Rate The Gimmick: John Cena - Rapper

[Ferbian]

It's time for another (late) installment of the weekly Rate The Gimmick. The purpose of this thread is for me to choose a gimmick, and for you to rate it between 1 and 10. 1 being awful and 10 being awesome.

This week we're gonna look into a rather entertaining gimmick. Even if I admit that I enjoy him more now. But I'm thoroughly convinced that rating his current gimmick would bring a lot of 1 and 0's and hate.

It's John Cena's rapper gimmick indeed. "OH NO ANOTHER CENA THREAD".

This is the gimmick that got John Cena on the map. Got him noticed, and got him over as hell with the crowd. He would more or less get promo time quite a lot to cut a quick rap promo on his opponent, or just generally rap against someone. Entertaining as hell at times, especially when rapping against Kurt Angle.

During this gimmick John Cena was primarily a mid-carder. He would later on become the main event main stay. But he spend most his time with this gimmick being hilarious on Smackdown in the mid-card. Winning the United States championship a few times, and later on the WWE championship.

John Cena got to feud with more or less anybody that was something back in those days. Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker just to name 3 big names.

The popularity of John Cena's rapper gimmick also allowed him to transcend into another form of work. The Music industry. However, it's certainly not gonna be what we rate this gimmick on.

After his time in the mid-card on Smackdown, he was quickly drafted to RAW after winning his first WWE championship. Here he went on to have great feuds with the likes of Edge, Triple H and many more, becoming the longest reigning WWE champion since Hulk Hogan's first reign.

Overall I'm sure a lot of people would say this is the more entertaining John Cena. The John Cena that needs to be reborn etc. However, I guess we'll all find out now, when I ask for all of you to rate this gimmick. Was it worth the ranking of 1? or 10? You tell me.

 

[Dave]

John Cena as a rapper was quite a fun little gimmick I thought.

The great thing about the rapper gimmick was that everything came at the right time and worked to perfection for all parties involved. John Cena was a no-name kid before this gimmick and when he adopted this gimmick, everything seemed to fall into place for him. The WWE might have had some say in the gimmick but would they have given him that gimmick and the exposure to pull it off if they didn't think he could? I don't think so.

I am a huge John Cena mark but, truth be told, I never really caught onto this gimmick. The only part of it that actually entertained me was the rapping at the beginning of the match. I don't know why I felt this way but I seemed to remind me of the last strand of Attitude Era remaining in the WWE. His feud with JBL just provided the perfect foil for John to work his magic on the mic and everything just fell into place.

The gimmick was goo, no doubt about it. However, the real credit needs to go to John Cena who never fucked up this gimmick. It was fresh and something new that we had never really seen before. The WWE have to take some of the credit for having the faith in the gimmick which really paid off. Also, JBL needs to take some of the credit for being incredible foil for the gimmick. Without any of the attributes that I just listed, this gimmick would never have gotten off the ground.

 

[blackmetalbuick]

Terrible terrible terrible. It's so cheesy and sad I can't believe it actually happened, but hey this is the WWE. I find it astonishing that supposedly in real life Cena is into that stuff because when he would freestyle in the ring he sounded like the most painful white boy trying to sound cool. You'd think if he really followed that genre of music and the whole scene for a good part of his life, he could emulate it better. It was like a gangster rap episode of Leave it to Beaver watching him in the ring.

With all the talk about Cena possibly finally going heel the one thought I've had is "I hope to hell they don't think him freestyling would make him a good heel". Leave that garbage in the past, it was a stupid gimmick but yeah it did get him noticed. But if word backstage is that Vince wants Cena to be the biggest heel ever if/when they go through with it, don't ruin it with something so stupid. Especially in the PG era, he won't even be able to diss people with anything decent, he'd have to say their eyes are crooked and their mother dresses them funny.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I would give this gimmick an 8. I liked it a lot and it showed how creative the creative team could be and showed how well Cena took to doing things that some would think was corny and made it somewhat cool. Being a black man, I often get asked questions about rap music, not that I really listen to a lot of rap, but still I get asked. And some of the questions are, what do I think about white rappers? My answer? Who cares? If he's white or black but has skills then he's okay, I suppose. Not my cup of tea. But with Cena, here was this Marky Mark looking guy who just so happened to be from Boston, sounding like he was from The Bronx while poking fun at people. That character was refreshing, witty and of course entertaining. His character now is stale, bland and borning at times. He'll never go back to Rappin' Cena, which he shouldn't, but in the short amount of time he used that gimmick, John Cena was about as much over with the fans then, as he's overall hated by most fans now. Says a lot about WWE. Some times, their "changes" aren't always for the best.

