, but if the WWE want to actually change the crowd reaction for Cena, and make people interested in his character again, they need to turn him heel. Don't give me that crap about the WWE not risking it, or Cena not getting over as a believable heel. They did it with Hogan. They did it with Austin. They did it with the Rock. When a guy gets huge enough, the only you can do is turn him heel at one point. The fans would have no idea what to expect, and there's so many reasons he would. He could even take the fact that people boo him even though he's the face of the company, and role with that. Give them something to really boo about. Now, in a years time, or however long it takes to build a new FACE of the company, you have Cena make his face comeback, just like all the greats did, and it will improve the crowd reaction for as long as he remains interesting.

I look at R-Truth right now, and I see all the potential in the world for him to be leading this company. He's got a gimmick that a lot of people cheer for and get behind, and it sells. Sure, it can get annoying, and the fans "smart" fans like us who hang out on wrestling forums will complain about it, but he's still pretty over. Now, if they gave him a push, allowed him to start dropping the gimmick, gave him some more real mic time...he could be the face of the company. Everything I saw in John Cena ten years ago I see in R-Truth, and if they eventually dropped the gimmick, made him more serious, and possibly reverted to Ron Killings, they could strike gold with him. But will it happen...probably not.

 

[AYR Fool?]

I am sick and tired of John Cena. Yes I was a fan of him back with his rapper gimmick, but he doesn't need to go back to that gimmick. The only problem with John Cena or "Super Cena" is that he wins every match and gets a title shot every time where you don't see other superstars get a chance at the gold. If they let superstars like Edge, Randy, and Y2J get in the Championship picture he'll be less relevant to see and maybe those fans that chant "Cena Sucks" won't chant that. I'm not saying he shouldn't be getting Championship matches, but he also shouldn't be winning every single title shot he gets. Look back in 2006 when Edge was on Raw feuding with Cena for the WWE championship which is a perfect example.

 

[The Max Attack]

No, John Cena will not be re-vamped, turned heel, or anything.

I simply cannot see that happening. WWE is doing great with John at his current state, the saying usually goes - Why fix something that's not broken? and John is not broken, he's drawing ratings like hell for WWE and making them large sums of money.

The majority of the WWE crowd likes John in some way or another, it's cleanly heard during his entrances, as well as during the chants of "Cena sucks" you cleanly hear a returning opposite chant "Let's go Cena" in the crowd.

Because of that, John does not need to change, just because there's coming a new CD out, which is through a completely different business, John will therefore not be influenced in his WWE moniker by his music life.

It is the exact same thing as Chris Jericho, he's a great singer, he's overall loved with Fozzy, but he's hated by the general WWE crowd because of his heel alignment.

John remains "Super Cena" because it makes the most sense, just because a large amount of the IWC hates him, it changes nothing.

And all in all, if John was ever turned heel, or re-vamped to become more heelish, the way he would be booked wouldn't change much. It would make zero sense to have him loose like a heel against people he defeated regularly as a face, so Super Cena would still be alive.

I totally agree with Ferbian. As many people boo him and say "Cena Sucks" there is the same amount of people that cheer him and say "Lets go Cena"

And if he was turned heel. He would be the heel that gets beat down just to overcome it and win time and time again. Nothing would change.

I dont think he needs the change. The money is there, the fact that he gets a crowd reaction tells that you can put him in a monkey suit, parade him around the ring and he will still get cheered or booed beacuse he is John Cena.