 

[Mustang Sally]

It was fresh and something new that we had never really seen before.

I'll buy that. It gets me when I think of the number of "wrestling fans" who clamor for something new, only to hate whatever the companies come up with. Here we had an incredibly built white guy with a smooth voice and an obnoxious attitude. He had the ability to flawlessly render the memorized verses, which were sometimes quite long. Do you think everyone could do that? I doubt it.

Okay, it was amusing when one guy said to me: "If you think his rapping is funny, wait till you see him wrestle."

Still, it got Cena noticed, even if a lot of the attention was negative.... and it was an important building block into making him the force he is today.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

A Stellar 9

To think this gimmick was panned out from a Halloween costume he wore. Here is a perfect example of a talent been given the space and time to do his own schtick on the stick. And man oh man did he run with it. He would come up with raps and lines that left you with no other choice but to cheer this heel.

Undoubtedly, one of the best gimmicks of the last decade, and something that made Smackdown! unmissable on a weekly basis.

 

[Chicago1989]

Not a big rap fan, but looking back at this gimmick, it was one of the most controversial, entertaining gimmicks I've seen in a long time. Many rapper gimmicks have been done before, but this one stands out as the best one and HE WAS A HEEL AT THAT!. He wasn't some R-Truth-like rapper, rapping about having an education and staying out of trouble; CENA WAS TROUBLE.

His mic skills were priceless and his promos on guys like Undertaker and Brock Lesnar were hilarious. I also used to hate Cena when he had this this gimmick because he was so good at drawing heat and I felt that Cena with the white rapper gimmick made him look fake. I just didn't buy into it back then.

But I'll give it a 8.5. It was flashy, edgy, and awesome...

 

[The Viper Orton]

A 9, a great gimmick. It was different lively, and the only time I saw John Cena good on the Mic. Against Kurt Anlge, Rikishi, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Big show, etc.. he always had at least 1 entertaining rap. The funny part is even though he was a heel, he got the fans to react even against undertaker (as the miz does now). As I call a successful heel, he had his own small (yes should be small) grp of supporters. 1 point though John Cena who revolutionized the "PG era" wouldve not succeed if he had his rapper gimmick in this PG era because there was cursing and esp the word "MF"

 

[takerfan24]

Terrible terrible terrible. It's so cheesy and sad I can't believe it actually happened, but hey this is the WWE. I find it astonishing that supposedly in real life Cena is into that stuff because when he would freestyle in the ring he sounded like the most painful white boy trying to sound cool. You'd think if he really followed that genre of music and the whole scene for a good part of his life, he could emulate it better. It was like a gangster rap episode of Leave it to Beaver watching him in the ring.

With all the talk about Cena possibly finally going heel the one thought I've had is "I hope to hell they don't think him freestyling would make him a good heel". Leave that garbage in the past, it was a stupid gimmick but yeah it did get him noticed. But if word backstage is that Vince wants Cena to be the biggest heel ever if/when they go through with it, don't ruin it with something so stupid. Especially in the PG era, he won't even be able to diss people with anything decent, he'd have to say their eyes are crooked and their mother dresses them funny.

Really?I give it a 9 cause it was way better than the shit cena puts up now.People loved to hate him but now they just hate him.The cena gimmick now is a 2.

 

[ajnitro13]

by far my favorite cena gimmick. i am a cena fan and this was definitely what put him on the map. i say probably a 9.5. somewhere in there the fact that it kind of happened as a joke makes it even better. this was some of the best mic stuff this decade. at times he was almost as entertaining to me as the rock and i believe the rock is the best ever on the stick. if u go back and watch some of the early rapper promos w/cena u can hear people starting to like him. it was the same way with the rock (and kurt angle). when people have charisma and are good on the mic it is only a matter of time before people like them. no matter how stale and boring cena's character gets he still shows glimpses of how great his is on the mic occasionally.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Really good gimmick in my opinion. I'll give it a 9.

Cena was never a great wrestler. He was always good but he isn't better than even Austin or Rock in my opinion. This is the reason why he got over. One particular rap that particularily sticks to my head is his rap against Kenzo Suzuki and his wife Hiroko. The crowd went rabid for Cena at that time. Funny to think of it now but at that time I was thinking he might even eclipse Rock as the greatest mic worker of all time. Yes, he was that damn good.

Some of his raps really pushed the limit even in the non-PG WWE. Some people say that this gimmick of his may not have worked at a main event level but I do tend to disagree. Its something I guess people say because they didn't exactly see him work in that gimmick on a main event level.

 

[#hamler]

I, on the other hand, perfer Cenas current gimmick. This gimmick was fun while it lasted but soon got old. Cena's rapper gimmick was a great heel, but when he turned face, it got terrible. It was real easy to hate Cena when he came out and rapped on our favorite faces such as Undertaker and Kurt Angle but when he turned face, it was hard to like him. In my opinion, him rapping on other stars while face got me to find him annoying. His moveset was pretty good and this gimmick was when we first saw the use of the F-U or Attitude Adjustment. A move that he still uses today. On the other hand, his rapper gimmick also caused both the WWE and U.S. Championships to turn into props or Spinner belts. I don't really care for either belts and it somewhat ruined the prestige of both belts. He had a lot of great matches as this rapper gimmick. Parking Lot Brawl with Eddie Guerrero, match where we saw him FU the Big Show at 'Mania, and lots others. This gimmick was nice but got old after a while.

Rating-8

 

[KoC417]

Solid 9.5-10! This gimmick was tremendous! It was a prime example of earning respect and also taking it. Watch from start to finish of his gimmick. He started out being absolutely booed out of the building but as time went on people started to absolutely love this gimmick. I remember at one PPV, I believe it was Judgment Day where it was Cena & The FBI vs. Benoit, Rhino and Spankey (talk about a crappy gimmick haha) where Cena came out and said "They call me Corleone like a godfather flick, your girl likes Italian sausage cuz she swallowed my" then the crowd went ape shit screaming "DICK". That response for a heel wrestler was amazing. He literally transitioned from a heel to a full fledged face without really having to alter his gimmick in the least! Where as now a days (and back at that point) it usually took something big to get your transition done. The only other exception I can think of for that time period was Brock Lesnar. But yes, Cena as the rapper 9.5....nah the hell with it! Straight 10!

 

[ForeverRKO]

I loved it , that's the real cena , he actually does rap .. this super cena is all an act .. I give it a 10

 

[Rammsteinerteen]

It was a great gimmick. This is coming from a John Cena hater too. I loved this gimmick, everytime he came out I loved it. He would start insulting some people freestyle. This was hilarious. I took this seriously, because I honestly saw him as the next Rock. He was funny, and even for a heel, people loved him. But unfortunately, he gained a new fanbase and a new character, both similar to Hulk Hogan... I was not and never will be a Hogan fan. The last thing I want is someone else who resembles him. I don't want Cena to go back to the rapping gimmick. It would be pointless, unless they turn him heel. But basically, I thought John Cena was aweosome with the gimmick. He won gimmick of the year in Wrestling Observer News Letter Awards also. The Rock used to be a loud mouth with lots of charisma. This worked as both a heel and a face. Basically, John Cena could've made it work with both. He actually did from 2004 to 2005. And a little bit in 2006. He dropped the gimmcik eventually which was upsetting to me, because now he lost all of his interestingness of his character.

I give his Rapper gimmick 9/10

 

[sTyLnK]

He drew heat, people booed like crazy and he was somewhat entertaining. (Especially rapping about his opponent) It was definitely something we had never seen before. I personally despise rap nowadays and thought it was extremely cheesy at times, but he got the job done as a heel and then some and isn't that the point?

 

[GameOver]

seems to be a white wash, but i rate the Cena Rap Gangster (heel) as an 9, music from that gimmick a 4

Cena Rap (face) 6

and current gimmick 5, yeah i know thats being lenient but face it, he's popular and the music is catchy compared to the Word Life one that was pretty lame.

 

[La Parka]

I'm going to admit something here:

I kind of liked Cena, when he was midcard. US Champ, he made a good one. It was funny how he blinged it out, how he would use his chain against people...it was good stuff, really. In that incarnation, I think him vs. someone like Rock would have REALLY...done wonders for him. Obviously, he made it without that, but still, I think that character was lonely without someone to share trash-talking barbs with.

I also liked his ring style. He was just a brawler, that's all. I hate any time the "raw power" of John Cena was mentioned, it made me want to stab Cole in the mouth. See, back then, Cena didn't NEED to know more than 5 moves, because he'd just sock you in the face, kick you in the nuts, then smash you with that chain when the ref wasn't looking. A good style, really.

 

[undyinglylty]

my rating for john cen'a rapping gimmick is a 10 automatically because first of all,he did better,second of all he won the the wwe championship with the gimmick,and third of all he did it all on smackdown,my brand.lol

 

[Morpheus101]

I really liked his first rapper gimmick. I didn't really take him too seriously, but he was funny as hell, as were his raps.

I don't know if Youtube posting is allowed here, but this is a classic old Cena moment, during his feud with Brock Lesnar:

[youtube]SOYlozgsCMI[/youtube]

The gimmick: I give it 9/10. Not sure if it'd work now in the PG era though, even if Cena were to turn heel.

 

[Shakin' Abe]

I hated the John Cena Rapper. I stopped watching Smack Down all together because of the cheesy Marky Mark rip off he was doing. I'm no great fan of the stuff he does now but I like him better than I did.

 

[TheGamea]

10 solid 10, now I hated it, its part of the reason I STILL hate cena but it worked and if you compare it to a lot of ppl who became STARS, it didnt take that long to develop-catch on...

 

[jmt225]

I thought it was absolutely tremendous.

For one, it's one of those characters that truly can work both ways (much like CM Punk's Straight Edge character). As a heel, here you have this loud-mouth wannabe 'gangsta' who's always talking shit but never backing it up. And as a babyface, you have this cool dude constantly pwning people on the mic and kicking their ass in the ring. Either way it was fucking entertaining as all hell, and I think the cheers and boos the man received night in and night out prove that to be a fact.

So, yeah... I think very highly of the character. It would easily get a 10/10 from me.

Also, let it be said... John Cena is the ONLY wrestler who could have ever pulled it off to the extent he did. It would have been a joke with anybody else, but Cena not only made it work, but made it one of the most entertaining, memorable characters of the past decade. Truly speaks of that man's talent.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I'd give it higher than 5 if his raps were good. Everytime I hear him rap and see him wearing jerseys, it just cracks me up honestly, sometimes I believe Marky Mark was the inspiration for Cena but in all due to Mark, he's more of a decent rapper than Cena but seeing him trying to be black makes me chuckle too. But despite his appearance & raps being comic, he was at his peak and got out of his "Ruthless Agression" bland gimmick he started off with, got out of those ridiculous tights and developed a character with this gimmick and had some good feuds with Brock, Taker, Angle & JBL.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

Easily this deserves a 10 out of 10.

The John Cena rapper gimmick was indeed very phenomenal. It was the very gimmick that gained a good amount of his [initial] popularity. Thinking back, I remembered that just about everyone enjoyed this gimmick. Here you had a "Yo-Yo, Hippity-hoppity" [wannabe] gangster coming out week after week just making fun of everyone that he would face, and everyone in the crowd was just seen laughing their ass off. Most if not all of the insults (promos) he made were indeed hallerious.

Though, I believe what made this gimmick so fun to watch was the fact that it was John Cena portraying it. John Cena fitted this role perfectly. His insults were spot on; his mic-skills were great; but more importantly, Cena had the perfect over-all image to fit into the psychological aspect of the gimmick. Cena had the perfect look, the perfect personality, the perfect size, to make such a gimmick look [extremely] believable. I don't think anyone other than Cena could have pulled off this gimmick as good as he did.

So yea, 10 out of 10.